Читать книгу A Father’s Revenge - Kitty Neale - Страница 11

Pearl liked Saturday mornings and she woke up at seven to stretch out leisurely. Now she knew that Bessie had seen the doctor there was no rush to get up, but she’d ring the shop when Lucy arrived soon after nine to make sure that all was still well. She snuggled close to Derek, enjoying the warmth of his body. She had expected him to go to work, but he had just finished a decorating job and was obviously in no hurry to get up either as he gathered her into his arms.

‘Morning,’ he said, kissing the tip of her nose.

‘Good morning to you too,’ she said.

‘Does this mean what I think?’ he said, aware of the signals after so many years of marriage.

She silenced him with a kiss, and for a while they took pleasure in each other’s bodies, tenderly at first, but then with growing passion, until at last, pink with pleasure, Pearl lay satiated.

‘I suppose you want me to make you a cup of tea now?’ Derek said, smiling.

‘That sounds nice, but I think I’ll get up.’

They took it in turns to scoot up to the bathroom and when dressed they walked into the kitchen. Pearl wasn’t surprised to see her mother. She was always an early riser and for the next hour they sat over a leisurely breakfast, and the morning newspapers.

‘Pearl, I’m going out to look for a pair of shoes,’ Emily said. ‘Do you fancy coming with me?’

‘’Yes, all right, but before we go out I want to ring Lucy to see how Bessie is this morning.’

‘Fine, darling,’ Emily said, smiling, ‘and in the meantime I’ll get ready.’

‘Emily, didn’t you buy a new pair of shoes a few weeks ago?’ Derek asked.

‘Yes, but they were brown. I need black ones this time.’

‘What is it with women and shoes?’

‘What is it with men and wood?’ Pearl countered. ‘The shed’s full of odd bits and pieces.’

‘You never know when they might come in handy.’

Emily chuckled as she left the room, saying, ‘You can’t win, Pearl.’

‘I’ll just clear up before calling Lucy,’ Pearl told Derek as she took their cups and plates to the sink. ‘I doubt John will surface before we leave.’

‘I’ll sort his breakfast out when he does,’ Derek offered.

‘Thanks, love,’ Pearl said, her hands immersed in water when the telephone rang.

‘I’ll get it,’ Derek said.

Pearl turned to look at Derek when he returned, and something in his expression stilled her. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’

‘Pearl, you’d better sit down.’

‘Derek, just tell me.’

‘It’s Bessie, love. She … she’s passed away.’

‘No! Oh no!’ Pearl cried, her knees giving way. She sank onto a chair then. ‘How? When?’

‘She died during the night. Lucy found her this morning.’

Pearl stared up at Derek in dismay. She couldn’t take it in. Bessie! Bessie dead! No, it couldn’t be true.

Derek knelt in front of her, his urgent tone penetrating her foggy mind. ‘I know you’re upset, but Lucy needs you. Nora’s in a dreadful state and she can’t cope with her.’

As Pearl stood up she was struggling to put her thoughts into coherent order and as her mother returned to the kitchen, she cried, ‘Mum, Bessie’s dead and I’ve got to go, but there’s John and …’

‘I’m here and he’ll be fine,’ Emily said reassuringly.

Derek’s tone was urgent. ‘Come on, Pearl. It’ll take us well over an hour to get there and Lucy sounded a bit frantic.’

Pearl was still feeling utterly dazed and dejected when they arrived at the shop.

‘Thank goodness you’re here,’ Lucy cried as soon as she saw them, holding her son close. ‘Nora’s howling has upset Clive and I … I want to take him home.’

‘Where is she now?’

‘All that wailing must have worn her out and a short while ago she fell asleep in her room.’

‘Lucy, what happened?’ Pearl asked.

‘I don’t know!’ she cried, but then as Clive flung his arms around her legs, Lucy took a deep breath as though to calm her emotions. Quietly, she continued, ‘As I told you on the telephone yesterday, the doctor didn’t seem worried about Bessie, but when … when I arrived this morning she … she was dead. Oh, Pearl, I can’t believe it. I’m so sorry.’

‘Lucy, it’s all right. You have nothing to be sorry for.’

‘I … I panicked when I found her. I called the doctor, but of course it was too late. He … he was very kind, and as I didn’t know what to do, he suggested an undertaker.’

‘Kind!’ Pearl cried. ‘He should have shown more concern when he saw Bessie yesterday. He should have had her hospitalised.’

‘I don’t think it would have made any difference. The doctor said that Bessie’s heart had failed.’

‘So it wasn’t the bronchitis?’

‘Not according to the doctor, and as Nora was in such a state, refusing to leave Bessie, he was good enough to ring the undertakers for me while I tried to comfort her. They came to take Bessie’s body away. That’s their address,’ Lucy said, handing Pearl a card. ‘I hope that’s all right.’

Pearl had managed to hold herself together, but now guilt swamped her. She groaned loudly, ‘Oh, Derek, I should have listened to Nora. She knew this was going to happen.’

‘Leave it out, love,’ Derek said gently. ‘Bessie was no spring chicken and she had a good innings.’

‘We’re talking about someone’s life, Bessie’s life, not a game of cricket!’

‘Mummy, I want to go home,’ Clive wailed.

The plaintive cry stilled Pearl. Here she was, yelling in front of Lucy’s son and the boy was already upset. ‘Lucy, I’m sorry.’

‘It’s all right, it’s been a shock for you, for all of us, but I’d best take Clive home,’ she said, though before ushering him out of the door, Lucy whispered to Pearl: ‘Nora went hysterical when the undertaker took Bessie away and I was really worried about her. She might start up again when she wakes up.’

‘Don’t worry, we’ll see to her,’ Derek assured her.

Lucy nodded and seeing Lucy’s small, sad wave as she left, Pearl blinked several times, yet nothing could stem the tide of tears as grief overwhelmed her. She sobbed, and as Derek’s arms wrapped around her, she gave vent to her feelings.

Derek continued to hold Pearl until she was able to pull herself together, then, with a juddering sob, she said, ‘I’d best wake Nora. We’ll need to take her back to Winchester with us and sort out somewhere for her to sleep. I suppose it’ll have to be a camp bed in the conservatory, but it’s hardly ideal.’

‘Pearl, what are you talking about? Nora isn’t our responsibility.’

‘There isn’t anyone else and anyway, you told Lucy that we’d look after her.’

‘Yes, but I didn’t mean taking her home with us. We need to talk to someone, maybe the council welfare department. They’ll need to find her a place in some sort of institution.’

‘No, Derek. I promised Bessie I’d take her on.’

‘You did what!’ he gasped, appalled.

‘All right, I know it was hasty, but when I made that promise I had no idea that Bessie was going to … to die. I thought she’d live to be a hundred.’

Derek was annoyed that Pearl had made such a promise without thinking of the ramifications. ‘You don’t seem to realise that looking after Nora isn’t going to be easy. It’ll be like having another child, but one who will never grow up. We’d be responsible for her financially too, but with less income because you’d have to pack in your part-time job to look after her. Not only that, you can’t expect your mother to give up her conservatory indefinitely. We’ll have to find somewhere else to live.’

‘I’m sorry, Derek, you’re right. I didn’t think it through. But Bessie did say something about making sure I wouldn’t lose out financially.’

‘She never seemed to have two pennies to rub together so I don’t see how,’ Derek said, but then, seeing that Pearl’s eyes were welling with tears again, he shut up. There was no way he’d agree to take Nora on permanently but Pearl’s feelings were too raw to sort this out now.

‘Derek, there’s something else. What about Bessie’s funeral? We’ll have to arrange that too.’

‘Blimey, do you know if she’s got a life insurance policy to pay for it?’

‘I’m not sure, but she told me that if anything happened to her, I’d find papers in a box under her bed.’

‘Right, I’ll go and get it while you sort Nora out.’

Pearl dabbed at the tears on her cheeks before going to wake Nora, while Derek went to Bessie’s room. For a moment he stood on the threshold, looking at the empty, unmade bed. Bessie had been a bit strange, odd at times, but he’d liked her. Though she was no longer there, no longer alive, it felt like an intrusion as he ferreted around under her bed, and at any moment he expected to hear Bessie’s strident voice asking him what the hell he was doing. Blimey, Derek thought, he was getting as fanciful as Pearl in believing that both Bessie and Nora had some sort of strange powers. Nevertheless, once his hand touched a wooden box, he pulled it out and beat a hasty retreat.

As he passed Nora’s room, Derek could hear her crying, but deciding that he’d be of no use he went to the living room. He felt a little cowardly in leaving Nora to Pearl, but consoled himself with the thought that women were always better at handling such things.

The box wasn’t very big but it was handsome, made of mahogany and beautifully carved; however, Derek was more interested in the contents. If Bessie had life insurance it would help with the cost of the funeral, yet as he sat down and opened the lid, the first thing Derek saw was an envelope addressed to Pearl.

He turned it over, finding the flap sealed, but had he opened it, Derek would have been shocked at the contents – as shocked as Pearl was going to be.