Dancing in the Moonlight (20 page)

Hiding her surprise that Dolly Williamson had accompanied her husband, Enid swung the door wide. ‘Come in, come in,’ she said warmly. ‘It’s good of you to call, Mr
Williamson, and you too, Mrs Williamson. Jacob’s been a bit down the last day or two. It’ll gladden him to see you.’

They didn’t step up into the house straight away, and it was Dolly who said, her voice subdued, ‘We wondered if we could see Jacob alone, Mrs Crawford? If you don’t mind, of
course.’

‘Mind? Why would I mind?’ Enid smiled broadly, even as she thought: What now? Don’t they know my lad is at the end of his tether? If they’ve come to give him the old
heave-ho, it’s bad timing at best, and I’ll have something to say about it. Say what you like, the blokes who set upon him had their eye on the bits and pieces in the smithy, and Jacob
was in the way. It’s as plain as the nose on your face, and they owe him something for that.

Keeping the smile on her face with some effort, Enid showed the visitors into the front room, sending up thanks that it had received its weekly dusting that very day and was looking its best.
She was thrilled with her front room. She had told Tom exactly what she wanted in there and he’d done her proud, bless him. ‘I’ll get Jacob,’ she said, a trifle stiffly in
spite of herself.

When Jacob walked into the room a minute or two later after a hasty conversation with his mother, which had resulted in him warning her to hold her tongue regardless of what his employer had to
say, he found Abe and Dolly sitting side by side on the elaborate brocade couch, which would have been more suited to a grand drawing room than a terraced front room. He could see what had
disturbed his mother – the pair clearly had something to say. Unlike Enid, however, he felt no trepidation about the forthcoming conversation. Due to the beating, he’d already had
several weeks off work and the blacksmith couldn’t be expected to keep his job open indefinitely. It would be another couple of weeks, maybe three or four, before Jacob was able to commence
his duties and even then the doctor had warned he might not feel up to it. Abe Williamson knew this; Jacob had told the doctors to explain the facts to him. There was no point in being anything but
completely honest. Maybe if the very worst hadn’t happened, maybe if Lucy hadn’t left him, he’d be feeling differently right now, but if he was being truthful, he found he simply
didn’t care about his job or anything else.

He smiled at the couple, who had always been very fair with him. If they had come to tell him they were letting him go, he wanted the meeting to end well and for them to part as friends.
Stepping forward, he shook Abe’s hand as the blacksmith stood up, saying, ‘Hello, Mr Williamson, it’s good of you to come again’ and then was touched when Dolly sprang to
her feet and hugged him.

‘You look a lot better than the last time I saw you,’ she said, a little tearfully. ‘Frightened us to death, you did. I’d have laid odds you were going to snuff
it.’

Jacob grinned, his first natural smile in weeks. You always got the truth from Dolly. ‘I’m clearly tougher than I look.’

‘And just look at your poor nose,’ she continued worriedly. ‘Does it hurt?’

‘Not any more.’ He tapped the offending article to prove the point. ‘I think it looks pretty good, like one of the boxers in the travelling fairs, don’t you
think?’

‘Oh, go on with you.’ Dolly hugged him again before sitting down as Enid bustled in with a tray of tea and biscuits, making a great show of shutting the door behind her as she left
and not saying a word.

‘Oh dear, have we offended your mother by asking to speak to you privately?’ Abe said ruefully. ‘It’s just that we felt it only right to talk to you first.’

‘Don’t worry about Mam.’ Jacob sat down in a chair opposite the couch as the blacksmith seated himself again. ‘She’s a bit het-up at the moment. Only natural, I
suppose.’

‘Oh aye, aye.’ Dolly nodded vigorously. ‘She must have been beside herself, I know I have been. What a thing to happen and on our own doorstep, so to speak. If I live to be a
hundred, I’ll never forget the way you looked when we lifted you from that ditch.’ Her lip quivered as her voice faltered.

‘Aye, well, we’re not goin’ down that road,’ said Abe hastily. ‘Look, lad, we’ve both come the night because we’ve a proposition to put to you, as you
might say.’

He paused, and when he seemingly found it difficult to go on, Dolly spoke again, but softly now. ‘I think you know we’ve always looked on you as the son we never had, Jacob, right
from the time you first came to work at the smithy for a bob or two on a Saturday. We’re fond of you, more than fond, and we always intended to do what we’re about to say, but this
terrible attack on you has prompted our hand. We want to get everything straight, so we all know where we stand.’

Jacob stared at the couple. He didn’t have a clue where this was leading, but if it was a prelude to giving him the sack it was a funny way to go about it.

‘I went to see me solicitor in Bishopwearmouth last week, lad.’ Abe took over again. ‘Stamp & Stamp in the High Street – do you know ’em?’

Jacob shook his head, somewhat bemused.

‘I changed things, so when I pop me clogs everything comes to you, with a stipulation that you look after Dolly as you would your own mam, and let her live in the house as long as
she’s alive, with a monthly allowance. We’ve a fair bit in the bank; never had nowt to spend it on, having no bairns, I suppose, and with the business and all, I think it’s fair
to say you’ll be set up for life.’

Jacob was sitting bolt upright in the chair now, his face portraying what he was feeling. ‘But – but – I’m no relation. I mean, there must be someone else closer.’
He shook his head, bewilderment and amazement vying with disbelief. ‘It’s very good of you, Mr Williamson, more than good, but . . .’ Again he shook his head, his eyes stretched
wide. ‘I – I can’t let you do it.’

‘It’s done, lad.’ Abe grinned at him. ‘And it’s as the pair of us would want. But I think you could call us Abe and Dolly now, don’t you think? Seeing as
we’re nearly family.’

Jacob stared at the couple, who were beaming at his obvious surprise and shock. He had known they thought a lot of him, but this, this was . . . He could find no words to describe it. They had
said they thought of him as a son, and in truth for a long time now they’d been more than just employers to him. He got to his feet and they rose with him, and when he stammered, ‘I-I
don’t – know what to say,’ Dolly stepped forward and took him into her arms, saying, ‘Don’t say anything, lad. Just get better, that’s all we want.’

‘Thank you.’ He was hugging her and as Abe joined them the three of them stood together, their arms round each other. ‘Thank you, thank you so much. I can’t believe
it.’ He didn’t know if he was laughing or crying; maybe it was a bit of both, and certainly Dolly’s face was wet by the time they drew away.

‘It’s up to you, lad, but we wondered if you’d find it easier to move in with us at home rather than make the journey back and forth, when you’re able to come back? You
could perhaps come and see your folks at the weekend. That way I could go through matters appertaining to the business in the evenings when we’ve had our meal, show you the paperwork and the
financial side and things like that. It’s just a thought; sleep on it and let us know. We’ve plenty of room – four big bedrooms, as you know – so we won’t be on top of
each other.’

Jacob looked into the kindly face of the blacksmith. He didn’t have to think about the offer, it was just what he needed. He had been dreading continuing to live next door to where Lucy
had been. There were too many memories, too many things to remind him every moment of what he had lost. It wasn’t too extreme to say there had been times when he’d thought he was losing
his mind over the last weeks, instances when he could have sworn he heard her voice through the wall or calling from the yard outside. Of course, the fact he wasn’t sleeping most nights
didn’t help. His mam said he was low physically and mentally because of what had happened, and it was early days. She was probably right, but he knew he would never be the same now that Lucy
had vanished. That was the nub of how he was feeling, and perhaps moving away from Zetland Street and making a new start would give him peace of mind.

A new start . . . As he stood on the doorstep waving goodbye to Abe and Dolly some time later, the words reverberated in Jacob’s mind. That was the way he had to look at things from this
day forth. Whatever Lucy had felt for him, or not felt, didn’t matter now. He had to forget her. He’d thought he knew her as well as himself, but it had been a delusion. It was a lesson
for the future: once bitten, twice shy. He nodded at the thought, his mouth grim.

He squared his shoulders, waving once more as Abe and Dolly turned the corner. Then he stepped back into the house, shutting the door behind him.

Abe and Dolly had asked him to wait until they had gone before he broke the news to his family and he wasn’t surprised to see his mother peering round the kitchen door. Her brow was
creased with worry for him, and a sudden rush of love for her took him by surprise. He grinned at her. ‘Stop frettin’, they weren’t here to give me the push, all right? Just the
opposite, if anything. It’s good news for a change. Put the kettle on, I could do with another cup of tea and I’ll tell you all about it.’

They listened with open mouths, and then came a storm of questions and congratulations and, from his mother, a few tears of joy. ‘Who’d have thought it, our baby brother a man of
means,’ Frank said to Ralph, winking as he did so.

‘And him nothing more than a whippersnapper.’ Ralph shook his head. ‘And gormless into the bargain, don’t forget that.’

‘Oh aye, definitely gormless. I’m surprised he knows one end of a horse from the other when he’s shoeing ’em, but then with two legs at each end he can’t go far
wrong.’

The chaffing and laughing were at their height when Tom walked into the kitchen from the hall a minute or two later. He had recently acquired a motor car, which he parked in the street under the
gas lamp, and Enid had promptly given him a key so that he could use the front door when he visited. He stood just inside the doorway as he glanced around, his voice faintly patronizing as he said,
‘Had a few the night, have we?’

‘Not a one, lad, not a one.’ Enid almost danced over to him. ‘It’s our Jacob, you’ll never guess. Abe was here, and he’s making Jacob his heir. Look on him as
a son, they do. Everything’ll be his one day. The house, the forge, everything. What do you think about that?’

Tom’s eyes shot to his brother and Jacob returned the look, straight and unblinking. He knew exactly what Tom would think about it. Frank and Ralph had pulled his leg, but he knew they
were chuffed for him, and his mam and da were over the moon. Not so Tom. Oh no. He’d be spitting bricks inside.

There was a moment’s silence and then Tom raised his eyebrows, coming further into the kitchen. ‘Is that so?’ He smiled at Jacob, his mouth wide, but his eyes cold.
‘Well, aren’t you the dark horse. How did you pull that one off?’

Jacob made himself smile back. He wasn’t about to give Tom the satisfaction of rising to the bait, although he was aware of the insult beneath the friendly-sounding words spoken in a
jocular fashion. ‘The sun shines on the righteous, Tom.’ He forced a natural-sounding chuckle as though the exchange was nothing more than one brother ribbing another. ‘But I
don’t suppose you know much about that.’

For a moment Tom lost his smile and the facade slipped, and Jacob glimpsed what was beneath. It reminded him of the evening he had gone to his brother’s house, an evening that had prompted
all sorts of thoughts during the long painful days and nights when he was lying in the hospital wondering who had done this to him. Could Tom have been lying in wait for him that dark May night,
prepared to beat him to death in cold blood? Or had he sent his minions to do his dirty work? It was possible. Jacob wouldn’t put anything past his brother these days. But he had come to the
conclusion that, for all his faults, Tom wouldn’t put their mother through the agony of losing a son. Tom had always thought a bit of their mam, he’d give him that.

But he could be wrong. The fine hairs on the back of Jacob’s neck prickled. Looking at his brother now, he could be wrong. Whatever, once he was back at the forge he’d be on his
guard, and he’d made up his mind he’d talk to Abe and Dolly about getting a couple of guard dogs. Big brutes. The bigger, the better.

The brothers stared at each other a moment longer, but when Tom turned to face the rest of the family his smile was back and it was reflected in the tone of his voice when he said, ‘They
say every cloud has a silver lining, but I reckon Jake’s must be lined with gold. How about a drink to celebrate? You got any of that French brandy left that I brought a couple of weeks
ago?’

‘Aye, one bottle, lad. I’ll get it.’ Enid bustled out of the kitchen to fetch the brandy from the sideboard in her hallowed front room, beaming as she went. It was good to see
her eldest and youngest getting on at last. They said God works in mysterious ways, and she wouldn’t have wished Jacob to be beaten within an inch of his life to bring about the
reconciliation, but the way Tom had visited the hospital every day spoke for itself. Blood will out. She nodded happily at the old adage.

In the kitchen, Tom spoke quietly and quickly once his mother was out of earshot. ‘I want you three at Potato Garth at ten tomorrow night. Jed’s sending a couple of his blokes and
they’re in charge, all right?’

Aaron’s jaw tightened. ‘I don’t like working with any of them lot across the river, I’ve told you that.’

‘You’ll do as you’re told and keep your mouth shut.’ Tom’s voice was low, but deadly. ‘You don’t like it, you know what to do, but the dole pays
peanuts, Da. Don’t forget that, and things are getting tighter. I’ve got a list of men as long as my arm who’d be glad of the work I put your way – all of you’ –
his gaze included Frank and Ralph, who hadn’t opened their mouths – ‘so think on.’

Aaron stared at his son, his teeth digging into the flesh of his lower lip so that the action seemed to drag his head down and his shoulders with it. ‘I didn’t say I didn’t
want the work. I didn’t mean that. We do. We all do.’