The New Breadmakers

by Margaret Thomson-Davis

  ‘Madge?’ Teresa was breathless with the stairs but she managed to call louder, ‘Madge, are you all right, hen?’

  A distressed-looking Catriona McNair appeared in the lobby. ‘Oh, it’s you, Teresa. Come in.’ Her voice lowered. ‘It’s terrible. Alec’s been killed at Ibrox. Madge is demented.’

  ‘Holy Mother of God!’ Teresa whispered. ‘The poor soul.’ Her eyes suddenly widened. ‘Here, my man and one of my boys were at the match.’

  ‘They’ll be all right, don’t worry. The accident was at the Rangers end.’

  Feeling shaken nevertheless, Teresa followed Catriona into the living room, where Madge was thrashing about, sobbing uncontrollably, with Julie hanging onto her and trying to clam her down.

  Catriona said, ‘I’ll go and put the kettle on.’

  Teresa gazed in distress at Madge. ‘Ah’m that sorry, hen. Alec was such a nice big fella, everybody liked him.’

  Madge’s tragic face fixed on Teresa. ‘He was always that good to me and the weans.’

  ‘Aye, Ah know. He thought the world of you and the weans.’

  ‘Did he? Do you really think he did, Teresa?’ Madge asked, suddenly, pathetically subdued.

  ‘Of course he did, hen. Ah swear in the name of the Virgin Mary.’ She crossed herself. ‘Your man thought the world of you, so he did. A lovely big man he was as well. Just try to be glad of aw the time you had him, hen. He wouldnae want you to be so upset now, would he?’

  Still weeping, Madge sank into a chair, wiping her face with the back of her sleeve. ‘Thanks, Teresa.’

  ‘Nothing to thank me for, hen.’

  Catriona came through with the tea, the cups rattling noisily on a tray.

  ‘While I was waiting for the kettle to boil, Sammy looked in. He said to tell you, Julie, that he’d be downstairs at the Stoddarts. Jimmy Stoddart has been killed as well and Aggie’s on her own. There’s sixty-five dead and another man looks as if he won’t last the night. And over a hundred injured.’

  ‘Holy Mother of God,’ Teresa said. ‘Is that no’ terrible? Poor Aggie as well. Maybe I should go down and show a bit of support.’

  Teresa looked anxiously around as if hoping that someone would contradict her. Big Aggie was not someone Teresa ever had any desire to visit. Nor had she the slightest desire now.

  But Catriona said, ‘That would be really kind of you, Teresa. She’ll appreciate a woman being with her.’

  With sinking heart, Teresa shuffled reluctantly towards the door. Before leaving, she turned to Madge. ‘Try to keep your pecker up, hen. An’ Ah’ll see ye again soon.’

  Lips trembling, Madge nodded.

  Downstairs, Teresa timidly knocked at the Stoddarts’ door. It was opened by Sammy who led her into the living room. ‘Aggie,’ Teresa said, ‘Ah’ve just come doon from seeing Madge. She’s lost Alec an’ she’s in an awful state, poor soul. It’s terrible, so it is. Now Ah’ve just heard about Jimmy. It’s terrible, so it is. Such a nice wee man, Jimmy.’ It was a lie – she’d never thought Jimmy Stoddart a nice man. ‘Ah’m that sorry, Aggie. How are ye, hen?’

  Big Aggie had been sitting, straight-backed, like a giant iceberg. Suddenly, with Teresa’s words, the ice melted, her body shrank, the flesh seeming to hang loose and water cascaded silently and unchecked down her flaccid cheeks. It was a terrible sight – not like Big Aggie at all.

  ‘Oh, Ah’m that sorry, hen,’ Teresa repeated and hurried over to put a comforting arm around Big Aggie’s shoulders. Big Aggie unexpectedly clutched at Teresa and gripped her to her now-heaving bosom.

  ‘What’ll Ah dae?’

  ‘Ye’ll be aw right, hen.’ Teresa struggled for breath.

  ‘Ah’ve naebody,’ Big Aggie wailed.

  ‘Chrissie an’ Maimie …’

  ‘You know fine Chrissie’s no use. An’ Maimie’s joined the army. Could you beat it? The bloody army and her a lassie. She’s gone off her heid. Ah shouted at him before he went.’

  ‘Jimmy, you mean?’

  ‘Aye. Ah told him Ah’d batter him if he got drunk and got into any trouble.’

  ‘Och, Ah dae the same to Michael.’

  This was so obviously untrue that Big Aggie actually managed a quivery smile. ‘What a bloody liar!’

  ‘Well, OK, Ah huvnae the strength tae actually batter him. But many a time Ah’d like to. Oh aye, Ah’d like to and that’s no’ a lie. Him an’ his drinkin’ an’ fightin’ an’ carryin’ on. Every week he’s the same, no’ just at Auld Firm games.’

  Sammy said, ‘Sit down, Teresa. I’ve made a cup of tea.’

  ‘Catriona made a pot upstairs but Ah didnae wait. When Ah heard about poor Jimmy, Ah came right down.’

  With some difficulty, she disentangled herself from Big Aggie’s embrace and accepted the tea Sammy offered. Equally thankful for the chair pushed towards her, she tottered into it and took a few sips from the cup.

  ‘Och, there’ll be a lot of sore hearts the night, so there will.’

  ‘Ah cannae believe it. No’ really,’ Big Aggie said. ‘It’s no’ fair.’

  ‘Ah know, hen.’

  ‘See your God and your Holy Mary? What did they go an’ dae that for?’

  Teresa trembled at the dangerously accusing tone. Sammy came to her rescue.

  ‘It wasn’t anything to do with God, Aggie. It was men. It was men that built the barriers. And they probably got that wrong. And it was men that started the crush on stairway thirteen.’

  ‘Thirteen?’ Aggie echoed, subdued again. ‘That’s an unlucky number.’

  ‘Aye, so it is,’ Teresa agreed. ‘We once got the chance of a house up close number thirteen. Ah turned it down.’

  ‘Bloody right.’

  ‘Aye.’

  A knock on the door startled them both. Sammy went to answer it and returned with a young doctor.

  Big Aggie looked indignant. ‘Ah never sent for nae doctor.’

  ‘I know. I did,’ Sammy told her. ‘I was worried about you.’

  ‘Now then.’ The doctor had a bouncy, cheerful manner. ‘What can I do for you?’

  Big Aggie glowered at him. ‘Nothin’ much by the looks of you.’

  She sounded much more like herself. It made Teresa begin to tremble again. She finished her tea in double-quick time.

  ‘I’d better get back upstairs.’

  She rose and began shuffling towards the door, managing to escape without Aggie noticing. Aggie had angrily locked horns with the doctor. He must be a Catholic, Teresa thought.

  41

  ‘No!’ Catriona shook her head in disbelief.

  A white-faced Andrew repeated what he’d just told her.

  ‘Fergus has sold the house. Apparently, the university has been looking for a house on the Terrace for ages. They jumped at it. They’ve been taking over so much of the West End.’

  ‘Does Melvin know?’

  ‘Well, Fergus hasn’t told him and I’m certainly not going to. It would kill him. That house has always been Dad’s pride and joy.’

  ‘Where will he go when he gets out of hospital? He’s bound to find out sooner or later.’

  Now she really did feel sorry for Melvin.

  ‘How could Fergus do this to his dad?’ she said. ‘He’s not caring about making you homeless either.’

  ‘He wrote to me. Hadn’t even the guts to tell me to my face,’ Andrew said bitterly. ‘I would have gone up to Aberdeen if it wasn’t that Dad expects me to see him every day. I didn’t want him to get worried about me either.’

  ‘I can’t understand it, Andrew. I mean, he knew he’d be able to sell it eventually but your dad made it clear that it was to be once he was gone – not while he was still alive …’

  ‘I know that and Fergus knows it too. But apparently he was desperate to start a recording studio and fit it up with all the latest gear and God knows what else. He believes he’s on his way to fame and fortune now as a recording star. You know how music-daft he is.’

  ‘Yes, but I never thoug
ht …’

  ‘No, nor did I. Well, as far as I’m concerned, Mum, he’s got his recording studio but he’s lost a brother. Not that that’ll bother him much, I suppose. I’ll never forgive him for doing this to Dad.’

  ‘You’re right about trying to keep it from your dad, Andrew. We must at least try our best to protect him from this. Apart from anything else, it would break his heart to think Fergus would betray his trust like this.’

  ‘I’ll never forgive him, Mum,’ Andrew repeated. ‘How could he?’

  ‘You can always come to my place to stay. And your dad too, of course,’ she hastily added.

  ‘Thanks, Mum, but it’s maybe a blessing that the chances are Dad won’t make it much longer. The doctors aren’t very hopeful, but I’ve kept hoping. Now, though, as I say, maybe it’s for the best …’ He turned away to hide his distress.

  ‘Oh, son.’ Catriona didn’t know what to say or do to comfort him. At last she managed, ‘We’ll just have to keep on hoping that he’ll pull through and we’ll get him home. I’ll try and make my house as nice and as comfortable as possible for him. If necessary, I’ll get a bigger place. Between us, we’ll make everything all right for him again.’

  ‘Thanks, Mum,’ he repeated.

  She went in to make them both a cup of tea, her mind and emotions in turmoil.

  * * * *

  The wedding went without a hitch. Ailish and Sean’s workmate Bill enjoyed the tea at Miss Cranston’s afterwards. Sean and Chrissie were too excited, too happy and relieved, to bother about food. Later they returned hand in hand to Aunty Mary’s flat, hopeful that they might even be able to steal a few hours on their own. Then came the shocking, unexpected news of the tragedy at Ibrox and that Chrissie’s father had been killed there. Sean’s mother had come to tell them and to ask them to go and be with ‘poor Aggie’, who was on her own and in a bad way. ‘Ah know she flung a lot of angry words at the pair of you,’ Teresa said, ‘but then so did we all. Sure we did.’

  ‘But does Aggie want us back – even me?’ Sean asked.

  ‘Och, once you’re there she’ll be glad to see you both, I’m sure,’ Teresa replied, her anxious face revealing that she wasn’t sure at all.

  Sean didn’t look convinced but he turned his attention to concentrating on comforting Chrissie, who had begun to weep and sob out, ‘He was really happy for me getting into the Mitchell. Proud even. Once he came to see me there. He looked around and said, “It’s a grand place, this.” I can just see his face.’

  Sean took her into his arms. ‘He wouldn’t want you to get so upset.’

  Teresa said, ‘Alec Jackson was killed as well. Poor Madge is fair distracted.’

  ‘God!’ Sean said. ‘Two up the same close!’

  ‘Aye, it’s a sad place the day. You’ll come then, son?’

  ‘Yes, of course. It was good of you to trail all the way over to tell us, Ma.’

  Teresa managed a smile. ‘Aye, it’s high time we aw had wan o’ them phones in our houses. Magic, sure they are.’

  Sean braced himself for the meeting with Big Aggie. The last time they’d met, she’d done her best to knock him down and trample all over him. She hadn’t managed it but he somehow couldn’t imagine her feelings changing towards him – even as a result of such tragic circumstances.

  As it turned out, at least she made no attempt at violence against him although she still eyed him belligerently.

  ‘Oh, it’s you, is it?’

  ‘I’m so sorry about Jimmy,’ Sean said.

  ‘Aye, well, he wisnae the only wan.’

  ‘We just thought it might help if we …’

  Big Aggie turned on Chrissie, who was quietly weeping into her hanky. ‘Snivellin’ never helped anybody. Now, are you gonnae come tae yer senses and come back? No’ him, just you, d’ye hear? He disnae belong in this family, and never will.’

  Sean said nothing but Chrissie managed, ‘Well, I’m sorry you feel that way, Mammy, but I’m Sean’s wife now and I belong with him – I always will.’

  ‘Good riddance,’ Aggie shouted after them as they left. ‘Ye’re no’ welcome here.’

  Sean put his arm around Chrissie’s shoulders.

  ‘We’ve got each other. That’s all that matters now.’

  ‘It’s so sad.’

  ‘I know but there’s nothing we can do about it. We’ve tried but it’s no use. It would be just as bad upstairs. Can you imagine the kind of welcome Dermot would give us?’

  ‘I never want to come here again.’

  ‘Nor do I. How about us going away? Right away from Balornock, from Glasgow, and starting afresh somewhere else? Think about it.’

  * * * *

  The visits had been daily for some time now – the visits to her mother and the visits to Melvin. Andrew feared that his father was dying and Catriona didn’t know what she would have done without Julie, who practically ran the therapy centre while she was out so much. There were three therapists there now – a physio, an osteopath and a young man who specialised in the Alexander technique. When Catriona managed to spend any time in her consulting room, she concentrated on homeopathic treatment.

  Mainly thanks to Julie, everything was running smoothly. The front area of the shop was shelved and stocked with jars, tubs and boxes of vitamins. There were displays of herbal teas, shelves of natural beauty products and books on every aspect of natural health and beauty. A very pretty assistant in a green apron served at the front counter.

  The ever-increasing profits of the therapy centre meant that redecorating her flat and furnishing it to her own taste would cause no financial worry. She was successful. Her dream was coming true – had actually come true already. But she worried constantly about Melvin finding out how Fergus had betrayed him, made him homeless. Knowing how much the house had meant to Melvin, she could feel nothing but pity and indignation on his behalf. Nobody deserved such treatment. She could only hope that he would never find out. For the first time in years, she prayed. Then, not long after Fergus’s betrayal, she turned up at the hospital for her daily visit and Andrew met her in the corridor. She guessed immediately by the tragic look in his eyes what had happened.

  ‘Mum,’ he said, ‘I’ve sad news for you. Dad has died.’ His voice broke. ‘I was with him. He was holding on to my hand.’

  ‘Oh, son, you were a comfort to him. Be glad about that.’

  Andrew managed to nod, then cleared his throat. ‘It’s for the best in the circumstances. He was suffering and he would have suffered a lot more if he’d lived to find out about Fergus. It’s a mercy, in a way.’

  ‘I suppose we’ll have to tell Fergus,’ Catriona said worriedly. ‘But I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t come to the funeral. He was too busy most of the time to come and see his dad when he was ill.’

  ‘I’m having nothing to do with him.’

  Catriona burst into tears. ‘It’s so sad,’ she said, thinking not of Melvin now but of the two brothers coming to this.

  Andrew put his arm around her shoulders. ‘You’ve always got me, Mum.’

  She knew then that he would always be a comfort to her.

  He saw to all the arrangements for the funeral, a quiet affair with only Andrew, herself and a few friends. Fergus sent a black-bordered card and a large wreath but made the excuse that he was ill in bed with a bad dose of flu, and unable to travel down from Aberdeen. Neither she nor Andrew believed him. It made Catriona feel even sadder.

  Andrew moved in with her afterwards, to her gratitude. She knew that one day he would find a place of his own, get married probably, but meantime she treasured every moment he spent with her. On her next visit to Julie, while Andrew was working late in the physio department of the local health centre, she enthused about how wonderful it was to have her son staying with her. The words were hardly out of her mouth when she regretted saying them. She had suddenly noticed that both Julie and Sammy were looking unhappy. When she asked what was wrong, Julie said, ‘Sammy can’t get over lo
sing his best friend in such tragic circumstances. He’s upset about his father as well.’

  ‘It was terrible about Alec,’ Catriona agreed. ‘I was fond of him. We all were.’ Then she added, ‘Your father … is he?’

  It was Julie who answered. ‘It’s sad to see anyone in the state his father’s in now. He doesn’t recognise anyone, even Sammy. Apart from that, Sammy’s read some of his diaries, and he understands why his father was so awful a bit better now. The bits about his childhood were enough to upset anybody. I feel sorry for him myself.’

  Catriona understood. She’d eventually felt sorry for Melvin.

  The silence that followed was broken by a knock at the door. Julie went to answer it.

  ‘Oh, Mrs Robertson!’ They heard the mixture of surprise, confusion and apprehension in her voice. ‘Come in.’

  ‘There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.’ A small, elderly lady entered the room and immediately looked taken aback. ‘Oh, I didn’t realise you had a visitor …’

  ‘It’s all right. Catriona’s my best friend. You can talk in front of her. And I think you’ve met my husband, Sammy.’

  Catriona and Sammy both smiled a welcome. Sammy rose and pulled a chair over.

  ‘Have a seat, Mrs Robertson.’

  Mrs Robertson returned his smile and settled herself on the chair. She hesitated, then looked over at Julie. ‘You already know about Alice, don’t you? That’s why you came to live here. I guessed a while ago.’

  Julie’s eyes widened with anxiety. ‘Yes, but I never meant … I would never try to come between you and your daughter. I’m so sorry if finding out about me living so close has been a shock or a worry to you. I just longed for the occasional glimpse of Alice. I didn’t mean any harm.’

  ‘Of course you didn’t, dear.’

  ‘Why have you come to see me about this now?’ Julie sank on to the couch beside Sammy.