East End 02-East End Diamond

by DS as Dani Oakley Butler

  She thought she’d be able to accept it if the doctor told her she would never be able to have children. It wouldn’t be easy, but at least she would know for certain and be able to get on with her life. She’d be able to tell her mother for one thing, and that would stop her nagging Linda about grandchildren every moment she got.

  Linda was lost in her own thoughts, and when the doctor’s secretary came out and called her name, it made her jump.

  “The doctor will see you now,” the secretary said kindly.

  Linda smiled back at her and got to her feet, taking a deep breath before walking towards the doctor’s office.

  This was the first time Linda had been to see Dr. Morrison. When she was younger, her family used to see the doctor on Burdett Road, old Dr. Gill, but after getting married and moving in with Geoff, she had registered at this surgery because it was closer. Now, however, Linda felt nervous and wished she could see the friendly face of Dr. Gill rather than this new doctor. But Dr. Gill had retired years ago.

  She opened the door and stepped inside feeling incredibly nervous. Dr. Morrison was sitting behind his desk. He didn’t look very old at all for a doctor. Linda guessed he could only be about ten years older than her. He had a kindly face and smiled as she walked in, which made Linda feel a little better.

  “Good morning. Come and sit down and tell me what’s wrong.”

  When Linda sat down in the chair, she clasped her handbag on her lap and blinked up at the doctor. Now that she was here, she didn’t know where to begin. She knew something was wrong, but it seemed such a delicate thing to discuss with somebody she didn’t know.

  “I hope you haven’t caught the stomach bug that’s been doing the rounds,” Dr. Morrison prompted.

  Linda shook her head. “No, doctor. It isn’t that. It’s rather more personal.”

  Dr. Morrison pushed his spectacles back on the bridge of his nose and nodded at Linda encouragingly. “I see. There’s no need to be embarrassed, Linda. Tell me what’s wrong.”

  Linda bit down on her lower lip and struggled for the right words. Finally, she said, “Geoff and I have been married a long time now, and I haven’t been able to… fall pregnant.”

  The pleasant, relaxed expression on Dr. Morrison’s face disappeared and was replaced with a frown. He looked at Linda intently.

  “No, but we expected that, didn’t we?”

  Linda couldn’t have been more surprised at Dr. Morrison’s words. She’d expected him to look concerned, maybe a little shocked, but she never expected him to say that.

  Seeing Linda’s bafflement, Dr. Morrison continued. “Because Geoff contracted mumps about ten years ago, a rather bad case, and we did suspect it might leave him sterile.”

  Linda was unable to reply. She couldn’t quite take in what the doctor was saying. If this was true, then why had Geoff never told her? Why had he gone on letting her believe that she was the one who had a problem?

  Linda opened her mouth to reply to the doctor. “I…” But the words died in her mouth. How on earth was she supposed to respond to something like that?

  “Geoff did explain things to you, didn’t he? After you got married, I asked him to bring you along to the surgery so I could help explain, but he said he’d told you before you’d married.”

  Oh, he did, did he? Geoff had some serious explaining to do.

  He had never mentioned a word to Linda, going as far as banning her from ever coming to the doctors to discuss her trouble conceiving.

  But Linda’s pride prevented her from telling the doctor all that. Instead, she gave the doctor a false, bright smile and said, “Of course, he did tell me. I got confused.”

  Dr. Morrison’s face relaxed once more. “Well, I’m happy to explain. It can be a rather unfortunate and uncommon side effect of mumps.”

  As the doctor continued to talk and tell Linda about the potential options open to her, such as adoption, Linda’s mind wandered. She felt numb. How could Geoff have lied to her all this time?

  He had been very cruel and callous during the years they had been married, but nothing compared to this.

  * * *

  In a daze, Linda left the doctor’s surgery and began to walk back towards Bevels. She wasn’t quite sure how she was going to be able to concentrate at work this afternoon, but she didn’t have much choice. She had no idea what she was going to do. If she let Geoff know she had found out the secret he’d been keeping from her, there was no telling what he would do. He had gotten more and more violent just lately, and Linda found his behaviour very difficult to predict.

  She was so caught up in her own problems that it took her a moment to realise the street she’d turned into was a hive of activity. People stood around in small groups, talking in hurried whispers.

  Linda frowned. Something had clearly happened recently to set the gossips into action.

  She’d barely taken another couple of steps when she was approached by Rita, a woman around Linda’s mother’s age, who was a good friend of Mary Diamond.

  “Oh, Linda, it’s terrible news, isn’t it?”

  Linda had no idea what she was talking about. “What’s happened?”

  “Haven’t you heard?”

  Linda shook her head impatiently.

  “It was Mary Diamond. She was rushed out of her house on a stretcher less than an hour ago.”

  Linda put a hand to her mouth. “Mary? Oh, no. Is she going to be all right?”

  Rita’s face took on a grave expression. “I don’t know, love. Mrs. Mackenzie, who lives just opposite, said Mary looked terrible when they put her into the ambulance. It’s an awful thing. The poor woman has been through so much after her tragic daughter…”

  “What about Jimmy?”

  “The poor little lad was at home. I think he was the one who called for help.”

  “And where is he now?”

  Rita shrugged. “I expect he’s gone to the hospital to be with his nan. I’m going to visit this afternoon, but they’re ever so strict with the visiting hours up at the London.”

  Linda didn’t care about the visiting hours. All she knew was that she had to be there for Jimmy.

  “I’d better get up there,” she muttered under her breath.

  “Suit yourself,” Rita said. “But I’m warning you, the sister won’t let you on the ward until visiting hours.”

  That didn’t bother Linda. She just had to make sure that Jimmy was all right. He had no other close family, and Jimmy, although he liked to pretend to be grown-up, was still a little boy.

  As she began to walk off, Rita called out behind her, “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

  Linda didn’t bother to answer. Mr. Bevel would have to do without her for a couple more hours.

  When she got to the hospital, she gave Mary Diamond’s name to the lady at the reception desk, and it was some moments before someone came to talk to her.

  A young nurse with bright, glowing skin and sparkling eyes approached her. “Hello, are you a relative of Mrs. Diamond?”

  Linda had already been through all this with the lady at reception, so she answered quite snappily, “No, I’m a family friend. I’ve come to make sure that Jimmy’s all right.”

  “Jimmy, her grandson.”

  Linda nodded. “That’s right. He’s too young to be going through all this on his own.”

  The nurse nodded. “If you would like to follow me.”

  As she began to lead Linda down the corridor, she explained Mary’s condition. “We think it’s her heart. She fainted at home this morning, and her grandson called for help. Do you know the family well?”

  Linda nodded.

  The nurse considered her next words carefully before saying, “I understand she drinks quite a bit.”

  Linda felt a little disloyal. But if it helped Mary’s treatment, she had to tell the truth. “I think she has been struggling to give it up.”

  The nurse nodded and then pushed open a door, which led them through into yet another
corridor. “I’m glad you came. We thought we may have to call someone and get Jimmy a temporary bed for the night.”

  Linda immediately said, “You don’t need to do that. He can stay with me.”

  No one liked to get the social involved if they could help it. Once they stuck their sticky beak in, they were very hard to get rid of, and if they got wind of Mary’s drinking problem and thought she was unable to handle a young boy like Jimmy, they could split the family up for good.

  The nurse smiled. “That’s very kind of you.”

  Linda followed the nurse up a flight of stairs, and they found themselves in a much wider corridor. Sitting on the left-hand side of the corridor, on a wooden chair, looking very sorry for himself, was Jimmy Diamond.

  Linda rushed forward with her arms out. “Oh, Jimmy, I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

  Jimmy stood up. He looked so lost that Linda’s heart went out to him.

  “They think she has a bad heart,” Jimmy said. “It was horrible.”

  Linda put her arm around his shoulders. “She’s in the best place now, Jimmy. Doctors can do marvellous things these days.”

  She sat down on one of the wooden chairs and listened to him tell her what happened this morning. It made Linda’s heart ache to think of him going through all that on his own.

  “They said I can see her for a couple of minutes once they’ve got her settled.”

  “Was she awake?”

  Jimmy nodded, and Linda squeezed his hand. “Well, that’s a good sign, isn’t it?”

  Jimmy tried to smile. “Will you wait with me?”

  “Of course, I will,” Linda said. She didn’t give a damn what Mr. Bevel or anybody else said. There was no way she was going to leave Jimmy to face this situation alone.

  CHAPTER 32

  A fter a long afternoon and evening spent at the hospital, Linda brought Jimmy back to her house. Geoff was still at the pub, which was a relief. She could do without listening to him moaning today. She still hadn’t worked out how she was going to confront him over his lies, but right now, she had more important things to worry about.

  It was too late to prepare a proper evening meal, so Linda handed Jimmy an apple while she got to work making cheese sandwiches.

  When they had left Mary, she’d been awake and talking and had a little more colour in her cheeks. The doctor was quite confident she would make a recovery, although she would need to spend another week in hospital, and even when she got home, she would have to take things easy.

  Linda had only just started to butter the bread when she heard the front door open, and her stomach knotted. Christ, that was all she needed.

  She ignored Geoff until he staggered into the kitchen. He was clearly worse the wear for drink again.

  “This better be some kind of joke,” Geoff growled as he looked at Linda standing beside the breadboard. “A sodding cheese sandwich is not dinner.”

  Linda did her best not to appear intimidated for Jimmy’s sake. She didn’t want him to be afraid.

  As the boy sat at the table, half-hidden behind the kitchen door, Geoff hadn’t noticed he was there.

  Linda plastered a smile on her face and turned around to face her husband. “I’ve had a very difficult day, Geoff. Mary Diamond was taken into hospital and –”

  “What the bloody hell has that got to do with my dinner?”

  Linda tensed. If she didn’t defuse this situation quickly, all hell would break loose. “I’m trying to explain, Geoff.”

  She pointed the butter knife at Jimmy, and Geoff turned slowly around and noticed the boy for the first time.

  “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

  Jimmy looked down at the table at his half-eaten apple and didn’t reply.

  “He’s staying here for a few days until his nan gets out of hospital. She had a funny turn, something to do with her heart.”

  “And that means we get lumbered with the boy?”

  “Geoff!” Linda said, shocked the man could be so cruel.

  “It’s all right,” Jimmy said. “I’m not hungry anyway. I’ll just go up to bed.”

  Linda had already made up the bed in the spare room for him, but she was furious at Geoff for making Jimmy feel so unwelcome. The man was heartless.

  * * *

  Linda continued to prepare the cheese sandwiches, even though Jimmy had gone to bed, and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to stomach any food thanks to Geoff’s outburst. After his temper tantrum, he had taken himself off into the front room and was now snoring in the armchair.

  How had it all come to this? Geoff had changed beyond all recognition. There was no sign of the sweet, timid young man Linda had married, and it made her question the fact that perhaps Geoff had really been like this all along. He was just pretending.

  It was bad enough Geoff acted that way to her, but to turn on poor Jimmy after the day he’d had was unbelievably cruel.

  Linda stabbed the knife in the butter and applied it to the bread in a mechanical fashion.

  After she had made the sandwiches, she sat down at the kitchen table with a strong cup of tea, trying to see a way out of the mess. The resentment burned within her. How could Geoff have kept the fact he couldn’t have children secret from her? If he had admitted the problem to start with, Linda would have accepted it. Perhaps they could have gone on to adopt and been a happy family, but Linda would never be able to forgive Geoff’s betrayal. He had known Linda blamed herself, and he didn’t care.

  Linda wasn’t usually a tempestuous person. She carefully thought through things that bothered her before she acted, but today her anger got the better of her. She pushed herself up from the table and marched into the front room. Geoff was sprawled out in the chair, drool hanging from the side of his mouth, and Linda felt her lip curl in disgust.

  She prodded him in the chest. “I want a word with you.”

  Geoff woke up, startled. He blinked a couple of times as though he were surprised to see Linda in front of him, and then the blank look left his face, and his features tightened in anger. “You’ve got some nerve.”

  Linda laughed at him. “Me? Oh, I’ve got nothing on you.”

  “What the bleeding hell are you talking about, you daft mare?”

  Linda put her hands on her hips. “I’m talking about the secret you’ve been keeping from me.”

  Geoff’s expression changed from one of irritation to one of suspicion, but still he kept up his act. “You’re talking nonsense.”

  Usually, Linda would sense the change in Geoff’s mood and back down, but today she was having none of it.

  “You’re a nasty piece of work, Geoff Blum, and I’m on to you. I went to see Dr. Morrison today.”

  Geoff was out of the chair and towering above Linda in an instant. “I forbade you to go to him.”

  “It was just as well I ignored you then, wasn’t it? Dr. Morrison was kind enough to point out that you are the one with the problem, not me.”

  Geoff’s nostrils flared as he reached out to grip Linda’s throat.

  Linda gasped for air, and her hands came up ineffectually to try and push Geoff away, but he was too strong. As his grip tightened around her throat, Linda struggled desperately. She scratched at his face with her fingernails and tried to scream, but the noise came out more like a strangled sob.

  Geoff was so much stronger than her. He practically lifted her off her feet. She kicked out at his shins, but he barely noticed.

  As Geoff tried to throttle the life out of her, Linda didn’t feel sad or even terrified. She felt absolutely furious. She swore to herself if she survived this, she would leave Geoff. She started to see spots as she stared up into Geoff’s blazing eyes. She flung her limbs around wildly, making contact with a lamp and sending it crashing to the floor.

  Just as Linda began to lose consciousness, she heard a voice scream.

  Jimmy. She had to stop Geoff from hurting Jimmy.

  As Jimmy hurtled into the room and Linda found a last burst of
strength, Geoff was shocked enough to loosen his grip, and Linda slumped to the floor.

  She stared in horror as she saw Jimmy Diamond brandishing the large serrated bread knife, slashing it towards Geoff.

  “Leave her alone!” Jimmy warned.

  Geoff managed to regain his wits and staggered towards Jimmy. “Oh yeah, and what are you going to do about it?”

  Linda rubbed her hand to her bruised neck and croaked out, “No, Geoff. Leave him alone. He doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “So why is he sticking his nose in then?”

  Despite Geoff getting closer and standing menacingly over Jimmy, the boy didn’t back down.

  “I’m warning you. If you hurt Linda, I’ll kill you.”

  An eerie moment of silence past when nobody uttered a word. Then Geoff suddenly burst out into laughter. Tears poured down his face as though Jimmy had just said the funniest thing he had ever heard.

  As Geoff was incapacitated with giggles and fell down onto his armchair, Linda managed to pull herself to her feet and walk over to Jimmy.

  “It’s all right,” she whispered, her throat raw and in agony. “Here, let me take that.” She put her hand out for the knife.

  For a moment, defiance shone in Jimmy’s eyes, and she thought he might refuse, but then he held out the knife for her to take.

  Linda put her hand on Jimmy’s shoulder and led him from the front room up the stairs. “Let’s get you back to bed. You should lock the door tonight.”

  As Linda and Jimmy made their way upstairs, Geoff’s mocking laughter rang out through the house.

  CHAPTER 33

  T he following day, Jimmy Diamond had gone to school, and his lessons had passed agonisingly slowly. He was going to visit his nan straight after school, and Jimmy couldn’t concentrate on anything else.

  As soon as the bell rang out to signal the end of the school day, Jimmy leapt up from his desk and bolted. He was the first pupil through the school gates, and he didn’t stop running until he’d made it to the bus stop. Linda had given him his fare money so he could get to Whitechapel easily. The buses were on time, and he got to the hospital with plenty of time to spare before visiting hours started. He was scolded by a nurse as he ran along the hospital corridor.