Songbird (41 page)

“These are Bob’s belongings,” Nora began. “It was a year ago, lass. I’m afraid he had another stroke, and this time they could do nothing to help him. He died in the ambulance. He had an earlier one — soon after Ellen left, it was. Oh, but he did fret over her, especially when she never contacted him after that.”

While Maddy was taking in the shocking news — both of Grandad Bob’s death and of Ellen’s disappearance — the old woman went on, “I suppose by rights these are Ellen’s, but as she isn’t here and you’re the next nearest thing he had to a living relative.”

She pushed them toward Maddy. “These are private documents — letters and such. I had to deal with his estate, along with the solicitor, as he asked me to after the first stroke, should anything happen. But I haven’t opened any o’ these.” She was adamant. “The official things I had to deal with — but the letters are personal things, d’you see?”

Maddy could not begin to cope with the news that her son had vanished all those years ago, with Ellen. A cold horror clutched at her. True, in her period of madness, she had not written, or given her new address in Bedford town, but she had pictured her boy growing up here, loved and nurtured by those two good people. It was another blow, another sorry illusion.

Putting her fears aside for a moment, she told Nora how sad she was not to have seen Grandad Bob for so long, but that there had been a lot of trouble in her life, and she had been unable to travel. The old woman could see from the threads of gray in her hair and the marks of suffering on her face that this was true.

Maddy felt Brad’s hand over hers, and she spoke calmly again. “It must have been so hard for you, Nora,” she said. “Thank you for your kindness to him, when we both let him down so badly.”

“Well, like I said, he had that first do just days after Ellen had gone. It got so he was having difficulty looking after himself, so in the end I persuaded him to move in here — as a lodger, you understand?”

In other circumstances, Maddy would have grinned at the thought of what Grandad Bob would have had to say about this. So Nosy Nora had got him in the end!

Number 8 Ackerman Street had been sold, and Grandad had turned most of his pension over to Nora, to pay for his keep. The £15,000 he had received for the house had gone into his bank account, and was still with the solicitor, while they attempted to find the beneficiaries.

The old lady leaned forward and lowered her voice confidentially.

“Just before his second stroke, you see, love, he asked for the solicitor to come and see him. Must have felt it coming on, I reckon. That was when he changed his will: he left half his money to you, and the other half to Ellen. He made me a token gift of his Rover, and do you know, I learned to drive an’ all! I even took him out in it a few times, although he was as nervous as a kitten.” She chuckled.

While Brad tactfully took Nora off to the kitchen to make another pot of tea, Maddy slowly opened the letters, one by one, praying for news of her son.

It was a good thing that she was fitter in mind and body then she had been in many years, for the revelations contained in this bundle of papers were about to turn Maddy Delaney’s life upside down. Again.

There was a letter to Grandad Bob from Ellen, dated a year ago, just before he had had his second stroke. The address was Ryde, in the Isle of Wight. As Maddy held the paper with shaking hands, she read Ellen’s message of love and contrition to her grandfather, trying to explain why she had done the terrible things she did — of abducting Maddy’s child and of deserting her beloved grandfather, stealing from him and lying to him. Michael had grown up bonny and bright, she wrote, and now she needed to make her peace with her grandfather, and also with her dear friend Maddy, whom she had never forgotten. She loved them both, and craved their forgiveness.

Please will you tell Maddy that her son is a fine boy of seventeen now
, she wrote,
and that I love him like my own flesh and blood.

While Maddy was trying to come to terms with all the emotions that arose when she read these words, she opened the next letter, and her heart nearly stopped with the shock of what it contained.

The letter, which was dated eighteen months ago, was addressed to Ellen. Grandad Bob had not opened it, and Maddy imagined that his health had prevented him from making contact with his granddaughter. For Bob Maitland, it had all happened too late.

The letter was from Raymond, the gentle giant from the Pink Lady club, and Maddy read it with amazement and disbelief, followed by a painful kind of joy.

Dear Ellen,
I have finally plucked up the courage to get hold of you, after all these years. I need to tell you what’s on my mind.
The thing is, Alice says it might be time now to tell Maddy the truth, since her tormentor was put out of his misery by another “good for nothing” at the prison some time ago. It was bound to happen, and I for one have no regrets about the demise of Steve Drayton. May he rot in hell, that’s what I say!
Anyway, Ellen, please get in touch. Alice would like Maddy’s address. She needs to break the news gently, so it won’t come as such a shock. But I’m sure Maddy will understand how we only made her believe that Alice had been killed, to keep her from coming back and putting herself and the baby in danger.
I hope she can forgive us, but I know it will be hard, and maybe too much to ask.
So many years have passed and no doubt many things have occurred, but I hope this letter reaches you, my dear. It’s time to put the past to rights. None of us are getting any younger, and we don’t know how much time we have left.
Lots of love — hope all is well with Maddy and yourself, and the boy.
Waiting to hear from you,
Raymond and Alice
XX

The news that Alice was alive more than compensated Maddy for the riveting shock she felt, at learning how the three people she loved had betrayed her.

She tried to think of Michael as he was now. Where had she been while he was growing up? For a long time she had been trapped in another place, in limbo, unaware of the world around her. The years had flown by, and she hadn’t even noticed. The most important thing in her life was to see her beloved son again, to hold him close, against her heart, where he belonged.

The news of Steve Drayton having been murdered lifted her spirits and made her utter a prayer of thanks. For too long she had remained in her own prison — one of fear. And today was the date of her release.

So justice had prevailed, and the evil punishments
he
had dished out to others over the years had come back to haunt him.

As Raymond so rightly said,
May he rot in hell.

Before they left, Maddy told Nora that she wanted no part of Grandad Bob’s money, and that she would instruct the solicitor to make it over to Nora, at the first opportunity.

The old lady could hardly believe it. “I need a new three-piece suite,” she confided with embarrassment. “I’ve had this one for thirty years; it sinks, you know, when you sit on it. And I could do with a new set of teeth!”

Both Brad and Maddy had quietly noticed these things, but thoughtfully kept the revelation to themselves!

Maddy was hopeful that the money would more than replace Nora’s sagging three-piece suite. In fact, she wouldn’t be at all surprised if Nora wasn’t able to get a whole new houseful of furniture, a new car
and
go on a well-deserved holiday into the bargain.

As for herself, in the years when she worked night shift at the hospital, she had saved most of her wages, using only a small portion for her own modest needs. So she had plenty of cash.

On their way out of Blackpool, Maddy and Brad stopped and bought a bunch of carnations, which they took to the small churchyard where Bob Maitland had been buried; at his grave, Maddy felt the sense of a life chapter closing. “Thank you for being a good friend when I needed one,” she told him, blew him a kiss, and said her goodbyes.

Though she would write to Nora and make sure she was all right, Maddy knew that she would never come this way again.

Maddy wondered if Brad needed to go back home before they set off on the second leg of their journey, to Southampton and the Isle of Wight. “I need to be wherever you are,” he told her lovingly.

Sue and her family were taking care of things, along with the other staff at Brighill Farm, and the veterinary practices all had their own teams running them, so the “Fielding empire,” as Maddy called it, could manage without him for a few days, Brad said. Although he wasn’t sure about Roxy, who was just as silly a four-legged creature as dear old Donald had been.

“Are you sure you’re up to making this trip, sweetheart?” Brad asked, as they settled themselves in the café-lounge on the ferry. He had watched Maddy slowly recover over the past weeks, and though she was truly well now, he was worried that the unsettling batch of news Nora had passed on might prove to be too much for her.

Maddy put his mind at rest. “I’ve been out of it for so long,” she reminded him. “I won’t rest, until all the pieces are back together.”

“I can’t wait to meet your son.” Brad had been told everything, and to his dying day he would regret not being there when she most needed him.

As they drove off the ferry, Maddy noticed a garage and shop at the end of the street. “If you pull over, I’ll go and get a map,” she suggested to Brad. “We need to find the way to Ryde. It can’t be too hard, as the island isn’t very big.”

Brad did as she asked, and drew in and parked.

As Maddy came out with her map, she was almost knocked flying by a burly figure of a man. “Sorry, missus. Born clumsy, that’s me,” he apologized. He was a cheery sort. “Ah! Bought yourself a map then?” he inquired. He pointed to it. “You could ’ave saved your money and asked me,” he said. “There’s not a place or a road on this island that I don’t know about.”

Maddy showed him the address. “I know the place well,” he informed her proudly. “Intending to stay there, are you?”

Maddy shook her head. “I’m looking for my friend. She moved here a while back.” She took her leave, anxious for them to be on their way, now that they were so close to her son. Wishing him well, she made her way back to the car.

Brad was just pulling out when he reached over to squeeze Maddy’s hand. “Somebody up there must be watching over you,” he said warmly.

Maddy was certain of it. “I know that.” She leaned over to kiss him. “Because we found each other again.” She loved him so much it frightened her.

When they reached the address on Ellen’s letter, they found a tidy little bungalow with a garden full of flowers. Shaking like a leaf, Maddy knocked at the door, but there was no reply.

The lady next door was busy clipping her front hedge. She gestured to Maddy, who went over to her, and saw that her garden was overflowing with gnomes.

“Is it Mrs. Drew you want, love? You’ll not find her in at this time o’ day. She’s at work.”

She told Maddy exactly where to find Ellen. “Down on the esplanade, there’s a café called The Beach Place. You’ll find her there most days. She works from seven of a morning right through till six at night, sometimes. It’s no wonder she had a bad spell in hospital a few months back — run right down, she was. But she was soon up and on her feet, and now that the boss is retiring, she’s made him an offer.”

She rolled her eyes to heaven. “God knows what makes her want to be in debt like that. But in a few years, she’ll be able to sit back and let others do the hard graft.”

A born gossip, the neighbor gave Maddy a true picture of what life was like for Ellen, and Maddy could not help but feel compassionate. “She came here long ago, as a divorcée, she told me, and she doesn’t appear to be interested in meeting anyone else. Her only real joy in life is that lad of hers. She worships the ground he walks on! As for young Michael, he would do anything for his mum. Every day after sixth-form college, he’s down there, helping her out, and in the morning he does a paper round to earn his pocket money. Ah, but there’ll come a day when his mother’s debt is paid and he’ll be looking to build up a business of his own. The lad is ambitious enough, that’s for sure.”

Having thanked her, Maddy and Brad strolled down the steep road toward the café. Maddy felt as though her heart would burst with the tension.

Staying far enough away to get the lie of the land, she soon spotted her old friend Ellen. She was thinner than Maddy remembered, and slightly stooped from all the bending and carrying. She seemed well enough though, tanned and pretty, chatting to the customers and taking their orders. But there was a terrible fatigue about her.

Suddenly, a tall young man appeared. He was wearing a school blazer and carrying a bag full of books.

“Look, Brad!” Breathless with emotion, she drew his attention to the young man. “My head tells me not to leap to conclusions, but my heart tells me this is my son, lost to me all those years ago.” There was an odd mingling of pride and awe in her voice which now shook with emotion.

Brad could make no response. He felt like an intruder, at the scene of this drama, yet unable to tear himself away. With his immediate concern for Maddy, he gazed down on Ellen and the teenager, and he was deeply touched by the affection that flowed between them; just like the bond between a mother and her son.

Maddy saw it too. She saw how Ellen’s face lit up at the sight of this young man; the coveted baby who had been stolen all those years ago. Her heart was sore when she saw how he hugged his “mother” and chatted to her, each of them so content in the other’s company. There was no denying it. Ellen had seemed like a woman at the end of a long road, tired and weary, going about her work like a robot. Yet, when the boy appeared, it was as though she had suddenly come alive.

A great feeling of longing came over Maddy. She wanted to run and hold her son, and tell him who she was, and how desperately she had missed him. But then she watched them a while longer, these two; Ellen, who had no other love than that for the boy she had cared for from the beginning as if he was her own. And the young man, so easy in Ellen’s company; to all intents and purposes, she was his mother. It was painfully obvious to Maddy that he loved her deeply, in that very special way that a boy can love his mother.