As he got nearer to the little group, Tom continued to chatter to himself, his voice a mingling of sadness and anger. ‘I’m no fool, Joe. Don’t think I didn’t see how you were, the first time you saw Alice. I’m sure you didn’t mean it to happen. I know you would never do anything to hurt your brother. That’s why you put a distance between yourself and Alice, but I can see now, you still have feelings for her.’
His voice hardened. ‘Remember, son…Alice and Frank are to be wed on Saturday, and you’ll be there to hand over the ring. In the eyes of the Lord and all that’s legal, they’ll be man and wife, and like it or not, you’ll be expected to give them your blessing.’
There was nothing more he wanted than to have all his family together. But thankfully, that was not about to happen. Besides, with two men, living under the same roof and wanting the same woman? His old heart sank. That would be a recipe for trouble, and no mistake!
‘Tom!’ Alice came running up the path to meet him. ‘Look! Joe’s here!’ Taking him by the hand, they approached Nancy and Joe, Alice all the while chattering excitedly. ‘I knew he wouldn’t let us down.’
Thrilled that at long last he was here to be Frank’s best man at their wedding, Alice reached up to kiss him on the cheek. ‘I forgot to thank you, Joe.’
‘Joe found an injured falcon,’ she informed them. ‘He’s made it safe in his old rabbit hutch.’
Joe was quick to hug his dad. ‘It’s really good to see you and Mum,’ he said fondly. ‘You’re both looking well.’
‘So are you, son, and I’ll want to know all about your travels later on.’ For now, he was interested in Joe’s find. ‘What’s all this about an injured falcon?’
‘Looks like a young one,’ Joe explained. ‘We’ve put a splint on its wing and bedded it down with a dish of water.’ He glanced towards the barn, ‘Given a few days I reckon it’ll be just fine.’
Tom grinned. ‘You haven’t changed, son,’ he said fondly. ‘You always did have a soft spot for anything injured.’
Glancing at his parents, Joe thought they hadn’t aged a day since he last saw them. ‘Look, Dad…Mum, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it earlier…’ he apologised. ‘Only…I had things to do…’
‘We understand, Joe love, and it’s all right. All that matters is that you’re home for the wedding,’ Nancy said warmly.
‘I’m glad to be here,’ Joe answered, though having seen Alice again, he suddenly wasn’t so sure.
Just a short while ago, he had started to feel more confident about being here. Until Alice had kissed him. With the warmth of her lips still burning his face, he realised more than ever how coming back here was a bad mistake.
But it was too late now. For all sorts of reasons.
Not a man for hugging, Tom gave his son a fond pat on the back. ‘Come on in, son. You can tell us what you’ve been up to.’
As the two of them went ahead, Nancy and Alice followed just a few steps behind.
Once inside the farmhouse, there was a real air of excitement. ‘Shall I go and get Frank?’ Alice asked eagerly. ‘He’s setting out the fencing posts in the top field.’
Tom thought that was a good idea. ‘Although, that fence needs finishing, but I expect you’d best run off and fetch him. No doubt he’ll be keen to see his brother. Matter o’ fact, he might want to take him into Bedford.’ He noticed how Joe had only a canvas bag, which was strung over his shoulder and appeared to be half empty. ‘Happen Joe might need to buy a new shirt or two?’
Nancy was having none of it, ‘Frank is not taking him anywhere! At least not yet. Joe’s only just arrived. He must be worn out and hungry. Let him rest while I get us all something to eat.’
Turning to Alice, she informed her, ‘Oh, and by the way, Frank isn’t in the top field. I saw him earlier on. By the manner of his route, I imagine he was away to plough the rough area down by the brook.’
Alice thanked her. ‘I won’t be long,’ she promised. ‘I’ll tell him he’s to come home, and that we’re all taking time out for something to eat…is that all right?’
Nancy smiled. ‘That’s it. Oh, and don’t you forget what I said…no paddling in the brook. You might frighten the ducks.’
At that Alice laughed. ‘They don’t mind me,’ she said.
While Joe was watching the two women, Tom noticed how Joe’s gaze was instinctively drawn to Alice. Just before, when Alice thanked Joe with that innocent little kiss on the cheek, Tom sensed it had unsettled him.
It was nothing glaringly obvious, and it didn’t seem to have attracted anyone’s notice as such. Even Alice herself had not realised the effects of that grateful little kiss.
Tom had felt it though; just like before when Joe was first introduced to Alice. There was a kind of undercurrent; a strong, palpable presence that wrapped the two of them together and excluded everyone else from the room.
It was a dangerous thing, and one that deeply worried him.
It was painfully obvious to Tom that his youngest son still harboured strong feelings for his brother’s woman. If anything, his absence had only fuelled the need in him.
He was grateful that for the moment at least, both Alice and Nancy had failed to sense anything untoward.
The truth was, he didn’t really know how to deal with it, other than sending his son away; right now, with the wedding so near and everyone excitedly looking forward to it, that was no easy option. Besides, he didn’t have the heart to do such a thing.
All he could do was keep a close eye on things, because one thing was certain. Here was a worrying situation, which could easily escalate out of hand.
Emotions were powerful things. They could cripple a man.
And sometimes, however hard that man might try, it was hard to keep control.
CHAPTER TWO
CALLING AS SHE ran, Alice went like the wind over the rise and on down to the brook. ‘Frank!’ She could see him in the distance, but he was too far away to hear her.
Quickly she ran towards him, her feet hardly touching the ground as she sped along. ‘Frank! Joe’s here!’ Her cries were lost to the elements.
Reaching the brook, she tore off her shoes and, holding them one in each hand, splashed her way through the cool water. When the water deepened, she climbed out to run the rest of the way, quickly closing the distance between her and Frank.
‘Frank!’ Unaware of her approach, he was intent on trying to start the tractor.
‘Frank, Joe’s here!’ She continued to shout his name.
Suddenly Frank turned and saw her. He saw how the wind had whipped up the red in her cheeks and he saw how anxious she seemed. ‘Alice!’ He went at the run towards her. ‘Why are you here? What’s happened?’ When, breathless and soaked to the waist, she ran into his arms, he feared the worst. ‘Alice! What’s wrong?’ His concern heightened when she was unable to catch her breath and speak.
‘He’s here!’ Gasping, she laughed up at him. ‘I’ve been sent to fetch you!’
Holding her at arm’s length, Frank demanded, ‘Who’s here? Who sent you to fetch me?’
‘Nancy! Your mother!!’ Having taken a long, deep breath she laughed out loud. ‘Joe’s here! He arrived just now; Nancy said I was to come and get you.’
When Frank didn’t respond, Alice asked worriedly, ‘Aren’t you pleased? I though you wanted Joe for your best man. Wasn’t that why you tracked him down, so you could ask him?’
‘Well o’course!’ Reassuring her, Frank drew Alice to him. ‘There’s nobody more thrilled than me to have him home for the wedding.’ Though now he was actually here, Frank was not so sure.
Pushing Alice away he took note of her flushed face, and the manner in which her wet dress clung to every curve. He felt a surge of anger. ‘For God’s sake…look at you! You’re soaked to the skin!’ For some inexplicable reason he resented her excitement at Joe’s arrival.
Grabbing his coat from the tractor, he threw it roughly round her shoulders. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ h
e demanded. ‘What have I told you about going in the brook? Why didn’t you send Jimmy down to find me?’
‘I didn’t know where Jimmy was.’ Her spirit deflated by his surly attitude, Alice spoke quietly. ‘I haven’t seen him.’
Seeing how her smile had fallen away, Frank was quick to apologise. ‘Sorry, Alice…it’s just that I hoped to get this work finished, and now I’ve got trouble with the damned tractor.’
Alice shrugged. ‘It’s all right, I understand.’ All the same, she was surprised at his sudden mood change.
‘I sent Jimmy to the barn to see if he could start the old tractor and fetch it down,’ he explained. ‘Oh, I know the old banger’s about had its day, but if he can start it, we might just manage to get this job done.’ His voice hardened. ‘That was over an hour ago, and he’s still not back!’
He glanced about. ‘Where the hell is he? You know what? I’m beginning to think he’s not up to farm work. I swear if he doesn’t soon buck up his ideas, I’ll kick his lazy arse out of it! I gave him a warning a couple of days ago, when I found him asleep in the hedgerow, and now you say he can’t be found, eh? Well, this is the last straw!’
‘I didn’t say he can’t be found,’ Alice corrected him, ‘I said I hadn’t seen him.’
‘Same thing!’
Just then, from somewhere in the distance, they heard the sound of an engine spluttering and coughing. ‘Would you believe it!’ Frank stretched his neck to see. Pointing to the plume of dark smoke rising through the air, he laughed out loud. ‘Well, I’m damned! He managed to get her going!’
Alice wasn’t sure if the time was right to remind him, but she did anyway. ‘What about Joe? He’s come back like you asked him, and Nancy said for you to come home, because she’s making us all a bite to eat.’
‘I can’t leave now!’ He scowled. ‘Surely you can see that?’
‘So, what will I tell her?’
Frank grew impatient. ‘Tell her whatever you like.’ He started running towards the tractor. ‘Joe won’t mind,’ he shouted. ‘He’ll not be going anywhere.’
Throwing off his jacket, Alice ran after him, but having just dashed all the way there and with a wet skirt lapping round her legs, she could hardly keep up. ‘Can’t you get Jimmy to hold the fort for an hour?’ she called back.
Coming to a halt, Frank waited for her to catch up. ‘Get Jimmy to hold the fort…that idiot?’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Use your common sense! Just tell them I can’t come back right now. If we don’t get on, the tractor might stop and if that happens, we’re buggered!’
He gave her a dismissive kiss on the mouth, before running on up the hill. ‘Don’t push her too hard, you damned fool!’ she heard him yelling at Jimmy. ‘It’s been a while since she were started up!’
He waited for Jimmy to get alongside. ‘Took you long enough, didn’t it?’ Frank grumbled. ‘Get down from there!’
Jimmy climbed down. It was not a graceful thing to see, for Jimmy Slater was a man of slow habit. Thick-built, he was not the most intelligent man on earth, nor the prettiest.
With his hair receding from a high forehead, he had a long, thick pony-tail which hung partway down his back. His bottom lip was wet and drooping and his big lolloping eyes were unnerving if they caught you in their sights.
‘I never thought I’d get it started.’ Covered from head to toe in patches of grease and oil, Jimmy Slater looked a comical figure.
After saying hello to Jimmy, Alice took her leave. ‘I’m sure I don’t know what’s got into him,’ she muttered as she went. ‘I’ve never seen him in such a bad mood.’ But knowing how important it was to get the ploughing done, she put it out of her mind.
All the same, by the time she arrived at the farmhouse, Alice was unusually low in spirit. ‘He’s right about Jimmy though,’ she admitted as she came up the path. ‘He is a bit of a daydream at times. I don’t suppose you can blame Frank for not trusting him with the ploughing.’
She said the very same when Nancy asked where Frank was. ‘Frank will be along soon as he can.’ She relayed Frank’s message word for word.
Nancy was more concerned about Alice. ‘I don’t need to ask how you got soaked,’ she tutted. ‘Away upstairs and into some of my old dry clothes before you catch your death o’ cold!’
Alice apologised. ‘I got soaked because I went the quickest way, and I went the quickest way because I needed to find Frank,’ Alice explained.
‘You should never wade through the brook,’ Nancy warned. ‘There are sharp stones and bits of debris lying at the bottom. You could have hurt yourself.’
‘Leave the girl be!’ Tom chipped in. He thought there were times when Nancy could be a bit too sharp. ‘Alice is a grown woman, about to be wed for goodness’ sake. Don’t treat her like a naughty child.’
Having only Alice’s welfare at heart, Nancy was mortified. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Alice. Sometimes I let my tongue run away with me.’
Alice gave her a hug, ‘It’s really nice that you worry about me,’ she said gently. ‘I’ll go and get changed.’
Out the corner of her eye she could see Joe standing by the window, a cup of steaming tea in his hand and a mischievous look on his face. When their eyes met, he gave a reassuring smile.
Returning the smile, Alice made her way towards the stairs.
A short while later Alice returned, washed and dried; her hair tied back in a ribbon, and looking fresh in a pale cream-coloured dress with floral collar and wide belt. ‘Oh, Alice! You look pretty as a picture! I remember that dress from when I was young.’ Nancy ushered her to the table. ‘Now then, I’ve made you a cup of honey and hot milk. You’re to drink it straight down and no arguments, ‘cause it’ll keep the chills away!’
Outside, Tom and Joe were deep in conversation. Settling Alice at the table, Nancy drew Alice’s gaze to where the two men were sitting under the beech tree. ‘Tom’s eager to know what our Joe’s been up to, and Joe needs to know that we’re all right.’
A look of pride lit her homely features. ‘Joe’s been a fine son to us,’ she confided. ‘Oh, it’s not to say our Frank isn’t also a good lad, because of course he is. Only they have a different way of dealing with things.’
Curious, Alice asked her, ‘How do you mean?’
Nancy had a heart full of love for both her sons, but she was careful in her reply. ‘They’re different in nature, that’s all,’ she answered cagily.
‘In what way?’ Alice asked curiously.
Nancy thought about that. ‘Well now, let me see.’ She parked herself in the chair opposite Alice. ‘They’re both hard-working, and they’ve each got their good points,’ she emphasised. ‘But y’see, Joe is more a thinker than Frank; although I’m not altogether sure his dad would agree. What I mean is that our Joe will examine a problem from all angles before he makes a decision, while Frank is more impatient and impulsive. He’ll only see what he wants to see. He’ll often dive in at the deep end without weighing up the consequences first.’
She laughed. ‘He was the same as a boy…put the fear of God in me at times, he did!’
Almost oblivious to Alice’s presence, she began to reminisce. ‘I recall when Tom had his new fork lift delivered. Joe was only a toddler, while Frank was coming up to his sixth birthday. I was in the kitchen and I’d put young Joe outside in the wooden playpen…lovely thing it was. His dad made it for him.’
She hesitated, her face drawn up in a deep frown. ‘When I wasn’t looking, Frank carried his brother to the truck and tied him on to the forks. ‘Course little Joe thought it was all a game. When I saw what had happened, I ran out. By the time I got there, Frank was already in the driving seat, trying to start the engine.’ She gave a great heavy sigh. ‘It nearly gave me a heart attack!’
Having learned a little about the mechanics on a farm, Alice was horrified. ‘If Frank had started the engine and the forks had gone up, Joe could have been badly injured!’ She knew that much.
Nancy agreed, though
she had never seen it as a deliberately cruel prank, more as Frank’s little game to amuse his baby brother.
She said so now. ‘Of course, Frank didn’t realise that Joe could have been injured,’ she said. ‘But his father was horrified. He gave Frank a bit of a spanking and put him to bed.’
Nancy chuckled. ‘He went wild, kicking and yelling, and wanting to come down. But his father said he was to stay there until he realised that what he had done was dangerous. Later on Frank apologised, and nothing like that ever happened again. Like I say…Frank’s a fine man but as a boy, he did have a bit of a temper.’ She could have said more. Instead, she turned her mind to other things.
Taking hold of Alice’s hand, she wrapped her two hands around it. ‘You’ll be so good for him, Alice,’ she said quietly. ‘You have a calming nature, and I’ve never known anyone to be so kind of heart. Oh! and you have such spirit, for a little thing!’
She looked down into Alice’s remarkable dark-blue eyes and she was convinced that here was a young woman who would be a match for Frank; not in a bullish way, but with her quiet, loving nature.
‘I’m so glad he met you,’ she told Alice. ‘There’s no one else I’d rather see him spend his life with.’
Afraid she might have said too much, Nancy was quick to assure Alice. ‘Frank adores the ground you walk on, did you know that?’
‘Yes, I know that,’ Alice said. ‘And I think the world of him too.’
Relieved, Nancy went on. ‘He’ll make a fine husband, like he’s been a fine son. To tell the truth, me and his dad don’t know what we’d have done without him this past year, what with Joe having gone away so sudden.’
‘Joe’s back now though,’ Alice pointed out. ‘Maybe he won’t ever go away again.’
‘I’m glad he’s back,’ Nancy admitted. ‘But to be honest, I’m not altogether sure he’ll stay.’
Blood Brothers Page 3