Rules for a Successful Book Club (The Book Lovers 2)

by Victoria Connelly

  Maureen gave a tiny smile. ‘I told him not to get involved with you.’

  ‘I don’t blame you.’

  The two women looked at each other.

  ‘I shouldn’t have told him that,’ Maureen said.

  ‘You were protecting your son. I would have done the same thing’

  Maureen pursed her lips before speaking again. ‘You see, I’ve seen this before. With Jago’s father,’ she told Polly. ‘My Murray used to hit me. Got clever about it too. Only striking in places which wouldn’t be visible.’

  Polly felt tears pricking her eyes. ‘The first time Sean hit me was on the cheek, but he got wise to that too. There must be a guidebook somewhere for men like them. How to hit your wife without being found out.’

  ‘Yes,’ Maureen said. ‘But they can’t make you hide that look in your eyes. That haunted look that women like us have.’

  Polly looked at her questioningly.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Maureen said. ‘You have it too. I recognised it as soon as I met you.’

  ‘But nobody’s ever guessed.’

  ‘Are you sure about that?’

  ‘Well, nobody’s ever said anything.’

  ‘That’s not the same thing though, is it?’ Maureen said. ‘I bet your mother knows or at least suspects something.’

  Polly thought about it. All those times her mother had asked her if everything was all right. Had she suspected something? Had she only kept her distance out of respect for her daughter’s privacy?

  ‘Sean’s worse than I remembered,’ Polly confessed now. ‘I’m not sure what I was expecting. But I really thought he might have changed. Isn’t that stupid of me?’

  ‘They don’t change,’ Maureen said. ‘It’s something deep down inside them and you’ll never root it out.’

  A wave of emotion hit Polly and she began to cry again.

  ‘It’s okay, my love,’ Maureen said, holding her gently. ‘He’s gone now and we’ll make sure you only ever see him again in court.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  ‘I’m taking you straight to the hospital,’ Maureen told Polly after she’d winced for the third time at the breakfast table the next morning.

  ‘I’m just sore,’ Polly insisted.

  ‘Better to know for sure,’ Maureen said, ‘and we’ll go straight to the police station after that. You need to report this, Polly.’

  The Priors and the Solomons had been unofficially watching 3 Church Green throughout the preceding evening and all of that Saturday morning, but there was no sign of Sean for which everybody was grateful.

  Jago stayed at home with Archie and Dickens whilst Maureen took Polly out and, once everyone was safely back in the afternoon and had had a light lunch, Jago and Polly went for a walk with Dickens.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ Jago asked as they walked down the lane behind the church.

  ‘Nothing’s broken,’ she said.

  ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ he said, ‘but that’s not what I meant.’

  Polly climbed a stile after Dickens had shot over it, pulling a face as she did so. There were no bones broken, she thought, but there were bruises galore. Deep, painful bruises.

  ‘I’m okay,’ she assured him.

  ‘He’ll pay for what he did to you,’ Jago said.

  ‘He’ll be long gone by now.’

  ‘How can you be sure?’

  ‘Because he’s good at that. He’s good at disappearing.’

  ‘As long as he never shows his sorry face here again,’ Jago said as he followed her over the stile. ‘I won’t let him get close to you again, Polly, you can be sure of that. I saw what my mum went through with my father. She told you about him, didn’t she?’

  Polly nodded.

  ‘Well, I won’t let that happen to you.’

  The field opened out before them in shades of green that always astonished Polly each spring, and a cool wind caressed them. It felt good to be outdoors. After spending the entire morning in the hospital and then the police station, she was glad to be breathing in fresh air and glorying in simple sights like the sky-reflecting puddles that littered their path.

  Jago took her hand and smiled at her and tears instantly rose in her eyes at his sweetness.

  ‘Sorry,’ she said.

  ‘It’s okay.’

  ‘I feel a bit strange.’ She wiped the tears as they fell.

  ‘You don’t need to apologise. You’ve been through hell.’

  She took a deep breath. ‘I thought I could make things work. I wanted it to work for Archie. I wanted Archie to have his father.’

  ‘He doesn’t need a father like Sean.’

  Polly nodded. ‘No, you’re right. I saw that straightaway too. Archie was terrified of him. He wouldn’t even look at him. And I don’t think Sean was really interested in being a father anyway. I don’t know why he came back.’

  ‘Let’s hope he’s gone for good now,’ Jago said, ‘but we need to make that legal, right? You need to talk to people about this. You have to protect yourself and Archie.’

  ‘I know.’

  They walked on across the field, their boots now covered in shiny mud. The trees were still bare but the sun was shining and Dickens was finding plenty to enjoy with the animal scents he was following.

  ‘It was my fault,’ Polly suddenly said.

  ‘What was?’

  ‘The attack. It was my fault.’

  ‘How can you say that?’

  She shrugged. ‘I don’t like the person I become when he’s around. He changes me. I feel anxious – as if I’m waiting for things to kick off and I’m trying to appease him all the time. Either that or I’m baiting him and I couldn’t stop last night. I kept picking at him, goading him. I think I was trying to make him hit me so I could throw him out. I needed something final. Does that make sense?’

  ‘Nothing that man did to you was your fault, Polly. You know that, don’t you?’

  They stood still for a moment beside a long hedgerow white with blackthorn blossom.

  ‘I know,’ Polly said at last.

  Jago ran a hand through his hair. ‘I want to be with you, Polly,’ he said. ‘I think I should be with you. How about I stay with you and Archie at yours?’

  ‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I need to be with my son for a while. Just us.’

  ‘I don’t like the idea of you at that house. The thought of Sean turning up whenever he wants is freaking me out.’

  ‘We’re going to stay at my parents’,’ she announced.

  ‘Won’t that be the first place he looks for you if he comes back?’

  ‘Probably. If he comes back, but I don’t think he will and at least I’ll feel safe there.’

  ‘You know you’re more than welcome to stay with us for as long as you want.’

  ‘We can’t do that. You’ll begrudge us if you have to spend another night on the sofa.’

  ‘No I won’t. I like knowing you’re nearby.’

  ‘We’ll only be at Campion House. It’s not too far away.’

  ‘It won’t be the same,’ he told her.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Do you want me to come with you and help you pack some more things?’

  ‘We’ll be okay.’

  ‘You sure?’

  Polly nodded. As much as she dreaded going back into the house, she knew she had to face it and it would be better if she did it on her own.

  They walked around the edge of the field, following the circuit back to the village and popping Dickens on his lead once they reached the church. They walked in silence and Archie ran to greet them as they entered the hallway.

  ‘We’ve made cookies!’ he shouted as Polly grabbed hold of Dickens to rub him down with a towel which Jago had ready by the door.

  ‘Aren’t you clever?’ she said, luxuriating in the wonderful smell coming from the kitchen.

  ‘He’s a natural, you know,’ Maureen said. ‘Proper little cook.’

  ‘You can help Grandma in the kitchen,
’ Polly told him. ‘We’re heading over there now.’

  ‘You’re going?’ Maureen said.

  ‘But we’ve just made cookies!’ Archie cried.

  ‘Yes, you can’t go now,’ Jago said.

  ‘Have a cup of tea and a cookie first, okay?’ Maureen said.

  Polly was feeling tearful again and felt like she needed to get away. She thought of her bedroom at Campion House and how her mother had always kept it the same. It was always there for whenever she needed it like when she’d come back from university and after she’d been teaching abroad. She hadn’t needed the room recently, but she wanted it more than ever now. She wanted to walk through that familiar door and close it behind her and sit on the bed and cry.

  ‘Polly? A cup of tea and a cookie?’ Maureen repeated and Polly nodded.

  ‘Do we have to go, Mum?’

  ‘Yes, darling.’

  Archie gave a great sigh as he sat down in the living room. ‘I want to stay with Jago.’

  ‘Don’t you want to see your grandparents and great-grandparents?’

  ‘Yes, but not just yet. We’ll see them tomorrow, won’t we?’

  ‘We’re going to see them today, Archie,’ Polly said, her voice firmer now.

  ‘Here you are,’ Maureen said as she handed out the cookies and went to make the tea.

  Before Jago sat down, he looked out of the living room window. ‘All quiet,’ he said.

  ‘I wish you’d stop doing that,’ Polly said. ‘It’s making me nervous.’

  ‘It makes me nervous not doing it,’ he told her.

  ‘I don’t want him to come back,’ Archie said.

  ‘He won’t,’ Polly told him.

  ‘He hurt you, Mummy.’

  Without warning, Polly shot up off the sofa and left the room.

  ‘Polly?’ Jago called after her, following her as she ran upstairs. ‘Hey!’

  She ran into his room and then turned back, confused, her eyes filling with tears. ‘I shouldn’t be here. This is your room.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ he told her.

  She shook her head. ‘I need to go.’

  ‘Okay.’ He reached a hand towards her.

  ‘I need some space. Please.’ Without looking at him, she returned downstairs. ‘Archie, we’re going.’

  Maureen was by her side in a moment.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Polly said.

  ‘It’s all right. Listen,’ Maureen said, ‘I know what you’re going through. You’ve got to be with your boy. Put him and yourself first and don’t worry about anybody else. We’re here for you if you need us.’ Maureen opened her arms and embraced Polly and it was all she could do to hold herself together.

  ‘You’ve been so kind to us.’

  ‘No need for any of that. It’s what anybody would have done,’ Maureen said.

  ‘Tell Jago I’m sorry,’ Polly said.

  ‘He understands.’

  Polly called Dickens to her and sent Archie upstairs to collect their things together. She heard him talking to Jago but he came downstairs on his own a moment later and for that she was grateful.

  ‘Ready?’ she said.

  He nodded but he didn’t look happy.

  ‘Thank you,’ Polly said to Maureen before leaving the house and crossing the green towards her own.

  Her hands were shaking as she popped the key into the lock, but she was determined not to show her fear in front of Archie. She had to be strong.

  ‘Pack as if you were going on holiday for a whole week,’ she told him as soon as they were inside.

  ‘When are we coming back?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ she said honestly as she walked into the kitchen. Archie followed her and gasped as he saw the mess. There was broken crockery on the floor and paper everywhere. Archie bent down to pick one of the papers up.

  ‘Careful!’ Polly shouted. ‘There’s broken glass everywhere.’ She got hold of Dickens’s collar and sent him into the living room before he cut his paws.

  ‘It’s your book club papers,’ Archie said when she came back, handing the piece of paper to her and she remembered the look of pure hatred on Sean’s face as he’d taken her well-ordered notes and started ripping them up.

  ‘Why did he do that?’ Archie asked.

  ‘He was mad.’

  ‘At you?’

  ‘At me. At life. At everything.’

  They looked around at the devastation before them and, in that moment, Polly knew that leaving Church Green was the right thing to do. But where would she go? She’d lived there ever since she’d got married, but the thought of staying there now was quite unbearable. Every time she’d walk into the kitchen, she’d see Sean standing over her, ready to strike her, and she hated the idea of spending even a single night in the bedroom they’d shared.

  Archie put the piece of paper on the table and gave his mum a hug which brought fresh tears to her eyes.

  ‘Let’s go, eh?’ she whispered to him.

  Polly had rung her mother before they arrived at Campion House and told her what had been going on, and Eleanor Nightingale was on the doorstep to greet them, wrapping them both up in a huge hug and showering them with kisses.

  Archie took Dickens out into the garden together with Hardy and Brontë and then Eleanor led Polly into the living room.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’ Eleanor asked as soon as they sat down. Her face was pale and anxious and Polly could tell that her mother had been crying.

  ‘I was trying to work things out,’ Polly said.

  ‘You shouldn’t have struggled through this on your own,’ Eleanor said.

  ‘But it was my marriage, my problems.’

  ‘Polly! We’re a family. Families help each other through problems. You know that. That’s my job as your mother – to help you.’

  Polly looked down at her lap, suddenly feeling ashamed at having shut her family out.

  ‘It had been going on for a while, hadn’t it?’ Eleanor asked. ‘Was he violent from the very beginning?’

  ‘Not before we were married,’ Polly said. ‘There were flashes of anger, but he seemed to be more in control of it then. But not this time. It was as if he had years of resentment built up inside him and it all unleashed at once.’

  Her mother nodded and reached out a hand to gently stroke Polly’s cheek. ‘Look what he’s done to you!’

  ‘I’m okay.’

  ‘You’ve seen a doctor?’

  Polly nodded. ‘I’m fine, Mum, really. I just need to be quiet for a while.’

  ‘I’ve made your bed up. I’ve put Archie in Sam and Josh’s old room.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  The door to the living room was pushed open as her father and Grandpa Joe came in. Polly got up to greet them.

  ‘My own darling Polly!’

  ‘Grandpa! Hey, Dad!’

  They all embraced and Polly felt so incredibly lucky to have these wonderful men in her life with their safe arms to fall into whenever life got tough.

  ‘I can’t believe it. I simply can’t believe it,’ Grandpa Joe said as they all sat down together.

  ‘If he ever dares show his face around these parts again–’ Frank began.

  ‘You will do nothing,’ Eleanor interrupted. ‘Nothing but call the police, that is.’

  ‘Where’s Grandma?’ Polly asked.

  ‘In the bedroom,’ Grandpa said.

  ‘Is she okay? I mean, does she know?’

  ‘We told her,’ Eleanor said, ‘and she seemed to understand.’

  ‘Seemed to?’ Grandpa Joe said. ‘She called Sean a nasty brute and said he should be horse-whipped!’

  Polly smiled at that.

  ‘You look exhausted, darling,’ Eleanor said. ‘How about taking your things up to your room and I’ll make us a cup of tea?’

  ‘That sounds perfect,’ Polly said.

  Her father helped her bring her things in from the car which included two suitcases, a dog basket and Archie’s guitar.

&
nbsp; ‘I’ll leave you to settle in,’ her father said as he gave her a gentle hug before leaving the room. Polly closed the door after him and walked across to the window, looking out at the view of the garden which she had grown up with and loved so much. The sweep of lawn led down towards the fruit trees at the foot of the garden under which a wonderful display of crocuses was blooming with yellow, purple and white blooms all jostling for attention.

  Turning back into the room, Polly looked at her old bed, freshly made up with pink and white toile de jouy bedding and a heap of pretty white cushions. Her mother had picked a bunch of daffodils and had placed them on the bedside table. Polly sat down on the bed now and looked around her. As the eldest, she had had the luxury of her own room. Bryony had shared with Lara, and Sam and Josh had shared the one Archie would be staying in.

  Beside the daffodils, Polly noticed that a copy of Rosamunde Pilcher’s The Shell Seekers had been left out. It was one of Polly’s favourite novels. Her mother’s too. They used to talk for hours about it and it was sweet of her mother to leave it out for her now so that she could dip into that safe fictional world and escape the horrors of the real one. Polly might well be a mother in her thirties, but she would always be a daughter too, and her mother would always be there to look out for her.

  A gentle tap on the door roused her from her thoughts.

  ‘I’ve brought you a cup of tea,’ her mother said as she walked into the room.

  ‘Thanks,’ Polly said as she took hold of the pretty china mug.

  ‘You settling in okay? Got everything you need?’

  ‘You mean like a good lawyer?’

  ‘Oh, Polly!’ Eleanor said, sitting down on the bed beside her. ‘I guess it’s something you’ll have to think about. What’s happening with the police?’

  Polly sighed. She’d had a call just as she’d got in the car to drive to Campion House.

  ‘They went down to the marina to look for Sean’s boat, but it had gone,’ she said. ‘They found his car, though. It was only hired. So they’ve not really got much to go on.’

  ‘We’ll get some legal advice,’ Eleanor told her. ‘Don’t you worry – we’ll make sure this is all sorted.’

  ‘You mean a divorce?’

  ‘A divorce and legal custody of Archie.’

  Polly nodded. It was the right thing to do, of course, but it was still a shock to think that she was getting divorced.