Eleven
In sheer panic, Jennie called and called for Ernie to let her in. She pleaded and sobbed but the window didn’t reopen and the doors remained firmly closed. After what seemed hours, when she became aware of the cold seeping up from the ground and chilling her and there was still no sign of Ernie relenting, she turned away, her sobs loud in the silence of the late hour. She went to call on Lucy. She would have a key to the door of the hairdressing shop and from there she would be able to get into the main part of the house.
She gave a garbled explanation that was nothing like the truth. She’d forgotten her key and she didn’t want to disturb Ernie, and could she borrow the one from the shop, was the gist of it. Not waiting to explain further and not caring whether or not Lucy believed her, she grabbed the offered key and hurried as fast as her injured leg would allow back to the shop.
Thank goodness Ernie hadn’t thought of the shop. The key turned and she went inside. But as she opened the door to the rest of the house a light came on and Ernie stood at the bottom of the stairs. He guided her firmly back through the door.
‘You can stay in the shop but only until tomorrow morning. Then I want you out of here.’
The words were spoken slowly and clearly but the sense of them hardly reached her brain.
‘Ernie, what are you talking about? Has some gossip upset you? If it’s unpleasant and concerning me it must be untrue, dear.’
‘Untrue? I saw you with my own eyes.’
He stepped back into the hall, pushed the door closed and she heard keys rattle before one of them turned, locking her out.
‘What am I supposed to have done? Ernie, please let me in.’ Fear and panic turned swiftly to anger. How dare he treat her like this? She felt aggrieved, affronted, because what he must have seen was herself and Bill saying goodbye. In her recently renewed innocence, the unfairness made it automatic for her to put the blame for the whole situation on Ernie.
She picked up a towel to wrap around her for extra warmth and went out, slamming the shop door behind her. Her leg ached dreadfully and now she faced another long walk, but there was no alternative. She wasn’t going to sleep in the hairdressing shop like a slapped dog. She made her way back to Marie’s house, and even though it was late a light shone in the kitchen. Thankfully, she pushed open the back door and went in, sobbing and begging for something for the pain in her leg.
The pain was genuine but the tears were not. She was past the time for tears. Marie made the inevitable pot of tea and listened to her sister’s story without comment. When the words of outrage ended and only tears remained, she said, ‘You must stay here tonight, and tomorrow I’ll come with you and we can hopefully sort this mess out.’
‘You don’t understand, Marie. I’ll never go back to him. Not now. He didn’t even demand an explanation, he saw us together – nothing happened apart from a kiss – and he locked me out. I was tried in my absence, found guilty and sentenced without me saying a word. How can you expect me to go back to a man like that?’
‘I can’t give you a bed but you can share mine if you like.’ Marie said, afraid to comment, not wanting to have her words thrown back at her at some later date when things had settled.
‘Aren’t you going to say anything?’ Jennie demanded.
‘Tomorrow. We’ll talk it through tomorrow. Come to the shop at lunchtime and we’ll go to a café and talk about what you should do. Right?’
‘Wrong! I can’t believe this. I’ve been thrown out like some abandoned animal and you’re going to work tomorrow as though nothing has happened?’ She gathered the coat she had thrown off and headed for the door.
‘Jennie, sit down.’ Marie tried to stifle an impatient sigh. ‘Where d’you think you’re going at this time of night?’
‘Mam and Dad will take me in. I’ll get some sympathy there.’
After trying and failing to persuade Jennie to stay, Marie put on her coat. ‘If you insist, I’ll come with you. But you shouldn’t be walking any more today. That leg isn’t fully mended.’
‘Damn my leg. It’s my heart that’s broken, sis. I’m so sorry I’ve hurt Ernie. He didn’t deserve any of this. His wife letting him down and his son.’ Jennie seemed genuinely upset. Then remorse vanished as she said angrily, ‘But he shouldn’t have locked me out. That was the act of a spoiled child not a grown man!’
‘Come on, stay here and we’ll go to see Mam and Dad first thing, before I open the shop.’
Suddenly overcome with tiredness and the realization that tomorrow the town would be buzzing with gossip, she sat down and agreed. She needed a bolt-hole for a few days and it would be better to tell her parents later, when she had prepared her story. The truth of her own stupidity was not what she wanted them to hear.
It was October and the hours of daylight were few. Taking advantage of the dark streets the following evening, hoping to avoid meeting anyone she knew, Jennie knocked on the door of the house that had been her home. Ernie answered and stood firmly, preventing her from entering.
‘Ernie, dear, we have to discuss this. I think you’ve got hold of the wrong end of the stick,’ she said, an attempt at a smile resulting in a quivering lip and a nervous tic on her cheek. He was standing in front of the light from the hall, so she couldn’t see his expression. The harshness of his voice was enough for her to guess it wasn’t welcoming.
‘I have seen my solicitor and he will be contacting you with details of our separation. I have told him to address the letter to your sister, as I imagine you’ll want time to decide what you will tell your parents.’
The door closed as she took a breath to argue.
Two more days passed and Jennie stayed at Badgers Brook.
Sometimes she was bright, with anger being the strongest emotion, and at other times she was unable to hold back tears. She’d been such a fool, losing a comfortable and easy life for a passion that now, in retrospect, in the chaos of the remnants of her marriage, seemed almost childlike. But gradually she relaxed, the calm of the old house working its magic and easing away her tension. She slept and awoke rested and peaceful.
There was no news of Bill. ‘I doubt that he’ll be at home,’ Jennie told Marie. From Ernie’s angry mood he wouldn’t be forgiven any more than she would, even though he might have received some sympathy. People automatically blamed a woman, particularly other women, believing that it was the woman who needed to be strong in these circumstances, the man being less able to control his urges. ‘Old fashioned,’ she mused sadly, ‘but still endlessly repeated.’
Instead of waiting for Marie to bring a cup of tea each morning, then sitting while her sister prepared breakfast, she rose at the same time and lit the fire while Marie dealt with the early cups of tea and began to prepare food. She helped Violet to find her clothes and her school books and seemed to enjoy being a part of the busy household. Marie said nothing, afraid a wrong word would restore her sister to her previous spoiled self.
Rhodri and the children accepted her unexpected appearance without too many questions and she began to help more and more with the household routine in a way that surprised and pleased Marie. There had been no gossip so far as Marie knew and, apart from Geoff, she had told no one. Their parents would have to know but until other people began making comments and asking questions, she and Jennie had agreed to say nothing.
It was on the fourth day, when Jennie was half seriously discussing her need for money, that the idea came to Marie.
‘I’ll have to make some decisions fairly soon.’ Jennie had said. ‘I need to find out what my financial situation is, and until I hear from the solicitor – oh how serious that sounds – I have no idea how I stand. No money and no job, and with no word from Ernie, I don’t know how to deal with that problem.’
‘I could go and see Ernie on your behalf,’ Marie offered. ‘He wouldn’t be rude enough to refuse to see me.’
‘No, not yet. I don’t think he’ll talk to you in any useful way, but he doesn’t appear t
o have told anyone what happened, so there’s no fear of people gossiping about me – I couldn’t stand that, Marie, I really couldn’t. So long as no one knows what happened I can cope. I need to get a job, though.’ She looked hopefully at Marie. ‘I know you haven’t really got the room, but can I stay for a few weeks, until I’ve got something sorted? Perhaps, if I can earn a good enough wage, I can persuade Lucy to share a flat with me again.’
Marie looked hesitant. Was this new character for real or was it only a matter of time before Jennie reverted to her usual demanding self?
‘What is it, do you know of a job going?’ Jennie asked.
Her mind made up, Marie said, ‘There is something you might consider. I was planning to ask my friend Judy Morris if she would leave old misery Harries at the dress shop and come to work with me but I’ve done nothing about it. I doubt whether I’d persuade her, I can only offer a part-time post, less money than she’s earning at present, and she’s unlikely to consider that. The thing is, I need an assistant, so would you like the job?’
Jennie leaped out of her chair, said ‘ouch’ as the sudden movement caused a pain to shoot through her leg, then hugged her sister repeating ‘thank you’, over and again. ‘Thanks, sis, that really would be perfect.’
‘You’ll have to work, though. It isn’t a hidey-hole while the gossip comes and goes,’ she warned.
‘I’ll even wash the front step, there, how’s that?’ Jennie grinned. ‘So long as no one’s looking, of course! I have my reputation to keep!’
Marie marvelled at how much her flighty sister had changed. Just weeks ago she wouldn’t have considered employing her for a moment. The previous Jennie would have stipulated all the things she wouldn’t do, complained loudly and left the boring tasks to someone else. She’d have expected her to cheat on any work she deemed arduous, refuse jobs she disliked.
But the end of her marriage to Ernie and coming to live in Badgers Brook had changed her. The mellow house had that effect, even on visitors, calming them in some inexplicable way, making them happier people.
Telling their parents was the most dreaded result of the separation and Jennie and Marie agreed that Sunday tea-time would be the best time to break the news.
‘We can’t wait much longer, someone is bound to find out and tell them. They have to hear my version before one larded with innuendo and spite,’ Jennie said. ‘Most people can’t help enjoying a story like this and adding a few embellishments to make it more spicy – well, I’ve done it myself, haven’t you?’
‘Few of us can deny the pleasure of being first with news, pleasant or otherwise,’ Marie admitted. ‘Although lately we’ve been the subject more often than most, haven’t we? Ivor leaving me and the children and now you leaving your husband after only a few months of marriage. We’re a gift to the gossips.’
‘And we’re always being accused of pretending to be better than everyone else,’ Jennie added, a smile widening on her face.
‘Well, we are,’ her sister replied and they both broke into nervous laughter.
*
Belle and Howard took the news surprisingly well. Belle told them she was relieved that her darling daughter was no longer with that sad old man and Howard asked her amiably if she wanted any changes made to her bedroom before moving back in.
Jennie glanced at Marie, and after a nod of agreement said, ‘Mam, I won’t be coming back. Not yet anyway. Marie has a spare room and I like living there on the edge of the wood.’ The expression on her parents’ face was so comical both sisters laughed. ‘Yes, I know, countryside, long walks to the bus stop and no shops, feeding birds and looking for badgers and foxes, it doesn’t sound like me, does it?’ She looked thoughtful then went on, ‘The strange thing is, I love living in Badgers Brook. I feel safe there, and when I walk along the lane and get my first sight of it, solid and strong and welcoming. I – I feel a sense of peace coming over me.’ As though embarrassed by her words she thumped Marie’s arm and said. ‘There, now I’m sure you think I’ve gone daft.’
‘I don’t.’ Marie said. ‘That’s exactly how I feel about Badgers Brook, and when we moved in, and faced all that filthy mess, I knew even then that underneath the chaos there was a happy home. I still feel that, even though Ivor no longer lives with us. I feel sure that one day, when he can talk about what worries him, he’ll be back and the house will perform its magic for him, too.’
‘And what about his father?’ Belle asked, somewhat embarrassed by the strange conversation. ‘Is he keeping well?’
‘Rhodri’s happy, although he does get a bad day occasionally when he is confused. It’s noticeable when he goes to the hospital for checks and sometimes an overnight stay. Then he shakes and shivers and can hardly hold a conversation, yet as soon as he gets back to the house he’s fine. I know it sounds daft, our Mam, but Badgers Brook has an atmosphere of such tranquility that troubles are eased away.’
Lightening the strange mood, Jennie said brightly, ‘Now, what’s to eat, Mam? We’re starving.’
If Belle noticed the ‘we’, when Jennie normally only spoke for herself, denoting a togetherness her spoiled daughter rarely showed, she said nothing, but she was humming happily when she went into the kitchen to bring in the sandwiches and fatless sponge cake she had prepared.
‘That went well,’ Jennie said as the sisters walked back to Badgers Brook in the gradually deepening dusk.
‘Only because you didn’t tell them the full story,’ Marie replied. They joked about the various ways they could have imparted the news about Jennie’s affair with her stepson and their parents’ imaginary responses and arrived home with laughter in their eyes, their faces glowing with good humour.
Jennie became easily accustomed to walking along the quiet lanes, the darkness no longer held fears for her. For a while after being knocked down she had been afraid of a repeat, with Geoff and Marie voicing suspicions that the so-called accident had been deliberate. Now the accident was far from her mind, and when it was suggested that she took extra care she laughed away any concerns.
She was walking home alone one evening, when Marie had arranged to call on Nerys Bowen, and experienced a sudden return of the fear. The night was very dark, with no moon, myriad stars like pinpricks in the velvet sky not giving a glimmer of light.
She didn’t bother with a torch apart from shining an occasional beam to make sure she was far enough away from the ditch at the edge of the grassy path. The car, parked in a lay-by on the narrow lane, was invisible at first, then the dull gleam caught her eye and she became aware of the low murmuring rhythm of its engine.
Her legs weakened, her heart raced and a fear she thought forgotten roused her to the pitch of wanting to scream for help. Why hadn’t she waited for Marie? She slowed her steps; there was a worsening of the ache in her damaged leg – a reminder of what had happened.
She stood there wondering what to do, trying to remember how far away she was from a house. The properties along the lane were few and it was impossible to relate to them in the dark. Then she heard footsteps and cried out in relief. ‘Hello?’ she called. ‘Is that you, Marie? Come quick. Please hurry.’
She heard a woman’s voice and faster footsteps, which were drowned by the sound of the car accelerating fast, its lights appearing over hedges until it was lost from sight. She stood, sobbing nervously, and when a neighbour came and introduced herself as Kitty Jennings. Jennie explained briefly what she had feared.
‘I’ll walk the rest of the way with you.’ Kitty said, putting a comforting arm around her. She waited until Roger opened the door. Jennie’s sobs brought Rhodri to see what had happened and Kitty smiled and said. ‘Hello, Rhodri. How are you?’
Jennie didn’t wait to hear any more. Thanking the kind neighbour, she ran to her room and sat tearing at a handkerchief until she felt calm enough to go back down, by which time Kitty had gone.
‘It was probably a courting couple and I ruined their evening,’ she said after telling Marie what had h
appened.
‘In future we’ll always walk home together,’ Marie promised. ‘You’re probably right and it was nothing to worry about, but we won’t risk upsetting you again.’
The following evening, Kitty called to ask if Jennie was recovered and, when she came in, she at once began talking to Rhodri. ‘I knew them both years ago,’ she explained as she was leaving, ‘long before he became ill.’ She asked about Ivor and Marie told her the truth. It was common knowledge anyway so there was no point being coy and inventing a more acceptable story. To her relief, Kitty was sympathetic and didn’t apportion blame.
*
Effie was curious. She couldn’t understand what had happened between Jennie, Ernie and Bill. It was several days, watching and following the sisters, before she worked out that Jennie was living with Marie at Badgers Brook and was working with her at the small clothes shop in Steeple Street. She and Ivor rarely shared a conversation, even though she often contrived to be passing when he left work or when he reached his lodgings.’
‘Your father was busy helping Geoff clear the overgrown bushes yesterday,’ she called one morning as he was about to go into the office. At once she regretted saying it. She didn’t want him worrying about his father living with Marie and the children. The last thing she wanted was for him to be sufficiently concerned about them to go home. ‘Only visiting, mind,’ she added. ‘He was helping Geoff burn all the branches they’d removed. Having a good tidy-up they are.’
‘Was Violet with him? Near the fire?’
‘No, she was watching from inside and Rhodri went in to watch with her once Geoff and Marie had the fire going.’ She tilted her head on one side and asked. ‘What are you worried about? I thought it was your mother who was the fire raiser?’
‘It was, but having seen the result of setting a building on fire, the speed of the destruction, how quickly it becomes out of control, I’ve always been a little afraid.’
‘They work well together, Marie and Geoff. Lucky she is to have him, eh?’
The House by the Brook Page 24