EPISODE FIFTY-SIX
A drunken scream pierced the air of Accident and Emergency. ‘Excuse me,’ said the young nurse. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’
After she had gone, Mike looked up at
Claire and Andrew and mumbled an apology.
Claire frowned. ‘You’ve been beaten up,
darling. Why should you be sorry?’
‘I meant...’ He stopped. He couldn’t
think of anything to say. He looked down
at his plastered hand and winced.
Andrew felt awkward. He cleared his
throat softly before speaking. ‘You all
right, Dad?’
‘I’ll survive.’
‘What did you tell the police?’ Claire asked.
‘That I’d been beaten up, of course.
What else could I say?’
‘You could have told them the truth.
Nobody stole anything from you.
You weren’t mugged. Someone had
it in for you, didn’t they?’
Mike suddenly realised that Claire, who already suspected him of having an
affair, now thought he’d been beaten up by a jealous husband.
‘All right,’ he began, sighing deeply to highlight his confession. ‘I had one too many beers.’
Andrew turned to his mother and said, ‘I told you. He picked an argument with someone in the
pub.’
Claire’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Mike.
‘Is that what happened?’
Mike nodded sheepishly. ‘This time I
picked on the wrong bloke.’
‘But he’s broken your fingers. Cold
bloodedly. Don’t you think you should
have told the police?’
‘The bloke was a professional villain.
Been in prison. I don’t want my
other hand broken.’
Claire tutted impatiently. ‘What the
hell are you going to do for a living?’
Mike shrugged and stared miserably at his hand.
‘Guess I’ll have to take a short break.’
He looked up and laughed weakly.
‘If you’ll pardon the pun.’
‘Oh, very funny, Mike. We’re all
laughing. What an enjoyable Summer it’s
going to be. Not only will you be
unemployed and lose half your customers now, that’ll be any chance of a holiday
out the window.’
*
With just over a month to go before the wedding, and with what seemed like a
million and one things to attend to,
Jackie felt unsettled and nervous.
Eventually she decided she would summon up the energy to bake a superb
coffee and walnut cake for Sunday. Nigel
would be home by then, and she had invited friends over for a barbecue, mainly
to introduce them to Nigel.
Vanessa and Nicky, who had been upstairs in Nicky’s room, watching television,
suddenly appeared in the kitchen, exchanging furtive glances at each
other. Right away, Jackie knew something
was wrong.
‘What’s the matter?’ she asked.
Silence. She saw their pitying looks and
repeated her question with more urgency.
Vanessa coughed and turned towards her younger sister. ‘I thought you were going to tell her.’
‘I can’t.’
‘You’re so spineless. Why does it always
have to be me?’
Jackie slammed a packet of chopped walnuts onto the work surface. ‘I suppose this is something to do with
Nigel. I know you’re both determined to
sabotage our marriage. Well, come
on...out with it. Then I can get on with
my baking.’
Vanessa shrugged, giving her mother a well-you’ve-asked-for-it look, and said,
‘You know he said he was going up north for that seminar...’
Jackie’s lips twitched angrily. ‘Oh, not
that again. Why do you refuse to believe
him? What’s wrong with you two?’
For once, Vanessa looked genuinely sympathetic.
‘I’m sorry, Mummy. I really am. We’ve just seen him on television. On the news.
He was in a hotel in Brighton. And early
this morning, the guests were evacuated.
There was a bomb went off. No one
was hurt. It was a controlled
explosion.’
Jackie felt a nervous tic in the corner of her eye. ‘Are you sure it was Nigel.’
Vanessa nodded gravely. ‘Yes, they
interviewed him and this woman as they came out of the hotel. He had his arm about her. I’m sorry,
Mummy. I really am.’
*
Mike eased himself into the chair facing the television, pointed the remote
awkwardly with his left hand, and switched on the news. Claire passed behind his chair, stopping to
gently kiss the bruised side of his face.
‘Shall I pop out to get a DVD and some cold beer?’ she offered.
‘I’m on the wagon.’
Claire laughed. ‘For how long?’
‘I’m a changed man.’
Claire looked towards the flowers in the crystal vase. ‘I can see that. You’ve never bought me a dozen red
roses. Well, not since we’ve been
married, you haven’t. Why this gesture
now, of all times?’
Lowering his voice, Mike said, ‘Because of all the trouble I’ve caused you.’ He
indicated his plastered hand. ‘And
because I still love you.’
‘I love you too, darling. Break a few
bones more often, will you? Now I’m
going to have a glass of wine. D’you
want one?’
Mike shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t mind
another coffee.’
As Claire went towards the door, Mike gave a loud whoop as he stared at the
television screen. ‘It’s him!’ he yelled
excitedly. ‘Nigel whatsit.’
Claire stopped in the doorway and peered at the television. ‘Someone you know?’
‘One of my clients. The chap whose
fiancée phoned you up to start preaching.’
Claire scowled at the screen. ‘Oh, him!’
After she had left the room, Mike giggled softly. He had been the one to encourage Nigel to go
ahead and have an assignation. And now
the idiot was being broadcast nationwide, with his arm round another
woman. Mike hoped and prayed that his
fiancée had watched this evening’s news.
It would serve the hypocrite right.
IN EPISODE FIFTY-SEVEN
Nigel comes home to face the music.