Down an English Lane (39 page)

Maisie felt a great weight lift from her mind. Thank goodness… No, more than that. Thank God! she said silently inside her head. She held her friend close. ‘Of course I’ll take you home,’ she said. ‘Let’s get away from here, right now.’

The woman was hovering in the doorway. ‘Miss Dennison will lose her money, of course,’ she said. ‘We can’t be responsible for people changing their minds.’

‘Money!’ Maisie almost spat at her. ‘What does the money matter compared with my friend’s life? You might have killed her.’

‘Now just you look here,’ the woman expostulated. ‘We run a reputable business, and I’ll have you know that we have never lost anyone…’

‘There’s always a first time,’ retorted Maisie, ‘and when it happens I hope you are found out and punished. Come along, Audrey; let’s go…’ She took hold of her arm and guided her out of the door and down the path.

‘I’m sorry…’ whimpered Audrey, ‘but I just couldn’t do it, Maisie. Not when I saw the bed and all the instruments on the table. And he told me to…to take off my underwear and to lie down. And I just panicked. I’m sorry…’

Maisie put an arm around her. ‘Why do you keep saying you’re sorry? I’m not sorry… I’m glad, really really glad, and I’m sure you must be too. You
know it was wrong… What did you mean when you said you wanted to go home? Did you mean…to Middlebeck?’

Audrey nodded. ‘Yes…’ she whispered tearfully. ‘I need my mum, and my dad. They’ve been so good to me, and I know they’ll understand. Luke and Patience always understand, and they always make everything come right…’

Chapter Twenty-One

B
efore they made the journey to Middlebeck – for Maisie knew that she would have to go with Audrey – they went back to the flat.

‘Breakfast, first of all,’ she said. ‘You’ll feel tons better when you’ve got some food inside you.’ She made several slices of toast which Audrey ate, spread lavishly with butter and marmalade, finishing off with a banana.

‘You’ll come with me, won’t you?’ asked Audrey. She seemed much, much calmer, as though a colossal weight had been lifted from her. ‘I don’t know how on earth I’m going to tell them, but I want you with me, Maisie… We won’t tell them, though, about – you know – what I was going to do. I feel ashamed of it now, more ashamed than I am about being pregnant. That’s our secret, isn’t it, for ever and ever?’

‘Of course it is,’ replied Maisie. ‘And you know
I’ll come with you; you didn’t need to ask. I told you I would be there for you, whatever happened; but I’m so relieved you changed your mind. I would have gone along with you and supported you, whatever you had done, even though I didn’t agree with you. But now that you’ve come to your senses everything will be just fine, you’ll see.’

‘They’ll be shocked,’ said Audrey. ‘And so disappointed in me, so ashamed… Oh dear, whatever have I done?’

‘You made a mistake,’ said Maisie, ‘just like thousands of other girls have done before you. But I should imagine Luke and Patience are pretty shockproof by now, don’t you?’

‘I suppose so… Come on, Maisie; let’s get moving, or I shall change my mind again about telling them.’

‘OK… I’ll fling a few things into a bag, then I’m ready. I shall have to come back tomorrow, though, to open the office on Monday. I can’t leave them in the lurch any longer.’

‘And I suppose I will have to go back to college…’ said Audrey. ‘Do you think so? Or will I have to leave…?’

‘Don’t let’s think about it now,’ replied Maisie. ‘But no – I’m sure you won’t need to leave. You finish your course in June, don’t you? It’s not very long… Now, could you clear these few pots away for me, there’s a love, while I get ready…’

They caught a train in the early afternoon after
lunching at a snack bar near to the station.

‘Do you remember the first time we made this journey?’ asked Audrey, when they had left the city centre and the outer suburbs of Leeds behind and were passing through the wide Vale of York.

‘Could we ever forget?’ smiled Maisie. ‘Saturday, the second of September, wasn’t it? 1939 – the day before war broke out.’

Audrey giggled. ‘You sound like Rob Wilton,’ she said. ‘The day war broke out, my missus said to me…’

Maisie joined in with the comedian’s catchphrase, glad that her friend was actually starting to laugh again. ‘Yes, off we went into the wide blue yonder. I don’t suppose we gave a thought to how long we might be away from Leeds…’ And, subsequently, the little town of Middlebeck had become home to both of them, although Maisie did not wish to remind Audrey of the circumstances that had led to her staying there.

‘And now we’re both back again in Leeds,’ observed Audrey. ‘At least you are, right in the city centre, and I’m not so far away.’

‘But I still think of Middlebeck as home,’ said Maisie. ‘I was eager to get away, but it’s always nice to come back.’

‘You took care of me on that day, all those years ago,’ said Audrey. ‘And you’re still taking care of me, aren’t you? I don’t know what I’d do without you, Maisie, honestly I don’t.’

‘Now don’t start getting maudlin on me.’ Maisie grinned at her and nudged her elbow. ‘Here…’ She held out a paper bag. ‘Suck a barley sugar and shut up! Or else we’ll be so far down memory lane we’ll never get back.’

Audrey smiled. ‘We had barley sugars on that day as well. I remember…but they were mine, not yours. My mum used to say they were very good when you were travelling, to stop you from feeling sick.’

‘Well, there you are then… Let’s be quiet, shall we, and read our magazines?’ The other folk in the carriage were a silent lot and Maisie did not want them to overhear any unwise confidences; the woman sitting opposite, pretending to read a book, looked as though her ears were out on stalks. She closed her eyes, lulled by the rhythm of the train, and dozed for a while, the sleep she had lost the night before finally catching up with her.

Audrey dozed too, and when they awoke they were travelling through the hills and valleys of the dales country. They smiled at one another, then looked out of the window at the familiar scene as the train approached Middlebeck. The ruins of the castle on a distant hill; the river, and a little waterfall cascading down a gully; greystone cottages with spring flowers just beginning to peep through the earth… and then they had arrived.

They lifted their bags from the luggage rack and
alighted. There was no one to meet them because no one knew they were coming. Audrey was starting to look a mite apprehensive again. She glanced uncertainly at Maisie, biting her lip, which was beginning to quiver a little.

‘Come on, best foot forward,’ said Maisie. ‘It’s not far and our bags aren’t heavy.’

They made their way up the gentle slope of the High Street. Halfway up, the road widened out into the Market Square and, as it was Saturday, the market was in full swing. Maisie wondered if their friend, Doris, might be serving on Nixons’ dairy produce stall, but it would not be wise to linger at that moment.

She glanced to the right as they drew near the property owned by her mother and Arthur. Through the window of the baker’s shop she could see Flo, Arthur’s sister, serving a customer, but the other window, once the draper’s, was boarded up. There were signs, however, that the work was progressing satisfactorily.

‘Are you going to call in and see your mum?’ asked Audrey.

‘No, not yet,’ Maisie replied. ‘I’m coming with you; first things first. That is, if you really want me to be with you when you see your parents…?’

‘When I tell them, you mean? Yes, I want you there, please, Maisie. You said you would…’ Audrey’s blue eyes looked tearful again and Maisie took hold of her arm.

‘OK then, off we go… Gosh, it’s good to be back.’

‘Yes, so it is,’ agreed Audrey. ‘At least it will be, when I’ve got this over…’

She had her own house key, but she decided it might be better to ring the bell. After all, they were not expecting her.

Patience opened the door. She looked amazed, and then delighted. ‘Audrey, what a surprise! And you too, Maisie! Well I never!’ She put her arms around Audrey, hugging her and kissing her cheek, then she greeted Maisie in the same way. ‘What brings you here? I’m delighted to see you of course…but there’s nothing wrong, I hope?’ She looked anxiously first at Audrey and then at Maisie. Although Maisie had said ‘Hello’, Audrey had not yet spoken.

‘No, not really,’ replied Maisie, ‘at least…’

‘I’ve got something to tell you, Mum,’ Audrey broke in without preamble, and Maisie thought she was going to blurt it out there and then.

‘Let’s take our coats off first,’ she said. ‘And we’d love a cup of tea, Aunty Patience, if you don’t mind? Where’s Luke?’

‘He’s in his study,’ said Patience. ‘I’ll go and tell him, if he hasn’t already heard you. Timothy’s gone for his piano lesson and Johnny’s gone to play with a friend from school…’ She was looking puzzled.
‘There is something the matter, isn’t there?’ She looked concernedly but very lovingly at Audrey. Her keen eyes could see that her adopted daughter was certainly very worried about something. ‘Well, whatever it is, I’m sure we can cope with it… Nobody has died, have they?’

Maisie shook her head. ‘No, nobody has died, Aunty Patience.’

‘Well then… I’ll go and make the tea first,’ she said. She knocked on the study door as she passed. ‘Luke, you’ll never guess who’s here…’

Luke came out of his study almost at once and went into the sitting room. Audrey and Maisie were standing there looking at one another uncertainly.

‘Hello, you two,’ he said, kissing Audrey on the cheek, and then Maisie. ‘This is a nice surprise. I didn’t hear you arrive.’ He laughed. ‘Patience thinks I’m busy with my sermon, but I’ve finished it in good time, so I was listening to the wireless. The football results will be on soon…’

He looked at them enquiringly. ‘There’s nothing the matter, is there?’ he asked, just as Patience had asked. ‘You’re both looking rather lost and forlorn… Take your coats off, for goodness sake, and sit down.’ Obediently, they did so. ‘Now tell me…what’s the matter? Have you heard some bad news?’

‘Oh no, it’s nothing like that…’ It was Maisie who spoke. ‘At least, Audrey is rather worried about something and she wanted me to come with
her. She’ll tell you both in a minute, won’t you, Audrey?’

Audrey nodded. ‘I’m sorry… Dad. I’m in a bit of a mess. I’ll tell you about it in a little while. Mum’s gone to make a cup of tea because we were gasping for one. We’ve travelled from Leeds just now.’

‘I see; a spur of the moment decision, was it?’

‘Sort of,’ said Maisie. ‘Audrey wanted to come home.’

‘Well, I’m pleased about that at any rate,’ said Luke. ‘Home is the best place to be if you’re worried about something. Ah, here’s Patience… Where would we be, I wonder, without our cups of tea whenever there’s a problem?’

Patience was looking a little less anxious now and she busied herself setting out the china cups and saucers on a little table and pouring out the tea. ‘There now,’ she said, ‘the cup that cheers. It really is lovely to see you, girls, whatever it is you want to tell us. Have a drink of your tea first…’

Audrey accepted the cup gratefully. She drank deeply, even though the liquid was hot, then placed her hands around the cup as though to steady her nerves. There was an emotive silence for a few moments. Patience and Luke glanced at one another guardedly and then at Audrey.

She put her cup and saucer down on the table, looking first at one and then the other of her adopted parents. Then she took a deep breath and, ‘I’m going to have a baby…’ she began, in what was
quite a clear and resolute voice. ‘That was what I wanted to tell you…’ Then she hung her head, staring down at her hands clasped in her lap. ‘I’m sorry, I’m really sorry…’

There was a sort of gasp from Patience which she tried to cover up, and Maisie noticed that Luke closed his eyes, shaking his head in sorrow or disbelief, or some of both, maybe. She felt sure, though, that they would rally round and support her friend once they had recovered from the shock. She was not disappointed.

After several seconds Patience dashed across and knelt on the floor by Audrey’s chair. ‘Oh, my darling,’ she said, putting her arms around her, ‘Never mind; you’re here with us now. What an awful shock it must have been for you, but I’m so glad you had the courage to come and tell us. It’s very brave of you.’ She glanced across at her husband. ‘Isn’t it, Luke?’

‘Yes…yes it is,’ he replied, looking and sounding more than a little dumbfounded. ‘I’m surprised, though; very surprised, Audrey…’ He looked at her quite sternly, and Maisie could see her friend’s eyes filling up with tears again. ‘But there is no point in recriminations. What is done is done,’ he continued. ‘I’m sure you never intended it to happen, and Patience and I will stand by you, you can depend on that.’

‘Thank you…’ whispered Audrey. ‘Maisie said that you would. I was scared to tell you at first, you
see, that’s why I went to tell Maisie, and she’s been ever so good to me.’

‘I feel dreadful that I knew about it before you,’ said Maisie. ‘But with me being there in Leeds Audrey decided to come and tell me. And I persuaded her to come home.’

‘That was sensible,’ replied Patience. ‘Thank you, Maisie, for looking after her. You’ve always been such a sensible and reliable girl.’ She smiled warmly at her before glancing, rather more uncertainly, at the other girl, the one they had adopted. It seemed to Maisie as though Patience was wishing that Audrey had shown a little more common sense.

She realised that it was probably time for her to take her leave of them and go home to see her own mother and family. Patience and Luke would need time on their own with Audrey, to come to terms with the situation and to decide what was to be done about everything. She stood up. ‘Well, I’m going to love you and leave you now. Mum still has no idea that I’m here. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow, Audrey, before I go back to Leeds; OK? Thanks for the tea, Aunty Patience… Bye, Luke, see you soon…’