Secrets to Keep (28 page)

‘I’d better go and see them. Do you know what I need to do to help them? I remember having measles
when I was young but I can’t remember what Mam did for me. Do I need to get Doc in?’ The cost of such a visit never entered Aidy’s head. Her siblings were sick and, whatever it took to get them better, she would do.

Bertha shook her head. ‘There’s nothing either the doctor or me can give them to cure them of measles, love. How much they’ll suffer depends how bad they’ve each got it. They’ll probably have a fever, which’ll need to be kept down as best yer can with cold flannels on their foreheads, and there’s an awful cough that goes with it. Nothing you can give them for that either. Regular doses of honey and lemon in hot water could help ease their throats. Otherwise, make sure they drink plenty of water, and it’s best not to give them too much to eat. The disease needs to run its course … in about a fortnight, they should be up and about again.’

Two weeks! Aidy now had four invalids to look after, her wastrel of a father to contend with, plus work full-time. She sighed. ‘Well, I suppose the only good thing about this is that they’ll be kept out of the way of
him
. Let’s just pray that he decides to leave before they’re up and about again. Or meantime, between us, we come up with a way to get rid of him.’

Aidy found the children all huddled together in Betty and Marion’s bed. Not content that her children
should sleep on a flock mattress on the hard floor like most children did in this area, Jessie had saved and haggled hard to obtain them proper beds to sleep in, covered with blankets. Above the bed clothes, Aidy saw that Betty had small clusters of red spots by her ears and down the sides of her neck, the other two showing signs of them beginning to erupt. All of the children looked feverish and were coughing intermittently.

Three pairs of fearful, bewildered eyes settled on Aidy as she entered the room.

In a pitiful voice George said to her, ‘I feel rotten, Aidy.’

The other two agreed, just as sorrowfully, ‘So do we.’

‘Yes, I expect you do,’ she said, looking at them all tenderly as she went over to the bed and perched on the edge of it. She put her hand on George’s forehead. He felt hot to the touch. ‘I’ll get you a wet cloth to help cool your head for you. Gran’s told me you’re all to drink plenty of water, and then all that’s for it is bed rest until you’re over this. I’m going to make you all some hot honey and lemon to help ease your throats.’

Usually the prospect of staying in bed was viewed as a punishment, but they were all obviously feeling so poorly that they looked relieved.

Then came the question she was dreading. It was
George who asked it. ‘Who’s that man, our Aidy? And what’s he doing in our house?’

‘I don’t like him. He was really nasty to us. He made me cry,’ said Marion, her bottom lip quivering.

Betty blurted, ‘You’ll make him go, won’t yer, Aidy? Yer won’t let him hurt us? We’ve bin worried ’cos Gran’s down there and we don’t know what he’s done to her. He ain’t hurt her, has he? We had to stop George from climbing out the window, getting the coal hammer out the shed and going to tackle that man. We wouldn’t let him.’

‘No, we wouldn’t. We sat on him ’til he promised not to,’ Marion told her. ‘’Case that man hurt him as well as Gran.’ She then eyed Aidy hopefully and said, ‘If I wish hard enough, maybe Mam will wake up and come back. She’ll make that man go and leave us alone.’

Aidy’s heart went out to her sister. Marion still hadn’t accepted the fact that her mother was never going to wake up and come back to them, no matter how hard she wished or prayed. She assured them, ‘The man hasn’t hurt Gran, she’s fine. But she’s been very worried about you all. She’s sorry she couldn’t manage to get up the stairs because of her broken ankle and check on you, get you anything you needed.’ She looked at each of them in turn, hating herself for having to lie to them in order to explain away the appalling behaviour of their own father.
‘Look, the man never meant to be nasty or to frighten you. It was him who was frightened of you. You see, measles isn’t a nice illness for adults to catch. He was just worried he would, if he got too close to you all.’

‘But who is he, Aidy?’ Betty asked her.

She looked at them all for a moment before taking a deep breath and telling them, ‘Well, he’s … he’s our father.’

They all stared at her wide eyed and opened their mouths in shock.

‘But … but … he can’t be,’ said Betty with conviction. ‘Mam told us our dad was a nice man and loved us all, but he went away ’cos some men ain’t cut out to be family men and our dad was one of those.’

Their mother had loved her younger children far too much to want them to go through life knowing that their father was a thoroughly selfish man who had deserted them all because he hadn’t wanted to shoulder the responsibility of a wife and children any longer. Aidy loved her siblings far too much to tell them that the only reason he’d returned was because he was destitute and had nowhere else to go.

‘Mam never lied. She would never lie to you. Father wasn’t cut out to be a family man and it was felt best he should leave. But he wants to try and be a family man now, and has come back to live with us and have a go. We need to show him what good children he’s got and make him feel welcome. He only shouted at
you earlier because it’s like I said, he’s frightened of catching the measles because it can make adults very, very ill. Now you all need to get better. You must stay up here until you are. I’ve already had it so I’m not in danger.’

She smiled at them all fondly, leaned over and tenderly ruffled George’s hair. ‘I don’t see why you shouldn’t stay in here with your sisters and be company for each other until you’re all better. I’ll be back up shortly with a drink for you each.’

She returned back downstairs to find her father sprawled in the armchair once more. He glared at her accusingly. ‘You ain’t backed up the fire nor made me a cuppa. See to it, and hurry up.’

Aidy sensed her grandmother’s rage at her son-in-law’s selfishness and flashed a warning look at her. She wanted to ask her father if he thought well of himself for frightening his own children witless, but knew he wouldn’t give a damn if she did.

‘And I want some money,’ he told her then. ‘A couple of bob should do me just now.’

She shot back at him, ‘A couple of bob would do
me
too. Then I could have bought something better for us to have for dinner instead of days-old soup. You want money for frivolities, you’d better go out and earn some. Hopefully your conscience will see that you give me a contribution towards your keep out of it before you blow the rest on yourself.’

With that she went across to the range and snatched up the battered coal bucket sitting on the hearth, lugging it off to the coal house so she could build up the fire to boil a kettle.

H
aving fetched and carried for her sick brother and sisters and made sure they were as comfortable as she could make them, Aidy tended to her grandmother, tidied the house, made bread and left it to rise, and prepared a meal of mashed potatoes and faggots. She had to eat hers sitting opposite her despised father and being made to witness the atrocious table manners he seemed to have adopted during his absence. After his dark, brooding silence at her refusal to fund a trip to the pub for him that night, the last thing she felt like was going back to work and being pleasant to all those who came into the surgery. Listening to the petty grumbles of some of them, she had to fight the urge to inform them that if they had half of what she had on her plate to deal with, then they’d
really
have something to grouse about.

Only a handful of patients turned up to consult Ty that evening, all with minor ailments that were quickly dealt with. All that is apart from one very attractive,
twenty-five-year-old woman. It was very apparent to Ty she had absolutely nothing wrong with her. The purpose of her visit was purely to seduce him. Like others before her, it didn’t take her long to realise that her long, shapely legs, full breasts, puckered lips and fluttering eyelashes had no effect on him whatsoever. Like the others who had tried before her, she finally conceded defeat and stormed indignantly from his room, slamming the door shut behind her.

The sparsely attended surgery meant it was over an hour earlier than usual and Ty was extremely gratified at the prospect of some leisure time once he’d finished up his paperwork and attended to a few necessary personal chores. He had no doubt that his receptionist too would be pleased to be allowed to get home earlier than normal to her husband.

He went to join Aidy in the waiting room, finding her sharpening a pencil. Under normal circumstances she would have been equally delighted by the prospect of an early finish. But now, not only would the atmosphere in the house be anything but relaxed with her father present, she doubted he’d even allow her grandmother and her to natter away, disturbing his listening to the crystal radio set. How she wished she’d a few spare coppers to give him, so he could go off down the pub and release them from his presence. As if that weren’t enough, she’d her call on Arch to make. She’d have been tempted to put it off,
but the thought of continuing to sleep in the chair was a deterrent. Regardless, she expressed her gratitude to Ty and made to collect her things together to make her leave, but he forestalled her.

‘Just before you go, there’s something I want to ask you. I’ve been meaning to for a while, but whenever I’ve attempted to, I’ve been prevented in one way or another. Anyway, with you being local, do you know of someone people around here refer to as the
old woman
?’

Aidy froze. Of course she did. That was the affectionate name the locals called her grandmother by. Why was the doctor enquiring after her? A medical man wouldn’t need her services surely? Cautiously she asked, ‘Is it important you find out who this woman is?’

He looked at her askance. ‘Not that it’s your business why I want to find out who she is, Mrs Nelson, but yes, it is, as a matter of fact. On several occasions since I’ve been practising here, patients have mentioned that the only reason they have been reduced to consulting me was because the
old woman
was indisposed at the moment, so they couldn’t get any of her remedies until she was back in business again.’ A look of disdain filled his face. ‘I cannot believe people are taken in by the likes of this woman. Believing her claims that her products have curative properties when I doubt they’re more than coloured
water. This woman is just a confidence trickster and needs to be stopped from fleecing ignorant people out of their money.’ He paused for a moment, furrowing his brow. ‘Not long after I came here I have a vague memory of someone going on about selling their home cures to others. But for the life of me I can’t remember now either her or where I was at the time.’

Aidy cringed. She could. He’d been in their kitchen at the time, the night her mother died.

‘Anyway,’ he continued, ‘if you are aware of who she is, I would appreciate your telling me.’

Aidy gawped at him, fighting not to show her outrage. Had dare he label her grandmother a confidence trickster? The recipes for her remedies had come down to her from a long line of individuals who had dedicated their lives to discovering the medicinal properties of plants and flowers. The lotions and potions that resulted did indeed have healing qualities. There were numerous people hereabouts whose ailments had been soothed and healed by them, including Aidy herself.

She had no idea how Doc had come to form his opinion of home remedy makers, but he obviously hadn’t met a genuine one like her grandmother. She smiled inwardly to herself. Had Bertha heard Doc brand her a confidence trickster, she would not have held back from putting him right! Well, the locals
wouldn’t give up her grandmother to him, they all thought far too highly of her and were reliant on her cures, and Aidy herself certainly wasn’t going to, so she wished him luck in discovering her for himself. She looked him in the eye and lied. ‘I’ve no idea who this old woman is. Never heard of her. If I do, though, I’ll be sure to let you know.’

A short while later, having expected to be facing Pat and mentally preparing for a battle with her, Aidy stared in surprise at the middle-aged woman facing her, a stained wrap-around apron covering her plain working dress. Aidy decided this must be a friend of Pat’s. She was surprised, though, that the likes of Pat had any!

Aidy had obviously caught the woman in the middle of doing something as she didn’t look at all happy at being disturbed. ‘What can I do for you?’ she asked in a hurried tone.

Her indomitable mother-in-law couldn’t be in. It wasn’t like her to allow someone else to answer the door in what she considered to be her house. Aidy was grateful she was being spared a confrontation with her, however.

‘I’d like to see Arch, please,’ she told the woman.

She frowned. ‘Arch? No Arch lives here.’

Aidy flashed a look at the number on the door. She’d made no mistake, this was definitely her former
home. ‘Archibald Nelson? He does live here because he’s the tenant.’

‘Oh, sorry, dear. Forgive me, my mind was elsewhere. I’ve so much to get done tonight … it’s the previous tenant you must be after. I didn’t know their name was Nelson. I know nothing about them, in fact. But I hope it’s not money you’ve come to collect as I doubt you’ll get it, judging by the disgusting state they left this place in. They didn’t seem to have a penny to spare for soap. Absolutely filthy! I’ve had to scrub the place from top to bottom before it’s fit for me and my husband to move into tomorrow.’