Apple of My Eye Read Free

wink which he returned.
    ‘You start school next year, Ronnie. Are you excited?’
    ‘Yes, Auntie Mabel.’
    ‘Are you going to work hard and make your mother proud?’
    ‘Yes, Uncle Bill.’
    ‘Good boy.’
    Anna paid for the notepad and pencil. ‘Thank you for the chocolate. You’re both so kind.’
    ‘A pleasure,’ Mabel told her. ‘Take care, dear. Look after your mother, Ronnie.’
    ‘I will, Auntie Mabel. Goodbye, Uncle Bill.’
    ‘Goodbye, Ronnie.’
    ‘Poor girl,’ said Bill once Anna and Ronnie had left. ‘Can’t be easy for her.’
    ‘Especially living with that awful Vera Finnegan.’ Mabel shook her head. ‘I’m just thankful the father wasn’t a Negro. Imagine if Ronnie had been coloured like Elsie Baxter’s friend’s baby. Yesterday Elsie was telling me …’
    ‘You spend too much time gossiping with Elsie Baxter.’
    ‘That’s because it’s more fun than gossiping with you, Mr Keep-your-nose-out-of-other-people’s-business.’ Mabel’s expression became thoughtful. ‘I don’t think Anna would change anything, though. She absolutely adores that boy.’
    ‘He’s a good lad. Mark my words, he’ll make her proud one day.’
    Friday evening. Anna followed the other secretaries out of the typing pool and into the yard of Hodgsons can factory.
    It was full of men, smoking, laughing and radiating the good cheer that came with the end of the workingweek. Some wolf-whistled as the more attractive secretaries approached. Judy Bates, a lively blonde of eighteen, blew them a kiss. Ellen Hayes, an older secretary, shook her head disapprovingly. Ellen thought Judy the sort of girl who would land herself in trouble. She had once said this to Anna over a cup of tea before realizing to whom she was talking and hastily changing the subject.
    Anna walked with Kate Brennan, a cheerful girl the same age as herself. As they crossed the yard Kate was hailed by Mickey Lee, a machine operator. Kate touched Anna’s arm. ‘Have a nice weekend. Give Ronnie a kiss from me.’
    ‘I will. You have a nice weekend too.’
    Kate hurried towards Mickey, her slim figure giving no indication of the baby she had borne five years ago. An illegitimate girl, fathered by a soldier just as Ronnie had been. The child had been adopted and Kate never talked about her now. Acted as if she had never existed. But sometimes Kate would stare at the tiny picture of Ronnie that Anna kept on her desk and a troubled look would come into her eyes. There for a moment and then gone, replaced by a smile and a joke about nothing in particular.
    As they approached the gate, Anna saw Harry Hopkins, a small, serious man of about thirty. Three years earlier Harry had started taking her out, and after six months had asked her to marry him. Though not in love, she had been fond of Harry and willing to build a future with him. Until that moment when he had said,very gently, that it wasn’t too late to have Ronnie adopted …
    Their eyes met as she passed. Each smiled, then looked quickly away.
    Stan stood at the gate, wearing the suit that hung much less comfortably than the overalls he had once worn. He had a minor managerial role now and sat behind a desk all day. Anna knew that he would be happier back on the factory floor but neither hell nor high water could have persuaded Vera to renounce her new status as a manager’s wife.
    Together they passed through the gates and up the road towards Hesketh junction. To the right was Baxter Road and the other narrow streets full of tiny houses with outside toilets, packed in together like sardines. Until last year that would have been their route. Now they turned left, towards Moreton Street and the more prosperous area occupied by the aspiring middle classes of the town.
    Stan told her about the events of his day, trying to make them amusing. He was no comedian but she laughed to make him happy. Five years ago it had been Stan who had supported her decision to keep Ronnie, refusing to throw her