Margaret is just about to go to bed when suddenly someone knocks at the door. She wraps her dressing gown over her nightdress and goes to see who it is. Her husband, Stephen, follows her. Standing on the doorstep is Nicholas, the boy from next door.
“Uncle Stephen, could you come round to ours?” says Nicholas, his voice quiet. “Mum wants to see you. She has something to tell you.”
Stephen gets dressed and heads off to see Nicholass mother. “What could Mary possibly want from me at this hour?” he mutters to himself as he walks down the lane.
He arrives at the cottage and takes a seat next to Marys bed, picking up a chair as he enters. Mary, looking pale on her pillows, turns her head to Stephen and says, “Stephen, I dont have much time left. Soon, Ill be gone But before I go, I have to tell you a secret”
Stephen stares at her in confusion, not understanding what she means.
Stephen has been a striking man ever since his youth. But he has only ever truly loved one womanhis wife, Margaret.
Hes loved her for as long as he can remember, since their schooldays together.
They built a happy family, raising three children: Michael and John, the boys, and their youngest, a daughter named Grace.
Stephen is a kind man with gifted handsnobody in three villages can match him as a carpenter.
He works hard to provide for his big family; the boys need to be clothed and shod, and he likes to spoil his wife now and then.
Whenever the shops bring in something newsome fine dresses or lovely handkerchiefshe buys them for Margaret. And, on his trips to London, he always brings back a bottle of expensive perfume.
At bedtime, Margaret sits at her vanity in a white blouse, brushing and plaiting her hair. Stephen cant get enough of admiring her.
He lies on the bed, hands behind his head, content just to watch her in the glow of the bedside lamp, his heart brimming with happiness.
How does she manage it all? The house is always spotless, every breakfast, lunch, and dinner ready, and even the garden is neat as a pin.
Mind you, most of the heavy lifting outdoors is down to him. The boys help, too, doing whatever their father tells them.
Stephen loves his children. He doesnt coddle them, but raises them well, teaching them discipline and respect for their mother.
Little Grace is still just a tiny thing, only three years old. She resembles Margaret, with her blue eyes. Its impossible not to dote on her.
Wherever they go, Grace is always riding on his shoulders. And at home, nobody dares tease her.
Theres a shy pride about their family happiness, as if theyre almost embarrassed by their good fortune. In every other house around, there are quarrels and complaints. But with them, everything is always well.
But just recently, young John got into quite a row with Nicholas, the strapping lad from next door. It was a bad falling out.
Margaret cried, tending to John with cold flannels on his bruises.
Later, Stephen went round to the neighbours. Nicholas, scolded by his mother, sat sullenly on the garden step.
When Nicholas saw Stephen, he turned away, looking utterly dejected. Something stirred in Stephen; perhaps compassion for the boy, or a pang on his sons behalf.
After all, John has a father to stand up for himNicholas only has his mother. Stephen sat beside him.
“Dont give me that look. You know you were in the wrong, yes?” The boy said nothing. “You know. So youll have to face the consequences.”
A silence followed, and Stephens heart softened again.
“You leave my boys be, Nicholas. Do you hear?”
The boy nodded. Stephen patted his shoulder and got up to leave.
He noticed Mary, Nicholass mother, watching from behind her curtains.
But Stephen didnt go straight home; his feet carried him into the woods and memories washed over him
Back when they were all around eighteenhim, Mary, and Margarettheyd just finished school. The village put on a joint leavers dance for the two neighbouring towns. Certificates were handed out, all congratulated. There were tables laid with lemonade, pastries, and music for dancing.
They all looked splendid, especially Margaret in her white dress with lace and her hair in a thick plait to her waist. Her cheeks glowedshe was a star pupil.
That night, Stephen planned to confess hed been in love with her since Year 5, and that soon hed have to go for National Service, worried he might never get the chance to tell her how he felt.
But it didnt go as he hoped. Nobody ever realised that the headmasters son, William, had been courting Margaret for some time.
He trailed after her all evening, and she looked happy, laughing and dancing waltzes with him. Stephen never could dance.
He stood aside, desolate, when Mary came up, took his hand, and asked him to dance.
He pulled his hand away and went outside. Mary went after him, and together they walked and talked until dawn.
They sat by the riverbankMary tried to be close, but Stephen thought only of Margaret.
That autumn, just before National Service, word went round that Margaret was marrying William.
Stephen wept bitterly, and Margaret never even came to his send-off. He threw a party, invited everyone, but it was Mary at his side, not Margaret.
Late that night, while the whole village was still singing, Mary coaxed him to her place. He was already very merry; he hardly remembers what happened.
At home at dawn, he met his parents silent stares and collapsed into bed.
From his posting, he seldom wrote home and only to his parents. They told him Margaret was married and Mary had gone to the city for studies.
That was the end of his youth. He said goodbye to it thenforever.
Stephen returned to the village grown-up, his hair cropped short. Margaret now had one little boy, Michael, and another child on the way. He saw her, pregnant and quiet.
“How are you, Margaret?” he asked, voice trembling.
“Im fine. Theres nothing to complain about.”
His parents told him that William was badly offdrinking heavily, never holding down a job, always quarrelling. The headmaster had lost his position and now worked as an ordinary teacher. Times were tough for them.
Then, when John was born, disaster struckher husband, out for a swim in the river with friends, never came back. No help could reach him in time.
Margaret grieved. After a while, Stephen proposed and married her, bringing her and the two boys into his almost-finished house. His parents helped with the plot of land and materials and Stephen himself was handy at every trade.
They moved in, the place still smelling of fresh wood shavings, and little by little, they built a home. Margaret told him that Mary had married in the city, had a son, and sometimes visited her parents.
It was as if Margaret had foreseen it; not a month after that conversation, Mary returned to the village for good.
Her son, Nicholas, was slightly older than Michael. Things hadnt worked out with her husbandthey divorced.
At first, Mary strode through the village proud as a peacock, but then her health began to fail.
The poor woman wasted away before everyones eyes, making no secret of her jealousy toward Margaret, who had captured Stephens heart all those years ago.
Hed chosen Margaret, married her and her two sons, and fathered a daughter together.
Now their boys were grown, and they quarreled. Mary still wouldnt speak to him, always turning away in the street. He never understood why she held a grudge; she never said a wordjust silence, nothing friendly.
Winter came, snow swirling through the village lanes. The boys stopped fighting but shunned each other, and NicholasMarys songrew quiet and troubled.
Then, it became clear Mary was bedridden for good.
One late evening, as Margaret was getting ready for bed, the gate creaked and someone knocked on the door.
Margaret threw on her dressing gown and went to answer, surprised. Stephen followed.
Nicholas stood outside.
“Uncle Stephen, could you come round? Mum wants to talk to you,” he said sadly.
Margaret invited him inside. Stephen put on his coat and went next door.
“What could she want from me?” he muttered on the way.
Mary, sick and thin, was propped up on her pillows.
Stephen sat next to her, waiting.
“I havent long left, Stephen,” Mary finally said. “Ill be gone soon Theres something you should know, a secret I must share with you.”
Stephen gazed at her, puzzled.
“I need to ask you something,” Mary continued. “Dont leave my Nicholas alone. Do you remember that night after your farewell party? Well hes yours. My husband knew and married me while I was expecting. Thats why things never worked between us”
At that, she began to cry silently.
Stephen staggered home, shaken to the core. One night lost in a haze had cast a shadow over Marys whole life.
Not long after, the whole village came out for Marys funeral. After the wake, Stephen took Nicholas by the hand and led him towards home.
“Nicholas will be living with us now,” he announced. Margaret dropped onto a kitchen stool, arms folded across her chest.
But he never explained the real reason. He just told her Mary had asked him not to put Nicholas in a childrens homethat hed be lost there. Said they would raise him with love.
All the right paperwork was done, and so they lived as a big family.
Grace had three brothers looking out for her. Stephen worked, Margaret ran the household, and the boys did their chores after school.
Stephen came to terms with the truthNicholas was his son, and the likeness grew stronger every day.
Nobody back then bothered with DNA tests, and he didnt need them anyway.
He would never have abandoned the boyhis or anyones.
