Lovers and Liars (27 page)

‘When Danny told me he was hoping to get back this evening.’

‘Well, you’ve done him proud,’ Emily said warmly. ‘You’ve done us
all
proud!’ There were ham sandwiches, pork-pie chunks and small crispy apple-slices round the edge of the plate, hard-boiled eggs and potato salad, and in a small wicker basket were any number of little fairy cakes, some with chocolate icing, and others with dollops of cream on top.

A large, round apple pie twinkled with sugared pastry, next to a jug of cream for pouring. ‘You should have called me!’ Emily chided. ‘I would have helped.’

‘I didn’t call you because you were busy enough with other things, and besides, there was only a small amount of baking to do. Most of it was already in the larder from yesterday.’

Collecting the wooden apple-crate from the pantry, Aggie turned to pack the food. ‘Let me do that, Mam.’ And before her mam could argue, Emily lined the crate with the green picnic-rug and filled it with the good things. ‘I know what this is all about,’ she said.

‘Do you now?’ Aggie had her motive, and Emily knew it. ‘And what might that be then, eh?’

‘You think Danny will ask me to wed him again, and this time, you’re hoping I’ll say yes – is that it?’

‘Something like that.’ Bringing the two jugs of cold drink from the larder, Aggie packed them into the crate; the sarsaparilla at one end; lemon-barley water at the other. ‘That’ll balance the crate as we carry it. Now then, where did I put the napkins?’ She glanced round the room, relieved when her searching gaze fell on the pile of newly washed squares, folded on the sideboard.

In no time at all, Emily and Aggie were ready to carry the crate out, but first her mother had an errand for Emily. ‘Run upstairs and ask Grandad if he’d like to sit out in the sunshine for a bit.’ Aggie thought Emily would be able to persuade him where she couldn’t. ‘I asked him before, but he said no. If you recall, the doctor said he could sit out when the weather was warm, only the old devil’s being obstinate. Do what you can,’ she pleaded. ‘It’ll do him a power of good to feel the sun on his face.’

Thinking the very same, Emily started up the stairs. ‘And don’t you go trying to manage that crate all on your own!’ she warned.

Aggie laughed. ‘I might be able to do a lot o’ things,’ she answered, ‘but I know my limits. I’ll wait for you to come down. Don’t you worry.’

She watched Emily go, and raised her eyes to heaven. ‘Dear Good Lord, will You try and get her to say yes to Danny?’ She could see a future for Emily and the child in Danny’s loving care.

Taking Aggie by surprise, Emily was back in no time. ‘I knew it!’ Aggie stood with hands on hips and a look of consternation on her face. ‘He won’t budge, will he?’

‘At first he was stubborn as a mule, but when I told him Danny was waiting downstairs, he wanted to know why we’d neglected him, and why he hadn’t been asked before.’

Aggie smiled. ‘He’s a canny old bugger, that’s what he is.’

Emily laughed at the pair of them. ‘A bit like you then – eh, Mam?’

A few moments later, she and Aggie carried the box out to the garden, and laid it on the ground. Danny was horrified. ‘You shouldn’t be carrying that weight! Why didn’t you call me?’

‘We’ve a bigger job for you, son,’ Aggie informed him. ‘There’s a cantankerous old devil upstairs, who’s waiting to be helped down. The poor thing’s been that badly neglected, we thought we might give him a little treat by way of an apology.’

Danny saw the look on her face and knew her father-in-law had been up to his old tricks. ‘That’ll be the day, when I see you and Emily neglect him. What! You spoil him rotten, the pair of you.’

Aggie thanked him. ‘Happen you’d best tell him that,’ she said. ‘He seems to think he’s hard done by. Or he
pretends
to think it, so he can put us through hoops, that’s more like it.’

‘He’s entitled to,’ Emily chuckled. ‘I might do the same when I’m his age.’

While Danny and her mother went after Grandad, Emily and Cathleen returned to the house. ‘I’ll take the plates,’ she told the girl. ‘You can carry the salt and pepper.’ Handing her the two condiments, Emily gave her a cuddle. ‘You always want to help, don’t you, eh?’

That done, the two of them laid out the picnic rug. ‘You wait here, sweetheart.’ Emily sat her daughter on the rug. ‘I’ll go and get the cutlery.’ She was looking forward to the picnic, especially now Grandad was coming down.

Upstairs, Danny helped Thomas Isaac out of bed and held him upright while Aggie put on his robe and slippers. ‘Stand still!’ She almost toppled over, when he began his way towards the door. ‘Your slippers are not properly on yet.’

‘Hurry up, woman!’ he retaliated. ‘I’m hungry. It’s hours since I were fed.’

‘You ate soup and bread only half an hour since.’ By now she was puffing and panting. ‘Dad! Will you stand still? Or have I to ask Danny to put you back to bed?’

‘You’re a wicked woman, Aggie Ramsden.’

‘Not as wicked as I’ll be if you don’t keep still for a minute.’

‘You’re tekking too damned long!’

Sighing and groaning, Aggie straightened her back. ‘You’re an awkward old sod, that’s what you are.’

At which he gave her a smacker on the forehead. ‘And you’re lovely when you’re angry.’

Danny laughed. ‘Do I get a kiss too, then?’

‘What!’ The old man gave him a warning glare. ‘You’ll get a kick up the arse if you don’t get me down them stairs and into that garden sharpish, afore the sun goes down.’

Danny redoubled his efforts. ‘Come on, Aggie, me old darling,’ he said. ‘We’d best get this bundle o’ trouble out of here.’

It was no easy task. The stairs were narrow and winding and the old man cursed each and every step. ‘Damned things are too steep, they mek me dizzy. An’ why can’t they mek ’em wider, eh? I’m squashed agin the wall like a chop atween a bap.’

‘I hope you’re not blaming me?’ Danny remarked good-naturedly. ‘It wasn’t me that built the stairs, so do us a favour; stop your meithering and hold on.’ Inching the old man down the stairs was taking longer than he’d anticipated.

Thomas Isaac took not a blind bit of notice. ‘Yer not doing very well, are yer?’ he complained. ‘If we keep going at this rate, we’ll be here a month on Sunday.’

Panting from the burden of easing his legs one after the other down the steps, Aggie chided, ‘You’re not doing much to help yourself, are you?’

‘I’m doing me best, woman!’

‘You’ll do even better if you save your breath for the effort, instead of having a go at me and Danny.’

‘Danny’s not complaining.’

‘That’s because he has respect for old folks.’

‘I’m not old!’

‘No. Just cantankerous.’ Winking at Danny she bent her back and carried on regardless.

‘If I’m such a nuisance, tek me back to me bed then.’

‘I’ll do no such thing. We’ll get you down these stairs and outside if it kills us.’

Danny had an idea. ‘Stand aside,’ he told Aggie. ‘He’s right. We’re getting nowhere fast like this.’

In a minute, much to the old man’s horror, Danny had him in his arms and was carrying him bodily down the stairs. ‘Put me down, you great ox!’ The old man objected to being carried like a baby. ‘You’ll do me a damage!’

Ignoring the shouts and abuse, Danny took him all the way down the stairs, and out to the bench, where he gently sat him down. ‘Now, behave yourself,’ he said with a grin.

‘Or he’ll have to carry you all the way back again,’ Aggie chipped in. ‘Now then, Dad, do you want lemon-barley or sarsaparilla?’

‘I’ll ’ave a drop o’ the good stuff.’

‘If you mean elderberry wine, you’ve had your ration already.’

‘Well! It’s a picnic, in’t it? What good’s a picnic if yer can’t ’ave a drop o’ the good stuff, that’s what I’d like to know?’

Emily agreed. ‘It won’t hurt just this once, will it, Mam?’

Aggie gave a long, noisy sigh. ‘Aw, go on then. But only this once,’ she warned her father-in-law. ‘And don’t think you can try it on again, ’cause you can’t.’

Aside to Danny, she explained, ‘If he has too much, he’ll be singing and shouting and thinking he can dance the night away. Then he’ll get dizzy and fall over. A small measure is good for him, but I have to be careful, y’see? Like the doctor says, he’s just not well enough to take a full glass.’ She saw how, even now, the old fella looked pale and drawn, and her voice grew soft with affection. ‘He might swear and groan and make me want to pull my hair out, but deep down he’s a darling, and I love him.’

Danny understood that. ‘Well, who couldn’t help but love him, eh?’

While Emily went to fetch the elderberry wine, Aggie gave out the pork pie and sandwiches. ‘Eat up. There’s plenty more where that lot came from,’ she said, tucking into her own helping.

When Emily returned with the wine, the old man was given a reasonable enough measure. ‘That’s only a quarter of a glass!’ He thrust it back at Aggie.

‘Sip it slowly and it’ll last all the longer,’ Aggie answered. ‘And it’s no good you moaning and complaining. Just remember what the doctor said.’

‘I don’t reckon he knows what he’s talking about.’ Mimicking the whining voice of his ageing doctor, he went on, ‘“Don’t let him have too much; a small measure once or twice a week, that’s quite enough in his condition”.’

‘Aye, and so it is.’ Aggie was taking no nonsense.

‘Anyway, I don’t know what condition he’s talking about,’ Thomas Isaac grumbled. ‘Me poor old bones are weary, that’s all what’s wrong wi’ me.’

‘Don’t try it on, Dad.’ Aggie wagged a finger. ‘You’ve got all the wine you’re getting.’

He gave her a beckoning wink. ‘Aw, come on, lass.’ He held out his glass yet again. ‘Fill it up t’top. It’ll help me sleep well tonight.’

‘The answer is still no,’ she replied firmly. ‘You shouldn’t even be having
that
much, and besides, the fresh air will help you sleep far better.’

‘You’re a mean woman.’

‘That’s right, and I’ve got my eye on you.’

‘I love you all the same.’ Reaching out, he patted her on the shoulder. ‘Even if you are a bossy bugger.’

‘I love you too, Dad. So now eat up and enjoy the evening, eh?’

While all this good-natured bantering was going on, Danny thought how wonderful it was, to be in the midst of this family and feeling such contentment. Now, as he glanced at Emily, his heart was brimful of love for her.

As for Emily, she gave him a quiet smile that said, ‘Don’t expect too much.’ And knowing how she felt, he merely nodded and looked away.

Just then, Cathleen tugged at his hand. ‘Here’s a cake for you, Danny.’ She held up the fairy cake with its melting chocolate on top, and he took it graciously. Already he felt he belonged. All it needed now was for Emily to say she was willing to wed him, and he would be the happiest man on God’s earth.

Inside the converted outhouse some distance away, Clem Jackson was blissfully unaware of the family gathering. Busy entertaining, he had his arms full of a woman, and his belly full of ale. Lying naked on the bed alongside her, he had been pleased and satisfied and now he was ready for more.

Turning his head he saw that she was sleeping. She wasn’t bad for somebody who sold her body to any Tom, Dick and Harry, he thought, his eyes roving the ample curves. As his gaze fell to where the mass of dark hair curled in between her thighs, a thrill ran through him and he became aroused.

In a minute he was on her, the force of his weight startling her awake. ‘For God’s sake, we’ve been at it all night,’ the woman complained. ‘Don’t tell me you’re still not satisfied.’

He laughed – a rough, raw laugh that betrayed the animal in him. ‘It’ll tek more than you to satisfy the likes o’ me.’

Trying her best to throw him off, she pleaded with him, ‘I never thought I’d say this to any man, but you’ve worn me out. I’m bone-tired.’

Struggling to get from underneath him, she found herself trapped by the sheer mass of his body. ‘Get off!’ Punching at him with her fists, she continued to struggle, until he slapped her hard on the mouth.

‘Keep still, damn it! You should be used to men taking what they want, and why should you complain, eh? You get well paid at the end, don’t you?’

The hard slap on the mouth sent her into a sulk. Knowing how he was strong and nasty enough to hurt her if he wanted to, she lay there while he satisfied himself. The fact that she didn’t respond to his amorous advances was of no concern to him at all. In fact, it excited him all the more.

He was right in what he said, she told herself bitterly. She did sell her body to the highest bidder and in the past he had paid her well. But there was something about him that frightened her, and this time, she had come to loathe him more with every passing minute.

Now as he finished and rolled away, she snatched the opportunity to scramble out from beneath him. ‘I’d best get dressed,’ she said, grabbing her clothes. ‘Me and my sister are travelling to Manchester tonight.’ It was a lie, but all she could think of. ‘Dad’s not been well, and we need to be there.’

‘Liar!’ She was halfway dressed with her blouse on and her skirt round her ankles, when he was on her again. ‘Wherever you’re off to, it can wait,’ he grunted. ‘I ain’t had my money’s worth yet.’ With that he pushed her against the wall and pinning her arms out wide, he took her again, this time more brutally, and with deliberate cruelty.

Even now, in the middle of pleasuring himself, he couldn’t resist adding insult to injury.

Wiping his wet lips over hers, he whispered spitefully, ‘You’re a bit jaded for my taste, so I won’t be after you again, you can be sure o’ that.’ He took her quick and afterwards threw her aside.

Lying on the floor where he’d thrown her, she cried openly, while he continued to insult and degrade her. ‘Get dressed and get gone. I don’t want to see you again.’

‘I need my money.’ She had never been used like he’d used her, and she felt ashamed and angry. ‘I’m not leaving without my money.’

‘Oh, you’ll get your money all right. I won’t have it said that Clem Jackson doesn’t pay his doxies.’ Quickly dressing, he then flung open the door and stepped outside.

‘Where are you going?’ Frantic, she fell over herself trying to get dressed before he disappeared.