Josephine Cox Mother’s Day 3-Book Collection: Live the Dream, Lovers and Liars, The Beachcomber. Josephine Cox
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… then … nothing. Later, when I woke up in hospital, they told me they were all gone … my wife, the children … all gone!’
Leaning forward, he put his hands over his face and tried to shut it out, but the memories were too vivid. ‘Whoever drove us over that cliff meant to kill us.’ He was sure of it. ‘For some reason I may never know, he wanted us all dead.’
Shocked to her roots, Kathy asked softly, ‘I don’t understand … Why would anyone want to kill an entire family?’
‘I’ve no idea. I’ve racked my brains and I don’t understand it any more than you do.’
‘Did they find him?’
Tom shook his head. ‘It wasn’t for want of trying. The police did all they could, and so did I … as much as I was able. But neither the car nor the driver were ever found.’
‘And you can’t rest until he’s hunted down, that’s it, isn’t it?’ Kathy felt a sense of relief, though it was mingled with fear for his safety.
‘Yes.’ He was glad he’d told her. ‘I gave up my job, sold the flat, and moved here to West Bay, hoping to find some sort of peace,’ he confessed. ‘But there will never be any peace, until I find out … who? And why?’ A terrible anger filled his soul. ‘I want him hanged for what he did.’
Kathy felt his hatred. It was like a physical force. ‘You said you couldn’t see the driver?’
‘Not clearly, no.’ He was intrigued. ‘Why? What are you getting at?’
‘Well, if you couldn’t see the driver … how can you be certain it was a man?’
Startled by her comment, he looked up. ‘My God! You’re right, it could have been a woman! It could have been anyone!’ That idea had never occurred to him, but now, thanks to Kathy, it was something else to bear in mind.
‘You’re going back, aren’t you?’ Kathy could see it in his eyes. ‘You came here to heal, and now you’re going back to try and find whoever did it?’
‘I have to.’ His soft smile was reassuring. ‘But not yet. I’m not ready yet.’
‘When?’
‘Very soon. My mind’s beginning to clear. I can almost think it through without everything clouding over. But, if I’m to track the bastard down, I need a little more time. I need to control the hatred.’ He shuddered with emotion. ‘Right now, the hatred is controlling me.’
Getting up onto her knees, Kathy looked him in the eye, her voice tender when she asked, ‘Then, will you be able to –’ she hesitated to ask after what he had just told her, but the words needed to be spoken – ‘do you think you’ll ever be able to love again?’
‘Oh, my Kathy …’ Reaching out, he cupped her face in his strong, gentle hands, and, looking down into her eyes, he whispered the words she had wanted to hear. ‘There’s nothing I’d like more in this world than to make a life here, with you. But it has to be right … everything in its place.’
For no reason she could imagine, Kathy began crying – soft, wonderful tears that fell down her face and wet the palms of his hands. ‘I love you,’ she murmured. ‘Don’t go.’ She was so afraid for him. ‘There’s someone out there who wants you dead. Don’t go, Tom. Please … don’t go.’
He leaned forward, his face almost touching hers, his warm breath fanning her face. ‘I have to. You must know that.’ Looking at her now, seeing the love and concern she felt for him, he would have given anything to stay, but he couldn’t. The time to go was almost on him.
She nodded, and now, as she began to speak again, he slid to his knees and, caressing her face, drew her closer, his arms strong about her and his mouth closing over hers; in that precious moment, the love between them blossomed.
Though it was wrong of him, he wanted to make love to her there and then, but his emotions were too stirred.
They kissed and talked, and though she wanted him with every nerve in her body, Kathy knew it wouldn’t be right. But their time would come, she told herself, and when it did, God willing, they would have their whole lives together.
As he held and caressed her, Tom yearned to take her to himself; there was a minute when his hands slid down her dress and brushed her breast, and all the manhood in him cried out for her. But then he slumped back, the images of his wife and family tormenting him. ‘I can’t.’ He wondered if he would ever be free. ‘Forgive me, Kathy. It’s too soon.’ His one terrible fear was that the demons of that day might never leave him.
Kathy didn’t speak. Instead she wound her arms about him, and there, on the floor of the boat, gently rocked by the rolling movements of the water, they sat and talked, and it was a tender, unforgettable thing. ‘We love each other,’ she murmured, gently kissing his neck, his face, and then his mouth. ‘We can wait.’
‘I’ll make it up to you,’ he promised. ‘When it’s all over, I swear to God, I’ll make it up to you.’ Wrapping his strong arms about her, he drew her to him. It felt good; with her head resting on his shoulder and the warmth of their bodies mingling, he thought there could be no more heaven than this.
For a long time they lay there, content in each other’s company, the silence broken only by the sound of water lapping against the harbour wall outside.
The gentle rolling movement lulled their senses, and, for now at least, anxiety fell away, and all was well with the world.
MAGGIE WAS ON her second warning. Being a cinema attendant was her third job since Kathy left and, though she loved it, she could not seem to keep out of trouble. Now, having been hauled before the manager yet again, she was defending her action. ‘The little sod needed throwing out! I told him time and again and still he wouldn’t listen. How can anybody watch the bleedin’ film with kids shouting and bawling all over the place?’
‘Be quiet!’ At the end of his tether, the manager observed her through narrowed eyes. ‘Just look at yourself!’ He had made many mistakes in his time, but never as bad as when he gave this one a job. ‘You’re a disgrace!’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean … you’re too … too …’ Shrugging his narrow shoulders, he couldn’t quite think of the right words. ‘You just don’t make the right impression on the customers.’ Seeing her now, bristling with defiance, wild black hair tumbling around her face with its crimson lips, he despaired. ‘For a start you’re made up like a tart off the streets; you’re forever arguing with your workmates; and you’re always finding fault with the customers. Jesus! I’ve lost count of the number of people you’ve thrown out … often for something as trivial as getting out of their seats to go to the toilet!’
Maggie bristled. ‘That’s not true. If you’re talking about that man who caused a riot when he stood up in the row, he was getting ready for fisticuffs with the man behind … it weren’t my fault if he kept kicking him in the backside every time the film got exciting.’ She let out a throaty laugh. ‘Besides, he were a big bloke. I’ll have you know I took my life in my hands when I threw that one out.’
‘Enough!’ The manager waved his hand. ‘All that aside, what about the times I’ve caught you in the best seats up there in the gallery, blatantly watching the film instead of tending to the people downstairs.’
Leaning back in his seat, he groaned. ‘Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t finish you here and now?’
‘Because I’ve got you by the short and curlies, that’s why!’ Maggie had a way with words. ‘If I was to tell your wife what we get up to after everybody else has gone home, she’d string