He Stole Her Virginity (5 page)

Rachel poured herself a glass of wine and with a great deal of sorrow and a little satisfaction began ticking off some of the questions she had written down and wanted answers to.  As she sipped her wine she knew they were making progress but she was worried about how Emma was coping with things. Before going to bed for the night in the spare room, she decided to spend some time reading through more of the letters and postcards from 1983 to 1985. She began with the fourth letter from the brown paper bag that was addressed to Emma’s mother; it had been opened and was postmarked St Albans.

The letter, which was very neatly written, was from Kevin’s mother. It was dated 15th November 1984 and at the top was her address in St Albans. Rachel jotted down the address in her notebook before reading on. After a few minutes she put the letter back in its envelope and, with somewhat of a worried frown on her brow, thought deeply as she sipped more of her wine. The exact details of what happened were a little sketchy but it appeared from the letter that Emma’s mother told Kevin’s parents about the miscarriage. A few days after being given the news, Kevin arrived to visit his mum on her birthday. Apparently he was en-route to Durham to look for Emma and that sparked a massive row between Kevin and his father and,
“things were said to him that were lies and should never have been said but it’s too late now to put things right. Kevin has gone, he’s left university and I don’t know where he is.”
  The letter finished by asking that if Kevin ever turns up looking for Emma or contacts her in any way to let him know his mum is desperate to hear from him.

After deciding it might be worth going to St Albans to visit Kevin’s parents if indeed they still lived there, Rachel turned her attention to the postcards. Again she concentrated on those years she felt would most likely provide answers. By two in the morning her glass was empty, she was very tired but in front of her was a little pile of twelve picture postcards mostly of Whitby, they were all signed B. Rachel had a lot to talk to Emma about but it would have to wait until morning.

The next morning, over coffee and toast Rachel explained what she had discovered from the letters and postcards the night before and to her relief Emma did not breakdown or start to cry, instead she was upbeat and eager to make the trip to St Albans. Just after lunch they set off using the Range Rover from the stables, taking with them their overnight bags and some of the letters, postcards and diaries.

The Trip To St Albans: Part 1

More revelations:

On the way down the motorway as Emma studied the twelve postcards from B, another bit of the jigsaw fell into place. Most of what B had written was chitchat about her visits to see her elderly mother in Whitby but a simple P.S. at the bottom of one of the cards instantly answered one of the most disturbing questions of all.
“PS. back in the surgery on Tuesday. Will ring if E’s test results are back.”
  The date of the postmark was the Friday before Kevin left for university. In that instant everything became clear to them; that very close friend of Emma’s mother must also be the administrator at the doctor’s surgery and would have had full access to all patient records. She would have known about the pregnancy test that Emma had gone for and she would have known about her miscarriage. Perhaps out of misguided friendship or for some other reason, B had abused her position and passed on very personal and confidential information to Emma’s mother.

About halfway towards St Albans Rachel drove in to one of the motorway service points. She wanted to stretch her legs, have a mug of coffee and take stock of the situation. The contents of the green suitcase had revealed many things and answered many questions; already they had a pretty good idea of what had gone on and who, as Rachel described them, were the ‘key players’ but some big questions still remained unanswered. They included
, “What happened to Kevin? Where is he now? What are his feelings for Emma now? In the five years that have passed has he got back in touch with his parents?”
Perhaps the biggest question of all, as they pondered everything they now knew was,
“What if Kevin is there when we knock on the door in St Albans?”
The very thought of that sent a nervous shiver down Emma’s spine.

With that last question in mind they drove on in relative silence. Emma was trying to think of what she would say or do if Kevin answered the door and the more she thought about it the more scared and uncertain she became. Rachel wasn’t so much concerned about who or what they might find but was instead thinking ahead as to how she might support Emma if things went drastically wrong or if she was told something that devastated her. Then, fifty or so miles further on and with her ‘sensible head’ on, Rachel determined that they had embarked on this journey knowing the outcome may not be what Emma was hoping for, but she was a grown up of twenty four living her life in distorted memories of the past. Whatever the outcome, the time had come to face reality and deal with things no matter how difficult or unpleasant they may be. It was time for Emma to live in the present. Holding that thought in her mind Rachel drove on feeling much happier about things then turned the radio on. 

The Trip To St Albans: Part 2

Kevin’s mother:

By half past five they had reached the centre of St Albans. Rachel stopped when she spotted a postman busily emptying a post box then quickly got out of the car to ask him for directions to Lombard Street. Within minutes they were there. They parked the car then slowly walked up and down the road a couple of times before taking the plunge and going up to the front door of the house where Kevin may now be living and if not him then his parents. Rachel rang the bell, Emma stood back a little almost as if she was trying to hide and as the door opened she could barely bring herself to look. With a mixture of relief and disappointment they were not greeted by Kevin but by a lady in her mid fifties. Although she had aged considerably since Emma had last seen her, she instantly recognised her as Kevin’s mother but she didn’t recognise Emma. There were a few awkward moments on the doorstep as Rachel tried to explain who they both were and why they were there but once Kevin’s mother realised who Emma was she ushered them inside. They followed her along a dimly lit passageway towards what was a fairly large but cosy kitchen. On the way they passed by an open door to what would have been the front room of the house and they both noticed an elderly man asleep in a large armchair, he was snoring loudly. With the kitchen door shut behind them Kevin’s mother beckoned to the two girls to sit down at the table and asked them if they wanted tea or coffee. She carried on talking as she took the kettle off the range and made each of them a mug of coffee. She apologised to Emma for not recognising her sooner but, as she said,
“It has been a long time and I wasn’t expecting you.”

After a few more pleasantries Emma and Rachel explained why, after all these years they had come knocking on her door. They talked about the diaries, letters and postcards, Emma explained in detail about her miscarriage and her desire to see Kevin again and Rachel talked frankly about the need for Emma to achieve closure on the events of the past if she is ever to move on. After listening intently for twenty minutes or more and only asking one or two questions to clarify matters in her own mind, Kevin’s mother began by saying that they were right about much of what had gone on at,
“that bad time,”
as she called it but there were other things they did not know. The first thing she told them was that she didn’t know where Kevin was and that she hadn’t seen him since her birthday nearly five years ago. Then, for the next half an hour she talked clearly and precisely about every aspect of
“that bad time”
and she answered all their questions as far as she could.

Talking almost exclusively to Emma, she explained that when Kevin went off to university he knew nothing of what had gone on. As far as he was concerned everything between the two of them was fine, he didn’t know about her pregnancy, he thought she would have started university as planned and assumed that within a week or two they would visit each other. About the only thing he did know, was that his parents had moved to St Albans. Kevin’s grandmother, had died earlier in the year leaving her house in St Albans to Kevin’s father and as it was lying empty they decided to live there instead. Finding out about Emma’s pregnancy when they did just brought the move forward. They intended to sell their house in the village but the way things worked out they never got round to it.

With tears welling up in her eyes, Kevin’s mother described what happened the day after Kevin left for university.
“Your mother paid us a visit and was very angry and upset. She told us that you were pregnant and she wanted something done about it although she didn’t say what. Kevin’s father went berserk as the last thing he wanted was an unwanted pregnancy bringing shame on the family. He blamed you and your mother for putting temptation in Kevin’s way and giving him the opportunity to have sex with you. He called you some very unsavoury names and suggested that you had given Kevin the come on with an offer that any red-blooded male wouldn’t refuse. Your mother defended you as best she could and tried to stand her ground, then after many minutes of shouting and swearing they decided to make sure you wouldn’t see each other again. How they would achieve that wasn’t clear at the time but over the coming days, a plan was made.”
It appeared that Kevin’s mother had little say in the conspiracy that was hatched between her husband and Emma’s mother. She admitted that she wasn’t
a “strong character,”
and felt unable to stand up to the two of them. Her husband, who had always dominated her had worn her down over the years and made her feel that that she,
“should know her place.”
 

The contents of the green suitcase had already revealed most of what their plan involved including the hidden letters, the change of telephone number and the sudden move by Kevin’s parents to St Albans. What was not clear was how they were going to deal with the fact a baby was on its way but as it transpired they didn’t have to.

In late October Kevin arrived with a birthday present for his mother. Everything was fine until Kevin started to talk about Emma and told them how upset he was that she didn’t want to see him any more. He told them about his phone call to Emma’s mother and how she said it was over between them and that it was time to move on. Talk of Emma made Kevin’s father angry but he managed to control it until Kevin announced that he intended to go to Durham to find her. That tipped the balance and he completely lost his temper.
“In his usual manner,”
said Kevin’s mother,
“he shouted and swore and said things that he should never have said.”
 

When she started to tell them of the events of that October evening she clutched at the small gold chain and cross around her neck that Kevin had given to her as a birthday present. Then in order to compose herself before describing the unpleasantness of what happened, she paused a while and took a few deep breaths.
“I had rarely seen my husband as angry as he was that night, I thought he was going to hit him,”
she said woefully.
“The things he came out with were terrible and mostly just lies that made things even worse. He said you were pregnant but you’d had an abortion. He told him you didn’t want his child so you got rid of it. He said you didn’t want to waste your life like your mother did. He said you never wanted to see him again. He went on and on at him and I could do nothing to stop it.”
  At that point she broke down in tears. Rachel reached out a comforting hand to Kevin’s mother and she was grateful. Between the tears and still holding tightly on to Rachel’s hand she described the last moments she saw her son.
“With his father still shouting obscenities and threatening to hit him he kept backing away until he was by the front door where he had put his bag down when he arrived. Then, shouting louder than ever, my husband told him to get out and never come back. He said he had brought shame on the family and as far as he was concerned he was on his own and there would be no more money to fund him at university. Kevin never even tried to answer back but he looked to me for help and there was nothing I could do. I was helpless and as afraid as he was. I will never forget the look on his face as he picked up his bag and left. He hadn’t even known you had been pregnant and then all those other things that were said, the lies, the obscenities and the threats, whatever would he think? Then, about a week later, I got a letter from him to say he had left university and that he didn’t know what he was going to do. The only thing he was certain about was that he would never be coming home again. I have never seen him since that night almost five years ago although each year he sends me a card for my birthday. There is never any message other than a simple ‘happy birthday, love you mum’ and he has never given his address.”
She turned to a drawer and pulled out a little folder that contained the cards he had sent then she passed them over to Emma. The first card had been sent from Reykjavik in Iceland but the others came from Utrecht in the Netherlands. They were stamped on the back with ‘Utrecht Museum of Art’ and Kevin’s mother thought they were probably bought there.