by Gordon, Lucy
“Mom told me she collected you on the road. I knew you’d land on your feet, Paul. You always do.”
“Do you mind not talking about feet?” he asked with a theatrical wince. “I was limping for a week afterward.”
She hadn’t greeted him in her usual way, with a hug, and this seemed to disconcert him. “You wouldn’t like to treat your favorite little brother to a meal, would you?” he asked, at his most winning.
“There’s a burger bar over the way,” she said, heading out of the parking lot.
He trotted after her. “I was hoping for a thick steak with French fries and mushrooms, and a bottle of—”
“The way I feel about you at the moment you’re lucky to get a burger.”
She noticed that he was dressed in old jeans and sweater, which was unusual for Paul. He caught her glance and gave a sheepish shrug.
When they were sitting down, with food in front of them, she asked, “How have you been?”
He grimaced. “Oh, so-so! I had to pack the job in. I couldn’t stand working for Lionel North. He couldn’t organize a booze-up in a brewery. I had some great plans for reorganizing the place and he didn’t want to know.”
“But you were supposed to be selling socks.”
“I’m an ideas man. If he’d listened to me he could have doubled his profit. Anyway, I told him I couldn’t work for a man with such limited vision. He begged me to stay, but I told him it wasn’t on.”
Kaye sat in silence, her heart sinking at the desperate edge in his voice. “How’s Mom?” she asked at last.
“Pretty unbearable. She nags me all the time, and you should hear some of the things she says about you.”
“I can imagine. She thought Jack would be easy to manipulate, but I won’t let that happen.”
“She thought he’d do something for me,” Paul said sulkily.
“He did do something for you,” Kaye said angrily.
“He’s part owner of North’s. That’s how you got the job. And you blew it.”
Several expressions flitted across Paul’s face—dismay, outrage, disbelief, certainty and finally horror as he realized how much she must know about his dismissal.
“Oh, hell!” he said. “Still, you can make him give me another chance.”
“I couldn’t. Nobody makes Jack do anything.”
“Please, Kaye, he’d do it for you.”
“Paul, listen, Jack only married me to get Elsie off his back. I’m useful to him. That’s why he won’t let my family batten off him, even if I’d ask him, which I won’t.”
“Yes, you dropped us fast enough when you got your escape route, didn’t you?”
“That’s not fair—”
“I’m not blaming you, sis. If someone would wave a magic wand and get me away from Mom, I’d be off like a shot.”
“That’s not very nice to her,” Kaye said, discovering that it was actually possible to feel sorry for Rhoda.
“Well, she won’t get off my back. Nag, nag—tidy your room—nag, nag—get a job—nag, nag.”
“Paul, most lads of your age are eager to get out of their mother’s house and make their own way.”
“Well, I’d get out if I could afford it. You don’t think I like living there, do you?”
“So get a job, stick with it and find your own place. If Mom nags it’s probably because she’s tired of supporting you.”
“She’s turned against me, Kaye. My own mother’s turned against me.”
“Stop being melodramatic,” she told him sternly. “Mom would never do that.”
“Oh, no? She only sold all my best clothes. That’s why I’m in rags today. Just to raise a few measly pounds.”
“Mom did that? To you?” It was as though the world had turned upside down.
“Yes. She was really nasty. Just because I didn’t have any money to pay my credit card. It wasn’t my fault.”
Kaye had a sudden, dismayed vision of her brother in a few years’ time, when his youth began to fade, and the futility and weakness in his face could no longer be hidden. When that time came he would still be saying, “It wasn’t my fault.” And wondering why nobody believed it.
“What’s going to happen to you?” She sighed in despair.
He shrugged. “You tell me. You could help me, but you don’t want to.”
“I’ve told you—”
“Yes, but I don’t believe it. Jack’s crazy about you, d’you think I don’t know that?”
He was wrong, of course, and it was absurd that his casual words should make her heart beat faster. What could Paul know about it?
“I don’t see how you can be so sure,” she said, trying to sound casual.
“Because I’ve seen the way he looks at you when he thinks nobody’s watching him. It’s kind of—I don’t know—like he’s caressing you with his eyes.”
The sudden poetical phrase pulled her up short. Paul must have read it somewhere. He was saying what he guessed she wanted to hear, hoping there would be something in it for him.
His next words seemed confirmation. “How’s Georgy? Missing me?”
“Forget Georgy. Jack will never allow you near her again, and without his approval...” She shrugged.
“She’s no use to me,” Paul finished bluntly. “You’re right. A busted flush.”
Kaye lost her temper. “You only think of yourself, don’t you?” she said furiously. “You never give a thought to how your actions affect other people. What do you think it looked like when Elsie found Georgy out nightclubbing with my brother, a convicted criminal?”
“Don’t exaggerate. A bit of shoplifting—”
“When Elsie’s finished it’s going to look like grand larceny, fraud, corruption and stealing the crown jewels. You have a police record, and if it wasn’t for me Georgy would never have met you. That’s going to look wonderful when she brings it out in court.”
“What’s all this talk about court?”
“Elsie’s started legal proceedings. It’s not funny,” she said indignantly as he gave a choke of laughter.
“It is, in a way. Elsie, doing her devoted-mother act. Why does she bother? She’s not the maternal type.”
“Georgy’s a weapon against Jack. Also, the boyfriend has left her for a younger woman and she needs something to fill the gap.”
“Surely the court will see through her?”
“Elsie’s an actress, so she might just manage to be convincing. Plus, she’s got a very good lawyer. She might win, and if she does, I’ll never forgive you.”
“That’s right, blame me.”
He fell silent, and Kaye let him get on with his sulk. At last he said, “Maybe I can solve your problems and mine, all in one go.”
“What do you mean?”
He gave her a mischievous grin. “Never mind. I want to think this over awhile first.”
She let it pass. She knew Paul in his “big-talking” moods. He would say anything to get what he wanted, and forget every word afterward. He confirmed this a moment later by producing his latest credit card statement and saying, in his most winning voice, “Kaye, darling, couldn’t you—just this once...?”
“You’ve really got a nerve. You’ll never change, will you?”
“Why should I change? Go on, it’s peanuts to you.”
“Sorry, Paul, but I’m a ‘busted flush,’ too. Big sister is going to let you sink or swim this time.”
Driving home, she felt depressed and wondered why she’d told him so much. But she was lonely. On the surface she seemed to have everything to make her happy. She was married to the man she loved, and he was good to her. But he’d laid out the terms on the night he opened his heart to her and she’d found need there, but not love. That was their life now, and she was beginning to believe that there would never be any other.
The tension in the household was becoming almost palpable. Jack was bombarded by letters from Elsie’s lawyer and from his own. Charles Sedgeway’s outlook was gloomy. If Elsie could keep up
her sedate appearance and her respectable act, her chances looked good.
“She’s come up with a new trick,” Jack said gloomily one morning. “Nobody knows where she is. Even Hamblin can’t contact her. Or so he says.”
“You mean she’s vanished?”
“If only she would. No, she just enjoys the thought of us all running around in circles. Whenever I call her hotel she’s always out, but she’s still registered there. She’ll surface when it suits her. By the way, Georgy’s in a stew about something. I can’t get any sense out of her. Maybe you can.”
Kaye hurried up to the girl’s room. Georgy looked up with sullen eyes, and it seemed to Kaye that she’d been crying. “What’s up?” she asked gently. “Can’t you tell me?”
Georgy’s lower lip wobbled. “It’s all your fault,” she said.
Kaye spoke cheerfully. “Sure it is. Let’s take that as read, and you tell me what my crime is this time.”
“You drove Paul away, you and Dad. He might have vanished off the face of the earth, and you wouldn’t care.”
“Of course he hasn’t vanished off the face of the earth.”
“Then where is he? Where’s he gone?”
“What are you talking about, Georgy?” Kaye asked, frowning. “He hasn’t gone anywhere.”
“I called him at home. Your mom says she came home two days ago and found the house empty.”
Kaye frowned. “I knew nothing of this, honestly. I’m sure he’s only gone to see some friends.”
Kaye tried calling her mother’s number, but there was no reply. She continued calling for the next two hours, without success. “Perhaps I should drive over and see if she’s all right,” she said worriedly to Jack.
“But she probably isn’t at home,” he pointed out. “If she were, she’d answer the phone, in case it was Paul.”
“That’s true.”
Sam and Bertie appeared, looking excited. “There’s a taxi drawing up,” Sam said. “My God, it’s Rhoda!”
“I’m out of here,” Bertie said at once.
“Stay where you are,” Sam ordered. “I’ll protect you with my life.”
Kaye pulled open the front door to her mother. Rhoda’s face was very pale, there were black smudges under her eyes and she regarded her daughter with hostility.
“Is he here?” she demanded without preamble. “Is Paul here?”
“Paul? No, of course not. You must know he isn’t welcome in this house.”
“But I know you took him to lunch. I thought perhaps you’d given him money to go away.”
“No, I refused to give him any money.”
“Then where is he? How can he just vanish like this?”
“Come and have some tea,” Kaye said. “And tell me what happened.”
Jack and Georgy joined them in the kitchen. Sam and Bertie hovered just outside. While she made the tea she was aware of Rhoda’s eyes on her, full of a mixture of anger and curiosity. It made her uncomfortable.
“He didn’t even say goodbye,” Rhoda complained. “Didn’t leave a letter, not a word—to me, who’s done everything for him.”
Kaye pitied her too deeply to say anything. When she handed Rhoda her tea her mother accepted it with a weary shrug. The fight seemed to have drained out of her.
“He walked out of that job, you know,” she said. “I told him he was crazy, but he said he couldn’t work for that man anymore.” After a moment she looked up to find Kaye regarding her with compassion. “They fired him, didn’t they?” she said, sighing.
“I’m afraid so,” Kaye said. Briefly she explained about the car. She spoke as gently as she could. She had no wish to hurt her mother. But Rhoda seemed beyond pain. For years she’d blinded herself to the truth about her darling, but now it all seemed to have overwhelmed her at once.
“Last time I saw him, he said you’d sold his clothes,” Kaye added, remembering.
“It was just after he lost the job. He kept on spending money, and the bills were coming in. I thought I could make him face reality, but he didn’t listen. It just made him hate me.”
Kaye tried to think of something to say, but only the truth would do, and the truth was too cruel.
“We had rows,” Rhoda said. “And I’d look in his eyes and see that he hated me.”
She sounded bewildered. All the years of spoiling him, overlooking his faults, making him her king, all come to this.
The telephone shrilled. Kaye answered it and received a shock.
“Hi, sis!” Paul had never sounded chirpier.
“Paul, where on earth are you?” she demanded.
“In Monte Carlo.”
As soon as he said it Kaye knew the whole truth, knew that Paul would do anything rather than work for a living, knew how he’d intended to “solve her problems.” In fact, it should have been obvious as soon as he and Elsie both disappeared at the same time. But who would have expected something so outrageous—even from this pair?
“What are you doing there?” she asked carefully.
“I’ll give you one guess. I went to see Elsie, to apologize for that night, and...one thing just led to another.”
“Which you always meant to happen.”
“Of course. Why not? She’s loaded.”
“I can’t believe you’ve done this,” she breathed.
“Oh, come on, sis, take your moral hat off. I’ve got you out of a hole. Elsie’s gone right off the idea of having Georgy back. She’s taken fifteen years off her age, and now that I’m here the last thing she wants is a daughter who looks grown-up. Anyway, what court would rule in her favor now?”
It was all true. Dazed, Kaye realized that Paul’s action, selfish and vulgar though it might be, had swept away every practical problem.
“I told you I’d get you off the hook,” he said cheerily. “You didn’t believe me, but I did it. Call it my thank-you for aU you’ve ever done for me.”
“What’s he saying?” Rhoda demanded. “Where is he? Give me that phone.”
Kaye handed it to her and went to stand by Jack and Georgy.
“What’s happened?” Jack asked, alarmed by her shocked face.
“Paul’s gone to Monte Carlo,” Kaye said, her eyes on Georgy. She touched the girl’s arm gently. “He’s with Elsie.”
“Mom?” Georgy said slowly. “Paul’s living with Mom?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Her heart was torn with compassion for the girl, little more than a child, who’d received such an ugly shock. But she hadn’t allowed for Georgy’s upbringing, or the natural resilience of youth. Instead of bursting into tears, Georgy expressed her feelings in one forceful word.
“Yuck!”
“I’m sorry, darling,” Jack said, his arm about her shoulders. “I know you were fond of him—”
“Fond of him? Daddy, he’s a nerd.”
Kaye blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“I had to make him take me out that night. He kept worrying in case we got caught. And only a nerd would let you lock him out of the car the way you did. I ask you!”
“Hey, what became of Romeo and Juliet?” Kaye demanded.
“Oh, well...” Georgy’s shrug implied that there were conventions to these things, that sheer self-respect demanded that she conceal her disillusionment with Paul from her “olds.”
“Still,” Jack said cautiously, “I know it’s not nice for you to think of your mother—”
Georgy shrugged. “She’s had toyboys before. At least Paul’s not as young as Nico.”
“That’s fortunate,” Jack said faintly.
Rhoda had reached the stage of shouting.
“That woman insulted me and you’re shacking up with her? You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You get right back here—Don’t you talk to me like that—”
“Excuse me,” Georgy said, taking the receiver from Rhoda’s hand. “Paul? Get a life!”
She hung up.
Chapter Twelve
The household was jubilant. Aft
er the long anxiety the nightmare was over. It took one meeting with Charles Sedgeway to confirm what they already knew.
“Mrs. Masefield has withdrawn her application for custody,” he said, showing them the letter, “which, in any case, couldn’t have been successful after this. It all seems to have worked out pretty neatly.”
Jack and Kaye celebrated with a champagne lunch and agreed that it had, indeed, worked out neatly. For a couple of hours they smiled and said all the right things, but secretly each was becoming aware of a sense of dismay.
“What am I doing here?” Kaye asked Bertie. “Elsie’s off the scene, and Georgy’s happy to stay here now.”
“She’s still going to need a good mother,” Bertie pointed out.
“Yes, but she’s growing up so fast—I was looking forward to Jack and I taking her on vacation, but she’s got this school friend whose parents are cruising the Norwegian fjords, and they’ve invited Georgy to fly out and join them. She wants to go, and Jack’s agreed.”
“But Jack still needs you, darling,” Bertie said.
“Does he?” Kaye asked wistfully. “What for?”
“Dad!” Georgy’s head appeared around Jack’s bedroom door.
“The answer’s no,” he said hastily.
“But you don’t know what I want.”
“When you use that wheedling tone my antennae go into alarm mode,” he said wryly. “What do you want that I’m, not going to like you wanting?”
“You’ve got a suspicious mind.” Georgy came right into the room and bounced on the bed.
“It’s the effect of living with you.”
“I’m packing for Norway. I only want to borrow your olive green silk scarf. It’ll look great if I wear it as a belt with my cream dress.”
“If that’s really all, yes, you can. It should be in one of those drawers, over there.”
Georgy began to turn out the drawers, tossing the contents onto the bed with gay abandon. “Don’t worry, I’ll put it all back afterward,” she assured him.
“I was afraid of that,” he said with a grin.
“Honestly, anybody would think I was untidy or something,” Georgy complained. “Are you sure it’s in this drawer?”
“I said one of those drawers.”