Untitled Josephine Cox 4

by Josephine Cox

  He now instructed Eileen, ‘Don’t let him see you, but just keep an eye on him. He won’t see me coming after him until the last minute but if he decides to run like the coward he is I need to know which way he’s gone. And like I say, try not to let him see you at the window. And don’t worry about me. I’m old enough and angry enough to deal with him.’ Wisely, Eileen did not even attempt to dissuade him and a few moments later, Tony had gone, downstairs to the kitchen, where she heard him grab something from the cupboard and then hurry out onto the street.

  Tony was both surprised and curious to find two other men walking purposefully alongside him, each of them long-time residents of the street.

  Bill Lawson was a big man, with big fists. His buddy, Harold, was smaller, quicker, but built like a little tank,

  ‘Come on then, chaps!’ the little fellow called out. ‘We’ve a job to do.’ And with that sound instruction he proudly led the way down the road towards the bus shelter.

  From upstairs, Eileen stole a peep through the window, and when she saw that Tony had got help, she recalled his advice and kept out of sight, relieved he was not taking on the ruffian alone.

  However, when she heard Tony challenging the man in a harsh and threatening manner, she feared a skirmish might start.

  She whispered a frantic prayer that Tony and his helpers should not get hurt and that Beth might find a chance to somehow break away from there.

  As the inevitable fracas and shouting started, she nervously kept watch, terrified for Tony’s safety. When the man saw the small posse heading towards him, in a way that told him he was in for one hell of a fight, he started yelling at the top of his voice.

  ‘I mean it! Get back, or I’ll have the dogs tear you apart!’

  When he realised they were not in the mood for turning, he continued yelling. ‘This is none of your business! Turn around, or I swear I’ll let the dogs chew the bones of this young woman!’

  ‘Is that so?’ Tony calmly took a few steps towards the man, his voice deliberately quiet, but heavy with portent. ‘Don’t even think of letting the dogs get anywhere near her unless you want the same or worse!’ he warned.

  Suddenly snatching the tearful Beth to him, the man dragged her out from the bench with a dire warning to her rescuers. ‘Trust me! This woman means nothing to me, but if you don’t turn about and get the hell out of here I swear she won’t have the same pretty face that she had before you lot interfered!’

  Ignoring the threats, the three men continued towards him, and they were not altogether surprised when the bulldogs were released and heading straight for them.

  ‘I did warn you,’ the man laughed. ‘The dogs are hungry tonight! So now it’s you lot first, and then the young woman.’ To prove his intent, he dragged the crying Beth out of the bus shelter, and held her under the light from the street lamp.

  ‘She’s a pretty little thing, don’t you think?’ the coward taunted. ‘So go on. Get the hell outta here. For her sake, you do not want to get on the wrong side of me.’

  Tony and the other two men remained silent as they continued to creep nearer to the bus shelter where the dogs were snarling.

  ‘Get back! I warned you!’ Pushing Beth roughly before him, the bully called his dogs to heel.

  But then one of the dogs stopped and turned, excitedly sniffing the air, and now the other dog had spun round and was heading towards the pavement opposite, where the three men were waiting their chance.

  For a moment, the dogs ran about in confusion, until they heard Tony calling them, ‘Here, doggies! Come on! Look what we’ve got! Come on, over here!’

  Suddenly the dogs were running straight for Tony who began throwing his arms about and calling them to him. ‘Good boys! Come on, come on!’

  When they were only inches away from him, he flung two big, fat, juicy chops as far away from the bus shelter as he could.

  In an instant, the dogs were going crazy as they followed the smell of meat, which had landed well away from where Beth was cowering, while her captor chased after his dogs, swearing and cursing hell and damnation on the men who had plied the dogs with meat.

  Meanwhile, the three men grabbed the opportunity to quickly snatch Beth away and rush her to a safe distance down the street, from where they watched in relief while helpless with laughter.

  The shamed bully, screaming like a madman, rained all manner of wicked threats on each and every one of them, only to be laughed at.

  In between his manic threats, he screeched at the squabbling dogs, who took absolutely no notice of him whatsoever, being far too busy fighting each other for the fat juicy chops. Their cowardly owner threatened retribution if they did not heed him ‘right now, this minute!’, and the more they defied him, the angrier he grew.

  ‘Get over here, you cowardly bastards!’ The ruffian’s raised voice echoed along the street. ‘Come on, I’m ready for you any time!’

  To his utter frustration and embarrassment Tony and his mates continued to humiliate the coward with their fits of laughter as the man tried every which way to call his rebellious dogs to heel. Tony was busy reassuring the nervous and shaken Beth, although once in the strong, safe arms of Tony she began to relax.

  And as the howling screams of anger and rage echoed down the street, Beth’s rescuers retreated into the garden of Tony’s house, while laughing every bit as loudly as the bully continued to shout and threaten.

  ‘I’ll have you yet, I know who you are and you ain’t seen the last of me. Hell and damnation to the lot of you.’

  Then the man was threatening his dogs, ‘First thing tomorrow, you’re off to have the chop, yes, that’s what I said. It’s the chop for you lot, and I mean it! Call yerselves fearless bulldogs, huh! I don’t think so. More like bloody chickens. If my mates could see what cowards you are they’d never let me forget it.’

  And when Tony started making a noise like a chicken, the other two men fell into fits of laughter, while the ruffian threatened hell and fury if he ever set eyes on them again!

  Eileen had the kettle on and soon a fortifying cup of heavily sugared tea was in Beth’s hands and Eileen fussed round her, mopping her tears and smoothing her hair while making ‘There, there …’ noises.

  Questions about how Beth’s ordeal had come about could wait until the morning. Now was not the time to have the poor woman reliving it.

  Tony, Bill and Harold did a lot of slapping each other on the back and were generally pretty gung ho in a modest sort of way. Harold declared this was his finest hour since the Armistice, and Bill then recalled he’d got an old service revolver in his wardrobe and he wished he’d brought it out with him, but maybe it was for the best that he hadn’t remembered it in time. Eventually the men calmed down and, with Beth’s thanks ringing in their ears, Bill and Harold went to the front door to make sure the madman with the dogs had gone, then slipped away to their own homes, leaving Tony and Eileen to fuss over Beth.

  Eileen turned to Tony, who now seemed taller, straighter … more like the imposing figure she had married.

  ‘Well done, my darling,’ she murmured, putting her arms around him and holding him close. ‘I’m so proud of you.’

  Tony in turn held her to him and sighed with satisfaction. He had thought never to hear such fulsome praise from her again.

  ‘I’m always proud of you,’ he replied. ‘Now let’s get Beth settled in the spare room. It’s been a busy night so far, but I’m sure we’d all like to get some sleep before the morning if we can.’

  ‘Do you feel you could sleep after that awful ordeal?’ Eileen asked Beth gently. ‘I’ve always got the spare bed made up ready. Come up with me and we’ll get you all nice and comfy.’

  ‘Thank you, Eileen. You’re really very kind. I don’t want to put you to any trouble.’

  ‘It’s no trouble, love,’ Eileen assured her guest, leading her out towards the stairs. ‘I’ll lend you one of my nighties. There’s no hurry for you to get up in the morning. Just take it as it com
es.’

  Watching Eileen with her arm around Beth’s shoulders and listening to her gentle words, Tony thought Eileen would have made a wonderful mother. And he, what sort of father would he have been if he’d known about Cathy?

  After a somewhat restless night, Eileen and Tony were alerted by the shrill tones of the telephone echoing from downstairs. ‘Who the devil is that?’ Tony checked the bedside clock which showed the time to be just coming up to seven a.m. ‘Who could be calling us at this time? I’ll never get back to sleep now.’

  Eileen was more concerned about their guest. ‘I expect poor Beth will have been woken up as well, and I was hoping she might get a few more hours of sleep after her ordeal.’

  Trying to put the memories of last night out of her mind, Eileen went quickly downstairs, where she picked up the receiver. ‘Hello? Who is this?’ she asked suspiciously. Eileen had a bad feeling that the man who had terrified Beth might have got hold of their number somehow.

  Ronnie’s welcome voice made her smile. ‘Oh, Ronnie. Oh, how good to hear your voice … thank you for calling. How is your Cathy?’

  Before Ronnie could answer, Tony was right behind Eileen, making gestures to indicate that he needed to speak to her.

  Lowering his voice to the softest whisper, he leaned towards Eileen and whispered in her ear, ‘Eileen, while I have a little chat with Ronnie … can you keep an eye on Beth for a few minutes? Tell her that Ronnie is on the telephone but it might not be a good idea for her to tell him what’s been happening out there, especially when he’s got more than enough on his mind what with Cathy and everything.’

  Eileen nodded. ‘I understand, and I’m sure Beth would love to talk with her brother for a minute or so. I’ll explain what you’ve just said, though, and I’ll talk to Beth about Cathy. And don’t worry, I’m sure she will not want to burden Ronnie with what happened last night. She’s a kind and thoughtful young woman. Oh, and give my love to Ronnie, will you, sweetheart? Tell him I hope Cathy is all right, and I pray that somehow or another, for her sake and the sake of her family, they might be able to arrange a transfer to a hospital closer to home.’

  Then Eileen went to Beth, and explained that Ronnie was on the phone, and that when the two men had finished putting the world to rights, Tony would call her down, so that she and Ronnie could catch up on everything. ‘But please don’t mention about your dreadful ordeal last night. Ronnie will be furious, and right now he does not need to be fretting and planning revenge.’

  Beth fully appreciated what Eileen was saying. When Beth got to talk to Ronnie, she assured him that everything was fine and that he had no need to worry about her. In fact the news was good because she had left her troublesome husband, and had moved out.

  ‘Eileen and Tony have told me that I can stay with them until I get myself sorted out, which I will, because I have never been so determined as I am now.’

  She asked after Cathy and her family. ‘Please give them my love, and a big hug for you, my lovely brother. Oh, and please tell Cathy that I miss her and that she has to get better as quickly as possible and that when she does get better the two of us will go shopping for bargains. I know she has a good eye for a bargain. But first she has to get better soon, because I miss her and I have heaps of gossip to tell her, and I really do think that the two of us need to get together and put the world to rights like we used to.’

  A few moments later, Beth said goodbye and the house fell silent with her, Eileen and Tony feeling heavy of heart.

  It was Beth who broke the silence. ’I don’t like the idea of Cathy lying in a hospital bed so far away, with broken limbs and other injuries. What can I do for her? When can I go and see her?’

  ‘It’s not that easy, Beth,’ Tony explained. ‘From what we know, she is in a good hospital, but Cathy has a long and uncomfortable road ahead of her. She knows her family are there and I’m sure she knows that everyone will each do whatever they can to make her life easier and help her recovery.’

  Beth agreed. ‘And my poor Ronnie must be going through it to see Cathy in such a bad way. I fully understand why you did not want Ronnie to know what happened out there on the street last night. You truly are two wonderful friends to both of us.’

  Thinking that she owed them the absolute truth, she confessed that it was her bad-tempered and spiteful husband Mike who had thrown her out on the street.

  A short time later, feeling weary, Beth had to excuse herself. ‘I’m really tired. Is it all right if I leave you two and go back to bed?’

  ‘Of course!’ Both Tony and Eileen were also feeling the worse for wear. ‘In fact, I think I will too,’ said Eileen. ‘It isn’t yet half past seven and I’ve no need to be up after such a disturbed night.’ They both decided that bed was the place to be.

  In no time at all, the house was quiet, except for the hollow snores that echoed through from the direction of Tony’s cosy bed.

  ‘For pity’s sake, shut up! I can’t get to sleep with that noise going on!’

  That was Eileen’s voice.

  And the ensuing silence was absolute bliss.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  THE DOCTOR WAS a kindly man, with a wealth of experience of broken limbs and recovery procedures, and now after she’d been a month in hospital, the doctor had arranged a meeting to speak with Cathy and her family, about her progress and long-term outlook.

  ‘I have two pieces of good news for you,’ he started. ‘As you already know, Cathy is doing very well on her crutches. She is working hard to help strengthen the muscles and damaged fibres. I am pleased to tell you that the muscles in her legs are well on the mend, and have strengthened quite considerably since she moved from the wheelchair to the crutches. Her thigh muscles have strengthened, and are now well able to carry her weight while she’s walking and performing the stretching exercises as advised. In fact, her wounds in general are healing quicker than I had expected, and as a result, her confidence is increasing by the day.’

  He concluded with a smile, ‘In fact Cathy is raring to go home. A home environment will only encourage her to get stronger and eventually to do away with the crutches. We have managed to secure her a month of daily appointments with the physiotherapist at your local hospital.’

  He went on to explain, ‘They now have a new exercise wing, recently installed, and a dedicated wing mainly for patients with the same kind of injuries as Cathy has. The series of day-visits will strengthen her muscles and get her legs working strongly. I hope within weeks she might even be able to discard at least one of the crutches altogether. Already her right arm and leg have significantly strengthened with the treatment she has recently undergone with us.’

  That was wonderful news, for both Cathy and the family.

  For Marie, however, always at the back of her mind was the fact that Cathy must very soon be told the truth about her shameful beginnings, and the wicked lies that she had been allowed to believe throughout her young life would be revealed. Despite the guilt she felt about Cathy and Tony, while she was lying there, broken as a rag doll, Marie knew Cathy had to know the truth. Even though it could destroy all of the happy memories she made growing up. Even though Anne and Dave would risk losing the girl they called their daughter. Marie owed it to Cathy now she was stronger.

  After receiving the glad news about Cathy being released soon, Dave went to sit and talk with her. With her blessing, he needed to return home to his many pressing responsibilities.

  His boss at work had been entirely understanding when Dave explained how he must take time off in order to see Cathy through the worst of her long stay in hospital but now he needed to get back to work. Dave had been fiercely adamant he must stay near Cathy until she was truly out of the woods, but now she was on the mend, he needed to get back to work, and the house had been empty for long enough. It had been decided between Anne and Dave that someone needed to be at home, looking after everything. And as Dave said, the guesthouse wasn’t going to pay for itself, and this way they could
save themselves an extra room and they would keep it for as long as was necessary.

  Marie and Anne stayed on at the guesthouse, and for most of each day and part of the evening, they remained by Cathy’s side, making plans. They were so relieved now that Cathy was more like herself, and eager to get home.

  Finally the day came when Cathy was to be allowed home, armed with all the details of the local hospital she must attend.

  Anne waited with her, for the doctor’s notes, and a last briefing about Cathy’s ongoing treatment at the next hospital, but Marie felt a pressing need to distance herself from the procedure. She felt deeply concerned that the moment the family had dreaded over many years had finally caught up with them.

  With Cathy’s heart settled on marrying her beloved Ronnie, Marie was very much afraid of whatever turmoil was waiting to be unleashed on the innocent and trusting young woman. She would need her birth certificate to wed, and there the truth of her birth would be spelt out in black and white.

  There was no place to hide, and so Marie prepared herself as best she could, rehearsing the moment when Cathy would learn the sordid truth. In a strange way, Marie felt as though a great weight was about to be lifted from her soul.

  But what of Cathy?

  Time and again over the years, and especially now, Marie had put herself in the shoes of Cathy, a kind and lovely young woman who had done nothing wrong. How would she ever deal with having been made to live a lie all these years? To believe she had an honest and decent family about her, and whom she adored without question, when in truth it was all a selfish fabrication.

  Marie had been haunted over all this time, and would continue to be haunted until she was taken from this earth, and made to answer her shocking sins to the Good Lord.

  With that thought playing on her mind, she rejoined Cathy and Anne, clutching a cache of documents to give to the offices at the new hospital.