Megan of Merseyside (17 page)

‘It is worrying when the weather conditions are so bad but the worst is over now,’ she said quickly as she became aware that he was waiting for her explanation.

‘Since it is almost April let us hope you are right.’ He smiled. ‘Perhaps what you need is a holiday. You haven’t had any time off since you started working here, have you, Megan?’

‘No. I wasn’t due for any holidays last year.’

‘I shall be away myself for about a week at Easter, so you can take a couple of extra days off then, if you wish.’

The more Megan thought about taking a holiday the more she liked the idea. It would be wonderful to visit Beddgelert and see all her old friends.

She decided to write to Jennie and Gwyneth right away to see if she could stay with either of them for a few days.

She pictured the look of surprise there would be on Ifan Jenkins’ face when she drove up in her own car. Jennie replied by return of post. Excitedly, Megan told her mother about what she was planning to do.

‘Drive all that way!’ Kathy Williams exclaimed, worriedly. ‘Do you think you should … The weather may turn bad again.’

‘Nonsense! After such a terrible winter we’ll probably have a run of good weather now.’

‘It’s such a long journey, though …’

‘Stop fussing, Mam! Dad goes a hundred miles some days,’ Megan interrupted.

‘He’s not on his own, though. If anything should go wrong then Robert is there to help sort things out.’

‘You’re not suggesting I should ask Robert to go with me, I hope,’ Megan shot back, pulling a long face.

‘I’d feel a lot happier if you did.’ Her mother smiled. ‘I still don’t know why you dislike him so much.’

‘I don’t dislike him, I don’t want to go out with him, that’s all.’

‘Well, it’s your choice, of course, but he won’t wait for ever, you know,’ she said with a sigh.

‘What do you mean?’

‘A man of his age must be keen or he would have taken up with someone else long before this. It’s you he wants. It’s written all over his face. He’s
a
different person when you’re around. Surely you must have noticed?’

‘Stop it, Mam! You’re talking a whole load of nonsense,’ Megan said crossly.

‘No, I’m not! He never takes his eyes off you when he’s here. And look at the way he’s always giving you presents. Hardly a week goes by without your dad bringing home something Robert has sent for you. Books, ornaments, scarves, flowers … It’s never ending.’

‘And I wish he would stop it.’ Megan frowned. ‘I don’t want half the stuff, anyway.’

‘That’s as maybe, but it proves how much he thinks about you. Doesn’t that mean anything at all to you?’

‘Not really … I’ve never given it much thought,’ she added evasively.

‘Our Lynn’s right,’ said her mother. ‘You are naive! If you can’t see that he’s trying to win you over then you must be blind. You could do a lot worse, you know. He’s good-looking, has his own house and a well-paid job and he thinks the world of you.’

Megan clamped her hands over her ears to shut out Kathy’s diatribe. She didn’t want to listen to her mother going on and on about Robert or about his feelings for her.

Perhaps if she knew about Miles she’d understand why I’m not interested in Robert Field no matter how hard he tries, Megan thought ruefully. Yet what was the point of talking about it when there wasn’t really anything to tell.

She’d be more than ever convinced that I was
naive
if I told her that there hadn’t been a single word from Miles since he’d returned from London. Or if I told her how he ignores me when he sees me at work and used to only meet me after dark in some out of the way place, Megan thought dispiritedly.

Determinedly, she put the matter from her mind and concentrated on planning her forthcoming holiday. The more she thought about it the better she liked the idea of getting right away from Merseyside, even if it was only for a few days.

She had so much to tell her old friends. Although they’d all promised to write to each other, they hadn’t done so, except for cards at Christmas and the one she’d sent to let them know her new address when they moved to Wallasey.

She wouldn’t mention Miles, she decided. Not at first, anyway. She’d tell them about the problems Lynn seemed to have pinning Flash down to any commitment first and see what they said about that.

It was much the same situation, she thought unhappily. She had lost count of the number of times Lynn had asked her to go to the Stork Club or the Copper Kettle to meet Flash, and each time it had been a wasted journey.

‘You shouldn’t tell him I’m coming to meet him. He’s probably shy.’

‘Tell him he’s going to meet you, you must be kidding. That’s the last thing I’d do! He doesn’t even know I’ve got a sister. I don’t intend to let on who you are. I’ll just say you’re a friend.’

‘Why?’ laughed Megan. ‘Are you ashamed of me or something?’

Lynn shook her head. ‘He’ll probably think you’re quite la-di-da when he hears you talk. He’s posh himself in a way, mind, but it might put him off, though, if he knew we were related.’

‘Or he might be afraid you are getting too serious.’

Lynn shrugged and pulled a face and Megan suspected that she’d caught her sister on a raw spot.

‘What does he do for a living?’ she asked casually.

‘I don’t know, he never talks about it. Something down at the docks, I think. His time seems to be his own, I never know when he’s going to pop into the café. Lately it’s mostly been at the weekends.’ She sighed dramatically. ‘That’s half the excitement … Seeing him when I least expect to do so.’

‘Why don’t you bring him home and let us all meet him?’

‘Megan! He’s not the type to sit around drinking tea and making polite conversation. He’s a bundle of laughs, always doing outrageous things.’

‘You mean when he’s high! I thought you promised me you would keep away from drugs,’ scolded Megan sternly.

‘I’m not the one on them, idiot,’ snapped Lynn angrily. ‘The only trips I take are carrying trays backwards and forwards. I don’t need pepping up.’ She grinned, her grey eyes flashing. ‘I get all the excitement I can take from the people I meet at work every day.’

‘I wish I could believe you,’ Megan muttered.
‘It’s
dangerous, Lynn. Once you get hooked you can’t break the habit and you need more and more and more of it.’

‘Rubbish!’

Their arguments always stopped at this point because Lynn would change the subject.

We’re a funny family, Megan thought ruefully. Dad and his concern over work, Mam with her shopping trips, and Lynn with her crush on Flash.

There would certainly be plenty to tell Gwyneth and Jennie! She could imagine their faces when she told them about what went on at the Copper Kettle and the Stork Club and that she’d been to dances at the Tower Ballroom. The three of them would probably sit up half the night talking.

As she tidied her desk before leaving for the night she found herself thinking that the visit to Beddgelert in a few days’ time could be a turning point for her. It would clear the cobwebs from her mind. When she came back it would be like starting afresh.

I might even change my job, she told herself, and look for something more challenging since there are plenty of opportunities in Liverpool.

Her reverie was disrupted by sounds from the general office. Her heart beat faster as she recognised Miles’ voice. Emotions she had almost convinced herself were dead came bubbling back to life.

Desperately, she tried to ignore them, but the familiar voice and deep laugh stirred too many memories for her to do so.

Instinctively, she smoothed her hair into place.
On
the one hand she wanted to escape before there was any chance of them meeting. On the other she was delighting in the fact that she was wearing a smart red suit and a crisp white blouse.

As the door opened and Miles came through into her office her breath caught in her throat. It was months since she had seen him and he seemed to be even more attractive than she had remembered.

Dressed in grey trousers, a tweed jacket and a blue shirt that matched the intense blue of his eyes, his masculine appeal was devastating. His wide smile and casual greeting, as though they had only seen each other a day or so ago, left her speechless.

‘I hear you’re off to North Wales for Easter.’ He grinned, his blue gaze hypnotising her. ‘We’re going to our place in Mostyn over the holiday,’ he told her. He lowered his voice. ‘That’s only about twenty miles from Beddgelert so why don’t we meet up?’

‘See each other …’ She stared at him, bemused, colour staining her cheeks.

The desperate hours of heartache; the sleepless, tearful nights; the harrowing doubts; the hopes that had buoyed up her spirits and the misery of rejection that had so often sent them crashing, churned inside her.

Had she been wrong? Perhaps the months of separation had been as poignant for him as they had been for her. Dare she believe that now, at long last, he intended to bring their friendship into the open?

‘I’d like that, Miles,’ she told him eagerly. ‘Which day would you like me to come over to Mostyn?’

‘Are you mad!’ His raised eyebrows ridiculed her assumption.

Too late she realised she’d mistaken his meaning. Her anger flared. How dare he treat her in such a cavalier fashion. Once she might have felt flattered that he wanted to see her and agreed to whatever arrangements he might make. Now she felt enraged.

‘I … I’m not prepared to go on meeting you secretly,’ she told him vehemently. ‘I … I’m sure your father knows about us …’

‘What have you been saying to him?’ The cold rasp in his voice, and the look of anger on his face, alarmed her.

Before she could answer, Miles grabbed her arm. ‘Come on … what have you said?’ He bristled, his face only a few inches from her own, his mouth a hard ugly line.

‘Let go! You’re hurting me, Miles.’

Savagely, he pushed her away, turned on his heel and strode off, slamming the door behind him.

Her feelings were in turmoil. She wanted to call him back, assure him that she hadn’t said a word to his father. Trembling, she sat down at her desk, holding her head in her hands, trying to control the ache in her heart and the shivering in her limbs.

All the time he had been away, Miles hadn’t even sent her a postcard, hadn’t phoned her once. And now he calmly walked back into her life and expected to renew their friendship as though he’d never been absent. It was a game she wasn’t prepared to play. In his absence she’d had to learn to control her emotions, conceal her heartache and
present
an efficient face to the world. It had made her less vulnerable and more aware of her own value.

She had no idea of how long she sat there, deep in thought. She was still trying to analyse her feelings when Olive popped her head round the door to say she was going home. She stared at Megan with unconcealed curiosity. ‘Is something wrong or are you working late?’

‘Why, what time is it?’ Megan glanced towards the window; the sky had darkened and grey clouds had built up as if a storm was imminent.

Megan shook her head then looked at her watch. It was almost six o’clock. She’d been sitting there for well over an hour.

Savagely, she rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes. She’d meant every word of it when she’d told Miles she wasn’t prepared to go on meeting him in secret. Why did they need such a subterfuge? she asked herself as she covered up her typewriter and picked up her handbag.

As she was leaving the office the phone rang. She hesitated. Should she let it ring or ought she to answer it? she wondered. It might be Mr Walker phoning from Manchester … or even Miles ringing to apologise.

Chapter Eighteen

AT FIRST, MEGAN
thought the phone call might be a hoax. Replacing the receiver she sat staring at the pad in front of her, rereading the message she had taken down. It had been rather like taking dictation. Although she had written down the words, and checked they were correct by repeating them back, she had been completely detached from their meaning.

Now, reading them over for a second time, the full impact of the message was like a physical blow.

Inform Mr Martin Walker that his son, Miles Walker, has been involved in a road accident and has been taken to Liverpool General Hospital
.

It must surely be a hoax, Megan decided. The caller had claimed to be from the police, but he hadn’t given his name or rank, or even left a phone number.

Not that she had asked, she thought, uneasily.

She read the message through again and a shudder went through her. It must be true, no one would joke about something like that, she told herself.

Not unless it had been Miles!

Had he deliberately disguised his voice to try to frighten her … some sort of sick retaliation
because
of their quarrel? Was he trying to make her feel guilty …?

She knew she was wasting time trying to work it out, but she felt so undecided about what to do. She didn’t want to contact Mr Walker and have him come hurrying back from Manchester on a wild goose chase. Perhaps if she phoned the hospital they could confirm if it was true.

As she waited for the receptionist to check the admission register she tried to convince herself that was a hopeful sign and that Miles wasn’t there; that it had been a hoax after all.

When the girl eventually confirmed that a Miles Walker had been admitted, Megan found herself shaking so violently that it was only after she had put the phone down that she realised she hadn’t asked for any details. She had no idea whether Miles was seriously hurt or not.

Pulling herself together she decided to ring the hospital again, then changed her mind and replaced the receiver.

That was only wasting time, she told herself. It would be better if she tried to contact Mr Walker right away since it would take him at least an hour to get back from Manchester.

He’d left a series of telephone numbers where he could be located. It took three calls before she tracked him down. Even then she couldn’t speak to him because he was in a meeting.

Reluctant to leave a message in case it didn’t reach him, she asked the receptionist to get Mr Walker to phone her the moment he was free.