by Lynda Page
But Jackie shook her arm free, jumping away from her mother as though the touch had seared her skin. ‘It’s not what I think! I repeat, I know what I saw. Lovers kissing. Why can’t you both be honest and admit it?’ Mystified she asked, ‘How could you betray me like this, Mum? I’m your daughter, for God’s sake. I always hoped you’d meet someone and be as happy with them as you were with Dad, but did you have to pick on my boyfriend?’ Then she spun round to look at Keith, hurt oozing from her. ‘As for you! I thought you were the most loyal, kind, caring man I could ever wish to meet. I really believed you loved me. I really thought we were together for life. I stupidly imagined you were going to propose to me soon … maybe even tonight. I was so pleased my mother and boyfriend got on well. I just didn’t realise how well, did I? If I hadn’t walked in when I did tonight, would we have gone to the party with you acting the part of being happy with me, when all the time it was my mother you wanted to be with? Would you have carried on deceiving me until you could both summon up the courage to tell me? Now, I asked you before, how long this has been going on?’
Gina implored, ‘It hasn’t, Jackie. It was just tonight … we got carried away … it was only that one kiss you saw when you walked in. It was a moment of madness …’
Keith interjected, ‘No, I can’t carry on like this, Gina. Jackie deserves to know the truth.’ He looked at her steadily as he said, ‘I care for you very much, Jackie, but I’ve fallen in love with your mother. We never meant this to happen. It just did. I’ve been spending a lot of time with her while you’ve been working late and …’
Incredulous, Jackie cut in, ‘You’re blaming me for this because I’ve had to work late?’
He gave a shrug. ‘No … well, maybe I am. If you hadn’t had to work late then maybe I wouldn’t have got to see a side of Gina I hadn’t before. Not Gina the mother but Gina the woman … the wonderful woman she is … and, well, I couldn’t help myself. I fell for her.’
‘But she’s old enough to be your mother!’
‘No, she isn’t, Jackie. She’s only eleven years older than me. Besides, age doesn’t matter when you love someone.’
Jackie turned her pain-filled eyes on her mother and asked, ‘And you love Keith?’
Gina looked at her for several long moments before she lowered her head and murmured, ‘Yes, I do, Jackie. We were trying to work out the best way to break this to you so we could … well, I didn’t want to lose you, Jackie. I still love you.’
She snapped, ‘If you loved me then you would never have allowed yourself to become involved with my boyfriend in the first place!’
Gina said quietly, ‘It’s not as simple as that, love. You can’t pick and choose who you fall for. Keith and I fought our feelings, neither of us wanting to hurt you, but eventually it became impossible. I was just hoping … we were both hoping …’
Her voice trailed off, so Jackie finished for her. ‘That I’d be understanding, give you my blessing, be chief bridesmaid at your wedding?’ The looks on both their faces gave her her answer. ‘You both hoped for a lot, didn’t you? I’m sorry I can’t oblige. Does Robby know about this?’
Gina shook her head. ‘No.’
‘Well, when you do tell him, I hope he’s more understanding than I am.’
Jackie felt an all-consuming need to get out of here, away from the two people who had brought her world crashing down around her. She kicked up her heels and fled upstairs where she rammed her clothes and personal belongings into a holdall. When she arrived back downstairs her mother was crumpled on the sofa, head in her hands, sobbing her heart out. Keith sat slumped in an armchair, staring transfixed at the television, though it was apparent he was neither seeing nor hearing the programme being transmitted. His face was stricken.
It was glaringly obvious that they had been telling the truth; they’d not wanted to hurt Jackie but their feelings for each other had proved to be too strong for them to deny. Now they were both suffering from dreadful remorse. At the moment Jackie could find no shred of compassion for either of them as her own pain was too great. They had each other to turn to for comfort. Rhonnie or Drina, or both together, would have come to her rescue, offering her a shoulder to cry on, words of wisdom, their unwavering support to see her through this trauma. Ginger would too, but there was no one available to her right now. Jackie was completely alone. She hurried across the room and into the kitchen, grabbing her coat from the hook on the back door. Without stopping to put it on, she left.
With her belongings wedged precariously on the back of the Lambretta, she drove down country lanes with not a clue where she was heading, so consumed was she by misery, until a pair of high iron gates seemed to materialise out of nowhere before her, the letters welded inside them sparkling in the last rays of the setting sun: JOLLY’S HOLIDAY CAMP. Jackie was not surprised that her subconscious had brought her here.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Wearing a well-worn winceyette dressing gown, a towel wrapped around her wet hair, Ginger swung her toilet bag as she jauntily made her way back to her chalet from the staff shower block. For a change she’d had a long leisurely shower, with no one badgering her to get a move on as they’d got to get back to work or were meeting friends. There weren’t many nights Ginger wasn’t meeting friends herself for an evening out, but she was broke until payday so tonight she had no option but to stay in. Surprisingly, she was quite enjoying having the place to herself while her chalet mate was on duty in the Paradise bar. She had tackled some washing, had a tidy around, and after her shower she intended to snuggle down in bed and read magazines until she was tired enough to sleep.
She was almost at her front door when she suddenly stopped, turned and retraced her steps to stand before a chalet several down from the one she herself occupied. Ginger looked at it thoughtfully. The two girls who had shared this chalet had both resigned their posts and left only this morning, claiming they were too homesick to stay. As yet replacements for them hadn’t been found and as far as she was aware the chalet hadn’t been allocated to any other member of staff. She would know if it had, working on reception. Whoever was inside had to have broken in without a key. One of the staff must be using the place to entertain a friend privately. If security caught them then they could face the sack. She wouldn’t like to see anyone lose their job through a lapse of common sense, most likely caused by a bit too much to drink, so for their own good she felt she should have a word with them.
Going up to the door, she rapped purposefully on it, calling out, ‘Whoever you are in here, you know you shouldn’t be! I’d get out now before security do their rounds …’
Before she could get any further, to Ginger’s shock the door suddenly flew open and she nearly fell backwards as a body launched itself at her. A pair of arms held on tight to her and a familiar voice cried out: ‘Oh, Ginger, I thought you were out tonight with Al. Oh, it’s all so terrible! I can’t bear it … I really can’t.’
It was the last person Ginger had expected to see. It took her a moment to shake off her shock before she exclaimed, ‘Jackie, what on earth has happened? You’re supposed to be out with Keith, aren’t you?’ Then a dreadful thought struck her. For Jackie to be this distraught something terrible must have happened to him. ‘Oh, God, he’s not … he’s not dead, is he?’
Jackie pulled away, giving her wet blotchy face a wipe with the sleeve of her cardigan before she faltered, ‘No, but I wish I was. You have no idea how much I wish I was.’
Ginger was reeling from this turn of events, her mind turning somersaults, trying to fathom why Jackie should be wishing she was dead when only a few hours ago she’d been so full of life, convinced that the man she adored was on the verge of asking her to marry him. Ginger grabbed hold of her friend’s arm and pulled her back into the chalet, kicking the door shut behind them before sitting Jackie down on a bed and perching beside her. With real concern, Ginger asked, ‘Tell me what’s happened?’
Tears flooding down her cheeks, Jackie mutter
ed, ‘What would you do … how would you feel … if you found out your boyfriend and your mother were having an affair?’
Ginger snorted, ‘I’d never find myself in that position! My dad managed to sour my mother for life against men, to the point where she’d have every last one of them thrown in a pot of boiling oil if it was up to her.’ Then the reason for the question dawned on her. ‘You mean … you’ve found out that Keith and your mother are?’
Jackie nodded miserably. ‘I walked in on them after work tonight, so wrapped up in each other they never heard me come in.’
Ginger stared at her in amazement for several long moments before she blustered, ‘Well … er … maybe one of them was upset about something and the other was comforting them?’
‘You don’t kiss your future mother-in-law or son-in-law like they were doing. Besides, they both admitted it when I confronted them.’
‘Oh! Oh, I see.’ Round-eyed, Ginger stared at her and murmured, ‘I’m so sorry, Jackie, really I am.’ She took a deep breath then slowly exhaled. ‘Well, I suppose all hell broke loose when you gave them what for? Smashed plates and all that.’
Jackie surprised her by saying, ‘No, nothing like that happened.’ She eased herself back on the bed and sat with her back propped against the wall. She drew up her legs and rested her chin on her knees before she continued in a low voice, ‘I was so shocked to start with that what I’d seen didn’t really sink in. Then, when it did, I felt completely numb. I couldn’t have ranted and raved even if I’d wanted to.’
Ginger said in bewilderment, ‘Are you telling me you didn’t put up a fight for Keith? Just walked out and left them to it?’
Jackie heaved a forlorn sigh. ‘Oh, believe me, a couple of years ago I would have done just that. Got down on my knees, clung to his legs and begged him to stay with me. I’ve grown up since then. Rhonnie and Drina have taught me a lot about how to conduct myself, and screaming and shouting, pleading and begging, to get what you want is definitely not the way to go about things. Women who make men stay with them through blackmail or pity can never be truly happy, knowing that the other person doesn’t really want to be with them but someone else.’
Ginger nodded in agreement. Then, her face grim, she said, ‘It’s bad enough finding out your boyfriend has been cheating on you, but I can’t imagine how that would feel if the other woman was my own mother. Yours is so lovely, though, and Keith is such a smashing bloke. They’re the last people I’d have said would do anything like this.’
Jackie sighed miserably. ‘Well, like my mother said, you can’t help who you fall in love with.’
‘Love! You believe they love each other and it’s not just a fling? Of course it’s a fling. Why, your mum is old enough to be Keith’s mother and …’
Jackie cut in, ‘Actually, she’s not. Mum had me at sixteen and Keith is five years older than me so there’s only eleven years between them. That might seem like a lot to some people, and I’ve no doubt they won’t have an easy ride of it thanks to certain narrow-minded individuals, but the age difference is no problem to them. This is no fling on their part. I only had to see the way they looked at each other, how they acted with each other, to have no doubt at all how they really feel. My mum is a beautiful woman and lovely-natured; Keith’s a decent, sincere, good-looking man. So is it any wonder they fell for each other?’
Jackie heaved a regretful sigh. ‘Maybe if I hadn’t had to work late all those nights, which threw them together, this situation would never have come about … who knows? But who am I, Ginger, to stand in the way of two people being happy together?’
Ginger puffed out her cheeks, considering this. ‘Well, when you put it like that … So are you telling me you’ll give them both your blessing?’
Jackie gave a wan smile. ‘I’m no saint. I’m hurting too much right now just to forgive and forget. I don’t like to think how long they would have carried on behind my back, with me believing Keith was going to propose, if I hadn’t found out like I did tonight. I need time to get over both their … their …’
‘Betrayal, Jackie. When all’s said and done, that’s what they did to you.’
‘Yes, but it wasn’t intentional, Ginger. When they told me they’d both fought against it, I believed them. That’s why this is all so difficult for me.’ She continued wistfully, ‘I’ll get over Keith in time, I’ve no choice, but my mum is a different kettle of fish. She’s been a good mother to me, and not just my parent but my friend too. I love her. I couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing her again. But then, I can’t bear to face her at the moment either.’
Ginger told her, ‘You need time to get over this shock before you make any plans for how you’re going to handle the future.’
Jackie nodded. ‘Yes, I do.’
Ginger chuckled. ‘Look on the bright side, gel. You’re free and single now, and there’s no better way of getting over a bloke than dolling yourself up and hitting the town to have a good look round at what else is out there. I should know, I’ve had to get over enough of them in my time.’
Jackie shot her a wan smile ‘Landing myself another man is the last thing on my mind at the moment. But, yes, you’re right, Ginger. Moping around, feeling sorry for myself, isn’t going to help me get over this in a hurry. Getting dressed up and hitting the town is the way to go. But not tonight, eh?’
‘Well, no, ’course not. I meant when you’re feeling like it, in a day or two … a week … whatever.’
Jackie sighed and nodded. Something suddenly struck her then and she asked Ginger, ‘Did you not bother to go and meet Al tonight for some reason?’
Ginger looked confused. ‘Eh! I wasn’t supposed to meet him, was I? Considering how long I’ve been trying to get him to come out and ask me on a proper date, I wouldn’t have forgotten that, Jackie.’
‘Oh! I could have sworn he told me he was meeting you and some others for a drink tonight. I was in a hurry to get home at the time so I must have heard him wrong.’
Ginger pulled a thoughtful expression. ‘I’m beginning to wonder about him, you know.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, he’s a good-looking lad, and not shy at all, but he doesn’t seem to have a girlfriend … or if he has, he’s keeping it very quiet. But he always makes excuses not to come out and have some fun … well, it’s not natural, is it?’
‘Just because you love going out and having fun, doesn’t mean everyone does, Ginger. Maybe he’s the stay-at-home type who likes to read or make model airplanes.’
‘Mmm, maybe. Anyway, what are you going to do about work? I mean, after what’s happened you won’t feel like going in for a day or two. Would you like me to explain to Mr Rose …’
Jackie interjected, ‘I’ll be at work as usual tomorrow, Ginger. I need to keep my mind busy, and work is the best place to do that. This is going to sound so bad of me but Rhonnie’s terrible situation is a blessing in disguise for me right now. Drina is relying on me to keep the office running smoothly while she helps Rhonnie heal. That’s enough to get me out of bed tomorrow morning, and every morning after that until I’ve healed and work is no longer an excuse.’
Ginger leaned over and patted her hand. ‘And I’m here to help you. Not just as a friend to go out with, but any time you want to bend my ear just let me know.’
‘Thanks, Ginger.’ Jackie felt her shoulders sag despite her resolution to stay strong. ‘When I was at that wedding today, listening to the old couple saying their vows, I was just picturing myself in a wedding dress, Keith by my side, saying my vows to the vicar. I hadn’t a clue then that my wedding was never going to happen.’
Her friend’s misery finally proved too much for Ginger. A lump formed in her throat. With tears pricking in her own eyes, she took hold of Jackie’s hand in hers, squeezed it tightly, and in an effort to lift her mood, said, ‘You’ll have a lovely wedding one day, just not to Keith.’ She could have bitten her tongue out then at her own clumsiness. In an effort to counterac
t it she blustered, ‘My mam would consider you’d had a lucky escape. She reckons that as soon as a man has a ring on a woman’s finger, he thinks she’s his property, to treat as he wishes, and all women end up as drudges to men.’
Jackie shot her a look which left Ginger in no doubt that her friend had been well aware what faced her after her wedding day, but looking after Keith, their home and the children she’d hoped to have with him would never have been perceived as drudgery but rather a labour of love. Ginger wished she had kept her mouth shut as her attempt to lighten Jackie’s mood had only resulted in worsening it. Then something struck her. ‘You couldn’t have been at a wedding today, you were at work.’
‘I’m not losing my marbles, Ginger, I was at a wedding today. The woman who came into reception looking for Joyce Daventry … only she wasn’t actually Joyce Daventry then, though she is now … well, that was Joyce’s daughter, and the friend she said Joyce was staying here with was her boyfriend. They’d come to Jolly’s secretly with the express intention of getting married before the daughter found out and put a stop to it.’
With Jackie’s dire situation taking precedence, Ginger had temporarily forgotten that she’d been desperate to discover just what the woman had wanted to tell one of their campers that was so urgent she had to disturb their holiday. Now she just had to know whether the daughter had got her way or not. Eagerly she blurted, ‘Did she manage to scupper the wedding? And why did she want to stop her own mother getting married anyway?’
Glad to have her mind taken off her own problems, Jackie told her the whole story. When she had finished, Ginger was laughing. ‘Oh, I’d have given anything to see your hair-raising drive to Skegness. Three of you on your scooter, and Joyce’s hair looking like a bird’s nest by the time you got there!’
‘Well, luckily I managed to avoid ending up in a ditch a couple of times, and missed the herd of cows we came upon round a corner. But I won’t be offering to do that again in a hurry, I can assure you. It was worth all the stupid risks I took, though, to see how happy they both were when we came out of the register office. They’ll have a good life together, I’ve no doubt of that. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes, though, when they return home and have to face Joyce’s daughter.’