Free Love or Duty--A saga set in 1920s Liverpool by Rosie Harris Page A

had better lock her in your bedroom because I certainly don’t want her wandering through the rest of the house.’
    Arnold’s face darkened with anger when Penny apologetically started to explain why she wouldn’t be able to go to the tennis club with him that evening.’
    â€˜Yes, Penny, I heard every word your mother said and I simply can’t believe that you are putting this little guttersnipe before me!’ he exclaimed angrily.
    â€˜I’m not; it’s not like that Arnold. I can hardly leave her on her own though, can I.’
    â€˜She’s probably well used to being on her own,’ he pointed out. ‘Her mother is probably off down to the pub or standing out in the street gossiping to her neighbours every evening.’
    â€˜No, as a matter of fact her mother goes out cleaning in the evenings.’
    â€˜Well there you are then, exactly what I have just said. She can take care of herself because she is used to being on her own in the evening.’
    â€˜No –’ Penny shook her head – ‘it’s not like that. She has to look after her siblings and one of them is only a baby, so she is far from being alone.’
    â€˜Perhaps you should have brought them here as well and then she’d have had plenty of company when you wanted to come out with me,’ he said spitefully.
    They stood for a moment glaring angrily at each other. He’s behaving like a spoilt brat, simply because he can’t have his own way she thought as she saw his mouth tighten and his jaw jut aggressively.
    She had never seen him in such a petulant mood but then until now she had never attempted to defy him. She had always fallen in with his plans even when it meant cancelling arrangements she had already made.
    â€˜I don’t know what do,’ she murmured. ‘I really don’t think I can leave her on her own when she’s only been here a couple of days.’ She put her hand on his arm pleadingly. ‘Everything in this house is so strange and so different for her.’
    â€˜Then take her back to the hovel she came from and let her own mother take care of her. She’s not your responsibility; she caused the accident by running out into the road in front of your car,’ he told her callously.
    â€˜I know that but I have promised to take care of her to try and stop her mother suing for damages and to make sure that our name and yours are kept out of the newspaper,’ she reminded him.
    â€˜She’ll probably sue you anyway no matter what she says to the contrary. You can never trust those sort of people, that’s what they are like,’ he told her in a contemptuous voice.
    â€˜Look, I am very sorry about letting you down this evening, Arnold. I promise that I’ll try and make better arrangements in the future,’ Penny told him contritely.
    â€˜Don’t bother. I can easily find myself another partner at the tennis club and not just for tonight’s match,’ he said dismissively, as he rammed his straw boater on to his head and, turning on his heel, moved towards the front door.
    As the door slammed behind him Penny heard her mother call out to her from the dining room. She was so close to tears, though, that she simply couldn’t face another interrogation at that moment, so she fled upstairs to her room.
    She stood by the window staring out unseeingly, tears streaming down her cheeks. She felt utterly devastated by Arnold’s reaction. He hadn’t even kissed her apart from a brief peck on the cheek when he’d arrived.
    She thought back over the good times they’d had when they’d first started going out together and wondered if they would ever return to those carefree days. She knew her friends envied her. Arnold was not only from a wealthy family but extremely handsome and very much in demand.
    She knew he liked to have his own way and usually she went along with whatever he suggested. Most of