Read Online The Tangling of the Web by Millie Gray - Free Book Online
Authors: Millie Gray
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would he have his own train, but he had also been asked to sing at a workmen’s club on Saturday night.
Throwing her arms around his neck, Sally chortled into his ear, ‘You’re joking.’
‘I’m not,’ replied Harry, disentangling himself from his heavily pregnant wife and giving her tummy an intimate pat. His eyes were now drawn to Maggie, whose expression made him feel uneasy, as if somehow he had no right to be demonstrating his affection for his wife.
* * *
Sally would always remember her mother’s funeral in Seafield Crematorium as one of the weirdest she would ever attend in her life.
There were flowers and speeches, but no one except Josie cried. What Sally didn’t know was that Josie wasn’t crying because she had lost her mother, it was because her mother had deliberately kept her in the dark about Roy’s mother’s letters. Josie was so distraught she was unable to stand for the committal of the coffin. Her thoughts were away in America, where she was sure her life would have been so wonderful with her daughter and Roy’s mother by her side.
Everyone returned to Iona Street for the boiled-ham tea. However, Sally felt spooked by her stepbrother Luke’s behaviour when he took every opportunity to secretly indicate by dragging his fingers over his neck that he wished to cut Sally’s throat. She had repeatedly told him that she hadn’t stood by whilst Paddy ended their mother’s life. But he had made up his mind that she had and, more importantly, that he would get even with her one day. This unreasonable behaviour resulted in Sally feeling she couldn’t get out of the house quickly enough and therefore she and her family were first to leave.
On returning to Elgin Terrace, the tension of the day still hung heavily with Sally so she busied herself in the kitchen, but her thoughts were still in Iona Street. Attacking the potatoes with a peeler, she vowed she would never ever enter that house again. But then that would be easy because from the day she and Peter had been evicted from it she had detested the place.
Before she knew it, it was nine o’clock in the evening and she was sitting at the table drinking tea with Flora and Maggie, just idly chatting about nothing in particular, when Josie flounced in.
‘Sally,’ exclaimed Josie, flopping down on the settee, ‘you’re never going to believe this.’
Flora and Sally exchanged a knowing glance. Maggie’s eyes flashed to the ceiling.
‘Well,’ continued Josie, apparently unaware of the reaction she was getting, ‘I held on after you left. You know me: the skivvy who’s always washing dishes and tidying up. But by five o’clock I’d had enough. Honestly, I just had to get out of there.’
Flora, Maggie and Sally all glanced at the clock before Sally asked, ‘But it’s gone ten; where have you been since five?’
‘Walking …’
‘You, walking?’ exclaimed Flora, who knew that Josie walked very little because she always wore shoes whose heels were so high that she tottered.
Josie huffed. ‘Yes: me, walking, because I was trying to get some sense into all that has happened these last few days.’ She paused. ‘And before I knew it,’ she continued emphatically, ‘I had joined the queue of the Palace Picture House in Constitution Street.’
‘Surely you mean Duke Street,’ Maggie was quick to suggest.
‘No. If you go in the Duke Street queue it costs either one and sixpence or if you really want in straight away and a comfy seat then it’s one and ninepence.’
‘Oh, so you ended up standing in the one and three queue?’
‘Yes, and that’s where it all started to get unreal.’ To her annoyance, her audience only glanced at each other and shrugged but no one verbally responded, so Josie babbled on. ‘My mind was far away on the funeral and everything, but I became aware that there was now a restlessness in the crowd and people were nudging each other and whispering, “It is her. No one could mistake that
Throwing her arms around his neck, Sally chortled into his ear, ‘You’re joking.’
‘I’m not,’ replied Harry, disentangling himself from his heavily pregnant wife and giving her tummy an intimate pat. His eyes were now drawn to Maggie, whose expression made him feel uneasy, as if somehow he had no right to be demonstrating his affection for his wife.
* * *
Sally would always remember her mother’s funeral in Seafield Crematorium as one of the weirdest she would ever attend in her life.
There were flowers and speeches, but no one except Josie cried. What Sally didn’t know was that Josie wasn’t crying because she had lost her mother, it was because her mother had deliberately kept her in the dark about Roy’s mother’s letters. Josie was so distraught she was unable to stand for the committal of the coffin. Her thoughts were away in America, where she was sure her life would have been so wonderful with her daughter and Roy’s mother by her side.
Everyone returned to Iona Street for the boiled-ham tea. However, Sally felt spooked by her stepbrother Luke’s behaviour when he took every opportunity to secretly indicate by dragging his fingers over his neck that he wished to cut Sally’s throat. She had repeatedly told him that she hadn’t stood by whilst Paddy ended their mother’s life. But he had made up his mind that she had and, more importantly, that he would get even with her one day. This unreasonable behaviour resulted in Sally feeling she couldn’t get out of the house quickly enough and therefore she and her family were first to leave.
On returning to Elgin Terrace, the tension of the day still hung heavily with Sally so she busied herself in the kitchen, but her thoughts were still in Iona Street. Attacking the potatoes with a peeler, she vowed she would never ever enter that house again. But then that would be easy because from the day she and Peter had been evicted from it she had detested the place.
Before she knew it, it was nine o’clock in the evening and she was sitting at the table drinking tea with Flora and Maggie, just idly chatting about nothing in particular, when Josie flounced in.
‘Sally,’ exclaimed Josie, flopping down on the settee, ‘you’re never going to believe this.’
Flora and Sally exchanged a knowing glance. Maggie’s eyes flashed to the ceiling.
‘Well,’ continued Josie, apparently unaware of the reaction she was getting, ‘I held on after you left. You know me: the skivvy who’s always washing dishes and tidying up. But by five o’clock I’d had enough. Honestly, I just had to get out of there.’
Flora, Maggie and Sally all glanced at the clock before Sally asked, ‘But it’s gone ten; where have you been since five?’
‘Walking …’
‘You, walking?’ exclaimed Flora, who knew that Josie walked very little because she always wore shoes whose heels were so high that she tottered.
Josie huffed. ‘Yes: me, walking, because I was trying to get some sense into all that has happened these last few days.’ She paused. ‘And before I knew it,’ she continued emphatically, ‘I had joined the queue of the Palace Picture House in Constitution Street.’
‘Surely you mean Duke Street,’ Maggie was quick to suggest.
‘No. If you go in the Duke Street queue it costs either one and sixpence or if you really want in straight away and a comfy seat then it’s one and ninepence.’
‘Oh, so you ended up standing in the one and three queue?’
‘Yes, and that’s where it all started to get unreal.’ To her annoyance, her audience only glanced at each other and shrugged but no one verbally responded, so Josie babbled on. ‘My mind was far away on the funeral and everything, but I became aware that there was now a restlessness in the crowd and people were nudging each other and whispering, “It is her. No one could mistake that
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