A Family Christmas (27 page)

A buffet had been set out at the vicarage and both John and James were relieved when they could finally leave. The pain in Robbie’s eyes haunted Lucy as they climbed the hill with their two weary children. Lucy’s feet were beginning to swell in her high-heeled shoes and she couldn’t help envy Prudence, who despite being pregnant was still as slim as ever. ‘Prudence doesn’t look pregnant,’ she commented as they reached Top Row, ‘and here’s me feeling all fat and frumpy.’

John glanced lovingly at his wife. ‘You’re imagining things. You’re still as slim as ever. In fact that brother of Herbert’s couldn’t take his eyes off you.’

Lucy blushed. ‘Yes, I noticed. In fact I had to dodge him once or twice; he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.’

John laughed. ‘Well what’s all that about you feeling frumpy then?’

Lucy shrugged. ‘I was just comparing myself to Prudence, I suppose.’

‘Hmm, funny you should mention that. She doesn’t
look
very pregnant to me.’ John frowned as a terrible thought came to him. What if Prudence had tricked his brother into marriage? He cast the thought away; it was something that didn’t bear thinking about. Yet he wouldn’t put it past Prudence Goodman – he wouldn’t put it past her at all. The tragedy of it was that she wasn’t a Goodman any longer; she was a Grey.

Robbie thought Prudence was acting like a whore. She had undressed down to her underwear and was flaunting herself in panties, stockings and suspenders, all of them white lace. On Dot they would have filled him with desire, but on Prudence they didn’t look attractive at all. He took off his clothes, leaving on his underpants and got into bed, ashamed to be sharing it with a woman he didn’t even like. Prudence climbed in beside him and pressed her body against his. He felt a stirring deep within him and turned away. With his back to her he drew his knees up in an effort to hide his erection.

‘Oh, Robbie,’ Prudence whispered, ‘come on, you know you want to make love to me. I want to touch you and I want you to touch me. It’s our wedding night and we might as well try and make it work. I need you so much; that’s the only reason I wanted to marry you. Turn this way and feel my body. It’s so much more beautiful than Dot Greenwood’s.’

Robbie threw back the bedclothes and jumped out of bed. Bending close to her he almost spat out
the
words, ‘Don’t you ever mention Dot’s name to me. You’re not fit to speak her name. And just get this straight: we may be married but I shall never ever touch your body. You disgust me. Do I make myself clear?’

‘Oh, come on. I know I’ve made you cross but now we’re married, think of the fun we can have. It will work.’

‘It will never work in a million years. Marriage is about love, trust and friendship and I don’t feel any of those things for you. I don’t even want to have sex with you. You’re a liar and a cheat. I’ve given you my name but that’s the only part of me you will ever own. Do you understand that?’

Prudence nodded, shocked at the venom being directed towards her. She had thought Robbie would be easy to manipulate. He was obviously stronger willed than she had imagined. She turned away from him and lay rigidly on the edge of the bed. It would be hard to win him over to her way of thinking, but she wouldn’t give in; she was used to having her own way and she wasn’t intending to change for the likes of someone like Robbie Grey.

Will had found a potato in the shape of a man’s private parts and had hung it over the stall, knowing the women of Cragstone liked a bit of a laugh. The potato had become the talking point of the day.

‘Eeh, Will lad. That reminds me of my owd man,
and
it’s same colour.’ The potato was a Red King but was more purple than red.

‘Aye.’ Another woman joined in the fun. ‘It’s like my owd man’s an’ all. All balls and nowt where it matters.’

‘I expect that’d be more in your line, Polly.’ The first woman picked up a carrot.

‘Ger away, now this is more like.’ Polly grabbed a foot-long leek and held it up for all the queue to see.

Will never uttered a word. He was happy to have given his customers a bit of a laugh, but he was careful never to cause offence. He couldn’t help laughing, however, when a woman picked up a couple of tomatoes and plucked a tiny grape off a bunch. ‘Now look ’ere,’ she said. ‘This is more like what my owd man’s got to offer and that’s on a good night. On a bad one I can’t find it at all.’ The queue was in an uproar.

‘I’ll bet young Will ’ere could show us summat to get excited about. Come on now, Will, is this more like yours?’ A large carrot was plucked off the stall and held aloft. By this time Will’s cheeks were scarlet.

‘Now that’d be telling,’ he laughed.

‘Shall we find out, ladies?’ One of the women twinkled. ‘Shall we ’old ’im down and find out?’

Will’s face was a picture. He wouldn’t put it past this lot to do what they were threatening. The woman laughed and held open her shopping bag.
‘Eeh
, your face, lad. Come on, weigh me a shilling’s worth of taties, and I’ll ’ave that one if yer don’t mind. I’ll give my owd man a bit of a laugh wi’ that, and yer never know, it might ger ’im going if I’m lucky.’

Will weighed the crude-looking vegetable in with the rest and emptied them in her bag. A bit of fun was all very well but he’d better be careful in future with this lot. It had certainly been good for trade though; when he cashed up at the end of the day he found the takings were the best yet. He would have to think up something else to get that lot laughing. It seemed the more they laughed, the more they spent. They were a right lot the Cragstone women; they seemed to think of nothing but sex. It must be the fresh air from the moors. He wished he could find himself a Cragstone girl. Then he thought of Robbie Grey and how miserable he looked since he’d married Prudence. Perhaps he was better off as he was. Still, it would be nice to try it once and see what it was like. He could have asked Robbie, but he didn’t see much of him these days. He would just have to wait until the right girl came along, although if it made him as miserable as it seemed to have made Robbie, he might not bother.

Mrs Cooper waited until the tea had brewed before opening the letter from Nellie. The anticipation of wondering what the letter contained was in her
opinion
as good as reading it. Lily poured the tea as soon as it looked thick enough for the housekeeper’s taste, wanting to hurry Mrs Cooper along but knowing she would have to wait. Finally, when the tea was milked and sugared the letter was opened.

‘Eeh, lass. Theer’s another letter in ’ere with yer mother’s name on it. I wonder what that is all about.’

Lily looked at the sealed envelope and read her mam’s name. ‘Can I open it?’

‘What? Why yer certainly can’t. Yer don’t go round opening other folks’s private letters.’

‘Ooh! But Mrs Cooper, what can she want to write to me mam about? She’s never done it before. She doesn’t even know ’er.’

‘I don’t know. It’s nowt to do wi’ me any road.’ But the housekeeper thought she could guess. From the sound of it the guest house was doing right well and it wouldn’t surprise her if Nellie was looking for help. She wouldn’t get better than Lily. Oh, but what would she do without the lass? Eeh, she was going to be lost if Lily went gadding off to Blackpool. Still, it might be nowt to do with Lily leaving, and even if it was, her mam might not let her go. She knew she was being selfish by hoping to keep Lily here – there wasn’t much for the lass to look forward to up here at the back of beyond. No, if the letter contained what she thought it did, she would wish Lily well.

‘Come on then, let’s see what Nellie has to say.’

‘Can I fetch Larry in for ’is tea? He likes to hear what Nellie ’as to say.’

‘Goo on then, and hurry up or it’ll ’ave gone cold and we’ll ’ave to mash some more.’

By the time Lily had found Larry, Mrs Cooper knew her fears were about to be realised. Nellie had explained to the housekeeper that she couldn’t find a waitress with half the wits about her that Lily had, so she’d decided to offer the girl a job. So that was what the enclosed letter was about. She decided not to mention that bit of news to Lily; the lass would be too disappointed if her parents refused permission. Besides, there would be nowt done for the rest of the day if Lily got herself all worked up. Eeh, but she was going to miss her; she was getting too old to be training new folks all the time. Especially young folks of today who thought they knew it all. Times were changing and not all the changes were for the better in her opinion. Still, she supposed Lily was right when she kept telling her she was old-fashioned. ‘Come on, get it down yer before it’s all stewed; theer’s nowt worse than stewed tea.’

Lily was so busy informing Larry about the letter to her mam she wouldn’t have noticed what she was drinking, and neither the housekeeper nor Lily noticed that Larry had almost seen off the whole of a date and walnut cake.

Chapter Eighteen

PRUDENCE KNEW SHE
couldn’t pretend any longer. She would have to lose the baby. She waited until her monthly bleeding began and put on the act of her life. Seemingly doubled up with pain, she cried out that something had happened. Of course she played the innocent and never mentioned miscarriage, simply saying she was bleeding and in pain. Louisa, who had grown accustomed to becoming a grandmother once the couple were married, unfortunately didn’t act according to her daughter’s plan. Instead of keeping the whole thing quiet and being relieved to be free of the shame of it, she hurried for Dr Sellars in an effort to save the baby.

When the doctor entered the room Prudence scowled at her mother, ‘I don’t think I was pregnant anyway,’ she muttered. ‘I just missed a few periods, that’s all.’

‘Well, we shall soon see.’ Dr Sellars indicated for Louisa to leave the room. ‘I must examine you anyway in order to find out what the trouble is.’ When the doctor approached her Prudence drew the eiderdown tightly around her. ‘No, there’s no point.’

‘Oh I think there is. If you’ve missed a few periods
there
must be a reason why. Either there’s something else wrong or you’re pregnant and may be losing your child.’

‘I can’t be pregnant.’

Dr Sellars removed the bedding from over her patient and gently examined her. When she had finished she told Prudence to cover herself.

‘Prudence, why did you say you were having a baby?’

The girl blushed and couldn’t meet the doctor’s eye. ‘I didn’t. They just assumed I was.’

‘But you didn’t deny it?’

Prudence shook her head.

‘Despite the fact that you’re still a virgin?’

Prudence began to cry. ‘That’s not my fault; he won’t come near me. I hate him.’

Dr Sellars didn’t know what to make of the situation and knew the girl’s mother was waiting for an explanation.

Robbie saw the doctor’s car at the gate and hurried towards the house just as the doctor came downstairs.

‘Mr Grey?’ The doctor held out her hand to him.

‘Yes, what’s wrong? Is it Prudence?’ He despised his wife, but all the same he didn’t wish her any harm.

‘She’s losing the child,’ Louisa told him and came to comfort Robbie.

‘No, she isn’t.’ The doctor was embarrassed at what she was about to say. ‘Prudence has never
been
pregnant. In fact she is still intact. In other words, Prudence has never had intercourse.’ She looked questioningly at Robbie.

‘What?’ Louisa searched her son-in-law’s face for an explanation. ‘Robert?’

‘I told you I hadn’t touched ’er, but nobody believed me, nobody except our John and Lucy. And …’ He was about to add and the Greenwoods, but thought it would be inappropriate.

‘Do you mean to tell me she accused you of making her pregnant?’ asked Dr Sellars.

‘Yes, yes she did.’

‘Oh, but that wasn’t a fair thing to do. I can vouch for the fact that Prudence has never had intercourse. In fact she has admitted that her husband has never touched her.’ Dr Sellars smiled at Louisa. ‘The good news is that your daughter is healthy. There is nothing wrong with her except a perfectly normal period.’ The doctor picked up her bag and prepared to leave. ‘Congratulations on your marriage, Mr Grey. Nice to have met you.’ Robbie didn’t know whether the doctor was being sarcastic in the circumstances, but he thanked the doctor.

Louisa’s face was the colour of parchment after seeing the doctor out. ‘Oh Robert, what can I say except I’m sorry?’

‘Nothing. It’s too late to say anything. I’m stuck in a marriage I never wanted. I don’t love Prudence. I never did. It’s all a sham. Just to please your daughter and prevent our James from losing his home.’

‘Robert, Herbert would never have taken their home away. Jane’s doing a marvellous job; the school has never been cleaner.’

‘Wouldn’t he? We shall see, because I can’t stay here. Not now you all know I was telling the truth. I can’t live with Prudence’s lies any longer.’

‘No! No, I can understand that. I’m so sorry. I did doubt what she accused you of but Herbert was so insistent. He thinks our daughter can do no wrong.’

‘Now he’ll know different. Louisa, I think she needs help. Well, I’ll go get my things.’

He went to the wardrobe and removed his shirts and suit from their hangers, then he reached up and lifted down the suitcase.

‘What are you doing?’ Prudence snapped.

‘I’m leaving.’

‘You can’t. What will people say?’

‘I don’t know and I don’t care.’ He opened a drawer, took out his underwear and threw it into the case.

‘But we can start afresh now it’s all out in the open.’

‘You expect me to start afresh with a liar and a cheat?’

‘Oh, Robbie, you can’t walk out on me; you’ll shame my parents.’

‘No.
You’ll
shame your parents, and I’m sorry about that, but perhaps now your father’ll believe me.’

‘Please don’t tell him. We can just say I’ve lost the baby.’

Robbie slammed the lid of the case shut. ‘You never stop, do you? More lies. Do you think a marriage can survive what you’ve done?’ He lowered his voice. ‘You’re sick, Prudence. You need help. I’m surprised Dr Sellars didn’t suggest you seek some.’