The Girl with the Creel (20 page)

Before his last words were out, Willie Alec came in, his lined face as grey as his son's and son-in-law's. Hannah stood up with a strangled sob and almost collapsed into his arms, and as he stroked her back, he said, ‘It was lucky the
Girl Alice
was close astern o' us, and her skipper saw what happened. He picked every man jack o' us up, and his crew even managed to fit us out wi' dry clothes.'

Grinning, Mick looked down at the trousers he was wearing, which only reached the calves of his legs. ‘This pair's half-mast on me. A couple of inches shorter and they'd be like the breeks I wore to school.'

George turned to him, his face serious. ‘They did the best they could, Mick, and it was real good of them.'

Willie Alec disentangled himself from his wife to thump down on the nearest seat, then passed a weary, trembling hand across his brow. ‘If it hadna been for them, we'd've been goners.'

Nobody said anything to that, each thanking God for the rescue but unable to dispel the thought of the tragedy there could have been. At last, Willie Alec groaned, ‘For all that, she went to the sea bed and all our gear wi' her.'

Always more practical than her sister, Lou tried to make him look on the bright side. ‘You'd had her insured, though?'

He shook his head in shame. ‘I couldna afford to insure her at first, and I aye meant to take out a policy … but I kept putting it off.'

‘Ach, well,' Mick consoled, ‘you're no worse off than you were before you bought her, and you'll get a berth with somebody else.'

‘You dinna understand,' his father moaned, clamping his head between his hands in his anguish. ‘She's still to be paid, and I'm responsible for my crew's gear, and all.'

Mick protested at this. ‘It wasn't your fault she went down, Father.'

‘No, but I want to recompense every man so he can buy new …'

‘You'll not need to worry about me and George. We'll buy our own.'

‘Aye,' his brother-in-law nodded, ‘we'll manage that.'

Lizann could hardly believe that George had agreed. It would take most of their savings to replace the boots, the ganzies, the sets of heavy underwear, the oilskins, and he could never replace the antique sextant which he had told her had belonged to Katie's great-grandfather. Besides, he wouldn't get another skipper's job, and it would take them ages on a deckie's wages till they made up their savings again. They would never furnish a house at this rate, and they had to get away from the Yardie, for her mother was always casting up about George's other wife. There was going to be big trouble one of these days.

‘That still leaves Billy Peat and Robbie Fernie,' Willie Alec sighed. ‘Married men wi' young bairns … and wee Jimmicky, the cook. His mother's a widow-woman.'

Lou broke into the heavy silence which followed. ‘That's only three you'll need to recom … pay to get new gear, four counting yourself. And the shipyard'll surely wait till you're on your feet again before they expect you to …'

‘I'm not going to renege on my debts!' Willie Alec said angrily. ‘I'm going to pay what I'm due every month, supposing me and Hannah have to go hungry.'

‘There's no need to lose your rag at me,' Lou said, huffily, getting to her feet. ‘I'd best away. I can see I'm not wanted here.'

‘Ach, Lou, I'm sorry,' Willie Alec muttered. ‘I'm that upset I dinna ken what I'm saying. I'd best go to my bed for a while.'

Not one to harbour grudges, Lou's face broke into a wide smile. ‘Aye, things'll look better when you've had a sleep, but get something in your belly first.'

After a meal hardly any of them touched, Willie Alec went through to his bed, and after protesting for some time that they didn't need to, Mick and George were persuaded to have a rest, too.

After washing up, Lou said, ‘You're nae needing me now, so I'll get off hame. You'll be glad o' some peace for a while to get over things, but it's a blessing they were all saved.'

When Lizann went upstairs a few hours later to say that supper was ready, she was glad to find her husband sound asleep, but Mick answered her call with alacrity.

With Willie Alec and George still sleeping off the effects of their ordeal, only three sat down at the table, but knowing that Jenny Cowie would be anxious about him, Mick finished quickly and went to let her know he was home safely. Hannah, who had scarcely said a word since the men came in, now murmured, ‘I wouldna like to go through that again.'

‘No,' Lizann agreed, ‘but it's all over now, thank God.'

‘Amen to that.'

At half past eight Lizann went upstairs again. ‘Ah, you're wakened at last?' she said, when George lifted his head. ‘How d'you feel now?'

‘A lot better, but I wouldn't like to go through that again.'

‘That's what my mother said and all,' Lizann smiled. ‘Would you like something to eat? I can easy heat up your supper.'

‘I just want to hold you. When we were in the water, I kept thinking about you, and … oh, God, come here, my darling.'

‘I'll have to tell my mother …'

‘Forget your mother. She'll know you've come to bed with me.'

She needed no further persuasion and, remembering her wish when she thought George was lost to her that she hadn't been so afraid of them being heard, she did her best to please him.

In the morning, Willie Alec looked round the breakfast table. ‘I meant what I said last night. I'm going to pay back every penny of my debts.'

‘You should have a word with the yard,' Mick advised. ‘They might come to some special arrangement with you.'

‘I want no special arrangements made for me,' his father growled. ‘I took in hand to pay off a certain amount every month for three year, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm giving no man the chance to say Willie Alec Jappy broke his word. I want nothing hanging over my head when I go to my grave.'

‘That gives you plenty time,' Mick grinned.

His father was in no mood for pleasantries. ‘Just you let this be a lesson to you, and all, Mick. Buy nothing you canna pay for in full.'

Mick's grin became somewhat rueful. ‘That means I'll never be able to buy anything that costs more than a shilling or two. I'm aye skint.'

‘You'll have to cut your coat according to your cloth,' Willie Alec said, firmly. ‘You spend ower much on that lassie you go out wi'.'

Mick glanced wryly at Lizann, who guessed that he had been saving in the hope of marrying Jenny, and that he, too, would be left with very little after buying his new gear, but she said nothing. Mick and George would consider this as a setback to their future plans – as had she the day before – but all she felt now was thankful that they had a future.

Chapter Eleven

Three weeks later, Peter Tait married Elsie Slater in the Baptist church in Cluny Place. Her father had arranged for the reception to be held in the St Andrew's Hotel, to which forty guests had been invited, and it was almost midnight before the happy couple could go up to the room Chae had also booked for them for the night.

Peter was shy about undressing, but Elsie tossed off her long white wedding gown and underclothes then gyrated slowly in front of him. This made him forget his inhibitions, and he too cast his clothing on the floor.

‘Wow!' Elsie exclaimed, when they settled back on the bed afterwards. ‘That was the best yet, Peter.'

His prowess had also surprised him – it had likely been not having to worry about being seen – but he laughed off her compliment. ‘That was nothing, I'm not finished yet.' The way she was fondling him had fired him again, and he proceeded to show her his boast had been no idle one.

It was only after their second wild coupling that he remembered. ‘I hope this doesn't hurt the baby.'

Her big blue eyes regarded him innocently. ‘What baby?' His puzzled expression made her giggle. ‘There's no baby, I just said that so you'd marry me.'

She had planned her moment carefully, sure that he would forgive her anything tonight, but his expression alarmed her. Had she gone too far? Running her tongue round her already moist lips, she wheedled, ‘Peter, lovey, you're nae angry at me, are you?'

‘Of course I'm angry!' he barked, trying unsuccessfully to keep his eyes away from her. ‘No man likes being made a fool of.'

‘I wasna trying to make a fool o' you,' she pouted. ‘I wanted you to wed me, what's wrong wi' that?'

This time he did manage to turn his head away. If she hadn't spun him the story, he'd have told Lizann when he went to commiserate with her that he still loved her, and even with George turning up safe and sound again, she might have realized she would have a more tranquil life with a draughtsman than a seaman who could be lost at any time. Instead, he'd had to say he was marrying Elsie … and because of her bloody stupid lie, he had lost all hope of ever getting Lizann.

‘God Almighty!' he burst out, viciously. ‘I wish I'd known. Do you think I'd have married you if …'

‘Do you think you could have gotten another girl to satisfy you like me?' Elsie's voice was velvet-soft, cloying, insinuating her words deep into his brain and setting it off on a different track. She was a man's woman, she knew how to get him going, she knew how to keep him going, and by God, when she wanted to, she could drive him so mad with lust that all he could think of was taking her. Anyway, he had burned his bridges behind him. They were husband and wife now, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health.

Feeling her stroking his shoulder, coaxing him, he looked back at her and was lost. His pulses quickened at the sight of her lissom, naked body spreadeagled by his side, her sweet red lips crying out to be kissed, but he had to teach her who was boss. ‘I'll make damned sure I'll put you up the spout tonight,' he muttered, grabbing one of her breasts and squeezing.

Her hand dived down. ‘Get on wi' it, then!' she grinned.

With her uncommunicative husband by her side – nothing new, for he was always like that – Bella Jeannie reached home much happier than when she set out for the wedding. ‘You ken,' she said, when they were inside, ‘I was near sure Elsie was in the family way, so I watched her like a hawk the whole time …'

Bowfer Tait held his breath, for he'd really enjoyed himself dancing with all the young things, especially his new daughter-in-law, then he relaxed when his wife went on, ‘… but her belly's as flat as a pancake. It'll likely nae be long till she is, for I could see Peter was worked up, but there'll be nae shame to the bairn when it's born.'

‘Aye … no, that's right.' Bowfer nodded vigorously. He'd been worked up himself just looking at all the lassies, their slim supple bodies so different from Bella Jeannie's whaleboned stiffness, and when he'd held them in his arms he'd felt a long-forgotten raging heat in his nether regions. And if Elsie's belly was flat, it was the only thing about her that was. ‘We'll just go up to bed, eh?' he muttered, hopefully.

‘Aye, we'd be as well.'

After climbing the stairs, Bowfer had to sit down on a chair – this damned cough would be the death of him, he thought, as he fought for breath. By the time he recovered, Bella Jeannie had taken off her tent-like frock and petticoat, and though he bent down to remove his shoes and socks, he watched her out of the corner of his eye. When he was younger, he had liked a woman with a bit of flesh on her, but a man's tastes change. He'd have preferred somebody with a decent figure right now, but Bella Jeannie would have to do.

When she took off her brassiere, he was mesmerized to see her high bosom dropping a couple of inches, but it occurred to him that he should start to undress himself in case she noticed him looking at her. First pulling off the tie he had slackened when he came out of the hall, he took off his shirt and started opening his trouser buttons. He couldn't believe the size of the huge belly that flopped out when his wife unhooked her corsets; he was usually asleep before she came to bed. Her sagging breasts reached to her belly-button now, or where her belly-button should be – it must be somewhere under all those layers of fat, though he wouldn't have seen it anyway with her always keeping on her woollen vest, day and night, winter and summer.

Sighing with relief, she threw the pink instrument of torture on the chair at her side of the bed, and scratched where her skin was irritated from long hours of confinement. As her fingers gouged into the spongy rolls around her waist and hips, Bowfer felt his heat subsiding. She wasn't just fat, she was bloody disgusting!

Blissfully unaware of her husband's repugnance, Bella Jeannie hitched up her thick bloomers, put on her winceyette nightdress and got into bed, the springs protesting loudly at her weight. Starting another fit of coughing, Bowfer held his chest until it stopped, then kicked off his trousers and, in his linder and drawers, lay down on the narrow strip which was all that was available to him. He hadn't touched Bella Jeannie as a husband for many a long year, and he'd thought he was past it, but he wasn't. The young things had got him going, though he'd lost the urge again after seeing his wife as near naked as anybody would ever see her.

Bowfer closed his eyes and turned his thoughts to Elsie. Dancing with her had been a revelation, for the lassies in his day had been nothing like as forward. She'd pressed her tits into his chest, and she must have known it was turning him on, for she'd smiled and rubbed against him till he was that fired up he was feared he would disgrace himself in front of the other guests. He'd had to pretend his chest was bothering him so he could go and sit down, but she knew fine what his trouble was. By God, he wouldn't be lying here just thinking about it if it was her lying beside him. Peter was a lucky young bugger!