A Cuckoo in Candle Lane (23 page)

‘It’s lovely,’ Ann whispered. ‘But are you sure you know what you’re doing, Sally? Are you sure he’s the right one for you?’

‘Look, let’s make another pact. I’ve promised that I’ll never say anything about your mum again. Now perhaps you’ll agree not to say anything about John? He
is
the right man for me, and I love him. Please, Ann, can’t you accept that?’

‘All right, Sally, you win.’ She heaved a sigh. ‘If you really love him, I’ll just have to make an effort to like him, won’t I?’

‘Oh Ann, you make him sound like a monster. He’s wonderful, and once you get to know him a bit better, I’m sure you’ll get along fine.’

‘I hope so, Sally, I really do,’ Ann said, but there was still a trace of doubt in her voice.

O
n Sunday Sally sat in her gran’s room facing her across the fireplace, feeling overwhelmed by a strange sensation as she watched her twisting newspaper into firelighters. It felt as though this isolated moment in time had been imprinted in her memory and she would remember it for ever. Her gran took another sheet of newspaper, rolling it tightly from corner to corner to form a long neat tube, and flattening it from end to end between her fingers. She then folded it neatly in half, plaiting it, one piece over the other until it resembled a concertina. Fastening the ends neatly, her hands black with newspaper print, she threw it into the coal-bucket, unaware of her granddaughter’s gaze as she grimaced and flexed her fingers.

‘Are you in a lot of pain, Gran?’

‘No, it’s not too bad,’ Sadie told her, smiling bravely. ‘But I think I’ve made enough lighters for now.’

It was then that Sally felt a sudden surge of rebellion, recalling Elsie’s words. Yes, she thought, Jesus
had
healed the sick and sent His disciples out to do the same. Surely John couldn’t expect her to sit by and watch her gran suffer like this! How could easing her pain be evil? She closed her eyes, searching for words from the Bible, trying to remember all the tracts John had pointed out, but instead only remembered how Jesus had restored a blind man’s sight and, amongst other things, cured leprosy.

She stood up abruptly, her shoulders stiff with resolution. ‘Gran, come on. I’ll give you some healing.’

‘What?’ Sadie spluttered, her voice high with surprise. ‘Are you sure, love? I don’t want to cause trouble between you and John.’

‘Yes, I’m sure. Elsie’s right, you shouldn’t be in all this pain when I may be able to help you.’

Will it work, Sally wondered, as she stood behind her gran, lifting her head in a silent prayer. She had been rejecting her spiritual gifts for so long, would she still be able to summon the help she needed? She inhaled deeply, controlling her breathing as Elsie had taught her and allowing herself to become a channel for the power that came through her hands.

‘I can’t believe it.’ Her mum’s voice penetrated her concentration.

She opened her eyes, startled to see her mother and aunt standing in the doorway, both looking flabbergasted. Glancing at the clock she was amazed to see that twenty minutes had passed.

Her gran stood up, smiling with delight. ‘Oh Sally, it’s wonderful, my pain’s almost gone again!’ she exclaimed.

Just then, there was a loud knock on the front door and they all looked at each other in surprise. ‘I’ll get it,’ Mary said, hurrying back into the hall.

‘No, no, go away!’ they heard her shriek, and Sally saw her mum stiffen at the sound of a man’s voice, urging Mary to let him in.

She followed as Ruth rushed into the hall, seeing her blanch with shock when she saw Ken, his shoulder on the door, trying to stop Mary from shutting it in his face.

‘Ruth!’ he shouted. ‘I’m not here to cause trouble. I only want to talk, for Christ’s sake.’

‘Let him in, Mary,’ she said, her voice flat.

‘What, are you mad?’

‘Just open the door,’ she replied, her face set and cold as though carved in marble. Then, stepping forward, she added unemotionally, ‘There’s nothing he can do to hurt me now. Let’s hear what he’s got to say.’

As Mary stepped back, allowing Ken into the hall, he removed his trilby hat, smiling softly. ‘Thanks, Ruth, you’re looking well, and surely this isn’t little Sally,’ he said ingratiatingly. ‘Well, you’ve turned into a right little beauty, haven’t you?’

‘Sally, go to your room.’

She stiffened. ‘No, Mum, the days when I had to keep out of
his
way are long gone. I’m not a child that has to be hidden away any more.’

‘I want to talk to yer mother in private. Do as she says, Sally, and go to your room,’ Ken demanded.

Ruth bristled. ‘How dare you!’ she snapped, colour returning to her cheeks. ‘The time has gone when you could give us orders. No, Sally’s right, you can say what you’ve got to say in front of all of us.’

Sadie had come out of her room, saying nothing until they had all gathered in the kitchen. Then, throwing a look of disgust at Ken, she said scathingly, ‘Huh, bad pennies always turn up.’

‘Nice to see you too, old girl,’ he grinned, seemingly unconcerned.

‘Just say what you’ve come to say, Ken,’ Ruth snapped. ‘And who said you could sit down?’ she added as he pulled out a chair from under the table.

‘Now then, Ruth, there’s no need for nastiness,’ he placated. ‘Can I sit down?’

‘No, you can’t. Now what do you want?’

He puffed out his cheeks with exasperation, his eyes flicking around the room. ‘You seem to ’ave done all right without me, gel.’

‘Yeah, I have. When you left me it was the best thing you ever did,’ she retorted.

‘My sister’s well rid of you,’ Mary told him haughtily.

At the tone of her voice, Ken’s manner changed. He straightened his shoulders and slowly turned to face her, saying with a sneer, ‘Don’t come the high horse with me, Mary. Your husband obviously decided to get his oats elsewhere too. I saw him with his lovely wife just recently.’ He grinned maliciously at the expression on her face, adding, ‘Yes, a lovely blonde piece he had on his arm. And their son – he’s a smashing little nipper, and the apple of his father’s eye.’

Sally saw the colour drain from her aunt’s face, her eyes like saucers as she stared at Ken, but before she could respond Sadie moved forward, her face livid. ‘You bastard!’ she shouted. ‘My daughters ’ave suffered enough. Now get out! Go on – get out of here!’

‘All right, old girl, calm down,’ Ken told her. ‘Look, I’m sorry, Mary. I assumed you knew about Harry’s new wife,’ he lied.

‘
I’m
his wife,’ she snapped. ‘We’re still married.’

‘According to Harry, you were divorced years ago. You’ve got a right one there. Not only a pervert, but a bigamist too.’ Then, ignoring the impact his words had on Mary, he turned his attention to Ruth. ‘While we’re on the subject of marriage, that’s what I’ve come to see you about. You’ve made it pretty obvious that you don’t want me back, so I want you to give me a divorce.’

Sally watched in amazement as her mum’s hands balled into fists, her stance rigid as she squared up to him. ‘Get out!’ she screamed. ‘You’ve got a nerve to turn up here after six years, upsetting my sister and asking me for a divorce. Well, you can go to hell.’

‘Now come on, Ruth. I’ll make it worth yer while,’ he urged.

‘I said get out!’ she screeched, bright red with anger.

Ken’s face tightened momentarily and Sally stiffened, remembering his violence. But he sucked in his breath and said, ‘All right, calm down, I’ll go. But you ain’t heard the last of this. I’ll be back.’

As he turned to leave the room, Mary seemed to shoot out of her chair. ‘No, wait, wait!’ she shouted, running across the room and grabbing his arm. ‘Where did you see him?’ she urged. ‘Where did you see Harry?’

‘He lives in the same town as me, as it happens.’

‘Yes, but where? Please, Ken, please tell me.’

‘Well now,’ he drawled, his confidence back, ‘that all depends on yer sister. If she’s prepared to see reason …’ His voice trailed off.

Mary turned to Ruth, still clutching Ken’s arm, mute appeal in her eyes.

Seeing the expression on her sister’s face the fight seemed to go out of Ruth, and slumping she said, ‘All right, Ken. You win, you can ’ave your divorce.’ She sniffed then, adding, ‘In fact, I’ll be better off without you. But only,’ she stressed, ‘if you tell us where Harry is.’

Ken grinned in triumph. ‘It’s funny really, because although I knew that, like me, he lives in Blackpool now, I didn’t have an address.’ He strolled back across the room, pulled out a chair and sat down, smiling when this time, Ruth made no protest. ‘However, as I was driving out of town one morning, I happened to spot him leaving a house on the edge of town, his pretty wife waving to him from the doorstep.’ He flashed them a wide smile. ‘Now, how’s that for a bit of luck?’

When Ken left there was an aftermath of strained silence. It was as if both Sally and her gran didn’t know who to sympathise with first. Strangely they all ended up sitting around the kitchen table, each with their own thoughts.

It was Sadie who broke the silence. ‘Mary, I think it’s time you told us what went on between you and Harry. I mean, how on earth can he be married to someone else, and with a child too?’

‘He can’t, Mum, at least not legally.’ A child, she thought, it was unbelievable – and did the child’s mother know that she and Harry weren’t divorced? She felt bile rise in her throat. My God, he wasn’t fit to be a father. Taking a deep breath, she cast a glance around the table and seeing the worried expressions on their faces, nodded. ‘Yes, perhaps the time has come to tell you about my marriage, but I’m afraid it’s a long story.’

‘Wait a minute, Mary, do you think Sally should hear this?’ Ruth said worriedly.

‘For God’s sake, Mum. I’m not a child,’ she protested.

‘No, it’s all right,’ Mary intervened. ‘Sally and I have already talked about it so there won’t be any surprises for her.’

Ruth’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her daughter. ‘Well, you’re a dark horse. You kept that quiet.’

‘That’s because I talked to her in confidence,’ Mary told her. ‘And perhaps when you’ve heard what I’ve got to say, you’ll understand why.’ She took a deep breath before continuing, ‘Now, I’ll try to keep it as short as possible. You see, it started on my honeymoon …’

She saw the compassion in their eyes as she described her married life. ‘Then, Mum, when you decided to live with Ruth, it all became too much. That was the start of my nervous breakdown. Not only was I washing my hands all the time, I became moody and obsessive, scrubbing the house day and night, trying to get it clean.’ She shook her head, adding, ‘No matter how hard I tried, it always looked dirty to me.’

‘Oh Mary,’ Sadie choked. ‘I feel terrible. I would never ’ave left if I’d known how bad things were for you.’

‘How could you have known, Mum? I’ve never been one to show my feelings and I kept everything locked inside. I must have been heading for a breakdown for years. Anyway, Harry couldn’t cope with it, and things came to a head the day you found me.’ She tightened her lips. ‘You see, only that morning, he walked out on me.’

‘But I don’t understand. After what you’ve told us, weren’t you glad to see the back of him?’ Sadie asked.

‘Yes, of course I was. But I hated myself more than I hated Harry. I blamed myself for what he had done to Sally.’ Her voice low now, she murmured, ‘And that’s why I took those pills.’

Sadie, on the point of speaking, was silenced as Ruth asked, ‘If you’re glad he left, why are you so desperate to find him now? Anyway, if he’s got a kid he must have had this woman on the side for a couple of years. Sod him, I say. He still sends you money every month and the rent gets paid on your house.’

‘My God, Ruth,’ Mary said, ‘it’s got nothing to do with money. Can’t you see, I want him stopped? He’s a paedophile, and my stomach churns with the thought of how many other children might suffer at his hands, as Sally did.’ She drew herself up. ‘But I may have got him now. I can’t prove he’s a paedophile, but if he really has married this woman, I can at least prove he’s a bigamist.’

‘Yeah, and if it’s true he’ll go down all right, and for a good few years I should think,’ Sadie said. ‘But how are you going to find out, Mary?’

‘I’ll confront him. I’ll go to his house in Blackpool.’

‘Not on your own, you won’t.’ Ruth reached out and placed her hand on top of Mary’s. ‘I’m coming with you. I’d like to see that bastard get his come-uppance too.’

They smiled at each other, closer now than they had been in years. ‘And what about you, Ruth? Are you upset about divorcing Ken?’ Mary asked.

She snorted. ‘You must be joking. No, good riddance to bad rubbish,’ and winking at her sister, she added, ‘In fact it might be nice to be young, free and single again.’

‘Well, free and single, yes, but I don’t know about young.’

‘Here, watch it. We’re in our prime … well, almost,’ Ruth laughed.

Sadie’s thoughts drifted as her daughters bantered together. She had been overwhelmed with guilt when Mary had attempted suicide, berating herself for not realising how unhappy she was. When David had been killed during the war, followed soon afterwards by Charlie, the pain had been so intense that she hadn’t wanted to live either. Instead, for a long time, she had closed down emotionally, shutting herself off from the girls.