Kay Brellend - The Family

‘For Gawd’s sake! What’s going on?’ Alice demanded, gazing horrified at her mother’s cut mouth.

Trying not to meet her eyes, Tilly put an arm round Alice’s shoulders. ‘Let’s get back inside,’ she muttered hoarsely, shrugging off concerned guests who’d come to her aid. Catching sight of Pam’s mother, who was gawping at her with disgust, Tilly tilted up her chin and gave her such a fierce look the woman scuttled back through the Duke’s doors.

‘Little Alice … you’ve grown, ain’t yer?’

Alice looked about to see where the voice had come from. There was something horribly familiar about it, and instinctively her stomach had lurched. But her mother had hold of her arm and was forcefully steering her towards the pub. Breaking free of her mother’s grip, she turned with an unaccountable feeling of dread. It was then that she saw him. He was still sitting on the pavement, but comfortably now, as though he liked it there, with his arms clasped about his knees. ‘Did you marry the lanky git who lived next door?’ Jimmy asked. ‘Geoff Lovat, weren’t it? He were right sweet on you, as I recall …’

Alice glanced over at her husband, her eyes wild with terror, her heart drumming so fast she feared it might burst from her chest. Josh Chaplin had their daughter in his arms. Lilian was still sleeping, undisturbed by the pandemonium. He quickly handed over his precious burden to a woman close by in readiness to rush to his wife’s aid, but by the time he reached her she’d crumpled unconscious to the floor.

‘I did feel a right fool, fainting like that.’

‘All things considered, it’s lucky you didn’t have a bleedin’ heart attack,’ Tilly returned forcefully. ‘Or me, fer that matter,’ she continued in a mutter. Slanting a look at her daughter, she poured her a cup of tea then pulled out a chair opposite her at the table. A silence settled on the two women as they brooded on their own thoughts, elbows on the splintered tabletop, cups cradled in their palms.

A few days had passed since Stevie’s wedding reception had been ruined by Jimmy Wild’s reappearance in the land of the living. The party had broken up after the commotion, despite the newly wed couple’s half-hearted attempt to persuade people to jolly up and stay a while longer. The bride’s parents had been the first to leave. Mr and Mrs Plummer had scrambled to collect their coats and fled, relatives in tow. Tilly had felt like telling them that their daughter had a bun in the oven, just to wipe the contempt from their faces. But by then everyone had had enough. The festive atmosphere had vanished. The immediate family had been too preoccupied with the turbulent emotions and memories stirred up by Jimmy’s resurfacing; the guests couldn’t wait to get out and spread the gossip. Even for this neighbourhood, where calamity and drama were regular visitors, this was sensational news.

Tilly and Alice had not seen each other since that evening. Once Alice had revived from her faint, Robert had insisted on taking Alice, Josh and little Lilian home in his car. Today it was business as usual for those in employment, but Alice had taken a day off from her job as a charwoman. Abandoning her usual routine of taking Lilian with her to clients’ houses, she had set out early and dropped her daughter off with her mother-in-law to be looked after for an hour or two whilst she visited Tilly. Normally she would have walked, but today she had caught the bus from Wood Green to Islington. There was an urgency about this visit that justified the fare being spent.

‘He was dead!’ Alice whispered, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘He was dead, wasn’t he, Mum?’ she pleaded. ‘All that blood …’ Her voice tailed off.

‘Seems he wasn’t. He must’ve just been knocked unconscious after yer aunt Fran whacked him with that iron pot …’ Tilly shuddered. ‘Did you notice that dent in his cheek?’ She clamped her lips together. ‘No point in going over it now. I put it out me mind years ago and it’s staying out.’

‘Should we tell Rob and Steve what actually went on?’ Alice asked with an apprehensive glance at her mother. ‘I know we’ve never lied, rather just avoided the subject, but …’

‘No!’ Tilly harshly interrupted. ‘Let sleeping dogs lie where they’re concerned. No point in upsetting them more’n they are already. If they’re interested in knowing where he’s been, or why he disappeared, they’ll have to ask Jimmy for answers.’

‘Will he tell them the truth, d’you reckon?’

‘If he does, it’ll be the first time in his miserable life,’ Tilly grimly replied. She pursed her lips. ‘He won’t want his sons, or anybody else for that matter, knowing he went on a rampage that night and we managed to turn the tables on him.’ Matilda slid a look up at Alice. ‘What did Josh have to say about it all?’

Alice shook her head in despair. ‘He doesn’t know what to think or to say, same as me.’ Her dark eyes seemed huge in her pale face as she gazed at Tilly. She knew that the same dark thoughts and secrets were circling in both their minds, but that didn’t make it any easier to speak about it. ‘I can’t stop thinking about Geoff. He was too young to fight, but he went to war anyway because of Jimmy’s wickedness. He died thinking he’d killed him.’ Tears of frustration glistened in Alice’s eyes as she remembered the strong, handsome youth she’d considered to be her best friend a decade ago.

Geoff had saved her from being molested by her uncle and, during a vicious fight, and in self-defence, had stabbed Jimmy with his own knife. On that dreadful night she’d been out with Geoff and had returned home to discover her monster of an uncle battering and attempting to rape her mother. She’d never forget the sickening sight of her mum’s bloodied face, or Jimmy’s penis poking out of his dirty underclothes as he loomed over Tilly sprawled, semi-conscious, on the floor. Alice knew that harrowing scene would remain in her memory until she died. When she tried to flee to get help, Jimmy had turned his attention on her, forcing her down on to the bed. With her mother too badly injured to protect her, it had been sheer good luck that Geoff was still close by and had heard her scream. He’d raced to her aid, and in doing so had forfeited his life.

There wasn’t a day went by that she didn’t devote private minutes to Geoff’s memory. Why would she not, when he’d sacrificed everything for her?

When she’d been growing up in Campbell Road the Lovat family had lived next door. Her big sister Sophy had married Danny Lovat, the eldest child of Bert and Margaret Lovat. The Lovats were still Tilly’s neighbours although they’d moved to the better end of Campbell Road where they’d got more room for their brood, most of whom still lived at home. The Lovats had been guests at Stevie’s wedding and had been as flabbergasted as everyone else to discover that Jimmy Wild was not dead.

But Bert and Margaret were not among the handful of people who knew why Jimmy had suddenly vanished from The Bunk. They would not have understood why his turning up alive was so devastating for Matilda and Alice. And they certainly had no idea that their son’s abrupt decision to go to war had been prompted by his role in Jimmy’s disappearance. At eighteen, Geoff had perished fighting in Flanders, as had Alice’s father.

‘Damn shame the swine ain’t dead.’ Tilly’s mouth pressed into a hard line. ‘Still, it don’t matter. Alive, dead – he’s nothing to us now. He can crawl back under his stone and stay there. I’m just glad yer Aunt Fran ain’t here to see the day.’

Tilly fingered her healing lip. She didn’t bear a grudge against Jimmy’s other half for clumping her. If the woman hadn’t been with him for long she might not know better than to stick up for the evil git. It had taken her sister Fran fifteen years to finally turn her back on him. This new woman had shown her loyalty in public, but what went on behind their closed doors was anybody’s guess. Tilly could guess. She knew Jimmy Wild would never change.