‘I’m sorry, Dad. I just thought if she was back in Dundee, she was seeing you.’
He gave me a look I’ll never forget and I was suddenly ashamed of myself.
‘Well, I’d better get back home,’ I said in an embarrassed voice. ‘She’s living at the Greenside Hotel in Perth Road.’
He nodded unhappily. ‘Now I suppose I’ll have a devil of a job convincing Rosie this has nothing to do with me.’ He sighed loudly.
‘I’ll come back up to the house with you and support you.’
He scowled at me. ‘No thanks – you’ve done enough with getting the address. We’ll have to nickname you “Sherlock Holmes”.’
So I trudged homewards, feeling tired and downhearted. Why hadn’t I shown more faith in my father? I thought. Then it suddenly struck me that I had, over the years, been a hundred per cent right in my assumptions about my father. The fact that he had changed was down to Rosie’s influence – and Jay’s.
One thing was clear, however. Margot’s arrival was bad news – if not for Dad, then for some other poor man. I hoped that Victor Jones would cart his errant, embezzling wife back to Portsmouth or Timbuktu and far away from us. But, as I walked home that misty night, I could never have begun to envisage the trouble she would cause. That would come just before Christmas and, like all trouble, it didn’t come singly.
16
Danny confessed to me that he wasn’t a happy man. He was worried about Maddie who was still suffering from morning sickness and this meant extra work was put on her mother’s shoulders. Mrs Pringle had landed the job of taking Daniel to school every morning and, although she didn’t seem to mind this, Danny was upset by it.
He appeared at Roseangle one night, a couple of weeks after Victor Jones’s visit. His face was white but I could see he didn’t want to say anything in front of Lily.
‘I’m thinking of doing some work at the shop tonight, Ann. Can you help me?’
I gave him a sharp look. It was dark and he hardly ever worked in the shop this late at night. Still, Lily didn’t think this was odd so we set off for the Hawkhill. I was surprised when we reached the Overgate and he headed towards the High Street, going in the opposite direction from the shop.
‘I just mentioned the shop as a cover, Ann. I’ve got to go and see your Dad and Rosie.’
I opened my mouth to ask a question but he said he would explain everything when we were at the Hilltown. We walked in silence for a few minutes until I asked him about Maddie and Daniel.
He reinforced what I already knew. ‘Maddie is still sick every morning and Mrs Pringle has to take Daniel to school. Things are getting so chaotic, Ann. I never thought I would come back to this. I always harboured dreams that our life together would resume where we left off.’ He gave me a lopsided smile. ‘How naive of me I guess.’
I tucked his arm in mine. ‘No, Danny, you’re not naive. I’m the same with Greg. I always thought he would wait till Lily grew up but one thing I’ve learned during these war years is to never assume anything. Just take what you want now and don’t wait. You’ve got your shop and you’ll be a father again soon. As for Daniel … well, it’ll just take time, I’m sure of it.’
He said softly, ‘I look around me and the streets and buildings are still the same as when I left but I’ll tell you something, Ann, nothing is the same. It’s as if the world has been carted off to another galaxy. We all look the same but we’re not. People are becoming more demanding and asking questions. The women who come into Lipton’s are becoming more militant about these awful ration restrictions and I don’t blame them. It’s almost eighteen months since the end of the war and rations are being cut instead of increasing and people want to know the reason for it.’
I nodded in agreement. I had noticed the tendency myself while standing in the daily queues. ‘I know, Danny. A few women were shouting at the butcher last week because the meat ration hadn’t been increased and, although the bread rationing isn’t as bad, it’s still a case of first come first served and sometimes the baker doesn’t have much left. And it’s much darker bread than the wartime loaf so we wonder what’s in it.’
‘There’s a world shortage of food and the government has spoken of a world famine. Then there was a bad wheat harvest and that hasn’t helped. Seemingly, there are thirty million Germans to be fed because of all the damage to their agricultural system and you can multiply that right across the world – everywhere except America.’
‘Still, you can’t blame the women for getting frustrated at the rations still being so small. It’s almost as if we’re still at war,’ I said with feeling.
By now we had reached the house and all the talk of world shortages stopped. Rosie answered our knock and she was surprised to see us, as was Dad who looked up from his paper. Jay had gone to his bed.
Danny didn’t mince his words which surprised me. ‘I hear that a Victor Jones has been looking for his wife Margot?’
Dad looked gutted while Rosie said, ‘That’s right, Danny, but we didn’t think it was common knowledge.’ She gave me a look but I shrugged my shoulders to let her know this news hadn’t come from me.
Danny sighed. ‘Oh, I wish it wasn’t.’ He turned to Dad. ‘Ann gave him her address in Perth Road and, when he went there to tackle her, she just laughed at him. Seemingly, she has another man in her sights and she told Victor Jones to get lost. Well, he lost his temper and called the police the next day. He wanted her arrested for embezzlement but, when the police arrived, she had vanished.’
Rosie was puzzled. ‘But what’s this got to do with us, Danny?’
Danny was white-faced. ‘The other man – the one she was hoping to go off with – was Maddie’s uncle.’
Dad gave an agonised groan. ‘My boss at the warehouse?’
Danny nodded. ‘The whole family are up in arms over it. She was seemingly getting money from him. She threatened to tell his wife about a so-called affair they were supposed to have had a few years ago – before Maddie and I got married.
‘Although he confessed earlier, he was scared Margot’s reappearance would be construed as a new affair. Margot could tell lies so convincingly that John was afraid.’
Of course, this wasn’t news to me or to Rosie – or to Jean Peters. Jean and I had seen them in the lounge of the Royal Hotel.
‘He’s admitted to the police that he was foolish for giving her money but the worst thing is the fact that his marriage to Dot is over. She was wild when she heard the story.’
I always knew Margot had the soul of a mischief maker and now it was proved once again. She had almost destroyed Dad and now she was doing the same to Maddie’s uncle – not to mention Victor Jones.
Danny was still talking. ‘The worst part is she doesn’t need any more money. She has a house in Edinburgh and was coming back and forth from there to get more money out of Mr Pringle.’
Dad was speechless but Rosie summed up what we were all thinking. ‘She’s a wicked woman, Danny, but she’ll get her comeuppance.’
‘Well, I hope so,’ he said. ‘As it is, Dot has asked John to move out of the house and he’s living in a rented house in Blackness Road. Maddie’s parents are trying to get them to patch things up but it’s a mess.’
There was something I wanted to say to Rosie. ‘It’s true that I first saw Margot some time ago but I never said anything because I didn’t want any more trouble from her. Tell me, Danny, has she been arrested by the police?’
He shook his head. ‘No, she hasn’t. She disappeared after Victor Jones visited her at the hotel. But not before confronting John and Dot and telling her all about her affair with her husband and also about the money he was giving her. She also said John was planning to go away with her and start a new life together. That’s something John denies – he says it’s a pack of lies. He says he felt sorry for her because she was Harry Connor’s widow and she came to him with a hard-luck tale of money problems. He denies saying he would go away with her. It did start with him feeling s
orry for her but Margot manipulated his kindness and he was always a bit daft over a pretty face. But hopefully the police will catch up with her when she goes back to her house in Edinburgh. They’ll catch her then.’
Danny and I then left Dad and Rosie to their own thoughts. I was so relieved that Dad wasn’t involved but I still felt very sorry for John Pringle. He had been a good boss to Dad and I only hoped the business wouldn’t go under with all this domestic pressure simmering away.
As we walked back through the cold dark streets, Danny seemed to be lost in his own thoughts so I remained silent. We were almost at Roseangle when he said, ‘Come back to the house and see Maddie.’
I was worried about leaving Lily for so long and I said so.
Danny was apologetic. ‘Of course – I forgot she was in the house on her own. Maybe you’ll manage to see Maddie soon, Ann?’
He looked so worried and I knew Lily was capable of being on her own for one evening so I said I would go but only for a short visit.
Perth Road was quiet at that time of night. White frost was beginning to lie on the garden walls with their iron stumps that had once been iron railings. They had all been cut down early in the war to be used as metal salvage.
Danny said, ‘I can’t believe all this trouble has all started up again. What has that woman got against this family? First your dad and then John Pringle. Maddie’s parents are really worried about the whole thing and they are urging Dot to patch things up with her husband. As it is, she’s on the phone every night, crying.’
There was nothing I could say to cheer him up. If I came out with some well-worn platitude, he would see it for what it was worth – only words. And he didn’t know about Margot’s earlier affair with John. With hindsight, it was now clear that she had set her sights on him years ago and had been trying to get him to leave his wife for her. She had also been quite willing to leave Dad as well, if her plans had gone well.
‘How is Maddie coping with all this?’ I asked.
‘I think everything is getting her down, Ann – what with her being sick every morning and Daniel just tolerating me. That’s why I wanted you to come and see her tonight. She always listens to you and says you’re a very wise person.’
I had to smile inwardly at this description. If I had been so wise, why was I not married to Greg by now? It had been my stupidity that had sent him packing into the arms of another woman.
We were now at the gate and the house looked so welcoming as always. It was a house I loved ever since the first time I saw it in 1931. I always thought it was such a peaceful place. That is until we went inside. Like Lochee a few weeks ago, it was a war zone.
James and Fay Pringle were in chairs by the fireside while John and Dot sat at either end of the large settee, like bookends. Sitting in a chair by the window was Maddie. She looked downright miserable.
Danny’s face went white when we entered and I was embarrassed. I turned to leave. Maddie jumped up and came towards us. She led us up to their room which, in an earlier life, had been hers. A small box room next door was Daniel’s bedroom and he was fast asleep.
‘Maddie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come at a bad time like this,’ I said.
Suddenly she grinned and I was taken back to the very first time I ever met her. She had grinned at me like this on that far-off day in 1931.
‘Oh, don’t be sorry. You’ve saved me from the battlefield, believe me.’
Danny went down to the kitchen to make some tea. Maddie was beginning to put on weight around her tummy and it was clear she was expecting another baby.
She patted her tummy. ‘Do you remember how huge I was with Daniel? Well, I think this one will make me even bigger. I’ll resemble an elephant and Danny will emigrate to Canada to get away from me.’
He appeared at the door at that moment and laughed. ‘No, Maddie, it’ll be Australia.’ He became serious. ‘What’s the news on the battlefront tonight?’
Maddie sighed. ‘Oh, just the usual recriminations, Danny. Dot believes every word Margot said to her but we all know what a liar she is.’ She looked at me. ‘Especially you, Ann – you had to live with her in your life when she married your father.’
I nodded as all the unhappy memories of those distant days now came flooding back. To push them from my mind, I asked, ‘How are you keeping, Maddie?’
She made a face. ‘As sick as a dog every morning. Danny doesn’t believe I was like this with Daniel, do you, Danny?’
He smiled. ‘Of course I believe you.’
None of us mentioned Daniel again. Danny was still too hurt by the way his son kept his distance from him. Instead we were all laughing about our dressmaking attempts with the camiknickers and Maddie was telling Danny how she’d made them especially for him.
‘That was when I was trying to get you to notice me,’ she told him.
Then James Pringle knocked on the door. He smiled when he saw Maddie and Danny laughing. ‘You always make people feel better, Ann.’
I was totally thrown by this statement but even more confused when he continued. ‘Can you come downstairs for a moment?’
Maddie and Danny looked as puzzled as I felt but I followed him downstairs. The atmosphere in the room was icy, in spite of the glowing fire.
Dot looked tearfully at me while John gazed at his feet as if he had suddenly developed eleven toes. I noticed the highly polished russet brown shoes that I had last seen by the bench at Riverside.
Fay Pringle smiled and asked me to sit down. She came straight to the point. ‘James and I were wondering if you could tell Dot what kind of woman Margot is.’
Dot continued to look at me and I was momentarily speechless. What did Maddie’s mum want me to say?
Noticing my hesitation, she said, ‘Just tell Dot the truth, Ann.’
And I did. I held nothing back. I told her about how callous she had been over her late husband Harry’s death – a death that put her within reach of Dad. I told them about her stealing my money from the savings jar and also the horrible abuse of Lily at her hands. I mentioned her treatment of a husband who had turned up at our door a few years ago. How she had spent all his money before disappearing and how she had treated her latest husband, Victor Jones, by embezzling five thousands pounds and how good he had been to her, providing her with a house and job in Edinburgh. What I didn’t mention was the short affair John had had with her or the conversation Rosie, Dad and I heard at Maddie and Danny’s wedding. He had been foolish but then so had a lot of men, Dad included. He had been truly hoodwinked by her.
‘She’s nothing but a common criminal,’ I told them. ‘She’s a bigamist, a liar and a thief, albeit a pretty one. The only reason she married my father was because he was daft enough to mention my inheritance from Mrs Barrie. He never mentioned how much so maybe she thought she would get her greedy little hands on a lot of money. Well, she was sorely mistaken.’
Suddenly James Pringle burst into laughter and we all looked at him. ‘I can see she was mistaken in taking you on, Ann. You were more than a match for her.’
The mood in the room seemed to lift and Dot, who had stayed silent all through my tirade, now smiled. She said quietly, ‘So what my husband says is true? She’s a wicked woman?’
For the first time, I laughed. ‘It’s not only your husband, Mrs Pringle, who’d say so but also my sister Lily and my dad and his lovely wife Rosie. No doubt, if we all had enough time, we could maybe dredge up a few more names but why bother? Rosie says she’ll get her comeuppance and I hope she does.’
Dot thanked me and I left the room but, before I reached the door, I turned. ‘This conversation will be in confidence and I’ll never mention a word about it. Margot has caused so much mayhem that it’s a shame to let her continue to do so in her absence.’
I left soon after that and it was another week before I met up with Danny again. We were both doing some work at his shop and he said, ‘John and Dot are back together again. We’ve no idea what you said to them but t
hings are back to normal, thank goodness.’
I was busy washing the floor of the back shop and I was on my knees beside the bucket. I looked up at him. ‘That’s good news, Danny, but I only told them the truth.’
He looked at the big clock which was a leftover relic from the previous owner. ‘Maddie wondered if you could maybe pick Daniel up from the school, Ann. she has to go to a Red Cross meeting with her mum.’
I stood up. ‘On one condition only, Danny.’
He said, ‘What’s that?’
‘That you come with me.’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t want the other parents at the school gate to see Daniel upset. He’ll be looking for his mum or his grandmother.’
‘Well, I’m only going if you come as well,’ I said, giving him no option but to agree.
Snow had started to fall earlier in the day and there was a thick covering on the ground. As we slowly trudged towards the school, Danny looked more and more apprehensive. By the time we reached the gate a few minutes before the school came out, it had started to snow again. We joined the group of people who stood waiting patiently on the pavement, all of us huddled up against the snowstorm.
Then the doors opened and the children poured out, their hats and scarves making a bright splash of colour on this grey, snowy day. We saw Daniel and I called over. For a moment he stayed still as his eyes scanned the playground in search of his mother or grandmother. He walked slowly forward but kept his eyes averted from Danny.
Suddenly Danny picked up a handful of snow, formed it into a ball and threw it at his son. Daniel’s eyes widened in shock as he gazed at us both. For one horrible moment, I thought he was going to burst into tears but then he bent down and made a big snowball and threw it at Danny. His father then made an even bigger ball and launched it at his son where it spilled all over his school coat. Running across the playground, Daniel scooped up more snow and threw it at his father. Danny chased Daniel over the deep snow and when he caught him they both fell down and rolled in the snow, laughing as they gambolled in the deep drifts.
The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow Page 24