The Midwives of Lark Lane

by Pam Howes

  Eloisa got to her feet. ‘I’ll walk you to your van, Dougie, in case you can’t remember which one it is.’ She giggled and hiccupped, flicking her long hair back and giving him that look again.

  ‘I think I can manage,’ he muttered, pushing her away as she grabbed his hand. He didn’t want to offend Ronnie. After all, he had to share the van with him.

  ‘The walk will do me good and clear my head.’ She yanked on his arm and they set off towards the hired hands’ caravan.

  ‘Won’t your bloke mind?’ Jack said and lit a cigarette.

  ‘He won’t even notice I’m gone now they’ve started on the weed.’ She pulled his fag from between his lips, took a drag and handed it back as they strolled around the perimeter of the recreation ground, Eloisa hanging on to his arm.

  Jack could feel himself getting turned on and fought it. He needed sex like he’d never needed it before, but not with Ronnie’s bird, no matter how easy a lay she might be. It wouldn’t be right.

  As they passed a gap in the trees Eloisa grabbed his hand and led him into a small glade. ‘No one can see us in here,’ she whispered seductively, batting her lashes.

  Jack put his arms around her and looked into her eyes. She leaned back against a thick tree trunk and puckered up for a kiss. His lips met hers, his hands groping her breasts before he could even think about it. She ground against him and unbuckled his belt. Shit, his too-tight jeans were a struggle to get down but she persevered and pushed her hands inside, touching him. Not much he could do now, so he took a deep breath and let her get on with it. She dropped to her knees and gave him the best blowjob he’d had since Lorraine. He groaned as he exploded and his legs felt like they were about to buckle under him. She looked up with an expectant gleam in her eyes and he pulled her to her feet. He slid his hand up her skirt, not in the least bit surprised to find her naked underneath. She writhed on his busy fingers and before he even had time to get down beneath her she jerked and yelled, screaming his name and God’s, and went limp in his arms.

  ‘Well, that was a surprise!’ Jack grinned as he leaned her back against the tree again while she caught her breath. He pulled up his jeans and fastened his belt.

  ‘But was it good for you?’ She seemed anxious now as she straightened her skirt and ran her fingers through her hair.

  ‘Best I’ve had in a long time,’ he said, truthfully. Beat his own handjobs any day.

  She smiled. ‘Really? We need more time and then I’ll show you what’s good.’

  ‘I’ll look forward to it.’ He grabbed hold of her again, squeezing her breasts through her thin cotton top. Amazingly, considering how tired he felt, he could go another round. But they needed to get back. He wasn’t risking losing his job on the first day. And sexy as the little bird was, that soft bed appealed to him too. ‘Same time tomorrow,’ he said. ‘I’ll make sure I’m prepared.’ There was no way he was fathering more brats. He’d done his contribution for the world population.

  She smiled and took his hand as they made their way to his caravan.

  Twelve

  Cathy awoke with a jump and rubbed her eyes. It took a moment for her to remember where she was and she lay still in Gianni’s arms in the dark room, wondering where the noise was coming from. Then she realised it was the phone ringing in the hall and she shot out of bed, hastily wrapping a blanket around herself, and dashed to pick up the receiver. She knew it was the hospital before she even spoke. Granny Lomax had taken a turn for the worse and she needed to get there immediately.

  Back in their room, Gianni, who’d heard Cathy’s side of the conversation, was pulling on his clothes. Cathy dashed upstairs to get dressed and tapped on her mam’s door. Alice called to come in.

  ‘I heard the phone ringing, chuck. I presume it was the hospital. Is Gianni taking you?’

  Cathy nodded, choking on her words as she spoke. ‘I have to go and say goodbye, Mam.’

  ‘I understand, love. Do you want me to come with you?’

  ‘No, it’s okay. Stay here with Johnny and the kids. We might be ages, I’ll see you later.’ She kissed her mam and dashed back downstairs to where Gianni was waiting in the hallway with the car keys in his hand. ‘I am so glad you’re here,’ she said.

  ‘So am I. Come on, darling.’ He locked the front door behind them and handed Cathy the house keys to put in her pocket.

  The roads were quiet at that time in the early morning and they were at the hospital in no time. Night Sister greeted them and accompanied them to the small side room that Granny had been transferred to earlier.

  ‘She’s peaceful, don’t be alarmed by her laboured breathing. It’s normal at this stage. Just talk to her and hold her hand. She’ll be able to hear you; it’s the last thing to go. It will be nice for her to hear your voice.’

  Cathy smiled and thanked the sister. Gianni put a chair either side of the bed and they talked quietly to Granny, telling her how Gianni was here and about Lucy’s antics. After a while Cathy glanced at the clock ticking slowly on the side wall. It was four thirty and Granny was struggling harder for breath. Gianni reached for Cathy’s hand across the bed and squeezed it. She blinked back tears and came round to stand beside him. He slipped his arm around her waist and held her tightly as Granny Lomax shuddered and took her final breath.

  Cathy sobbed. ‘Oh, Granny, what will I do without you? We all loved you so much.’ She pressed the buzzer by the bed and Night Sister came into the room. ‘She’s gone,’ Cathy wailed and Sister patted her shoulder.

  ‘I’m very sorry, Nurse Romano. I’m glad you managed to get in and be with her. It will have meant everything to her that you were here. I’ll get one of my nurses to make you some tea in the family room.’

  Gianni led her to the little room at the end of the corridor and she collapsed into his arms and sobbed against his shoulder while he held her tight. A nurse brought in a tray of tea things and then left them alone, closing the door quietly behind her.

  When they arrived back home Cathy lay in bed sadly for a while before eventually falling into a fitful sleep for most of the morning. Alice had let the hospital know that neither of them would be in work that day. Johnny had walked the girls and Rodney to school and Lucy had been taken to Ben’s mothers for a couple of hours while the family decided what to do next. Gianni went back to the hospital to collect Granny’s death certificate and when Cathy woke he suggested that they go to the bungalow to see if she had left any instructions with regards to funeral arrangements.

  ‘Older people are usually quite specific in where they would like their funerals to be held,’ Alice said as she made Cathy some breakfast. ‘I suspect that Granny would want hers at St Michael’s Church and then to be buried with her husband and your dad in the graveyard attached.’

  Cathy nodded wearily. ‘I just remembered – as we waited for the ambulance the other day she told me she’d put a letter for me in her bureau and to read it if she doesn’t come back.’ Tears ran down her cheeks. ‘I never dared to let myself think that she wouldn’t.’

  Alice rubbed her arm. ‘When you’ve had your breakfast you and Gianni can go over there and look for the letter. Make sure everywhere is locked up and secure as well; check all the windows and doors. Do you think you could let her next-door neighbours know she’s passed away as well while you’re there? They’ve always been very good to her. I’ll write to our Brian and tell him. She did a lot for Brian as a lad. He’ll be really upset. I wonder if I should try and phone him. I’m not sure how easy it is to put a call through to America.’

  ‘You could send him a telegram,’ Gianni suggested.

  ‘Oh, what a good idea.’ Alice nodded. ‘I’ll go to the post office later and get it done. When you two come back from the bungalow we can sort out the funeral arrangements according to Granny’s wishes.’

  The lump in Cathy’s throat threatened to choke her as she wandered from room to room in her second home on Linnet Lane. She’d spent half her life enjoying happy family times under
this roof. Birthday parties, Christmases, picnics in the garden. Snuggling down in her little bed and living here with her mam and Uncle Brian, who’d had a bedroom in the loft space, many years ago. All the lovely meals Granny had cooked for them and the wonderful cakes she’d made. She turned to Gianni and gave him a watery smile. ‘I’m trying to focus on all the happy times,’ she said. ‘There are no sad ones at all. I was so young when my dad died so I can’t remember that, or how very sad she must have felt for years after. No matter what, she always made sure we had fun.’

  ‘Then keep yourself focused on that. I did it when Mam died and it really helps.’

  Cathy nodded. ‘I’d better look at that letter she mentioned.’ She opened the bureau in the hall. A large white envelope with Cathy’s name written in Granny’s neat, sloping handwriting stood propped in front of a large box. She carried it into the dining room, laid it on the table and stared at it for ages. Gianni reached for her hand and squeezed it.

  ‘It won’t open itself, Cathy. I’m here for you like you were there for me when we sorted through Mam’s papers. Be brave, love.’

  She picked up the envelope and undid the flap, sliding out a letter and several sheets of paper that she put to one side before starting to read. Granny had written the letter the same day Cathy had taken her for the X-ray. In the letter she told Cathy she wanted to be prepared for the worst, as she felt it was soon to come. ‘She knew she hadn’t got long,’ Cathy said tearfully. ‘That’s why she wrote this letter with her instructions. They are on the sheets of paper.’ Cathy read the letter out to Gianni, her voice faltering from time to time.

  My Darling Cathy,

  I know I don’t have long left on this earth. I don’t want to go, but I fear it’s God’s will and he won’t listen to any arguments from stubborn old me, so I will go along with whatever he has planned. I just want you to know that you and Lucy have always meant the world to me and have brought such joy into my life.

  After losing my dear boy Terry I didn’t think I could go on, but one look at your smiling face made me feel so grateful for what I had left to live for. I never want you to struggle like your mother had to do at times, and everything I have in the world is yours now I’m gone, including the bungalow. I know you will look after it and make it as nice a home as you can for you and Lucy and Gianni, when he can join you. In the box in the bureau are the details for my solicitor, who will instruct you how to go about things. The pages in with this letter are my funeral details. I know I can trust you to carry out my last wishes. Goodbye, my darling girl, and be happy. Thank you for making me the proudest grandma that ever walked the streets of Liverpool.

  All my love, Granny Lomax. Xxx

  Cathy looked across at Gianni, who also had tears running down his face. ‘I don’t know what to say,’ she said. ‘I’m stunned.’ She looked around and shook her head. ‘She’s left me her home. I can’t believe it.’

  Gianni wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. ‘Cathy, you are her only relative, well you and Lucy. It’s no surprise really, love. I can see from your face that you’re shocked. But it’s always been your home too.’

  She shook her head. ‘I’m beyond shocked. It’s going to take me a while for it to sink in.’

  ‘Let’s go back to your mam’s then and she can help us sort out the funeral details. It’s best to keep busy for the next few days, love, and I’ll be here for you too.’

  Jack hovered at the rear of the caravan and listened in to the conversation between Maria and Luca, who had just come back from the telephone box. The window above his head was open and they must have been sitting just underneath it because he could hear every word. He caught the name Cathy and his eyes widened. He got the gist of the tale Luca was telling Maria. Gianni’s wife was called Cathy. So they had got married – but why didn’t she live here with him? Gianni was staying in Liverpool until the fair pitched up there towards the end of the month. Cathy’s grandmother had passed away and left her a bungalow. That would be the one on Linnet Lane, then, where the old witch had lived.

  Then he heard Alice’s name mentioned, along with Johnny, who appeared to be her husband the way Luca was talking about him. He felt a rush of anger surge through him. Johnny was the name of Jimmy, the neighbour’s, brother. He’d always had a thing about Alice. So the bastard had married her then? Not that he was bothered, but the thoughts of Alice getting on with her life while he’d been banged up filled him with fury. One day they’d all pay for it, he was determined. Especially that little cow Cathy. Just wait until he got his hands on her.

  He jumped out of his skin as a voice said ‘Boo!’ down his ear. ‘What the fuck,’ he said, spinning round to find Eloisa standing grinning behind him.

  ‘What are you doing round here?’ she said.

  ‘I er, I think I dropped my packet of fags earlier. Been covering everywhere I’ve walked to try and find them,’ he fibbed.

  ‘Have you checked your caravan?’

  ‘Not yet, because I was sure I had them in my pocket, but maybe I left them in there after all.’

  ‘Shall we go and look?’ Eloisa shot him that teasing look and his balls tingled. She knew the caravan was currently empty as everyone was working on site.

  ‘Why not,’ he replied, grabbing her hand and dragging her towards it. He opened the door, shoved her up the steps and, looking around to make sure no one was watching them, followed her in and locked the door.

  Eloisa pulled the curtains across and sat down on the bed that Jack hadn’t folded away from this morning.

  He looked at her with narrowed eyes, imagining that she was Cathy. He lunged for Eloisa before she had a chance to say anything. The look of shock on her face as he handled her roughly spurred him on and he was inside her quicker than a rat up a drainpipe. She lay beneath him while he banged away, looking too shocked to say anything. He swore at her and bit on her lip to silence her when she finally gave a squeal. ‘You like it rough, don’t you?’ he growled, almost forgetting to do his Scottish accent. ‘All you girls like it rough.’ He looked down at her terrified face and grinned as he came. He rolled off her and lay on his back as she lay silently beside him.

  ‘Dougie, why did you do that?’ she asked eventually. ‘There was no need to force yourself on me. I was willing to make love with you.’

  ‘Love, ha, what’s love got to do with anything? You bloody women think that’s all there is to life.’

  She started to cry and he sat up, suddenly filled with remorse. She wasn’t Cathy. She was the boss’s stepdaughter and if she told her ma what he’d just done to her he’d lose his new job and the roof over his head. They’d probably get the cops involved as well. You stupid sod, Jack, he thought. He put his head in his hands. ‘I’m sorry, Eloisa. I don’t know what came over me. I’ve been so screwed over by women that I don’t recognise a good one when she’s right under my nose.’

  He reached for her and pulled her close. He could be tender when he tried; he just needed to make the effort. ‘Let me make it up to you.’ He kissed her gently and laid her back on the pillows, stroking her face. ‘Just give me a bit of time to get my breath back and I’ll show you how nice I can be. Please don’t tell anyone what happened then. I care about you, you know I do,’ he fibbed as he felt her beginning to relax in his arms.

  Eloisa sighed and snuggled into him. ‘I care about you too, Dougie. You’re different from anyone else I’ve ever been with. But please don’t do that to me again. There’s no need. I will never refuse you.’

  ‘I promise.’ He needed to keep on her good side so he could drop random questions into their conversations about Gianni and Cathy. Not only that, she had said she was always willing and he’d been sex-starved for years.

  Thirteen

  Two days before Granny Lomax’s funeral, Alice answered a knock at the door. She opened it just in time to see a taxi pulling away and a tall man with his back to her waving at someone passing by on the opposite side of the street. Her hand flew to her
mouth as he turned and smiled. ‘Brian! Oh my God, Cathy, look who’s here.’

  ‘Looks like I’ve beaten the letter I sent you after reading your telegram,’ Brian said. ‘I should have listened to Lori and sent a telegram back. Well, surprise!’

  ‘Well come on in then, don’t stand on the step.’ Alice threw her arms around her younger brother and he gave her a bear hug in return and then pulled Cathy into his arms as she appeared behind his sister.

  ‘I am so, so sorry to hear about Granny’s death,’ he said as she clung to him. ‘I hope I haven’t missed her funeral.’

  ‘No you haven’t,’ Cathy said, smiling for the first time in days. ‘It’s on Friday. You’ve got time to recover from your flight. Oh it’s so good to see you, it really is. Granny will be thrilled if she’s looking down on us.’

  ‘That’s good,’ Brian said. ‘It’s good to see you two as well. Such a shame it has to be in sad circumstances. But never mind. We’ll make sure she has the best send-off.’

  ‘We certainly will,’ Alice said. ‘Come on through to the back. Leave your case in the hall for now and it can go upstairs later. We’re bursting at the seams with Gianni here as well, but we’ll manage to fit you in somewhere.’

  ‘I can pop Lucy in with Rosie, she won’t mind,’ Cathy said. ‘Then you can have her little room for a few nights, Brian. I’m afraid it’s a bit on the pink side though.’

  ‘I can live with pink for a while,’ Brian said with a grin.

  Alice dashed into the kitchen and made them all a cuppa. They sat down at the table and Brian smiled and picked up his mug; he took a sip, savouring the first mouthful.

  ‘Best brew I’ve had for years,’ he declared. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing the kids again. I bet they’ve grown a lot.’