Free The Girl with the Creel by Doris Davidson Page A

annoyed I’d spoken to your father and never said anything to her, but she’ll get over it. She’ll be a good mother-in-law to you when the time comes, I’m sure.’
    Lizann shuddered at the prospect of having Bella Jeannie Tait as a mother-in-law – something that had slipped her mind until then – but Peter couldn’t choose his relations any more than anybody else could.
    â€˜We’re not going to live there when we’re married?’ she asked.
    â€˜God no! She’d never stop interfering. We’ll look for a house … up the town, not in Buckpool, but there’s plenty of time.’
    Before she went to sleep that night it crossed Lizann’s mind that she hadn’t thought of George the whole day. She could hardly believe it, but it was surely a good sign. She’d had the feeling, on their last night, that if she’d given him the slightest hint that she might not marry Peter he’d have thrown over his girlfriend and come to Buckie to court her. But he probably wouldn’t have, and he’d be engaged to his Katie by now, so it was best to forget him.
    If she married Peter … when she married Peter, she corrected herself, she would be ecstatically happy. She hadn’t told him a lie when she said she still loved him, for she did … didn’t she?

Chapter Four
    â€˜It’s time I tidied out the foot o’ the lobby press,’ Hannah observed, one dull morning, after Willie Alec and Mick had left. ‘Your father just chucks everything in there.’
    â€˜I’ll do it if you like.’ Lizann was glad of a change from polishing the brasses and washing and ironing clothes, and there was always a possibility that she would come across something interesting.
    She smiled ruefully when she opened the door. The two shelves where her mother kept articles only needed for occasional use were neat and tidy, but the bottom of the cupboard was in a proper mess. She lifted everything out and laid it on the linoleum behind her, then scrubbed out the wooden floor and, waiting for it to dry, looked to see what could be thrown out. There were tins of nails and screws, a box of the tools her father used for the jobs around the house and a cardboard box with old door handles and lots of other items he obviously thought might come in handy. She sifted out the things she thought were past being useful, and put the rest into the carton neatly before she returned boxes and tin to the cupboard.
    Next she set an old storm lantern in its original place, also two old rolls of wallpaper her mother used for lining drawers. Lastly she came to a thick bundle of old newspapers dated 1908 and tied with a piece of string. Wondering what was so interesting in them that they’d been kept twenty-two years, she undid the knot and felt something hard and flat inside. Carefully opening out the yellowing pages, she uncovered a gold-framed picture of a fishergirl with a creel on her back, standing on the shore looking out to sea.
    It was a sketch, not a photograph, but it fascinated her because she could see a likeness to her mother in the girl’s face and the way she was standing. She could be a sister, but Auntie Lou was Hannah’s only sister and she had never mentioned going round with a creel when she was young. Maybe this was a younger sister who had died … or got into some kind of trouble that had made her run away in disgrace?
    Intrigued, Lizann took the picture through to the kitchen, but when Hannah saw it she let out a horrified gasp. ‘Ach, I forgot I’d hid that thing in there.’
    This increased Lizann’s curiosity. ‘It’s not a thing, Mother, it’s a lovely picture. Why did you hide it away?’
    â€˜Never you mind. Put it back and leave it.’
    But Lizann couldn’t drop the subject. ‘Who is she?’
    â€˜It’s me!’ Hannah snapped. ‘So now you know.’
    This was a great