Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection

Velvet trotted away and Luke turned and smiled at Amy. It was a smile that lit his whole face and she could see that he was truly happy.

‘That was beautiful,’ she said, recalling how the deer had fed so trustingly from his hand.

‘Beautiful,’ he agreed, but it was her he was looking at.

A moment passed between them and then Amy looked away. ‘I have to go now,’ she said.

‘Amy … not yet, please?’

Something in the tremor of his voice, or it could have been the lonely look in his eyes, made her hesitate. Before she knew it he had wrapped his arms around her and the warmth of his body was pressing against her. At first his kiss was hesitant; then, when she did not reject him, his arms tightened about her and his lips were more demanding.

Reaching up, she wound her arms round his neck, giving herself, wanting more than she should, but when the want grew to a desperate need she pushed him back.

‘No!’

‘Amy –’

‘No, Luke, we mustn’t … I can’t. Please, you know it’s wrong.’

‘No, Amy, it’s not wrong. Don’t you see –’

‘You’re married!’ She raised her voice and stepped away as he made to hold her again. Though her voice had broken on the words she knew she had to go on and say what she felt. ‘You’re a dear, kind man. I’ve had a lovely time today, but now I have to go home.’

‘But, Amy,’ he took a step towards her and took her hands in his, ‘here’s where you belong. Here, with me.’

‘Luke, you know that can never be,’ she said softly. ‘You know …’

Dejected, he swallowed and cleared his throat.

‘Yes, yes, of course. I’m sorry. It was stupid of me even to think …’ He looked away, out to the woods. After a minute or two in which they both stood in silence, he turned back to Amy. ‘Come on, let’s get you back. Your friend Daisy will have missed you this morning, and I don’t want you getting into trouble with your mam either.’ He smiled a brave smile and hand in hand they walked back inside the cabin to make the fire safe before leaving.

It was, Amy thought that night, lying in bed and reliving every moment, like the most wonderful dream – right up to the moment when she pulled away from the kiss.

And a dream was what it must remain, she had told Luke gently as he’d driven her back to Blackburn. She would not go to the cottage again.

She snuggled down in her bed, straightening her thoughts and her resolve. He was Luke Hammond, wealthy businessman, married to a wife who wasn’t well. She was Amy Atkinson who worked in a corner shop. She must never again behave as if he wasn’t married.

Oh, but the kiss had been so tender, so loving …

Amy chided herself, don’t you start thinking of kissing Luke Hammond any more. It can lead nowhere except to unhappiness.

Dim November ran into December and, to everyone’s relief, the weather took a turn for the better. ‘It’s like a summer’s day out there.’ Ted Fogarty was crooked as an old bent tree and twice as gnarled. ‘If I were thirty year younger, I’d be tekking you out on a picnic.’ He winked at Amy, who laughed at his cheek.

‘If you were thirty years younger, I wouldn’t even be born,’ she said.

‘All right then,’ he conceded, ‘fifteen years.’

‘That’s no good neither,’ Amy teased, ‘because fifteen years ago, I’d be about ten, and you’d be had up for child-snatching.’

The old fella laughed out loud. ‘I can see there’s no winning with yer, so I’ll be off.’ With that he departed the shop, leaving Amy and Marie chuckling. ‘I bet he were a randy old devil in his time,’ Marie remarked.

‘Nice, though,’ Amy said dreamily. ‘I can imagine he were a real gentleman. I bet he treated his women like china dolls.’

‘Mebbe, but it wouldn’t do for me,’ Marie answered thoughtfully. ‘I never did like a man who was afraid to be himself when he had a woman on his arm.’ She straightened her shoulders and prepared herself for the next customer, who by now was approaching the door. ‘I like to know that what I’m getting is the genuine article, warts and all.’

She giggled like a schoolgirl. ‘I remember the very night when I decided your father were the one for me.’ A wave of nostalgia brought a little smile to her homely face. ‘We’d been to the pictures and were strolling home eating fish and chips. There’d been a terrible downpour and the streets were riddled with puddles. A horse and cart went by and splashed your father from head to toe. Before I could stop him, he were running up the street, shaking his fist at the driver and using language I’d never heard afore in my life. By! It was enough to mek your hair curl.’

Amy was confused. ‘And how did that make you decide to wed him?’

‘I knew straight off,’ Marie declared indignantly. ‘I mean, I wouldn’t have liked it, if he’d just carried on eating his fish and chips as though nothing had happened, dripping wet and silently fuming yet saying nothing, just ’cos I were there.’

Stretching herself to full height, she went on. ‘He were angry and he let it be known. After he’d stopped the cart and given the driver a piece of his mind, he came back to me and apologised for the language. I forgave him there and then, took him home and lent him a set of my father’s clothes. From that day on we never looked back. Y’see, lass, I knew what I were getting with your father, and I liked the fire in him.’

Amy understood. Honesty and trust were vital to a relationship. Luke’s handsome face leaped into Amy’s mind, as it had done many times in the month since she’d been to the cabin. As long as he was married there could be no honesty, indeed, no future in loving him. ‘All I can say is, whatever made you decide to wed our dad, it was the best thing you ever did.’

Just then the doorbell rang as the young woman breezed in; dark hair flowing and coat flapping open, she looked like she’d been through a wind-tunnel. ‘I’ve run out o’ Fairy Snowflakes,’ she said breathlessly, ‘I’ll take two packets, one for now and one for the cupboard.’

‘You look like you’ve been running,’ Marie commented as she served her. ‘Come far have you?’

‘Far enough!’ The woman was obviously not in the mood for conversation. ‘How much is that?’

‘Ninepence-halfpenny if you please.’

‘Hmh! You’re a penny dearer than the Co-op.’

‘Is that so?’ Marie had been in a good mood but now she was fighting fit. ‘Well, I’m sorry, but that’s the price. D’you still want it or not?’

The woman was positively bristling. ‘Of course! How else can I do my washing?’

She thrust the coins onto the counter, snatched the two boxes of Fairy Snowflakes, and dashed out of the shop.

Amy was flabbergasted. ‘You were a bit harsh weren’t you, Mam?’ she remarked. ‘That might well have been a regular customer in the making, and now you’ve frightened her off.’

Marie chuckled, ‘I don’t know what came over me,’ she said. ‘It must be your father’s influence.’

A moment later, the woman returned. ‘I need a bar of carbolic,’ she announced, ‘I got all the way to Ackeroyd Street before I remembered.’

Marie was ready for an argument and before she got the carbolic she informed her, ‘That’ll be a tanner.’

‘That’s all right.’ The woman counted out six pennies. ‘This is a pleasant little shop,’ she said looking around, ‘I dare say I’ll be back again.’ Before hurrying away, she bade them each a friendly ‘Good day.’

‘There you are, lass,’ Marie pointed out. ‘That proves what I’ve just been saying. Folks get suspicious when you pretend to be something you’re not. Besides, when she made that cutting remark about the Co-op, it got me off on the wrong foot.’

That evening after the shop was closed and tea was over, Amy went upstairs to get ready for her Saturday evening out with Daisy, Jack and Roy. According to Daisy ‘the Tuesday man’ hadn’t been in the café since last month. Amy herself had stayed away on Tuesdays with the excuse that the shop was busier than usual in the run-up to Christmas, though she had been sure to meet up with Daisy in the evenings and at weekends, knowing how Daisy valued these escapes from her home life.

Amy thought again about what her mother had said. ‘Folks get suspicious when you pretend to be something you’re not.’

That was what Luke Hammond had done – pretended to be something he was not. He had pretended he wasn’t married, and, however tempting, she must never again behave as if this were true.