Homecoming (30 page)

‘Helen, you're keeping Lily waiting.' John held out her coat.

Helen hesitated just long enough for Lily and her father to wonder if she was going to come up with yet another excuse, then she finally allowed John to help her on with her coat.

Brian switched off the lights in the office, locked the door and walked over to where Jack was polishing a car they'd taken in part exchange that afternoon. ‘Is Martin ready to go?'

‘He said he needed another half an hour.' Jack shook out the cloth he'd been using, stood back and eyed his handiwork.

‘You've done a good job.'

‘I try.'

‘We could go round the corner to the pub and get in a swift half and a ciggy while Martin finishes up whatever it is he has to do,' Brian suggested.

‘I heard that, Powell,' Martin complained from the inspection pit.

‘Is there anything we can do to help?' Brian asked.

‘No,' Martin conceded reluctantly.

‘Then, as you won't allow any of us to smoke in here, I rest my case. I'm gasping for a cigarette. We'll be back in twenty minutes.' Brian eyed Jack. ‘Coming?'

Unable to think of a reason why he shouldn't, Jack picked up his coat and followed Brian around the corner and into the pub. The place was deserted. He sat at a table in the back room while Brian went to the bar.

‘I thought you were getting halves,' Jack remonstrated when Brian returned with two full pints.

‘You know Martin's half hours. They're always more like hours.' Brian flicked open a packet of cigarettes and offered Jack one. ‘You think you'll stick working in the garage?'

‘You know something I don't?'

‘Like what?' Brian asked, confused by Jack's train of thought.

‘Like, I'm not up to the job?'

‘Come on, Jack, we're all feeling our way. The only one who knows anything about running a garage is Martin and he only knows the repair side. I spoke to Ronnie earlier this afternoon and he's pleased with our sales figures. With what we did today that's four cars this week, and two of those sales were down to you.'

‘I suppose so,' Jack allowed grudgingly, sipping his pint.

‘How long are you going to carry on like this?' Brian questioned bluntly.

‘Like what?'

‘Like your world has come to an end. Helen threw you out? So do something about it. Crawl to the girl and beg her to take you back.'

‘Suppose I don't want her to take me back?'

‘Of course you do, it's obvious to everyone who knows you that you're miserable. And from what Katie said –'

‘You've spoken to Katie.' Jack's eyes glittered frostily.

‘Yes.'

‘About me!'

‘It started as a conversation about the weather actually, then she asked how you were because, although you're only living next door, apparently you haven't bothered to call or ask after her and Glyn since the night of the party.'

‘I've been busy.' Jack had the grace to look abashed.

‘I've seen how busy you are. You have to read the newspaper cover to cover every evening and some evenings upside down. You then have to listen to the radio, polish all the shoes in the house, wash the dishes …'

‘I try to do my share,' Jack snapped defensively.

‘Pull the other one, Jack. Obviously whatever you did to make Helen throw you out is something you're ashamed of, or you wouldn't be hiding from Katie and John. And no, that it isn't an invitation for you to tell me all about it. Agony aunt isn't my line.'

‘Then why mention it?'

‘My father always used to say if you can do something about a problem, do it; if you can't, forget it. I suggest you do one or the other because I'm fed up of working and living with a misery guts.'

‘I'm sorry –' Jack began hotly.

‘Apology accepted,' Brian said lightly, ignoring Jack's rapidly rising temper. ‘So, can I take it that you're going to be a regular ray of sunshine at home and in work from now on?'

‘You're a bastard,' Jack growled.

‘Literally.'

‘Pardon.'

‘My parents weren't married. As a result, I learned to use my fists early in life. When I discovered I couldn't fight all the boys in Pontypridd who insulted me and my mother, I began to use humour as a defence, but the last two weeks with you has just about dried up my entire year's supply. And in case you haven't noticed, Martin and Lily aren't exactly ecstatic about the way you're behaving either.'

‘They haven't said anything to me.'

‘Only because they're too polite, or afraid of your reaction to tackle you. You're putting one hell of a strain on all of us and I'm fed up with it.' Brian finished his pint and stubbed out his cigarette. ‘Time we went back to the garage.'

‘That's it, lecture over?' Jack questioned suspiciously.

‘I only hope it has the desired effect. If you want to borrow a car to visit Helen, you can take the one you cleaned. On the other hand, there was nothing wrong with your bike the last time I looked.'

‘I overheard you telling Martin that Lily was visiting Helen tonight.'

‘She isn't going to stay all night. Do you want the car or not?'

‘No.'

‘Stubborn bugger, aren't you?'

‘If I visit Helen, and I'm not saying that I will, I'll go on my bike.'

‘It won't happen, Jack.' Brian set down his glass and pocketed his cigarettes.

‘You think I won't go …'

‘Not that. You may or may not. But lightning's not going to strike you down to give you an excuse to keep ignoring her.'

‘You think I need an excuse to stay away from my own wife?'

‘Don't you?' Brian asked coolly.

Chapter Sixteen

‘Is Lily in?'

‘No, but Brian is in the kitchen.' Jack turned his back on Judy and ran up the stairs, as she walked into the hall of Martin and Lily's house.

‘Charming!' She stared at Jack's retreating figure.

‘As you see, Jack's not his usual cheery self,' Brian pronounced insensitively, appearing in the kitchen doorway, spatula in hand and one of Lily's floral aprons tied around his waist.

‘So I gather.' As Judy glanced up the stairs, Jack disappeared and Martin crossed the landing, naked. ‘Sorry,' she apologised, suppressing a smile as he turned crimson.

‘Comes to something when a man can't leave his own bathroom without an audience,' he shouted from behind the safety of his bedroom door.

‘Come and help me cook before you create any more havoc.' Brian dived back into the kitchen, picked up a sizzling frying pan and flipped bacon and black pudding that were browning at the edges before turning down the gas.

‘Bit late for breakfast, isn't it?' Judy commented, noting sausages and tomatoes keeping warm in a second frying pan, baked beans in Lily's best milk pan and eggs already beaten in a bowl.

‘We all agreed that as we want a lie-in tomorrow, it would be wasted if we didn't eat it now.'

‘We, being Martin, Jack and you?'

‘Lily isn't here.'

‘And this has nothing to do with the fact that all you can cook is a fry-up?'

‘Anything else involves unwrapping potatoes and vegetables and I hate doing that.'

‘Unwrapping?' She raised her eyebrows.

‘All right, peeling.' He lit the gas under the beans. ‘If you're looking for Lily, she's visiting Helen.'

‘She said she was going to call in on her at the warehouse. I'm glad she's made some headway. I've tried and failed to get Helen to have lunch with me every day for the last two weeks.'

‘If you'd like to wait, Martin's going to fetch her after he's eaten.'

‘No, it's nothing urgent, just wedding details. I'll see her some other time.'

‘What are you doing here, Judy?' Sam walked in, dressed for a night out in his best pair of drainpipe trousers and a leather jacket.

‘And hello to you too, boyfriend.' Brian poured the eggs he'd beaten into an omelette pan.

‘I'm Judy's fiancée, not boyfriend,' Sam corrected.

‘I beg your pardon …'

‘I'm visiting Lily,' Judy interrupted, hoping to stop Sam becoming more pompous or Brian even more absurd.

‘And she's busy.'

‘In Helen's house,' Judy explained briefly.

‘Why is she with Helen if you two have arranged to go somewhere?' He glared at Brian. Apparently oblivious to Sam's antagonism, Brian continued to concentrate on stirring the eggs.

‘We hadn't arranged to go anywhere,' Judy informed Sam tartly. ‘I called in on the off chance that she'd be here.'

‘You here to annoy your fiancée,' Brian mocked, ‘or are you after something as usual, Sam?'

‘I came up to see if I could borrow some black shoe polish.'

‘Borrow?' Brian questioned heavily. ‘I'm with Lily on this. You and Mike treat this place like a corner shop.'

‘It's not your polish I want to borrow,' Sam snapped.

‘Presumably you know where Lily keeps it.' Brian transferred a couple of slices of black pudding on to the sausage pan.

‘In the scullery.' Sam gave Judy another hard look before stomping out and banging the door behind him.

‘Do me a favour, call Martin and Jack,' Brian asked, ignoring Sam's display of temper. As Judy returned, he said, ‘You're welcome to eat with us if you like, there's more than enough for four. That's if his lordship doesn't object,' he added, perfectly aware that Sam had opened the door a crack and was eavesdropping.

‘His lordship, as you put it, doesn't own me,' she responded brusquely.

‘So, do you want me to lay another place setting?'

She glanced into the two frying pans. ‘It's too greasy for my taste, but thank you anyway.'

‘How about just scrambled eggs on toast?' Brian suggested. ‘There's no fat in that if you don't smother the toast in butter.'

‘Judy has to go home.'

‘I do?' Judy queried, eyeing Sam as he stood in the scullery doorway.

‘We are going to my mother's tomorrow …'

‘That's tomorrow, Sam.' Judy opened the cupboard next to the stove and lifted down a plate. ‘I'd love to have scrambled eggs on toast with you, Brian. Thank you so much for inviting me.'

‘You joining us, Judy? Good.' Martin breezed in and began ferrying the bowls of food that Brian had set out on the sideboard on to the table. ‘Given the mileage you do around Swansea, I've been meaning to have a word with you about whoever's servicing your car. I could probably offer you not only a better service but a better price.'

‘Or even better, a new car,' Brian broke in.

‘Layoff, Powell, this is my deal,' Martin warned.

‘If I sell her a new car, you'd be the one servicing it.' Brian glanced up at Sam who was still hovering, granite-faced in the doorway. ‘Give Jack another shout on the way out, would you, mate? This lot is going to get cold if he doesn't get a move on.'

‘I know you're upset, Helen, but you really do have to take better care of yourself,' Lily lectured, as she and Helen left the kitchen and carried the sherry bottle and glasses into the living room.

‘Just because there were a few bits of mouldy food in my fridge.'

‘Bits! You couldn't have opened it since –'

‘Jack left,' Helen finished for her. ‘You can say it, Lily; it's the truth. But I've been working long hours in the warehouse so I've been eating in town.'

‘That's not what your father said. And before you start on again about how much food you had in the house, I don't count tins of fruit, cream, soups and corned beef as real food.'

‘That meal you whipped up didn't taste that bad.'

‘Soup and crackers topped by corned beef isn't my idea of a meal. If you don't get in some fresh fruit and vegetables, you're going to go down with some horrible disease.'

‘Like the scurvy Miss Smythe used to warn us about in Domestic Science class,' Helen suggested.

‘Exactly,' Lily concurred emphatically, refusing to see any humour in the situation.

‘I never knew you could be so bossy.' Helen poured two glasses of sherry, handed one to Lily and sank down on the sofa. She had cleaned out the fireplace, re-made the fire and lit it when they had arrived, but although it was burning cheerfully, the room remained cold.

‘Someone has to take care of you, if you won't do it yourself.' Lily sat on a chair next to the fire and set her sherry glass in the hearth. She hadn't drunk alcohol in any form since she had become pregnant simply because she couldn't bear the smell, but she had continued to accept it when it was offered to her in the hope of concealing her pregnancy until the time was right to tell Martin. Which, given the way she was putting on weight, had to be very soon.

‘I had a letter this week.'

‘From Jack?' The expression on Helen's face at the mention of Jack's name tempered Lily's optimism.

‘No, that – the woman who is having his baby.'

‘What did she say?' Lily wasn't at all sure she wanted to hear.

‘More or less the same as Jack, that what happened between them was an accident that only happened once and didn't mean anything to either of them. Although how anyone, man or woman, can
accidentally
take off their clothes and make love to another person is beyond me.'

‘If they were drunk … sorry,' Lily apologised, as a steely look appeared in Helen's eyes. ‘Did she say anything else?'

‘That she's sorry she wrote to tell him about the baby because the last thing she wanted to do was wreck our marriage. That she hadn't set eyes on him before it happened and hadn't afterwards until he visited her in the home and she's given him orders not to visit her there again.'

‘Jack said that he had visited her.'

‘He's been twice apparently.' Helen drank half her sherry and replenished her glass. ‘It doesn't help to know that although she's having his baby she doesn't want to see him again. It's almost like, “Thank you very much, I've used your husband, I'm having his baby, but you can have him back now. And by the way, keep him away from me because I can't be bothered with him.”'

‘It can't be at all like that when she is in a home for unmarried mothers,' Lily remonstrated. ‘Did she say why Jack visited her?'

‘Guilt.'

‘And you don't believe her.'

‘I have this image of her and Jack lying naked on a deserted beach, making love and revelling in it like Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster in
From Here to Eternity …'

‘Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster were both wearing swimsuits in
From Here to Eternity.'

‘If it had been real life instead of a film, I bet they wouldn't have been wearing anything. And this woman that I imagine Jack with is beautiful and perfect, just like Deborah Kerr with red gold hair, deep blue eyes and a fabulous figure. She doesn't have my operation scar or fat knees …'

‘You do not have fat knees.'

‘ … And now she's pregnant,' Helen finished, struggling to control herself. ‘It hurts so much I think that if I ever saw her I'd kill her,' she pronounced vehemently. ‘Then I get this pathetic letter from a woman in an unmarried mothers' home telling me what a mess she's made not only of her life but Jack's and mine, and how sorry she is for everything and I don't understand …' She reached for a handkerchief.

‘Jack told Martin and me how it happened.'

‘He did?' Helen blew her nose.

‘I'm not saying that if it had been Martin I could have forgiven him any more than you can forgive Jack,' Lily ventured slowly, ‘but afterwards I did feel as if I understood why they did what they did.'

‘What exactly did he tell you?'

‘He said the same as he told you.'

‘Can you remember?'

Slowly, haltingly, Lily tried to repeat word for word what Jack had said to her and Martin.

‘You're not going to go without doing the washing up,' Brian protested when Martin left the table.

‘I have to fetch my wife.'

‘And I cooked the meal. Fair's fair,' Brian demurred.

‘Jack?' Martin turned to his brother who was already pushing his chair under the table.

‘I'll do it tomorrow. I have letters to write.' There was such a bleak expression on Jack's face neither Martin nor Brian tried to stop him from leaving.

‘Then your wife is going to come home to a messy kitchen,' Brian threatened, pouring himself a second cup of tea. ‘I'm downing tools for the day.'

‘I'll play the martyr, although I don't see why I should, when I ate less than any of you.' Judy collected the dishes from the table.

‘You're a sport,' Brian complimented.

‘It's the last time I take you up on an offer of scrambled eggs, Brian Powell. You bringing Lily straight back?' she asked Martin.

‘No, I thought I'd buy her a drink in the Mermaid. It seems ages since we had any time to ourselves.'

‘In that case, I can promise you a clean and tidy kitchen by the time you get back. Unless you and Jack mess it up again.' Judy kicked Brian's feet out of her way and scraped the plates into the bin.

‘See you later.' Martin closed the front door behind him.

‘Isn't it sweet?' Brian lifted his feet on to a chair and picked up a newspaper.

‘What?'

‘Martin wanting to take Lily out for a drink on a Saturday night after two years of marriage.'

‘They're practically honeymooners,' she retorted, ‘and you can get off your rear end and start washing.'

‘I cooked.'

‘And I need help.' She glared at him and he dissolved into laughter.

‘Is that the best angry look you can manage?'

‘Brian Powell …'

‘I know my name, and that stung,' he complained, as she flicked a tea towel in his face.

‘It was meant to.'

‘All right, I surrender. I'll wash the dishes as well as cook the meal, but you dry and put everything away.'

‘Deal.' She handed him the dish mop.

‘I don't get rubber gloves,' he griped, as she peeled them from her hands, clipped them on to a peg and hung them on a hook glued inside the cupboard door.

‘They're Lily's. Put your great clumsy paws into those and you'd split them but,' she smiled maliciously, ‘I'm sure Lily would have no objection to you buying a pair of extra large and hanging them alongside hers. Then she and Martin would have time to go for more quiet drinks outside of this zoo.'

‘If this place is a zoo, it's none of my doing. You saw Jack earlier, and your,' he hesitated for the barest fraction of a second, ‘fiancée treats the main part of this house as an extension of his basement flat and the contents of the cupboards as his own personal, private store of goodies.'

‘Then it's up to Lily to slap him down and set him right.' Overlooking her own annoyance with Sam earlier, she bridled at Brian's criticism.

‘You know Lily, she's far too nice to tell anyone off.' Brian lifted the cleanest pile of dishes and dunked them in a bowl of hot water and SqEzy washing-up liquid. He gave her a sideways look. ‘Unlike you these days. Perhaps it's my memory playing tricks but I remember you as being rather sweet and charming …'

‘I am sweet and charming.'

‘You're like a demented wasp around the place. Buzzing and angry, ready to pounce and sting the first person who says a wrong word.'

‘I am not angry!'