EPISODE FIFTY-NINE
Dave stared across Grosvenor Recreation Ground,
watching Mary’s children clambering over the metal frames, the older boy
showing off and telling the younger one what to do. Mary sat next to him on the bench, thoughtful
and distant. After a long silence, Dave
cleared his throat noisily and spoke.
‘They’ll not be having much of a holiday this year.’
‘Same as last year,’ said Mary.
‘You’ve not talked much about their father.
Correction. You’ve never talked
about their father. Don’t they miss
him?’
‘Ronnie was a 22 carat bastard.
Possessive and obsessively jealous.
He put me in hospital once.’
‘Wife battering?’ Dave asked.
Mary nodded. ‘Once was enough. I had an
exclusion order put on him. I think the
authorities knew he could be dangerous.
Especially as he’d spent some time in a young offenders institute for
GBH.’
‘So what became of him?’
‘He buggered off to the USA, thank God. It
was a long time ago. Thomas was only
two, and even Simon barely remembers him.’
Mary heard one of them shouting, ‘Look at me, Mum,’ and she waved and
smiled. ‘Thank you for coping with their
behaviour,’ she said, giving Dave’s arm a squeeze. ‘They seem to like their
Uncle Dave.’
Dave turned and reassured her with a gentle smile. ‘Well, I know what it’s like growing up
without a father.’
Mary opened her mouth to speak, but Dave cut in: ‘I never knew me Aunty Marilyn
was me dad until after his death, did I?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘No wonder I was mixed up.’ He put his
arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. ‘But thanks to you, I feel it’s
something that happened to someone else, in another life. For the first time in my life I feel one
hundred per cent normal.’
She laughed. ‘A slight exaggeration I feel.’
‘Listen, I’ve been thinking...’
‘I thought I could smell burning.’
‘No, seriously: Simon and Thomas would be better off if they each had their own
room. So I’ve decided to clear out the
spare room..’
She squeezed his hand on her shoulder.
‘Oh, Dave!’
‘It was a monument. A shrine. Very
unhealthy. I’d sooner it was a jumble of
toys. So, as soon as they go back to
school, I’ll clear the room out.’
‘What are you going to do with all the stuff?’
‘Stick it in the loft.’
‘Oh.’ Mary sounded disappointed. ‘You’re
not getting rid of it then?’
‘Why should I trash it? That’s my
history. I can’t change it.’
‘Well, if that’s how you feel, what’s wrong with selling your story to the
papers?’
‘No.’
‘It’d make us a lot of money.’
‘Us?’
He removed his arm and looked round at her.
Annoyed and hurt by his suspicious stare, she began to raise her
voice. ‘Yes, us! We’re a couple now. But you still manage to make me feel like a
lodger; a tenant who’s behind with the rent.
I hope you won’t chuck us out if we can’t pay our way.’
Dave frowned. ‘I didn’t think...’ he began.
She interrupted him impatiently. ‘I know
I haven’t made much effort to bring in money, but I do have two boys to look
after. All I’m asking is that you treat
me as your partner. Not the lodger you
happen to be screwing.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he mumbled, ‘if I gave you that impression. I love you. It’s just the work situation’s been bugging
me. I’ve had a worrying time. What with
that Summer Season going up the swanee.’
She softened, moved closer to him and kissed his cheek.
‘I’m sorry, too. I hope you didn’t mind
my saying the way I felt.’
He shook his head. ‘I’m glad you
did. It’s best to get these things out
in the open.’
She gave him a cheeky grin. ‘Tomorrow
night, why don’t we all sit down as a family and have a Chinese takeaway and
bottle of wine?’
‘Where’s the money coming from?’
‘My Family Allowance is due tomorrow.’
*
When Nigel came round, Vanessa found it difficult not to stare at him with
loathing, so she disappeared into the garden.
Nicky was sitting in the living room watching television, so Jackie took
Nigel up to her bedroom for their confrontation. She stood directly in front of
him and looked into his eyes.
‘Now tell me the truth, Nigel, what were you doing in that Brighton
hotel, having told me you were in Sheffield?’
‘I’m sure I told you about Brighton...’
‘Sheffield, you said.’
‘No, I mean a long time ago, when I first found out I was going on this
course. I’m sure I told you it
culminated in the Brighton conference.
You must remember, surely.’
He knew how scatterbrained she could be, and would think she had forgotten him
telling her, or hadn’t listened to what he was saying.
She shook her head and frowned. ‘I
really can’t remember. But I did phone
up the hotel. There were no conferences
that sounded like anything to do with telephones or computers.’
Nigel had also telephoned the hotel and found out what seminars or conferences
were taking place that day.
‘That final day at Brighton was about Diversity Awareness.’
Her frown deepened. ‘Diversity Awareness!
What’s that got to do with telephones?’
Straining to look sincere, he said, ‘We sell to all races, religions and ethnic
groups. We have to be trained in
diversity. It’s mandatory, I’m afraid. Then when that bomb was going to go off...’
‘Were you frightened?’
‘Petrified. And Jackie, I have to say
this: can you honestly believe I’d openly allow myself to be interviewed on
television if I was doing something as underhand as...how can you even think
it?’
She smiled at him, wanting to believe him, pushing her suspicions to the back
of her mind.
‘As long as you tell me you promise that’s the truth.’
He returned her smile. ‘I promise.’
Then he caught her glancing towards the dressing table, on which lay her
bible. And he wondered if it was going
through her mind to make him swear on it.
Just in case she was, he thought he’d get it in first, as if it was his idea.
‘Would you like me to swear on the Bible?’ he asked.
‘No, you’ve given me your word, Nigel. I
trust you.’
‘All the same, I’d still like to swear
on it, just to make absolutely certain you believe me.’
His double-bluff worked. She shook her
head emphatically, glad that their lives could now be restored to normal, and
just a little bit ordinary. Then she
kissed him full on the lips, and the Brighton hotel incident was behind them.
IN EPISODE SIXTY
Savita discovers Malcolm is up to his old tricks.