For Better For Worse (21 page)

Just before lights out, Big Frankie gave Henry his newspaper. It was only the
Daily Sketch,
but at least Henry could catch up on things. On the front page, the new prince was pictured with his mother and the King at his christening. On the sports page, he read how the up-and-coming boxer Rocky Marciano had floored Gilley Ferron three times and won on a technical knockout, but the story which interested him most was of a woman who had taken the world of radio by storm. Her plays were critically acclaimed and she had just been voted the nation’s favourite playwright. When he looked at the picture of her next to the article, Henry took in his breath. It was Kaye. She was dressed in an evening gown and beautifully groomed with an expensive-looking brooch on her lapel. To be that successful, he knew she must be raking it in. Dear God, and he’d only just signed those divorce papers she’d sent. Not only that, but he’d also put them outside for posting. He had to get them back. It was imperative. He jumped off the bunk and began thumping the cell door. ‘Open up. Guard, guard, open the door.’

‘What’s up with you?’ said Big Frankie.

‘I’ve put a letter out for posting and I want to get it back,’ said Henry helplessly. The only thing between himself and all he’d ever wanted was those damned divorce papers.

‘Got any money?’ said Big Frankie.

‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ Henry snapped. ‘Guard, open this door.’

‘I’ve got a contact in the post room,’ said Big Frankie, looking at his fingernails. ‘If you want something bringing back, it’ll cost you.’

Henry turned towards him. ‘You can have my tobacco allowance.’

‘Done.’ Big Frankie sat up and the two men shook hands. ‘Who’s the letter addressed to?’

‘Dobbin and Son Solicitors,’ said Henry. At the same moment the light snapped off and they were plunged into the dark. Henry groped for his bed and climbed back up. ‘It’s a London address.’

‘It’s as good as done.’ Big Frankie’s disembodied voice wafted towards him and Henry relaxed. A slow smile spread across his lips. When all this was over, his little boy would have all that money could buy. He’d changed his mind about the boy’s mother. If he played his cards right, he could get rid of all three of the silly cows who had betrayed him and start all over again. Come to think of it, he could use the old hag’s money. She had been there at the trial, hadn’t she. If he worked on her, she could help him go somewhere like South Africa or California, and then, after he’d ditched her, he could sit in the sun with a drink in his hand and a pretty girl on his arm. He felt himself harden. Now that
was
a plan.

Peter Millward was back and he had asked Sarah if he could take her and the children out for a Christmas treat on her day off. The girls were very excited when she told them that they were going to the pantomime at the Connaught and then having a meal. Of course, they’d never been to a pantomime before and hadn’t a clue what it was, but it was enough that Uncle Pete was taking them.

It was good to see Peter again, although he was upset that Sarah hadn’t told him about her troubles.

‘You were away,’ she reminded him curtly, ‘and I had no way of getting in touch with you.’

‘My father lived in Wales,’ he said. ‘He was ill and then he died.’

Sarah was immediately filled with remorse. ‘Oh Peter, I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s okay,’ he said, ‘you weren’t to know. I stayed on to settle everything.’

‘I thought you’d gone there to buy a coach or something. That’s what the chap in the office told me.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so,’ he smiled, ‘I’ve got enough on my plate with the lorries.’

‘Is everything all right?’ she asked anxiously.

‘Yes,’ he said cautiously, ‘but you know what it’s like when you leave other people in charge. They never do things the way you like it to be done. But enough about me, what about you? How are you liking your new position? The girls look well and happy.’

Sarah told him how she had almost spent a night sleeping rough and now she lived in a lovely home. She said that her employer was kindness itself and the children were looking forward to Christmas. She didn’t mention that although she had nothing to complain about, she was struggling with her emotions. She had been content for a while, but as things became more settled in her life, she found herself brooding over the past. She had become angry … very angry. What sort of man was Henry Royal? How could he have dumped her like that? How could he turn his back on his beautiful daughters without so much as a postcard to ask after their welfare? She remembered with bitterness that he hadn’t even had the decency to look at her in the courtroom. He’d mooned over the silly bitch who was carrying his child. She’d even caught him mouthing ‘I love you’ a couple of times when Annie looked up at him, but he had no time at all for her. And when Sarah had sat in the witness box and given her evidence, he hadn’t even acknowledged her presence. He’d stared up at the ceiling or down at his fingernails the whole time. She felt as if she had kept everything buttoned up for so long, but now it was hard to keep her feelings inside. Kaye had been extraordinarily kind and Sarah knew she was more than lucky to have a roof over her head, but she couldn’t shake this feeling and the rage inside her gut was so strong, it was becoming more difficult to keep it in. She knew she shouldn’t be thinking thoughts like this but they pushed their way uninvited into her mind. Why was Kaye doing this? What was her angle? She could have had any woman in Worthing to do her skivvying, so why did she choose her? Was it some perverse way of getting her own back on Henry? The bizarreness of the situation was beginning to dawn on her. With the two wives of one man living under the same roof with his children, it felt like a harem. It wasn’t Christian. Sarah wanted to make the thing work, but the whole situation was beginning to make her feel ill.

During the day, she busied herself with everything she could think of to blot out the thoughts, but when she lay on her bed, as comfortable as it may be and as tired as she was, she couldn’t sleep. Some days she thought that she couldn’t stay a minute longer and that once Christmas was over, she would have to look for somewhere else to live. But then she would see how much her children had blossomed in the short time they’d been in the house. Lottie adored them and played with them all the time. Lu-Lu was talking now. She loved to sing little songs, and although she mixed up the words (
horsey, horsey don’t ooh pop …),
she sounded so sweet. And Jenny was confident enough to be in the school nativity play, although she still complained about William Steel. Sarah had made her a long dress out of an old piece of sheet she’d found in the attic so that she looked the part of the Innkeeper’s wife, and Jenny practised and practised her lines. ‘
Can I help you?’ ‘No, I’m sorry, there is no room in the Inn,’
and finally, ‘
Come into the stable …’
Could she risk unsettling them all over again? The answer was no, but the feelings of anger and betrayal simply wouldn’t go away.

‘Sarah?’ She became aware that Peter was looking anxiously at her.

She laughed as if she’d been thinking of something else. ‘Sorry, miles away. We’re fine,’ she assured him. ‘Couldn’t be better.’

When the panto was over and they came back to the house, the children were tired but happy. Jenny had loved everything, and although Lu-Lu had been scared of the villain when he first appeared on the stage with a drum roll from the orchestra pit, she soon recovered herself and was so relaxed she dropped off to sleep towards the end. Sarah had enjoyed herself too. Back home at last, Peter carried Lu-Lu to the door, fast asleep in his arms, but Sarah didn’t ask him in. She could see the disappointment on his face, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

‘Happy Christmas,’ he said, putting the sleeping child into her arms.

‘Happy Christmas to you too,’ said Sarah. She reached up and pecked his cheek. ‘And thank you for a wonderful time.’

‘Have a nice time?’ Kaye asked as she came through the door.

Sarah nodded and smiled.

‘When you’ve put them to bed,’ said Kaye, ‘could I have a little word?’

*

Annie stared at her mother with her mouth open.

‘You do see, don’t you?’ Judith went on. ‘This is the most marvellous godsend. I can help you with the rent and once you’ve got the baby weaned, you can start giving piano lessons.’

‘Wait a minute, wait a minute, Mother,’ said Annie, putting her hand up to silence Judith. ‘Let me get this right. You actually want me to go and live with Henry’s first wife?’

‘Oh darling, please don’t be difficult,’ said Judith. She was visiting her daughter and grandson in the Mother and Baby Home. They were alone in the main sitting room because all the other mums were still taking their afternoon naps. ‘I know it sounds odd but …’

‘Odd?’ Annie practically shrieked. ‘It’s sick. It’s not normal. Why would that woman even want me in her house?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Judith. ‘I didn’t ask why, I was just grateful to have found a way of keeping you and the baby together.’ They both looked down into the crib where Edward Henry Royal lay sleeping. ‘You won’t find many other landladies agreeing to take a small baby.’

‘I shan’t be needing a landlady,’ said Annie resolutely. ‘I’m going to stay with Auntie Phyllis. I’ve written her a letter explaining everything and as soon as I get a reply …’

‘Auntie Phyllis,’ said Judith. ‘But you won’t be able to stay with her.’

Annie tossed her head. ‘And why not?’

‘You obviously never listen to a word I say,’ said her mother. ‘I told you almost six months ago that Auntie Phyllis had had a stroke. She’s in an old people’s home.’

*

Sarah was furious. She sat in her small sitting room, her heart thumping and hardly able to control her feelings. That settled it. She’d have to go. There was absolutely no way she would stay under the same roof as that damned woman. How could Kaye even think such a thing? She’d kept calm as the idea was mooted, but now she was hopping mad. ‘The poor thing has nowhere to go …’ Did Kaye really expect her to feel sorry for the girl? Why should she? She was nothing more than a cheap tramp. She had ruined her whole life and, what was far worse, the lives of her children. They’d been happy before that silly trollop came along. It wasn’t right, the three of them under the same roof. No, she wouldn’t be a part of it. Either she or Annie lived in the house. Not both of them. Half an hour later, as Sarah climbed wearily into her bed, the full import of the situation finally dawned. She had no choice. She’d have to put up with it because she had nowhere else to go. Careful not to let her children hear, for the first time in months, Sarah cried herself to sleep.

*

It hadn’t been easy getting out of the Mother and Baby Home without being seen. Annie knew that Edward’s prospective parents would be arriving at the end of the week, so she had to act quickly. To hear about Auntie Phyllis had been a bitter blow, but she couldn’t give up yet. All she had to do was get from Bognor to the Thomas A Becket in Worthing. Her father had refused to discuss what she was going to do with the baby over the telephone and he had never once come to visit them either in the maternity hospital or at the Mother and Baby Home, but she was convinced that one look at his beautiful grandson would be enough.

It was a long walk to the railway station and Edward was heavy. She had left her suitcase in the left luggage department a couple of days before, sneaking out when she was supposed to be having a rest, and as soon as she’d collected it, she caught the train. At West Worthing she hailed a taxi using the last of the money she had squirrelled away, and in no time at all she was going up the drive of her childhood home. Her plan had worked. All she needed now was for her father to fall in love with his beautiful grandson. She paid the driver and he carried her case to the front door. Just as her mother opened the door, Edward woke up and cried.

‘Oh Annie,’ her mother said despairingly.

‘Who is it?’ Her father’s voice was right behind her.

Judith leaned against the door saying, ‘You’ll have to come back later. Your father …’

‘If he could see Edward …’ Annie began. The door was yanked back and her father bellowed, ‘What’s he doing here?’

The taxi driver put the suitcase on the step and turned to go.

‘Hang on a minute, my man,’ said Malcolm. ‘You can take them back to wherever you picked them up.’

‘Daddy!’ Annie cried desperately. ‘Please. Please don’t turn us away. This is your grandson.’

‘I have no grandson,’ said Malcolm. He pulled his wife back into the house and began closing the door.

‘At least look at him,’ Annie pleaded.

The taxi driver looked bewildered. ‘Where to now, missus?’

‘I don’t have enough money for a return trip,’ Annie shouted at the closing door. She had been so sure her father would relent as soon as he saw Edward, but what chance did they have when he wouldn’t even look at him?

The taxi driver put his finger on the doorbell. After a minute or two, Judith reappeared with her handbag under her arm. ‘Go to Kaye’s house,’ she told Annie. ‘I’ll ring her and tell her you’re coming.’ She handed the driver a pound note. ‘Copper Beeches, Church Walk.’

‘Judith!’ Malcolm’s angry voice boomed from inside. ‘Come in and shut that door immediately.’

*

Copper Beeches looked wonderful. There were paper chains from the hall to the sitting room. Sarah had pinned holly and ivy trails along the picture rails and around some of the pictures. Christmas cards lined the mantelpiece and the dresser in the dining room. Centrepiece in the sitting room was the Christmas tree, decorated with edible gingerbread men and Christmas bells. There were candles too, although she and Kaye had agreed that for safety reasons they wouldn’t actually light them. Lottie helped Jenny and Lu-Lu to hang their stockings by the fireside and an air of excitement pervaded the house.

Christmas was to fall on the Saturday this year, but it was the Monday before which changed all their lives forever. It was seven in the evening when they heard the sound of a taxi pulling into the drive and a few minutes later the doorbell rang. A tearful Annie stood on the doorstep with Edward in her arms. Kaye answered the door and took her straight into the sitting room. Sarah came down the stairs and saw Lottie fussing over the baby. Pulling the door closed behind her, Kaye came out into the hallway and smiled at Sarah.