A Country Marriage (31 page)

She shook her head and then screwed her face, seemingly at the ensuing pain.

‘No. And I ain’t going to wait around until he does.’

‘Listen to me, Annie.’ But when he bent his head to look at her, it was impossible to read anything from her misshapen expression. ‘
Please
don’t talk like this. Firstly, you ain’t well and secondly, where would you go anyway; the workhouse? And think about James for a moment, will you? You can’t go tramping the lanes with him in tow, even if Ma did let you take him.’

‘But—’

‘Look, Will an’ me will go and find him. And when we do, I give you my word that I won’t let him hurt you. If needs be, I will stand between the pair of you. And then, if you still want to leave, well, I’ll help you work it out but proper, sensible; not in a panic like this, all right?’ For a moment she didn’t answer and he could tell that she was unconvinced. ‘All right?’

Tears were spilling unevenly over her cheeks.

‘Aye.’

‘Come on then. We’d best not to go rousing suspicions,’ he said and getting to his feet, went towards the door.

‘George… thank you. I don’t deserve such kindness from you.’

‘Well,’ he said and then paused with his fingers on the latch, sensing it prudent to conceal the motivation that even he was finding unsettling, ‘someone’s got to sort it out. And quietly, too.’

When he opened back the door, though, it was to walk straight into his mother standing on the other side.

‘
Well
?’

Despite being caught off guard, he could read the mistrust on her face and attempting to maintain an expression that wouldn’t betray his turmoil, he held her look, his primary concern being for how much she had been able to overhear.

‘What?’

‘Got anything to
tell
me, then?’ she persisted.

‘Such as?’

‘Such as where he’s
gone
.’

‘No,’ he said, shaking his head and forcing himself to breathe slowly, ‘nothing of any import,’ and stepping around her, made his way back along the hall.

*

In the kitchen, an uneasy half hour passed before George and Will returned from their search for Tom, but rather than having found him, Mary was surprised to see that it was Robert with them. And as they came in, she also saw how, faced with them all looking back at him, his eyes shot to the floor.

‘Well as you can see, we didn’t find him,’ George announced before anyone had the chance to speak. ‘But we did find Robert and you all need to hear what he has to say.’

‘What?’ Hannah was first to ask, pushing herself up from the table.

‘Sit down, Ma,’ Will suggested, moving around to where she was standing up.

‘Why? What?’

‘Trust me, it’d be for the best if you sat down.’

With an expression of bewilderment, she sank back into her seat.

‘Go on then, Robert,’ George said, nodding towards their mother.

‘I can’t…’

‘You have to. You’re the only one who can.’

‘Robert? What is it, son?’ Hannah asked, moving to get up again but pressed back into her seat by Will.

‘But I just… can’t.’ Robert replied and stared back down at the floor.

‘Then
I’ll
start you off,’ George was saying, apparently not bothering to conceal his exasperation as he announced, ‘Robert saw what happened to Lottie.’

‘You did? Well for heaven’s sake speak up then, son. The sooner you tell us, the sooner you can get after him.’

‘Tell them what you saw, Robert,’ George was directing. ‘And remember, for Lottie’s sake you have to.’ But when Robert still showed no signs of starting to speak, he added, ‘Start by telling them how you just happened to be going past her door.’

At this, Mary noticed Robert give his brother what appeared to be a look of surprise and then lower his eyes again but this time he did at least start to talk.

‘I was going past Lottie’s door…’ he said with a look back to George, ‘and I heard a… well, I heard a rumpus. And I thought it odd for her, for Lottie, I mean, to have someone in there so late on but I didn’t do anything, since, well, it was none of my business.’

Around them, the kitchen had fallen completely still, and for a moment Mary thought that her heart was going to burst out from her chest.

‘Go on, Robert,’ she heard George encouraging his brother.

‘So I went along to… and I know I shouldn’t have… but I peered through her window.’

With this admission, his head dropped even lower.

‘And tell them what you seen.’

‘I seen a dark shape, too big to be Lottie, although more than that I couldn’t tell. And then I heard summat that sounded like, well, a wounded animal. It wasn’t a scream exactly but more of a…’

When he brought his hands to his face and shook his head, Mary guessed that in his mind, he was hearing it all over again.

‘Go on, Robert,’ Ellen coaxed, her tone gentle. ‘You’ll feel better for telling us.’

Briefly, he looked in her direction.

‘Well, I went back to look around the corner towards her door and then I heard it opening and seen someone coming out. ’

‘
Who
? Who was it, son?’

‘Well, see, that’s the thing,’ Robert replied and then directing his eyes to the hearth, said, ‘it was Tom.’

‘
Tom
? No, lad, you’re mistaken. You must be, love. Like you said, it was dark. Not Tom. Not
my
Tom.’

Why
not
Tom? Mary wanted to ask, fragments from her own memories coming together to form a horrible suspicion. But amid a wave of heat that seemed to prickle from every pore, she was astonished to see Robert look directly at his mother and with considerable force, say, ‘I
know
it was dark, Ma but I know my own
brothers
. It was
him
; I could see
that
much. He stood there just long enough, looking around; checking for anyone being about. I
saw
him.’

In her mind, she pictured Lottie trapped underneath him; terrified and unable to escape. And she could see it so clearly that even pressing her eyes tightly shut wasn’t going to blot out the reawakened memory of her own experience at Tom’s hands. He was just inches from her face, whispering fiercely. She could hear him panting and feel the moistness of his breath in her ear.
Young
girls
like
you
. She could smell his stale odour. She could see the beads of sweat on his pasty chest and her skin, so hot just seconds before, flashed cold as it had done then.

‘Ma Strong, I know you think he’s mistaken but there’s summat you don’t know.’

‘Summat I don’t know?’ Hannah repeated. ‘This ain’t the time for nonsense, maidy. All this dallying and the true villain is getting away.’

‘Tom
is
the true villain. I’m certain of it.’ From the corner of her eye she could just see George’s stare, but her only concern was that Tom not be allowed to get away with this.

‘And what on God’s earth would make you say such a thing? And
here
, in my home of all places, at that?’

‘Because…’ she started to say, the sight of Hannah’s expression making her hesitate, ‘he tried the same with
me
once—’

‘
You
? So it’s your contention now that he attacked you,
too
?’

‘Not
attacked
, least, not quite. But the point is that he
tried
to. In actual fact he tried on two occasions and the second time, he almost… did. It was only because I hit him—’

‘Did
you
know about this, George?’

When Mary spun her head to look at her husband it was just in time to see him nod.

‘
Course
he knows! Do you think I wouldn’t tell him summat like that? Him and Tom had a gurt fight about it.’

‘Lottie’s injuries…’ she heard Annie starting to say now and saw her looking at Martha.

‘Much the same as yours used to be. Nowhere near as bad, mind but much the same, nevertheless.’

‘It’s
him
all right, then. And it ain’t no surprise, either. Think about it: that’s where he went after he set about me. ’Tis just the kind of cowardly thing he’d do having been denied his filthy bit of satisfaction.’

‘That’s
enough
!’ At Hannah’s shrill command she jumped. ‘This is my
son
you’re talking about and you’d do well to mind that,
all
of you.’

Feeling her mother-in-law’s eyes scanning them in turn – as though defying them to say anything further – Mary found that she no longer particularly cared, and rising unsteadily to her feet, said, ‘I need some air.’ And aware that George had followed her outside, she turned sharply towards him. ‘
You
believe Robert, don’t you?’

His expression was grim, rendering his face unfamiliar.

‘Mary, go back inside. Look after Lottie and Annie, and we’ll go and find him.’

Staring after the two of them as they strode away, she wondered why he imagined she would do anything at all for Annie but sensing it better to keep her counsel, said only, ‘Well, I beg you; just be careful then, George…’

*

‘So what are we going to do with Lottie when Tom comes back?’ Ellen asked, looking across the kitchen table to Mary and Annie.

‘What’s that?’ Evidently seeing their hushed conversation, Hannah came bustling towards them.

‘I was just wondering what we’re going to do about Lottie when Tom comes back,’ Ellen repeated for her benefit. ‘For certain she won’t want to—’

‘We should find a magistrate.’ To Mary’s mind it was the only conscionable thing, not that she was expecting Hannah to agree with her.

‘To what end?’

‘Because he… he savaged Lottie in a way that’s beyond excuse and he should be made to pay for it,’ she answered, desperate to rouse her mother-in-law from her apparent state of denial. ‘’Tis wrong in so many ways that I can’t begin—’

‘Look, maidy, no one could feel more sorry for Lottie than me, especially given her young age and especially since it was me that brought her into this house in the first place. But men are men, my girl, and can’t be held accountable for the way they’re made.’

‘But you said yourself not a half hour since: whoever did it will have to pay.’

‘That was different. And until Tom comes back, I for one don’t believe he
did
do it.’

How on earth could her mother-in-law still think that? How, knowing what they did now, could she still take Tom’s side?

‘All right. But even with the benefit of the doubt, look what he did to Annie, here. Or don’t you believe he did
that
, either?’ She could feel the way that Ellen was eyeing her, and also knew without the need to look that both Annie and Martha were staring at her too, but by now she was too incensed by Hannah’s attitude to bother with polite respect.

‘Look, Mary, I ain’t
defending
him. Indeed, I used to think like you when I was young and not long wed but eventually you come to see matters like this in a different light. You can’t fight men and you can’t fight nature. Oh, I know as well as anyone how Tom’s always been overly fond of striking out but Annie’s a grown woman an’ she alone knows whether he strikes her with good reason or not. So maybe he’s wrong sometimes, we can’t none of us
always
be right. But just think about it; if you had him swing for what he’s done, what we
believe
he’s done, then there wouldn’t be a fellow in the land who didn’t soon deserve the same fate.’

‘That ain’t true and nor do it make it right,’ she replied without looking up, seeing now that in her mother-in-law’s eyes, Tom could do no wrong. ‘I know how
I
felt when he cornered me that day with all of his swagger… and his filthy suggestions and he barely even
touched
me. I’d have had him swing for that alone.’ She was even surprised herself, now, by how angry she felt on Lottie’s behalf and how bold it seemed to be making her.

‘Lottie couldn’t do anything, anyway,’ Annie pointed out, her tone striking Mary as despondent. ‘Believe me, I know how it is. She’s only fifteen so it would have to be her father that looks for justice.’

‘Well her father ain’t ever going to find out,’ was Hannah’s response to that.

‘And just how will you stop him finding out, once she goes home, all broke?’ Annie persisted, her eyes showing her distaste.

‘She ain’t
going
home, leastways not for some long time yet and certainly not afore she’s got over this ordeal. This happened in
my
home to someone in
my
care and
I’m
going to see that no one outside this farm – Martha excepted – ever finds out about it.
If
he decides there’s merit to be had from it, then it will be for Thomas alone to deal with Tom when he comes home.’