Promise Made

by Linda Sole

  ‘I have a young child in bed and my husband isn’t home. I can’t come out and leave my son alone. May I telephone my brother Daniel?’ Frances asked, blessing Daniel for having had one fitted at his house.

  ‘Yes, that might be the best.’ The officer frowned. ‘Does he live in Stretton Village?’

  ‘No. His house is further out in the fen – but he has a car and he has recently had the telephone connected.’

  ‘You had better do that then, madam. Well, I’ll get back to the station. I thought I would come in person as that lad needs someone to speak up for him.’

  ‘Thank you for coming to tell me.’

  Frances closed the door and went to the telephone, her finger working swiftly as she dialled her brother’s house. It was Alice who answered it almost at once. Frances explained and asked if Daniel would go into Ely and sort things out with the police.

  ‘He isn’t home at the moment,’ Alice said. ‘But he shouldn’t be too long.’

  ‘I can’t leave Charlie or I would go myself. Besides, Daniel ought to be there. If we don’t do something they might take Connor to court this time.’

  ‘I’ll tell Dan as soon as he comes home,’ Alice said. ‘Don’t worry, love. It isn’t that serious. The boatyard owner may settle if we offer to pay for the damage.’

  ‘Yes, well, it might do Connor good to be taught a lesson,’ Frances said. ‘I can’t cope with him, Alice. He needs someone to keep him in line – and the only one who might be able to do that is Daniel.’

  Frances put the phone down before Alice could answer. Daniel seemed to have forgotten his promise to take his brother on when he got home. She had agreed to have him for the duration of the war, but she’d had more than enough of trying to keep him out of trouble.

  She went upstairs as she heard a cry from Charlie. He must have heard voices and he probably thought that his father was home. A spasm of nerves clutched at her stomach. Why wasn’t Marcus back? She prayed fervently that he hadn’t had an accident.

  Why did her life have to be so complicated? All she wanted was to be a wife and mother and not have to worry.

  ‘Well, what did you think you were up to?’ Daniel asked as he was driving his brother home later that night. ‘Taking the punt was one thing. I’ve done it myself when I was a lad, and I know it seems a laugh – but sinking it was a bit much, wasn’t it?’

  ‘We didn’t mean to do it,’ Connor said, feeling ashamed. ‘Honest, Dan, it wasn’t all our fault. The other bloke was hopeless at steering the houseboat he’d hired. He ran into us – it was his fault the punt was so badly damaged, and we managed to get it back to the yard.’

  ‘Where it sank within minutes,’ Daniel said. He sighed, because he didn’t want to make a big fuss over something he believed was a bit of fun gone wrong, but it had cost him twenty pounds to sort out the mess, money he could ill afford to waste. ‘I paid him off, Connor, but you were lucky this time. It might have led to an appearance in court – and you don’t want that, do you? What kind of a job do you think you will find then?’

  ‘I don’t know …’ Connor looked at him awkwardly. ‘I’m sorry, Dan. I know you couldn’t afford to pay for the damage. I’ll pay you back when I start to earn money.’

  Daniel shook his head. ‘It doesn’t matter, just don’t do it again. Have you made up your mind that you’ve finished with school?’

  ‘Yes. I know Frances thinks I should stay on and take my higher exams – but I don’t want to go to college, Dan. I want to work on a farm. I’ve wanted that ever since I was a lad and Dad took me with him to the yard.’

  ‘Well, I might put those fields down to arable next year,’ Daniel said. ‘And there’s a bit of land in the fen that I might be able to get cheap. We could buy some more pigs and perhaps a couple of cows …’

  ‘Are you saying I could work for you?’

  ‘Maybe in a while,’ Daniel said. ‘But I’m not ready just yet. We’ll have to see what else we can find for you for a few months.’

  ‘All right,’ Connor said, though his expression was mutinous. ‘But I’m not going back to school next week. I want to work same as my mates. And I’m fed up living with Frances and Marcus. I know she doesn’t want me there.’

  ‘Well, I’ll take you back to mine for the night,’ Daniel said. ‘I’ll ring her and let her know – and then we’ll see.’

  ‘I don’t want him back here,’ Frances said when Daniel rang her late that evening. She was still on edge, because Marcus had just come in and gone straight to bed. She suspected that he might have been drinking heavily. ‘It’s your turn to have him, Daniel.’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ he said. ‘I promised him I would. I’ll have a word with Alice. We’ve got plenty of room here – and he can give me a hand with the pigs. I’m probably going to buy a bit more land here. It’s going cheap and we can put up more sties.’

  ‘I thought you wanted to be a mechanic not a pig farmer?’

  ‘It is what I want, but at the moment I’m having to do what I can to hold things together,’ Daniel said. ‘Most of what I had was in the farm, Frances. It wasn’t just Henry that lost out.’

  ‘I am well aware of that,’ Frances said sharply. ‘I was expecting something from the sale but it all went for nothing.’

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid it did,’ Daniel said. ‘But you’re all right, Fran. You and Marcus have no need to worry. Sam will never let his family starve.’

  ‘Marcus has had a fight with his father,’ Frances said. ‘You know he bought a lorry of his own and is doing haulage work.’

  ‘I thought all that would blow over,’ Daniel said. ‘Marcus is a fool if he doesn’t make it up with his father. Sam may be a bit of a rogue in some ways, but he cares about his family. Marcus could be throwing a fortune away if he keeps this up.’

  ‘You don’t know Sam Danby at all,’ Frances said, a little shudder running through her. ‘You can come and fetch Connor’s things when you are ready. I’ll pack them for you. He hasn’t got that much anyway.’

  ‘Yes, all right,’ Daniel said. ‘But talk to Sam yourself, Frances. It doesn’t make sense to throw away all the advantages that Marcus might have had working for his father …’

  Frances put the receiver down with a little bang. She was relieved that Daniel had at last decided to do his bit for his brother. She had certainly done her share, and she couldn’t put up with it any longer. She had enough worries of her own.

  ‘Tell Connor I should like to see him,’ Emily said when Daniel rang her the next day. ‘I’m glad you’re going to have him with you, Dan, because I know he wasn’t happy at Frances’s house. But before he settles down with you, I should like him to come on a visit here. It might give him some ideas about what he wants to do with his life. I don’t think he has ever been farther away than a day at Yarmouth with his friends.’

  ‘I think he is pretty set in his mind what he wants to do,’ Daniel said. ‘He would like to work with me. I’ve told him I might put those fields down to arable instead of letting them for grazing next year – and I might get some more pigs. He could find some odd jobs elsewhere. There’s always someone wanting extra labour for the potato harvest, riddling and threshing. I daresay we shall manage.’

  ‘My offer of money is still there. Ask Connor if he will come for a holiday next week, Dan. I should like to have him here for a while. I’ve already spoken to Vane about it, and he’s quite happy for Connor to visit. He is always telling me to ask my family to visit. You and Alice are welcome if you ever want to come and stay.’

  ‘I’ll tell Connor that you’ve asked,’ Daniel agreed. ‘I’m not sure what he will say, but I’ll ask. As for coming down myself – I’d like that one day, but at the moment I don’t have the time.’

  ‘I’ll send Connor some money for his fares and things,’ Emily said. ‘Give my love to Alice – and don’t work yourself to death, Dan.’

  ‘I’ll try not to.’

  Daniel was frowning as he replaced the receive
r. He was committed to taking his brother on now, and he wouldn’t go back on it. Buying the extra land and some livestock would take most of the money he had been saving towards his garage, but that would just have to go on hold for a couple of years. Connor needed a steady hand and he was the one to set him right, but it might be a good thing if he went on a visit to Emily.

  She wasn’t like Frances. She wouldn’t nag him to do something he didn’t want to do, and it might make him think about what he really intended to do with his life.

  Daniel was whistling as he went outside to the back yard. It was only early September but though the sun was shining, the breeze was cool. He was working on a car he hoped to sell when it was finished, and he had taken on a couple of repair jobs for other people. One of them was a tractor, but that didn’t matter – engines were all the same to Daniel. He’d worked on lorries for the army and he’d been pretty good at his job. One of these days he was going to buy that garage he wanted, but for the moment he couldn’t complain.

  He had a beautiful wife he loved and his son. Stuck in that damned camp he had wondered if he would ever see Alice again. He was home now and even if money was sometimes difficult, he would get through somehow. The nightmares didn’t come so often now and he was beginning to feel stronger. Come the end of the year he should be back to normal again – and then he would be after Cley for the money he still owed him.

  ‘Go and stay with Emily?’ Connor pulled a face as Daniel suggested the idea. ‘Would I be staying at the big house?’

  ‘Yes, I expect so,’ Daniel told him. ‘Apparently, Lord Vane says you will be very welcome.’

  ‘Yeah, likely,’ Connor said and grinned. He looked thoughtful. ‘Emily is all right. I wouldn’t mind seeing her. She doesn’t come here much now, does she?’

  ‘I think she is too busy with that home of hers. She says she wants to see you. I expect it is just for a couple of weeks – but you don’t have to go if you don’t want to, Connor. Your home is here now.’

  ‘Yeah, Alice told me,’ Connor said. ‘She says she’s pleased I’m going to live here, because it is a big house and seems empty when you’re out sometimes.’

  ‘I expect it does,’ Daniel agreed. He had thought the house was a bit large and rather isolated from the start, but Alice had wanted it and it had been going cheap, perhaps because most people would rather live in the village than out in the fen these days. ‘You’ll be company for her sometimes.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Connor said. ‘I reckon I’d like to go for that holiday, Dan. Just for a couple of weeks.’

  ‘Right, that’s it then. Emily is sending you some money for your fares, and I’ll take you to the station,’ Daniel said. ‘I’ll be teaching you to drive when you get back – and you can learn a bit about how to look after the engine as well. It is always best to know at least the basics, because you’ll be wanting your own vehicle when you’re seventeen.’

  ‘Yeah?’ Connor looked at him in surprise and dawning pleasure. ‘Do you mean that, Dan?’

  ‘I wouldn’t say if I didn’t,’ Daniel told him. ‘But I want no more of that nonsense … no more taking what doesn’t belong to you, Connor.’

  ‘I don’t steal,’ Connor said. ‘I know Frances thinks I do, but I don’t – it was just a lark borrowing the punt. We used to get into the pictures for nothing if we could – all the kids do it at the Majestic in Ely – but stealing is different.’

  ‘Well, some folk wouldn’t agree with you,’ Daniel said. ‘I’m not going to lecture you, Connor, but I expect you to do a decent job and I expect you to be honest with me. That’s the deal …’ He held out his hand and Connor took it. Daniel grinned and cuffed him across the head. ‘You go and enjoy yourself with Emily.’

  ‘Yeah, I will,’ Connor said. ‘You fetched most of my stuff from Frances’s house, but I shall get my bike this afternoon – and I’ve promised to go to the youth club in Ely with Peter. I promise I won’t do anything daft – and I shan’t drink alcohol either.’

  ‘I should hope not! You’re not eighteen yet, you young devil.’

  ‘Well, I’ve done it a few times,’ Connor said and hesitated. ‘But I think it’s daft to drink too much the way Marcus does …’

  ‘Marcus drinks?’ It was the first Daniel had heard of it. He raised his eyebrows. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yeah. I’ve heard them rowing about it a lot. He came home drunk a few times, and it made Frances angry. She worries about him – and about what people will say.’

  ‘Yes, I expect she does. Poor old Fran,’ Daniel said. ‘I had no idea things were as bad as that. I shall have to pop in and see her another day.’

  ‘Don’t tell her I told you,’ Connor said. ‘She thinks I’m trouble as it is – but I couldn’t stand living there after she got married. It was my home but she changed it all, and I felt like a lodger.’

  ‘Yes, I understand,’ Daniel agreed. He wouldn’t have wanted to live in Frances’s house either. It was too immaculate, too cold. He preferred the warmth and muddle of his own home. Alice wasn’t above rearing a box of chicks in the kitchen when he brought them home from market. He could just imagine the look on Frances’s face if he had suggested it to her. ‘Well, I hope you will think of this house as your home in future.’

  ‘Yeah …’ Connor grinned at him. ‘Alice told me – that means chopping wood and doing some dishes now and then.’

  Daniel laughed, because he could see that his brother was happy with the idea that he was going to have some chores about the house.

  ‘Women,’ he said and winked at his brother. ‘We’re all under petticoat rule from the cradle to the grave – and don’t you forget it!’

  Connor laughed and went off to find some work to do at the back of the house. Daniel didn’t need to tell him that the shed needed painting with creosote, because he had seen it for himself, and he wanted to make himself useful about the place. He thought it was going to be much better living with Daniel and Alice, but he was looking forward to his visit with Emily. She had always been his favourite sister and he missed her when she didn’t visit.

  Emily met her brother at the station. He had brought one small suitcase with him, which made her smile. Connor had never been away from home for more than a day or two before, and that had been with his father. He would need more clothes than he’d brought with him, but that didn’t matter, because she intended to buy him a few things anyway. He looked quite grown up now and it was time he had a decent suit for Sundays and some good tweeds.

  ‘Did you have a nice journey?’ she asked and kissed his cheek. Connor went bright red and rubbed at the mark her lipstick had made with his hand. ‘Too grown up for that now?’ she asked, a twinkle in her eye. ‘You’ll change your tune soon enough, Connor.’

  ‘Kissing is for softies,’ he replied, though he didn’t believe it. Alice was always kissing Dan and Connor wondered what it would be like to sleep with a woman. He hadn’t had a proper girlfriend yet, though he’d slipped his hand up a girl’s knickers at the fair in Ely once. She hadn’t minded, though she had pretended to at the time. She might have let him do more if he’d had the courage to ask her.

  ‘Well, I beg your pardon, sir she said!’ Emily’s teasing laughter made him grin, because he was pleased to see her. ‘I hadn’t realized that you were Mr Tough Guy!’

  ‘Well, you’d better get used to it,’ Connor said and flexed his muscles. Emily realized that he was almost a man now, with a man’s strength – and rather good looking. ‘Are you sure Lord Vane doesn’t mind me coming to stay?’

  ‘I think he is pleased,’ Emily replied with a smile. ‘It is the first time I’ve ever had a member of my family to stay. Vane says this is my home and I must ask whoever I like – but you’re the one I wanted to see, Connor.’

  Connor tipped his head to one side. He looked so much like Dan at a younger age that Emily’s heart caught. He was going to be a heartbreaker when he was older, and all the girls would be after him. She was thankful that t
here was no war to claim him, praying that it would never happen again in her lifetime.

  ‘Why? Are you mad at me for what I did? Frances was as mad as fire because the police went to her house. She said I had humiliated her.’

  ‘Frances says things she doesn’t mean,’ Emily said. ‘You haven’t humiliated anyone from what I hear – but it was a bit silly, Connor. You don’t want to be known as a troublemaker, love. The police might get their hooks into you, and you could go down for some silly thing you didn’t really mean to do.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. Dan says it’s time I grew up. I’m going to be working for him – and doing odd jobs for other people. Peter’s father says I can help them with the harvesting and the potatoes.’

  ‘You are sure that farming is what you want to do? You wouldn’t rather drive a delivery van or something of the sort?’

  ‘I wouldn’t mind doing that,’ Connor said. ‘Frances was talking daft – she said I could be a bank clerk or a doctor or something like that if I tried, but I couldn’t, Emily. I should hate being inside all the time. I need to be out in the open.’

  ‘What about when it’s freezing cold?’ Emily teased as she drove them away from the railway station. ‘You might change your mind then.’

  ‘I want to be like Dad,’ Connor said, and something in his face made Emily’s heart contract with pain. Connor had never quite got over his father’s unexpected death from an infection. ‘One day I’m going to own lots of land. I’ll buy back all the fields Henry lost and I’ll have a herd of prize cattle. I shall employ a lot of men to work for me and drive about in a Daimler like Sam Danby.’

  ‘Yes, perhaps you will,’ Emily smiled and glanced at him, seeing the pride in his face. Dan had spoken of his own humiliation when the farm was sold, but no one had asked Connor what he thought about it. He must have felt it as much as any of them. It was hardly surprising that his unhappiness had spilled over into youthful pranks. ‘Well, I’m not going to try and change your mind, love. There’s nothing wrong with being a farmer. Henry was a wonderful farmer, don’t let anyone ever tell you anything different. He had a lot of debt to cope with and times were bad. You will do things differently.’