Live the Dream Page 14

  Amy's fears grew. 'Won't your mam and dad have summat to say about you bringing a stranger home without warning?'

  'I've got my own place,' he said. 'But don't you worry. She'll be all right with me.'

  Seeing how worried Amy was, Daisy assured her, 'It's all right, Amy…really.'

  Amy didn't like it. 'I'd be happier if you came home with me, Daisy.'

  Daisy shook her head. 'Not tonight, lass. Me and Roy have a lot to talk about.'

  As always, whatever Amy said, Daisy's mind would not be changed.

  Jack also had a word with Roy, but he and Daisy were adamant. 'We're not kids. We know what we're doing.'

  Amy and Jack watched them walk away. I'm really worried,' Amy said. 'He tried to go too far with her once before. He could easily do it again, and we won't be there to help her.'

  'He won't do it again.' Jack was certain. 'The two of us have talked often about that night and I know he regrets it. Deep down he's a good sort. I've never known him take to anybody the way he's taken to Daisy.'

  Unconvinced, Amy was all for going after them, but he stopped her. 'Trust me,' he said, 'he respects her. He won't harm her.'

  'How well do you know him?'

  'Well enough.' Cupping his fingers about hers, he took the liberty of tucking her arm through his.

  'You feel cold,' he told her, and though her first instinct was to draw away, she found herself leaning into him. It was a curiously comforting feeling.

  Strolling down the street, Daisy and Roy had already agreed to forget what happened that night. 'I overstepped the mark,' Roy explained. 'I honestly don't know what came over me.'

  Every time he looked at Daisy, he felt a surge of need he had never felt with anyone else, but it wasn't like before, when he had wanted to rip off her clothes and take her where she stood. Now, however, he had a deal of respect for her. There was something special about Daisy, he told himself. And somewhere beneath the laughter and bravado, he sensed a frightened, nervous creature who needed taking care of.

  'Amy thinks you're trouble,' Daisy remarked slyly.'Are you?'

  Roy smiled. 'You've got a good friend there,' he evaded answering.

  'So,are you trouble…like Amy said?'

  'I can be, yes.'

  'Should I avoid you then?'

  'I hope not.'

  'Give me a good reason?'

  'Is this good enough?' Grabbing her by the shoulders he kissed her on the mouth, a rough, exciting kiss that sent her weak at the knees.

  Taking a moment to catch her breath, she laughed. 'It'll do for starters.'

  With his arm round her shoulders he drew her backwards to the wall. 'I've done some bad things,' he hesitantly confessed. 'I've fought with everybody who ever disagreed with me…even put a fella in hospital once. I've stolen other fellas' sweethearts just to prove I could, and I've led girls on, just to get what I wanted…if you know what I mean? I've broken into houses and stolen, and I've lied through my teeth whenever it suited me…'

  Now, as he saw how she was beginning to pull away, he held on to her. 'NO! Please, Daisy, hear me out.'

  'Amy's right!' Daisy cried, struggling. 'Yer really are a bad lot! Gerroff me, yer lying git!'

  'LISTEN TO ME!' There was desperation in his voice. 'Why d'you think I'm telling you all this? I wouldn't do that if I was only after one thing, would I? I've tekken a real liking to you, Daisy…you've got to believe me.'

  'Why should I?' For one glorious moment she had thought he was everything she'd ever wanted and now she was finding out he was a worthless good-for-nothing. 'Go on!' she challenged. 'Tell me why I should believe a single word you say?'

  For a moment he held her, his hands clamped round her shoulders and his gaze melting into hers. 'I think I'm falling in love with you,' he murmured. 'I've never felt like this about any girl before. That's why I need you to know the truth about me—so that if you hear it from somebody else, you'll know I've told you all there is to know.'

  Daisy wondered if she should walk away before she got hurt. Then she looked at his face and read the truth in his eyes, and she knew she could never walk away.

  'Why?' she asked softly. 'Why did you do all them bad things?'

  'I don't know…' He shrugged. 'Anyway, what does it matter?'

  'It matters to me,' she said, 'If you're being truthful with me, I need to know all of it. What made you so bad? Tell me.'

  'I can't…'

  Daisy was angry. 'Why not?' she demanded.

  'Because if I do, you'll walk away. You'd be crazy not to.'

  Daisy smiled. 'I can be crazy at times, or haven't you noticed?'

  Her smile was infectious. 'Yes…I've noticed.'

  'So, tell me.'

  He told her how his father had been mixed up in a robbery. 'I knew nothing about it until afterwards, when Mam told me. It was an organised gang, who had already pulled off a number of jobs. The police had been after them for some time, but they always managed to get away. This time, though, the robbery went wrong and they all went to prison.'

  His voice fell to a whisper. 'In the prison, there were accusations and threats among them. One day a fight started and my dad was stabbed to death—a piece of metal, they said, straight through the heart.'

  'God Almighty, how awful!' Daisy was shaken. 'It must have been a terrible shock to the family.'

  'There's no family,' Roy corrected her, 'just me and Mam. Mam was in a bad way when she heard—shouting and crying…desperate she was. After a while, she went upstairs, packed a bag and left. She never came back, and I never found out where she'd gone. I was twelve years old.'

  Daisy began to understand. 'No wonder you turned bad,' she said. 'How did you manage? What did you do? Did they let you stay in the house, or did you go to relatives?'

  'Relatives didn't want to know,' Roy said sombrely, 'so I took off. I had no idea where I were going or what I might do. I managed to get work here and there—told them I were fifteen and nobody questioned it. I managed to pay for board and lodgings and didn't go hungry.'

  He smiled, but it was a poor, lonely smile. 'I even went looking for my mam, but I never did find her. After a time I gave up and just got on with my life.'

  'Didn't you have any friends?'

  'Just one,' he said. 'I was seventeen and in with a bad lot. Don was one of 'em, but he turned out to be a good mate. If it hadn't been for Don, I might have got into even more trouble, but he watched out for me. Then we parted ways and I didn't see him again until just recently. We bumped into each other at the pub and got talking. I told him I needed a regular place to stay, and he got me a room in a house near to him, in Johnson Street.'

  Daisy had a reason for being curious. 'What does he look like, this Don?'

  'He must be about twenty-five, I reckon…fairly well built; kinda handsome, in a rough-looking way.' He smiled. 'He's good at charming the ladies, so I won't be introducing him to you, that's for sure.'

  Daisy's curiosity grew. 'What's his surname?'

  'Carson.' He gave her a quizzical look. 'His name is Don Carson. Why are you so interested?'

  'Don…Carson.' Her eyes grew wide and bright as marbles. 'Bugger me, Roy, it's him! Don Carson is Amy's ex-fiancé. They were due to be wed and he dumped her days beforehand, the swine!'

  Though shocked that Daisy should know of his old friend, and that he was once engaged to Amy, Roy was not surprised.

  'He's not the marrying kind,' he told her. 'What's more, if you ask me, Amy had a good escape. He'd make the worst husband imaginable. He likes a drink and he loves the ladies, and, as far as I know, there's never yet been one woman that could hold him.'

  'Well, I never!' Daisy couldn't get over it. 'I wish you hadn't told me now.'

  'It were you that asked,' Roy protested lightheartedly.

  'I know that, and I wish I hadn't.'

  'Will you tell Amy?'

  'I don't know,' Daisy answered. 'If I did, what purpose would it serve?'

  'None that I can see, except
for her to realise what a lucky escape she's had.'

  'Oh, look, all that aside, I'm sorry I forced you to tell me all those other things…about you and your dad and that. But I'm glad you told me,' Daisy said. 'I understand you a lot better now.'

  'I'm glad too,' he replied. In truth he was relieved to have told her.

  Daisy went on, 'You have to believe that what happened was not your fault. I know what it's like for parents to do bad things that frighten you, and sometimes you get the blame. It makes it difficult to think you can rely on people, but, you know, you can trust me, Roy.'

  He gave a small, harsh laugh. 'Don't be so quick,' he urged. 'You don't know me well enough to think I'm worth the effort yet.'

  'What else is there for me to find out?' Daisy asked. 'You haven't murdered anybody, have yer?'

  'No.'

  'And you haven't set fire to anybody's house, have yer?'

  'Not that I know of,' he laughed. 'Though I've slept in a few places where burning them down might be an improvement.'

  'And is there anything else you need to tell me?'

  'You've heard it all,' he promised. 'And I can see from your expression that you don't like what you've heard.'

  'You're right there,' she answered honestly, and looming in her mind was Don Carson.

  Roy's face crumpled. 'I knew it would turn you against me. That's why I didn't want you knowing,' he groaned. 'I knew you'd run a mile, the minute you heard what a bad 'un I've been.'

  Raising her hand to touch his face, Daisy asked softly, 'Do you see me running?'

  When he looked at her now, she could have sworn there were tears in his eyes. 'No.' Wrapping both his arms round her, he held her. 'So why aren't you? I'm no good, Daisy. Happen I never will be. So why aren't you off down the street, like a cat with its tail on fire?'

  'You're right,' she admitted. 'If I had any sense that's what I'd be doing all right—putting as much distance between you and me as I could. But then, I've never been known as a sensible person, so I'm not running and I don't know why, so don't ask me. But I'll tell you something,' she went on. 'You mustn't feel sorry for yourself, and you mustn't think you're the only one who's ashamed of their parents.'

  Now it was time for her to confess. 'Mine fight and squabble all the time. They swear at the neighbours and they hurt each other until they draw blood. They're selfish, shameful, and half crazy, and sometimes I wish I was a million miles away.' Inclining her head to observe his reaction, she asked, 'Is that all my fault, d'you think?'

  He shook his head in disbelief. 'Is it true…about your parents?'

  'True as I stand here.'

  'It's not your fault,' he murmured.

  'That's right,' Daisy agreed, 'same as what happened to you is not your fault.'

  'D'you know what I think?' he whispered, placing his hand on her shoulder.

  'I expect you'll tell me.' Reaching out, she laid her hand over his and kept him there.

  He smiled appreciatively. 'I think you and me were made for each other.'

  'You could be right,' she said. 'We'll have to wait and see, won't we?'

  Now that the air was cleared and they understood each other, they went off down the street hand in hand, making plans together—and beginning to fall in love.

  Not too far away, Amy and Jack had also been getting to know each other..

  'It's good that we're friends again.' Ever since leaving the Grand he had longed to take her in his arms, but there was something about her that warned him off. 'You do trust me now, don't you, Amy?'

  'I think so,' she answered, smiling up at him. 'I can't say you've done anything tonight to make me think bad of you.'

  'I'm glad about that.' He smiled down at her.

  She wasn't the prettiest girl he'd ever walked home, he thought, but she was lovely. She was kind and thoughtful, and very caring; he had seen that side of her when she was so concerned about her friend Daisy. There was a warmth about Amy that shone through, and those deep blue eyes were enchanting. No, he thought, she had more about her than mere prettiness.

  'I'd like to see you again…if that's all right with you?' he asked tentatively.

  Amy nodded. 'I'd like that, yes.'

  Before he could go on, she drew to a halt. 'We'd best part company here.' They were already at the foot of Montague Street. From here it was only a step or so to Derwent Street, and though she thought she liked him, she didn't want him to know where she lived, at least not yet.

  'I don't like to leave you in the dark like this,' Jack said worriedly. 'Why don't you let me take you all the way home? You never know who's about this time o' night.'

  Touched by his concern, Amy assured him,I'll be fine. I've walked up this street in the dark so many times I've lost count, and I've never yet been worried.'

  Her remark brought a smile to his face. 'I'd chase you at the drop of a hat.' Looking at her now, he thought he'd gladly jump in the River Kibble for just one kiss.

  'Besides, I only live five minutes away.'

  'Are you ashamed of me?' he asked.

  Amy was taken aback. 'No. What made you say that?'

  'Because this is the first time a girl hasn't let me take her right to the front door, so there has to be a reason. Either you're ashamed of me…or you still don't trust me. Which is it?'

  Amy laughed. 'I've no reason to be ashamed of you,' she answered.

  'Ah! So that means you still don't trust me.'

  'It might,' she admitted. 'Oh, look, it's just that, for now, it might be better if you didn't know where I lived, that's all.'

  'What? So I'll not be able to come knocking and worrying you to go out with me?'

  She laughed again. 'Something like that.'

  'What if I followed you?'

  'You won't.' She had learned enough about him to know he wouldn't stoop to such a thing.

  'No, you're right. I wouldn't do that. If you don't want me to know where you live, that's an end to it.' Placing his hands on her shoulders, he asked hopefully, 'You will see me again, though, won't you?'

  'Yes, I'd like that.'

  'All right…when?'

  She gazed up at him, her heart beating fast as their eyes met. He had such sincerity, she thought. 'I'm not surprised you made it to foreman,' she remarked. 'I'm sure with your dogged attitude it won't be long before you make manager.'

  'Next year,' he remarked casually, 'I intend making manager next year.'

  'Oh? So you've set yourself a target, have you?' Amy was impressed.

  'Aye,' he declared confidently. 'And one day I'll have my own factory, you see if I don't!'

  'I expect you will,' she said mischievously. 'Happen you'll have more than one—happen you'll have them across the length and breadth of Lancashire.'

  Throwing back his head he laughed out loud, a deep, musical laugh that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. 'One thing at a time, if you please,' he said. 'Let's not run before we can walk.'

  They set off walking again, but slower this time, with Jack persisting, 'You didn't say when we could meet again?'

  'Next Saturday?' she suggested. 'Unless you're busy doing something else?'

  Again, he drew her to a halt. 'If I was—though it happens I'm not—I'd cancel whatever it was,' he promised. 'To tell you the truth, Amy, I don't think I can wait a whole week before I see you again.'

  'Well, you'll have to,' she replied firmly. 'Saturday is the best time for me, so it's that or nothing.' 'Then it'll have to be Saturday,' he conceded. 'And will you change your mind about letting me walk you home?' She smiled. 'One thing at a time,' she mimicked, wagging a finger. 'Let's not run before we can walk.'

  His face wreathed in a gentle smile, he nodded. 'You've got me there,' he acknowledged. 'Good night then, Jack.' Good night, Amy.'

  As Amy turned away he laid his hands on her shoulders and tenderly swung her round. He didn't say anything and | neither did she, but she knew he wanted to kiss her, and she wanted the same.

  When he bent hi
s head towards her, for a brief moment she remembered the man who had kissed her and betrayed her, and she wanted to turn away, but a deeper instinct kept her there. She raised her lips to his and when the softness of his mouth was pressed against hers, she enjoyed the experience to the full.

  When it was over, he dropped his arms to his sides, his voice tender. 'Good night, Amy.'

  Amy nodded, and walked on, her heart beating fifteen to the dozen and her lips tingling from Jack's kiss. 'That was nice,' she murmured. But that's all it was, she thought. At that vulnerable moment the image of her ex-fiancé had come into her mind. She wasn't ready for a serious relationship just yet. She quickened her steps.

  'AMY…WAIT!'

  Coming to a halt she turned to see Jack running after her. 'I forgot to ask…where will we meet?'

  She'd forgotten as well.I'll be up Corporation Park…about half-past two,' she laughed. 'Oh, and don't forget to bring a bag o' bread when you come.'

  When he looked at her in disbelief she explained, 'We often feed the ducks on a Saturday, me and Johnny.'

  'Who's Johnny?'

  'A fella I know. Good-looking and fun to be with, he is.'

  'And I'll get to meet him on Saturday, will I?' The tiniest hint of jealousy showed in his voice.

  'You'll like him,' she went on. 'He's not the easiest of people to get on with. He's a bit wary of strangers, y'see? If he likes you, he'll be your friend for life. But if he doesn't take to you straight off, he'll have nothing to do with you at all.'

  'Hmm! He sounds a moody sort of a fella to me.'

  Amy left him wondering. 'See you Saturday,' she said, and hurried towards home smiling to herself all the way.

  She wondered what Jack would think of little Johnny and, more to the point, what Johnny would think of him.

  Chapter Nine

  It had been a hot day and now the night was unbearably humid. Unable to sleep, Luke threw off the bedclothes and for a moment he just lay there, arms above his head, eyes closed, and the tiredness seeping through his every bone.

  His mind, though, was alive with all manner of thoughts and emotions: pride in his work and the new contract he had managed to secure in spite of heavy competition; anxiety about Sylvia, who had been increasingly difficult of late. The dark, uncontrollable thoughts came with ferocity, lasted a moment or two and fell away just as quickly.