Secrets (7 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Janey gaped at the woman on her doorstep. Time stood still. It was a surreal moment. Noise, movement, and energy ceased. The background tweeting of birds faded and simply died away. The happy shrieks of children playing in a nearby garden petered to nothing. Even the breeze coming in through the open doorway seemed to suspend itself. Time and space simply compressed into this one endless moment where two women stood face to face staring at each other. Marie was nothing like Janey in looks, but about the same age. Janey registered Marie was studying her intently – noting her colouring, height, shape, and ultimately the wedding dress. Marie was the first to break the silence.

‘Did you really think you were marrying him?’

Janey had a ridiculous urge to throw back her head and laugh hysterically. She wanted to say, “Nooo, of course I didn’t think I was marrying Jake. I simply spent a small fortune on a wedding for the hell of it!” But she didn’t say anything of the sort. Instead, as cold February air played around her bare arms, she began to shiver. The shivers rapidly turned to shakes. From somewhere in her head came a noise like a droning aircraft. She suddenly felt horribly sick.

‘Quick, grab her,’ Susie shouted. Both women lunged forward as Janey slowly sank to the floor in a heap of rustling silk. ‘Kick the door shut,’ Susie gasped. ‘Help me drag her into the lounge.’

‘No. I think we should keep her still for a moment,’ said Marie, crouching down. ‘Let’s put her in the recovery position.’

Susie knelt down but shot Marie a look of intense dislike. ‘So as well as having a bigamist husband, you’re a know-it-all paramedic?’

‘Listen, lady.’ Marie’s lip curled back. ‘Don’t give me a hard time, all right? This is just as much a shock for me as your swooning girlfriend. He’s
my
husband. I just can’t believe the extent I’ve been cuckolded. I’d really like Sleeping Beauty to wake up and answer some pretty monumental questions.’

The shrill ring of the phone suddenly sliced through the air. It jangled Susie’s nerves. For a moment she continued to stare darkly at Marie. Finally she rocked back on her heels and stood up. Throwing one last dirty look at Jake’s wife, she snatched up the handset. This time it was Derek.

‘Susie? Has Janey got hold of Jake yet? Only the wedding car’s turned up and I don’t know what to do. Sanjay’s dashed off to the church to see if Jake’s there, or if anybody knows of his whereabouts. Joe can still pick you up, so don’t worry about–’

‘Derek,’ Susie interrupted. ‘The wedding is off.’

‘Eh?’ said Derek in confusion. ‘Don’t be daft. What the heck’s going on? Are you serious?’

‘Deadly serious. This wedding is not happening.’

‘Has Jake got cold feet? Listen, things can be salvaged if we find him. I was like it on my own big day – had a really bad case of the collywobbles. But it can all be resolved if–’

‘No, Derek. It can’t be resolved because Jake is ALREADY MARRIED.’ Susie didn’t mean to shout, but she was starting to feel out of sorts. In a matter of seconds, this carefully planned day had turned to ashes. From the other end of the phone she heard a gasp followed by a strangled sound. Chuffing hell. Please don’t let Derek be having a heart attack. ‘Derek? Derek! Are you all right?’

‘Yes, I’m here. I’m just–’ Derek spluttered. Susie realised he was crying. ‘My poor daughter,’ he sobbed. ‘My poor, poor daughter. I’m coming over.’

‘No, don’t do that!’ Susie regarded Marie and the flaked-out Janey. A sense of dread began to form in the pit of her stomach. ‘Listen, go to the church. Tell everybody that due to unforeseen circumstances, the wedding has been cancelled. Everybody must go home.’

‘Sanjay and Joe can do that,’ said Derek, suddenly feisty. Susie could picture him standing in the hallway of Orchard House, dapper in morning suit, two pink spots of fury staining his old cheeks. ‘I’m coming over in the Rolls Royce.’

‘No, send the driver home, Derek!’

‘I’ve paid for this car,’ Derek roared, ‘so I’ll ruddy well get my money’s worth.’

From the other end of the line Susie heard the handset crash down. Oh heavens. Derek turning up was all they needed. Any minute now Susie expected Violet, Joe and Sanjay to wade in. This whole mess would descend into a bun fight. The family would bay for Jake’s blood and think Marie would make the perfect substitute. Shaking slightly, she replaced the handset just as there was a groan from the floor.

‘She’s coming round,’ said Marie and bent over Janey.

‘My head,’ Janey murmured. ‘It hurts.’

‘Just give it a moment,’ said Marie. ‘Let the blood get back to your brain.’

Janey peered up into the anxious face of Jake’s wife. The woman looked genuinely concerned. Janey realised Marie must be in the same wretched state as herself. The only difference was she hadn’t been about to set off to a church, because she’d done that bit some time ago. Suddenly Janey had an overwhelming thirst for knowledge. How long had Jake and Marie been married? Were they still together or separated? Did they have children? Did they love each other? How had Marie found out about Janey?

Struggling, Janey pushed herself into a sitting position. ‘Help me up, please,’ she said to Marie. ‘I think you and I need to do some straight talking. I have a lot questions, and only you can give me the answers.’

‘Funny that,’ said Marie without humour. ‘I was going to say the same thing to you.’

Chapter Eighteen

When Derek arrived at Rose Cottage, he encountered three flushed women knocking back brandy. He took one look at his daughter, gorgeous in her wedding finery but now without a bridegroom, and almost started crying again.

Susie leapt to her feet. ‘Let me get you a brandy, Derek. Come and sit down next to me.’ She patted the sofa before busying herself with another glass and the decanter.

‘Thanks, Susie.’ Derek went over to his daughter. He crouched down before her, hugging her awkwardly. ‘Darling, this is beyond hideous.’

‘I can’t take it in.’ Janey shook her head in disbelief.

‘Have you phoned the police? I want to see Jake flamin’ Miller behind bars.’

‘No, I haven’t called the police. The thought hadn’t even entered my head. Right now I’m struggling to come to terms with the situation. Dad, let me introduce you to Marie.’

Derek glanced across at the stranger. ‘How do you do?’ he said politely, and shook the woman’s hand.

‘Go and sit down, Dad. Look, Susie’s poured your drink.’

Derek moved over to sit with Susie. He took a mouthful of brandy, and then gave Marie an enquiring look. ‘Are you a relative of Jake’s?’

Marie grimaced. ‘You could say that. I’m the woman he forgot he’s married to.’

Derek promptly choked on his brandy. Susie thumped him on the back until his larynx returned to normality.

‘Before you arrived, Dad, I was telling Marie about my life with Jake, and how I met him. Marie’s just started telling me her story. She’s been married to Jake for eight years, and they have two little girls.’ Janey was amazed how calm she sounded. Inwardly she was screaming.

Marie took up the reins of the conversation. ‘Like all marriages, ours had its problems, but never anything we couldn’t muddle through. The biggest issue was money. Always money.’ Marie shook her head slightly. ‘I worked my butt off taking on session jobs where I could–’

‘You’re a musician too?’ Derek interrupted.

‘Yes. Jake and I met at uni studying music. But once our girls came along it wasn’t so easy to hole myself up in studios for hours on end. Jake could do the job instead. Then he formed Carbon Vendetta. He was convinced the band would be discovered and go on to make big money. He certainly behaved like a rock star. There was more than one occasion where I caught him out with another woman. The one that he brought home to our marital bed nearly tore us apart. However, he begged for forgiveness and asked me to think of our girls.’ Marie sighed wretchedly. ‘You know, when you have kids you’ll do anything to hold your family together. You’ll take all sorts of nonsense. Jake struggled to say no to women who threw themselves at him.’

‘He was never unfaithful to me,’ Janey said. ‘I’d have known.’

‘But he
was
unfaithful to you!’ Marie said incredulously. ‘Whose bed do you think he was in while in Manchester?’

Janey blanched. The thought truly hadn’t occurred to her. She was still struggling to get her head around Marie being Jake’s wife. The thought of them maintaining a sexual relationship with each other hadn’t entered her head. ‘You still–?’

‘What do you think we do? Play Tiddlywinks?’

Janey’s hand fluttered to her mouth. Brandy regurgitated and hit the back of her throat. She closed her eyes and swallowed. ‘Sorry,’ she croaked. ‘Stupid of me. Carry on.’

‘He started touring with Carbon Vendetta and was away for days at a time. For a while my husband had the perfect cover. But when the band went their separate ways and Jake was still conveniently absent, I did begin to wonder if somebody else was on the scene. However, he always put money in the bank, so I knew he was earning and I tried not to doubt him.’

Janey felt a new emotion mixing with the hurt and betrayal. This one was anger. She suddenly felt livid with Jake for telling her money was thin on the ground. He’d let her pay for everything. Sometimes she’d even paid his ticket to Manchester. What a fool!

‘Has anyone managed to get hold of Jake?’ Derek asked.

‘I’ve tried his mobile,’ said Janey. ‘It just goes to voicemail.’

Marie rummaged in her bag and pulled out her own mobile. ‘Don’t you think it’s likely my husband has been running two phones? In the last four years nobody has ever rung his number to arouse my suspicions – and I’m the sort of wife who regularly goes through his phone when he’s not looking. If you’d been texting each other, I’d have seen. What number do you have for Jake?’

The two women compared entries. Marie’s log was indeed different to Janey’s.

‘Well,’ said Derek. ‘At least we know we can still contact the bastard.’

Janey winced. Her father was usually a mild-mannered man. To hear such language was alien. ‘Dad, please.’ She gave him a look. ‘All in good time, eh?’ She turned back to Jake’s wife. ‘The thing is, Marie, this has come as one hell of a shock to both of us. I had no idea of your existence. None whatsoever. What I want to know is…how did you find out about me?’

Marie inhaled deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. ‘Okay,’ she gave Janey a frank look. ‘These last few months, things suddenly perked up financially. Jake said he had work down South, but he always said it was session work. Obviously that means self-employment. The other day I was short of housekeeping. He was in the shower, so I banged on the bathroom door and asked if he had any cash. He told me to take a hundred quid from his wallet in the bedside drawer. So I did. And that’s when I discovered, quite by chance, a payslip tucked behind the bills. I opened it up, saw the employer’s name, and was puzzled. In my mind, alarm bells were ringing. I suddenly heard Jake barging his way out of the shower. He sounded agitated and called out. “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll get the money for you.” By the time he’d crashed out of the bathroom – clearly disconcerted – I’d replaced everything and was rummaging around in his sock drawer pretending I couldn’t find his wallet. He looked incredibly relieved. Then he went to his underpants drawer, pulled out the wallet and gave me the money. I smiled sweetly, took the cash, and that was that. Except, unbeknown to Jake, I took myself off to the computer. Moments later I’d popped the payroll name on the payslip into an internet search engine. That name, in turn, led me to Little Cobbleton Primary School. I checked out the school’s website and was astonished to read my husband was a full-time music teacher and part of the pastoral care team. Why on earth would he not have told me about his job? Why carry on living in Manchester and commute to Kent? Obviously I was on red alert by this point. I didn’t want to ring the school and blow my cover. Instead I decided to come down here and see for myself what Jake was up to. By this point I knew he was leading a double-life. He’s usually home for the weekend. However, he said there was a job he couldn’t get out of. Musically it would really open doors for him. So I left the girls with my mother – who incidentally know nothing of this fiasco – and came to Little Cobbleton. Once here, I stopped for a drink at Aunty Molly’s Tea Shop. It’s quite clear this village is a place where everybody knows everyone, and your wedding was the talk of the tea shop! I struck up conversation with a pensioner called Mrs Jones who filled in all the blanks for me. Pretending I was a long-lost relative, Mrs Jones wasted no time in giving me directions to Rose Cottage – the abode of my husband and his
fiancée
.’ Marie gagged on the word. She came to an abrupt halt. Taking some deep breaths, she rallied. ‘Do you know, Janey,’ Marie mused as she twirled the stem of her brandy balloon. ‘There’s a part of me that actually wonders whether Jake would have gone ahead and married you, and just kept quiet about the whole thing. If it hadn’t been for that payslip, I would never have rumbled him.’

Janey nodded miserably. The pain in her heart was excruciating. She felt as though invisible hands were wrenching the very valves and chambers apart. ‘I think he had every intention of going ahead with the wedding up until last night. I reckon he bottled out this morning. The sheer enormity of what he was about to do…bigamy no less…caught up with him. He said something to me which, in hindsight, now makes sense.’

Marie stared at her. ‘What?’

Janey looked apologetic as she repeated Jake’s words. ‘He said I’d bewitched him and transported him to a place of insanity.’ She shook her head. ‘Now I realise it was his way of telling me about the lie he’d been living.’

Marie began to softly cry. ‘Sorry,’ she sniffed. She put down the brandy balloon and foraged in her handbag for a tissue. ‘I just don’t know what to do.’

‘We’re sorry too,’ said Derek stonily. He was struggling to feel any compassion for this stranger. All his emotions and sympathies were focussed on his daughter. ‘I shall personally make sure your deceitful wedding-wrecking husband goes to prison for this.’

Marie’s sobs grew louder. ‘What am I going to tell our girls?’ she wailed. ‘They love their daddy.’

Janey caught her father’s eye. Silently she implored him not to say another word. Turning to Marie, she put an arm around the distressed woman. ‘Listen, I won’t go to the police. But there’s a condition.’

Marie looked up, her face tear-stained and wretched. ‘What is it?’ she whispered.

‘Between my parents and self, we’ve run up a huge bill on a wedding that isn’t going to happen. You tell Jake from me I want every last penny repaid.’

‘Are you mad?’ Derek barked. ‘Sod the money. Bigamy is a
crime
, Janey. Being caught entering into marriage whilst still legally married to somebody else can put a person behind bars for years.’

‘I’m sure you’re right, Dad,’ Janey asserted. ‘Except Jake’s done a runner. Bigamy hasn’t actually taken place. Meanwhile there are two little girls who adore him. It’s them I’m thinking of.’ She turned to Marie. ‘Whether you stay together or whether you divorce, that’s your business. But I want this money paid back – and within the next seven days. I don’t care how he does it. He can take a bank loan or even rob the bank. But that’s the deal. And it’s non-negotiable.’