Secrets to Keep (12 page)

Pat was glaring furiously at George for what he’d said to her. Trying to squeeze past her case, one hand outstretched to slap him, she hissed, ‘Why, you little …’

Aidy’s own temper flared then. Shielding her brother, she told her mother-in-law, ‘You lay one finger on my brother and I won’t be responsible for my actions, Mrs Nelson. And I won’t stand for you speaking to my grandmother like that either.’

Pat’s eyes blazed at Aidy. ‘You should remember who you’re speaking to, lady. I’m yer mother-in-law. Now I’ll speak to anyone how I bleddy well like …’

Aidy folded her arms and took a stance. ‘Not on my doorstep, Mrs Nelson. So I’d be obliged if you’d remove yourself from it. If you thought for a minute
I would even consider you moving in here to care for my family, then you were quite wrong.’ She addressed Arch. ‘We obviously can’t talk while your mother is present. Will you help her take her belongings back to her own house and we’ll sort this out when you come back.’

The back gate opened then and Betty came tumbling through it. She looked bemused at the scene before her and worriedly yelled over to Aidy, ‘What’s going on, our Sis?’

Aidy called back to her, ‘Get yourself in here now.’

By her tone of voice Betty knew better than to delay. Scuttling across the yard, she side-stepped Arch then squashed herself past Pat, which was no mean feat as the bulky woman practically filled the doorway. Betty clambered over the suitcase to join her gran and siblings.

Pat was livid that her plan to elevate herself had fallen foul of the obstinate madam before her. But all was not quite lost yet. She still had one ace up her sleeve. She snarled at Aidy, ‘My son has said all he’s gonna say to you on this subject. Get it through your thick head that he don’t wanna become a father to them kids, or bankroll them and that old cow either.’ There was a malicious smirk on her face when she added, ‘Yer can’t manage to do it yerself without Arch’s wage packet, can you? You’ll soon come running back to me, begging to take up my
offer.’ She demanded of Arch, ‘Get me case.’ She saw him start to speak to Aidy and, clenching one fat fist, shook it at him menacingly. ‘I said, get me case!’

Arch couldn’t bring himself to look at Aidy, so ashamed was he of his mother’s appalling behaviour in her quest to get her own way. But, far worse than that, he was ashamed of not being man enough to stand up to Pat in front of his wife and her family. How he was ever going to regain their respect after this, he had no idea. And he still hadn’t had a chance to suggest his own answer to the problem of just who was going to care for the kids and Gran to Aidy yet.

He knew his mother well enough to realise that until she’d got her way she would be keeping a watchful eye on him, to stop him acting behind her back but she couldn’t watch him all the time and at the first opportunity he would attempt to sort out this mess with Aidy.

He grabbed the handle of Pat’s case and heaved it off the doorstep, struggling down the yard with it and disappearing down the jetty.

Before she too went through the back gate, Pat shouted back to Aidy, ‘When yer ready to accept me offer, yer know where yer can find me. I’ll give yer a fortnight at the most before you realise just what yer teking on and come crawling.’

Pat and Arch met up with Jim Nelson in the jetty.

Temporarily parking the handcart laden with their heavy, battered trunk, he wiped trickles of sweat off his brow with the back of one hand and eyed them both in confusion as they arrived to join him.

Before he could enquire what was going on, his wife bellowed at him, ‘Turn around, we’re off back home. Only temporarily, mind. It won’t tek that madam long to realise the big error she’s made, trying to do it all herself.’

Jim gawped at her. ‘Oh, but we can’t go back home. The new tenants have already started moving in.’

‘Well, they’ll just have to bleddy well move out again.’

Jim looked worried. ‘Even if yer got them to, Pat, I doubt the landlord would let you stay after what you said to him when yer gave him notice.’

She pulled a face. Jim had made a good point. She hadn’t held back from venting her feelings to the landlord over what she perceived as his failings during the years she had been renting his hovel. Besides that she was behind with the rent, owing money which her sons had actually given her but which she’d squandered on other things rather than their accommodation. Even if the landlord did agree to their returning, he would insist they clear the arrears off first, which she’d no hope of doing. Pat said to her son, ‘Looks like we’ll be staying with you ’til that
wife of yours comes to her senses. Hope yer’ve got summat tasty in fer dinner.’

Arch froze. The thought of living under the same roof as his parents, even for one night, was sheer living hell to him. One night was all he intended putting up with them. This time tomorrow night, he and Aidy would be back together under the same roof, he was determined.

A
good twenty minutes after Arch and his parents had departed, Aidy was still standing at the back door, blindly staring down the small yard. Her mind was refusing to accept what had just happened. That her husband, the one person she had believed would stand by her through anything, was really letting her down at a time when she had never needed his support more … Worse than that for Aidy was the fact that Arch hadn’t said one word in his own defence to his mother when she had been acting like he was a mere boy, and neither had he intervened when she had been using bullying tactics while dealing with his wife and her family. Aidy had long known Arch feared upsetting his mother, bowing to her demands whether he wanted to or not. She had always put that down to his respect for her; after all, Pat was his mother. But after tonight she realised that wasn’t the case at all. Arch was terrified of his own mother, to the extent of standing by and doing nothing while she unjustly abused his wife and her bereaved family.

She felt a hand on her arm and turned her head to see her gran looking worriedly at her.

‘I’ve mashed you a cuppa, love,’ Bertha told her. ‘Come and sit down and drink it before it gets cold. I’ve fed the kids and packed ’em off upstairs for an early night.’ She cupped Aidy’s elbow, urging her, ‘Come on in, love.’

Aidy had been so consumed by her own raging thoughts she hadn’t been aware that Bertha had been busying herself, taking over in the house, or that the children had been helping her by going without a fuss off to bed. Silently she made her way into the back room and sat down in an armchair, accepting the sweetened cup of tea her grandmother handed her.

Now, settled in the armchair opposite, Bertha was looking over at her gravely. In a soft, apologetic voice, she began, ‘I’m so sorry I’m such a burden to yer, lovey. As if you haven’t got enough on yer hands with the kids as it is.’

Aidy’s head jerked up. In no uncertain terms she told her, ‘You are not a burden, Gran. Never have been, never will be. So you can stop thinking like that.’

Despite the comfort of these words, Bertha didn’t feel any better about herself. She damned her own ageing body for not allowing her to fend for herself, financially and for not being able to take the burden
off Aidy and Arch by caring for the children unaided. ‘Look, I’m sure none of what Pat Nelson said about Arch was true, Aidy. I expect he’ll be round any minute now to assure you of that himself.’

Aidy gave a heavy sigh, the sorrow she was inwardly suffering reflected in her face. As if every word was taking her a great effort to enunciate, she muttered, ‘It won’t make any difference to me if he does, Gran.’

Bertha’s aged face screwed up in bewilderment. ‘Why won’t it make any difference?’

Shoulders sagging in despair, Aidy uttered, ‘Oh, Gran, it hurts me so much that Arch never stood up for us when his mother was being abusive or tried to stop her when she went to chastise George. I didn’t realise before just how frightened he is of his mother, but even so, he should have put her in her place when she was going on at us like that. Well, maybe I could have found a way to forgive him and carried on living with him, Gran, as his mother is … well … I don’t need to tell you what a bully she is?’

Bertha couldn’t argue with that. Over the years Pat had been a part of their lives, there had been numerous occasions when she had bullyingly manipulated her way into their family affairs and tried to take over as though she was in charge of them all.

Aidy was continuing, ‘But what I
can’t
cope with, Gran, is never really knowing for sure whether Mrs
Nelson was telling the truth. If perhaps Arch
did
tell her he resents the fact he’s giving up everything we’ve built up, in order to help out here. He never tried to deny what she was saying, did he?’

‘Well, in fairness to him, she wasn’t allowing him to get a word in, was she?’

‘Or maybe he didn’t speak up because he didn’t want to admit that she was telling the truth. See what I mean, Gran? I’ll never be sure either way now, will I? I don’t feel I can trust him any more, not knowing if he’s saying one thing but thinking another.’ Aidy looked up at a silver-framed, sepia head and shoulders study of her mother as a carefree young woman, before she had met her husband. It jostled for space along with other family treasures on the mantel above the range. ‘Mam obviously found a way to trust Father again after he’d let her down so badly. I wish she was here to tell me how she managed to find it within herself to do that.’ Aidy gave a heavy sigh. ‘But anyway, it doesn’t matter really, I just know I can’t live with Arch while I’m uncertain of him. Marriage is a two-way partnership to me, Gran. Not one person saying or doing what the other wants, for fear of upsetting them. That’s Pat Nelson’s idea of marriage, not mine.’

Bertha gawped at her. Was Aidy really telling her that her marriage was over? But many married couples overcame setbacks like Arch maybe siding
with his mother, and still managed to live together and make the best of what they’d got. Surely Arch could find a way to rebuild Aidy’s trust in him and then they could be happy again. Bertha could only hope so.

Aidy wearily rubbed her eyes. ‘I’m really tired, Gran. Been a hell of a day all round, hasn’t it? Would you mind if I went to bed?’

Bertha doubted that with all that was playing on her mind she would get any restful sleep, but regardless she flashed Aidy a smile. ‘No, ’course not.’ She made to ease her own exhausted body out of the chair. ‘I’ll get the bedding for you.’

For the three nights Aidy had been staying here since her mother’s death, though she knew Bertha would have welcomed her into the bed she had shared with her daughter, Aidy had opted for the sofa. It was comfortable enough for sitting on, but sleeping was a different matter. Although she had felt terribly lonely without Arch beside her, Aidy hadn’t wanted to disturb her grandmother with her grieving. She doubted she’d get any actual sleep tonight, as desolate as she was at this latest turn of events and facing all the worry of looking after her helpless family entirely on her own. But knowing her beloved grandmother was beside her, someone she knew loved and cared for her no matter what, would be a real comfort to Aidy tonight.

‘D’you mind company, Gran?’ she asked Bertha.

Her gran smiled at her and said softly, ‘You sit where you are and I’ll make us both a milky drink before we go up.’

A
idy did sleep well that night. As soon as her head touched the pillow she was cast into oblivion as quick as a gas light being doused. If her mind hadn’t been filled to capacity by other matters, she would have had room to realise that her restful sleep was all thanks to her grandmother secretly adding a generous measure of one of her sleeping potions into the drink she had made them both before they retired.

She woke the next morning an hour earlier than she normally would have, at five instead of six, as though her subconscious was telling her it wasn’t just herself she had to get ready for the off now, but her siblings too. It wasn’t fair to leave that task to her aged grandmother. The fact that she awoke in her mother’s bed was an instant reminder of Jessie’s death, and on top of that grief Aidy was stricken anew by the memory of what had happened with Arch.

The near-physical pain of it all made her want to do nothing more than go back to sleep, shut it all
out, and pray that when she awoke it would all have been just a terrible dream. She couldn’t do that, though. People she loved needed her.

Mindful of not disturbing her grandmother, Aidy carefully eased aside the bedcovers and slipped out of bed. It wasn’t until she was pulling on her underslip over her knickers and brassiere that she spotted Bertha’s side of the bed was empty. A frown settled on her face. She had obviously had a restless night and Bertha had sought the refuge of the sofa so that she could sleep.

Washed and dressed now, Aidy made her way down the stairs. As she neared the bottom, she was surprised to hear sounds of life. Someone was up and about. Arriving in the back room, she saw that the range was lit, a pan of bubbling porridge sitting on one of the plates, and the person responsible for saving her all this trouble, in the process of setting the table.

On spotting Aidy, Bertha beckoned her over. ‘Morning, love. Sit yerself down and I’ll mash you a fresh cuppa. I wasn’t expecting you up for another hour at least.’

She did as she was bidden, responding, ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you up and about, Gran.’ Then in an apologetic tone she added, ‘I’m so sorry my tossing and turning disturbed you.’