Footbridge of Solace

By Catherine Carson

Coming to terms with the loss of her beloved husband after fifty years of marriage, Penny Bickerstaff reflects on her life from the moment she met Luther sixty years previously.
As a young fifteen year old, Penny Partridge found herself at a low ebb when twenty-one year old Luther Bickerstaff came into her life to become her ‘knight in shining armour’.
Desperately seeking to ease the pain she and her family are feeling, she hopes to find the solution through her husband’s photographic record of their life together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781326451981

Book preview

Footbridge of Solace

Footbridge of Solace

By Catherine Carson

Standard Copyright © Catherine Carson 2015Cat

ISBN 978-1-326-45189-9 paperback

ISBN 978-1-326-45198-1 eBook

About the author

Born in Scotland I now live with my husband in the North West of England.  We have three children who, between them have given us six wonderful grandchildren.

I studied commercial subjects at school and college and spent most of my working life in the offices of various companies, starting as a junior in a local garage typing invoices for car repairs. I left Scotland and crossed the border to England to marry the man I met whilst on a holiday with my extended family and eventually became a secretary with a beer bottling company leaving six years later when the first of our three children came on the scene.

Returning to the workforce when our children were young adults I finally untied the apron strings to join the offices of a large wholesale book supplier and embraced the advancement in technology since I had first learned to type on a manual typewriter and take notes in shorthand.

During the years I became something of a letter writer as friends and family lived in many parts of the country and indeed the world.  Often friends and family would tell me…..‘You could write a book’ to which I always replied…..‘But would anyone read it’. 

When my granddaughter asked if I would write a book especially for her I confided in my good friend Lisa Schmidt and she told me to go for it.  That book became the first of many stories which had been lurking in my imagination for a good number of years.

Once started I found the stories simply kept coming and often an overheard conversation or a glimpse from the passenger seat of the car would trigger a likely scenario which my imagination would then elaborate and weave into a story.

My hope is that my writing brings a little pleasure into the life of my readers and allows them to leave the mundane world behind for a few hours as they meet the characters I adore creating.

www.facebook.com/catherinecarsonbooks.uk

www.catherinerenacarson.jimdo.com

Dedication

To anyone who has lost a loved one after and long relationship.

The characters in this book are completely fictional, a product of the author’s imagination and bear no resemblance to any living person.

Other Books by this Author

Stand AloneSeries

The Mouse in the LibraryTapestry of Love-Bk 1

Family TiesTwins Exchanged-Bk 2

Overall ConstructionHighland Feud-Bk 3

Wounded Wolf

Coffee and CakesSoil, Seed & Betrayal-Bk 1

Memories RekindledDesert Prince, Exiled Princess-Bk 2

Wholesale LoveBody Language-Bk 3

Hope’s Conflict

Sibling RivalryAn Open Book-Bk 1

Fighting for CustodyAfraid to Love-Bk 2

White Knight Black Knight

Through the Garden Gate…A Second Chance-Bk 1

Love Lost and FoundTaming the Playboy-Bk 2

Alphabet Bachelors

A Dreamer’ TaleEstranged Husband & Father-Bk 1

A Precious JewelIdentical Mistake-Bk 2

Sigh of the Claymore-Bk 1

Beyond Claymore-Bk 2

List of Contents

1 – Searching solace

2 – Two people meet

3 – Start of a friendship

4 – Summer is over

5 – A promise made

6 – Life moves on

7 – A decision to make

8 –  Admission of love

9 – Plan of action

10 – Confusion abounds

11 – Return to reality

12 – A new equation

13 – Making a stand

14 – Out of options

15 – Exposé

16 – Heartbreak day approaches

17 – Tower of love

18 – Revelation

19 – Arrangements made

20 – The honeymoon is over

21 – A problem to solve

22 – A clash of opinion

23 – A trying time

24 – Strained relations

25 – A second honeymoon

26 – Happy consequence

27 – Unwelcome reminder

28 – Summer apart

29 – Damage control

30 – Prognosis…heartbreak

31 – Finding solace

1 – Searching solace

Penny walked to the centre of the footbridge spanning the river Neth dividing the villages of Nethvale and Pinewood.  The waters were in full flood but still the village children swung out on their makeshift swing.

Many years ago a strong rope had been tied to a thick branch of the tall weeping willow tree which stood on the banks of the river. Penny used to come to watch as the children from both villages played.  The intrepid boys would sit on the large knot at the end of the rope and launch themselves to swing precariously to the middle of the fast flowing stream of water, whilst the girls would cheer and shout their encouragement.

She had hoped to join in the fun but the long standing dispute between the two villages and her land-owning family, excluded her from ever being part of their games.

Looking down at the fast flowing water as it gurgled over the rocks Penny watched the swirling eddies and remembered a time when she felt it would have been a relief to jump into one of the deeper pools and let the spiralling water carry her down and down, blotting out the hurtful laughter ringing in her ears.

Taking a small cotton pad from her pocket she pressed it to her lips before tossing it into the fast flowing water and softly whispering ‘goodbye my love.’

‘Mum, are you ready to go home now?’

Penny turned to look into the eyes of her daughter and saw the depths of her own sorrow reflected within them.

‘Yes my darling I am.’

Linking her arm into that of her daughter she walked with her to the roadside where her eldest son was waiting by the open door of a black limousine.

Taking her seat amidst her loving family, Penny felt at peace for the first time since her darling husband had been taken from her.

‘Mum, are you sure you want to go to the Hall and meet the people waiting to eulogise and pontificate about the man we all loved and knew hated such gatherings.’ 

‘William your father may have hated the falseness of some of the people who are waiting for our return, but amongst them are people who genuinely want to pay their last respects and support me and his family in our grief.’

‘Mum’s right, Will.’ 

Penny let a small smile touch her lips as her youngest son came to her defence.  Oliver could always be relied on to be the sensible one of their children.

The limousine pulled to a silent halt outside the large door of Partridge Hall and the young man dressed in his formal funereal garb opened the door to allow Penny and her family to alight from the vehicle.

Entering the hallway subdued voices could be heard coming from the drawing room and William ushered his mother into the room to be greeted by the sympathetic expressions of the gathered guests.

Moving through the room Penny was subjected to the usual platitudes which are meant to give comfort to those who have lost the one person who made their life worth living.

Her eldest son William and his wife Helen tried their best to shield her from the people who had come merely to partake of the free drink and food which they knew would be offered them, but it was inevitable some were able to push their way forward.  Penny accepted their words with a polite smile before moving on.

Like the loving daughter she was, Rena stayed close by her side until Penny told her she should be with her husband and children.

‘Rena I am perfectly all right but your children need you.  They are finding it difficult to understand why their grandfather is not sitting in his usual chair by the fireside and they need your reassurance.’ 

‘Go on Rena, let Mum speak to these people.  The sooner she accepts their condolences the sooner we can all get back to normal.’  Her youngest son once more agreed with his mother.

‘Oh Oliver, your father always said you were his most sensible son.  That is not to say he did not love all his children but you were always there to bring peace and harmony when your brothers and sister and sometimes me, were at odds with him.’

William at last came into the drawing room to inform everyone the last of the guests had taken their leave and looking at his mother he suggested it might be a good idea if he and his siblings also took their leave and let their mother have some alone time.

Penny kissed them all and hugged her grandchildren close in an effort to reassure them things would get better.

‘Thank you all for being here.  Your father would be so proud of the way you all handled yourselves today.  Now I think William is right I need some time on my own.’

Closing and locking the front door, she went into the small snug room she and Luther had always found to be a haven of peace after a long hard day.

.

Thankful none of Luther’s extended family had deigned to put in an appearance at his funeral Penny thought of the rift which had taken place between her beloved husband and his family before she had even met him.

His father was a very domineering man who thought his clever son should use his talents to help him in his business, but as his business and those associated with it walked a fine line between breaking the law and working within it, Luther had refused and knew his only recourse was to break all ties and move away from the northern city where his father ran his operations.  After the death of his mother he took the necessary step and severed all contact.

Over the years Penny had learned just how close his father came to breaking the law when he was implicated in a nationwide fraud and it was then Luther told her he had dropped his family name and had legally adopted his middle name of Bickerstaff.   This had not stopped his father finding him but unable to coerce his son into doing his bidding he left and fortunately never divulged Luther’s identity to his cohorts, but the threat had always been there.

The snug was warm as Penny had asked Oliver to light the log fire before the last of the guests had gone.  Sitting in her favourite armchair she automatically opened the wicker workbox and took out the socks she had been working on before Luther had become too ill to come downstairs.

As her fingers worked the wool and the familiar click of the needles soothed her aching heart her eyes were drawn to the family portrait which took pride of place on the table by Luther’s armchair.

Luther and she sat side by side as William, Rena and James stood behind them.  Oliver sat at their feet with his arm around their pet black Labrador cross, Bouncer.

The portrait had been taken by a professional photographer who had asked them all to be as natural as possible, but Luther assured him it would be better if they posed, as their natural behaviour was usually total chaos.

Looking at their son James, Penny knew today had been an ordeal for him.  He was a serving officer in the Royal Navy and his ship was on manoeuvres in the Mid-Atlantic when he was given the