Liverpool Love Song by Anne Baker Read Free Book Online

kitchen table with a sigh as the front door banged behind them. ‘Not much fun for you, Rex, I’m afraid,’ she said, echoing Chloe’s words.
    He thought it had been rather a stiff and uncomfortable occasion. Helen hadn’t relaxed. Chloe had been her usual self and done more than her share of seeing that everybody was served. But it had been hurtful to see Adam here again and to know they’d arranged to spend the rest of the afternoon together. It seemed he was becoming an established boyfriend and that would end any hope Rex had.
    ‘Let’s have that coffee Marigold stopped me making,’ Helen said. ‘You could do with a cup, couldn’t you, Rex?’
    He’d been thinking of going home to nurse his wounds and read the Sunday papers, and didn’t answer quickly enough.
    ‘Well I’ll have one anyway,’ she said, switching on the coffee pot. ‘I need something to keep me sane.’
    ‘Yes please,’ he said belatedly. ‘The ladies were having an off day. You mustn’t let that get you down.’
    ‘It’s mostly how they are. All their days are off.’ He could see her hand shaking and knew she was upset. He thought perhaps they’d had a family tiff.
    She sniffed into her handkerchief and said in a confidential tone, ‘I don’t have an ordinary family.’
    He’d been about to say ‘I don’t either,’ but bit the words back.
    ‘I suppose you’ve guessed,’ she said. Her eyes, full of misery, looked up into his.
    ‘Guessed what?’
    ‘Marigold is my mother.’ There was a catch in her voice. ‘She had me when she was sixteen. She was never married.’
    That took his breath away. ‘But Mrs Darty – don’t you call her mother?’
    He wished he hadn’t said that, it made him sound unfeeling.
    ‘I was brought up to believe she was. It’s habit, I suppose. Chloe calls her Gran. I do try to do the same, but sometimes I forget.’
    Rex felt tongue-tied. What did one say to such a revelation?
    ‘I was fourteen when I found out. They were having a row. Gran was angry and said enough to set me thinking.’ Helen’s voice shook; he knew she was only just able to control her tears. ‘Eventually I screwed up my courage and asked Marigold. She had to tell me then.’
    Rex did his best. ‘That was a terrible way to find out. It must have been a shock.’
    ‘Yes.’ She nodded. ‘I wasn’t who I’d thought I was, and my family wasn’t either.’
    Rex had known from the beginning that Helen was emotionally fragile. ‘I did think they seemed very old compared to you.’ He jerked to his feet to pour out two cups of coffee, then pushed one in front of her. ‘Drink this, it’ll make you feel better.’
    She was mopping at her eyes.
    ‘All that has come out from behind the net curtains, Helen,’ he went on. ‘This is the sixties, there’s been a rebellion against Victorian values. These are the days of flower power. There’s no shame attached to your situation these days.’
    ‘But there was in 1921 when I was born. Illegitimacy was a very shameful thing and it’s been eating into all three of us ever since.’
    He understood how corrosive that sort of thing could be. ‘No blame could be attached to you. You were the innocent baby.’
    ‘Marigold blamed me. Still does.’
    ‘Yet her mother did it to shield her. To give her a better chance in life.’
    ‘But it didn’t. Having me left her paralysed. Held her in limbo. She’s done nothing with her life.’
    ‘That’s up to her, not you.’
    ‘I don’t think Gran realises how much it’s affected her. Marigold can’t stand men in general. She thinks they’re all bad. Did you notice she was a bit offhand with you?’
    Rex had, but he shook his head.
    ‘As a family, we couldn’t come to terms with it. Gran blames herself for not taking greater care of Marigold.’
    ‘What about Marigold’s father? Didn’t he help?’
    ‘No, I never knew him. Gran married a seagoing man, an officer in the merchant navy. All went well for the first few years,