A Mother's Duty

by June Francis

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Very early the next morning Teddy went down the yard to check his motorbike. He was having trouble bending his knee and knew he would not be able to ride to work and would have to walk. He felt all knotted up inside, not only because of his knee but because of the big fella forbidding him to take Jeannie out on the bike again.

  ‘Are you all right?’ said a husky voice behind him.

  He turned and saw Jeannie and held out a hand to her. ‘My knee’s giving me hell but I can take that. What sticks in my throat is that I promised not to take you out on the Rudge again. I wish I hadn’t.’

  She took his hand between both hers and held it against her breast. ‘Poor you.’

  ‘Did he make you promise?’ he asked.

  ‘Not promise. But he was so understanding and sympathetic that he made me feel terribly guilty. He said I was a sensible lass and he knew I wouldn’t do it again.’ There was a wistful expression on her face. ‘Just as I was getting the hang of it, too.’

  ‘The fall hasn’t put you off?’

  ‘No. But if I ever did get to ride on a motorbike again I’d like some proper clothes like yours.’ She gazed into his eyes and Teddy raised one of her hands and rubbed it against his cheek before kissing her knuckles. ‘What are we going to do? He said I wasn’t to go out with you anywhere again.’

  Teddy’s anger threatened to choke him. ‘Bloody swine! He’s got no right!’

  ‘He’s not a swine,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘He’s nice and kind and generous but now he’s coming the heavy father and it’s not what I want from him. It reminds me too much of Granny and Aunt Emily. They were always worrying about me, thinking a man was going to carry me off. They treated me like I hadn’t a ha’p’orth of common sense. There has to be a way round your promise. We can’t go places without transport and I want to go places with you.’

  He lifted his head and they smiled at each other. ‘I’ll find a way,’ he said. ‘We’ll have to be careful, though, or he’ll have my hide.’

  ‘We need to put him off the scent.’

  He nodded. ‘We’ll have to go out separately and meet up elsewhere.’

  ‘Yes, and I could—’ She hesitated.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Be really nice to your Mick and young Doctor Calhoun to make him believe I’m not that fussy on you.’

  Teddy did not like that idea but he could see she thought it would work. ‘I hope our Mick’s not really in love with you,’ he said with brotherly concern.

  ‘He’s just in love with my face,’ she said assuredly. Teddy knew he had to believe her or else he would have all kinds of reservations but he wanted to be with her so that settled it. He knew now as he looked at his Rudge exactly how he was going to get round his promise. It might be splitting hairs but love had to find a way.

  He began to peruse the advertisement columns in The Motor Cycle magazine, as well as the Echo in search of what he wanted.

  Come Sunday, Teddy discovered that the big fella and Mick were going along to the Central Hall with Jeannie so he decided it might be to his advantage to go. He did his best to appear to be hanging on to every word the preacher said but most of the time he was too aware of Jeannie sitting between Mick and her father to take much notice. Even so, Teddy made out he was interested and asked her to explain a few things to him on the short walk home. She behaved coolly towards him and was nice to Mick, but despite that Teddy got to walk next to her. He guessed he wasn’t fooling his stepfather by his apparent interest in religious affairs but he had decided that if he made out he had already given up all interest in Jeannie on John’s say-so, he would be acting out of character and the big fella might become suspicious. Teddy gave no thought to what his brother was feeling. At least not until they went to bed later that evening.

  ‘Why did you have to go?’ Mick said in a furious voice as he undressed. ‘You’re not holy!’

  ‘I’m not pretending I am! But since when did you get a halo?’ said Teddy. ‘Admit you only went to get in with Jeannie.’

  ‘I do have some interest in religion. I believe in God!’

  ‘So do I! And the Ten Commandments.’

  ‘Well, remember the one about not coveting and keep your eyes off Jeannie. She’s too old for you.’ Mick slid into bed.

  ‘I like older women,’ said Teddy loftily. He had not given a thought to Jeannie’s age.

  ‘Just find somebody else,’ muttered Mick presenting him with his back. ‘Or me and you are gonna fall out.’

  So what, thought Teddy, and pulled the covers over his head. The battle lines were drawn and no longer would he worry the least little bit about his brother’s feelings.

  Kitty, who was aware that her two eldest sons were vying for Jeannie’s favours, wondered if she should do anything about it. She knew that John had forbidden Teddy from taking the girl out on his motorbike and they had had words on the subject. There was a definite atmosphere between her husband and son and how Kitty managed to keep her mouth shut and not rush to one or the other’s defence when they spoke to her about it, she did not know. Nor could she help wanting to lay the blame on Jeannie’s shoulders for such a serious falling out. Kitty felt she walked an emotional tightrope to keep the peace and that one innocent but wrong word from her could only make matters worse.

  It would have helped Kitty if she could have spoken to Jeannie like her own daughter but however hard Kitty tried she could not. She had never nurtured her as she had her own children. There were no shared memories to look back on, only the thought that this girl was Margaret’s and John’s daughter and she had no part of her.

  Easter came and on the Sunday afternoon John suggested they went out as a family for a picnic to Sefton Park. It was soon obvious to Kitty that Mick and Teddy were out to impress Jeannie in the games they played, hogging the bat and giving Jeannie more second chances when caught out than her being a girl warranted. It was not fair on Jack and Ben who got fed up hanging around and wandered off. Jack fell in the lake and Ben had to go in after him, and the afternoon ended in an argument between Teddy and Mick, with John storming off carrying a sopping wet Jack, blaming her sons for what had happened.

  The atmosphere in the private quarters of the Arcadia was still fraught when the Galloways left for Canada.

  John, Kitty, Jeannie and Jack went to the landing stage to wave them off. Nancy and Malcolm tried to persuade them to leave England. ‘Hitler’s not going to be content with just Austria,’ said Malcolm. ‘And what about Italy and Abyssinia? Hitler and Il Duce are already in cahoots. They’ll be marching into somewhere else next.’

  ‘We’ll think about it,’ was all John would promise but, thinking of her sons, Kitty thought that perhaps they should. Several weeks passed and during that time Teddy made out that he was losing interest in Jeannie and religion. He also got rid of his Rudge motorbike.

  The O’Neills came to see them. Daniel was cock-a-hoop because the economic war between Eire and Britain was finally over after six years. ‘Hopefully it’ll improve relationships.’

  ‘It won’t if a member of the Dáil carries on suggesting dropping poison gas on Ulster,’ said Kitty.

  Daniel sighed. ‘Crazy. But de Valera did condemn the idea.’

  She agreed he had more sense.

  Celia came to work for them – a washed-out looking Celia with lank hair and a waist that could be spanned by a man’s hands.

  ‘You look like you need a holiday,’ said Kitty, shaking her head.

  ‘It’s Ma. And it’s been hectic at the doctor’s the last few weeks,’ replied Celia, straightening her shoulders. ‘I’ll be all right now I’m here.’

  Kitty decided what Celia needed was feeding up and she made sure that was what the girl got by standing over her and making her eat. She was rewarded for her efforts and bought Celia a new frock and bullied Mick into taking her to the Laughter Show at the Pivvy.

  Jeannie and Teddy narrowly missed bumping into them because they went there on
the same night. ‘I told you Mick wasn’t in love with me,’ said Jeannie, looking relieved. Teddy was not so sure but he kept his mouth shut.

  At last, one night in June, he saw what he had been looking for and although it was not the most auspicious of days when he set out he was determined to get what he wanted. Gales had swept the country, bringing down telephone lines and ruining the punter’s hopes of a Derby winner because of wreckage on the course. But as soon as Teddy saw the second-hand 1932 Ariel he fell in love with it and his thoughts turned to days out in the country. Without telling his family, he kept it at a mate’s house and after a couple of practice runs he felt competent enough to take Jeannie out on it so arranged for them to meet at the Pier Head one Sunday afternoon.

  ‘Yes, yes!’ she exclaimed with a rapturous expression on her face when she saw him astride the Ariel. ‘A proper pillion seat! You have gone up in the world.’

  ‘I had to.’ He glanced over his shoulder as she climbed up behind. ‘I promised the big fella I wouldn’t take you on the old Rudge but I didn’t say anything about a different motorbike.’

  ‘Big improvement.’ She marvelled as she found the foot rests and settled herself. ‘Let’s go.’

  The early gales of summer had passed but Teddy was taking no chances, so he did not take her through the Mersey tunnel and into Wales. She needed to get used to the feel of the bike so they went out for a spin along to Otterspool, just past the Cassie Shore.

  It was the first of many outings and she bought herself a coat similar to his, along with leggings, gloves and a helmet, which she kept at his mate’s. They were so wrapped up in each other that it was difficult to pretend that they did not particularly care for each other at home, but as the weeks passed it became even more difficult to pretend that there was no possibility of another war and their being parted.

  Suddenly the newspapers were filled with headlines about Germans in the Sudeten regions of Czechoslovakia demanding self-determination, and of Herr Hitler’s promise to help them get it. Hitler was getting too big for his boots and Germany too powerful, blazoned the headlines. Britain and France had to do something to stop the Nazis invading other countries, But France and Britain did not want another war.

  Anxious crowds gathered outside 10 Downing Street and Mr Chamberlain went to Munich on a mission of peace. Everybody held their breath.

  He returned with a piece of paper and waved it about. It was Herr Hitler’s promise of peace but it had been gained at a price. Sudetenland was now part of Germany but Britain and France guaranteed Czechoslovakia they would uphold their new frontiers. Most people breathed again. John said grimly that there could be a next time but Kitty did not want to believe it.

  The fear that there might eventually be another war crouched like some horrible demon at the back of Teddy’s mind and made his outings with Jeannie all the more precious. It was a week or so after the Munich crisis he persuaded her to skip chapel and have a whole day out with him. ‘It’ll be winter soon and then we won’t be able to get out and about the same. Let’s go to mid-Wales.’

  ‘I’ll have to think up an excuse,’ she said.

  ‘Say you’ve got a sick friend.’

  ‘I haven’t any girl friends I’d need the whole day to visit.’

  He racked his brains. ‘What about that girl who stayed at the hotel a few months ago who lives near Chester and said you could visit any time?’

  Jeannie smiled. ‘She phoned me up a short while ago. She’ll do.’ John accepted her reason for being missing the whole day without a quibble. As for Teddy he told Kitty he had to work. There was an increasing demand for aeroplane engine parts and it was true enough the boss was saying they were going to have to pull out all the stops.

  The leaves on the trees were just turning the colours of autumn but Teddy and Jeannie were full of the joys of spring as they travelled along narrow winding roads between hedges bright with haws and hips. They stopped for a picnic near Bala Lake.

  ‘One day soon,’ said Teddy, as they lay on a towel on the grass, ‘we’re going to have to confess we’ve been seeing each other and want to get married.’

  ‘You haven’t asked me yet,’ murmured Jeannie, rolling over on her side and gazing at him.

  ‘Will you?’ His face was close to hers.

  ‘Yes.’

  Their lips met and he pulled her against him, kissing her with an exhuberance that matched her own. They kissed and kissed. It was not enough for how they felt about each other but they both knew when to call time. They drew apart and stood up, both reluctant to leave what had now become a very special place to them.

  ‘We’ll come back here,’ said Jeannie.

  ‘We’ll come for our honeymoon,’ said Teddy, lacing his fingers through hers.

  ‘Yes. I’d like that,’ she said softly.

  They left, still caught up in a kind of enchantment and not ready to head for home. They travelled on, enjoying the countryside and each other’s company. When they rounded a bend and the giant pig came towards them it was so unexpected and happened so fast that Teddy had no time to brake. Before he could take action to avoid it, they hit the pig. He was flung into a hedge whilst the motorbike skidded out of control before falling on its side, pinning Jeannie beneath it.

  Fear was uppermost in his mind as he dragged himself out of the hedge and staggered towards her with blood running down his cheek where a hawthorn twig had ripped open his face. He tried to lift the bike but it was too much for him and the scream from Jeannie would have made him stop anyway.

  ‘Thank God, you’re alive,’ he said hoarsely, getting down on the ground so his face was on a level with hers. There was a bloodied graze right down her left cheek. ‘What is it? Where does it hurt?’

  ‘My leg, my leg really hurts,’ she groaned and attempted to lift her head again but it was too much effort.

  Teddy took off his coat, folded it and placed it beneath her head before attempting to see that part of her beneath the bike. It was all in shadow. He got up on one knee and glanced about him just in time to see the sow lumbering away. ‘It must belong to that farm we saw back there. I’ll go and get help, love,’ he said.

  ‘Don’t leave me,’ cried Jeannie, reaching out a hand to him.

  He took it and held it tightly. ‘I don’t want to leave you ever,’ he said unsteadily. ‘I wish we were married right now.’

  ‘I want to marry you, too,’ she whispered. ‘But get me out from under here first.’

  He nearly smiled then but was too upset. He released her hand and moved away from the bike. It was then he heard the sound of an engine and, suddenly frightened that a car might come round the bend and run into the bike and perhaps kill Jeannie, he ran into the middle of the road and waved both arms and shouted.

  A car came round the bend and braked suddenly, narrowly missing him. It stopped and two men got out. ‘Are you suicidal, boyo?’ said one of them.

  Teddy swallowed and blinked back tears. ‘I ran into a pig,’ he gulped. ‘My girl’s in pain and I can’t get the bike off her to see what’s wrong.’

  ‘You’re in luck, Scouse,’ said the other one, a big, broad heavy-set youngish man. ‘My friend’s a doctor. Let’s get her out from under there.’

  The three men set about lifting the motorbike, only to freeze when Jeannie screamed piercingly. ‘You two hold it just there whilst I see what’s causing the trouble,’ said the one who was the doctor.

  Teddy and the other man braced themselves whilst the doctor lowered himself to the ground. When he got up again his expression was serious. ‘One of the foot rests has gone into her calf and out the other side.’

  ‘Oh God!’ gulped Teddy, and felt as if all the blood had drained from him.

  ‘Keep a grip on yourself, boyo,’ ordered the doctor sternly. ‘You’ll have to hold the cycle while I see what I can do to separate them.’ Teddy took a deep steadying breath and did exactly as he was told.

  Afterwards, as Teddy sat in the farmhouse parlour sippin
g hot sweet tea and smoking a cigarette with shaking fingers, he wondered how he had not screamed himself when the doctor managed to get his fingers into the sides of the wound so they could pull out the foot rest. They had brought Jeannie here in the car but Teddy had been turned out of the makeshift surgery in another room because he and Jeannie were not married. It had seemed ludicrous in the light of what they felt for each other.

  The door opened and the doctor came in. Teddy shot to his feet. ‘How is she?’

  ‘I’ve cleaned the wound and put in a few stitches but I’ll have to get her to the cottage hospital in Welshpool.’

  ‘But – but we’ve got to get home to Liverpool tonight,’ stuttered Teddy, only now thinking of his mother and the big fella.

  ‘Out of the question,’ said the doctor briskly. ‘She’s not fit. She has a slight concussion and cuts and bruises, but most of all that wound needs attention as soon as possible from someone more expert than me. We’ll take her in the car. You can follow us on your motorbike.’ Teddy saw that he had no choice but to fit in with what the doctor said.

  He was, at least, allowed to carry Jeannie out to the car. ‘Keep your chin up, love,’ he whispered as he placed her down on the back seat.

  She smiled up at him drowsily and he wondered if the doctor had given her something. He did not wait to watch the car drive off but went in search of his motorbike.

  He had not travelled far when the engine died on him and he discovered the return pipe from the crank case to the petrol tank had been flattened. He could have wept but instead he wheeled his motorbike to the side of the road and began walking. It was beginning to get dark and it was now that thoughts of the big fella and his mother crowded in. His stepfather was going to be furious. God only knew what he would do to him. Only now did Teddy admit to himself that he was scared stiff of telling him what had happened to Jeannie, but it would have to be done.

  At that moment he heard the noise of a car engine and turned to face it. He waved but the car carried on. In desperation he ran after it shouting and it stopped. When he caught up with it a man stuck his head out of the window. ‘I’m in a hurry, lad. Where are you going?’