The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (97 page)

May 1
^st
1964
:
I’ve
moved in with Richard and we’re so happy. I still have a problem with telling
Ed about Jonny. He dotes on him and I think he will want to kill me.

  
Jess looked at Jon who was on
his back staring at the ceiling.

June 7
^th
1964
:
We’re
going to
Wales
for the weekend. We got engaged today and
Richard is taking me away to celebrate. Jonny is staying with Cathy. When we
come home we’ll go together to Eddie’s and tell him the truth. I can’t face him
on my own.

  
That was the final entry. Angie and Richard had never returned home from
Wales.

***

‘I can’t believe it, Jess. I feel
numb.’

  
‘It might not be true,’ she said hesitantly.

  
‘But why would she lie? It ties in with what Dad told you. Well, the
only way to find out for sure is to ask Cathy. She was the only other person to
know the truth.’

  
Jess nodded. ‘And then what? How on earth do we tell Mum and Dad?
They’ll be devastated.’
   

  
‘I know’ Jon said, taking her hand. ‘Everything I’ve ever had from my
Dad, home life, car, Aunt Celia’s money, has never been mine by rights. What
about Grandma Turner and Aunt Sally? They don’t know either and poor Dad,
taking all the blame for something he didn’t do.’

  
‘By pure flook!’ Jess smiled wryly.

  
‘This guy, Richard, my biological father, we don’t know anything about
him. I’ve probably got relatives in Pickford. Maybe he had kids from his first
marriage. I might have more brothers and sisters. If Angie had lived I would
have had at least one.’

  
‘Angie didn’t really say that much about him. There’s no mention of his
family or that they were aware of your existence. You’ll have to go and see Cathy
as soon as possible. See if she can throw any light on things.’ Jess placed the
diaries back in the tin box. ‘If it
is
all true, you and Dad could have
blood tests to make absolutely sure.’
 

  
Jon nodded. ‘We’ll go and see Cathy on the way home tomorrow.’

  
‘It’s been an awful shock for you, Jon. Shall I go down to the bar and
get some brandy?’

  
He sat up and pulled her close. ‘In a minute. There’s something we need
to talk about first, something that we haven’t even considered. If Richard
really
is
my father, we’re not in an
incestuous relationship.’

  
She stared at him, eyes wide.

  
‘We could even be married,’ he continued.

  
Jess nodded slowly. ‘We could. And if I’m pregnant?’

  
‘Then we keep it. I wouldn’t allow you to abort our baby when it isn’t
necessary.’
     

  
Jess slid her arms around his neck and kissed him. ‘I love you, Jon.’

  
‘I love you too, Jess. What will I do if Dad disowns me when we tell him
I’m not his son?’

  
‘Dad would never do that. He thinks the world of you. You
know
that.’

  
‘That’s because he thinks I’m his flesh and blood. It might be a
different story when he knows the truth.’ A frown crossed his face. ‘A horrible
thought just occurred to me.’

  
‘What?’

  
‘If Angie hadn’t lied, you and I may never have met, especially when you
consider she wanted to have me adopted in the first place.’

  
‘There’s always a reason for everything, Jon.’

  
‘So it would seem,’ he said, and kissed her.
  

***

‘Carl, will you take your mum and
Ben out for a couple of hours?’ Cathy asked, as Carl strolled into the kitchen,
a pile of sheet music in his hands.

  
‘Do I have to? I’ve got all these arrangements to work on for the tour.
Why can’t
you
take them out?’

  
‘Jon just called. He’s been to see Angie’s mum and needs to discuss something.
He wouldn’t say what, but I have a horrible feeling that it’s about Richard and
Angie. I don’t want your mum here if the shit hits the fan. He’s on his way
with Jess and sounded very upset, so something isn’t right.’
  

  
‘You’re probably barking up the wrong tree. How the hell can he possibly
have found out? Angie and Richard took the secret to the grave. Sally swore
she’d do the same and Ed and Jane have stayed mum all this time.’

  
‘I don’t know how, but
something
tells me he knows. I need to get my wits about me before he arrives.’

  
‘Right, I’ll take Mum for afternoon tea in Kettleshulme. Ben will have
to stay in the car, but he’ll go to sleep.’

  
‘Thanks, Carl.’

***

Cathy rushed round tidying up,
plumping cushions and straightening the rug. She combed her hair and slicked on
lipstick. She was dreading Jon’s visit. Almost all her life she’d worried about
him finding out the truth from someone other than Ed and Jane. It was her
opinion that they should have told him years ago, no matter how difficult.
Coming from them at an earlier age, he would have long ago accepted things and
put it behind him. By the time she let in Jon and Jess, her nerves were at
breaking point and she almost wished she’d called Ed and warned him.

  
She sent them into the lounge and brought a tray of coffee and biscuits
through. She looked at her Godson with pride. Such a handsome boy, Angie’s
child had always held a special place in her heart.

  
‘Well, sunshine, I haven’t seen
you
for ages. What’s bothering you? You both look worried.’

  
‘Will you please tell me who my father is?’ Jon came straight to the
point.

  
Cathy swallowed hard. ‘Eddie of course. What a strange question to ask.’

  
Jon looked at Jess who held the tin box on her knee. She pulled out the
diaries. They had folded down the pages with the entries where Angie had
written about her and Richard planning to tell Ed of Jon’s true parentage and
the entry where she had first realised she was pregnant.

  
Silently, Jess handed the diaries to Cathy who balked at the sight of
her late friend’s handwriting. ‘Where did you get these?’

  
‘From Grandma Turner. They were locked away in that tin box,’ Jon
replied.

  
Cathy read through some of the entries, her eyes filling with
tears.
 

  
‘So, Cathy, who is my father?’ Jon asked again. ‘Please tell me the
truth.’

  
‘Richard Price,’ she whispered, not meeting his eye.

  
Jon nodded, took Jess’s hand and kissed it, placing his other arm around
her shoulders. Cathy stared at the pair.

  
‘What’s going on?’

  
‘Would you help us please, Cathy?’ he asked. ‘There’s no one else we can
turn to.’

  
‘Of course, if I can. What is it?’

  
‘Jess and I are lovers,’ he began. ‘We thought we were in an incestuous
relationship, which of course we knew was wrong. But if Eddie is definitely not
my dad then we’re not breaking the law.’

  
Cathy nodded. ‘I see. Richard was your father, Jon, that’s the truth.
You and Jess are not blood related in any way. I presume Eddie and Jane are
unaware of what’s going on between you?’

  
Jon nodded. ‘I haven’t a clue how to tell Dad about what’s in the
diaries. What do you know about Richard Price? Do you have any photographs of
him?’

  
Cathy went to a desk near the bay window. She opened a drawer, took out
a box and handed Jon a photograph of Richard, Angie and himself as a small boy.

  
Jess’s eyes opened wide. ‘Jon, you look exactly like him. Oh my God,
it’s spooky! You and Dad won’t need blood tests!’

  
‘You
do
look like him, Jon,’ Cathy said. ‘Richard wasn’t much
older then you are now when he died. You’re so alike you could be twins.
 
I think we should call your Mum and Dad and
ask them to come over. There’s a lot more you need to be told and I don’t think
that’s up to me.’
  

  
Cathy called Eddie and Jane, and without saying why, asked them to come
over to the house as soon as they could.

  
She sat down in front of Jon and Jess and smiled. ‘I suppose I’ve been
dreading this for years, but I wasn’t expecting the added complication of the
pair of you being lovers.’

  
‘How can we tell them about us, Cathy?’ Jon asked worriedly. ‘Dad will
kill me for this, I just know he will.’

  
‘Well, here they are, so we’ll soon find out and if the worst comes
to the worst, you’ll have to come and stay here with me and Carl for a while.
Now don’t worry, let’s play it by ear. Listen first to what they’ve got to tell
you, okay?’

  
Cathy let in a puzzled Jane and Eddie.

  
‘Hi, Cathy,’ Jane said. ‘Is that Jon’s car on your drive? Are they here,
Jon and Jess I mean?’
    

  
Cathy nodded. ‘In the lounge. They know about Richard and Angie and want
some answers,’ she whispered.

  
‘Oh shit!’ Eddie exclaimed. ‘How the fuck did they find out?’

  
‘
They’ll
explain, go on in,’ Cathy replied. ‘I’ll make a fresh
pot of coffee.’

***

‘Hi, kids,’ Eddie greeted Jon and
Jess. Jane followed him and sat down on the sofa opposite them. ‘So, what’s up?
Come on, out with it.’

  
‘We’ve got Angie’s diaries, Dad. We’ve read most of them. Everything you
told Jess is logged in them, exactly as you said it happened.’

  
Eddie nodded and sat down next to Jane. ‘But there’s something else?’

  
Jon sighed. ‘She says Richard Price is my father, not you.’

  
Eddie swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat. ‘Does she, son?’

  
‘You don’t seem surprised, Dad.’

  
‘I know that Richard was your
biological
father, Jon. I’ve known for a very long time, since you were four years old in
fact. But it’s never made any difference to me. As far as
I’m
concerned, you are and always will be, my boy.’

  
Jon stared, mouth open. ‘You’ve brought me up all these years knowing
Angie conned you into believing you were my dad, and you just accepted it?’

  
Eddie nodded. ‘What
else
could I do? I
thought
you were
mine. I had every reason to
believe
you were mine. Why should I have
treated you any differently when I found out the truth? It certainly didn’t
alter my feelings for you.’

  
Jess looked at her mum. Jane’s eyes were tear-filled as she took Eddie’s
hand.

  
‘Jon, we both love you very much. When we discovered that Richard was
your father we were devastated. But there was no way we could have let you go,
even though we had no legal rights to you. Ed’s name’s on your birth
certificate. No one was going to contest that and take you away from us. You
were our little boy and we wanted to keep you. Maybe what we did was wrong. We
denied you your real family, Richard’s family. But I don’t think that they even
knew you existed. They still don’t, of course. It will be up to you if you want
to try and trace them. Please don’t think too badly of Eddie and me for what we
did.’
  

  
Jon, tears streaming down his face, knelt in front of Jane and took her
hand. ‘Mum, you and Dad have been the best parents any kid could have wished
for. I love you very much. I don’t have any wish to get in touch with Richard’s
family at all. Does anyone else know about this besides you two and Cathy?’

  
‘Roy, Sammy, Pat, Tim and Carl,’ Eddie replied. We made a pact not to
tell a soul. It’s been the most closely guarded Raiders secret in the world.
Not even your grandparents know.’

  
Jon nodded and went back to sit beside Jess. He took her hand without
thinking and Jane caught her breath. She smiled at the bewildered pair. ‘Now
our
secret’s out in the open, what about you two? Have you got something you’d like
to share with
us
?’

  
Jon nodded. ‘Yes. Me and Jess are in love.’

  
Eddie looked at Jane, eyebrows raised in amazement. ‘You were right, as
usual.’

  
‘Mum, you knew?’ Jess’s tone was incredulous.

  
‘I had my suspicions. I saw the way you looked at one another, the way you
are so comfortable together. More like lovers than brother and sister, which of
course you now know you’re not.’

  
Jon and Jess looked at one another.

  
‘You’ll need to be discreet in front of the kids for now,’ Eddie said.
‘Until we think how we can explain this to them properly. Dom will have a holy
fit if he thinks you end up with your sister for ever.’

  
‘Thanks for everything, Dad, Mum and you too, Cathy,’ Jon said as Cathy
popped her head around the door.

  
‘Yes, thanks, Cathy,’ Eddie added. ‘I’ve always lived in dread of this
day, as I know you have, but it’s not been half as bad as I was expecting it to
be. Not even with the extra complication.’