One Step at a Time (21 page)

‘I’ll tell the truth, of how your neighbours turned their backs on you while you tried to cope with the tragedies of losing both parents, never offering help or support for a girl hardly old enough to care for herself. And I want you to write a letter to go with the report.’

She was horrified. ‘I can’t do that!’

‘Yes you can. I’ll help.’

‘But, Ted, what about the mistakes?’

‘A couple of spelling mistakes won’t matter, but it must be in your own handwriting, and words.’ Ted squeezed her clenched hand in encouragement. ‘You can do it.’

‘All right, I’ll try.’ She blew out a pent-up breath and shook her head at Ted as if he were mad.

Her agreement brought forth a round of applause.

‘Right, everyone.’ Ben rubbed his hands together in anticipation. ‘Let’s get ready for the battle.’

Flanked by Ben on one side, Howard on the other, Mrs Dalton marching in front and Ted behind them, Amy groaned in dismay when she saw a crowd with cameras waiting outside the shop. Her step faltered
and immediately two arms came round her shoulders and held her firmly.

Ben ducked his head and whispered, ‘It’s all right, we’ve got you surrounded, and Mrs Dalton will soon clear that lot out of the way. Do you know she comes from a family of tough dockers?’

She shook her head mutely, hardly able to believe that of the refined Mrs Dalton.

‘A fight’s nothing new to her and I think she’s enjoying herself.’ Ben grinned down at Amy. ‘She married well but has never been ashamed of her roots.’

‘Well I never!’

Howard chuckled. ‘And Ted’s an effective rearguard.’

Amy’s laugh held a touch of hysteria. They might all be making light of this disaster, but she was frightened. Her family’s past had reared its ugly head just when she had believed it was gone and forgotten.

‘Clear off!’ Mrs Dalton was waving her umbrella at the reporters. ‘Haven’t you got anything better to do than hound my little girl?’

‘You ain’t her mother. She’s dead, isn’t she?’ One of the reporters held a pen and pad in his hand.

‘She is, but I’m her mother now, and I’m not going to let any of you slander her.
So clear off!
’

As the umbrella waved dangerously close to his face, Amy gasped. ‘She’s going to attack them!’

‘Go to it, Mrs Dalton!’ Ben stepped forward to stand by his landlady.

Ted took his place beside Amy, shaking with laughter. ‘They don’t stand a chance now.’

Amy couldn’t believe her eyes when Ben lifted one short man away from the shop doorway and plonked him down several yards away.

‘Oi! That’s assault,’ the man protested.

‘You were causing an obstruction.’ Ben eyed the man from his six feet four inches of height. ‘Do you want to make something of it?’

The man visibly blanched. ‘There’s no need for that attitude. We’re only doing our job.’

‘Then I suggest you go and do it somewhere else.’ Ben’s tone was deceptively mild.

With the shop entrance now cleared, Mrs Dalton unlocked the door and let Howard, Ted and Amy inside.

Once Mrs Dalton was also in, Ben stood in the open doorway, pretended to spit on his hands and rubbed them together. ‘Anyone who tries to come in will be thrown straight into the gutter.’ He lifted his eyebrows in query. ‘Who wants to be the first to try?’

Amy shot Howard a glance of alarm. ‘He doesn’t mean that, surely?’

‘Oh, yes he does.’ He grinned at her in delight and called to his friend. ‘What some help?’

‘No thanks, I can handle this puny lot.’

Amy looked from one to the other in disbelief. ‘You’re all enjoying yourselves.’

‘Haven’t had this much fun since we left university. Ben doesn’t often use his size as a weapon, but when he does anyone in his way would be wise to scatter. He doesn’t make idle threats.’

The men outside obviously decided that discretion
was called for and began to leave. Ben rested his hands on the top of the doorframe, dipped his head and watched. ‘Don’t bother to come back. I’ll be here all day, and I’m not in a very good mood after the way you’ve slandered my sister.’

‘Sister?’ One man was brave enough to hesitate for a moment. ‘She’s an only child.’

‘Not any more, she isn’t.’ The tone in Ben’s voice made the man walk quickly away up the street.

Ted turned to Mrs Dalton. ‘That skinny kid you took in after he’d skipped university has grown into his height, hasn’t he?’

She nodded, looking at the two boys with real affection in her eyes. ‘They both have.’

Howard slapped his friend hard on the back when the door was closed at last. ‘That was brilliant, Ben. Now they’re thoroughly confused.’

‘Oh dear.’ Amy was trembling. ‘I’m not sure you should have done that. They will write awful things about you tomorrow.’

‘Let them try.’ Ben was totally unconcerned as he winked at her. ‘You watch our sales increase.’

‘Especially when we gain public sympathy after they read the truth.’ Ted was enjoying himself as well. ‘Come on, Amy, let’s get our letters written.’

‘Go to your shop and do that,’ Ben suggested. ‘And don’t forget to give your business a plug as well, Ted. We might as well get something out of this while we clear Amy’s name.’

*

It took Amy five attempts to write the short note to show that she could indeed read and write. Ted helped when her spelling needed correcting – which was often, much to her dismay. It took a great deal of effort on her part, but when it was finally done she realized how much she had progressed.

‘That’s great,’ Ted praised her.

‘You sure?’ She was very doubtful. ‘Have I said the right things?’

Reading it through again, Ted nodded. ‘You’ve said how hurt you’ve been by the lies told about you by neighbours who turned their backs on you when you needed help. And how grateful you are to the kind people who took you in and gave you love and understanding. You’ve done this very well and hit just the right note.’

She was still very uncertain about it. ‘What about the spelling? Is it good enough?’

‘It’s good enough.’ Ted nodded. ‘You couldn’t have done this a year ago, could you?’

‘I couldn’t have done it now without your help.’ She grimaced. ‘It’s taken me over an hour to write a few sentences.’

‘No one’s going to know that.’ Ted put it with the letter he’d finished a long time ago, and headed for the door. ‘Look after the shop for me and I’ll see if I can get this in tomorrow’s paper. And that will be an end of it.’

As he left the shop she placed her head in her hands, hoping he was right.

19

The next morning, the paper Ted had contacted carried both letters and a short piece by the reporter. Amy allowed Ben to read it to her this time, sighing with relief when he had finished.

‘Will they leave me alone now?’

‘I expect so.’ Ted nodded. ‘This has been unpleasant for you, Amy, but you can put it behind you now.’

‘That’s what I thought before, but is anyone ever going to forget that my father was hanged for murder?’

‘Time heals everything, my dear,’ Mrs Dalton said kindly, then stood up with a determined air about her. ‘But I’m going to make sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.’

Ben watched her with suspicion. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘I’m just going to have a little talk with Amy’s old neighbours, that’s all.’

Amy leapt to her feet in alarm. ‘No, please don’t do that!’

‘Now, don’t you worry. I only want to see why they did this.’

‘Not on your own, you don’t.’ Ben also stood up, quickly followed by Howard.

‘We’re coming with you, Mrs Dalton.’ Howard was frowning.

‘There’s no need for that.’ She waved away their concern. ‘If I turn up with the two of you, they’ll slam the doors in my face.’

‘At least take Ben with you.’

‘I’m quite able to take care of myself, Howard. Besides, he’s too big and threatening.’ Mrs Dalton eyed the pair of them and pursed her lips. ‘Come to think of it, you both are. When did you change from boys to men? I never noticed it happening.’

‘Time has a habit of doing that.’ Ted grinned. ‘Couple of monsters now, aren’t they?’

‘I beg your pardon?’ Ben struggled to keep his expression severe. ‘We’re still the same lovable boys we used to be, aren’t we, Howard?’

‘Of course.’ He backed away from Ben before speaking again. ‘You can call him a monster, if you like, but I’m not as big as him.’

When his friend lunged for him, he ducked behind Amy for safety.

‘Will you two stop playing around?’ Ted shook his head. ‘But they’re right, Mrs Dalton, you mustn’t go there on your own. Take Ben with you.’

‘If I do you mustn’t say a word or interfere in any way, Benjamin.’

‘I’ll be so quiet you won’t know I’m there.’

Mrs Dalton actually snorted. ‘Impossible.’

‘I’m coming too.’ Amy didn’t like this at all. She
would be much happier if the whole thing were left alone, then perhaps it would just fade away.

‘No you’re not!’ Everyone in the room spoke in unison.

‘I am. If you’re going to cause trouble then I’m coming with you.’

Ben lowered his head until he was eye to eye with her. ‘Are you looking for a fight, little one?’

Pushing him away, she laughed, unable to help herself.

‘Amy, I would much rather you didn’t come.’ Mrs Dalton was serious. ‘I’m hoping to get them to talk freely to me, but I don’t think they will if you are with me.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yes I am, my dear.’ Then she turned her attention to Ted. ‘Did your reporter friend find out who was behind this?’

‘A Mr Preston, from number thirty-two Farthing Street.’

‘Mrs Preston was my mother’s friend.’ Amy was staggered. She had never liked Mr Preston much, but these were the last people she would have thought nasty enough to do this to her. ‘At least she was her friend until my dad’s trial.’

‘We’ll go and see them.’ Mrs Dalton sailed towards the door. ‘Come on, Benjamin.’

‘And we must open the shops.’ Ted hauled himself out of the chair. ‘I’ll take you both in my van.’

*

Farthing Street looked even drabber than Ben had remembered, and there were a lot of men hanging around in groups looking bored and dejected. He was glad he hadn’t allowed Mrs Dalton to come on her own.

He pulled up outside the house and before he could warn his landlady to be careful, she was marching up to the front door.

‘What you want?’ A man was leaning by the open door, a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

‘I’ve come to see Mr and Mrs Preston.’

A woman came out then, looking worried and harassed. ‘Oh, Bob, you haven’t been gambling again, have you?’

‘Course not!’ He eyed Mrs Dalton, his gaze flicking to Ben as he stood close by. ‘Brought your muscle with you?’

‘This is my son; he gave me a lift.’ Her gaze didn’t waver from the couple in front of her. ‘I’m here about Amy Carter.’

That caught their attention.

‘I am reliably informed that it was you, Mr Preston, who is responsible for that scurrilous piece in the newspaper.’

He gaped at her, then turned to snarl at his wife, ‘What’s she on about?’

‘She’s asking if you told the newspaper those things about Amy.’

‘Well, why don’t she talk plain English? What if I did?’

‘I would like to know why you would hurt an innocent girl with your lies?’

‘They wasn’t lies!’

At the belligerent tone of the man’s voice, Ben took a step forward, making the man stuff his hands in his pockets. ‘She ain’t been near us, and when the landlord of the pub said his missus saw her in that posh shop, I decided to make a bit of money out of the story. We’re all out of work here and the kids need feeding.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that, Mr Preston.’ Mrs Dalton’s demeanour remained perfectly civil. ‘And how much of that money went on beer?’

‘None of your bleedin’ business!’

Ben took another step forward.

‘If you care to look in today’s
Express
you will see a letter from Amy, pointing out how hurt she was by your accusations.’

Preston snorted. ‘She can’t read nor write. Always was a stupid kid.’

A deep rumble came from Ben as he took two steps forward this time, bringing him within three feet of the man. Mrs Dalton reached out and stopped him coming any closer.

‘I assure you she is very intelligent and can read and write. If you contact the newspaper they will confirm that the letter they received was written in her own hand.’ She fixed her attention on Mrs Preston. ‘The truth of the matter is that you all abandoned her after the death of both her parents.
It was despicable to leave a defenceless young girl on her own like that.’

Quite a crowd had gathered now and she spoke loud enough so all could hear. ‘I’m sorry you are having a tough time, but you would be wise not to let anything like this happen again… or we shall be
very
angry.’

‘That paper didn’t pay enough anyway.’ Mr Preston stomped past them to join his friends and walk up the road.

‘I’m sorry about that.’ Mrs Preston looked near to tears. ‘Amy’s mum was my friend and I wanted to help, but I was told not to go near them. He didn’t mean no harm. He was just looking for a way to earn some money.’

‘That’s as maybe, but Amy was very upset.’ Mrs Dalton fished in her handbag. ‘How much of the money did he give you?’

‘Not much, but he didn’t say what they paid him.’

‘I’ll bet he didn’t.’ She took out two one-pound notes from her purse and handed them to Mrs Preston, who took them with trembling hands. ‘Take this for food, and don’t let your husband see it.’

‘I won’t.’ The money was quickly shoved in the pocket of her pinny. ‘Thank you, that’s very kind of you. I’ll try to see that he don’t do nothing like this again.’

‘That’s all I ask. Amy has had enough sadness in her young life and I don’t want to see her upset any more.’

Ben followed her back to the car, amazed by what he had just seen. Once they were on their way, he said, ‘You gave her money!’

‘That woman was not responsible. I suspect she has no control over her husband, and has to do as she is told. I grew up in places like this, and before I married my dear husband, I saw this sort of thing every day.’