Summer Loving (7 page)

‘They’re what? I don’t believe it.’

‘True as I’m stood here. They’re saying Tegan been making false claims about their son. Bleddy nerve! She’s fifteen years old and expecting his baby. There idn nothing false about that. What that boy done is against the law. If they want proof, soon as the baby’s born we’ll have one of they DNA tests done. No need to look at me like that, bird,’ she said as Jess’s brows climbed. ‘I seen it on the telly.’

Jess hugged her. ‘Elsie, if ever I’m in trouble, I want you on my side.’

‘So I will be, my lover.’ She snorted in disgust. ‘Easy to see how the boy come by his arrogance. That apple didn’t fall far from the tree. They Stantons can threaten all they want to. They don’t frighten me. And I aren’t letting them bully Tegan.’

‘Good for you. Can I suggest something?’

‘’Course you can.’

‘Before you go to the police would it help if I find out where Tegan stands legally? I won’t be offended if you say no. This is your private family business –’

‘Nothing private about it after what was writ about Tegan on that there internet.’

‘True, but Alan might already have instructed his solicitor –’

‘Not yet he haven’t. He’s mad because he don’t want his name dragged into it. Him and Carol have always cared more about theirselves than Tegan. Still,’ taking a deep breath she shook off her bitterness. ‘That’s all water under the bridge now. I’d be some grateful, bird. I know how busy you are.’

‘It’s no trouble. I can’t stand bullies either.’ Drying her hands on a towel, Jess followed Elsie to the door. ‘What about Tegan? Legally she’s still a child, but this is her life and her situation –’

‘Don’t you worry about she. Tegan trust you. She told me. She said you always been straight with her.’ Elsie gave Jess a brief, fierce hug. ‘You’re some good friend.’

‘And you’ve got enough on your plate without this.’

‘I’ll go and get Tegan up. Like you say, she got a right to know what’s on.’

After closing the door on Elsie’s departing figure, Jess sat down and opened her laptop.

An hour later the three of them were sitting at Elsie’s kitchen table. Jess had her laptop open and read from the screen.

‘The law says that sexual activity is an offence if either or both people are under the age of sixteen.’

‘There –’ Elsie began. Jess raised a hand.

‘But it also says that the law is not intended to prosecute mutually agreed sexual activity between two young people of a similar age unless it involves abuse or exploitation.’ She looked at Tegan. ‘You agreed to what he wanted?’ She kept her tone gentle. The girl nodded. ‘He didn’t give you any alcohol? Didn’t offer you any kind of drug?’

Tegan shook her head.

‘These are questions the CPS – that’s the Crown Prosecution Service – will ask. Did you feel pressured?’

Tegan hesitated. ‘A bit. But I really liked him. He’d been following me for weeks. Nothing weird, just showing he was interested.’

‘What did you talk about?’

‘Films, music, video games.’ Her breath caught. She bit her lip and fought back tears. ‘Lots of girls liked him, but he chose me.’

‘How did that make you feel?’

‘Like I was special. He kept saying I was, and how he wanted us to –’ She gulped a breath. ‘That was on the Saturday. Then on the Monday he just ignored me.’

‘That must have hurt.’

Tegan nodded. ‘I made out it was my choice. That I’d gone off him. But Amber and the others could see I was hurt. I couldn’t understand why he’d changed. They said I must have done something to make him go off me. But I hadn’t.’

Watching her shred the tissue she was holding, Jess wondered how a boy on the verge of manhood could think that was acceptable, never mind amusing.

‘When you realised you might be pregnant what did you do?’

‘I bought one of those test kits. When it showed positive I did another test. I hoped it was a mistake. Then I thought if I told him maybe he’d be different.’ Tears slid down her cheeks. ‘He looked at me like – like I was dog mess he’d stepped in. He said it was my problem, nothing to do with him.’

As Elsie stiffened, Jess said, ‘I know it’s upsetting, Tegan. But these are questions the police will ask. Have you had any other boyfriends before or after him?’

Tegan shook her head as a sob wrenched her chest. ‘Like I told you, he was the first. After, when he wouldn’t speak to me, I felt such a fool. I just wanted to hide. I’ve
never
been with anyone else. He came on to
me
, I didn’t go chasing him. Yes, I liked him, but I never thought I stood a chance.’

Nor had she, not against a young man so clearly expert at manipulation. Jess could have wept. ‘Tegan, you were conned. You trusted someone who wasn’t worthy of it. That doesn’t make you a fool. It shows him up for the devious, lying bastard he is.’ She paused. ‘Unfortunately, because you agreed, and he didn’t use force, it’s unlikely the court would uphold a complaint.’

‘Well, that might be the law,’ Elsie said, stiff with fury, ‘but ’tis never justice. My little maid is the –’

‘Don’t call her a victim, Elsie,’ Jess interrupted. ‘That would give him power he doesn’t deserve.’

‘All right then. But it’s she who’ve been wronged. She’ve had all they wicked things said about her on the internet –’

‘About that,’ Jess said. ‘I asked Tegan to forward those messages to me.’ She glanced at Tegan. ‘Did you close your account?’

Tegan nodded. ‘I bet that hasn’t stopped people posting –’

‘No, but if you’re not reading them they can’t hurt you.’

‘What did you want them for?’

‘I sent them on to your head teacher.’

‘You did?’ Elsie’s brows rose and Tegan’s eyes widened.

‘The school claims zero-tolerance for bullying so they can’t ignore them.’

‘But no one used their real names,’ Tegan said.

‘Tegan, only Jeremy Stanton, his friends, and the girls you confided in knew what had happened. I explained that to your head teacher as well. Though other people might have joined in later, they started the trolling thing off. Not very bright are they?’

Tegan’s lips twitched in a small smile. But Elsie was visibly upset.

‘So this boy can do what he done and get away with it?’

‘It might look like that. But I think the Stantons’ letter is a bluff. They can’t claim defamation if the allegations are true.’ She closed her laptop. ‘What do you and Tegan want from the Stantons?’

Elsie looked at her granddaughter then back at Jess. ‘Tegan know she and the baby got a home here for as long as she want. It don’t look like it’s worth going to court. But that boy is responsible, so ’tis only right and proper that he – or his parents – pay towards the baby.’

‘While I was online I looked at ways of dealing with this. One way is if the two families can agree a financial arrangement.’

‘What happens if they can’t or won’t agree?’ Elsie asked.

‘You can ask the Child Maintenance Service to decide. But there’s a problem.’

‘What now?’ Elsie sighed.

‘Jeremy doesn’t have to pay any child maintenance if he is eighteen or under and in full-time education, or if he is a student. He’s still at school, and I imagine he’ll be going on to university.’

‘I don’t b’lieve this.’ Pushing back her chair, Elsie stormed to the sink and clattered the kettle against the tap. Water hissed. ‘Tegan won’t have no chance for university. He’ve ruined her life –’

‘Nan!’

‘Oh, I take it back, love. But fact is your life will be bleddy hard now, ’scuse my language. He’s the cause of all this trouble yet he can just walk away. That’s never right.’

‘No, it isn’t. He must have said something to his parents or Alan wouldn’t have received that letter from their solicitor. What I don’t understand is why the Stantons didn’t contact Alan and Carol first.’

‘If they had, we’d have heard about it soon enough,’ Elsie said.

‘What matters now is Tegan getting the financial help she needs to raise the baby.’

Tegan wiped her brimming eyes with the ragged tissue. ‘This is all my fault –’

‘No more of that, my lover,’ Elsie was brisk. ‘You’ve learned a hard lesson, but we got to move on. Dear life, is it that time already? Do me a favour, bird? Go and fetch a lettuce and some of they cherry tomatoes from the garden, will you?’

As Tegan went out, Elsie pressed one hand to her mouth and shook her head.

Jess stood up.

‘Don’t mind me.’ Elsie wiped her eyes with the hem of her tabard. ‘Stay and have a bite with us. There’s plenty.’

‘That’s kind of you. But I have to get back. Elsie, Alan is Tegan’s father. You’re looking after her, but he should deal with this.’

––––––––

J
ess had washed up her lunch dishes and was making a mug of coffee before returning to her research when her phone rang.

‘Hello?’

‘Jess, it’s Val Stevens, from Gwendra Farm.’

‘Hello, Val. How are you?’

‘Not too bad. I wanted to let you know Mother-in-law has passed away.’

Jess sat down. ‘Oh Val, I’m so –’

‘No, my dear. No need to be sorry. Truth is she was ready to go. Last night she thanked Keith and me for looking after her so well. She’ve always been good like that so I didn’t think nothing of it. I told her we was glad to do it. But now I’m wondering. They say people sometimes know when ’tis their time. Anyhow, when I took in her cup of tea this morning she was cold. She just slipped away in her sleep.’

‘What a wonderful way to go,’ Jess said. ‘I hope I’m as lucky when my time comes. When is the funeral?’

‘Two o’clock Tuesday week. She left a letter saying she want to be cremated but don’t want a service. That have upset Keith awful. But she’ve never been much for religion. She wouldn’t even go to the carol service at Christmas.’

Jess knew things Val didn’t. Mary, who had accidentally killed a man while she was still a child, believed guilt had put her beyond forgiveness.

‘You know what it’s like with farming families,’ Val was saying. ‘If we aren’t related, we all know each other. There’s always a big turn-out for funerals. But we can’t go against her wishes. That wouldn’t be right. So we’re telling everyone to come to Penmount for her cremation. But instead of a service, family and friends who have a special memory of her will be welcome to say a few words if they let me know in advance. Think that would be all right, do you?’

‘It’s a lovely idea, Val.’

‘We seen a change in her after you came to visit backlong when they bones was found at Halvanna. It was like she’d been carrying this great weight and could finally set it down. ’Course, after you’d gone and she told us what had happened all they years ago – Poor dear soul, keeping her father’s secret all that time. I don’t know how she done it.’

As Val paused to blow her nose, Jess realised that Mary had not revealed the final truth. Words once spoken could not be recalled and would never be forgotten. Mary had chosen to bear the guilt alone rather than inflict on Keith and Val knowledge that was bound to change their perception of her.

‘She don’t want a headstone or plaque in the cemetery, just for her ashes to be scattered home here, on the rose beds outside her window. She loved the view down over the river.’

Jess understood her choices and hoped she had finally found peace.

‘We’ll be having a bite to eat here at the farm afterwards. I hope we’ll see you and Tom, Ben, and Morwenna.’

‘Thanks, Val. You’ll have a crowd to feed. Even those who didn’t know Mary all that well will want to come for Keith’s sake. I’ll make a couple of large quiches and ask Tom to bring me up over lunchtime so I can drop them off.’

‘I don’t want to put you to no trouble –’

‘You aren’t and it isn’t.’

‘That’s good of you, Jess. I won’t say no. See you Tuesday week.’

Viv was last to arrive, whirling in at twenty minutes to eight. ‘Sorry I’m late. Jimmy had a call-out at five and he isn’t back yet. Wayne was late home because he wanted to finish Major Carveth’s service ready for his MOT in the morning. I’d only just got Charlene off the phone when Mother rang, going on about Jimmy’s mother’s new fancy man.’ She blew a gusty breath. ‘I was glad to come out.’

‘Fancy man?’ Gill and Annie spoke at the same time.

‘Tea, Viv?’ Jess said from the kitchen.

‘Please. My throat’s dry as sandpaper.’

‘You sit down, Viv,’ Mor said. ‘I’ll fetch it.’

‘Mor, you’re ’andsome.’ Viv plonked herself down beside Annie.

‘You take these,’ Jess handed Morwenna a tray with five mugs on. ‘I’ll bring mine when I’ve sliced the shortcake.’

‘Come on, Viv, spill,’ Claire beckoned as Mor carried the tray to the low table.

‘Pauline, that’s Jimmy’s mother, is a dear. She’ve been a widow for four years. Her Eric wasn’t an easy man. If you want the truth, he was a pain in the backside. His tea had to be on the table a certain time and he was always asking Pauline where she’d been and who she’d talked to.’

‘Sounds like a control freak,’ Claire said.

Annie eyed her across the table. ‘Say what you really think, why don’t you?’

‘Come on, Annie, I can do tact. But you’re my friends and I’m off duty.’

‘It’s OK, Annie.’ Viv patted Annie’s cotton-covered knee.

‘Maybe he was just showing interest,’ Gill said. ‘You look at any Letters page in a woman’s magazine –’

‘Don’t get me started about women’s magazines!’ Viv’s voice was shrill. ‘’Tis all thanks to their
advice
my Charlene’s marriage might be going down the toilet.’

‘No!’ Gill frowned. ‘I’m some sorry to hear that, Viv.’

‘Can we stick with Pauline?’ Claire pleaded. ‘I get confused.’

‘Sorry. What Claire said, ’bout him being a control freak? When I asked Pauline how she put up with it, she said it was just his way. He was only ten when his ma died, and with two younger brothers he had to grow up quick. She reckoned he never got past the fear of losing anyone he loved.’

Jess wondered if, like her, the others were seeing his behaviour in a different light. She passed Viv her tea.

‘Thanks, bird. See, Pauline have started dating my Uncle Gary. He’s Father’s younger brother. His wife, my Auntie Trish, died two year ago next month. She went to the doctor with a pain in her back. This was in the April. It was cancer and she died that September, dear of her.’