Somewhere Only We Know ....... (7 page)

We talked
and talked, it turned out his mam lived in the flat above him. She
had married an older man who called himself The Commander, but
wasn
’
t a Commander at all,
he just collected war memorabilia. Keith seemed to have forgiven
her for leaving him and his older sister, he had an all right
upbringing with his dad and stepmam, who incidentally was also his
aunt; his dad had married his
brother
’
s ex-wife so his
step brother and sister were really his cousins.

It was all so confusing.

We snuggled
up on the settee and eventually fell asleep. The next day I rang
into work and threw a sicky. Keith did the same. Taking his old
Ford Capri car, we spent the day down on the coast, we walked on
the beach, ate fish and chips and got to know each other better. By
the end of the day I felt like I had known him forever.

Keith drove me home. My mam and dad were
furious for not going to work and a row broke out, I had had the
foresight to leave Keith in the car and after throwing some clothes
in a bag, I walked out.

They must
have been terrified at the time, they had no idea where I had been
or where I was going or who I was with. But I
didn
’
t care, I was in crush
mode and the object of my obsession was parked outside my house and
there was no way I was going to let him slip through my
fingers.

So I went to
stay at his smelly little flat. We stumbled into bed together and
it was job done. Keith was amazing, I
didn
’
t ask but he seemed to
have had a lot of experience, he certainly was confident. He had a
huge cock, far bigger than anything I had ever had seen before. I
gagged when I sucked him off and I winced when he fucked me, but I
persevered and as the days and the fucks went on I certainly
started to enjoy it.

We fit, in all areas, before the end of the
week it felt like we had been together for years. We went to work,
we had tea, we talked and we shagged.

At the
weekend we made another trip to Kinsley. This time I took Keith in
to meet my mam and dad. They were wary of him, I could tell by how
guarded they were with him, but I was happy and there was no way I
would let them two spoil it for me. They could like it or lump it.
I collected more clothes, gave them my contact details and then
left. On the way home we called in to see my Granny, she
wasn
’
t happy with me either
and wasn
’
t shy in letting me
know, it was embarrassing but I deserved it, I had caused them all
a lot of worry.

And that was
the beginning of my life with Keith. I met his mam and The
Commander. Marian was a tiny woman, she was very pretty even in her
fifties and must have been a real looker in her day. She fussed
around Keith like a mother hen, she sent us meals down to our flat
and always had some sort of treat for us when she came back from
the shops. It wasn
’
t until a
few years later, when she was arrested for shoplifting that I
realised that the treats came from her loot collected on her
frequent trips to the shops. At the time though it was nice to get
to know Keith
’
s mam. The
Commander never left their flat, he was a good 20 years older than
Marion and sat in his leather winged back chair and let her wait on
him hand and foot.

We settled
into our life together. We went to Kinsley on a weekend, visited my
Granny and my mam and dad. There was little improvement there. My
mam kept saying you are going to regret this my lady, he
isn
’
t right for you. It
didn
’
t help that Keith kept
going on about how he was going to be a millionaire before he was
25, even to me he seemed like a dreamer.

When I met
Keith he worked at a local garden centre, but he was always buying
and selling stuff; socks, washing up liquid, cars; pirate videos.
You name it he was selling it and he was always up to something. At
the time I was impressed, he was doing this all for us, but he
never seemed to be making any money. We were using my wages to pay
all the rent and bills.

He changed
jobs and started working in sales, once again I was impressed, he
was still very young, but had managed to get a job selling
alongside men much older than he was, there was also the added
bonus of a company car; we certainly were going up in the
world.

Apart from
the Keith
’
s penchant
for
‘
daydreaming
’
a few
other things started to emerge about him. He was always washing and
cleaning, the washing machine was never off, he hovered daily and
was forever spraying air freshener. The sheets on our bed were
fresh every night. But the flat was still smelly! Despite all the
cleaning and washing and spraying the flat still had a smell about
it that penetrated everything in it. Then the penny dropped, Keith
was a bed wetter. How had I missed it? Then I remembered every
morning Keith would tell me to go put the kettle on and get the
fags ready - we never had sex in a morning, well if we did it would
be in the living room or bathroom. Poor Keith. I remembered when I
had gone through a spell of bedwetting, it was horrific. My heart
almost broke.

So I bought
extra bedding. I didn
’
t say
anything I just put the sheets in the cupboard along with a
mattress protector. Keith didn
’
t say anything either, but I noticed that instead of
switching the washing machine on with just one sheet in it, he
would leave the door open so I could load the rest of the washing
if we had any.

The other
thing was that although I knew he was devoted to me, he was a born
flirt. No one was safe from his charm, and charming he was. It
didn
’
t matter what age they
were or what they looked like, he had a roving eye. I was full of
insecurities. If he was late I would panic thinking he was meeting
someone else. I searched the flat for signs of is cheating, there
was none. There were photographs of a girl who was the daughter of
his boss at the garden centre, I was devastated; she was so pretty.
When I asked him he said that he had gone out with her for a while,
but she had finished him. Why would she do that I thought to
myself, he is gorgeous. He must have been heartbroken when she
finished him, maybe I was a rebound
thing
…
. And so it went on. I
would pick arguments with him, push him to the limits until one day
he turned around and said
“
For fucks sake Caroline will you marry
me?
”
And that was
that.

The next
weekend we went to my mam and dads. We had planned to tell them we
were getting married, but my mam was so snotty with me and so off
with Keith I decided I wasn
’
t going to bother, I did take my birth certificate with me
when I left though and the next day we went to Newcastle Registry
Office and booked our wedding. On the spur of the moment we decided
to get married by special licence and we came away with our wedding
arranged for the following Friday, 4 days away.

I borrowed a
dress from a friend of Marion
’
s, bought a pair of cheap white shoes and Marion bought me
a bouquet, well I think she bought it.
Keith
’
s sister was coming up
from Leeds for the day and he asked a lad he used to work with at
the garden centre to come along and be a witness. Marion and The
Commander decided that they wouldn
’
t be coming, which to be truthful I was relieved at, they
were canny but a bit strange and I sometimes felt under pressure
when I spent time with them.

So on the
Friday lunchtime me and Keith along with witnesses; Jane his sister
and Paul from the garden centre went into Newcastle and got
married. I felt guilty for my family, my mam and dad had always
wanted me to marry in church so this was going to be yet another
disappointment for them. And my Granny, my best friend how could I
have done this without her there to see me? But it was done and
there wasn
’
t anything I
could do about it, well there was, I
didn
’
t tell

them, I
didn
’
t tell them Keith and I
had got married for another 6 months and I only told them then
because my mam caught sight of a bank statement which was in the
name of Mr and Mrs Keith Evans.

After the
ceremony we went into a city centre pub for lunch. We had a few
drinks, but I struggled to keep the drinks down I was so wound up.
Afterwards Paul went home, Jane went to stay upstairs with her mam
and The Commander and Keith and I went home. For the first time I
saw Keith drunk and I didn
’
t
like it.

My lovely
mild mannered Keith was full of himself, he was foul mouthed and
arrogant. When I tried to get him to come to bed he hit me, he hit
me so hard I banged my head against the radiator. On my wedding
night my new husband hit me and he was so drunk he
didn
’
t even realise he had
done it. I ran into the bathroom where I sat on the toilet shaking,
I couldn
’
t take in what had
just happened. On the day that should have been the happiest day of
my life I had become a battered wife.

When I came out of the bathroom, Keith was
asleep on the settee. Still in his wedding suit he looked the
picture of innocence. I covered him with a blanket and went off to
spend a sleepless night in our wedding bed. Keith had hit me and
that was just the beginning.

The next
morning I was sitting drinking a coffee on the kitchen bench when
Keith came in, he had discarded his suit and was wearing a tee
shirt and track suit bottoms. He looked terrible.
“
Are you okay? What
happened?
”
He asked. I
lifted my head, I knew from looking in the bathroom mirror earlier
that my cheek was a lovely shade of lilac and was swollen.
“
Fuck me, I
didn
’
t do that did
I?
”
he whispered.
“
Yes you did - you got drunk lost
your temper and hit me Keith, it was our wedding night and you hurt
me,
”
I answered.
“
I can’t remember a thing Caz
really I can’t, how could I have done that to
you,
”
he said.

He burst
into tears. I opened my arms and he snuggled into them sobbing, I
soothed him until his breathing became normal again.
“
I am so, so sorry, it will never
happen again, I promise you,
”
he pleaded. So I forgave him. I ran him a bath, I picked up
his piss sodden suit from the bedroom floor, I
couldn
’
t even bare taking it
to the dry cleaners, so I binned it and I sponged down the settee.
I mothered him, he had hurt me, but somehow he was the one that was
needed comforting.

For a while thing went back to normal. He
was so loving and caring and our relationship went back onto an
even keel. Anything I wanted I got, clothes, nights out, anything.
We put our wedding night well and truly to bed.

Keith was promoted at work, he became a team
leader. He was still only 19 but showed such good skills that the
company thought to reward him with promotion, his charm won through
again. He got a pay rise, monthly bonuses and a new car. Along with
the promotion came training courses and meetings and he spent at
least one night a week away. At first I liked the time being on my
own, but it soon wore thin.

Mrs
Kleptomaniac and The Commander did my head in. They were a couple
of Walter Mitties and couldn
’
t even lie straight in bed. It was a toss-up between who
was the most frequent visitor at their house, the police or their
insurance man. They were forever having something stolen, how I’ll
never know, The Commander never set foot outside the flat, but they
seemed to get away with it and the cheques kept coming. The
Commanders assortment of kids and their families were also in and
out all of the time, all the grandchildren looked the same, just in
different sizes, they were all scruffy, swore like troopers and had
continually runny noses. I kept my distance and I think they all
thought that I was stuck up, this was always in evidence whenever
any of the grandchildren where there, they would always made a game
of putting something disgusting through my letterbox.

I got so fed
up I started to go home when Keith was away. It was nice spending
time with my mam and dad, after their disappointment in my secret
wedding we enjoyed each other’s company. I
don
’
t think their
relationship had changed much, it was still as volatile as ever but
they made an effort when I stayed over. My Granny would come along
for tea on those nights and sometimes I would go and stay with her.
It was her idea that me and Keith should move back to
Kinsley.

The seed had
been planted. On my next visit I scoured the streets of Kinsley
looking for my perfect house, well maybe not perfect but something
we could afford and eventually came across a 3 bed roomed terrace,
I loved it from the outside straight away; it had a back yard and a
little front garden and then when Keith and I viewed it on the
Saturday that was it. I loved it.