The Price of Love

by Rosie Harris

  Hesitating for only the briefest moment, Lucy bent over and picked the child up. Anna was warm and sweet-smelling from sleep and as her arms held on tightly round Lucy’s neck and she buried her little face in Lucy’s shoulder, Lucy felt an overwhelming flood of love for the child flow through her.

  She wanted to go on cuddling Anna, but when she saw Robert straighten the bottom sheet in the cot she took it as a hint that he felt Anna should be put back down to sleep. Very tenderly Lucy kissed the child and lowered her back into the cot and tucked the covers in around her.

  There was a tiny smile on Anna’s face as she closed her eyes and once more drifted into sleep. Taking a last look to make sure she was comfortable, Lucy very quietly tiptoed out of the room.

  Robert said nothing as he led her towards the stairs. Neither of them spoke until they were downstairs.

  ‘Right, shall we do the grand tour first?’ Robert pronounced, his voice and manner brisk and formal. ‘If I go on living here as well, then we’ll have to share the kitchen, of course, but I thought I could use the middle room and keep all Anna’s toys and paraphernalia in there and you and Sam have the front room as your sitting room.’

  As he led her in there to show her what he meant she saw that what had been the Tanners’ best room when she was a child remained exactly as she remembered it all those years ago. The sofa and two big armchairs, all upholstered in red and green multi-patterned plush, were still in pristine condition. As children, she recalled, they had never been allowed even to sit on them in case they left finger marks on the highly polished wooden arms and framework.

  When she and Robert had been courting they had often found solace in this very room, knowing that it was unlikely that anyone else would come in there. Even so, she’d always felt guilty as they’d sat on the sofa with their arms around each other in case either Robert’s mother or father came in unexpectedly and caught them together and voiced their disapproval.

  She looked at Robert, wondering if he remembered those occasions, but there was nothing on his face to indicate that he did. Yet she couldn’t believe that he didn’t recall the magic of those precious moments, the promises they’d made to each other and the wonderful future they’d planned.

  Her eyes were blurred by unshed tears as she studied the Turkish carpet square that almost covered the entire room and the piano that no one ever played still standing against one wall.

  ‘I’m planning to get rid of the piano and replace it with a table and chairs, if you think that would be more suitable,’ Robert assured her when she said nothing.

  ‘Why do that?’ Lucy frowned. ‘We’ll all be eating our meals together in the kitchen, won’t we?’

  His face lightened. ‘I would like that, but are you sure that it will suit Sam?’

  Lucy hesitated. ‘If it doesn’t, then he can have his on a tray in here, but I most certainly will be sitting down with you in the kitchen. How else can I teach Anna table manners and make sure she eats all the right things?’ she said firmly.

  ‘Well, perhaps we should wait and see what happens when you move in,’ Robert cautioned. ‘If it doesn’t suit Sam, then we can change things around to suit him.’

  ‘I don’t think you should get rid of the piano. Anna might want to learn to play one day.’

  ‘We can’t expect everybody to fall in with what is best for Anna, you know,’ Robert said dryly. ‘There’ll be grown-ups living here as well as Anna and they have to be considered as well.’

  ‘Anna is the reason we are moving in here and I intend to do everything possible to make her life a good one. As far as the piano goes, we never had one, but I rather think Sam might like to try and play it and an interest of that sort might be good for him as well.’

  ‘Right, in that case, I’ll leave the room as it is for the present but I do want you to know that you are free to make any changes you feel necessary,’ Robert insisted as they went back out into the hallway and he closed the door behind them.

  ‘Up here is more of a problem,’ he went on as they went up the stairs again. ‘I want you to have the big front bedroom and I will have to take the middle bedroom. That leaves Sam with the small back bedroom which is rather unfortunate because I’m sure he needs more space. I would have taken that one myself except there’s only room in there for a single bed and I have to get Anna’s cot in.’

  ‘Why don’t you and Anna have the large bedroom, then?’ Lucy suggested.

  ‘That’s not fair on you. You’d be far too cramped in that smaller middle bedroom.’

  ‘Another solution would be for me to have the large bedroom and to move Anna’s cot in there too. In next to no time she will be ready for a bed of her own and it is probably the only room that is big enough to take two single beds.’

  They argued amicably about the set-up as they went back downstairs and into the kitchen. Robert made a pot of tea and eventually agreed to try out Lucy’s idea.

  ‘You must tell me if it doesn’t work out,’ Robert told her emphatically. ‘I never expected you to look after Anna at night as well as all day. She does sleep fairly well most of the time but you might get some disturbed nights.’

  ‘Once she’s in a regular routine I’m sure she will sleep right through; anyway, you’re a working man and can’t afford to lose your sleep. As I’m going to be at home all day it won’t matter quite so much if I have a disturbed night,’ she added with a smile.

  ‘So if all the arrangements I’ve made so far are acceptable and meet with your approval, then can I assume that you and Sam will be moving in?’

  Lucy’s heart sank. Robert sounded so formal, almost as if he was letting the rooms, and she was merely a tenant; or else that he was hiring a housekeeper. Had every trace of the feelings he had felt for her not all that long ago vanished for ever? she wondered.

  Trying to keep her voice as unemotional as his she said, ‘As soon as you like. It’s a bit late to do so tonight, so what about tomorrow evening? We haven’t much to bring apart from our clothes and a few bits and pieces of personal stuff. Also, it will give me time to let my present employers know that I’ve left.’

  ‘That sounds great! Would you like me to come round after work tomorrow and help you move?’

  ‘No, I think it might go more smoothly if you aren’t there, Robert, because Sam is still rather touchy about what we are doing,’ Lucy said a trifle awkwardly.

  ‘That’s fine; I do understand.’ He laid his hand on her arm. ‘Give it time, Lucy, and I’m sure it will all work out as you want it to.’

  ‘Well, I do hope you’re right.’

  He reached into his inner pocket and drew out his wallet and took out a five-pound note. ‘Take this and get a taxi; don’t try carrying everything yourself.’

  She tried to refuse but Robert was insistent. ‘Please, Lucy, if you won’t let me come and help you pack and move, then this is the least I can do.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Reluctantly Lucy took the money. From now on, she told herself, she was going to have to get used to taking money from Robert each week since looking after Anna was now going to be her source of income.

  ‘It will all work out,’ Robert told her, patting her shoulder as she went through the door. ‘Sam will see that what you are doing really is the best for all concerned.’

  Lucy pondered Robert’s words all the way home. Was she doing the best for Sam or was she simply thinking of herself? Anna had won her heart and more than anything else she wanted to look after her. The child had had a rough start in life and had been pushed from pillar to post but from now on she would make sure that Anna was surrounded by love and security.

  Sam still hadn’t met Anna but Lucy was confident that when he did he would understand why she felt so strongly about looking after the little girl.

  Before she’d left Horatio Street that evening to come and see Robert she’d told Sam to start gathering together all the things they would be taking with them.

  He’d said nothing, merely nodded, but
she couldn’t help noticing how his mouth had tightened into a grim line. Even so, Lucy felt that if she arrived home and found he’d done as she’d asked, then surely it meant that he really was in agreement with her decision and was prepared to accept the situation.

  The house in Horatio Street was in darkness when she reached it. She went in as quietly as possible, not wishing to meet either Joe Black or his wife, and quickly made her way upstairs.

  She intended to wait until the very last minute to tell them that they were leaving; perhaps as they went out of the house with all their belongings.

  As she opened the door of the living room she was surprised to find that it was also in complete darkness and for one stark moment a frisson of fear went through her in case Sam had taken it into his head to clear off somewhere on his own.

  As she went in she stumbled over something on the floor. For a moment she thought it must be one of the cases that she’d left out ready so that Sam could pack some of their stuff but then she realised it was too soft for that.

  In the dim light coming in through the window from the street light outside she realised it was someone lying there.

  ‘Sam?’ She bent down and touched him. ‘Sam, what’s happened, why are you lying on the floor?’

  With shaking hands she lit the gas light and then gasped in dismay. Sam was not simply lying there, he appeared to be unconscious and, to her horror, she could see that blood from a gash on his head had seeped into the carpet.

  ‘Sam?’ Lucy knelt down and felt his pulse; it was so faint that she wasn’t sure if there was one or not and his chest was barely moving, his breathing was so shallow.

  She hesitated for one moment, wondering whether she should leave him lying there while she went to call an ambulance or whether she should ask the Blacks to do it for her and instinctively she knew that it was better to do it herself.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Lucy sat on a chair in the hospital corridor outside the room where they were administering to Sam for the rest of the night, waiting to hear news of how badly hurt he was. She found it hard to believe that this was happening all over again just as they were about to get back on their feet at last.

  It was eight o’clock the next morning before they would let her in to see him. His face was ashen and his head so heavily bandaged that he was barely discernible against the white pillow.

  She knew she was trembling as she moved to the side of the bed. She picked up one of his hands and murmured his name, but there was no response.

  She sat there for another couple of hours. Whenever a nurse came to check on Sam or on one of the pieces of equipment he was attached to, she asked them if they would tell her what was happening but they told her nothing.

  When it was mid-morning, a pleasant youngish nurse in a different-coloured uniform came over to speak to her. ‘I think it might be better if you went home and got some rest and then came back tomorrow. Your husband will have regained consciousness by then.’

  ‘Sam is my brother, not my husband,’ Lucy told her. ‘Couldn’t I come back this evening?’

  ‘Of course you can if you wish to do so. Your brother should be conscious by then but he still may not be well enough to talk; he might not even recognise you,’ she warned.

  ‘Is he really that bad?’ Lucy said worriedly.

  ‘Head injuries very often give rise to various problems of this sort but in most instances, with careful nursing, the patient recovers completely,’ the nurse explained gently. ‘It does take time, though,’ she added cautiously.

  ‘I’ll come back this evening; would seven o’clock be all right?’

  ‘Very well, I’ll tell the night nurse to expect you.’

  ‘I was rather hoping I would see you; you’re the first person who has explained anything to me.’

  ‘Well, if you can make it earlier, say half past six, I’ll still be on duty then.’

  Lucy returned to Horatio Street in a daze. Although she’d been up all night she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep; not until she knew that Sam was out of danger.

  As she went into their living room, the first thing that met her was the dark stain on the carpet where Sam had fallen and his head had been bleeding. She stood for a moment looking down at it, wondering what had happened.

  About a foot away from the stain was a suitcase. The lid was open and some of the contents had spilled out on to the floor. He must have been in the middle of packing it and been attacked, she mused. Else how on earth could he have hit the back of his head when he had fallen? He’d been lying face down when she’d found him. It didn’t make sense.

  Bending down she put the clothes back in the case and closed the lid. As she did so she saw the bottle. A heavy, dark-brown glass bottle. She picked it up and noticed that it was a beer bottle and frowned. The mystery deepened. Sam didn’t drink beer, so what was an empty beer bottle doing in their room? she asked herself.

  As she picked it up she felt something sticky down one side of it. At first she thought it must be beer that had trickled down there when the beer was being poured out. When she looked at her hand, though, she saw that her fingers were covered with stale blood. The bottle must have been used to hit Sam on the head.

  She felt frightened. Who would do such a thing and for what reason? She suspected that it might have been Joe Black, but she couldn’t understand why.

  She was still debating whether or not to go and confront Joe Black and ask what had happened when there was a thunderous knocking on her door. Before she could answer it Joe Black’s voice shouted from the other side of it, ‘Come on, open up. I know you are in there because I saw you come in.’

  When she opened the door the merest scrap he slammed it back and was inside the room before she could stop him.

  ‘Planning to do a runner last night, were you, you and that brother of yours? Well, I’ll soon put a stop to that. Nobody cheats me out of any ackers that are due to me.’

  ‘No one was intending to cheat you out of anything, Mr Black,’ Lucy told him hotly. ‘Yes, we are planning to leave, but we had every intention of letting you know when we were ready to do so and, let me remind you, we are paid up to the end of the week.’

  ‘Don’t you come that hoity-toity act with me, luv, or I’ll belt you one the same as I did him.’

  ‘So you were the one that knocked him unconscious with a beer bottle?’ Lucy said scathingly. ‘I’ve been sitting at his bedside in the hospital all night and he hasn’t come round yet. If he dies, then I’ll make sure that you’re hung for murder.’

  ‘Oh will you, indeed? In that case, I’d better shut you up the same as I did him.’

  Lucy retreated back into the room and as she did so her foot caught against the suitcase that was still lying there and before she could save herself she was sprawled on the floor.

  With a derisive laugh Joe Black stuck his boot hard into her side, making her cry out with pain.

  ‘At last I’ve got you right where I want you,’ he leered. ‘You won’t be quite such an uppity little bitch after I’ve finished with you,’ he sniggered as he undid his braces and then began to unbutton his trousers.

  Fearful of his intentions as he bent over her, Lucy let out a wild scream.

  ‘Shut your bloody gob, you silly little cow, or else we’ll have Madge rushing up to see what’s going on,’ Joe hissed, clamping one of his hands roughly over her mouth.

  Lucy felt her senses reeling and she was so scared that she was afraid that at any moment she might black out. Making a tremendous effort she bit down on one of his fingers as hard as she could, making him yelp with pain.

  ‘You soddin’ little bitch,’ he growled. ‘I’ll make you damn well pay for doing that.’

  ‘Oh no you won’t.’

  Lucy almost fainted with relief as the heaviness of Joe Black’s body was pulled off her and she was able to breathe freely. Then a feeling of shame washed over her that Robert should see her lying there in such a dishevelled state.

/>   He was holding Joe Black by the collar of his shirt and pulling it so tight that the man could hardly breathe.

  In vain Joe struggled to free himself and pull up his trousers which were now around his ankles, but every movement he made only tightened the restriction round his neck and the edges of his mouth started to turn purple.

  He was no match for Robert who was younger and stronger. By the time Lucy had scrambled to her feet, straightened her clothing and smoothed her hair back into place, Robert had thrust Joe Black out on to the landing. In a voice that brooked no argument he threatened to push him down the stairs if he ever came up there again while Lucy was living there.

  Robert slammed the door shut then turned and took Lucy in his arms. ‘I was worried when you didn’t turn up,’ he said. He hugged her and tenderly stroked her hair back from her brow while whispering words of comfort.

  Lucy shuddered as she nestled against him. The feel of Robert’s arms around her and the soft murmur of his voice brought a feeling of safety and comfort as well as reviving memories of the days when they had been close.

  Deep in her heart she knew she still loved him as much as ever and for a moment she hoped that his show of concern and tenderness meant that he felt the same.

  ‘I don’t know what has been going on here but you can tell me about it later,’ he said as he released her. ‘As soon as we’ve finished packing your things we’re getting out; you’re not staying here another night. Where is Sam?’

  ‘Sam’s in hospital.’

  ‘Hospital?’ Robert frowned. ‘Why, what’s happened? Has it something to do with that fellow who was attacking you?’

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid so. He knocked Sam over the head with a beer bottle. I found Sam lying on the floor when I came home from your place last night. I’ve spent all night at the hospital waiting for him to wake up but he still hadn’t done so when I left there. The nurse said to come back about six o’clock.’

  ‘Right. The best thing we can do, then, is to take all your belongings to my place, grab a bite to eat and then go back to the hospital. I’ll come with you.’