Megan of Merseyside (8 page)

Her defiant attitude angered Watkin. Usually, he ignored her sulks and moods, but this was more serious. The time had come to take a firm stand, he decided grimly.

The following day, when Robert Field suggested to him at work that they might all like to go to a New Year’s Eve dance at the Tower Ballroom in
New
Brighton, Watkin turned down the idea.

He didn’t care for dancing himself, he explained, and Kathy had gone down with a heavy cold after their walk on Boxing Day. He went on to tell him about Lynn and that he deemed it a good way of punishing her.

‘That means Megan is being made to suffer as well,’ Robert pointed out. ‘Why not let me take her on her own? I’m sure she would enjoy it.’

‘Perhaps you’re right,’ agreed Watkin. ‘Mind you have her back home before midnight, though.’

‘On New Year’s Eve! Surely she can stay and see the New Year in,’ protested Robert. ‘We’ll leave right afterwards,’ he added quickly. ‘They’re running extra boats and buses so there won’t be any problem about getting back here.’

Megan was rather taken aback when her father told her what had been arranged. ‘It sounds too grand for me,’ she demurred. ‘I’ve nothing suitable to wear.’

‘Then you’d better go out and buy yourself something,’ he told her in a conspiratorial whisper and slipped a crumpled five pound note into her hand.

‘Thanks, Dad!’ Her dark eyes widened with delight. Then her face clouded. ‘Won’t our Lynn be awfully upset if I go and she has to stay at home?’

‘Her turn will come when she’s old enough. You are out working now, so it’s time you started having a life of your own.’

‘Whose idea was it … this dance, I mean?’ Megan persisted, frowning.

‘Don’t worry, I haven’t been doing any matchmaking,’ he assured her. ‘Robert wanted all of us to go but when I refused he suggested you might like to go with him. He’s a nice fellow, Megan, so go and enjoy yourself. Give 1925 a good start. Now run along and buy that dress before all the shops are shut.’

The Tower Ballroom was quite the grandest place Megan had ever been in. It stood about a hundred yards from New Brighton Pier and Megan felt quite nervous as she walked off the boat with Robert and saw what an imposing building it was.

Once inside the ballroom her excitement increased. The shining parquet floor was already crowded. On a raised stage at one end of the room a five-piece orchestra was playing popular dance tunes which she enjoyed, and coloured beams of light from a revolving central chandelier played on those who were dancing.

Megan was glad she’d done as her father had suggested and bought something new to wear. She felt very elegant and glamorous in her sleek full-length, deep-blue evening dress, with its floating panel of light-blue chiffon.

Although Robert had told Lynn that he didn’t like jazz very much, he was quite an expert when it came to the more traditional dances like the Fox Trot and the Waltz.

By the time the interval came, she felt quite exhausted. When Robert led her across to one of the small tables on the edge of the dance floor and told her to sit there while he went to fetch some
refreshments
, Megan was more than happy to comply.

With a sigh of relief she sat down and slipped her aching feet out of her shoes.

‘Someone been dancing on your toes?’

Megan’s heart flipped at the sound of a familiar voice. She looked up, startled. Miles Walker, looking incredibly handsome in flawlessly cut evening wear, with a frilled white dress shirt, was standing there.

‘Whatever are you doing here?’ she gasped.

‘I could ask you the same thing,’ he countered, his vivid blue eyes studying her with amusement.

Before she could answer, Robert returned with their drinks. For a moment the two men stared at each other in silence, then with a brief nod Miles nonchalantly walked away.

Megan felt deflated. She scanned the crowded ballroom, trying to spot him, wondering who he was with, desperately willing him to come back and ask her to dance.

Up until that moment, she had been having a wonderful time, but now she found herself comparing the two men. Miles, darkly handsome, dominant and dashing; Robert so solid and reliable.

She had to admit that she felt very comfortable and relaxed in Robert’s company, but Miles was a challenge. His brilliant blue eyes mesmerised her, arousing feelings that were new and strange to her.

Commonsense told her that Robert was by far the more dependable of the two men, but she was
drawn
to Miles. He excited her even though she suspected he was selfish and egotistical. She already knew he was quite prepared to do an about-face if it suited his purpose, as he had the day when he’d ignored her in the office.

At the stroke of midnight, the lights dimmed and a piper circled the ballroom while outside bells, bugles and sirens, from ships lying at anchor in the Mersey, sounded their noisy greeting to the New Year in a wild cacophony of sound.

When Robert kissed her on the cheek and wished her a happy New Year, Megan closed her eyes and thought of Miles.

As her warm, sweet breath cascaded over him, Robert held her more tightly. He felt stunned by the overpowering reactions she created in him.

The magical moment ended abruptly. Someone tapped him on the shoulder and before he knew what was happening he was pushed aside and Megan was swept out of his arms.

The vast crowd had become delirious. Megan found herself whirled from one to the other as complete strangers hugged and kissed and wished each other a happy New Year.

‘I wonder what 1925 has in store for
us
.’

Unbelievably, she found herself in Miles’ arms. His intense blue eyes were unfathomable as she looked up at him.

The noise, the cigarette smoke, and even the crowd all faded into the background as she slid her hand around Miles’ neck. With her fingers entwined in his crisp dark hair, she pulled his face closer clinging to him, waiting for him to kiss her.

His lips trailed across her cheek, then hovered tantalisingly above her eager mouth for an intolerably tormenting moment before they met hers.

As he kissed her, his lips hot, hard and demanding, she felt an uprush of emotion. She closed her eyes, savouring every second. Then he was gone, swallowed up in the melee, leaving her dizzy with desire.

Chapter Nine

LIKE HER MOTHER
, Lynn loved everything about Liverpool. She found the huge buildings were far more inspiring than towering mountains; the murky grey Mersey more fascinating than the crystal clear Glaslyn. The noisy, never-ending stream of traffic, mingled with the wild cries of seagulls when rough seas drove them inland, excited her, made her feel alive.

Most of all, she enjoyed being a part of the thrusting, jostling crowds. The city never seemed to sleep. After dark, when everywhere was lit up by the street lights and shop window displays, it was sheer magic.

Ever since she had been very young, and her mother had told her stories about the great bustling seaport that had been her home, Lynn had dreamed of coming back there to live.

One of Lynn’s most vivid memories was the occasion when she had been about nine and Kathy had brought her on a visit to Liverpool to see her grandmother. The busy streets with their huge, clanging trams, the crowds and all the wonderful shops had made a lasting impression.

Inside the semi-detached house where old Mrs Miller lived, everything had been neat and orderly with starched lace curtains at all the windows. The
bedroom
had smelled of lavender and moth balls.

Lynn remembered how every piece of furniture had gleamed and there had been little crocheted mats under all the ornaments so that they wouldn’t scratch the polished surfaces. As well as a rug in front of each armchair, to protect the patterned carpet from people’s feet, there were also embroidered covers on the back and arms of the chairs. Lynn remembered lifting one of them to peek underneath and had been startled to find the colours were so much brighter that without them the chairs would have looked like patchwork.

Everyone had shushed her to silence when she had asked where Grandad Miller was. Afterwards, her mother had explained that he’d gone to heaven a long long time ago. A few weeks after they returned home to Wales, she was told that Grandma Miller had gone to join him.

After that, whenever possible, Lynn would cajole her mother into talking about her childhood in Liverpool. She never tired of hearing about the days when Kathy had lived in Anfield and she would listen with rapt attention, seeing it all as clearly as if she was living there herself.

‘It was lovely out there, away from the docks, yet you could be right in the centre of the city in next to no time,’ Kathy would say dreamily.

Sometimes, Lynn would try to hurry her past these details of her early years, eager to hear what happened after her mother had left school.

‘Those were the days, I can tell you,’ Kathy would say and sigh ecstatically. ‘Nights out, going dancing, and taking trips over to New Brighton
on
the ferry boat with Ruby Adams. She was my best friend at school and we started work together serving in a grocer’s shop.’

Lynn’s eyes would shine with delight when they reached this part of the story. ‘Go on, Mam,’ she would beg, ‘tell me about when you met Dad.’

‘Well, I was almost seventeen by then and Ruby and me were having some real fun. We knew it couldn’t last for ever so we decided to make the most of it while we could. For a start we decided to change our jobs and become barmaids.’

Although she had heard it a dozen times before, Lynn never tired of listening to the account of how her parents had first met. Kathy’s face would soften, her eyes grow dreamy and there would be a pause before she started speaking again as if she was inwardly reliving the occasion.

‘One day Watkin came into the Angel, the pub where we worked, with a bunch of young sailors. They were only in Liverpool for one night as they were due to sail on the morning tide.’

‘Go on, Mam,’ Lynn would beg, hanging on her every word. ‘Tell me how old he was and what he was like. Did you both fall in love at first sight?’

‘Well, he was different from the others who came in with him. He was older for a start and he had an air of authority about him. The others didn’t stay long, they wanted a bit more excitement than the Angel had to offer. As soon as they had finished their pints they were off. Watkin went on sitting there, smoking a cigarette, and I could feel his dark eyes following my every movement.
When
I went over to clear his table he asked me what time I finished.’

‘And he was waiting for you and you went to the State Restaurant and had a crazy night out before he sailed away next morning. I know that bit,’ Lynn said impatiently. ‘Tell me about after that, when he came back to Liverpool again.’

‘I’d given up working at the Angel by then and when he asked after me they couldn’t even tell him where I lived.’

‘And you met by chance, as if fate had decreed it,’ Lynn breathed rapturously. ‘It’s so romantic!’

‘I was walking down Lord Street,’ her mother went on, ‘and there he was coming the other way. We just stopped and stared at each other. We couldn’t believe our eyes, either of us. Then we were hugging and kissing each other and before I knew what was happening he’d asked me to marry him.’

‘Exactly like a fairy tale,’ Lynn said with a sigh.

‘Yes, it was,’ agreed her mother. ‘I’d never thought to see him again, I can tell you.’

‘Had you thought about him a lot?’ Lynn pressed.

‘I certainly had … night and day,’ her mother assured her.

‘Fancy loving someone that much,’ murmured Lynn dreamily.

‘He was never out of my mind,’ repeated her mother with a deep sigh.

‘You should have waited and not had a baby right away.’ Lynn frowned. ‘Then I might have been the eldest or perhaps your only daughter,’ she added mischievously.

Kathy was not to be drawn.

From that point it was a closed book. No matter how skilfully she framed her questions, Lynn never managed to find out anything at all about the early days of her parents’ marriage. Kathy always changed the subject.

Now that they were back in Liverpool, Kathy would often point out places she had known as a girl, or the changes that had taken place in the city centre since those days.

The shops, though, Kathy was the first to admit, were the biggest attraction for her. There were so many new ones and she was never happier than when they were going round them. C&A in Church Street was her favourite.

Lynn preferred Woollies or one of the markets, because the clothes they sold were so cheap compared to Hendersons or Lewis’s. Even so, she would have spent a fortune in them if she’d had it.

As it was, she usually managed to wheedle money out of her mother to buy something new, as long as she promised not to let her father or Megan know. When they reached home she would hide away whatever she had bought, ready to wear the next time she went to the Stork Club.

Lynn loved the atmosphere there. Unlike Megan she felt carried away by the jazz beat and then everything else was obliterated from her mind.

No two visits were ever the same. She reached dizzy heights of happiness on the occasions when Flash was there. Her heart would thunder crazily and she’d be as talkative and exhilarated as if the air was filled with contagious excitement.

Kathy felt vaguely uneasy when Lynn talked incessantly about Flash, remembering what had happened to her when she’d been not much older than Lynn.

‘Watch your step with this boy,’ she warned. ‘You are still at school and we don’t want any problems.’

‘I only go dancing with him,’ Lynn protested hotly. ‘You can’t get into much trouble doing that in the Stork Club because it’s far too crowded!’ she added with a cheeky grin.

‘You’d like him, Mam, you really would!’ Lynn told her enthusiastically. ‘He’s absolutely great!’ she added dreamily. ‘He’s ever so good-looking. Tall, with black wavy hair and blue eyes and he dresses really smart …’

‘You’d better not let your father hear you going on like you do about this boy,’ interrupted her mother. ‘He’s already said you’re not to go to the Stork Club and if he found out you were defying him by nipping in there in your lunch hour then he might very well put his foot down and stop you going out of the house altogether.’