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Annie Taylor’s house, so he busied himself unpacking his kitbag and putting his bundle of filthy working clothes in the scullery, then settled down with the early edition of the Mercury that he’d bought from the news vendor at the waterfront. When Maggie came back with Mae and Eddie he put the paper aside and got up.
    ‘She’s asleep so I’ll put her down, if you don’t mind,’ Maggie said. ‘I know you love cuddling her but you’ll spoil her and then when you’ve gone I won’t be able to do a thing with her. Believe me, they learn very quickly about things, tiny though they are. Is there no sign of Billy?’ she asked, feeling annoyed. At least he could have made an effort, knowing John was coming home. ‘Well, I’m not going to have another meal ruined. We’ll have ours now.’
    By nine o’clock she was getting worried but at the same time increasingly angry. There would be precious little left of whatever he’d earned today. ‘He should be in by now,’ she commented sharply, glancing at the clock.
    ‘Do you want me to go and look for him?’ John asked. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to drag his brother-in-law out of some pub.
    ‘No. I’ll give him another hour or so then I’m going to lock the door,’ she snapped. ‘He seems to be totally incapable of passing a pub when he has a few bob in his pocket.’ It was about time he took his responsibilities more seriously – especially now that there was another child on the way, although she had no intention of informing her brother of the fact this trip, given she’d not fully discussed it with Billy. John would be able to see for himself next time. She’d be showing by then.
    Half an hour later Eddie awoke and started to cry and Maggie went up to see to him.
    ‘He’s probably had a bit of a bad dream,’ she said to John, who nodded in agreement. It hadn’t been an easy time for the little lad either, he thought.
    When Maggie came downstairs she looked pale and distraught.
    ‘What’s wrong? Is he ill?’
    She shook her head. ‘No, just a bad dream, but I went to get him an extra blanket from the chest and . . . and everything has gone! All Billy’s things! Gone! The wardrobe is half-empty. Just my few clothes are left.’
    John’s expression changed. He jumped up, shocked, and, walking over to his shaking sister, put his arm around her. ‘You’re sure?’
    ‘Everything. He . . . he’s gone, he’s . . . left us!’
    John felt fury rising in him. The bastard. The cowardly, selfish, pathetic bastard! ‘Sit down, Maggie. I’m going out to find him and bring him back here if I have to break every bone in his miserable body. He can’t desert you like this.’
    Maggie had to sit down now as the full realisation began to dawn on her that Billy had gone for good.
    John had rammed his cap on his head and was shrugging into his jacket. ‘Have you any idea where he’d make for, Maggie? Think, luv!’
    ‘He . . . he had a drink with a feller he knew from home recently,’ she remembered.
    ‘From Belfast?’
    She nodded.
    ‘Right, I’ll go first of all to the Landing Stage.’
    ‘But he went out early this morning, John. If . . . if he intended to go back to Belfast the ferry will have sailed hours ago.’
    ‘Then I’ll bloody well take the next one!’ he vowed. If he had to sail to Belfast and scour the city for Billy he’d do it. Maggie hadn’t seen him so furious for a long time.
    After he’d gone she sat hugging her misery to herself. What had she done that had made Billy desert her? And even if John found him and dragged him back, what good would it do? Would he only leave again when her brother had gone back to sea? She felt as though she had been dealt a physical blow. He didn’t want her. He didn’t want little Eddie or the baby she was carrying.

O n his way into the city John’s anger increased even more. He’d never really taken to Billy; like Agnes he thought Maggie deserved better. She