Porthellis

by Porthellis (retail) (epub)

  ‘I’m sorry I missed Leah,’ Jeff said the moment he’d been admitted. ‘I thought that while I was here I’d have a few words with you, if that’s all right.’

  ‘Do sit down, Mr Spargo,’ Feena said in her formal hostess tone. ‘Would you like some tea?’

  ‘Yes please, Mrs Opie, if it’s no trouble,’ he replied, glancing about the feminine confines of the room, admiring Feena’s style and taste. Firelight gleamed on cut-glass vases and porcelain ornaments. A photograph of Hannah and Nathan in a silver frame was set discreetly amid those of the Opie family. He breathed in Feena’s alluring perfume.

  ‘It’s no trouble. Miss Benson will see to it.’

  When Miss Benson withdrew again he selected the chair nearest to Feena. She noted that he was wearing his suit with the addition of a clean white handkerchief in the breast pocket, he had brilliantined his thick black hair and polished his shoes. In his hand he held his trilby hat rather than his working cap.

  ‘What do you want, Jeff?’ she demanded. ‘When you were here last I clearly remember Leah telling you she had an appointment with the doctor today.’

  ‘I haven’t come to see Leah,’ Jeff admitted, his dark eyes calmly sweeping over her. Pogo jumped down off her lap and cautiously sniffed his shoes. ‘It’s about Hannah. Matt’s coming home soon and I’m worried about her. She hasn’t had the chance to grieve over the loss of her baby yet and she’s going to have her work cut out nursing Matt. He hasn’t realised he’ll never be fit to fish again. Could be really traumatic when he does. They’re going to have to rethink their whole future.’

  Feena nodded her head slowly. ‘I share similar worries, but why are you discussing this with me?’

  ‘We are Hannah’s parents, Feena. Prim and I don’t talk about nothing at all these days. I believe she’d leave me if she had somewhere to go.’ I wish she would, he thought to himself. ‘And I’m concerned that Hannah shouldn’t be pulled in different directions by the two sets of people who figure in her life – you lot here and us lot in Porthellis. We worked it out well when she had the miscarriage and I want us to do it again. She doesn’t need the added stress of us trying to make up her mind what’s best for her, Matt and Nathan.’

  Miss Benson brought the tea tray and neither of them spoke until she’d gone. Feena served the tea. ‘You’ve changed,’ she said, observing him over the rim of her teacup.

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Your insight into Hannah’s problems. You used to be such a selfish man, it wouldn’t have crossed your mind in the past.’

  ‘I told you I saw things differently when I stopped hating Hannah.’ Jeff smiled wryly and dipped a biscuit into his tea. ‘You obviously didn’t believe me then.’

  Feena felt a reciprocal smile coming on but kept her face straight. ‘You can hardly blame me.’

  ‘I s’pose I did treat you badly, leaving you to bear my child alone.’

  Feena could have said a lot of bitter things but in the face of Hannah’s tragic circumstances and the hard future she would have to cope with, they didn’t matter any more. ‘It’s all in the past. There is no point in raking it up.’

  ‘I did think about you.’ Jeff put his cup and saucer down and gazed into her eyes with the same warmth and interest of many years ago.

  ‘Did you? In what way?’ Feena knew the sensible thing to do would be to stop this conversation but she couldn’t help herself. She would have preferred to keep on loathing Jeff Spargo but he was weaving a little of the magic he’d used on her in the past.

  He leaned towards her, his big rough hands spread out on his knees. ‘You meant more to me than just the physical side. We had a few things in common, didn’t we?’

  Feena knew he was lying. Sex had always been the foremost thought in his mind. They hadn’t shared any other experiences, not even a joke. He had hated her possessiveness and after the affair she had told herself she was a fool to have been captivated by him. If she hadn’t been so lonely after her husband’s death she probably wouldn’t have fallen for his handsome face and slick tongue. But now Jeff had changed, and although she had Greg and Patrick in the house and had reclaimed a part of Hannah, she was still lonely.

  ‘There were strong feelings between us, Jeff,’ she said cagily. She wasn’t going to let him think she was about to fall back into his arms. Not that I want to, she told herself. ‘Now what about your suggestions for Hannah?’

  ‘Well, I haven’t got any actual suggestions. I think we should simply listen to her and help her to do what she wants to. I’ll keep Prim in check and my eye on Janet Rouse. I’m not particularly worried about Mrs Penney. She’s a sensible woman.’

  Jeff hoped he had made his point. It had been a struggle to get Feena to leave the hotel and let Janet take her place for these last few days of Matt’s ten-week stay in hospital. The villagers had raised a fund to help the Penneys with the expense of staying at Penzance. The money wouldn’t cover the hotel fees and Hannah had wanted to move into a humbler establishment. Feena had offered to pay for the hotel but Hannah had wanted to utilize the villagers’ generosity. Jeff didn’t want his daughter to go on having these unnecessary struggles.

  ‘I’ll do my best to support Hannah in whatever way she wishes,’ Feena said demurely.

  ‘Good. How was Matt yesterday?’

  ‘He still has difficulty sitting up and most things have to be done for him. Those men should be hanged for what they did to him!’ She was suddenly passionate. ‘You’d think he’d been through the war. I get so angry when I think how Daniel Kittow has got away with his part in it.’

  ‘He’ll get his just dues,’ Jeff mumbled. He wished he had a plan to get rid of Kittow but the ruthless young fisherman wouldn’t easily be toppled from his perch.

  ‘I hope so.’ Feena had been thinking along the same lines. She had spoken to the Chief Constable but he’d said that without firm evidence there was nothing the police could do. ‘Anyway, as I was saying about Matt. He can speak sensibly now but seems to have memory lapses. It’s what his face will look like when all the bandages come off that worries me. The swelling has gone down but how badly will he be scarred? The doctor told me one side of his face was criss-crossed with slashes. It’s not a pleasant prospect for a lovely young woman to have to look at a monster for the rest of her life.’

  Jeff thought Feena’s last remark callous. ‘I’m sure Hannah will always love Matt whatever he looks like.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ Feena coloured. In her opinion Matt would never be any good to Hannah and she didn’t relish the prospect of her daughter having to care for an invalid for the rest of her life. ‘As you’ve said, Jeff, Hannah and Matt have a lot to face together and we must help them all we can. More tea?’

  He didn’t like the vaguely scented insipid brew but he wanted to linger here. ‘Yes, please.’ He got up and wandered over to her painting. ‘You still do this then. It’s very good, Feena.’

  ‘Thank you. Do you still make ships in a bottle, Jeff?’

  ‘Yes. Used to get good prices off the holidaymakers until that Grace Kittow opened her shop. She sells cheap rubbish, but occasionally I meet someone who wants a real craftsman’s work.’

  ‘Have you made one for Nathan? I’m sure he’d love it when he’s older. Perhaps you could teach Matt to do it. It will give him something to do while he’s convalescing. I’d offer to see he had a proper rest period away somewhere with a nurse in attendance but he says all he’s looking forward to is coming home.’

  ‘We all feel better when we’re at home. If the people there love us,’ Jeff added as he picked up his second cup of tea.

  Feena met his eyes and smiled. ‘If you’ve nothing to rush back to you may as well stay and wait for Leah to come home. Greg’s taking her shopping after she’s seen the doctor. They should be at least another hour.’

  * * *

  ‘What do you think of this one, darling?’ Greg was holding the white handle of a huge pram.

  ‘I don’t
think I’d be able to see over the top of the hood.’

  Leah knew she ought to be one of the happiest mothers-to-be ever to enter Scoble’s in Fore Street. Girls of her background usually had to make do with battered handed-down contraptions to wheel their babies about in or carry them in shawls round their bodies. Hannah had been the only mother to have a new pram in Porthellis since the last minister’s wife. Yet here she was, choosing from the pick of the latest models and not the least bit excited. And she wouldn’t have to push her baby up a steep hill or bumpy cobbled street or struggle to get her pram in and out of small doorways and cluttered surroundings.

  ‘Boo,’ Greg laughed, thrusting a cuddly bear into her arms. ‘Gus will like this.’

  ‘Gus? We’re not calling the baby Gus,’ she said indignantly, putting the bear into the smaller pram she was looking at and giving it a push to test the feel of it.

  Raising his brows in perplexity, Greg slipped his arm affectionately round her waist. ‘This smaller pram is more suitable for you,’ he said. ‘You’re so tiny you’re not likely to give birth to a whopper of a baby. Are you sure you don’t like Gus?’ he added playfully, hoping to soften her mood. She had been down in the dumps for days. ‘It’s the name of one of my old university chums. Augustus Miners. He was quite a card.’

  ‘I want Rhett, like the hero in Gone With the Wind,’ Leah said, ready to sulk if he disagreed or laughed at her.

  Greg didn’t want anything remotely American for his child but said sportingly, ‘That’s rather nice. Rhett Augustus Opie. Well, we have plenty of time to decide.’ A shop assistant was unobtrusively waiting on them and he told her they had chosen the pram and bear. ‘Let’s take a look at some baby clothes next, shall we, darling?’

  When they had finished their shopping, they were laden with parcels. They headed back to the car, having arranged to have the pram delivered. Leah seemed a little brighter and Greg ventured, ‘Would you like to go to a restaurant for a spot of tea, darling?’

  ‘No, I want to go home and show Lily what I’ve bought.’ At least in the cheerful under-housemaid she had one person who would be excited for her and not turn the subject round to Hannah’s plight. It was all she had heard these last few weeks. As sorry as she was for Hannah and Matt, it was galling to be continually overlooked while she was about to provide a new heir for Roscarrock. Leah had endured a whole evening in the Castle Bay Hotel listening to Mrs Opie try to persuade Hannah to bring Matt to Roscarrock; she would hire a nurse for him and Hannah and Nathan could live there too. Leah had been relieved that Hannah had flatly refused. And she was the subject constantly on the lips of her mother and father, her sisters and Aunty Janet, and any of the villagers she met when down in Porthellis.

  ‘The doctor did say everything was all right with the pregnancy, didn’t he, Leah?’ Greg asked.

  ‘Yes, I told you. Everything’s fine. I didn’t need to see him really. The women in the village only see the midwife a couple of times in the later stages.’

  ‘That may be all right for them, darling,’ Greg said, darting a glance at her as he drove out of the town. ‘But I want you and our baby to have the very best of care and attention.’

  Leah squeezed his hand. ‘Greg, when are we going to have the party?’

  ‘What party?’

  ‘The party your grandmother is going to give to announce that we’re having a baby.’

  ‘Oh that. Well, everyone knows about it now and in the circumstances it would be rather thoughtless, don’t you think?’

  ‘Of course, how silly of me. Because of Hannah.’ Leah tinned away and gazed despondently out of the window.

  Chapter 18

  The wind was gusting into Porthellis when Matt came home. Greg pulled up his car outside the cottage. Wearing his pyjamas and dressing gown, Matt hauled himself up on weak legs from the back seat and with his arms round Greg and Hannah’s shoulders, he hobbled inside. A crowd of well-wishers had gathered outside Seaview Cottage, many bearing bags of black grapes which they believed would make good blood for the invalid. ‘’Tis a crying shame such a fine young man should be brought to that state,’ they commented before dispersing.

  Prim and Josh were inside with Janet, and although Josh wasn’t sensible in the head, he was strong as an ox and Prim gently instructed him to help Greg carry Matt up to his bedroom where a roaring fire was lit. Hannah took Nathan out of his highchair and followed them up with Mrs Penney. Once Matt’s dressing gown had been removed and he was tucked up in bed, Greg led Josh downstairs.

  ‘How is he?’ Prim asked her son-in-law.

  ‘A bit emotional, I think, but glad to be home,’ Greg answered self-consciously, running a hand through his hair. Although he saw Hannah and Leah on the same level as himself and had a lot of respect for Matt, he had never felt comfortable in working-class surroundings. He didn’t think of the Spargos as family. ‘He was talking about going back to sea before Christmas. I don’t envy the person who has to tell him it’s out of the question.’

  ‘The doctor should do that,’ Prim said, guiding Josh away from the highchair where he stood, his head lolling to the side, puzzled why the toddler was no longer there.

  ‘No, it’ll be best coming from Hannah,’ Janet said stoutly. ‘And she ought to tell him soon, and that there’s no new baby on the way, before some well-meaning visitor puts their foot in it.’

  ‘Matt won’t want no visitors yet,’ Prim retorted tersely. ‘He needs all the rest he can get.’ She looked at Greg with pursed lips. ‘I suppose your grandmother will be getting you to drive her down here tomorrow.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Greg replied, knowing full well she would. Feena had wanted to come today but he had persuaded her to let Matt settle in first. He didn’t want to get involved in any female wranglings and glanced at his watch. ‘Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get back to Leah.’

  ‘Thank you for bringing Matt home,’ Prim said.

  ‘Have you finished that little baby’s coat you said you were knitting for her, Mrs Spargo?’ Greg couldn’t bring himself to address Prim informally.

  ‘Not with all this going on,’ Prim said as if astounded he’d asked such a thing. ‘There’s plenty of time yet.’

  Upstairs, Hannah carefully placed Nathan beside Matt where he sat up against the pillows. Matt took his son’s little hand but Nathan pulled it back and seemed nervous of him. ‘He doesn’t recognise me with this dressing on my face,’ Matt said with grief in his voice. ‘You’d better take him away.’

  Nathan kicked out with his leg and Matt yelped as it hit his tender ribs. Nathan was disturbed and began to whimper, his chubby arms held out to Hannah. She passed him to Mrs Penney. ‘Daddy can play with you when he’s better,’ she said, sounding more cheerful than she felt.

  Mrs Penney leaned forward and kissed Matt’s forehead. ‘It’s good to have you home, son. I’ll take Nathan downstairs and make some tea for Prim and Janet. I’ll bring you up some later, but just shout out if you want anything.’

  ‘Thanks, Mum,’ Matt murmured. Weary from the long, uncomfortable journey, he dozed off.

  Hannah took off her coat and placed a bottle of analgesic tablets and a urinal bottle beside the bed, then sat down on it, waiting for Matt to open his eyes.

  When he did, he was confused where he was for a few moments. ‘Sorry,’ he mumbled, wanting to smile at her but remembering it would hurt his face. ‘Don’t know what’s the matter with me.’

  ‘You’ve had a terrible shock to your system, Matt, as well as a savage beating. At least you’re home now. It’s a big step forward.’ She lifted his hand, kissed it then placed her lips gently on his brow, the only area on his face that would not hint him. He had a strong clinical smell on him.

  ‘You are going to sleep with me tonight?’

  ‘I shouldn’t really. I could roll over and hurt you.’

  ‘I’ll take the risk. I so badly want to feel you close to me.’

  Matt’s body was beginning to heal but
he was still weak and extremely sore and because of an infection in a cut on the left side of his face there was a large dressing yet to be removed. On the other side were two livid red scars where he had been slashed and a small scar on his chin. His eyes had retained their puffiness.

  He raised a hand and indicated the dressing on his face. ‘When does this come off?’

  ‘The district nurse will call tomorrow and change it. Shouldn’t be much longer now.’

  ‘Have you seen what it’s like underneath?’

  ‘No, they wouldn’t let me stay and watch in the hospital while they were tending to you, remember?’

  ‘I can’t remember anything like I used to.’ He looked like a young, frightened boy.

  ‘It’ll take time before you’re your old self again.’ She smiled to encourage him.

  He went rigid, reliving again, as he did every day, the way Daniel had ordered the attack When he was well enough he would go to court and give evidence against the three thugs; with several villagers giving witness about their riotous behaviour, they would receive long prison sentences. Matt hoped they would rot in there. If only he could break Daniel’s cast-iron alibi and have him locked up too, but with his known hatred of Daniel, and his memory of the beating and the events leading up to it patchy, the police were unlikely to believe Daniel ordered the attack. He had yet to face him. What he would do when it happened he didn’t know. He did not want the sort of revenge that would physically hurt his enemy. He wanted Daniel brought down, utterly shamed, his ego ground into the dirt. He wanted him to know how it felt to fear for the future.

  He gripped Hannah’s hand tightly and said bitterly. ‘We’ll really see what damage Kittow’s men have done to me when my face is bare. I’ll probably look so ugly the children in the village will run away from me. Nathan might always be afraid of me.’