A Mistletoe Kiss (25 page)

‘Hasn't it been lovely?' Sally said four days later, as she and Hetty watched the boys tying up alongside the wharf. ‘Not one drop of rain has fallen since you joined the
Maid Marian
. We got through the locks much faster than usual, which gave us time to explore the villages and do a bit of shopping … oh, how I shall miss you, Hetty.'

‘I'll miss you as well,' Hetty admitted. ‘What are you going to do now you've left school, though? We won't lose touch again, will we?'

‘No, we won't,' Sally assured her. ‘I'm going to try to get a job in a factory. The pay's pretty good, they say, which would be helpful because now that Mam
and Dad have retired, money's a bit tight. The alternative is becoming the third member of the crew on the
Maid
. If I do manage to get work away from the canal, my brothers will have to find a lad looking for a berth, because the barge and the butty really need a crew of three or four. Still, the chances are that all such a lad would want is the experience and his keep, and a bit of pocket money.'

‘It would be better for you, because boatmen never pay their children a proper wage,' Hetty agreed. ‘In a way, I'd like to join you and get a decent job, but it wouldn't be fair. Gran and Gramps have scrimped and saved so that I can go to college and become a librarian, and I don't mean to disappoint them.'

Sally sighed, then picked up her friend's rucksack and helped her to struggle into it, before both girls jumped down on to dry land. The boys joined them, and Hetty thanked them sincerely for her lovely holiday. ‘I wish you could have come all the way with us,' Ben said gruffly. ‘Still, we'll be passing through Burscough on our way back to the Liverpool docks; mebbe we'll stop off so we can tell you how the rest of the voyage has gone.'

Hetty opened her mouth to reply but was forestalled by Nat. ‘Don't be so stupid, Ben; by the time we get back to Burscough, Hetty will have returned to her aunt's house, and that's nowhere near the canal.' He turned to Hetty. ‘Will you be back in school by then? If not, why don't you come down to the wharf? We'll be there mebbe a day or two because we're unloading cotton goods and taking on a mixed cargo, which
always takes longer to stow aboard.' He struck an attitude. ‘Hetty Gilbert, I hereby invite you to eat your dinner with us Brimelows aboard the
Maid
, when we next reach Liverpool.'

Ben snorted. ‘He'll want you to cook his perishin' dinner an' all,' he warned her. ‘Now
my
invitation comes wi' a box of chocs an' a posy of flowers.' He copied his brother's exaggerated bow. ‘If you do come down to the docks, pretty lady, I invite you to accompany me to the cinema of your choice. How about that, eh?' he said, speaking in an exaggeratedly posh accent.

Hetty laughed. ‘Thank you both kindly, but I'm afraid that I shall be far too busy studying for my next lot of exams to accept any invitations, once I'm home.' She turned to Sally. ‘Don't forget you promised to come and visit next time you're in Liverpool.'

‘I won't forget, only you don't seem to spend an awful lot of time in Salisbury Street,' Sally observed. ‘From what you've told me, when you aren't in school, you're at the Everton library! So I can only visit after closing time, which I suppose is around six in the evening, is it? Still, I'll do my best to come then. In fact the boys might accompany me, then we could all hear each other's news.'

Hetty agreed to this, for to refuse after the hospitality the Brimelows had shown her would have been downright insulting. Then she picked up her case, and she and Sally turned to head for the station. Hetty had only gone a couple of steps, however, when her suitcase was taken out of her hand. ‘I'll come to the station with you,' Nat said. ‘And I'll wait with you
until your train arrives. Sal and Ben can give an eye to the
Maid
.'

Hetty had little choice but to relinquish her hold on the suitcase, but when Ben joined them and began to try to relieve her of the rucksack, and Nat immediately stood her suitcase down and began to tug at the straps around her shoulders as well, Hetty told them sharply to leave off. ‘I feel like a flaming bone between two dogs,' she said, only half laughing. ‘Sally's going to walk me to the station, though there'll be no need for her to wait, so you boys had better get back to the barge before some young thief realises she's unmanned and climbs aboard to see what he can steal.'

‘Ben can go,' and ‘Nat can go,' the two young men chorused. Sally started to giggle, but Hetty, far from giggling, had to bite her tongue on a number of sharp retorts. However, when Sally picked up the suitcase and Hetty readjusted the rucksack, both young men took the hint and rather sulkily said that they had best return to the barge.

Hetty and Sally continued on their way, and when she was sure that they were well out of earshot Hetty turned apologetically to her friend. ‘I hope you don't think I was being awfully rude, Sally, but I'm not looking for a boyfriend; I'm far too busy with my schoolwork and working in the library on a Saturday. If you could just tell your brothers that I like them both very much, but only as friends …' Her voice trailed away and she looked anxiously at Sally, fearing to see disapproval written on the other girl's face, but instead saw only a mixture of sympathy and curiosity.

‘Oh, Hetty, I do understand, and I'm most dreadfully sorry that they've made things difficult for you,' Sally said remorsefully. ‘But you know most girls chase after Nat and Ben and would give their eye teeth for a smile, let alone an invitation to the flicks! They're both good-looking, wouldn't you say? And fun to be with, which may be even more important than looks. I don't believe either of them has ever had an invitation refused, so I suppose that's why they behaved rather badly. Do you like one of them more than the other? If so, I think perhaps you should accept one and turn the other down. Only a couple of times on board the
Maid
they very nearly came to blows, and that's never happened before …'

‘Oh, Sally, it must have done,' Hetty said. ‘Brothers, even when they're the best of friends, always disagree and fight from time to time. I know Tom and Bill did. If Nat and Ben don't they must both be saints, and I'm jolly sure that neither of them is any such thing.'

Sally laughed. ‘Of course they fought when they were young,' she agreed. ‘As you say, all brothers do. But since they've grown up, and especially since they've taken over the
Maid
, they haven't even had a cross word. They were always good pals and agreed without any fuss that though Nat is the official Number One – he's twenty-two and Ben's not yet twenty – they would share the command of the barge. Nat is Number One from Liverpool to Leeds and makes all the decisions, whilst Ben is Number One from Leeds to Liverpool. It's worked really well and I'd hate to see
it go wrong just because they both think they're in love with the same girl.'

The two had been walking briskly along the road that led to the station, but at her friend's words Hetty stopped dead in her tracks. ‘In
love?
' she squeaked. ‘Did you say “in love”, Sally Brimelow? Good Lord! I know I knew them vaguely from being on the canal with my grandparents, but I never
really
knew them until four days ago. No one falls in love in four days; that's being quite ridiculous.' Even as she said the words, however, a picture flashed into her mind. A dark face above her own, the moon shining silver between black-branched trees, and a voice saying softly:
For tonight I'm St George, ready to slay any number of dragons to rescue a fair maiden
.

Sally's eyes widened. ‘You've remembered someone who fell in love all in a moment,' she said triumphantly. ‘You know it happens, you must do. Why, I could see it in your face. Who was it, eh? Not yourself!'

Hetty's mind shot back to Miss Preece and the professor. It was not cheating to dismiss her own recollection of that weird, moonlit experience, because no one could call that falling in love, she told herself; it was not even infatuation. If she had fallen in love with anything, it was the moonlight, the thrilling pillion ride and the speed of their going. She could scarcely claim to be in love with someone whose face she had never seen and whose voice she had not recognised. But Miss Preece now … ‘You're right; I
do
know someone who fell in love at first sight,' she said. ‘I've told you about my friend Agatha, the librarian at
Everton library; well, I believe she fell in love with a professor from London who gave a lecture at the Liverpool Museum when his department loaned them an exhibition of illuminated manuscripts.'

Sally gave a crow of amusement. ‘That isn't falling in love, that really
is
infatuation,' she said. ‘Besides, I don't believe professors do anything so – so low as falling in love. I suppose they must get married or there wouldn't be any little professors, but I'm sure they go about it in quite a different way from ordinary people.'

By this time they had reached the station and Hetty had bought her ticket and been told that the train would arrive in less than ten minutes. Sally sank on to a bench, putting down the suitcase with a sigh of relief, but Hetty, though she sat down too, felt quite cross with her friend. ‘I never said the professor fell in love, though I think he probably did,' she said. ‘I said it was Miss Preece. Did I tell you that the professor has gone off to Spain? He's joined the International Brigade and he writes to Miss Preece whenever he can, though she doesn't receive half the letters he sends. But anyway, this whole discussion started because you said your brothers thought they were in love with me, and I'm sure you're wrong. At least, I hope so, because though they're very nice and I like them both, as I said before, I don't want a boyfriend.'

Sally was beginning to reply when her voice was drowned by the clatter and shriek of an approaching train, and Hetty was glad to get to her feet, give her friend a kiss and shout her thanks again as she climbed
aboard. It was such a short journey to Burscough that there was little point in removing her rucksack, so she perched on the edge of her seat and thought back over the last four days.

Sally had been right about the weather, which had been brilliant, and she thought she had been as useful as it was possible to be in such a short time. She had also met old friends, exchanged news and been warmly greeted by villagers who remembered her from past trips with her grandparents. But the truth was that the increasing warmth shown towards her by both Brimelow boys had made her life rather difficult and she realised now that she was glad to get away. Much though she had enjoyed most of her little holiday, it had made her see that she would never willingly return to work on the canal. It was a hard and narrow life compared with the one she had in mind, which was to go to college, graduate and become a librarian.

She did not, however, intend to let the awkwardness she now felt because of the boys' behaviour affect her friendship with Sally. The other girl now lived with her parents in Seaforth, a good tram ride from Salisbury Street, but they could always arrange to meet up somewhere in the city centre; it did not much matter, so long as they did not again lose touch. For, ever since she won the scholarship to the high school, Hetty had been aware that she had no best friend in a similar situation to her own. She had joined the school at the age of thirteen, when most of her fellow pupils had already formed the strong friendships which would continue throughout their time at school. Thanks to
the companionship of Miss Preece, she had not realised how she missed having someone of her own age to go about with, but now she was determined to keep her friendship with Sally alive, regardless of the awkwardness caused by the Brimelow boys' mistaken belief that they had fallen in love with her.

And then there was her own recollection of that extraordinary ending to her day trip to Llandudno. She had been true to her vow to put the whole thing out of her mind, had honestly done her best to do so, but she had been unable to prevent the dreams. At least once every month or so, the dream would return. Once again, she would climb off the coach and watch it roar into the distance, then look round, only to find herself alone. As she had done in reality, she would panic, begin to cry, and then find herself addressed:
What's the matter, lass?

Sometimes the dream was caused by something which had happened to her in the real world; a moonlit walk, a windy night, even a film at the picture house. At other times the dream would bear little resemblance to the event itself. There would be fiery dragons, green, gold or glinting silver, which shot flame from their gaping mouths, threatening her, setting fire to trees and undergrowth; but before she could become seriously worried she would hear again that amused and mocking voice:
For tonight I'm St George, ready to slay any number of dragons to rescue a fair maiden. Would you care to mount my fiery steed, Miss Liverpool?

Only in this dream it was never a motorbike but a
great white charger, and she always woke before she could obey his command to mount.

The train drawing to a halt at Burscough Junction brought Hetty's mind abruptly back to the present. She picked up her suitcase and jumped down on to the platform. She had not expected to be met since she had been unable to even guess at her time of arrival, but as she began to walk along the lane which led to Uncle Matthew's house she saw Gran's small dumpy form ahead of her, and hurried to catch her up. Gran was burdened with two large shopping baskets and Hetty was just wondering why her grandfather had not accompanied his wife when there was a shout from behind her.

‘Dulcie, my girl, just you put those baskets down. I stopped to have a word with Freddie Mimms – he was coming out of the post office – and off you charged. And don't tell me those baskets aren't heavy, because …' He broke off, having drawn level with his granddaughter, and grinned at her. ‘Well, well, well, if it isn't our little Hetty! Now here's a dilemma: do I take that suitcase or relieve your gran of those baskets? If only I had two pairs of hands …'