Free Two Penn'orth of Sky by Katie Flynn

that she really did not want to know why her mother had been crying so bitterly, because when she knew . . .
    ‘Oh, darling, these gentlemen are – are from the Queen of the South . They’ve come to tell me . . . to tell me . . .’
    But it was some time before Diana managed to sort out, from her mother’s garbled words, spoken between sobs, that her father would not be coming home that day, would never come home again.
    *
    For many weeks, life had been a nightmare for Emmy. At first, she had hardly been able to take in that Peter was dead, though one of the officers who had come to tell her the sad news had been careful to explain what had happened.
    ‘The men were disembarking from the ship when a scuffle broke out on the dockside. Mr Wesley hurried down the gangway to break up the fight, but he must have caught his foot in a coil of rope, because before he even reached the men, he went down. I myself was present, and was the first person to reach him.’ He had looked earnestly at Emmy, his own face pale. ‘It seemed such a slight fall, but his head had hit one of the metal bollards to which the ship was moored, and he had broken his neck. Death was instantaneous . . . I assure you, Mrs Wesley, that he could not have suffered; it was all so quick.’
    ‘Then . . . then it was an accident? No one attacked him, or anything like that?’ Emmy had said dully.
    ‘Oh yes, it was an accident,’ the captain had agreed. ‘Mr Wesley was a very popular member of the crew. Both his fellow officers and the men are devastated, and anxious to do anything they can to help you at this time.’
    Emmy had thanked them but all she had really wanted, at that moment, was to be left alone to come to terms with a tragedy greater than she had ever experienced before.
    In a way, it had helped that there was so much to do, so many problems to sort out. The funeral had had to be delayed because of the inquest, which Emmy had attended, hearing the coroner’s verdict of accidental death with considerable relief. Despite the captain’s assurance, she had been worried that people might assume her husband had been killedin a dockside brawl, and she knew how this would have distressed Peter and, of course, his family. Even Diana might have been touched by it, but as it was, the child could still think of her father as a wonderful person, a hero figure.
    When Emmy began to plan the funeral, she was told that the ship’s owners would hire a church hall and a firm of caterers and would undertake to pay all expenses. Emmy was doubly grateful since she was already beginning to realise that her financial position was precarious. Peter had had a good job and a good salary but, naturally, this ceased upon his death and the pension she would receive would not even pay the rent of the house in Lancaster Avenue, let alone such things as Lucy’s wages, or bills for coal, gas and food.
    Because the ship’s company was in port, however, the funeral would be well attended and, of course, Emmy knew she would have the support of old friends and neighbours. She had notified the Wesleys and invited them to stay in Lancaster Avenue, but, as they had done for her wedding, they booked themselves into the Adelphi Hotel, saying briefly that this would be less trouble for everyone.
    The day of the funeral arrived and, as they had promised, the whole ship’s company attended and virtually everyone from Nightingale Court – Beryl had seen to that. Her neighbours in Lancaster Avenue had sent flowers and expressed their condolences but the young Wesleys had not mixed much with their elderly neighbours and only Captain Marriott, the retired naval officer from the end house, attended the funeral.
    Mr and Mrs Wesley came up though, to Emmy’s distress, neither Ralph nor his wife attended. Peter’sparents showed no outward sign of grief. They kept very much to themselves, and when she asked them to come back to the house, they refused to do so.
    ‘We want to be back in