The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (34 page)

‘But not in New
York,’ Eddie pointed out. ‘Don’t even think about it,
Phil.’

‘I’m gonna have to pay for it
then,’ Phil grumbled. ‘I’ve never had to pay for sex in my life. It’s always
been handed to me on a plate.’

‘Here.’ Tim threw the Playboy
magazine at him. ‘Stop being so bloody tetchy. Sod off into the bog with that
if you’re desperate. But don’t stick the pages together!’

‘Oh, it’s okay for you and Carl,’
Phil said. ‘
You’re
not going short;
you’ve got Pat and Cathy with you. Not only that, they’re the only ones who can
go outside without being recognised.’

‘Christ Almighty, Phil, you knew
it wasn’t going to be all fun and games,’
Eddie said. ‘You shouldn’t begrudge Cathy and Pat a trip to the hairdressers.
They’re as sick of being cooped up as we are.’

‘If this is how you’re going to
be all tour, I’ll bloody make sure Frank gets a regular woman lined up for you
after each show!’ Roy said. ‘Me and
Ed are in the same boat. But do you here
us
complaining?’

‘Sorry,’ Phil grinned sheepishly.
‘I’m beginning to see sense in what you lot are always telling me. “Get
yourself a proper girlfriend, Phil.” If I had one she could come on tour with
me and relieve the tension a bit. Maybe I’ll look into it when I get back.’

‘Anyone in mind?’ Eddie asked
curiously.

‘Yeah, I have,’ he replied. ‘I’ve
been keeping in touch with that little redhead in Nottingham,
Laura Kennedy. You remember her; has a look of Jane Asher. She’s always waiting
for me backstage when we play the area. Reckons she loves me - and she’s very
obliging. Best blow jobs I’ve had in my life!’

Roy
grinned. ‘What you waiting for? Get on the phone and ask her to fly out, give
us all a bit of peace. Frank’ll arrange it for you.’

‘She’s not on the bloody phone,’
Phil sighed. ‘I have to call her at her Grandma’s. Don’t suppose for one minute
that her folks'll allow her come out here to join me. She’s still at school’

‘School?’ Eddie frowned. ‘How old
is she?’

‘Sixteen,’ Phil replied.

‘Well how long have
you
been giving her one?’ Roy
asked. ‘We haven’t played Nottingham for a few months
and she was around long before that.’

‘Since before Ed re-joined,’ Phil
admitted. ‘But I didn’t know she was only fourteen then; she told me she was seventeen,
and
she looked it.’

‘Jesus Christ, Phil!’ Roy
shook his head in despair. ‘You’ll get yourself hung drawn and quartered if
that makes the headlines.’

‘Pot and kettle, Roy,’
Eddie reminded him.

‘Yeah, but Sammy was almost
sixteen,’ Roy said.

‘Well anyway,’ Phil continued,
‘whatever happens over here will be my last fling. When I get back I’ll be
asking Laura to be my girl. I’m gonna do right by her and stick a ring on her
finger. An engagement ring, that is. One step at a time.’

***

Sammy answered the phone as Jane
was putting Jessica to bed and Harry was reading a bedtime story to a very
tired Jonny.

‘Hi, Roy!
Oh it’s great to hear from you. - I miss you, too. I feel so fat and fed up.
How’s it going? When do you do The Ed Sullivan Show? - Oh, of course, Sunday,
when else? It’s like the Palladium here, the big show of the weekend. We see
the daily newspaper and TV coverage of the tour, but its not as good as being
with you.’ Sammy listened intently as Roy
told her the groups’ itinerary for the next couple of weeks.

They were travelling by train to Washington
DC on Monday, following The Ed Sullivan
Show, to perform two concerts at the Washington Coliseum and to guest on a
radio show. Then the entourage would be flying to Miami
for a further five shows and another two TV appearances.

Roy
promised to call again the following day and asked Sammy to get Jane for Eddie.
Jane flew downstairs, snatched the receiver from Sammy’s outstretched hand and
burst into tears as she heard Eddie’s voice.

‘No, I’m fine, Ed, honestly. -
Yes, the kids are great and Harry is here looking after us. Don’t worry. I’m
just missing you so much, that’s all. - I love you too.’

Sammy put the kettle on while
Jane nodded and oohed and aahed.

‘Have a wonderful tour. Be safe,
look after one another,’ Jane finished and hung up. She turned to Sammy. ‘Well,
there’s a turn up for the books.’

‘What?’ Sammy said, spooning
coffee into three mugs. ‘I presume Harry will want one?’

‘I expect so. Phil’s getting
engaged when he gets back.’

'Engaged? Phil?’ Sammy’s mouth
fell open. ‘Who the hell to?’

‘Some girl called Laura from Nottingham.’

‘Bloody hell! Is she pregnant?’

‘Ed didn’t say, but what he did
say was she’s still at school,’ Jane replied.

‘The dark horse. Wait until he comes
home. But I’ll believe it when I see it.’

‘Me too. Maybe he’s turning over
a new leaf.’

***

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

APRIL 1966

Eddie replaced the receiver and
looked up as Jane walked into the room.

‘That’s those two monkeys settled
for the night.’ She kicked off her shoes and flopped down on one of the Chesterfields.
‘Who was on the phone?'

‘Carl. He’s coming over with
Cathy. Wants to talk privately about something. Sounded a bit mysterious.’ He
poured two glasses of red wine, handed one to Jane and sat down beside her. ‘I
hope he doesn’t want out of the group.’

‘I doubt it; Carl loves being a
Raider,’ Jane said. ‘He really enjoyed the American tour. Cathy said he’s not
stopped talking about it.’

‘Well, whatever it is, he sounded
very agitated.’

***

Carl and Cathy arrived at
seven-thirty. Eddie invited them into the lounge and offered drinks.

‘Sit down.’ Jane patted the space
beside her. ‘So, what’s up with you two? You look really worried.’

Cathy looked as though she hadn’t
slept a wink for days and Carl stared at Jane with such a haunted expression
that her stomach turned over.

‘Carl, you look awful. Has
something happened?’

He cleared his throat. ‘Cathy has
something to tell you. You’re not going to like it, but please, let her finish
before you say anything.’

Cathy took a deep breath. ‘I
don’t know where to start,’ she mumbled nervously and took a sip of wine.

Jane looked at Eddie who
shrugged.

‘Try the beginning,’ he
suggested.

Cathy opened her handbag and took
out a packet of photographs. ‘This is the film I finished at Jessica’s
christening,’ she began. ‘I only got round to having it developed this week
along with the ones I took on the American tour.’ Her hands shook as she handed
Jane several colour photos of Jonny. Jane glanced at them and then passed them
to Eddie.

‘Pictures of Jonny and they’re
very good,’ Eddie said, frowning. ‘So, what’s the problem?’

‘Angie took those photos, using
my camera, before she went off to Wales,’
Cathy explained. ‘She also took these.’ She handed two more photos to Jane, one
showing a smiling Angie with Richard Price and one of Richard with Jonny on his
shoulders.

Jane studied the photographs,
colour draining from her face as realisation dawned. Richard and Jonny were
living images; dark curly hair; green eyes; even matching dimples. Jane looked
from Eddie to Cathy in horror. Cathy was sobbing now, her head in her hands.
Eddie snatched the photographs from Jane. He stared at them, a look of
disbelief on his face.

‘Cathy, are you telling us what I
think you’re telling us?’ Jane’s voice came out in a squeak.

Carl placed an arm around Cathy’s
shaking shoulders and nodded slowly.

‘Tell them what you told me. You
can’t keep it to yourself any longer. They have a right to know the truth.’

Her voice barely audible, Cathy
turned to face Eddie and began her tale.

‘When you and Angie split up over
you seeing Jane, Richard took her out for a meal to cheer her up and they slept
together. Then the following week she slept with you. She asked me never to
tell you that she’d been with Richard.’

Cathy paused to wipe her eyes. ‘A
few weeks later Angie told me she might be pregnant but wasn’t sure who the
father was. I said she had to tell you and Richard, but she was too scared.’

Eddie shook his head, lost for
words as Cathy continued.

‘By that time Richard was
finalising his wedding plans. Angie said she couldn’t destroy his future.’

‘Oh, that’s fucking rich!’ Eddie
retorted. ‘So instead she destroyed mine and Jane’s.’

‘That wasn’t her original
intention, Ed, but when she tracked you down and found you in bed with Jane she
was so angry and jealous that she decided you
would
be the father, whether you were or not. As soon as Jonny was
born she said she thought he looked more like Richard than you, but she still
wouldn’t tell you.

‘It was only after she went back
to work at the salon that she realised Richard was alone, his marriage hadn’t
worked out. When they got together, Angie eventually told Richard that Jonny
was his. He already had his suspicions, because of the likeness to himself as a
child, but he was waiting for her to say something.

‘When she did, he insisted she
tell you the truth. For all her faults Angie just couldn’t bring herself to do
it; you doted on Jonny. As you know, the weekend the two of them went to Wales
they were celebrating getting engaged and the fact that they were expecting
another baby.’ Cathy took a deep shuddering breath and blew her nose before
continuing.

‘The weekend Angie left Jonny
with me, she told me they were going to tell you, her parents, and Richard’s
family about the baby and Jonny when they got back, but of course they never
arrived home. You and Jane took on the responsibility of raising Jonny and I
kept my mouth shut because I didn’t know what else to do.

‘I pushed it to the back of my
mind. I swore I’d take the secret to the grave. I told myself it would do no
good to upset everyone. Jonny was happy and settled with you two. Then I had
the photographs developed. Carl was looking through them and he passed comment
on Richard being the image of Jonny. He thought he was Angie’s brother, Jonny’s
uncle. But of course Angie had no brothers. I was sure it was only a matter of
time before Carl would innocently mention the likeness to you, so I told him
the truth there and then.’

***

Cathy broke down completely at
this point, relieved to get the terrible secret off her chest once and for all.
She told Eddie and Jane that the afternoon she’d seen Jonny at the flat in
Westlow, she’d realised then how much like Richard he’d become and she felt
she’d given the game away by dashing off so suddenly.

Eddie and Jane, sitting side by
side, tried to come to terms with what they’d just been told. Silent tears ran
unchecked down Jane’s cheeks and she turned to look at Eddie. All his anger
gone, she could see he was as shocked as she.

‘Ed.’ She shook his shoulder
gently. ‘Darling, please say something.’

He turned to look at her and Jane
was devastated to see such utter despair in his blue eyes for the second time
in less than six months. He shook his head silently, as though words would
choke him.

Cathy stood up. ‘We’d better go
home. I can’t stay here. I’ve wrecked your lives. I should have kept my big
mouth shut.’

Carl looked at the three of them
and shook his head. ‘Jane,
I
persuaded
Cathy to tell you the truth. I felt you had a right to know. It would have been
wrong to keep it to ourselves forever. Being denied the truth about his parents
helped destroy Mark Fisher. God forbid the same should happen to Jonny.’

Jane nodded slowly. ‘Carl, you’re
right, but please, just go home now. Eddie and I need to be alone. I’ll call
you tomorrow sometime. Don’t discuss this with anyone else for the time being.’

‘We won’t,’ Carl assured her as
she showed them out and shut the door. She walked back into the lounge to Eddie
and put her arms around him. He leant against her shoulder and cried
heartbrokenly. She led him upstairs to their room. They lay locked in one
another’s arms all night.

***

Jane rose early to attend to
Jessica, leaving Eddie dozing fitfully. Jonny was still sleeping peacefully.
She plucked the baby from her cot and carried her downstairs.

Sammy, cool blue eyes in a face
whiter than the cotton bathrobe she was wearing, was sitting at the kitchen
table drinking tea. She poured Jane a cup and handed it to her.

‘I’m sorry, did my puking wake you?’

Jane shook her head. ‘I’ve hardly
slept a wink all night.’ She fastened Jessica into her high chair and gave her
a rusk to chew on.

‘You were in bed early, before we
came home anyway. Why on earth didn’t you sleep?’

Jane’s eyes filled with tears.
She wiped them away on her dressing gown sleeve.

‘Jane, what is it?’

‘Something terrible’s happened; I
can’t quite believe it.’ She told Sammy the events of the previous night.

Cathy’s packet of photographs lay
on the kitchen table where she’d left them. Jane picked out the one of Jonny
and Richard and handed it to Sammy.

‘Oh God, yes. Peas in a pod! You
couldn’t deny
that,
could you? It
doesn’t really surprise me, Jane. Right from the beginning I said it might not
be Ed’s baby.’

‘Yes you did,’ Jane nodded, remembering.
‘But what could we do? Angie convinced Ed he was responsible. Dear God, here I
am bringing up a child that’s neither of our own flesh and blood. What a cow to
do that, just because she didn’t want to lose Ed to me. And poor little Jonny, he
doesn’t deserve this.’

Roy
padded barefoot into the kitchen, put his hands on Sammy’s shoulders and kissed
the top of her head. ‘You alright, sweetheart? Been sick again?’

‘Yeah, but it’ll pass by
lunchtime.’

‘Morning, Jane. Why the tears?
Had a barney with Ed?’

She shook her head. Without
saying a word Sammy handed him the photograph. He stared at it for a long
moment and looked up at Jane with a puzzled expression. Sammy handed him the
photo of Angie and Richard.

‘No!’ His eyes opened wide as the
penny dropped. ‘You have to be joking?’

Jane shook her head. ‘Carl and
Cathy came over last night and told us.’

‘Fucking hell! How’s Ed taken
it?’

‘He’s devastated. Hardly slept a
wink. He’s dozing now but I don’t suppose he’ll sleep for long. God, as if we
haven’t had enough to cope with these last few months.’

‘What do you think he’ll do?’
Sammy frowned. ‘I mean, this is a little boy’s life and future we’re talking
about; Jonny doesn’t know anything else. As far as he's concerned, you’re his
mummy and Ed’s his daddy. You really can’t do anything other than carry on as
normal, can you?’

‘Well that’s all we
can
do. When Eddie’s got himself
together we’ll have to sit down and talk about it properly. It was such a
horrendous shock last night, we both went to pieces. Can you two do me a big
favour? Will you take Jonny out for a few hours so we can have some time to
talk? You could drop him off at Ed’s mum’s place later. Tell her we’ve had a
bad night with Jessie teething or something, we’re having a lie in and we’ll
pick him up at tea time.’

‘Of course we will,’ Sammy
nodded. ‘I’ll go and get ready. Shall I see if Jonny’s awake and send him down
for breakfast?’

‘Please,’ Jane said.

***

By the time Eddie surfaced, Roy
and Sammy had taken Jonny out. Jane had dressed him in one of his trendy
outfits and brushed his curls. He looked lovely, she thought, and her heart
went out to him. No matter how painful the whole thing was, the little boy’s
wellbeing was the main thing that counted now. She made Eddie a mug of coffee
and handed it to him.

‘Sit down, Ed. Could you manage
some toast?’

‘I think it would choke me. I
can’t begin to describe how I feel. This is almost as bad as what I went
through when Jess was missing. I never thought I’d feel such pain again.’ He
gazed around the kitchen. ‘Where is he?’

‘Out with Sammy and Roy. They’ll
drop him off at your mum’s later and I said we’d pick him up. I thought it best
while we get our heads together. Ed, one thing we have to remember, none of
this is Jonny’s fault.’

‘I know that, Jane and I don’t
love him any less, believe me. Should I arrange to have blood tests done? Do
you think there’s any point?’

‘No, he’s so like Richard. I
don’t think there’s any doubt, do you? It wouldn’t be fair to subject him to
needles and tests when your own eyes and Cathy’s word can tell you the truth.
What we need to decide is what we intend doing in the future. Do we tell him,
or do we keep it to ourselves?’

‘God knows. What did Sammy and
Roy have to say?’

‘They were absolutely stunned,’
she replied.

Eddie nodded and scratched his
chin thoughtfully. ‘I think we’ll sit down with them tonight and ask what they
would do. We could go over it again and again ourselves. Two extra heads might
help us think things through more clearly.’

Jane nodded. ‘Good idea. Right,
I’m going to bath smelly Jessie. Do you want to come and help me?’

‘I’ll carry her upstairs for you.
Smelly or not, Jess, at least I know you’re all mine.’ He tickled his daughter
who gave him a delightful toothy grin through the sticky rusk plastering her
face.

Eddie put his arms round Jane and
held her close. ‘If only we could turn back the clock and the Angie thing had
never happened. It just seems to go on and on, almost like she’s haunting me.’

‘Don’t be silly, Ed. We’ll get
through this like we got through everything else,’ Jane said reassuringly.

***

Later that night Roy
handed out drinks as he, Sammy, Jane and Eddie sat down in the lounge.

‘How are you feeling now, mate?’
He patted Eddie on the shoulder.

‘Shell shocked,’ Eddie replied
and took a sip of whisky. ‘I keep thinking I must have dreamt it - and wishing
I had.’

‘I don’t know how any woman can
do what Angie did,’ Sammy said. ‘Trapping you into marrying her because she was
jealous of Jane. Did she never once stop to think about the long-term consequences
for poor Jonny?’

‘That was typical of Angie, I’m
afraid,’ Eddie replied. ‘Right now I feel so angry inside that if she wasn’t
already dead I would fucking well strangle her! When I think back, I should
have realised the baby wasn’t mine. I'd hardly seen her the month she got
caught.

‘We weren’t even getting on very
well, never mind anything else. And Jonny, well he looks nothing at all like
me, or
her
for that matter. All
right, she had curly hair and bluey green eyes, but he’s got thick dark curls
and vivid green eyes.’ He shook his head in despair. ‘Why didn’t I see it? Am I
stupid or blind or something?’