A Time of Peace (21 page)

It had been quite a restful night, much to Kate's surprise, but this was probably because of mental exhaustion combined with relief that the trial was over. When she went downstairs, her parents were in the kitchen reading the daily papers.

Rose opened the
World Explorer
and placed it in front of her daughter. ‘What do you think of Sinclair's piece?'

She read it through carefully and nodded in satisfaction. ‘He hasn't changed a word.'

‘He wouldn't cross your mother, not with his boss, Joel Perkins, watching his every move.'

Her mother chuckled, and then became serious again. ‘I'm afraid that all the other papers mention your grilling in the witness box. Do you want to read them?'

‘Not today; keep them and I'll have a look later.'

‘All right. Do you want a cooked breakfast?'

‘No, thanks, Mum, toast and tea will do.' She made her mother stay in her chair. ‘I'll get it.'

When she sat down again, her father pinched a slice of her toast and spread butter on it. ‘What are you going to do today?'

‘As it's Saturday, I thought I'd take Eddie out for the day.'

‘Why don't you bring him here?' her father suggested.

‘Oh, he'd love that, and I could show him the deer in Richmond Park.'

‘That's settled, then.' Her mother began to clear the table. ‘You go and get him and I'll make a nice suet pudding.'

When Kate walked into the home, Eddie raced towards her with a squeal of delight. Because of the trial she hadn't visited for a week. She laughed as he swung on her outstretched hands. She'd felt violated after the abuse she'd endured in the witness box, but seeing the joy on his face swept the pain away.

‘Can I take Eddie out for the day?' she asked Mrs Green.

‘Of course you can, my dear.' Then she whispered, ‘I'm so glad that dreadful man was found guilty. What a terrible time this has been for you.'

Kate pinned on a bright smile. ‘Thank you. It's all over now.'

It was a lovely day, so Kate parked the car and they wandered through the park. Eddie's pleasure was catching, and she revelled in his laughter. This was what life was about, she decided. Bringing pleasure to someone less fortunate than herself was more important than worrying about accusations that had no foundation in truth. Once the newspapers had lost interest in the story it would fade into nothingness.

They spotted some deer and Eddie hopped about with excitement. ‘Can you take a picture of them?'

She slipped the camera off her shoulder. ‘You go and stand by that small tree and I'll get you with the deer in the background.'

They spent time looking, walking and chatting, before
Kate took Eddie back to the car and headed out of the Roehampton Gate.

Her parents were in the back garden, where she took Eddie to meet them. ‘This is my mum and dad.'

He stuck to her side and smiled shyly when they said hello.

Just then James strode into the garden. ‘And this is my brother,' she told Eddie.

Rose and Bill stood up and Eddie spun round, looking at each of them in turn. ‘Crikey, ain't you all big!' Then he clapped his hands over his mouth and gazed at Kate, wide-eyed.

She stooped down in front of the boy. ‘What's the matter?'

He removed his hands. ‘Mrs Green wouldn't 'alf tell me off for being rude.'

‘We do come as a bit of a shock when we're all together.' James laughed at the boy's expression.

Sensing that no one was angry with him, Eddie giggled. ‘You're all giants!'

Kate looked at her family and tried to see them through his eyes. She understood what he meant: her father was six foot four; her brother six foot two; her mother almost six foot. At five foot nine she was the shortest.

Eddie was studying James with interest. ‘Do you play football?'

‘I used to. I've still got a ball upstairs somewhere. Shall I find it so we can have a game?'

Eddie's little face lit up. ‘Oh, please.'

James was soon back and Bill marked out a goal at the end of the lawn. When they began to kick it about, Kate grinned at her mother. ‘I'll help you with lunch.'

All the time they were preparing lunch they could hear squeals of excitement and shouts of ‘Goal!'

‘Dad's letting him score quite a few.'

Rose stopped what she was doing for a moment to watch Bill and James playing with Eddie. ‘The man never quite outgrows the boy, does he?'

‘Obviously not.' Kate saw Eddie rushing towards her father in goal, only to be swept high into the air by James, who then scored the goal himself.

Eddie was screaming in delight. ‘That's cheating! It was my goal.'

Rose called out of the window. ‘Come on, children, lunch is ready.'

James tucked Eddie under his arm and marched into the kitchen with the boy giggling and kicking. ‘What shall I do with this?' he asked his mother.

‘Take him to the bathroom first,' Rose told him.

James disappeared, and Bill came in with a wide grin on his face. ‘That takes me back a few years.'

Eddie was soon back, scrubbed clean and trotting along beside James.

It was a lively lunch. The little boy had obviously worked up an appetite, because he almost cleared his plate. There was complete silence as he tackled his pudding.

‘Would you like some more?' Rose asked, as he scraped his plate clean.

He gazed at the empty plate for a moment, licked the last of the treacle from his spoon and sighed. ‘Don't think I can; I'm full up to the back teeth.'

‘In that case,' Bill chuckled, ‘there won't be room for any more.'

Eddie solemnly agreed that that was so. ‘That's the best plum duff I've ever tasted.'

Kate and her mother cleared up, while the others went back to the garden. When the last of the pots was stacked away, they went out to join them.

‘Just look at that.' Rose stopped suddenly. ‘The poor little dears have worn themselves out.'

Kate nearly doubled over with laughter. Her father and James were dozing in comfortable garden chairs, and Eddie was fast asleep on her father's lap. So they wouldn't disturb the sleeping beauties, they decided to sit in another part of the garden, under a tree, talking quietly.

‘I'm glad you brought Eddie here today. It's done us all good to have a laugh and watch the little chap enjoying himself.'

‘I agree, Mum. The last few months have been difficult, haven't they?'

‘That's putting it mildly,' Rose remarked.

For the next hour they talked about many things, including the kidnapping and trial. Kate found her mother's sound common sense healing. She thought of Eddie and all children without parents, feeling sad for each of them. She had been in a prison when Howard had kidnapped her, but her captivity had been short and she had family she could lean on in the difficult times, but these children didn't have that kind of freedom.

‘How can a mother abandon her baby?' she asked.

‘I don't know, Kate, it's a mystery to me. When I was growing up in poverty, you could understand why they felt they couldn't feed another child, but help is available these days.'

They sat in silence then, Kate counting her blessings.

Eddie woke up, slid off Bill's lap, shook James awake and urged the men into another kick-about. At five o'clock they had tea in the garden, then Kate cleaned up Eddie and got him ready to return to the home.

Much to his delight, he received kisses from Rose, Bill and James. His grin was as wide as it could get. ‘I've had a
luverly
day, thank you.'

Although he was obviously tired, he kept chattering on the way back to Wandsworth. ‘What's it like, having a brother?' he wanted to know.

‘It's very nice,' she told him, ‘especially when he's as kind as James.'

Eddie's nod was one of approval. ‘Is James married?'

‘No, not yet.'

‘He'd make a great dad.' Eddie cast her a sideways glance. ‘Can you marry your brother?'

‘No, I'm afraid not, it's against the law.' If she hadn't been driving, she'd have given him a hug and tried to assure him that everything would turn out all right for him, for he was obviously still yearning for a family of his own. Belonging, that's what these children wanted.

By the time they reached the home, he could hardly keep his eyes open, so Kate put him to bed herself, and watched him fall asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

He had a blissful smile on his face, even in sleep, and she had to agree with his summing-up of the day. It had been
luverly.

Monday morning Kate found reporters and photographers congregating outside the shop, so she drove past, parked her car in the next road and hoped she could
slip in the back door without being noticed. This was what she had expected: they were only doing their job. But this week would be difficult. There was going to be so much interest in such a sensational story. She wasn't reading the papers, but she could just imagine the headlines: BRUTAL KIDNAPPING AN ATTEMPTED MURDER OF ROSE WEBSTER'S YOUNG DAUGHTER BY SACKED EMPLOYEE OF THE FAMILY FIRM, GRANT PHILLIPS. Kate shivered. James had said that it might be better if she didn't go to work for the next few days, but she wasn't going to be kept a prisoner because of the avid interest in the case. She'd been confined once by Derek Howard, and she was damned if she'd allow anyone else to stop her going about her usual work.

As she walked up the alley towards the back entrance, she saw two men leaning against the wall. She gave a wry smile when she saw who it was. ‘How did you know I'd even come here today?'

Terry took a photo and Mike had his notebook at the ready.

‘Sinclair took over our story of the trial,' Mike told her, ‘so we hoped you might give us a personal interview. Seeing as we're old friends.'

She unlocked the back door and held it open. ‘Come on, then, I'm not in the mood to talk, but you can make the tea.'

Terry was putting the kettle on to boil when Susan shot into the back room, looking worried. ‘I've had to keep the front door locked,' she told Kate. ‘Those reporters have been trying to get in ever since I arrived.'

‘Where's Pete?'

‘He's out seeing a customer who wants family portraits
taken in their own home. He won't be here for a while.' There was a loud rap on the door, making Susan jump. ‘Customers won't come in while they're outside.'

Kate picked up her camera and strode through the shop. ‘Come on, Terry, we'll turn the tables on them.'

She threw open the door and stepped outside with Terry beside her, their flashes blasting into the crowd. Mike scribbled in his book with a grin of delight on his face.

‘Pack it up, Kate,' someone shouted, but they were all laughing.

She had met quite a few of these men while working as a freelance. Lowering her camera, she said, ‘You're all wasting your time. I've given the
World Explorer
exclusive rights to my story.'

There was a disgruntled mutter from the reporters. ‘Oh, come on, Kate, give us something. We didn't bother you over the weekend.'

‘I'll answer one question only.'

‘How did you feel when you thought you were going to die?' someone called out.

‘Bloody terrified! Now, will you all go away? I've got a business to run and you're making my customers nervous.'

‘Were you telling the truth when you said Derek Howard didn't rape you?'

She glared at the man who was pushing his way towards her. He was from one of the more salacious rags. ‘I wouldn't lie under oath!'

Mike stepped in front of her, protecting her from the eager crowd. ‘You've had your question, so will you now
leave? You can read Kate's story in the
Explorer
tomorrow.'

Seeing that they weren't going to get any more, they dispersed, and Kate went back into the shop, followed by Terry and Mike, who were looking pleased with themselves.

‘You can leave the door open now, Susan, they won't be back today.' Kate turned and scowled at the men. ‘And you can stop looking so smug. What makes you think I'm going to give
you
a story?'

‘Because we're your friends' – Mike's grin spread – ‘and you've just told the whole of Fleet Street that you are – exclusively!'

‘Ah, I dropped myself into that, didn't I?'

Terry was loading another film into his camera and chortling quietly to himself. ‘That was brilliant, Kate. Did you hear them laughing? There will be some amusing stories tomorrow, and all to your benefit.'

‘Yeah.' Mike was still scribbling away in his own brand of shorthand. ‘It took courage to go out there and face them. They liked that.'

Kate went back and finished making the tea. Everyone kept saying how brave she had been, but they couldn't see inside her. If they could, they'd know that she was a mess.