Faith (20 page)

‘Who has been here?’

‘Oh, his sons, his sister and his niece, not to mention the woman he was carrying on with.’

Laura had hoped against hope that Vincent wouldn’t be in today, but however much she disliked and feared him she was shocked that he was dead. It was clear from the chaos that June couldn’t cope, and judging by Meggie’s surly attitude, she was no help. Yet although Laura felt concern, she couldn’t help but feel this was like a re-run of the old days, and that once again her mother was burdening her with problems that were not of her making. Had she looked ill or very tired Laura might have felt real sympathy, but someone who could get up and do their hair and makeup could certainly wash the dishes.

She looked round and saw Meggie was standing insolently in the doorway, arms folded. ‘Help me clear up, Meggie,’ she said. ‘And while we do it Mum can tell me everything.’

‘I’m not sodding well clearing up,’ Meggie snarled. ‘Why should I? I give her three quid a week for my keep and Sundays is me only day off.’

‘What a charitable soul you turned out to be,’ Laura said sarcastically. ‘If you can’t or won’t help around the house you should go and live in a hotel. But you won’t get one of those for three quid a week.’

Meggie turned on her heel and disappeared. ‘Is she always like that?’ Laura asked her mother. ‘She used to be so sweet and helpful.’

‘She’s been a cow since she was about fourteen. She seems to hate me and everyone else. She left school the minute she turned fifteen and now she seems to think it’s my fault she only got to work in a baker’s.’

Laura put the kettle on, and continued clearing the table. ‘You’d better explain everything to me,’ she said.

By the time Laura had washed and dried up, made tea and was sitting down with her mother at the table, she had learned that her parents got divorced three years ago, while her father was still in prison. ‘I got pregnant again, soon after,’ June said gloomily. ‘I didn’t want it, I was too bloody old for another baby, but Vince thought it was wonderful and married me. Well, I lost it at six months and it made me go a bit funny. Next thing I know he’s going out till all hours of the night, and he’s got another woman.’

Laura made sounds of sympathy for it was sad for anyone to lose a baby, even if they said they didn’t want it. But she could imagine that what June meant by going a bit ‘funny’ was that she’d stopped looking after the home and herself. Vincent had always been fussy, and no doubt he came to regret marrying her. Laura didn’t think a man in his sixties ought to be still playing around with other women, but maybe June drove him to it.

‘Who was the other woman?’ she asked.

‘Some stuck-up cow from Chiswick. She had the cheek to come to Vince’s funeral! She had no shame, she talked to all his friends and relatives like she were the bleedin’ widow. Then she comes round here and tells me Vince was going to divorce me and marry her, and he would have wanted her to have the house. I ask you! The barefaced cheek of the woman!’

‘She won’t have a leg to stand on unless he left it to her in his will.’ Laura said. ‘What was in his will?’

‘That’s the problem, he hadn’t made a new one.’ June began to cry. ‘The one his solicitor had was made before his first wife died. He said he was going to make a new one when we got married, but he never did it.’

‘Well, you’re fine then,’ Laura said. ‘It all goes to the wife in that case. No one can chuck you out of the house.’

‘That’s not what his sons say, or that cow. The sons reckon they should get it because this house was bought with their mother’s money, and that bitch says she’s got a letter from Vince where he said I tricked him into marrying me. He said he was going to get rid of me and my brats because I was a lazy slut. She reckons he wanted her to have everything if he snuffed it.’

‘I don’t think for one moment that would stand up in court,’ Laura replied thoughtfully. ‘Have you been to a solicitor?’

‘Yes, but half the time I don’t know what he’s talking about. He said that in this case, the court will look into the whole family and decide who has what. Even if they favour me, Vince’s kids can appeal against it and have a share. What chance do I have over them? They went to posh schools and university, they know what they are doing.’

‘Then you have to get a solicitor who knows what he is doing. I could come with you and speak up for you,’ Laura offered.

‘You do want a slice of the pie then?’ June said nastily.

‘You what?’ Laura exclaimed. ‘I don’t want even the scrapings from his toe nails. Don’t you know why I left? He was always coming on to me. Part of the reason I came today was that I was afraid he’d start on Meggie or Ivy.’

June looked at her as if she’d just come down from Mars. ‘Don’t be bloody silly! He didn’t even like you, and he treated Meggie and Ivy like they were his own flesh and blood.’

A kind of snort from behind her made Laura turn to see Meggie was back standing in the doorway, listening. ‘Did he touch you, Meggie?’ Laura asked.

She had the same insolent, arms-crossed stance as earlier, but her expression had changed from sulky to wary. Instinctively Laura knew that Vincent had pestered her, and maybe that was why she was acting so hostile. ‘Did he, Meggie?’ she asked more gently. ‘You should tell us if he did. I expect he said you were never to tell Mum or he’d throw you all out. That’s what he told me.’

‘Don’t put such ideas into her head,’ June suddenly screamed out. ‘How dare you come walking in here telling lies about my Vince?’

Laura was horrified June would defend Vincent even though he had betrayed her, yet not show any concern about her own daughters.

‘Do you really think I’d have left here at fifteen if there was nothing wrong?’ Laura shouted back angrily. ‘He made it impossible for me to stay, and you were a bloody useless mother, you couldn’t even see what was going on under your very nose.’

‘She hasn’t changed,’ Meggie said dourly.

All at once Laura wished she hadn’t come. June was beyond her help, for whatever Laura did for her, whether it was practical stuff like cleaning up, or giving her sensible advice, she’d just go her own way. By tomorrow there would be more dirty dishes on the table, she’d still be sitting here smoking and not acting on advice. She wouldn’t stir herself to fight this other woman, or Vince’s greedy sons, she was what she’d always been, lazy and stupid.

Where are Ivy and Freddy?’ she asked.

‘Out somewhere,’ June replied, her tone suggesting she had no idea where and cared less.

‘You’ve got to pull yourself together, Mum,’ Laura said. ‘You should know where Freddy and Ivy are, what is wrong with Meggie, and you should be a real mother to all three of them and look after this place.’

June looked Laura up and down, pursing her lips. ‘Looks like you’ve done well for yerself anyway, gotta sugar daddy?’

‘No, I bloody well haven’t,’ Laura snapped back at her. ‘I’ve worked and kept myself ever since I left here. And I’m going now, I can see you don’t give a toss about me, and if Vincent was touching Meggie up, then at least he can’t do it any more.’

‘That’s right, run out on us again!’ June retorted.

Laura was exasperated. ‘What do you want of me?’ she asked. ‘To be your slave like I used to be, I suppose. Maybe you want me to nip down the shops and steal a few groceries too? Well, I’m not coming round here to clean up alter you, or to be insulted. If you can’t talk to me properly, I won’t come again. I’ve got a good life now, no thanks to you, and I’m not going to let you destroy it.’

‘You don’t know what I went through when you left,’ June said, tears coming into her eyes. ‘I couldn’t sleep for worry, the little ones kept asking for you. And all Vince kept saying was that you thieved money off him.’

‘He was right about that, I did,’ Laura admitted. ‘He owed it to me after what he’d put me through. Didn’t you even suspect what he was doing to me?’

‘She don’t care about anything but herself,’ Meggie piped up. ‘Soon as I’ve got a few bob behind me I’ll be off too.’

Laura felt helpless. She could see everything that she’d once felt in Meggie’s face. If she hung around until Ivy and Freddy came back no doubt she’d see and hear more that would distress her. She was a little touched by June’s claim she was very upset when she left, but that was probably yet another ruse to play on her sympathy.

‘What happened to Mark and Paul?’ Laura asked.

‘Back inside,’ Meggie said. ‘They was out for a couple of years, kept coming round tapping Mum up for money, and like a mug she gave it to them. Then they got caught burgling some house in Hampstead and they got a couple of years apiece.’

Just the way Meggie spoke made Laura shudder. It was clear she was hanging around now with a rough crowd and had picked up their way of speaking and acting. She had been such a sweet little kid, so eager to please, and loving too. How could all that have gone?

‘How are you managing for money?’ she asked June.

‘I’ve got a widow’s pension.’ She shrugged. “Course that don’t go very far, and until the probate gets sorted I can’t touch nothing in Vince’s bank account.’

Laura took £10 out of her purse. It was all she had apart from a few coins. ‘That’s all I can spare right now,’ she said. ‘Go back to the solicitor and tell him that you’ve got nothing. The more information you give him, the more likely he is to see you right. I’ll phone again on Thursday, and if by then you want me to go with you to see him, I will.’

‘You’d better leave us your address and telephone number,’ June said, without even looking up or thanking her for the money.

A stab of fear struck Laura. She knew full well that once the address was handed over, the first time June, or even Meggie, had a problem they’d be round.

‘I’ll phone you,’ she replied. ‘I work away from London a lot so I’m rarely at home. I must go now because I’ve got some work to prepare for tomorrow. Will you walk down to the bus stop with me, Meggie?’

She expected a rebuff, but Meggie nodded, then went to get her coat.

‘Bye, Mum.’ Laura bent to kiss June and the smell of smoke lingering around her took her right back to her childhood and made her eyes prickle. ‘I always cared about you,’ she blurted out. ‘I only left because of Vince. But pull yourself together and clear up, eh? This is a lovely house and if you get Vince’s money you’ll be on easy street. You’re luckier than most.’

June’s arm went around Laura’s waist, and for a second she leaned into her chest. ‘I’ll try,’ she murmured. ‘And I’m glad to know you’re safe and grown into a beauty.’

6

Stuart paid off the taxi outside the Alexandra nursing home in Muswell Hill and walked up to the front door carrying a bouquet of flowers. The elegant Victorian terrace was very similar to Duke’s Avenue where Lena Thompson used to live, but three houses had been converted into the home, and the original front gardens were now paved over.

In the middle bay window he could see two white-haired old ladies nodding off in chairs, and he was saddened to think that Lena, who had always been so young at heart, vibrant and energetic, should end up here so prematurely.

‘Mrs Thompson isn’t very keen on coming down to the lounge,’ the plump, red-faced nurse who answered the door informed him. ‘Go on up to her room, it’s number six on the first floor, left at the top of the stairs.’

Stuart was horrified by the stale smell of old age and sickness permeating the home, even though it was tastefully appointed and spotlessly clean. It was very close too, with no windows open, but he supposed the old folks felt chilly when they couldn’t move around. He understood now why Belle had tried to put him off visiting her mother, and perhaps he shouldn’t have come.

He knocked tentatively on the door of number 6, expecting a feeble voice to reply, but to his surprise the door sprang open instantly, and there stood Lena.

She didn’t look much different to when he’d last seen her ten years earlier. She was more conventionally dressed in a button-through summer frock, her hair was grey and cut short and the lines on her face had deepened, but she certainly didn’t look like the old biddies he’d glimpsed downstairs.

‘Stuart!’ she exclaimed, clapping her hands over her mouth in shock at seeing him. ‘What a wonderful surprise! I thought it was that bloody old vicar who seems to think I need to put myself straight with God before I snuff it.’

Stuart laughed with relief. If she knew him instantly she clearly wasn’t senile, and that irreverent remark was typical of the kind of things she always used to say.

‘It’s good to see you again, Lena,’ he said, handing her the flowers. ‘May I come in?’

‘Please do, and quickly, before anyone catches me with a man in ‘my room,’ she said impishly. She sniffed the flowers appreciatively. ‘How lovely. Delphiniums and lilies, my absolute favourites.’

Lena’s room was large, overlooking the gardens, with its own en suite bathroom, where she quickly placed the flowers in the wash basin saying she would arrange them in a vase later. Everything looked reassuringly comfortable and homely. In fact Stuart remembered some of the furniture, pictures, lamps and ornaments from Duke’s Avenue. He saw she was still painting too; the small table in front of the window held her paint box, brushes and a large sketch pad. He felt an enormous sense of relief, for this was so much better than he had expected.

‘Would you like a drink?’ Lena asked. ‘It is after three, and a visit from you is worthy of a celebration.’ She opened a small cabinet and got out a bottle of single malt whisky, a mischievous expression on her face as if she was embarking on something wicked.

Stuart said he’d have a small one, and quickly explained how he’d been overseas and hadn’t heard about Jackie’s death until his return. ‘I’m so sorry, Lena. It must have been shattering for you, and even worse to lose Frank so soon after.’

‘Yes, it was,’ she nodded, her bright smile fading. ‘Absolutely awful! I was hanging on by a very slender thread after Jackie was killed, but when Frank went too the thread snapped. I’d known him since I was fifteen; he wasn’t just a major part of my life, but the whole of it. But I guess I’d been very lucky to have a perfect life for so long, and that my luck just ran out.’