Until We Meet Again by Margaret Thornton Page B

from Tommy about the divorce, but had not been aware of this other bit of surprising news. How would his parents react to it all? he wondered. Especially his mother, to whom divorce was an unmentionable subject. He did so badlywant to be more friendly with Tilly, but he could see already that his mother might raise objections. None of it was Tilly’s fault, though, he told himself.
    ‘Yes, it’s quite a story,’ agreed Tilly. ‘We all like Hetty very much. She’s a lot older than me, of course. I think she must be thirty-two or three now. She still helps Uncle Will with the office work, from time to time, as she’s been doing ever since she arrived here.’
    ‘And she is married to Bertram Lucas, the photographer, isn’t she?’
    ‘Yes, that’s right. Bertram’s studio is near to Uncle Will’s premises on North Marine Road. That’s how Hetty met him, because she used to work full-time for William, doing the bookkeeping; and Bertram lived just down the road. They still live there, over the studio and shop, but I think they might move into a house before long. Bertram’s business is doing very well. He does a lot of weddings and portraits of children and family photographs; he’s becoming very well known in the town.’
    ‘And their little girl is called Angela? Is that right? She was there with them tonight, wasn’t she? I noticed how much like her mother she is.’
    ‘Yes…so she is,’ replied Tilly. ‘Dark hair and brown eyes, like Hetty.’
    ‘I think fathers must feel rather left out sometimes,’ remarked Dominic, ‘when people say, “Ooh, isn’t she like her mummy?” I don’t mean just Angela; I’m thinking about babies in general. I’ve heard women cooing over prams, and I think to myself, Poor old dad! Doesn’t he deserve a mention?’
    ‘Ye…es,’ agreed Tilly, realising that his observation in this instance was right on the mark. It was true that little Angela was the image of her mother, although the child’s father, also, had dark hair…and so had Bertram, which was fortunate in the circumstances.
    The facts concerning Angela’s birth had never been kept a secret in the Moon family. That would have been impossible anyway, given the unusual state of affairs. How many people outside the family circle were acquainted with the true facts, Tilly did not know, but rumours must have circulated, she felt sure. The marriage had been very quickly arranged and had taken a lot of people by surprise; surprise which had quickly changed to comprehension when the child had been born four months later. People soon forget, however, and there was no doubt that Bertram was a proud and devoted father.
    ‘What’s the matter?’ asked Dominic, for Tilly had gone suddenly silent. ‘I haven’t said something to upset you, have I?’
    ‘Er…no, of course not,’ said Tilly. ‘I was wool gathering. Your remark started me thinking…’ She decided there could be no harm in telling Dominic the full story. He might already know anyway, as he and Tommy were close friends; although she did not think that lads chatted about such matters, as girls were inclined to do.
    ‘It was what you said about Angela looking like her mother,’ she continued. ‘You see…Bertram is not her father. Not her real father, that is, although he has adopted her legally and he thinks the world of her.’
    ‘Oh…I see,’ said Dominic, nodding sagely. ‘Scandal in the family, eh?’ He grinned. ‘And not for the first time either. You’ve already told me about your uncle Will and his little…er… indiscretion. And now Hetty as well! Goodness gracious me! Whatever next?’
    A sideways glance at him told her that he was joking, in fact he was laughing quite openly. ‘I’m only teasing,’ he said, squeezing her arm and pulling her a little closer to him. ‘It happens in the best of families as well as the worst. I’d wager that there’s not a family in the land that doesn’t have one or two skeletons in its