The Fight for Lizzie Flowers by Carol Rivers

tinkle of the bell over the shop door. Danny strode towards her. He looked dirty but handsome
in his overalls and her heart lifted at the sight of him. Until she remembered that things between them were very different to how they had been before Christmas. Their dreams of a happy family had
all been shattered the moment Frank had walked into that registry office.
    And yet, was Frank to blame for cheating death? she asked herself as Danny approached.
    Now, as she smiled at Danny, she wondered how he could have been so mistaken in the identification of the corpse. Fragments from the interview with Bray were like pinpricks of doubt. ‘A
brother would know his own brother,’ the policeman had suggested.
    Danny bent, and with gentle affection kissed her cheek. ‘How’s trade, kid?’
    ‘We’ve had a good day.’
    He glanced at the empty glass cabinet. ‘I can see that.’ He looked over his shoulder and out of the window. ‘You got any late customers?’
    At this suggestion she laughed. ‘Business is over for the day.’
    ‘I’ve got some bad news.’
    Lizzie looked at him uncertainly. ‘What’s wrong?’
    ‘Have you seen Frank?’
    ‘No, why should I have?’ She hesitated, frowning. ‘You know he won’t turn up here.’
    ‘That’s exactly what he might do. Someone’s cleaned out the workshop.’
    ‘What!’
    He smiled without humour. ‘A puzzle, ain’t it? Coincidence, Frank showing up and all my stuff is nicked. Everything down in the workshop.’
    ‘And you think it’s Frank?’
    ‘Well, it ain’t Ferreter. He’s in the jug.’
    ‘But what proof have you?’ Lizzie asked in confusion. ‘Did anyone see him?’
    ‘No, but who else has it in for me?’
    ‘Danny, it don’t sound to me as if Frank would do that. Your dad says he’s done with his bent days—’
    ‘How would Dad know –
really
know – what Frank’s intentions are?’ Danny broke in. ‘Frank will have told him what he wants to hear.’
    ‘Bill is no fool,’ Lizzie protested. ‘He’s forgiven but not forgotten the punishment Frank put him through.’ She saw the fear now in Danny’s face and the
changed man he was becoming. It was as if Frank’s return to life had drained Danny of his own. ‘Danny, I can’t keep living in fear of the past. And neither should you. Who else
would want to burgle the garage?’
    ‘That’s just it. There ain’t no one.’
    ‘There must be.’
    ‘It sounds like you’re defending Frank.’
    ‘No, why should I?’
    ‘That’s what I’d like to know.’ His eyes were full of reproach.
    ‘Danny, we can’t go on like this.’
    ‘Then move in with me.’ Danny took hold of her, drawing her close. ‘Let’s do as we planned. Set up home together. I’ll sell up, if I have to. We’ll have
enough behind us to go somewhere we ain’t known. Start afresh as Mr and Mrs. We’ll leave the memories – and Frank – behind us. You’ll have all the time in the world to
sit back and enjoy yourself. Be a real mum, look after Polly and Tom.’
    ‘You want us to run away?’
    ‘I’d call it making a fresh start.’
    ‘But I’ve worked hard for this shop. As hard as you have for the garage. You don’t want to sell up, no more than I do.’
    ‘I’d give it all up if you asked me.’
    ‘I would never do that.’ Lizzie looked into his unshaven face. A face she loved so much and yet he felt like a stranger. ‘Running won’t help,’ she whispered.
‘Mud sticks wherever you go.’
    ‘So you’re going to stay married to Frank forever?’
    ‘I’m not saying that.’
    Danny threw back his head. ‘I’m supposed to kick my heels in the meantime?’ He stared at her, adding in a low voice, ‘For twelve long years I dreamed of you and me, from
back in the day, when I asked you to go with me to Aussie. I lost you then and I’m losing you now.’
    Lizzie was silent, her thoughts in turmoil. As much as she loved him, she had carved a life out of her misery and won her right to live the