Inseparable Bond (57 page)

Walter had
disturbed a group of seagulls on the back lawn, running frantically
to disperse them; his barking woke George from his deep sleep.

Nothing on
television interested them, so after a quick cup of hot chocolate,
they both retired to bed before eleven. George finished his library
book as Jennifer quickly fell asleep.

George was up
early after a peaceful nights sleep. Jennifer relaxed in a bath of
hot water planning her day.

The day had
started off windy and boisterous with high blue skies and scudding
white clouds, but the forecast was of brief rain showers and small
periods of sunshine. With this in mind, she dressed in a two-piece
suit and thick tights, picking out a warm cashmere coat which she
hadn’t worn all year.

As soon as
breakfast was over, George drove down to the library while Jennifer
waited for the florist to deliver the weekly supply of fresh
roses.

Last night’s
supper dishes and the breakfast plates were piled in the sink which
Molly would attend to when she arrived at 11 o’clock, along with
changing the beds and cleaning the two bathrooms, leaving Jennifer
free to visit John in the flat in the hope of finding him in
happier and less aggressive mood, being more accommodating than she
had experienced over the past few days.

The strong
wind whipped up the sea, filling the air with light sea spray as
Jennifer gripped the hand rail tightly as she walked down the slope
into town. Her knuckles had whitened and her hands felt as though
they were frozen to the metal as she had inadvertently left her
gloves on the kitchen table in her eagerness to leave the
house.

She called
into Frank’s butchers on the way, purchasing eggs, bacon, cooked
ham and some sausages for John’s breakfast.

She rang the
doorbell and waited for John to answer, becoming increasingly
anxious when he didn’t respond. She waited for a few minutes and
walked back out of the house, looking up at his front window on the
top floor. The curtains were open, but there was no sign of
life.

She quickly
walked down to the public telephone opposite the toilets and rang
his mobile phone, which she had purchased for him a few days
earlier. The ringing tone seemed endless, before he finally
answered in a rough and aggressive fashion.

‘Hello, dear,
its Jennifer, I’ve just called at the flat, are you in?’ she
asked.

‘Yes, I was in
bed, what do you want?’ he asked abruptly.

‘I’ve brought
you some breakfast, dear,’ she said.

‘Oh all right,
give me ten minutes and I’ll let you in,’ he said, switching his
phone off.

As Jennifer
replaced the handset, her heart pounded with fear as she noticed
George pull up opposite the telephone box. She ducked down, hiding
her face behind her handbag, which she had placed on the small
shelf. Thinking she had been spotted, her mind raced, thinking
quickly into what plausible explanation she was could tell him.

Looking
through the straps of her bag, her heart beat again when she
realised that he had parked the car to use the public toilets. She
watched him enter the toilets before she could make her escape. She
rapidly went into the harbour coffee bar on the corner, remaining
out of sight behind an artificial tree in the window.

She peered
between the leaves waiting for George to return to his car before
being able to leave the coffee shop. She didn’t want coffee but had
no option but to order a cup, occupying one of the few tables, and
the best one most prominently situated affording the sea view.

George had
been spent an unusually lengthy time in the toilet. She had
finished the coffee by the time he walked out and over to his car,
followed by another man who had walked out of the toilet behind him
and in the same direction but a few yards behind George.

As she left
her seat, she stood in amazement watching George open the passenger
door to allow the stranger into the passenger seat. They drove away
in the direction he had arrived, being the opposite direction from
the house.

She carefully
peered around the door of the café as the car drove out of sight
towards the South bay. She had found this a strange pattern of
events, as he had arrived at the toilets unaccompanied, and after
spending a considerable lengthy time inside, he returned to his car
and drove off with a stranger in the passenger seat. She found this
most strange.

She walked to
the flat against the strong wind, her mind puzzled into the
peculiar actions of George, until she realised that he probably met
someone in the toilets he knew and offered him a lift home in view
of the appalling weather conditions. This explanation now
satisfying her curious mind, she approached the flat and rang
John’s doorbell.

He appeared at
the door dressed in the blue towelling dressing gown she had
purchased. She followed him through to the lounge, noticing the
price tag which hung over the back of his collar she had
inadvertently forgotten to remove, and which he hadn’t noticed.

She placed the
items in the refrigerator as John switched the electric kettle on
to make some coffee.

‘Sorry I woke
you, dear. Did you have a late night?’ she asked, looking at his
blood-shot eyes as he lit a cigarette.

‘Yes, I did, I
went out for a drink and didn’t get home until after two,’ he
said.

‘Did you meet
anyone nice?’ she enquired.

‘No, I just
went on a bit of a pub-crawl, grabbed a pie and chips on the way
back and crashed out,’ he replied, puffing frantically on his
cigarette as he leaned against the kitchen unit.

Jennifer
clenched her fingers as if in prayer, raising her large eyes to the
ceiling. She smiled fondly as she looked at John. He smiled back
and rubbed her tiny hands as he sat down opposite her.

A sense of
happiness and relief ran through her veins. She had thought he had
begun to despise her, but his soft touch now eliminated all
suspicions. She chuckled to herself, thinking how stupid she had
been as she picked up her mug of coffee and walked into the lounge.
The room seemed tiny, dark and cold despite the sun streaming light
through the window, but it smelt of stale tobacco from the ashtray
brimming over with cigarette butts, the new cushions had been
discarded around the floor.

She picked
them up, knocking them against her knee before replacing them on
each corner of the settee, and carefully carried the ashtray
through to the kitchen, emptying it in the waste bin. She grabbed
the polish and swiftly ran a cloth around the furniture as John
dressed in his bedroom.

The display of
plants, which she had carefully placed on the windowsill, was
wilting due to lack of water. She quickly replenished them, picking
off the dead leaves from the small stems.

Once John was
dressed, they walked into town where Jennifer opened a clothing
account for him at Burton’s Menswear shop on the High Street with
an opening credit balance of £1,000. He tried on various items of
clothing, retuning from the changing room to receive Jennifer’s
approval before purchasing them.

They walked
around the castle grounds, looking down on the fishing harbour and
at the boats, which tossed from side to side in the rough sea
outside the safe protection and confines within the thick harbour
walls.

George was
felling branches off one of the garden trees when she arrived back
home, breathless after walking fast up the slope against the strong
wind. He followed her inside, taking her coat from her tiny
shoulders and hanging it behind the kitchen door.

He made a cup
of tea and took it through to the lounge. Jennifer re-arranged the
roses which had been delivered earlier in the day and placed around
the lounge and dining room. The largest display always featured in
the main hall to be admired by the few visitors they received.

She relaxed in
her chair as George stood behind her, gently rubbing her shoulders
before his trembling hands went down the front of her blouse and
caressed her small breasts, but that was the extent of it, as she
had never been tempted to let him have what he wanted, but he had
never shown signs of straying or even reciprocating the adoring
looks he regularly received from women in the street.

She had never
deprived him of sex, as he had never requested it or forcefully
taken advantage of her. Should they have married, Jennifer was the
type of person who would have agreed to sex as a matter of
respectful decency, but she was happy with the friendship and
companionship she had formed over the past nine years, feeling more
like a housekeeper than a housewife.

‘Did you spend
all day in town, Jennifer?’ George asked, as they sat down for the
evening supper.

‘Yes, most of
it. I also went for a long walk around the castle grounds, the view
from up there is stunning when the sea is in a violent rage,’ she
replied.

‘Did you go to
the library, dear?’ she enquired, as she sliced the skin from
underneath her Dover sole.

‘Yes, I also
got you the latest Catherine Cookson which had just been returned,’
he said, pouring chilled Chablis into her glass.

‘Oh good, I’ve
been waiting for that. I’ll read that tonight if there’s nothing to
watch on television,’ she said, tucking into her meal.

The local fish
was delicious and nourishing and the vegetables crisp and
tasty.

‘Did you buy
the fish down at the harbour, dear?’ she asked innocently.

‘No, I got it
from the fishmonger behind the library, I can’t remember the last
time I drove down to the harbour,’ he said, sipping his chilled
wine.

Jennifer sat
up straight and looked over at him with a puzzled expression as he
held his head low over the plate, oblivious to her doubting look.
‘So you didn’t drive past the harbour today then?’ she asked
inquiringly.

‘No, not today
dear, like I said, I can’t remember the last time I drove anywhere
near the harbour, why do you ask?’ he replied.

‘It’s just
that I thought I saw your car as I looked down from the castle
grounds,’ she answered, looking back to her meal, slowly separating
the fish from the bone.

‘Well, it
wasn’t me dear, you must have been mistaken. Besides, there are so
many BMWs running around these days, especially silver ones like
ours,’ he replied, showing no concern or guilt to his blatant
dishonesty.

Molly had
arrived earlier than usual the next morning, having to leave by
twelve for a doctor’s appointment. She polished through the lounge
and vacuumed the hall as Jennifer walked down the stairs, dressed
in a smart burnt orange colour suit with a dark brown fur collar
and cuffs.

‘You look very
smart, going anywhere exciting?’ Molly enquired.

‘Yes, it’s the
annual Rotary lunch, the only time the wives are allowed,’ she
replied.

George was
sitting in the lounge reading his library book, already dressed in
his best navy blue suit, waiting patiently for Jennifer to
arrive.

He drove the
car out of the drive while Jennifer looked in the hall mirror,
tucking her thinning hair under the brown fur hat which was perched
on her tiny head.

She climbed
into the passenger seat and reached for the lever, which placed the
seat back in an upright position.

‘My seat
appears to be at the wrong angle,’ she said, fumbling around for
the control switch.

‘It can’t be,
it’s how you last left it,’ he explained, looking over his shoulder
as he carefully reversed out of the drive.

‘I’m sure I
wouldn’t have moved it, has anyone been in the seat?’ she
asked.

‘No, no one,
you were the last person in that seat,’ he replied confidently.

They drove to
the Carlton Hotel in silence. Jennifer knew she had not been
mistaken when she saw a stranger enter the car from the public
toilets next to the harbour, but she couldn’t understand why George
would adamantly deny this.

George dropped
her off at the main entrance of the Carlton while he went to find a
parking space in the packed car park.

She edged her
way into the front hall set about with large, dark old chests, a
marble bust and a huge vase of dried flowers. She looked around
with admiration at everything and the masculinity of its design.
The hotel was owned by one of the Rotary members and it was clear
to her that he had played a major part it its design.

The dark red
walls and navy checked rugs had nothing to do with the feminine
sex. It was clearly a man’s establishment, more reminiscent of an
old gentlemen’s private country club.

George
arrived, took her by the arm and escorted her into the dark wood
panelled lounge bar where other Rotary members and their wives had
assembled.

The cigar
smoke and smell of expensive aftershave overpowered Jennifer as she
entered the room. She looked around at the grey haired ladies,
dressed in their finest luncheon outfits, gossiping amongst
themselves. George placed a glass of sweet sherry in her hand as he
went over to chat to the president of the society.

Jennifer
looked over and frowned at him as he chatted with other
members.

She had not
expected gaiety and enthusiasm and had never been a lover of group
occasions. She felt bored and intimidated as people exchanged small
talk and greeted each other by air kisses as they arrived into the
lounge bar.

A large portly
woman waved over to her. Jennifer waved back and politely smiled.
She had seen her before but was now unable to recognise her with
her mind being on more important matters. With her confused and
suspicious mind, she felt mentally and physically incapable of
being introduced to other members.

She walked
down the hall towards the ladies toilets, passing the hotel
receptionist who wore butterfly glasses with silver pieces set into
them and was obviously becoming pink and flustered under the
pressure of a hall porter laughing and teasing her as he leaned
against the reception desk playing with her ear.