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Shirley wouldn’t see her wistful smile. She’d been sixteen when she’d started walking out with Archie Kelsey, even though it had been in secret to
start with; her mother had not approved.
    ‘He’s a working man now. I just hope she’s a nice girl, that’s all.’
    Shirley smirked. ‘Oh, she’s nice all right.’
    Now Edie didn’t try to contain her interest. ‘You know her, do you?’
    ‘Yes – and so do you.’
    ‘Me?’ Edie raised her eyebrows. ‘I don’t know any girls Frank’s age except . . .’ She stared at Shirley. ‘Oh no! You don’t mean it’s –
it’s . . . ?’
    Shirley nodded. Now she was getting the reaction she’d wanted.
    ‘Oh well, now, I don’t know about that.’ For a brief moment, Edie was still and then, throwing her mending aside, she stood up. ‘I’ll have to have this out with
Lil.’
    ‘It’s late, Mam. Aunty Lil might have gone to bed.’
    ‘I doubt it,’ Edie said grimly. ‘She always sits up to wait for Irene coming home and if you say she’s out with Frank and he’s not home yet, then neither will she
be.’
    ‘What about your—’ Shirley began, but Edie was gone, out of the back door and through the door in the fence. ‘Cocoa?’ Shirley said to the empty room. Already she
could hear the sound of Edie banging on Lil’s back door, the sound echoing through the night air.
    Shirley finished her drink, set her mug down and followed her mother, catching up with her just as Lil opened her back door.
    ‘Whatever’s the matter?’ she asked at once, her eyes dark with fright. Fisherfolk didn’t like late-night knocks on their door.
    ‘It’s all right, Aunty Lil, it’s nothing very terrible, but Mam’s got summat to tell you.’
    Edie grasped Shirley’s arm firmly. ‘Well, now you’re here, miss, you can do the telling, seeing as you’re the one who’s seen it for yourself.’
    ‘Seen what?’ Lil asked.
    ‘Let’s get inside, Lil, and we’ll tell you.’
    ‘Oh sorry, Edie. Come in, duck. I’m not thinking straight. You’ve got me worried. I thought it was bad news.’
    ‘’Pends how you look at it. It’s about Irene.’
    Lil drew in a startled gasp, but as Shirley added, ‘And Frank,’ the woman’s anxiety turned to puzzlement.
    ‘I – don’t understand.’
    ‘Shirley’s just been to the pictures with some of her friends from school – a gang of them went – and she saw your Irene and our Frank—’
    ‘Sitting in the back row—’
    ‘Kissing.’
    Lil’s mouth dropped open as she glanced from one to the other. But then she began to smile. ‘Well, that’s nice,’ she began, but sensing Edie’s disapproval, she
faltered. ‘Isn’t it?’
    Edie shook her head. ‘They’re too close.’
    ‘More like brother and sister,’ Shirley put in slyly.
    ‘They’ve grown up together.’
    Lil was frowning. ‘I don’t see that that matters. I – I think it’s lovely. Childhood sweethearts. What could be more romantic?’
    Edie wriggled her shoulders. She hadn’t reckoned on Lil disagreeing with her. ‘Tell you what, we’ll not say owt to them – not yet. We’ll wait till Archie gets back.
See what he says.’
    ‘All right, but . . .’ Lil agreed reluctantly. She was more than happy with the news. She’d spent sleepless nights worrying that her pretty daughter might get in with the wrong
crowd or start going out with someone totally unsuitable. She was very relieved to hear that Irene might be falling in love with the boy next door, the boy whom Lil already loved as a son. What
could be better? But Edie didn’t seem to think so and though Lil, at the moment, couldn’t understand why, she hoped this wouldn’t come between her and her dearest friend.
    ‘And I’ll write and tell our Beth,’ Shirley said. ‘She’ll talk some sense into them. They’ll listen to her. And Laurence. I’ll write to him an’
all.’
    As Lil closed her back door behind her departing neighbours, she was thoughtful. She couldn’t