by Cathy Sharp
The Beast sent an angry look at Andy, got to his feet and ran off, pushing through a crowd of children coming in from school and scattering them. Andy looked at Nancy who seemed to be trembling now, as if she’d just realised what she’d risked for his sake.
‘Is she all right, sir?’ he asked of Rob, who moved forward swiftly and held Nancy in his arms as she swayed, her face turning very pale. ‘You were so brave, miss. The way you stood up to him …’
Nancy wasn’t looking at him. She was staring up at Rob and seemed to be on the verge of tears.
‘Mr Thompson, why don’t you take Nancy to the rest room, and help yourselves to a cup of coffee?’ Sister asked. She turned to Andy as the couple walked away, Rob’s arm still about Nancy’s waist. They ignored the giggles of the children who had come in later and hadn’t heard or seen what had happened. ‘Go and have your tea, Andy – and don’t forget to wash your hands first,’ Sister said. ‘Perhaps you will come to my office afterwards so that we can have a little talk please.’
‘Yes, Sister.’ Andy quailed inside, wondering if she was angry because Arthur had followed him in and whether she would cancel their trip to the sea. He joined the other children crowding the cloakrooms and then filing in to a gorgeous tea of fresh crusty bread, scones, jam, and butter and a coffee sponge filled with flavoured butter cream. There was jelly with fresh strawberries and apple pie and custard too and the kids were soon loading their plates, a hush falling as they started to eat, hardly believing their luck. Where had all this delicious food come from?
Andy was anxious but he didn’t let his worry over Sister Beatrice’s anger spoil his tea, because he had an idea that she might be angrier with others than with him …
Neither Rob nor Nancy touched the kettle but the staff room was empty so they just stood and looked at each other in silence until she noticed that his knuckles were red and cut.
‘You hurt yourself,’ she said, taking out a hankie to press against them. ‘You’re bleeding …’
‘I hurt him more,’ Rob said and smiled oddly. ‘I’d have tried to sort him out sooner but you were doing such a good job of it yourself that I left it to you – but when he tried to hit you … well, I couldn’t control myself. I’m sorry for showing you up, Nancy, but I can’t abide men who hit women …’
‘Oh Rob,’ she said softly and her eyes filled with tears. ‘You didn’t show me up – you were wonderful. You did what we all wanted to do to that beast. He hurt those kids so much … and the police didn’t seem to do anything about him …’
‘Well, they will now because there are witnesses to his abuse of the boy.’
‘We have a doctor’s testimony but it was only Andy and Beth’s word that he caused their injuries and the police interviewed him but then let him go … but I saw what he did and I think Sister Beatrice may have as well.’
‘Well, I saw what he did too,’ Rob smiled at her. ‘You and I will stand up in court and tell them that he hurt Andy and was trying to intimidate him.’
‘You might be in trouble for hitting him …’
‘If I am they can lock me up for a few months.’ Rob shrugged his broad shoulders. ‘Besides, I doubt any court in the land would find against me once we presented all the evidence … No decent man is going to stand by and let a bully hurt someone like you.’
‘I don’t want you to get into trouble for my sake.’
‘I’d do anything to protect you from harm, Nancy,’ Rob said, a throb of passion in his voice. ‘Don’t you know that you mean the world to me? I love you – and I have from the first moment I saw you … It just hit me out of nowhere and I felt so bad because you seemed to dislike me.’
‘It wasn’t you, Rob,’ Nancy said and her eyes were clear and untroubled as she looked at him. ‘I was abused as a child by my father. He did unspeakable things to me and he beat my brother senseless when he tried to help me. I’ve always blamed myself because it might have been that beating that put Terry over the edge. Pa and Ma died in a fire and I’ve always suspected that Terry started it. For years I wasn’t sure if he meant to but one day, when he was in the mental home, he said something that made me think he knew just what he was doing. He’s violent, Rob, and he’ll never come out – but I think it was what Pa did to him that made him that way … and I carry the scars too, in my mind …’
‘He hurt you too but that didn’t make you violent or cruel,’ Rob told her in his steady calm voice. ‘You can’t know what turned your brother’s mind, Nancy, and you never will. I know you did all you could for him and you’ve nothing to blame yourself for.’
‘No, I realise that,’ Nancy agreed, looking up at him. ‘When I stood up to that bully just now I suddenly understood that there will always be men like him who cause untold damage with their selfish evil ways, but we can stop them if we try – and all men are not the same. If Ma had stood up to my father he might have stopped abusing us, but she let him get away with what he did to me and bullying Terry – but I’m never going to let anyone hurt me or anyone I care for again …’
‘I would never harm you, Nancy – or anyone else, unless they threatened those I loved.’
‘Yes, I know that too,’ she said and smiled in a way that made him catch his breath. ‘I wasn’t sure if I could love you as you deserve to be loved, Rob – but I shall. You will have to be patient sometimes, because it won’t all go away just like that, but I do know I love you – and I want to be with you, properly, as a woman with the man she loves …’
‘Will you be my girl, Nancy?’ Rob asked, looking down at her with what she could only describe as adoration. ‘I promise I’ll be patient. I won’t ask for more than you can give.’
‘I’d like us to be more than friends,’ she told him and reached up to kiss his lips. ‘But I need you to be patient and understanding …’
Rob drew her against him, holding her so gently that the slightest resistance would have broken them apart, but she didn’t pull away and he bent his head to kiss her very softly on the lips.
Nancy had thought she would tense up if he kissed her properly, but she didn’t, because his lips were warm, sweet and soft; they seemed to give and caress rather than demand and take, and she felt as if she wanted to kiss him back, to entwine herself about him and never let go, like a vine clinging to an oak tree. Yet in the same moment she also knew that she was strong enough to stand alone if she had to. Facing up to the man who had threatened Andy had made her aware of her own power and resilience. As a child she’d been used and defiled, but somehow she’d lived with that and perhaps grown stronger because of it.
Mr Adderbury had once told her that he believed she would be able to come to terms with what had happened to her and transcend it.
‘You’re a brave girl, Nancy. The way you’ve cared for your brother and taken everything on your shoulders shows how strong you are. I know you feel defiled and dirty because of what your father did, but he was the one in the wrong, not you. You do not bear the blame for any of it – what happened to your parents or your brother. All you ever did was to try to protect your brother. When you stop blaming yourself you will be able to move forward.’
Nancy thought that perhaps at last she’d managed to stop blaming herself.
She smiled up at Rob as he let her go. ‘I do love you,’ she said, ‘and I shall marry you, one day, because I trust you, but not quite yet. I’d like to be courted for a while …’ Her eyes sparkled with mischief. ‘Shall we go out this evening and celebrate?’
‘Would you like to go to a dance or for dinner?’ Rob looked down at her as if the heavens had just opened and Nancy’s heart caught with love for him.
‘I’d like to try dancing,’ she said. ‘I’ve only ever danced with the children at the Christmas party … and I want to do all the things I’ve only watched other people do … I’ve felt so alone and now I want to learn to live and be happy, Rob.’
‘And so you shall, my darling,’ Rob said and touched her cheek lightly with his finger
tips. ‘I’ll make sure you’re never alone again …’
Rob drew her into his arms just as the door of the staff room opened, preventing him from kissing her.
‘Whoops!’ Kelly said, grinned and backed out. ‘I’ll leave you to it …’
‘No, it’s all right,’ Nancy called her back and looked at Rob, her eyes sparkling. ‘We’re going dancing this evening …’
‘And what else?’ Kelly teased. ‘When am I going to be matron-of-honour?’
‘One day,’ Nancy said because the happiness was bubbling out of her and she felt as if she had suddenly come to life after a long dark sleep. She lifted her brows to Rob and he grinned, looking as happy as she felt. ‘But perhaps we’ll get engaged and have a party here – with my friends …’
‘We shall all look forward to that – and especially the kids. I don’t think you realise how much they love you, Nancy.’
‘Let’s have the party in September – when the school holidays are over,’ Rob suggested. ‘Perhaps the wedding in the spring or summer next year. Whatever makes you happy …’
Nancy smiled as Kelly went off to spread the news. They were all her friends, the children, carers, nurses and particularly Sister Beatrice. She would have an afternoon party on a Saturday and they would all have a special tea to celebrate here at St Saviour’s, because even if she had children of her own, and she certainly wanted that, she would always have time for the people here …
Beatrice finished her call to Sergeant Sallis with a little smile on her lips. Arthur Phillips had made a mistake by trying to snatch Andy from under their noses and by beating the boy and threatening a member of her staff. She’d been assured that he would be arrested on sight and held in custody awaiting a trial.
She sat down suddenly as she felt a little dizzy and her heart raced. It had been quite a shock to witness that fracas in the hall and she needed a moment to catch her breath. It was so foolish to let the incident upset her, because Andy was not badly hurt. Nancy had acted promptly and bravely, though she too might have suffered at that brute’s hand had not Mr Thompson acted so heroically. She did hope that he would not be accused of assault, but she’d given a full account to Sergeant Sallis and he’d said he would ask her for a written statement the next morning, but believed that Mr Thompson had acted as a responsible citizen in defending a woman. Beatrice was only too willing to give him her statement. She disliked brutal men who beat children … for a moment a memory flashed into her mind, but she pushed it away. Such things were not worth remembering when it hurt so much …
Her heart had stopped its frantic beating. She opened her desk drawer to take out the report she’d been drafting for Sandra to type and stared because, instead of being in a neat pile, the pages were scattered, as if someone had been shuffling through them.
It was very strange, because this was not the first time it had happened recently. There was nothing of any value in her desk – the few pounds she kept in the cash box for emergencies was locked in the file – but someone had searched her desk and the shelves more than once recently. Why? What did they hope to find? And did it mean that Mrs Davies wasn’t the thief after all? Had they wronged the woman in that regard? Sandra had suggested that perhaps she’d bolted because of the rotten food she’d been giving the children – which would leave them still with the problem of a thief at St Saviour’s.
Nothing was missing this time, but nothing had been taken the last time things had been disturbed in her desk. Perhaps someone was searching for something rather than looking to steal? She took out her report and began to put the pages into order.
Who had entered her office and read her report? Who could possibly want this kind of information?
CHAPTER 24
A few of St Saviour’s children were taking part in holiday work over the next few days, before starting the new school term. Several of the older ones had worked for some weeks in the summer; that work entailed helping with the harvest in the fields and various cleaning up projects for charity. It was good experience of what it would be like when they eventually left the orphanage and they were all excited, talking about what they’d done or were going to do.
‘I’m going to work in the fairground at Clacton-on-Sea for a few days,’ Keith told Andy when they were eating their tea that day. ‘My parents were travelling folk before Ma got ill and they settled in London. When she died, Pa left me with Sister Beatrice and went off, but he’s got me a job working at the fair for the end of the season and he says I can go travelling with him when I leave school next year.’
‘Were your parents gypsies?’ Andy asked, a little in awe of him.
‘Only Pa,’ Keith grinned. ‘Me ma was a vicar’s daughter and she fell in love with ’im one summer day and just ran off with ’im. We used to travel all over until she got ill when they were in London, and she taught me to read and write but I didn’t go to school. Then she started fallin’ over and being ill and they just stopped ’ere until she died, because she couldn’t go with ’im … but Pa said I needed a proper education and somewhere safe to live so I came ’ere and he went off in the vardo … but ’e’s got a job on the fairground and ’e says they’ve let ’im have me to ’elp out …’
‘I’m sorry about yer ma, but you’ve still got yer dad,’ Andy said, half envious. ‘And he’s come back for yer …’
‘Yeah, Pa’s all right,’ Keith grinned. ‘’E gives me one round the ear when he’s in a mood, but he’s not bad really – better than your step-father anyway …’
‘Anyone would be better than Arthur Phillips,’ Andy said and grimaced.
‘Have the police picked him up yet?’
‘Not that I’ve ’eard, but they don’t often bother to tell kids what’s goin’ on, do they?’
‘They’ll get ’im, mate, don’t yer worry,’ Keith said and took a great bite of his paste and tomato sandwich, chewing heartily with his mouth open. ‘Yer’ll be off ter Hunstanton soon fer a holiday and by the time yer get back to school ’e’ll be safely locked up.’
‘I ’ope so,’ Andy said. He looked at his friend wistfully. Keith was one of the scruffiest of all the kids in the home – his socks fell down, he got holes in the knees of his trousers and his shirts were always missing a button – but he was fun and Andy liked him. He would miss Keith if he went off travelling with his father. He had other friends at school, including Tom, but he wasn’t as friendly as Keith. There was something hidden about Tom, something he didn’t talk about. Everyone knew it, though nobody spoke about it, because if you were a St Saviour’s kid you stuck together. ‘I shall miss yer when you leave.’
‘I’ll be ’ere till next summer,’ Keith said. ‘Pa promised me ma that ’e’d make me go to school until I was fifteen and ’e won’t change ’is mind – so we’ve got another year ter go. Besides, you’ll maybe want to stay down at ’Alfpenny ’ouse. Sister Beatrice said I could go down there if I liked – but Pa knows where to find me ’ere so I said I’d rather stay.’
‘I want ter stay too,’ Andy said. ‘Mr Barton is goin’ to find me somewhere to start workin’ as an apprentice mechanic soon – just on Saturday mornings, and he said there might be a little job goin’ soon.’
‘He’s all right,’ Keith agreed. ‘We’re lucky ’ere wot wiv Sister B and Mr Barton. Some kids ain’t anywhere near as lucky … Did you ’ear about Tom?’ He leaned forward to whisper in Andy’s ear. ‘’E got caned this mornin’ – ’e was caught in the headmaster’s study looking through ’is desk and wouldn’t tell them why, so they caned ’im. ’E ain’t come down fer tea ’cos ’e can’t sit down. I told ’im I’d take him a bit of somethin’ up to the dorm when I go …’
‘Why does Tom do things like that?’ Andy asked. ‘Does he pinch stuff?’
‘Dunno, mate. I ain’t asked, but ’e’s never nicked anythin’ orf me.’
‘Nor me,’ Andy admitted, ‘but I know ’e’s hidin’ somethin’.’
Keith thought for a moment and nodded. ‘Yeah
, I reckon yer right. I’ll ask ’im why ’e did it when I take his tea up …’
Beatrice entered her office to discover a boy trying to open the top drawer of her office file, which was locked. He had a kitchen knife and was trying to pry it open, but when he saw her, he hung his head, shuffling his feet as if afraid of her vengeance. She stared at him in silence for a moment and then frowned.
‘What are you doing, Tom?’
For a moment Tom stared at her in silence, a belligerent look in his eyes, and then his gaze dropped. ‘I ain’t doin’ nuthin’ wrong if that’s what yer think. I ain’t a thief.’
‘I didn’t imagine you were for one moment. There is nothing in my office that anyone would wish to steal – but won’t you please tell me what you’re looking for?’
Tom shook his head. ‘Can’t …’
‘Why not – you must know what you want?’ she asked patiently.
His face was red and he looked as if he wanted to cry. ‘I only know I ’ad a mother and sister once and I don’t know where they are. I want to know what happened to them …’
Beatrice’s heart twisted as she saw the forlorn look in his eyes. His story was such a sad one and she’d known that one day he might ask questions, but she hadn’t expected him to remember his mother and sister.
‘Have you started to remember?’ she asked gently. ‘To remember things before you came here to us?’
Tom shook his head again, then, ‘Just vague things. My mother taking us both on her lap … me and …’ He stared at her desperately. ‘I know it was my sister but I can’t remember ’er name …’