CHAPTER 42
‘Sorry I’ve got to leave so early, but Carlton needs to get back as he’s got a shop-fit tonight,’ Josh told Rosa the next morning. He omitted to add that he had also promised Lucy a late Valentine’s meal.
‘It’s fine. The Cockleberry Coven have actually asked me round for Sunday lunch.’
‘What’ll that be then - eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog?’ Josh’s Shakespeare quip went right over Rosa’s uneducated head.
‘Euw. Stop it. I was rather hoping for roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Now, do you want me to ring the taxi man and see if he’s free?’
‘Yes, please, we should have done it last night, I guess. Carlton said I need to be up at the station by ten.’
‘No worries if Ralph’s not free. Seb Watkins takes a fiver for some trips for extra cash as he’s always up and down for work.’
Hot came running into the kitchen and jumped up at Josh’s leg. ‘Aw, he seems so much more himself.’
‘Yes, he does, thank goodness. Jacob is going to run me up to the vet’s in the morning just to check him over once more.’
‘Little scamp.’ Josh picked him up gently and put him over his shoulder. Hot started to lick his face vigorously.
‘Er . . .’ Josh placed him down on the kitchen floor promptly and rubbed the wet from his ear and cheek.
When Josh had gone, Rosa had a tidy-up, then went down to the shop to check on her stock levels. She smiled as she saw the half-empty baskets and now depleted row of leads on the rack. It had been such fun taking actual cash for her very own business. She was aware that it would be hard work and that every Saturday probably wouldn’t be quite as busy, but at least she knew now what she had to do, and it was just a case of doing it and doing it well.
Back upstairs, thinking she’d climb back into bed for a bit before she got ready for lunch, she decided to get the letters down from their hiding place and have a read. ‘Ooh yes,’ she said aloud. ‘Let’s see what Naughty Ned was up to.’
With Hot asleep at her feet, she unfurled the pile and began to read.
15 August 1954
My Darling T
It’s been two months now since I’ve seen you and I really cannot bear it. They’ve put a new telephone box on the jetty, just below ‘our place’ on West Cliffs. The number is Cockleberry 7875. I will be there at 6 p.m. this Sunday. Do promise me you will call, I have to know if you are well.
Dotty has taken a turn for the worse. Despite it being a year already since her last miscarriage and the hysterectomy, she cannot come to terms with the fact that she will never give us a family together. The doctor has been coming in daily, but we can’t seem to pull her out of such a deep depression.
I know it seems daft, but she needs her friend. I need a friend. I know that one night we overstepped the mark, but I couldn’t resist you. My love for you is so strong, T. But I have a responsibility to my wife now too. Please understand.
I hope you can find it in yourself to call me on Sunday.
Meet me where the sky touches the sea.
Your loving Ned X
Rosa was now transfixed by the real ongoing love story.
21 August 1954
Dearest Ned
I’m hoping you receive this before Sunday as I don’t feel I can talk to you at the moment. The guilt and pain I feel with regard to Dotty is eating me up, and as much as I want to be in your arms, it is for her and her alone that I am going to come home for a weekend. I then will be going straight back to London as I cannot bear to be near you, but not with you.
Who would have thought that true love could be so painful? And, all the time I sit here thinking of you, I also have to think of myself and my future. There is no way you can leave Dotty when she is in this sort of state, and the repercussions will be so great if you do, that we are in a difficult situation whatever happens.
We have to end whatever this is now, Ned: it is not healthy for any of us. I can sell the cottage, move away, start again in London.
Meet me where the sky touches the sea.
Your T XX
Rosa felt exhausted just feeling the pain between the lines. She couldn’t imagine what the lovers were going through emotionally. What an awful situation to be in. She wondered why the letters were still there, but then they had been so well-hidden. Maybe Ned just got old and forgot. It was like reading a book, but she knew the ending already. In a macabre way she now wanted to know not only how the story panned out, but also how Dotty had died. From Queenie’s reaction it can’t have been good. She had to keep on reading.
1 Sep 1956
My Darling T
The joy of seeing your beautiful face at the weekend was almost too much to bear. And whatever you did to uplift Dotty’s spirits, well, it’s been like a wonder cure. I’ve never seen her so animated as when you left. What did you say to her?
This still does not counteract the fact of how much I still miss you. Having you so close and not being able to caress your soft skin, or kiss those rosebud lips of yours was sheer torture.
Come home, T. If Dotty can come through her depression, and I think we may be seeing the start of her recovery now, then maybe she will be able to cope with ‘us’ and we will have a future.
Meet me where the sky touches the sea.
Your ever-loving Ned X
Rosa checked her watch; she still had an hour before she had to be at the Coven. When Hot made a little ‘feeping’ sound, she leant down the bed to stroke him, then carried on reading.
5 September 1956
Dearest Ned
This is probably one of the most difficult letters I will ever have to write in my life.
You asked me what I said to Dotty. Well, I told her that I am pregnant, and that that is the reason why I’m staying in London. And it’s true. How shameful am I? A baby out of wedlock - and no, Ned, it’s not yours. I am thirty, after all, and I couldn’t wait forever. Nobody knows me here, so they can say what they want.
Rosa’s mouth fell open wide. ‘I don’t believe her,’ she said to Hot, and continued reading.
I’m so, so sorry to break this to you in a letter. I will forever love you, Ned, but I will forever love Dotty too, and she is too good a woman to have her heart broken by the two people who love her the most.
Meet me where the sky touches the sea.
T XX
Rosa scrabbled to find the next letter, but it was just a blank bit of paper.
No. Surely that wasn’t it? Bloody hell. The mystery remained.
Poor Dotty, and poor Ned. And also, poor Teresa. It would have been hard in the 1950s to have a child out of wedlock - and nobody had ever mentioned that Ned had had a child down here, so what on earth had happened? She was sure that Seb had said Ned had died with friends around him, as he had no family. And what about T? She would have to ask Queenie now, there was just too much left unanswered.
A text message brought her back to reality. It was Joe.
Hey sexy shop owner, fancy a bite to eat later? Can be with you at 7 x?
Rosa sighed. With everything that had been going on, she hadn’t even thought about Joe. She replied: Hey sexy sleuth, that sounds like a great idea! See you then x.