Free Liverpool Angels by Lyn Andrews Page B

“foreign”.’ Her expression softened. ‘Mrs Ziegler was a lovely woman. She used to give me little cakes that were very sweet and we never ever had cake in our house, you know that. And he was so thoughtful after Beth died. He was fond of her too, you know. He often says how like her Mae is growing.’
    John nodded, smiling sadly. His beautiful Beth was a fading memory but she would never be completely erased from his mind while he had Mae. ‘I’ll walk down with the girls, Maggie. Wish him Happy . . . Hanukkah! He’s a nice old man.’
    They’d had one of the best Christmases she could remember, Maggie thought as on Boxing Day she prepared to bid farewell to her brother. It would have been the icing on the cake if he could have been home just a day longer, she mused as she folded his clean work clothes and put them into his bag. The kids had all been delighted with their gifts, Eddie particularly so with the pistol. The girls had begged to be allowed to go and show ‘Uncle Isaac’ the dolls they’d received, which were dressed in very fancy clothes, complete with stiffened organza bonnets. ‘You never see dolls dressed like this in the shops here, Mam!’ Alice had marvelled.
    ‘You are both very, very lucky and make sure you take care of them. No dressing and undressing them constantly or those dresses and bonnets will look like rags in no time,’ she’d warned. But she had said they could go down to Ziegler’s for half an hour to show Isaac their gifts, providing they were back in time to say goodbye to John.
    Both Isaac and Esther, Harold’s wife, had exclaimed over how beautifully the dolls were dressed.
    ‘Look how neat the stitching is, Father, even on the petticoats,’ Esther cried, lifting the organza skirt.
    Isaac examined it closely and nodded. ‘You are indeed both very lucky girls and you must take special care of such gifts. They must have cost your father a good deal of money and he works so hard for it.’
    ‘Oh, we intend to,’ Mae replied gravely as the doll was handed back.
    Isaac smiled at them both.
    ‘Thank your mother for the pies, Alice. It was good of her and I know it has been a very busy time for her,’ Esther urged.
    ‘I will, Mrs Ziegler,’ Alice promised.
    ‘We have a little gift for you both,’ Esther said, crossing to the table and picking up two small cloth bags. ‘One each.’
    ‘Thank you. We really didn’t expect anything, with you not really . . . well . . . believing in Christmas,’ Alice replied in some confusion.
    Esther smiled at her. ‘For us this is Hanukkah, a time when we also give gifts and we light a candle every day for the eight days of the festival. These are called gelt and we hope you will enjoy them.’
    Tentatively Alice opened the little bag; inside were some small coins made of chocolate. ‘Oh, thanks. Chocolate!’
    ‘Can we eat some now?’ Mae asked, intrigued by the designs on the surface of the sweets.
    ‘First you must have some latkes with us,’ Isaac instructed, nodding to his daughter-in-law.
    ‘Crispy pancakes made from potatoes. It is also a tradition,’ Esther enlightened them as she passed around the small plates.
    Mae mumbled her thanks, her mouth full, although she decided she would have preferred the chocolate.
    ‘And you have enjoyed having your father home this year for the celebrations, Mae?’ Isaac asked.
    ‘Oh yes! We’ve all had a really great time but . . .’ Mae paused. ‘But it would have been better if he could have sailed tomorrow morning.’
    The old man nodded. ‘Ah, there is never a good time to say goodbye.’
    Alice was becoming impatient, wanting to show her mam the little coins. ‘We’d better be getting back now, Mae, we don’t want to miss waving him off,’ she reminded her cousin and Esther showed them out as the winter dusk was falling.
    Clutching their dolls carefully the girls walked up the street towards home but as they drew level with Webster’s shop a