The Tangling of the Web by Millie Gray Read Free Book Online

into Sally’s hand. ‘What’s this?’ she asked, peering into the bag.
    ‘Things of Mammy’s. Dear Paddy,’ she spat through gritted teeth, ‘thought now that Mum was gone they really belonged to us. Tossed them out the door after me when he threw me out for no good reason other than …’ Josie allowed her voice to trail off and she had the grace to blush slightly when she acknowledged she was not telling Sally the truth. No way could she bring herself to say, Look Sally, he evicted me because he said he only put up with me squatting at Iona Street because Mammy was dying. But now she is gone he wished me to know that he knew all about the slur I had put on his reputation. He even added that he knew the truth about me and if I wasn’t careful to stay out of his sight he would tell everyone that I was nothing other than a lying, conniving slut.
    ‘Oh look, Josie, here in the bag is a bundle of letters addressed to you.’ Sally flicked through the bundle to make sure they were all for Josie and halfway through she gasped. ‘And most are from America.’
    Wrenching the bundle from Sally’s hand, Josie sat down and opened the first letter. ‘Dear Josie,’ it read, ‘I know that, like me, your heart will be broken today. How cruel it was that my lovely son was killed in an automobile accident on the day he landed in France.’
    Josie, her breath coming in short pants, rose up and, clutching the letters close to her bosom, ran from the room and into the bathroom. Sally immediately followed her but found that the bathroom door was firmly shut and locked. ‘What’s wrong, Josie?’ she pleaded, banging on the door. ‘Let me in. You know you can tell me anything.’ But the door stayed firmly closed.
    Sitting on the lavatory seat, Josie first put the letters from Roy’s mother into date order and only then did she begin to read them. The first letter had shaken her and she wished she had confided her pregnancy to Sally. Had she done that she knew she would not be in the position today where she regretted her hasty and unnatural behaviour. The second letter only added to her distress in that Roy’s mother had written that only now, some four months on, had she received her son’s belongings and in it were Josie letters. She wished Josie to know that she was thrilled to learn her son would live on through a grandchild. Mrs Yorkston wrote that she would be delighted if Josie would travel to America, where she would be cherished and looked after, as would the child when he or she arrived. The third letter was pointedly critical of Josie’s actions. Mrs Yorkston wrote that she had been in touch with the home in Morecambe and that Mrs Coggins, the matron, had advised her that Josie had given birth to her granddaughter. And for some reason that was beyond her comprehension, Josie had chosen not to keep the child and had handed her over for adoption, which was to take place very soon. ‘Why could you not have trusted me?’ the letter chided. ‘All I want is to be able to love my son’s child and be part of her life.’
    Josie was now consumed with regrets and guilt. Trusted you, Mrs Yorkston? I was fifteen, terrified and alone. You say that you wish you could have been part of Roy’s child’s life. Do you think I don’t? Don’t you realise that never does a day go by that I don’t think of her? Worry about her? Wonder if she’s having a happy childhood? Pray that it’s not like mine was? No love. No laughter. All I ever knew were tears and abuse.
    Sally’s insistent banging on the door again and demanding to be let in brought an end to Josie berating herself. Reluctantly, she rose up and unlocked the door.
    ‘Look, Josie,’ Sally began as she dragged Josie into an embrace. ‘I’ve just been talking to Flora and she says it’s natural you’re upset, very upset, about Mammy dying. I didn’t realise that, even for us, that it would be such a sad day when you lost your mother. Okay, she wasn’t the