Free He Called Me Son (The Blountmere Street Series Book 1) by Barbara Arnold Page A

lizzie sooner, he wouldn’t have been killed.   If I hadn’t suggested we went up The Common in the first place he would still be alive.
    ‘It wasn’t your fault, lad.   Everyone has to take responsibility for their own actions,’ Fred said.   He took hold of my hand and pressed it hard.  
    The sky was striped pink when we passed The Common, and the playground looked lonely with shadowy arms stretched across it.   This time, though, it was easier with Fred sitting beside me, holding my hand.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    Lori didn’t usually knock before she came into our kitchen.   She had a key to our front door and usually barged straight in - that was after she’d popped her head round Fred’s door “to pass the time of day”.   But today she tapped at our kitchen door, coughed a rippling little cough and waited, though the lavender water she was wearing had already wafted into the kitchen.   She twisted her hands together, and Fred stood behind her, sort of grinning, but I could see red blotches on his neck and on his scalp where his hair didn’t grow.
    ‘Well, come in the two of you,’ Mum said.   ‘Since when have you had to be invited?’
    Lori coughed again, and she and Fred sidled to the table, where I was making a crane from my Meccano set and Angela was threading some beads she had got for her birthday on to a string.   Although Mum indicated some chairs for them to sit on, they kept standing like the statues on Lori’s sideboard.
    ‘Is anything wrong?’ Mum asked, and Angela looked at me, putting her finger to her temple, winding it round and round, mouthing ‘They’ve gone nutty.’  
    ‘ It’s … well …’ Fred began.
    ‘We wanted to …’ Lori stopped.
    ‘Spit it out,’ Mum said, while Angela continued her winding action.
    ‘With Eileen, Fred’s wife … um … ex wife having passed away practically a year ago.’   Lori did a couple more coughs before looking to Fred for help.
    ‘Perhaps we should have waited a little longer, but circumstances have precipitated things,’ Fred continued.  
    I didn’t know what “precipitated” meant.   I couldn’t even pronounce it.   I would just have to try and make sense of the rest of what they were stuttering and stammering about.
    ‘So to cut a long story short.’
    ‘I wish he would,’ Angela whispered.
    ‘I’ve asked Amelia to become my wife and she’s accepted.’
    ‘That’s wonderful news!   I couldn’t think of a better matched couple.’   Mum was unusually quick to her feet.   Just as unusual was the way she flung her arms around them both.
    ‘So you don’t think we’ll be the centre of Blountmere Street gossip?’ Lori asked.
    ‘Probably, but since when did that matter?’
    Lori stopped twisting her handbag strap and I realised she had been covering her left hand with her right one. ‘Would you like to see my engagement ring?’ she asked, holding out her hand.
    ‘It’s beautiful,’ Mum said, gazing at the half-circle of emeralds as green as the grass in Bushey Park, before darting a look at her own hand which was bare of any rings at all.
    ‘Congratulations.   We’re very happy for you both, aren’t we?’ Mum said, looking at Angela and me.   We both stood up and mumbled, ‘Yes’
    ‘When’s the wedding and where’s it going to be?   Will you have it here or in Portsmouth where your sister lives?’
    ‘We’ve decided to have a quiet wedding at a Registry Office here in London, in a month’s time.’   Lori paused, ‘I know bridesmaids aren’t really necessary, but you would make such a pretty one, Angela.   Would you like to perform the duty for me?   Perhaps we could call you a bridal attendant.   Of course, if you don’t want to …’ Before she had time to finish, Angela hurled herself at Lori, and of all the sick-making things, she kissed her.   ‘Thanks! Thanks millions.’  
    Turning to Fred, she hugged him like she did Benjy her hamster, causing Fred to have to clear