Forever

By Elizabeth Love

Set in rural Cumbria this story is one of true and enduring love. They meet up as students: one training to be a nurse and the other, a physiotherapist. The elder of the two is able to help and advise the trainee nurse overcome difficulties as she goes through the stages of learning.

Later on, when she has qualified and is working in the city hospital she reciprocates in return with her bit of feminine intuition to help him. Their love for each other blossoms as their working lives proceed. They make a home together and eventually think about starting a family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie Publishers Ltd
• Release date: Jan 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781780690957

Elizabeth Love

Elizabeth Love has found a niche with her imaginative writing about Cumbria with first, a collection of short stories called 'Time Lapse' and second, 'Kaleidoscope, a poetry profile': a comprehensive book of poems describing creatures in the wild as well as domestic, the countryside around where she lives plus personal reflections. This latest publication, set in the picturesque village of Wetheral a few miles out of Carlisle, will hold the reader's interest with its simplicity, drama and romance.

Book preview

Forever

Elizabeth Love

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© Copyright 2014

Elizabeth Love

The right of Elizabeth Love to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All Rights Reserved

No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage. Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book. The information provided herein is provided as is. The publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this book and expressly disclaims any implied warranties of marketability or fitness for any particular purpose and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. This book is licensed for your personal reading only. It is not permissible to copy, share or email this book to others. Please respect the copyright of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-78069-095-7

First published as an e-book in 2014

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www.e-bookspublisher.com

Elizabeth Love has found a niche with her imaginative writing about Cumbria with first, a collection of short stories called 'Time Lapse' and second, 'Kaleidoscope, a poetry profile': a comprehensive book of poems describing creatures in the wild as well as domestic, the countryside around where she lives plus personal reflections. This latest publication, based on her early adult life, will hold the reader's interest with its simplicity, drama and romance.

Chapter 1

She was old fashioned Matilda May so she got called Matty, a name that was easy to say. The T’s gave a certain resonating ring so that ‘Matty’ could be easily distinguishable and could be heard without being spoken very loudly. As an infant Matty very soon learned what she was called and she could say to her mother, a dressmaker, Matty want a drink, or whatever she was in need of. Then it was Matty want a wee, so she was potty trained early too, a definite advantage to her busy mother.

The baby that had been quick to walk and so quick to talk however, was discerned at an early age to be unfortunately left handed. Knowing that this could make picking up from right-handed people or from instructional books, etc, difficult her mother Mary tried to correct it at the onset stage. That was when the infant first began to eat with a spoon but her baby’s distressful tears told her that the mannerism could not be altered. To put a spoon into the right hand of a left-handed baby just didn’t work, even with all the persuasion and coaxing in the world.

Matty was the younger of two girls, bright and quick to learn she soon stole the limelight from her more serious elder sister, Maurine. As a toddler and a little girl of three and four, with that tendency to explore everything around them within reach, she soon discovered that there was a locked door at the head of the stairs, and her inquisitive nature wondered what was behind it. It was the sewing room, kept solely and only for the making and altering of clothes for Mary’s clients. A home based Sewing and Alteration industry in the 1960’s was not a very lucrative or a very easy occupation, whilst having to cope with the needs of her family in between.

Mary worked mostly at night when the two girls were sleeping or out of the way and she knew where she had them. The door of the sewing room was discreetly and carefully locked, both on the inside when she was working, and on the outside against the meddling nature of the little girls.

Matty had turned six by the time she even got a faint peep through the locked door at the top of the stairs. That was because her mother had taken great care to keep the comings and goings in and out of the sewing room as secretive as was possible. Something as ordinary as a tailors dummy in the fertile imagination of a small child like Matty was that night turned into a surreal spectre. It was a porcelain white dummy which stood against the window in the half light of the evening when the sun was just setting beyond the garden. It made the dummy look like a weird ghost. The monstrous figure with arms that ended at the elbows and a neck that had no head was like nothing whatsoever in little Matty’s experience. She had heard of wicked witches, gremlins, wizards, ghosts and goalies but she had never in her short life encountered a body without a head. Against the fading light coming from the window it had looked very menacing and had properly frightened her. She slammed the door shut and ran quickly away.

She would ask Maureen about the room behind the locked door as she had done many times already, but this time she had the advantage of knowing vaguely what was there. Her sister had gone to her weekly dancing class, and when Matty did catch up with her it was to find her curled up and asleep inside the double bed they shared together. She crawled in beside her. Matty had to know the truth but repeated nudges and entreaties were shaken off, and Maureen merely turned over