THE BONDAGE OF LOVE

[070-066-4.6]

By: Catherine Cookson

Synopsis:

This book continues to follow the fortunes of the Bailey Family.

Davey Love and his son Sammy had made a special contribution to the

fortunes of the Bailey family. Now, with Davey dead, there would be

new challenges to face. How would Sammy fit into the family?

Inevitably Fiona would bear the brunt of household disagreements, but

she knew she could rely on Bill, that rock of a man with a rough

tongue but a heart of gold.

Catherine Cookson was born in Tyne Dock, the illegitimate daughter of a poverty-stricken woman, Kate, whom she believed to be her older sister. She began work in service but eventually moved south to Hastings where she met and married a local grammar-school master. At the age of forty she began writing about the lives of the working-class people with whom she had grown up, using the place of her birth as the background to many of her novels.

Although originally acclaimed as a regional writer her novel The Round Tower won the Winifred Holtby award for the best regional novel of 1968 --her readership soon began to spread throughout the world.

Her novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages and more than 50,000,000 copies of her books have been sold in Corgi alone. Thirteen of her novels have been made into successful television dramas, and more are planned.

Catherine Cookson's many best selling novels have established her as one of the most popular of contemporary women novelists. After receiving an OBE in 1985, Catherine Cookson was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1993.

She and her husband Tom now live near NewcastleuponTyne.

"Catherine Cookson's novels are about hardship, the intractability of life and of individuals, the struggle first to survive and next to make sense of one's survival. Humour, toughness, resolution and generosity are Cookson virtues, in a world which she often depicts as cold and violent. Her novels are weighted and driven by her own early experiences of illegitimacy and poverty. This is what gives them power. In the specialised world of women's popular fiction, Cookson has created her own territory' Helen Dunmore, The Times

THE BONDAGE OF LOVE

Catherine Cookson

Originally published in Great Britain by Bantam Press, a division of

Transworld Publishers Ltd

PRINTING HISTORY

Bantam Press edition published 1997 Corgi edition published 1998

Copyright Catherine Cookson 1997

The right of Catherine Cookson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Condition of Sale This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Set in ll/13pt Sabon by Phoenix Typesetting, Ilkley, West Yorkshire.

Corgi Books are published by Transworld Publishers Ltd, 61-63 Uxbridge Road, London, W5 5SA, in Australia by Transworld Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd, 15-25 Helles Avenue, Moorebank, NSW 2170 and in New Zealand by Transworld Publishers (NZ) Ltd, 3 William Pickering Drive, Albany, Auckland.

Reproduced, printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham PLC, Chatham, Kent.

To Norreen

Who, for the past sixteen years, has kept my abode bright and has lightened many a dark day with her mirth. I say, with deep regard, thank you.

PART ONE

It had begun between Katie Bailey and Sammy Love on the day Sammy's father, Davey, was buried. It was then that Sammy, aiming to comfort Katie, told her that his father had asked him to talk to her.

Having had a private weep in his bedroom, Sammy went across to Katie's room and told her just that, that he had been bidden by his father to talk to her because she was lonely. And it was strange that Katie should be grateful to him, for, if not bitter enemies, they had been antagonists for some years, ever since Willie, Katie's younger brother, became attached to Sammy Love, a common, loud-mouthed, swearing, brash nine-year-old. The association had disrupted the family, and upset Willie's mother, Fiona.

Fiona was of the middle class and, naturally, she did not wish any of her children to associate with such as Sammy Love, an urchin from Bog's End, whose father had done time in Durham jail. But this wily youngster had

proved himself of some worth when he saved Bill Bailey's life, and

thereafter had been welcomed into the family circle, as, in a way, his father had.

Davey Love, a big, seemingly gormless Irishman who made everyone laugh each time he opened his mouth, had become so beloved of the family that he had been brought into their home to spend his last days. And during those days, everyone in this house had felt the better for his presence:

from little Angela, Bill's and Fiona's Down's syndrome daughter; up through Mamie, their adopted daughter, who is now nine years old;

Willie who is twelve; Katie fourteen and Mark sixteen; and to Mrs. Vidler, Fiona's mother, who had been Bill's deadly enemy up to a short while ago, when that lady's character was definitely changed by a dramatic event; and last, but certainly not least, to Bert and Nell Ormesby. Nell, who, some years previously through her own tragedy, had become a helper and companion to Fiona, and Bert who was one of Bill's workmen. These completed the close family, and there was not one of their lives but had been touched by the big, ungainly, loud-mouthed, but wise Irishman.

On that particular day Katie definitely had needed comfort for she had been almost ostracised, at least by her stepfather Bill, for being the means of severing a close friendship between him and Rupert Medrith, a relative of Sir Charles Kingdom, the man who had helped to put Bill where he was today in the building world.

Katie had been only thirteen at the time when, in a mad fit of jealousy after having found Rupert, for whom she had an almost adult love, naked in bed with his girlfriend in her cottage adjacent to the grounds of Bill's house, she had almost brained her with a heavy wooden bowl. It had just missed the young woman's eye.

She had also left her mark on Rupert, as he had eventually turned on her by dragging her by her hair and throwing her outside on to the ash path.

From that day, Rupert had naturally cut all connection with the house.

But, as he still worked as manager of a garage Bill had, the two men

continued to meet.

Bill could not forgive Katie for what she had done: he had valued Rupert's friendship, for it had stemmed from Sir Charles and Lady Kingdom, and had, in a way, become stronger after Sir Charles had died.

But on the day of Davey Love's funeral, among the throng of people outside the church, Rupert had spoken to Fiona for the first time since the event, and because Katie was standing by her side, after some hesitation, he had said, "Hello, Katie."

Staring back at him she had answered simply, "Hello," and at the same time she had wondered why she had been so silly all that time ago.

What had been this feeling that had driven her almost mad with jealousy?

What had it been all about? Next to loving Rupert, she had loved Bill, and so his subsequent ignoring of her had thrown her into deep misery, and she rarely spoke to anyone except in monosyllables.

But on that day when they returned from the funeral, there stood Bill in the hallway of the splendid house of which he was justly proud. And he looked at her, the stepchild he had loved most of all in his adopted family, and she had looked at him and when she cried from the depths of her, "Oh, Dad! Oh, Dad! I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he swept her into his arms. And as Fiona and the rest of the family looked on, they all knew a great welcoming sense of relief. Life would return to normal.

It was after Katie had dashed upstairs, also to end her spate of weeping, that Sammy Love had knocked on her door, and she had looked at him as if she had never seen him before. He was two years younger than her, yet he had always seemed much older. He wasn't as tall as her and he was very thin, wiry her dad called him. That was another thing that had made her dislike him and go for him at every possible opportunity, because her dad seemed to love him. In fact, she knew he considered him not only as one of the family, now that he was to live with them, but had always thought him someone very special, even when he cursed and used four-letter words.

Then there was Willie. Willie had stuck to Sammy like a limpet all these years. He couldn't breathe without Sammy. She recalled there had been rows in the house because of Willie's determination to be friends with this boy.

What was it about him that made people want to be friends with him? Perhaps it was the same quality that his father had possessed, only in a larger quantity. You couldn't say he was good-looking. She had never noticed his eyes before, except whilst they were having a slanging match, when they had looked like round black marbles. For a boy, they were large eyes and longish lashes, but his nose was over big, as was his mouth. He had what she

supposed one would call a blunt face, from which his chin seemed at times to stick out.

When she had felt his hand in hers she had experienced a queer sensation. It was as if she were younger than him: he being fourteen, coming fifteen, and she only twelve coming thirteen.

On that day she knew that she would miss Mr. Love. She had been able to talk to him and she had discovered he wasn't thick as everybody imagined him to be. He was funny and said things back to front, and he made you laugh, and you always seemed better for having him near. Yet, as she had looked at his son, she had thought, the mind was a stupid thing: it made you love somebody to distraction, then dislike them for having humbled you; or, as in Sammy's case, here she was beginning to like him when the only feeling she had had for him up till now had been disdain. When would one know where one was, if things like that could happen to you? But they were still holding hands as they went down the stairs. And when they both realised what the family might have to say about this apparent association, they quickly disengaged, and such was their understanding of one another now that they could openly laugh at it.

i3

It was less than a month after Davey's funeral that the friendship between Katie and Sammy caused the first squall in the otherwise normal life of the household. Bill was up in the playroom having his daily half-hour with his daughter. He had picked her up and was once more extolling her progress at modelling. Nell and Bert, with their new baby, had been brought up to view his daughter's latest masterpiece. It was quite a good clay copy of a

stuffed poodle the child had got in her stocking and to which she was very attached.

Bill stood at one side of the low table and pointed his finger towards his wife and said, "Now don't tell me, Mrs. B, that has come about by chance, or that somebody's helped her, because she was just sticking the bits on when I came in."

"I never said a word." Fiona spread out her hands as she looked at her friend Nell.

"And yes, it's a very good copy. Who's arguing with you, Mr. B?" She stressed the name.

"Well," - Bill was addressing Bert who was bouncing his 'gift from God', as he called his new son, up and down in his arms 'she always has

query in her voice. Oh! to the devil. Come on, pet, let's downstairs.

I've been in this house for over an hour and nobody's asked me if I have a mouth on me. "

"I did ask you if you wanted a cup of tea," Nell put in now, 'but you said you wanted something stronger right away. Did you have it? "

"Yes, I had it, missis. But now I'd like a cup of tea."

They were all laughing as they made for the nursery door; but it was pushed open before they reached it, and there stood Mark. His face looked tight and his head was bobbing as he said, "Dad, there's ructions going on in the recreation room. As you know, my room's above that and I can't concentrate.

It's Willie and Katie again, but more Willie by the sound of it. Something should be done with him, he's getting beyond it."

"Have you looked in?"

"No, I haven't, because had I done so I would likely have used more than my tongue. I'm getting fed up with that crew. There's no peace.

How d'you expect me to work? "

Bill's head drooped, Fiona turned hers to the side, but neither of them said anything. Yet, on the landing the glance they cast at each other told of their combined thoughts: there were plenty of corners in this big house that Mark could go and be on his own. But Mark had a bedroom to himself, and what was at one time a dressing room adjacent was now his study; and you couldn't expect a young man studying for exams to go and find a quiet corner, if he had a study all his own, now could you?

The commotion in the recreation room, which was at the far end of the

downstairs floor, reached them as they descended into the hall. There they were met by a glee-faced Mamie, who exclaimed loudly, "Oh, they are fighting, fighting like billyo. And Sammy tipped Katie up and threw her on to the ground."

"Wh... at!" Bill and Fiona spoke simultaneously. Then they were all hurrying along the corridor. And when they burst into the recreation room Willie was yelling, "Why did you keep it to yourself all this time? You could tell her, why not me?"

Seemingly unaware of the visitors, Sammy replied, "I've only recently told her. And why I didn't tell you was because I wanted to keep some things to me self D'you understand? No, you wouldn't; you're too thick-headed. You've had it too easy, you have."

"Here! Here! Now, look here! What's all this about?" Bill put Angela down on to the floor and, turning to Sammy, he demanded, "What's happened? And why has he had it too easy? And what have you been keeping to yourself that he thinks he should know?"