Homecoming (10 page)

He did as she asked, watching as she hung the frock in the wardrobe. ‘What am I going to do, Angie?' he questioned plaintively.

‘See to our guests and not hide in the billiards room.'

‘I meant about Ems.' He stared at Emily's bare midriff, imagined it ballooning, swelling …

‘Leave her to me.'

‘I haven't a clue which way to turn or what to do. I'm at the end of my tether …'

‘And bleating.'

He continued to stare at Emily, hating her in a way he would have never believed possible a few days before. ‘I'd do anything to get out of this bloody mess.'

‘Anything?' Angela gazed coolly at him.

‘Anything,' he repeated angrily, slamming the door as he left.

Angela unclipped Emily's suspenders and rolled her stockings from her legs. Emily continued to lie, limp and comatose, as Angela unhooked her suspender belt and bra and peeled them from her. Her knickers were a little more difficult. Switching off the main light, Angela left a small lamp burning on the dressing table. It shed little light and did nothing to dispel the shadows cast around the bed. Pulling the eiderdown out from underneath Emily, she covered her, hiding most of her hair under a pillow. She went to the door and looked back. Anyone entering the room would see that someone was in the bed, but they wouldn't see who until they turned down the eiderdown and, if everything went according to plan, by then it would be too late.

‘Cyprus still hot and pretty?' Brian asked Jack, watching him open bottles of beer in the kitchen.

‘I'd say bloody would be a better description than pretty.'

‘I read the newspapers; you had a rough time.'

‘Rough enough for me to want to forget it.' Jack's eyes were frosty. He refilled Brian's glass.

‘We ran into trouble when I was posted there, but nothing like what's happening now. The worst things Martin and I came up against were women who wouldn't take no for an answer.'

‘And where exactly did you and Marty meet these women, Brian?' Lily handed Jack half a dozen empty Babycham and Pony bottles.

‘The Cypriot equivalent of the Pier ballroom.'

‘Really?' she queried sceptically.

‘We were under orders to visit there to further relations with the locals.'

‘And what kind of relations would those be?' Lily pressed mercilessly.

Jack took advantage of their altercation to slip from the room. He went into the cloakroom and ran a sink full of cold water. Splashing it over his face, he looked into the mirror. The longer he was home, the easier it would become. People would eventually stop asking him what had happened in Cyprus and he'd be able to forget it. Put it behind him, hopefully for ever and, hopefully without Helen finding out about the one thing he wished had never happened.

‘You are enough to try the patience of a saint.'

‘And you are no bloody saint, are you, Judy?' Sam shouted. ‘I saw the way Brian Powell looked at you tonight and the way you looked back at him.'

‘What way?' She glared at him before turning back to concentrate on the road. ‘He's a friend,' she muttered through clenched teeth.

‘Like Martin and Jack.'

‘Exactly.'

‘Then why haven't I seen you look at them the way you looked at Brian when we walked into Helen's tonight?'

‘All you saw on my face when I looked at Brian Powell tonight was surprise. He was the last person I expected to see.'

‘But you wanted to. You've been wanting to see him again for years, haven't you, Judy?' he taunted.

‘You're being ridiculous and what's even worse you made
me
look ridiculous tonight. You couldn't have made it any plainer that you were jealous of Brian if you'd dyed your face green.' She grated the gears to negotiate the hill.

‘You did go to London together,' he reminded her pointedly.

‘Three years ago and we lived in single sex hostels.'

‘And when you got together.'

‘We held hands in the pictures.'

‘And that's all.'

‘What do you want me say, Sam?' She parked the car outside her flat, turned off the ignition and looked fiercely at him. ‘That we slept together? Fine, if that's what you want me to say, I'll say it. I took my clothes off every time Brian and I met. We made mad passionate love in Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, even outside the gates of Buckingham Palace. And you know something, even if we had, it shouldn't matter a fig to you, because whatever I did or didn't get up to with Brian Powell happened before I even met you.' Thrusting open the car door, she climbed out of the car and slammed the door behind her.

He followed her to her front door. ‘You promised you'd give me a date for our wedding.'

‘The only thing I feel like giving you is this.' Tearing her engagement ring from her finger, she thrust it into his hand. Turning her back, she unlocked her door and ran up the stairs.

Deciding there was no way they could end the evening like this, Sam followed her inside, closed the door and climbed the stairs. She was standing, holding on to the mantelpiece, staring down at the cold gas fire.

‘If I embarrassed you by letting my jealousy show, I'm sorry,' he apologised. ‘But I love you and I'm terrified of losing you.'

‘Peculiar way you have of showing it.' As she lifted her head, he saw that her eyes were brimming with unshed tears.

‘I look at Martin and Lily, Jack and Helen, and I want what they have,' he said softly. ‘Is that so unreasonable of me?'

‘No.' All she could see, all she could think about was the expression on Brian's face as he'd congratulated her and Sam and hoped they'd be happy together. It was as if he revelled in the power he possessed to hurt her. And all she'd done was return to Swansea three years ago because she could no longer bear to live in London – even with him there – because she had suspected that she needed him far more than he needed her.

He'd hurt her, he knew it, and despite his apology, she suspected he didn't give a damn. If he had any consideration for her, he would never have come swanning back into Swansea and her life, laughing and joking with Martin and Jack, flirting with Helen, Katie and Lily …

‘July!' she exclaimed suddenly.

‘July?' Sam repeated dully.

‘It's the perfect month for a wedding. The weather will be warm, the chances are it won't rain, and that augurs well for the honeymoon as well as the day.'

‘July's months away.'

‘It's almost the end of March and that only gives us April, May and June to plan the wedding. We could be married fourteen weeks from now.'

‘You mean it?'

She nodded.

Folding his arms around her, he crushed her close to him as he kissed her. ‘I'm sorry about earlier, but I suppose it was inevitable that we'd have our first real quarrel.'

‘As opposed to spat.' As he bent his head to kiss her again, she whispered, ‘Did you close the door downstairs?'

‘Yes.' He looked into her eyes. ‘I think we'd be more comfortable in the bedroom.'

‘You don't want to wait any longer?'

‘There's no reason to, now, you've set the date.'

‘You have something with you?' She blushed. ‘I don't want to get pregnant …'

‘I won't get you pregnant,' he assured her, ‘not yet and not for a while. It may be selfish of me, but I want you all to myself for some time yet.'

‘You really know how to get a man going,' Thompson breathed heavily, as Angela unzipped his trousers and slipped her hand inside his flies.

‘You don't like what I'm doing?' she questioned innocently.

‘God, Angie, can't we go somewhere more private?' he pleaded, as the door opened behind them and an, ‘Oops, sorry,' was followed by a burst of feminine giggles.

‘Third bedroom on the left at the top of the stairs, give me five minutes to get undressed.'

‘Five minutes,' he groaned. ‘I'll never last that long.'

‘There are conditions.' She moved her fingers downwards. ‘Both of us have to be naked, the light off and,' she slid her fingers even lower, ‘you have to get into bed without saying a single word.'

‘I can do that,' he gasped.

‘Mind you do, I'd hate to be disappointed.' She slipped away from him and blew a kiss through the door as she closed it behind her.

Sam was already lying in Judy's bed when she left the bathroom. Determined to blot all thoughts of Brian from her mind, she smiled resolutely, closed the door and walked across the room.

He folded back the bedclothes. ‘I've never seen you in a dressing gown before,' he commented. She untied the belt from her blue quilted nylon housecoat and slipped it off to reveal a sleeveless, blue nylon nightdress.

‘You'll be seeing me in nothing but, most evenings when we're married,' she warned. ‘I like relaxing in comfort at the end of the day.'

Moving towards her, he fingered the bodice of her nightdress and helped her into the bed.

‘You've nothing on.' She shuddered as his bare legs brushed against hers.

‘Clothes, even pretty ones,' he unbuttoned her nightdress, ‘get in the way of what we'll be doing in a few minutes.'

‘I know, I …' She continued to tremble. He reached down and lifted the hem of her nightdress to her waist.

‘There's nothing to be afraid of, Judy.'

‘I know …' The sentence hung, unfinished in the air. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. He lifted her nightdress over her head and pulled it out from beneath her. She continued to keep her eyes closed, as he turned back the bedclothes and explored her tense and quivering body with his hands and lips. His knees pushed between hers, separating her legs. She gasped as he heaved himself on top of her and entered her.

Steeling herself, she continued to accept his kisses and caresses, all the while consciously making an effort to clear her mind. But Brian's image persisted in intruding. Smiling, laughing, as he flirted with Lily and the other girls, beer glass in hand, as if they had never meant anything to one another.

‘I don't see –'

‘Quiet, Robin.' Angie held her finger to her lips, as she led her brother and Cicely up the stairs. She halted outside the door of the guest room. After checking that Robin and Cicely were standing directly behind her, she flung the door open and switched on the light.

Cicely gasped.

‘Emily!' Robin stared at his fiancée, spread-eagled beneath a naked Thompson.

‘I've been wanting to tell you for a while, Robin, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, knowing how much it would hurt you.' Angela brushed a handkerchief across her eyes. ‘It's been going on from the very beginning. Not Thompson,' she added swiftly, as he opened his mouth. ‘It wasn't his fault; none of the boys can resist Ems once she sets to work on them. But then you'd know more about that, than me. In the end, I thought you simply had to see it for yourself.' She swung forward, as if she was about to faint, incidentally opening the door wider to give Cicely a better view.

‘Robin …' Emily slurred, her voice thick with whisky and sleep, as she fought to push Thompson off her and cover herself with the sheet at the same time.

‘I think we've seen enough.' Closing the door to the sound of Emily's hysterical cries and Thompson's hurried retreat from the bed, Angela went to her own room.

‘Angie …' Robin tried to waylay her.

‘You'll have to deal with Emily on your own, Robin.' Angela continued to blot her eyes with her handkerchief. ‘I simply can't bear to be near her. Not after all you've done for her. Standing by her when her father was sent to prison, insisting on continuing with your engagement, allying our family to her disgrace when all the while she was sleeping around …'

‘I'll see to Angie.' Cicely pushed Robin aside. ‘Just get Emily out of the house as quickly as you can.'

‘That was fantastic.' Sam gazed lovingly at Judy, as she emerged from the bathroom in her nightdress and dressing gown. ‘I never thought we'd hit it off so well the very first time. It was all right for you too, wasn't it?' he asked anxiously, slipping on his shirt.

‘Yes.'

‘And we'll improve with practice, lots of practice.' Buttoning his shirt, he pushed it into his trousers, before taking her into his arms and kissing her. ‘Happy?'

‘Yes.'

‘I'll go and see my mother tomorrow and tell her that we're getting married in July. You'll come with me?'

‘Yes.'

‘Pick me up in your car in the morning and we'll have lunch with her. She always cooks masses of food on a Sunday so she won't mind one extra, especially when she hears our news. She'll be in her element organising a great big white wedding. It will be important to her. You don't mind, do you?'

‘No.'

‘She'll want my cousins to be bridesmaids. There are six of them, but you can choose the dresses, and we'll have to decide where to hold the reception. The Mackworth did a great job on Helen and Jack's, and Lily and Martin's.'

‘Yes.'

‘So we'll go there. There's just one other thing.' He drew her back to the bed and sat beside her. ‘Tonight – well, it was great but it would be even better without me having to use a French letter.'

‘I don't want children yet and you agreed.' Her eyes rounded in alarm.

‘We can use something else. There's something called a cap that women can use. They push it inside them …'

‘How do you know about it?' she asked suspiciously.

‘I overheard Lily and Katie talking about it, not long after Lily and Martin got married.'

‘I'll remind them to be more careful when you're around.'

‘Don't! They'd be mortified and you're the only one I've mentioned it to or am likely to. So, you'll see the doctor because, well,' he beamed, ‘tonight is just the beginning for us. There's tomorrow …'