The Girl with the Creel (34 page)

Satisfied that she'd sorted everything out, Hannah fell asleep.

When Peter Tait saw Lou's death in the newspaper he decided to attend the funeral, but when he told Elsie her eyes narrowed. ‘How do you know this Louise Flett, any road? It says she was seventy-three.'

Thankful that his wife hadn't connected her with Mick's Auntie Lou, he answered cautiously. ‘I've known her for years. She's a nice old body.'

‘I've never heard you speaking about her, and you're not going. They might dock it off your wages, and we can't afford it.'

‘I am going … whatever you say!'

He sighed as she flounced away with her mouth screwed up. She got more on his nerves every day, and if he hadn't his two sons to consider he would walk out on her. He suspected that she took other men in when he was at work, though the only person he had ever caught in his house – one day he had come home early with a streaming cold – was young Lenny Fyfe, and he was just a kid.

Having asked off work for an hour, he took his black tie in his pocket the following morning. He didn't expect to know many of the people at the funeral, but when he turned up at Rannas Place the only person he recognized was Mick Jappy. His eyes going round the men assembled in the street and remembering Mick once saying his uncle took a good bucket, he guessed that the wee man with the red nose must be Lou's husband. He looked as if he'd had a good few drams already … to steady his nerves.

When the service in the kirkyard was over, Mick came across to speak to him. ‘It's good of you to come, Peter.'

‘Och, well,' Peter said, slightly embarrassed because he wasn't there for the reason Mick thought, ‘you've always been my best pal. How's your mother taking this? I hope it hasn't set her back again.'

Taken by surprise, Mick burst out, ‘She went out of her mind again not long after Lizann went away. You'd think she knew, but none of us ever told her.'

An icy hand clutched at Peter's stomach. ‘So you've never heard from Lizann, then?'

Mick shook his head sadly. ‘Not a word.'

‘Does Hannah not wonder where she is?'

‘She's that muddled she thinks Jenny's Lizann, and I can't see myself ever telling her. God knows what it would do to her.'

Peter touched his shoulder sympathetically. ‘Aye, it's maybe better to keep it from her. It's a good thing you've got Jenny.'

Noticing the other mourners moving away, Mick said, ‘Are you coming back to Lou's house?'

‘I'm sorry, I've to go back to work.'

‘Right. Well, I'd better see to Jockie. He looks like he'll keel over any minute, and God knows what he'll be like by the end of the day.'

‘You'll let me know if you ever hear from Lizann?'

‘Aye, I'll do that.'

As Peter walked back to the yard, he wondered again where Lizann had gone, and why she had left. It must have been sudden, when she hadn't told a soul she was leaving. Not even the clamour of metal hammering against metal, reverberating non-stop through the window, could get Lizann out of his mind for the rest of the day, and when he went home he was still puzzling over her disappearance.

‘Did you see anybody you knew at the funeral?' Elsie asked.

He hadn't meant to tell her, but it came out. ‘Just Mick Jappy.'

‘Mick? Did he know the old woman, and all?'

‘She was his auntie.'

‘Lou? I didn't realize … oh, I see now why you were so anxious to go. Has he heard anything from Lizann?'

‘I don't think he ever will … not now. I wish I knew why she went off like that.'

Elsie longed to tell him it had been her doing, but, knowing what his reaction would be, she said instead, ‘Mick thought it was something Jenny said, didn't he?'

‘That's what he said, but I can't believe it. Jenny's a nice girl, a kind girl. She wouldn't hurt anybody. I wish I'd gone back to see Lizann again, and I would have, if you hadn't kicked up such a stink about it. She mightn't have gone away if she'd talked things over with me.'

‘She might have made you go with her,' Elsie sneered.

Past caring what she thought, he said, ‘If she'd asked me, I'd have gone to the ends of the earth with her!'

Stung, she lashed back, ‘That wouldna have bothered me, for there's mair than one man waiting to get into my bed.'

‘You can take whoever you like into your bed as far as I'm concerned,' Peter said quietly. ‘I'll not be sharing it with you again.'

‘Oho,' she taunted, ‘and where'll you sleep?'

‘With the boys … when I'm here.'

She looked wary now. ‘When you're here? What d'you mean by that?'

‘I'm going to sign on a boat to get away from you.'

‘The hard work would kill you!'

‘I'd be better dead than sleeping with you!'

Realizing that she had pushed him too far, Elsie sidled up to him. ‘It wasn't true about the other men. I just said it to get back at you. Come up the stair and I'll show you.'

He shoved her away. ‘I wouldn't touch you if you were the only woman on this earth.'

‘You didna aye think that.'

‘More fool me. I should have known what you were from the minute I set eyes on you.'

‘Oh, aye? What am I, then?'

‘A common tart. My mother was right, I should never have married you.'

‘Your mother was a goddam't nosy bitch!' Elsie shouted.

‘She was a damn sight better a woman than you'll ever be!'

Wanting to wound him, she was on the point of telling him what had really happened on the morning of her last row with Bella Jeannie when it occurred to her that he would blame her for his mother's death and might lash out at her in his anger. Instead, she started to undo the buttons of her blouse, hoping to tempt him into forgetting why they were at each other's throats.

‘Stop that!' he roared. ‘You're wasting your time!' He spun round and stalked out, slamming the outside door behind him. He was disgusted that baring her breasts was her answer to everything; they didn't excite him any more. God, he wished he hadn't tried to do the right thing by her in keeping away from Lizann.

He walked for hours, welcoming the night when darkness engulfed him. His heart was aching for the woman he loved, yet he had begun to smart from the vile insult his wife had thrown at him. It was degrading to think that while he'd been working to provide her and their sons with a decent standard of living, she'd been entertaining other men, for he hadn't believed her when she said she'd lied about it. She must have laughed at him on the rare occasions he'd needed her over the past few months, likely compared him with her other lovers.

Peter was miles away from home when he eventually sat down on a bank at the side of the road to take stock of his situation. He had said, on the spur of the moment, that he would sign on a boat to get away from her and he damned well would. At least he would be free of her for five days at a time; he could surely manage to put up with her for the two days he would be ashore.

Shafts of daylight were peppering the black sky before he reached his house again, in time to wash and shave and change into a clean shirt before going to work, but when he went in he was annoyed to see Elsie sitting by the fire with a blanket wrapped round her. Thinking she was asleep, he tried to creep past but her eyes jerked open.

‘So you've come back at last?' she said sarcastically. ‘Where have you been till …' She shot a quick glance at the clock, ‘… till twenty past six in the morning? You must have been wi' bloody good company.'

‘The best!' he snarled. ‘I was by myself … walking and thinking.'

‘And have you changed your mind about going to sea?'

‘No.' He made for the door into the lobby but she jumped to her feet, the blanket falling to reveal that she was wearing nothing underneath.

Pressing against him, she looked up at him seductively. ‘We could have a quarter of an hour …'

His arms went round her automatically, her large breasts firing him in spite of himself, and feeling his arousal, a slow smirk spread over her face. This was what brought Peter to his senses, and he gave her such a desperate shove that she reeled back with her mouth gaping. ‘You bitch!' he said harshly. ‘You bloody, whoring bitch!'

Rubbing her chestbone, she cried, ‘If you leave me, Peter Tait, I'll sue you for desertion! I'll take every penny off you!'

At the foot of the stairs now, he said, ‘Who said I was leaving you? I'm going to sea like half the other men in Buckie – you can't sue me for that. I'll have to work my notice at the yard, so I'll sleep with the boys till I go and every time I'm back. So keep away from me.'

When he came downstairs she had the blanket round her once more, and his dark expression as he strode past her kept her from making any kind of remark, derogatory or otherwise. He had let her know what he thought of her, Peter congratulated himself, and she wouldn't bother him again. He would live in the same house, eat the meals she cooked, wear the clothes she washed and ironed, but he would never sleep with her again, and he wouldn't care who she slept with when he wasn't there … or even when he was there.

Feeling better, he strode out jauntily, and he had almost reached the shipyard before Lizann crossed his mind. His step faltered for a moment, then, telling himself that she was part of his past and that she clearly wanted a new life which didn't include him, he went inside, determined to go and see Mick Jappy that night about getting a berth.

Astonished that Peter Tait was standing up so well to the rigours aboard the
Dawn Rose
, even in fierce March gales, Mick gave him a poke in the ribs as he passed. ‘You'll soon be an old hand at this game, eh?'

Peter grinned. ‘It's great what a couple of weeks will do.'

Mick continued on his way. He'd been having a confab with the skipper about a slight leak from the boiler, but they'd agreed it wasn't anything to worry about … yet. Back in the engine room, he wondered what had made Peter throw up the steady job he had. He hadn't mentioned it on the day of Lou's funeral, yet he'd set his mind on it by the next day and it was sheer good luck there was a job going on the
Dawn Rose
. He hadn't even had to work the month's notice he was supposed to give the shipyard as a salaried draughtsman – surely the manager knew the kind of wife he had and took pity on him.

Elsie was the speak of Main Street with her dyed hair and face caked with make-up, and he'd heard from more than one source that she was taking up with Tom Fyfe's laddie. It was a mystery why Peter had ever married her; she wasn't his type, and it hadn't been a shotgun wedding. It had been fully nine months till Pattie was born … but it was likely her curves that kept Peter with her, for their second had been born less than a year later.

Mick leaned forward to check the bucket he had put under the boiler, and finding only one drop of water in it, he sat back and relaxed. Poor Peter. His wedding hadn't been long after Lizann's, so it looked like he'd married Elsie on the rebound, and there was something in his eyes even yet when he spoke about Lizann that showed … a longing. Elsie was bound to have noticed it, as well. Maybe that was why she carried on the way she did. Another thought struck Mick. Had it been something to do with Peter that made Lizann go away? On the day after she lost George he had admitted he still loved her, but surely he wouldn't have been so unfeeling as to say that to her? No, it must have been what Jenny said that did it, Mick concluded sadly, though Lizann should have realized he was still paying the yard. And she must have remembered that by now, so why hadn't she come home? He would surely have heard if anything had happened to her, so wherever she was, she must be happy. That was the only way to look at it.

His heart always aching to find his missing sister, he turned his mind to what his skipper had told him a few minutes before.

‘Heck says the government's offering twenty pounds to any seafaring man who's willing to join the Royal Navy,' Mick observed, as he and Peter walked homewards along the street. ‘They're sure there's going to be war, after all.'

Peter was dreading having to spend the next few days with Elsie and was paying no heed to what Mick was saying. ‘Oh, aye?' he muttered.

‘I've been thinking – they'll conscript us any road, if there is a war, so I've made up my mind to take them up on it.'

Peter looked at him now. ‘Take who up on what?'

‘Have you got cloth ears, man? I'm volunteering for the Navy.'

‘You surely wouldn't leave Jenny and you not long wed?'

‘I don't want to, but I feel I've got to. They say Germany's got a big fleet of ships waiting to invade us, and we'll have to stop it.' Mick eyed Peter expectantly. ‘Are you on?'

‘You're not asking me to join up with you? I couldn't leave Elsie with our two.'

‘It would get you away from her,' Mick said craftily.

‘Aye, so it would!' Peter was pensive for a moment. ‘By God!' he burst out then. ‘I can just see her face if I did!'

‘The money'll help Jenny and me to get on our feet quicker, but I'm not looking forward to telling her. I just hope she'll understand.'

‘Jenny's a gem, she'll understand. But I've my boys to consider, so I'd better have a proper think about it first.'

Mick lifted his shoulders briefly. ‘Aye, maybe you should. I've had a few days to turn it over in my mind since the skipper told me. I'm going to go tomorrow to see about it – if you want to come, fine.'

The two men parted at the Yardie, and Peter, whose feet normally dragged along the last few hundred yards, suddenly stepped out briskly, for he had made up his mind already. He was grinning as he went into his own house. When Elsie looked up, he was surprised to see that she had tarted herself up for him; she hadn't made the effort for a long time. ‘Pattie and Tommy in bed already?' he asked. ‘I thought I'd see them for a wee while.'