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

their friends did the same. She’d always attributed it to his popularity but now she wondered if perhaps they too had discovered that he didn’t like to be thwarted in any way.
    She twisted the solitaire diamond ring on her left hand, the ring Arnold had placed there less than a year ago as a pledge of their love for each other.
    Their engagement party had been such a memorable occasion. They’d had a party at the Adelphi in Liverpool. As well as their own friends there had been shipping magnates, importers and exporters, business connections of her family and Arnold’s. It had been like a pre-announcement of the merger that there would one day be between their two companies.
    This was the man she was planning to marry she reminded herself. In a few months’ time they would be man and wife and then she would certainly be expected to do whatever he dictated.
    What sort of life was she letting herself in for when it was impossible to reason with him and he wasn’t prepared to compromise even for one evening? Furthermore, he had let her down at the very moment when she most needed his love and support.
    Arnold had made it quite clear that, like her parents, he didn’t approve of what she was doing and wanted nothing at all to do with Kelly.

Eight
    The argument marked the start of an entirely different regime for Penny. She was kept busy during the day with looking after Kelly and keeping her entertained. Most days she took her out to one of the parks or for a walk along the promenade or kept her amused in the garden.
    Whenever her mother invited any of her own friends around for afternoon tea she always insisted that Penny must take Kelly out somewhere. She also stipulated what time she should return home again so that she could make sure that none of her friends ever encountered Kelly.
    The evenings were quite another matter. Apart from taking dinner with her parents Penny found herself in complete isolation once Kelly was in bed and asleep. Even though she knew that Mary would have been quite willing to listen out for Kelly in the evenings she had been forbidden by her mother to ask her to do so.
    Arnold was conspicuous by his absence and both her parents repeatedly commented on this. Penny did her best to avoid the subject knowing that he was fulfilling arrangements they’d made at the tennis club and that she should have been there with him.
    Deep down she was bitterly saddened by his attitude. She had thought that given time he would understand and support what she was doing. She had even envisaged the two of them taking walks in the evening and at the weekends with Kelly in her pushchair. Not only had Arnold made it quite clear the first time she had suggested it that he had no intention of ever being seen with Kelly but he had even stopped coming to the house.
    As the days passed Kelly made excellent progress. She filled out from eating good regular meals and having plenty of sleep. Slowly but confidently she was walking short distances using her crutches and she loved nothing better than when Penny took her on the bus to New Brighton.
    Once there she was equally happy to sit in the window of one of the many cafés drinking a glass of lemonade or eating an ice cream and watching all the people passing by, or for them to take a short walk along the promenade or even down on the shore.
    â€˜Is that really Liverpool over there?’ she would ask in disbelief as she looked across the Mersey and saw the outlines of the Liver Building against the skyline.
    Penny wondered if she was homesick but whenever she asked her if she was missing her mother and her brothers and sisters Kelly would give her a big beaming smile and say, ‘Not really because it is so much nicer living over here with you.’
    â€˜Well, it can’t last much longer,’ Penny warned her as August drew to a close. ‘I will have to return to work soon and that means you will have to go back home to your