A Family Scandal (3 page)

‘Ah, well.’ Pete settled on the red banquette beside her. He took a swig and got foam all over his top lip. ‘We’ll maybe make the most of our new privacy when we get home. I did those dividing walls extra careful. We won’t have neighbours with a glass to the wall this time spying on us as we did in Battersea.’ He raised his eyebrows hopefully.

‘You devil, Pete Culling.’ Lily felt a rosy glow spread through her. ‘And at least we don’t have to worry about making Bobby a new brother or sister. There’s advantages to this getting old malarkey after all.’

‘I don’t want to go to bed!’ Grace yelled, struggling as her mother tried to hug her. ‘I hate my room! There’s monsters behind that cupboard!’

‘There, there.’ Mavis knew the tantrum would subside if she gave it enough time. Typically Grace, who’d done nothing but complain about having to share a room with her brother, was now kicking up a storm faced with being left to sleep on her own. She’d get over it soon enough. She’d chosen the colours for the room herself – purple walls and pale green woodwork. It might not have been the choice of most other little girls but Mavis had to admit the colours went well together. Maybe her daughter had an eye for such things even at such a young age.

‘Stay with me, Mummy.’

Grace gazed up and Mavis felt her heart constrict with love. Still, she knew she couldn’t curl up beside the girl on the new bed with its smart white headboard, as James was still up, minding Bobby in his room below. Instead she drew out a battered teddy from behind the pillow. ‘Look who has come all this way to stay with you. Recognise him?’

‘It’s Little Ted!’ Grace exclaimed, and the tears stopped. She’d taken a fancy to the children’s TV programme
Play School
, which she’d been able to watch when visiting their old neighbours, the Bonners, and Little Ted was her favourite toy on it. So she’d named her own teddy after him. Mavis was hoping to get a television for the flat but thought it best not to mention it until it happened, or Grace would be inconsolable.

The doorbell rang and Mavis had to take a moment to realise what the unfamiliar sound was. Back in Harwood Street everyone just banged on the door, but Pete had insisted they had a bell, so that Mavis would be able to hear it from the top floor. ‘Right, time to say night-night. See if you can race Little Ted to be first asleep.’ She kissed the top of her daughter’s head as Grace snuggled down, pulling the new purple eiderdown up to her chin. ‘Sleep tight.’

‘Mmmmmm.’ Grace was already seriously challenging Little Ted to the prize.

Mavis paused at the mirror in the hallway, checking her hair, even though she knew she’d hardly be expected to look glamorous after a day moving house. Her dark curls were flattened where they usually bounced attractively but her blue eyes had that sparkle which always appeared when she knew she’d soon see Tommy. Brushing the dust from her cardigan, which she’d thrown over her shift dress, she ran down the stairs. Although it had only been a couple of days she didn’t want to be parted from Tommy for a minute longer.

She could see his silhouette through the glass panels in the upper part of the front door that both flats shared. He was tall, and also had dark curly hair, which he kept quite short or it would have got in the way. Tommy had trained as a signwriter, but now he managed his own firm and didn’t do so much of the painting himself. He ran the business from a yard not far from where they’d grown up, much to the disgust of his meddlesome mother who couldn’t get over the fact her son had gone through the disgrace of a divorce.

Tommy grinned broadly as she opened the door and immediately stepped in and took her in his arms. ‘Hello, gorgeous.’

‘Stop it, Tommy, the neighbours will see!’ Mavis reached around him and pushed the door shut again.

‘Thought you didn’t care?’

‘Not normally, no, but why give them something to gossip about if we don’t have to.’ Mavis led him into Lily and Pete’s flat. ‘Come and look around. James is through there, minding Bobby, so we’ll leave that room till last. But here’s the living room. Have a seat while I make you a cup of tea.’

Tommy looked around at the three-piece suite clustered around the electric fire in the tiled grate. ‘Very nice, but I’d rather be with you. Show me the kitchen.’ He followed her through to the back of the house. ‘How did the move go? Everything unpacked yet?’

‘You must be joking.’ She pointed at a pile of boxes, still bulging with their contents. ‘We’ve only got as far as the essentials. I haven’t even found my own teapot, I’ve just used Mum’s.’ She handed him a cup and reached for one herself. ‘Haven’t found a matching set yet, but I don’t suppose you’ll mind?’

‘Hardly. I’d drink out of tin cans as long as it was with you.’ He pulled her close again. ‘I love to see you so happy. Give me a kiss, a proper one.’ He bent his face to hers. ‘Listen, I’ve got something for you.’ He reached into his jacket pocket.

Mavis rested her head against his shoulder. ‘Silly, I don’t need a present.’

‘I know you don’t but I wanted to mark the occasion.’ He drew out the little box.

Mavis gasped. For a moment she hesitated and an uncertain look came into her eyes. ‘What … what’s this, Tommy?’

‘Go on, open it.’

With trembling fingers she took off the lid, to reveal a sparkling gold chain attached to a small locket. ‘Oh, Tommy.’

‘Do you like it?’ He could hardly keep the eagerness from his voice. ‘I know it’s not your birthday until April but I saw it in a jeweller’s window and I knew it would look just right on you. Do you want me to fasten it for you?’

‘Please.’ Mavis took a deep breath and tried to calm down. For a second she’d been struck with fear and yet it was mixed with desperate hope. Now she felt stupid for having overreacted. It was a beautiful present, and from the name on the box it must have been expensive, but it was a necklace. ‘There’s a mirror over the fireplace so let’s go back to the front room where I can see it. Thank you so much, Tommy, that’s really thoughtful.’

She led him into the sitting room and switched on the table lamp in the corner near the mantelpiece. Now she could see how lovely the present was, and that it sat perfectly just above her collarbone. How well Tommy knew her. He stood just behind her and gazed at her reflection in the big mirror. He bent his head so he could whisper in her ear.

‘You look gorgeous. Is it all right?’ His eyes were bright with pleasure.

Mavis turned around so he could kiss her again. As he dropped his head and his lips met hers, she told herself not to be ridiculous, but couldn’t help a shudder of relief tinged with disappointment. She’d thought just fleetingly that it was a ring in the little box and he was going to ask her to marry him. Mavis knew she couldn’t say yes – she didn’t know when she would be free. She was overwhelmed with a need to give herself to this man who loved her and understood her, who she believed would do anything for her. But after what she had been through with Alec, she couldn’t.

Not yet. Maybe never. She just couldn’t.

Chapter Three

‘And then he left me there, stranded!’ Rhona was outraged. ‘Can you believe it?’

‘I hope you told him where to get off,’ said Penny loyally. ‘I hope you rang him this morning and gave him a right earbashing. What a thing to do. Anything could have happened to you.’

‘And I was freezing!’ Rhona continued. ‘I had my new miniskirt on and how was I to know we were going there on his motorbike? Then I had to get night buses home. All the way from bleeding Enfield. Can I have one of your fags?’ She reached across the scratched wood coffee table to her friend’s handbag. ‘I left my last packet in his jacket and I’ve not had a change to buy any more. I made him give me it to wear once we got there, and now the bastard has got them, and I hope he bloody chokes.’

‘Serve him right,’ said Penny. She’d come round as soon as breakfast was finished to see how the night had gone and to share in the excitement, only to find her colleague furious and swearing vengeance. Kenneth had made good his promise to take Rhona to see the Rolling Stones and then to get her backstage after the concert. His claims to know the band’s crew weren’t idle boasts. The trouble was, he’d been asked along to the after-show party but it had been made clear extra friends weren’t welcome, even those as young and glamorous as Rhona. It turned out the band had more than enough of those kinds of followers already. So Kenneth had dropped Rhona without a backward glance, leaving her to make her own way back to the other side of London late on a Friday night, without so much as a cigarette for comfort. Of course he hadn’t answered his phone that morning. Someone in his shared digs had taken the call, not best pleased to have been woken before midday, but Kenneth was nowhere to be found. He’d be sleeping off his hangover somewhere safe from Rhona’s rage.

‘Was it worth it though?’ Penny wondered. She pulled at her own miniskirt, which she’d got from the market. It looked all right but the material was cheap and scratchy, and too flimsy for the chilly spring weather. Still, she wouldn’t give in and change it, as it was important to have the right look even round her friend’s house on a Saturday morning. ‘You did see the Stones, after all. I’d kill to see them.’

‘Mmmmm.’ Rhona prolonged the moment. It had been a fantastic gig, she had to admit. The energy of the band had been electric and she’d been totally mesmerised by Brian Jones. She definitely wouldn’t have minded being at the party with him. Damn that Kenneth for denying her the chance. ‘They did loads of their singles, like “Time is on My Side” and “Not Fade Away”. I danced till my feet were sore. Everyone was singing along, you’ve never seen anything like it.’

‘I love those ones.’ Penny was wistful. If only she could get a date who’d take her to concerts like that. It would be worth the bad journey home to be able to say she’d seen the Stones. Everyone was talking about them and she was sure they’d be properly famous for ages. ‘Give me those cigarettes, I’ll have one meself.’ She paused as Rhona’s mother came into the room.

‘Morning, Penny.’ Marilyn Foster was a lively woman of nearly fifty, with an uncontrollable frizz of brown hair. ‘Nice to see you. Have you had any breakfast? I was out cleaning earlier so I’m making some toast now, do you want any?’

‘No thank you, Mrs Foster,’ said Penny politely, pulling her skirt further down her thighs. She was a bit in awe of Rhona’s straight-talking mother.

‘Well, you’re always welcome.’ Marilyn made for the door again. ‘Rhona’s going to be lonely without Mavis nearby so you must feel free to drop in at any time.’

Rhona pulled a face as her mother went out. ‘She thinks I’m still at school sometimes. I don’t need to have her making my friends for me.’

‘Course you don’t,’ said Penny, taking a deep drag. ‘Ah, that’s better. No, but you will miss her though, won’t you? You and Mavis were really close.’

Rhona nodded. She was guiltily aware that she’d been the one person who wasn’t delighted when the news came that Pete had finally bought the big house and the family would be moving from Harwood Street. Mavis had come round thrilled to bits and Rhona had had a hard job trying to appear enthusiastic. For some reason, though they were polar opposites in temperament, she and Mavis had got on like a house on fire. Maybe it was because they were so different. Rhona’s wild years had started when she was sixteen, when she’d discovered the joys of dating all available gorgeous men, and she had even tried flirting with Tommy before the penny dropped that he was interested in only one woman.

Mavis hadn’t judged her, unlike all the other women and even girls her own age who’d found out – and it wasn’t as if Rhona made a secret of her enjoyment of sex. Mavis had been baffled, more than anything. Having had such a bad marriage, which she’d entered into when she was just sixteen herself, she couldn’t understand why her friend bothered. Rhona had tried to explain the fascination: the thrill of the chase, the knowledge that your body drove men mad, and the fun that was to be had. But Mavis was unconvinced. Her priorities lay elsewhere, but she enjoyed hearing Rhona tell of her exploits, maybe because she herself wanted nothing more than to stay home to look after her beloved children. Rhona sighed. Even though Mavis hadn’t moved far away, it wouldn’t be the same in future.

‘No point in sitting around moping,’ she said now. ‘Right, that’s Kenneth done for. I wouldn’t go out with him again if he came round here begging on his hands and knees. I’d shove him back out the door and sing him “It’s All Over Now”. What are you up to tonight, Penny?’

Penny shrugged. She didn’t have a date and had no plans, much the same as every Saturday night, though she hated to admit it. ‘Not sure. Why?’

‘Let’s cheer ourselves up and go down the Talisman club. We don’t need no men to get us in, we’ve just got our wages so we can pay for ourselves. What do you reckon?’

Penny’s eyes shone. ‘I’d love to … but me mum—’

‘Don’t worry about her. Say you’re staying round here. Mum won’t mind, she just said you’re welcome any time. Then neither of us will be stuck trying to get home alone. I don’t fancy that two nights in a row.’

‘OK, right, you’re on.’ Penny pulled a face. ‘What’ll I wear? I got this new skirt but nothing to go with it.’

‘Let’s go and sort that out right now.’ Rhona got up and drew the old dressing gown she’d been wearing more tightly around her. ‘I’ll just go and get out of this then we can go down the market and see what they have to offer. Can’t have you showing me up,’ she said, though she wasn’t averse to having a friend slightly less attractive than herself. Rhona had no doubts about why men made a beeline for her, but it often helped to have a willing accomplice who didn’t threaten to steal the best-looking guy in the room. Penny fitted the bill perfectly: pretty but not stunning, friendly but not too confident, curvy but not drop-dead sexy. It wouldn’t hurt to get her dressed up a bit.

‘Lovely. I haven’t been down there since I got this skirt.’ Penny stood up. ‘I might look for some new false eyelashes as well. Now that I’ve got the hang of them I feel naked going out without them.’ She giggled. ‘First time I tried them my mum screamed the house down – thought it was a big spider in the basin.’