Blood Brothers

by Josephine Cox

  When she remained silent, he changed tack. ‘It’s not like you to be so inconsiderate, and besides, I’ve waited all morning to see my beautiful Alice in her wedding gown. Please, dear…come on out…for me, eh?’

  Inside the bedroom, Alice remained seated at the dressing table. Her head was bowed as she relived her night with Joe. Until this morning, she had managed to convince herself she was doing the right thing, but now the doubts were beginning to creep in.

  ‘Alice!’ The sound of her father growing angry made her panic. ‘Alice, I need you to come out of there, this very minute!’ He coaxed her in softer voice, ‘Grandad and Grandma Beck have been sitting in their car for a good ten minutes or so. You know Grandad has had a poorly spell of late, so it really isn’t fair to leave them waiting like that.’ He knocked on the door a little harder. ‘Alice…please!’

  Slowly the door inched open, and when she emerged, he was visibly shocked, ‘Oh, my dear…you look amazing.’

  Taking Alice’s hands in his, he walked her towards him, his eyes alight with pride. ‘Is this really little Alice Jacobs?’ he asked brokenly, ‘my little girl, all grown up and looking like a princess?’

  Seeing her like this had been a real jolt for him. She had always been the tomboy; climbing trees and running wild, with nothing and no one able to tame her, and now he could hardly believe what he was seeing. ‘You’re so lovely my dear.’ His eyes welled with tears. ‘My little Alice…amazing. Absolutely amazing!’

  The high-necked ivory gown had been her mother’s choice. Fitted at the waist and billowed to the hem, it was somewhat heavy for Alice’s slight figure, but even so she carried it with a certain unique quality that only she could. The flowing, figured veil that might easily have swamped her, instead exaggerated her fine features and shining dark-blue eyes.

  Her long hair, which naturally hung loose and wild, was bound with pink flower-clips and wound into a spray of curls at the top of her head with a wide band of veil threading it all together.

  It was not her mother’s choice of dress that brought about the beauty in Alice. Instead, the beauty was in her warm nature and in the quality of spirit that shone from her.

  Maureen too, was forced to admit, ‘You really do make a lovely bride, my dear.’ Splendid and regal, she led the way.

  ‘I’m ready now, Father.’ Calmed by his presence and made confident by his heartfelt remarks, Alice felt able to face the day.

  ‘I’m proud of you, my dear,’ he whispered as he walked her to the car. ‘Every man in that church will envy me, having you for a daughter.’

  At this moment in time, he imagined he could forgive her anything.

  He had no way of knowing that the true test of his forgiveness was already in the making.

  The imposing old church in the nearby town of Leighton Buzzard was filled to capacity with friends and neighbours. There were strangers too, made curious by the rumour that the daughter of Ronald Jacobs was marrying a farmer’s son.

  The ceremony went without a hitch; though when the congregation was asked ‘If anyone here knows of any reason why these two should not be joined together in marriage’ Joe kept his silence and bowed his head.

  And so they were married. To the haunting sound of the organ, Frank and Alice walked up to sign the register, as man and wife, every step they took like a knife in Joe’s heart.

  Everyone smiled as the couple made their way down the aisle, and outside they were congratulated and showered with confetti, Maureen and Pauline noticeably more restrained than the rest of the congregation.

  The sun shone and everyone appeared happy. Outside, the guests began to form little groups while they waited for the cars to arrive and carry them the few miles to the Grand Hotel, and a lavish reception.

  During the initial rush, Joe had kept his distance. Now though, in the moment before Frank and Alice got into the car, he went to shake his brother by the hand. ‘Am I allowed to kiss the bride?’ he asked.

  ‘So long as it’s just a peck. I can’t have my wife being manhandled by all and sundry,’ Frank joked.

  Just then, Frank turned round and went off to speak to the driver.

  Joe took the opportunity to kiss Alice gently, his insides nervously churning as he told her in a whisper, ‘You look lovely, Alice.’

  With the memory of their liaison strong in her mind, and now the touch of his mouth on her cheek, Alice blushed to her roots. ‘Thank you, Joe…I…I didn’t mean to hurt you,’ she stammered.

  ‘You’ve done nothing to hurt me, Alice.’ His answer was a warm and forgiving smile. ‘All I want is for you to be happy…’

  Started as Frank slapped him on the back. Joe swung round. ‘Everything all right is it?’

  ‘Of course. Can you think of any reason why it shouldn’t be?’ Frank chuckled.

  Joe ignored the question and said, ‘I’ll see you both at the hotel.’

  ‘Come on then, wife!’ Without further ado, Frank took Alice by the arm. ‘We’d best get to the reception, and receive our guests.’

  Alice went with him, and as she climbed into the car, she turned to look at Joe. For a fleeting moment, he thought he saw the look of regret in her eyes. ‘I hope you haven’t made a mistake, Alice, my love,’ he whispered. ‘For all our sakes.’

  The reception was lavish. The guests were pampered and the food was presented in a fashion fit for a king.

  The toast was taken, then Joe gave a short speech, and everyone gave a resounding ovation.

  The evening that followed was unforgettable.

  When the band struck up for the first waltz, Frank swung Alice on to the floor, holding her close while he swung her round to the music. Everyone clapped before swarming on to the dance floor, until there was no room to move.

  The band played on until the small hours and everyone danced or excitedly chatted about the wonderful day, and the lucky couple. As the night wore on, the dancing got faster, and the guests got merrier.

  Glad to leave her kitchen responsibilities behind, little Lucy danced until her bones ached. She felt excited and privileged to be here. Moreover, this was the very first time in her uneventful life that she had enjoyed fine food, cooked by someone else, then prepared and served on fine china and silver-platters, polished so high you could see your face in it.

  The height of the evening, was when the fat, red-faced butcher gave her a full-blown kiss on the mouth; then promptly collapsed in a heap at her feet, he was so drunk it took three men to carry him off.

  After a few dances, Frank made his way to the bar, while Alice wandered over to her friend Mandy, who was still smarting from not being asked to be bridesmaid. It wasn’t long, though, before the two of them were deep in conversation, and all was forgiven. ‘I must admit, I was disappointed not to be your bridesmaid.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Alice apologised, ‘I always meant you to be, but you know what Mother is like, when she gets a bee in her bonnet. Once she’d decided that Pauline was going to be the only bridesmaid, there was no reasoning with her.’

  ‘It’s all right, Alice, don’t you worry.’ Mandy was a big girl, with a less than shapely figure. She had never been in the front row for a pretty face, and Mandy Baker knew full well why Maureen Jacobs did not want her for a bridesmaid. In her warped mind, she probably thought Mandy would lower the tone of her daughter’s wedding.

  ‘I really don’t mind,’ she assured Alice; although in truth she had been bitterly disappointed. ‘I do know what your mother is like once she makes a decision, and I know I wasn’t pretty enough or slim enough for her, but you and me won’t ever fall out over it, because all I care about is that we’re still friends.’

  ‘What!’ Alice threw her arms round Mandy’s neck. ‘What are you saying? Of course we’re still friends. You will always be my friend, as long as we live.’ The very idea of Mandy not being in her life was unthinkable to Alice.

  She and Mandy had known each other since before going to school; right from the day Mandy and her fami
ly moved into Brighill village, and Mandy’s father took up the vacancy of blacksmith.

  From that very first meeting some fifteen years ago, when Maureen Jacobs took Alice on her pony to have its hooves trimmed, Mandy and Alice had been inseparable.

  Maureen Jacobs, however, was horrified at the friendship, but she needed a blacksmith for her horse, and there was only one in the village. And so she reluctantly suffered the clumsy, chubby little Baker girl, for no one’s sake but her own; and that of her precious horses.

  So now, with Alice having mended their friendship, the two girls chatted and laughed, and talked of plans for the future; until Mandy became flattered and flushed, when a young man approached her and asked her to dance.

  Throughout the evening, Joe had kept a watchful eye on Alice. The moment Mandy was whisked away to dance, he first reassured himself that Frank was still propping up the bar, before snatching what he knew would be his last chance.

  He quickly made his way across the floor. ‘Would the lady care to dance?’ His smile enveloped her, ‘Unless you’re afraid I’m got two left feet and no sense of style?’

  Alice laughed at that. ‘It sounds like a description of me, not you.’

  ‘Oh no! I can’t have that. I’ve seen you dance,’ he told her, ‘all the way across the land and through the brook like a wayward nymph; no shoes, and not a care in the world. Am I right?’ He led her on to the dance floor.

  ‘Maybe, but that’s not dancing.’

  ‘It is in my eyes.’ He drew her into his arms. ‘Did I tell you how lovely you look?’

  ‘Mmm.’ With his strong arms about her, and the easy way he took her into the slow, rhythmic steps of a waltz, she felt herself relaxing too easily into his embrace. ‘Joe…?’ She drew back a little, her worried gaze trained on his face.

  ‘You don’t need to say it,’ he whispered. ‘I know, because I feel it too.’ Afraid he might say too much, he wisely suggested, ‘I’d best take you back…’ Suddenly he was wrenched away as Frank forced his way between them. ‘Well, well! Aren’t we nice and cozy?’

  Joe resented the manner in which Frank took control of Alice. Frank’s fist was so tight round the lower part of Alice’s arm, the blood ebbed from his knuckles. ‘Don’t do this, Frank,’ Joe said in a harsh whisper. ‘We were dancing, that’s all…just dancing. Afterwards I was coming to tell you, I’m leaving tonight. It’s time I struck out on my own…make a future for myself. Much like you and Alice intend doing.’

  Frank laughed out loud. ‘So! You shout your mouth off when you think I’m planning to desert Dad, but here you are about to take off like a scared rabbit into the night!’

  He gave a sly little snigger. ‘Look what happened the last time you went off on your own. You and I both know it didn’t turn out the way you would have liked, did it, eh?’

  Taking note of the warning expression on Joe’s face, Frank decided to stop right there. It wouldn’t be clever to rile Joe, he reminded himself. Not unless he wanted Joe to reveal secrets best left undisturbed.

  The best thing was to shut his mouth and let Joe go; the quicker and further Joe went, the better he would like it. ‘Bugger off then!’ he snapped. ‘We don’t need you anyway!’

  From across the room, Tom had witnessed the heated exchange between his two sons, and knowing how it might escalate, he hurried over. ‘It’s late,’ he told Frank, ‘and you’ve had too much to drink.’

  ‘So?’ When Frank swung round, Joe managed to prise his brother’s grip from Alice’s arm. Before Frank could confront him, Tom had Frank by the shoulders. ‘Come on, Frank, time to go home.’

  Frank shrugged him off. ‘I’m not ready to go home yet,’ he seemed suddenly sober; though still slightly unsteady on his feet. ‘Me and Alice have to dance the new day in yet. It’s a tradition, Father. Or have you forgotten?’

  Without another word and with surprising tenderness, he laughingly took Alice into his embrace. ‘Me and my wife are duty bound to dance the new day in, and that’s what we’re gonna do!’

  He turned his attention on Joe. ‘Y’see, Joe, this is my wife, and she only dances with her husband, isn’t that right, sweetheart?’ He kissed Alice on the neck. ‘Me and and nobody else.’

  As he swirled her about on the dance floor, Tom voiced his disgust. ‘I don’t know what the devil’s got into him, but he never could hold his booze.’

  Tom was relieved that the little fracas had not attracted too much attention, but during Frank’s rant, he had been painfully aware of the sinister undercurrent between Frank and Joe.

  Remembering the manner in which Joe had taken to Alice when they had first met, and after what happened here tonight, it only served to confirm Tom’s belief that the feelings Joe had for her remained as strong as ever.

  It worried him so much so that he told Joe, ‘Don’t be too long before you make your way back, son. Your brother seems to be in one of his moods.’

  Joe was concerned, for both his father, and for Alice. ‘In that case, it might be best if I stayed to keep an eye on him.’

  ‘No.’ Tom was adamant. ‘I’m suitably familiar with his tantrums. If you step in, it might only make matters worse. No, you go on, son. Go home. I’ll handle him, don’t you worry.’ He gave a little chuckle. ‘He might think he can get one over on me, but he hasn’t managed it yet, and he never will.’

  Joe understood. ‘You might be right,’ he conceded. ‘Me being here does seem to rile him up, so I’ll get off, but if there’s any trouble send for me, and I’ll be back here in no time at all!’

  Tom shook his head. ‘There’ll be no trouble, not now.’ He patted Joe on the shoulder. ‘The way things are with him, you’re best away from here.’

  As Joe turned away, Tom stopped him with a firm hand on the shoulder. ‘Apart from all this, it’s good to have you home, son.’

  Despite his growing suspicions about Joe’s dangerous feelings for his brother’s wife, he truly meant what he said.

  It really was good to have his second-born home again.

  Having taken heed of his father’s words, Joe made to leave.

  When he got to the doorway, he glanced back to see Alice looking over Frank’s shoulder at him. She even gave the whisper of a smile.

  Ashamed, Joe dropped his gaze and left.

  Behind him, Frank talked and laughed, and whispered sweet nothings in Alice’s ear.

  When the music stopped she looked up to where Joe had been. The door was swinging shut. He was gone.

  Along with her happiness.

  ‘Come on, wifey!’ It was now in the early hours. ‘Goodnight everybody!’ he waved to one and all. ‘Me and Alice are off to our brand new love-nest.’ He gave a meaningful wink. ‘All on our own, with no one to bother us.’ To Alice’s embarrassment, his meaning did not go unnoticed.

  Believing his dreams had all come true at once, Frank was convinced that the cottage given to them by Ronald Jacobs, was just the start of things to come.

  Alice reminded him, ‘I need to say goodnight to my parents, and besides, I haven’t seen Grandad and Grandma for a while…they must be outside. They would not be best pleased if I went away without saying cheerio.’

  A short while after she went in search of them, Frank decided to follow her. ‘Grandparents…worth a bob or two, best keep in with ‘em.’

  Ronald Jacobs had been delighted when his parents agreed to come to the wedding. Due to a bitter confrontation between Maureen and his mother Tricia, his parents had refused all invitations to their son’s home.

  Joshua Jacobs himself had little liking for his daughter-in-law; and as ever, his loyalties were to his wife.

  Having returned from a brisk walk around the grounds with his wife, Joshua was pleased to see Alice making her way towards them. Smiling broadly, he stretched out his arms to receive her. ‘So, here you are, my dear. I was afraid you might go away without coming to say goodnight.’

  A man of considerable stature, he made a formidable sight, with his iron-gre
y hair and steel-blue eyes.

  Having started the family business many years ago, he now trusted his son Ronald to run it; though he retained some shares in the business, together with keeping a wary eye on all transactions. He was proud to see his son taking the business from strength to strength.

  Alice buried herself in his hug, and then it was the turn of her grandmother, who cradled her long and hard.

  Considered to be a woman of elegance, with her sleek, silver hair, and quiet, caring nature, it was well known Tricia Jacobs did not suffer fools gladly. Intelligent and trustworthy, she had stepped back from her husband’s business enterprises, and instead immersed herself in numerous deserving charities. Since then she had earned an admirable reputation for her tireless efforts at rehousing the homeless.

  Maureen could never understand why Tricia ploughed so much energy into helping homeless people and their very different views were a matter of great contention between the two women.

  Maureen took the view that, ‘Anyone can secure themselves a home, if they’re prepared to work hard enough!’

  The comment had caused such bitterness, that neither woman was prepared to apologise. Tricia had no fondness for Maureen, and though she hated to admit it, she believed her eldest granddaughter Pauline was made in the same cold mould as her mother.

  Amazingly, Alice was a completely different creature. Because of her caring nature and simple beliefs, she had earned a permanent place in Tricia’s heart.

  Delighted now that her favourite granddaughter had sought them out, she cast her eyes over Alice’s beautiful gown. ‘You look lovely, as always,’ she croaked. Her voice suddenly choked with emotion.

  ‘What are you thinking Grandma? I look lovely but?’ she wanted to know.

  Tricia laughed out loud. ‘You know me too well, Alice Jacobs!’

  Alice persisted. ‘Ah! I was right then. So there is a but?’