The Loom (40 page)

She sighed as Grimsby revved the engine and set off in a flurry of gravel. She was happy here in Harwood. At last she had no desire to leave, not even lately to go to London. All she wanted was to get George home. Dare she hope, too, that Raymond would one day come back? Perhaps she’d see Marion as well. She’d more or less resigned herself to the situation with Marion and Darkie. She wondered why she’d been so stubborn about Leah Hammond and Stephen, her grandson. She didn’t really know what it was! Perhaps things too close to the bone! Something like that!

The hospital had rung in the afternoon to say that George could come home. She really should have waited till tomorrow but just couldn’t. She was going to help George to enjoy life. They might even visit Marion and Darkie in America. She’d never thought of that! It would be something to look forward to. How true the saying was that time heals, although it had taken her a long time to forgive Marion. Now she couldn’t wait to see her and her grandchild.

Grimsby drove slowly down the drive, which by this time was in dense shade. The car took a curve and she heard Grimsby exclaim. ‘I think we’ve got a visitor, Madam,’ he said, slowing down.

‘What…where…?’

‘Coming up the drive, Madam.’

Jessica leant forward to look through the front window. A man! Who could be visiting her? She could count on one hand the visitors she’d had over the past few years. This man was tall and slim, with broad shoulders. He had a coat slung over one shoulder and his sleeves were rolled up, revealing strong brown arms. He was carrying a duffel bag like they had in the army.

She wished there was a bit more light; there was something familiar about him, which made her heart begin to beat erratically. She could hear it thumping in her chest like a drum. Thud, thud thud it went, making her breathless. She grasped the back of the seat tightly, her knuckles showing white. Her mouth was dry. As he drew nearer she noticed he had a lean, square jaw and a slightly crooked nose (she hadn’t seen that before!) but still she knew who it was. Quite suddenly she just knew and she gave a cry. ‘Stop the car, stop the car.’

Grimsby pulled up, startled.

Jessica struggled to get the door opened.

‘
It’s Raymond. It’s Raymond.’

Then she was out and flying down the drive. The man stopped, dropped his bag and began to run towards her.

‘
Mother,’ and the shout echoed loudly, Raymond’s face alight, teeth flashing white against his tan.

Grimsby watched, a silly smile on his face (and even the hint of a tear on his cheek – he was a secret sentimentalist as well, wouldn’t you know!)

*********

‘I can’t believe it! Miles and miles of rivers of ice, you say. Ee, no, it seems impossible.’

Emma listened in wide-eyed wonder to Raymond as he sat in one of her over-stuffed armchairs (they’d had them re-upholstered). He looked comfortable, a large pint pot of tea in one hand and Woodbine in the other.

He nodded. ‘It’s true. Everything in Alaska is huge, including Alaska itself.’

Stephen and Christine were sitting on the floor next to Raymond’s chair listening avidly to his stories, his own enthusiasm making it all the more entrancing. He made Alaska come alive and they could almost see those mountains rising so high into the sky (almost as big a Mt. Everest Raymond said with a nod), the huge glaciers; the unusual wildlife.

‘I wish I could go to Alaska,’ Stephen said wistfully.

Stephen’s voice was that husky in-between quality of an adolescent. One minute down, the next up, like a soprano. It embarrassed him a bit. Raymond laughed and said not to worry about it, he’d soon grow out of it. He hoped he was right! It was so exciting, though hearing all these stories. He’d just read a book called ‘The Lone Woodsman’. He hadn’t been able to put it down and it reminded him of what Raymond was talking about. He could even see Raymond as that lone woodsman who’d got lost in the wilderness and survived because he’d been so smart. That’s what he wanted, adventure, which you certainly didn’t get in boring old Harwood!

‘Tell us about the moose, Uncle Raymond,’ Christine said in her high, piping little voice like a bird. ‘You know the funny looking animal you were telling us about before.’

Raymond laughed and tweaked Christine’s nose. He did those things quite naturally, tweaked noses, ruffled hair, pummelled shoulders (Stephen’s), which was his way of showing affection and which had already endeared him to those on whom he perpetrated these small but intimate acts. They weren’t used to this in Harwood, especially not the Hammonds, where shows of affection (any kind) were rare.

Raymond stubbed his cigarette out on the ashtray.

‘
They may look funny miss, but the joke is definitely not on the moose. It might have jackass ears, punching bag for a nose, hump shoulders and a short body. Plus long legs, tiny rump and three and a half inches of tale,’ he said, mimicking the way the moose might look. (He hunched his shoulders and wiggled his ears – he really could do this very well), until Stephen and Christine were rolling on the floor shouting with laughter and Emma was doing her usual bit of wiping her eyes with her pinny.

They were just in the throes of all this merriment, Raymond joining in as well, his voice loud above the laughter, when Leah and Walter walked in. They stopped when they saw the pantomime and the merrymakers stopped what they were doing (still rolling on the floor and wiping eyes with pinny).

‘We could hear you outside,’ Leah side, a smile beginning to form as Stephen and Christine started giggling again. ‘What were you laughing about?’

‘He’s been telling us about the moose in Alaska,’ Stephen said. He looked across at Raymond who wiggled his ears again and hunched his shoulders. Leah watched in astonishment, then smiled. She liked that side of Raymond, the comic side. That was probably why he had always been playing pranks when he was younger. Stephen and Christine were laughing again at Raymond’s antics and she joined in.

‘Ee, no, don’t, Raymond,’ Emma said, ‘You’re giving me a stitch.’

Walter watched them all, a slight, forced smile on his face. He would never understand the Hammond family and their inclination to laugh. They laughed at nothing! Just look at Leah! All red in the face! He frowned in disapproval at Stephen and Christine who were still on the floor. Those two little brats! They both needed a good hiding at times, especially that Stephen! He’d too much to say for himself. Walter believed quite fervently (especially after contact with the Hammond children) that children should be seen and not heard. Whoever had thought that up had had their head screwed on right, he thought, irritated by the way these two were behaving. Just wait till he and Leah were married! He’d sort them out quick smart (with the back of his hand, or the strap). There’d be quite a few changes then!

He put on a smile though, because for some reason Leah seemed to have taken to Raymond, who in no time had wormed his way into the Hammond household. Cheeky, Walter thought, brash and arrogant. Why didn’t he get back to where he’d come from, the back of beyond from the sound of it!

Walter’s feelings were not lost on Raymond, who felt the antagonism flowing towards him like knives. Hates my guts, he thought. Well, I hate his. He couldn’t understand how someone like Leah could have taken up with Walter. He’d never seen a more mismatched couple!

Walter scowled in Raymond’s direction. Leah was all ears when that big oaf appeared. She hung on to his every word like he was God or something. Walter was a bit worried. He’d not yet popped the question and had assumed that the altar was where they were heading and he didn’t want anyone interfering. This bloody Raymond had such a high opinion of himself, strutting around Harwood like he owned it (the thought suddenly occurred to him that he probably did, or would one day when the others popped off). He hadn’t thought of that, so just from that angle this Raymond was definitely a better prospect than he was. It wasn’t the money though. He seemed to have most of the females in Harwood drooling over him. Even his sisters, who’d met him the other day, had been quite ecstatic, oohing and ahing like idiots.

Leah sensed Walter’s displeasure. Why did he always look so grim, so down in the mouth? He was the most humourless man she’d ever known! She was getting fed up with him. How much longer could she take that long face and lately he’d even been a bit bossy with her. She’d ignored that because it hadn’t worried her unduly, but if he carried on she’d have to tell him. He didn’t own her! Even as she thought it Walter said sharply. ‘I’d better get you home, Leah. It’s getting late and Stephen and Christine have to go to school tomorrow.’

Really, she thought, irritated, he’d no business talking to her like that. She knew what time it was, what she had to do with her own children. She didn’t need him interfering. She saw the intense dislike on Raymond’s face. It was to be expected, because Raymond and Walter were as different as night and day.

She frowned at Walter. ‘I know what time it is, Walter.’ She turned to Emma. ‘We’ll go now. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘I’ll come and see you off,’ Emma said.

Leah turned to Raymond. ‘I’ll see you later.’ He nodded. He couldn’t understand how Leah let Walter talk to her in that overbearing way. His eyes flicked angrily to where Walter stood waiting impatiently at the door.

‘
Yeah, see ya around,’ he said. ‘See ya kids,’ he said to Christine and Stephen. They waved to him as Walter ushered them out.

Raymond waited till they had gone and then collected his coat from the chair. ‘Thanks for the cup of tea Mrs. Hammond,’ he said.

‘Ee, it was nothing,’ Emma said. ‘You should have had some of my parkin with it as well.’

‘I’ll get fat if I eat everything you put in front of me,’ Raymond said, patting his lean stomach.

‘Get on with you.’

Emma went inside after she’d seen Raymond off, watching him as he walked with his long stride down to St. Hubert’s Road. He had a good walk to Hyndburn but he seemed as fit as a fiddle. Looked it as well! That lovely tan! She thought of the pasty white faces of Harwooders; like blobs of dough next to Raymond. She liked Raymond, she really did and if she’d been twenty years younger…? She thought of how she’d always said that to Annie and how Annie used to laugh. Aye, she did like that young man though. She felt easy with him, not like she had with his brother. She had seen the way he looked at Leah as well. More her type, Emma thought. She’d also seen the way Raymond and Walter looked daggers at each other. There was trouble brewing there, even blind Larry could see that!

Raymond walked up Glebe Street, dodging children with tops and whips, skipping ropes, singing the timeless ditties, ‘eeny meeny miny mo, put the baby on the po, when it’s done, wipe its bum, eeny meeny miny mo’.

He laughed at the antics of the children. He felt more at home in this part of town than at Hyndburn. He was used to roughing it and Hyndburn Hall and all the toffy ways was too much for him. All that ostentation and wealth made him uneasy. He felt more at ease with Emma Hammond than his mother. He wondered what his mother would say if she could see him lolling in one of Emma’s easy chairs drinking tea from a pint pot!

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

J
essica raised her eyebrows when Raymond told her he was going to visit Leah Hammond. They were all having breakfast in the morning room, George reading the paper and looking happier than Raymond had ever seen him. George kept glancing at Jessica with a half smile on his face and Jessica would look at him and (was Raymond imagining it?) blushing.

Raymond had found the change in Jessica, (her changed attitude that is, because she was still as beautiful), almost unbelievable. He’d always loved his mother, he realized that now, but remembering how she had been (rather snooty and condescending to most people) he could hardly credit that she was the same woman. George had always been second best (Paul, first). He hadn’t known where
he
rated except that she’d spoilt him rotten (so really she was to blame for how things had turned out, if one was to apportion blame).

All this had changed. For one thing Paul was no longer on the scene (thank God), and Jessica was kinder, softer, spoke in terms of endearment to George; was concerned for his comfort, his wellbeing. She acted like a woman in love! And she was more tolerant, evident in her next statement.

‘Why don’t you take the Bentley, Raymond, it’s quite a long walk and you could take Leah and Stephen and Christine out in it.’

Raymond could never have imagined her saying that, thirteen years ago. He knew there was an ulterior motive for this (she wanted to get to know her grandson). Even so he could see she was quite genuine in her desire to please him. Why on earth hadn’t she acknowledged her grandson? Then he had realized she was embarrassed that she hadn’t done something sooner; that she had left it too late. Through Raymond she could rectify this. He was to be the middleman (or was it the man in the middle?) It didn’t worry him. It would make him happy if both his parents got to know their grandson (he wondered about Stephen getting to know
them
- how would that turn out?)

‘No, I’ll be right, Mother. Do me good to have a bit of a walk.’ His mother had wanted to
give
him the Bentley. He’d refused, feeling awkward, but adamant that he didn’t want it. He wondered if it had been a kind of bribe to make him stay. It would take more than that! It would take something cataclysmic!