Chapter9
Billy sat in the comfy armchair right next to the roaring fire in Bee Cottage and cradled his stomach. ‘That was incredible. But I feel like I’m gonna puke,’ he said piteously. Since getting together with Kara, they quite often came to the Moon family home for a Sunday roast.
‘That’s what happens when you have two pieces of my morello cherry pie and mix it with red wine, young man. I told you one helping was enough, but would you listen?’ Pearl shook her head. ‘I’ll get you an indigestion tablet, hang on.’ And she left the room.
Kara sat on the floor at her boyfriend’s feet, head against his legs. The orange of the fire lit up her face in a warm glow, and the comforting crackling sound made it hard to move. ‘We’d better go,’ she said eventually. ‘I’ve got a funeral tomorrow and the flowers are needed by ten thirty.’
Billy groaned as he got to his feet. ‘OK. I wonder if I can get done for being drunk in charge of a tugboat. I had far too much to drink last night too.’
‘You’ll be all right after a good night’s sleep.’
‘Who says we are sleeping, sweet cheeks?’ He pinched her bottom.
Joe appeared with a tea towel in his hand. ‘Have you one sec before you go, Kerry?’ Her dad and Billy were the only ones who called her Kerry, taken from her fullname Kerensa, meaning ‘love’ in Cornish. She followed him into the kitchen while Billy stayed behind and messed about with the fire, before putting the guard up in front of it.
Checking that Pearl was out of sight and earshot, Kara’s father whispered, ‘I want to propose to Pearl – and soon. But I’m not sure how. I want to make it really special. Pull out all the stops.’
‘The divorce has been finalised already then? That was quick.’
‘You say quick, but it’s taken me twenty years to get around to dealing with it. And it was so easy, not to mention cheap, seeing as your mother and I have lived apart for two decades. Lord, I should have done it ages ago. Bloody Doryty.’ He shook his head.
‘Well, it’s over now and I am so excited and happy for you, Dad. Pearl is like her name, a precious gem.’ Kara thought for a bit, then: ‘I know! How about Christmas Day, putting the ring in the Christmas pudding?’
‘No, that’s too clichéd. I was thinking more like—’
On hearing Pearl clattering down the stairs with a box of tablets for Billy in hand, Kara quickly turned to pretend she was getting a glass of water.
‘What are you two whispering about down here? I can see guilt written in both your faces.’
‘Err. Umm. It’s someone’s birthday Christmas Eve, isn’t it?’ Joe piped up.
Pearl smiled. ‘OK, I’ll let you off then, but if you are plotting something, remember – no fuss. You know me, I don’t like a fuss aboutnuttin’.’ She gave Joe a smacking kiss on the forehead as Billy appeared in the kitchen and gratefully took one of the indigestion pills.
‘Dad, I’ll call you tomorrow, OK?’ Kara gave him a sly wink and a hug. ‘Thanks for a lovely dinner, both.’
Billy held on to Kara’s arm as they walked down from Bee Cottage towards Ferry Lane.
‘That was a nice evening.’ Kara’s breath plumed out like a dragon’s into the freezing air.
‘Yes, it was. I am so chuffed your dad wants me to captain theHappy Hartnow too. I nearly choked on my roast potato when he said it.’
‘You’ve worked so hard and I’m proud of you.’ Kara put her head on Billy’s shoulder for a moment. ‘And I’m proud of Dad too. He needed to let it go and the fact that he’s promised to stand in when we want to go on holiday makes it perfect.’
‘How lovely that he and Pearl found each other so late in life,’ Billy mused.
‘Look at you, being the old romantic.’
‘You bring out the soft in me, you do.’ Billy squeezed her bum. ‘But I’m not complaining. Someone needed to.’
‘Yeah, my very own Romeo.’ Kara laughed.
‘We’d better go to my old man and woman’s soon though. You know what Mum’s like.’
Kara put on the accent of Pat Dillon. ‘I never bleedin’ see ya nah you’ve got that treacle tart on yer arm.’
‘You are so funny when you try and use Cockney rhyming slang, Kerry Moon. You just say “treacle” and I think you are exaggerating, just a bit.’
‘I’m glad you told me that it meant sweetheart as I didn’tknow what to think when I first heard your dad say it.’ She reached for Billy’s hand as they headed down the steep path of Ferry Lane towards the estuary.
