Chapter 14

It was a grey day in February as the train approached Leicester. Belinda Masters – Captain Belinda Masters – Linnet – was tense. Her lover and fiancé, Jamie MacAllan, was painfully aware of her discomfort and took her hand.

"Goldie, my love..."

She looked at him, biting her lip.

"We don't have to do this if it's going to be painful for you."

Her lips quivered a little. "We've come this far ... and I think you're right; I need to do this. I need to give them a chance. If they reject me, well, I'll still have you ... and Jenni, Ted, Grace and the others, the barges, the sea."

He squeezed her hand. "I didn't intend for it to be another test for you, though."

"It is my family, Jamie. If you had not said you wanted my father's blessing, I wouldn't have tried again, but now, I can do no other."

The shop was the same ... but different; there was a ramp up to the door, which was wider; metal shutters, at that time retracted into boxes above windows and doors, had been fitted. Inside, things seemed ... brighter, somehow. Linnet, followed by Jamie, walked to the counter where a girl of about her own age was perched on a stool reading a magazine. Linnet could only see a mop of dark, curly hair. She cleared her throat and the girl looked up. "Lindy!" "Lisa!" they spoke together and then there were several moments of confusion as they both tried to ask questions at the same time before Linnet shut herself up by main force.

"What happened to you?" the girl asked.

"I ran away to sea!"

"Not really?"

"Really, really!" Linnet turned and took Jamie's hand. "This is my fiancée ... Jamie MacAllan."

"Wow! You're getting married?" The girl looked at Jamie and ducked her head, blushing, but looked up. "You'll be wanting your parents..."

"Well, yes and no..."

"They're both out at the moment, but I expect them back any time."

It was the best part of an hour, in fact, filled with chatter interrupted by customers, many of whom recognised Linnet and asked where she'd been; her reply, as to Lisa, "Oh, I ran away to sea." Often, to people she'd known quite well, she introduced Jamie as her fiancée. None stayed long, though and although they'd all congratulated her, she felt it was all a polite nothing, that she had, in fact, moved on and no longer belonged there.

When her parents arrived, there was an initial moment, a shocked pause, before they schooled their expressions into blank neutrality. Linnet thought, though, that there was no anger there. When they invited the pair upstairs to the apartment above, she nodded slightly and smiled at Jamie.

Her father turned to Lisa, "Sorry to do this to you, pet, when we've just got back, but can you continue to hold the fort?"

The girl smiled warmly, "Of course, Mr. Masters. No problem, I'll be fine."

To Linnet's surprise, her father smiled back, "I don't doubt it, dear, but I don't want to take you for granted."

Upstairs, the living room was at once familiar and strange; it had been redecorated and was lighter; some of the furniture had changed. Linnet's mother offered, "Tea ... or perhaps you'd prefer coffee?"

Jamie looked at Linnet who had a moment's indecision, remembering the very indifferent instant coffee her mother had kept. 'Oh, well, the caffeine would be okay. I suppose I can get the stuff down.' "Coffee would be good, Mum," she said.

Her mother looked at Jamie, "I think I'd like tea, if I may," he said.

Linnet, Jamie and Linnet's father looked at each other in an awkward silence as her mother busied herself in the kitchen. When she returned, it was with a tray on which was a tea-pot and a cafetiere, mugs, milk and sugar ... and a plate of chocolate biscuits. The cafetiere and a mug were placed in front of Linnet.

"So, will you introduce your friend?"

Linnet blushed. "Sorry! Mum, Dad, Jamie MacAllan. Jamie, my parents."

After the polite, routine, variations on 'Nice to meet you', Mrs. Masters gestured at the cafetiere before asking Jamie how he liked his tea.

"Just a little milk, no sugar," he replied as Linnet depressed the plunger of the cafetiere.

Once they all had a drink, Linnet sipped her coffee and raised her eyebrows at the taste. "This is good," she commented.

"Lisa talked us into getting a selection of fancy teas and coffees; we have a small selection of coffee makers and such like; it's gone well," her father said, then cleared his throat, "Belinda ... I ... I'm sorry ... I..." he trailed off and looked down at the mug in his hands on his lap.

She put down her mug and moved across the room and knelt by him, took his drink and placed it on the table, then took his hands.

"I'm sorry I ran away. I just ... I couldn't face being closed up the rest of my life."

"I know, and I should have known better..."

Tears were rolling down both their faces; truth to tell, both her mother and her fiancée were near tears themselves.

"Lindy..." her father swallowed hard, "when you rang home, it was a shock ... I put the phone down without thinking. I ... tried to ring back, but the phone you rang from ... it wouldn't accept incoming calls."

"Oh!" Linnet was stunned. "Of course. Those payphones in central London ... they don't. Some of them, anyway. I knew that, but I didn't think, didn't make the connection. I thought..."

"You thought I'd rejected you ... and on your birthday, too."

"I'm so sorry..."

"Okay, that's enough!" Her mother broke in. "It's nobody's fault and you've come back to us. Dad tried to find you. Your friends all denied knowledge, though we were sure several of them were lying. Dad found the payphone thanks to a helpful copper in London, but 'near the river' didn't help much..."

Linnet stared at her father, "You went to London? You hate London..."

"But I love my daughter."

That triggered another bout of tears, during which Linnet climbed into her father's lap and wrapped her arms round his neck. She was heavy and he could feel his legs going to sleep, but he said nothing, just held her in his arms until her mother coughed.

"How about a hug for your old mother?"

Linnet managed an embarrassed giggle at that, but climbed off her father, crossed the room and drew her mother to her feet for a proper hug.

"Now," her mother said once the hug was properly administered, "sit with your young man and tell us what you've been up to!"

"That can wait," Linnet said, "it's going to take a while." She turned to Jamie who nodded.

"Mr. Masters," he said in his soft, musical accent, "I came to ask your permission to marry your daughter."

Linnet's mother gasped and her father took a deep breath, "It was your idea to come, wasn't it, young man?"

"Yes, sir. I'm kind of old-fashioned."

"Well, I thank you for restoring our daughter to us. I think this shows your character more clearly than any words. Yes; you have my blessing. I assume she has consented?"

"You bet, Daddy," Linnet put in.

Her father looked at his watch. "We're late for some lunch. I think we'll put the closed sign up and get Lisa up here. She'll want to hear all about it too; that is, if you haven't already told her?"

"But ... you never close the shop for lunch!"

"It's not every day my daughter comes back to me."

Linnet had to tell her story in detail over sandwiches and more tea and coffee, the original having got cold. She could tell neither Lisa nor her parents could really understand what she was talking about; to them, a 'barge' was a canal narrow-boat. Eventually, she got them to boot up the computer and showed them pictures.

"And you sail one of those?" Her mother sounded dubious. "Isn't that hard work, and dangerous?"

"Can be hard work and there's always some risk, but we do our best to be safe. I've only just got my Master's ticket, so I haven't been in charge on my own yet, but I've been doing the job under supervision for some time."

Mr. Masters left to reopen the shop when his wife mentioned the wedding.

"I think I'd like to marry in Maldon," Linnet said, "I don't know the Vicar here – after all, with the shop, none of us bothered with church, did we? But the Rector and his wife in Maldon – Saint Mary's – are nice; we see a lot of them round the quay. And we have a lot of friends there now."

Jamie squeezed her hand and left her to talk weddings with her mother and Lisa; he went downstairs to stand with Walter Masters.

"You left the womenfolk too?" The older man smiled. "Oh, it's up to you, but you're welcome to call me Walter, if you like. Jamie ... I can't thank you enough for bringing my daughter back to me."