burden of her family lifted from her, allowing them both to get on with their own lives. He couldn’t believe he’d been so badly mistaken. Aidy was looking at him now with such shock and disillusionment that panic ran through him. He saw a gulf widening between them that was in danger of becoming unbridgeable. He saw his life without her in it and the thought was unbearable to him. He would agree to anything, suffer it all in silence, sooner than lose her.
He beseeched her, ‘Aidy, please, forget what I suggested! It was only a thought. I … well, I don’t know what I was thinking, even suggesting it. Of course I’m willing to help you. I love the kids and your gran, you know that. I’ll do anything you want so long as we’re together.’
She eyed him coldly. ‘But you did suggest it, Arch, and I can’t forget you did. You’d sooner the kids and Gran lived a life of misery with the likes of … of … that man, than you be lumbered with them.’ She swallowed hard to stem the flood of miserable tears that threatened to choke her. ‘You’re not the man I thought you were.’ Finding she had nothing more to say to him, she heaved a deep sigh before adding, ‘I’ve a family to look after. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to them.’
Arch couldn’t believe it was all over between them. His thoughts raced wildly, frantically searching for a way to turn this situation around. Nothing but pitiful excuses materialised. In pure desperation, he blurted, ‘Which you can’t do without my help, Aidy. Without my wage packet, you’ll all be on the streets in no time.’
She gasped, hurt filling her at this lack of faith in her abilities. Her eyes brimming with contempt for him, she hissed, ‘Oh, can’t I? Well, I’ll show you that I don’t need your money. And now I’ve seen you for what you really are, I don’t need or want you either.’
She shot over to the door. Catching him offguard, she gave Arch a hard shove on his shoulder. He stumbled back out of the doorway into the yard, and the next thing he knew the door was slammed shut in his face and he heard the key turning in the lock.
Numb with shock, he stared blindly at the closed door. He’d come here tonight to save his marriage; instead he had managed to end it. Aidy had left him in no doubt that there was no going back for them. His broad shoulders slumped in despair, he turned and walked from the yard.
In the back room, the sound of raised voices had roused Bertha from sleep. She had recognised them immediately and hope had soared within her that her beloved granddaughter and her husband were resolving their differences and putting their marriage back on the right track again. But that hope was instantly dashed by the tone of their voices, especially Aidy’s, and she knew that her wish for a reconciliation between them was not going to be granted. When she heard the slamming of the back door, and moments later the sound of Aidy weeping, her own heart broke then for the sorrow she knew her granddaughter was suffering. Bertha wept herself back to sleep.
CHAPTER NINE
Aidy pulled a length of thread from the back of the sewing machine and clipped it neatly off with scissors. She gave the collar she had sewn a smooth out and then ran a keen eye over it. It wasn’t the usual perfect result, but hopefully the beady-eyed examiner would feel the very slight mistake she had made, in not tucking the pleated trim far enough into the seam, was not bad enough to fail it. To unpick and redo it would set Aidy further back with her daily quota than she was already.
She’d leaned over to pick up the completed body of a dress and begin attaching the collar to it when she realised her forewoman was standing by her, looking down at her with concern. Aidy looked back up at her worriedly, wondering what she had come to speak to her about, hoping it wasn’t what she suspected it was.
Imelda Hardwick was becoming increasingly worried about Aidy. Since her mother’s death, her output and the quality of her workmanship had gradually declined, despite several warnings about it. Her personal tragedy had happened over five weeks ago, long enough for Aidy outwardly to come to terms