A Daughter's Choice by June Francis Read Free Book Online

Southport. I never thought to ask the name of it.’
    Ben forced himself to concentrate on what his mother was saying. ‘You should tell our Mick.’
    â€˜I can’t! I don’t feel up to explaining the whys and the wherefores, why I did what I did and why I’ve never told him.’
    â€˜There’s always been the chance it would come out.’
    â€˜So why didn’t
you
tell him?’ parried Kitty.
    Ben shrugged. ‘It wasn’t my secret, and it was what you wanted.’
    â€˜And you know why!’ She leaned closer towards him. ‘There’s still a stigma to illegitimacy. I don’t want her being ashamed of who she was
and
I still think I was right to do what I did. She’s turned out well, hasn’t she?’
    â€˜Yes, but …’ Ben hesitated. ‘If you’d told Mick, he might have gone looking for Celia, they could have got married and then Katie would have been legal.’
    â€˜It’s too late to think like that,’ said Kitty crossly.
    Ben did not think so. If Mick and Celia got together again it would leave the way clear for him and Sarah. What a thought! Suddenly he found his appetite and the discontented droop to his mouth lifted. ‘What if you’re right, though, Ma? And this Miss—’
    â€˜Turner.’
    â€˜â€“ Miss Turner
is
Celia? What if she comes back?’
    â€˜Don’t even think it!’ There was utter dismay in Kitty’s eyes.
    Ben was about to say sorry when the door opened and Mick entered. ‘I told her to come back later,’ he said.
    Immediately Ben forgot about Miss Turner. ‘I hope you’re not playing Sarah along?’ he snapped.
    â€˜Why should you care?’ Mick’s eyes fixed on his brother’s face and his gaze was intent. ‘She hasn’t exactly treated you like the bee’s knees.’
    Ben’s hands curled into fists and he leant across the table, growling, ‘Has she said anything to you about me?’
    Mick said mildly, ‘Keep your hair on. Do you think I’d be spending my time with a woman listening to her talk about
you
? Grow up! Where’s my dinner, Ma? I’m starving.’
    Ben wanted to punch him in the face but knew that wouldn’t do. They weren’t kids any more. Then he thought of Miss Turner and whether she and Celia were one and the same and had a brainwave. He was going to search for the mysterious Miss Turner, and when he found her and proved her to be Celia, he would bring her back here.
    The difficulty was he did not know the name of the hotel where she worked, but that shouldn’t prove impossible to find if he used his nous. For a moment he considered the upset it would cause and almost changed his mind, but then he thought about Sarah and the constant heartache he lived with and of the fury he felt towards his brother. It would be one in the eye for Mick! As for his mother, she had lied from the best of motives and surely Katie would realise that? And if it proved to be that Miss Turner was not Celia, then no harm was done and Ben would have lost nothing by searching for her but his time.

Chapter Three
    Celia Mcdonald hurried in the direction of the level crossing which divided the working-class Upper Aughton Road, where she lived, from the more affluent Lower Aughton Road. The barriers were down and she waited patiently for the Southport-Liverpool train to pass, watching as it rattled over the crossing in the direction of Birkdale Station. In her mind’s eye she imagined it passing the golf course and sandhills towards Ainsdale, Formby, Crosby and Waterloo. She visualised passengers alighting at Litherland and Seaforth, and remembered the overhead railway, or Dockers’ Umbrella as Liverpudlians had nicknamed it. She pictured the line of docks as the train approached the city, the tobacco warehouse and Bibby’s factory, and could almost smell the oily odour of seeds and nuts being