A Family Scandal

by Kitty Neale

  ‘Sex!’ Rhona snapped.

  Penny lowered her head, nodded and stammered, ‘I … nearly did what you advised, but … well …’

  Rhona took a sip of her tea to compose herself, then put her cup down. She suspected that this was the problem during their walk from the factory. ‘So you’re telling me you’re pregnant?’

  Miserably Penny nodded. ‘I think so. I hoped it was just that I’m a bit run down or something, but I’ve missed two of my monthlies now. Oh, what am I gonna do?’

  Rhona bit down the answer that came to her lips. She just didn’t have the heart to berate someone who was clearly in desperate straits. ‘So you didn’t take precautions then.’

  Penny began to cry properly. ‘I did try. But sometimes I just forgot. You know, when you get carried away …’

  ‘So you just trusted to luck,’ Rhona said sharply. ‘That was a silly thing to do.’

  ‘I know that now …’ Penny sobbed as she wiped her face with a grubby hanky.

  ‘What do you expect from me?’ Rhona asked.

  ‘I don’t really know. I just needed to tell somebody, and everyone else would have said it’s my fault for going all the way before marriage. I knew you wouldn’t judge me like that.’

  Rhona sat down opposite her former friend. ‘Have you told Gary?’

  Penny shook her head. ‘I don’t know what he’ll say. He’s so busy at the moment. He’s trying out all these different bands to play with so I don’t want to worry him.’

  ‘He’s going to have to know some time,’ Rhona pointed out. ‘After all, when your belly swells he’s going to notice.’

  ‘I’m scared of how he’ll react, and I know that he’ll never agree to marry me,’ Penny started crying again. ‘And I can’t tell my mum. She’s never met Gary, but she doesn’t like me going out with him, and when she finds out I’m pregnant she’ll go crazy.’

  Rhona didn’t want to admit it, but she felt she wasn’t exactly blame-free. She’d encouraged her friend to go ahead and enjoy herself, even telling her how to protect herself against pregnancy. All right, Penny had been lax, but it could so easily have been her in the same position. She also knew that Gary would never agree to marriage. He liked a good time too much to get tied down and he’d deny that he was the father. ‘Look, this has come as a bit of a surprise, and I need time to think about what you can do. Leave it with me, but don’t go home with a face like that or your mum will know something is up. Come over to the sink and give it a wash.’

  She stood to one side as Penny did as she suggested, and handed her a towel. ‘That’s an improvement already. Go home, have a bath, do your hair and don’t give up just yet. We’ll come up with something.’

  ‘You’re too good to me,’ sniffed Penny. ‘I don’t deserve it.’

  Rhona thought about the night in the cellar and what the two men had said. She knew she couldn’t blame Penny; just like she had been, her former friend was only out to have a bit of fun. The difference was, she’d got caught out, whereas thankfully, Rhona had never found herself pregnant.

  ‘I’d better go before your mum gets back.’ Penny hung the towel on its hook again.

  ‘Yeah, that might be best.’ Rhona led the way through to the front door. ‘Come on, chin up.’

  ‘Thanks, Rhona.’ Penny leant forward on the doorstep and gave Rhona a hug, before turning and hurrying down the street.

  Blimey, thought Rhona. If anyone had asked her before, she would have said she never wanted to see Penny again, and that if she got herself in trouble then that was her look-out. But when it came to it, Rhona couldn’t abandon her old friend.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Mavis sat at her mother’s kitchen table, writing a list of what she’d have to do to plan a wedding. She knew the whole thing would take a while, as there would be so many legal matters to sort out, but she refused to let them weigh her down. Her first marriage had been rushed, she’d been so desperate to get away from Lily and Pete at the time, and Alec’s mother had sorted out all the arrangements. Now she could have it all exactly how she wanted it. Maybe they should have an engagement party? Or would that be seen as disrespectful, after Alec’s dreadful accident? She’d ask Tommy later.

  Lily came in from the garden with a handful of late tomatoes. ‘Look at these, pet. Fancy some of these in a cheese sandwich? I could eat them straight off the plant, they’re that sweet.’

  Mavis looked up and raised her eyebrows. ‘Don’t say that in front of the children. It’s taken all summer to get them to understand they should bring things in and wash them, not just stuff them in their mouths.’

  ‘Ain’t no one here to see now though, is there?’ said Lily. ‘Here, go on.’ She offered one to Mavis, who bit into it.

  ‘That’s lovely. I’m so glad we planted them. It’s good for the kids to have fresh fruit and veg.’

  ‘Not like when you were a nipper, eh?’ said Lily wistfully. ‘We only had what was left at the end of the day from the market and a lot of that was rotten.’ She looked at her daughter, sad for a moment. ‘I wish things had been better back then, that I had behaved differently, but still, I suppose it’s no use crying over spilt milk. We do all right now, don’t we?’

  Mavis nodded. ‘Yes, Mum, and as you say, there isn’t much we can do about the past, except perhaps learn from it.’ She briefly shut her eyes, determined not to let all the misery of her childhood flood back to spoil her happiness now. ‘I’ve nothing to complain about. We’ve got our new home, the kids love it, we’re all healthy and, best of all, Tommy and I can now plan our future. I was just wondering about that in fact. Should we have an engagement party?’

  Lily set down the rest of the tomatoes and beamed. ‘Damn right you should. Never pass up the chance of a party.’

  The hall door opened and Pete came in, struggling out of his jacket. ‘Blimey, it’s still warm out there. What’s all this about a party?’ He tugged his arm out of the sleeve and an envelope fell from his pocket and skittered across the floor.

  Mavis bent over to pick it up. ‘Look, you dropped this.’ She peered at the print on it but as usual the shapes of the letters swam about and made no sense. She concentrated on the image in the corner. Pictures she understood; it was words that confounded her. ‘Isn’t that the symbol for the bank?’

  Pete hurriedly threw his jacket on the back of a chair, reached over and snatched it from her hand. ‘Oh, that,’ he said with forced cheerfulness. ‘That arrived while we were away. I must have stuffed it in my pocket and forgotten about it. They’re just offering me a higher interest savings account. Tell you what, I could do with a cuppa but first I’ll hang this jacket up.’ He quickly made for his bedroom and headed to the big old wardrobe which stood solidly in the far corner.

  Wiping his brow he leant against the wooden frame. That had been a close one. He should have left the letter from the bank at the office along with all the others. This one was even more urgent, piling on the pressure for him to increase the loan payments. He was one step away from a final notice and yet he was no closer to a solution. What if it had been Lily who’d picked it up? She wouldn’t have handed it back so readily and then his terrible secret would be out and they’d know about the threat hanging over them. How could he bring himself to give them the news? He couldn’t bear to ruin their happiness. The safety and security of his family meant everything – but what if it all came tumbling down around them?

  On Friday Rhona found herself working late, helping Jean out again. She found she didn’t mind. In the old days she’d have had a date or concert to go to and would have complained bitterly, but she had no plans for the evening, which would be the same as any other night now. She’d go home, her mother would have dinner ready and then she and her parents would sit around listening to the radio. She might read a magazine but somehow fashion didn’t seem as important as it once had. The pages would be full of what coats and footwear were the right style for autumn, which was just around the corner, but she
couldn’t bring herself to care anymore. What did it matter if boots were meant to be knee-high or not? Even though all the trendy boutiques were only a bus ride away, and Swinging London was the talk of the world, she could not bring herself to be interested.

  ‘Doing anything this weekend?’ she asked Jean.

  ‘We might go and see The Sound of Music,’ Jean said, checking off something on her clipboard. ‘I’ve seen it already, but as my mum hasn’t I said I’d take her.’

  ‘That’s nice of you,’ said Rhona, who hadn’t seen it and didn’t intend to either. ‘Bet she’s pleased about your promotion.’

  Jean laughed. ‘She is, but my dad doesn’t know what to think. He likes the fact that I’m going to be taking home more money and is glad for me that it means I can bring the date of my wedding forward, but he doesn’t believe women should be in charge of anything. He says I’m too irresponsible and that I’ll lose my head in a crisis.’

  ‘You!’ Rhona exclaimed. ‘You’re the least likely person I know to do that.’

  ‘He thinks that applies to all women,’ said Jean. ‘Doesn’t matter if they’re like you and me or someone famous, he still thinks they shouldn’t be boss and should know their place. I tell him he’s old-fashioned but he won’t change his mind.’

  ‘But he still likes you bringing home your wages,’ Rhona commented.

  ‘Yeah, he doesn’t see the problem with that,’ Jean said. ‘Anyway he’ll go down the pub for a pint with his mates so me and Mum can enjoy ourselves. Might get some fish and chips to round off the evening.’

  ‘Now you’re talking,’ said Rhona. She glanced across the room to where a door had flown open. One of the young boys who worked on the late shift was standing there.

  ‘I’ve got a message for you,’ he called. ‘You’re Rhona, aren’t you? There’s someone waiting outside for you and he says he can’t stay long.’

  ‘Ooh, you kept that quiet.’ Jean raised her eyebrows. ‘Who’s this, then?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Rhona, puzzled. She hoped it wasn’t Kenneth, thinking he could have a second shot after that Sunday evening. He may not have heard what happened after he left, so she couldn’t blame him, but she didn’t particularly want to see him, much less go on another date with him. ‘Did he leave his name?’

  ‘No,’ said the boy, staring at his feet, looking embarrassed.

  ‘What did he look like?’ Rhona asked.

  ‘Oh, you know – normal. Brown hair,’ said the boy hopelessly.

  Jean shook her head. ‘Well, that’s a fat lot of use. You’d better find out who the mystery admirer is, Rhona. We’re almost done here and I can finish up on my own.’

  ‘You sure?’

  ‘Yeah, go on. I’ll see you on Monday.’

  ‘OK, thanks. See ya.’ Rhona grabbed her bag and light jacket and made her way to the main exit, wondering who it could be.

  When she saw the man she still didn’t know who he was. She searched her memory, trying to place him. She knew she’d seen him somewhere but not exactly where, or when. His face was pleasant enough but there was nothing about it to make him stand out. His clothes weren’t bad, but they were nothing special and she could see now why the boy hadn’t been able to describe him very well. He was just, well, ordinary. She approached him hesitantly.

  ‘Rhona?’ he asked.

  ‘That’s me,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, I …’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure you don’t remember me,’ he said. ‘I met you in a bar in Soho earlier this year.’

  He had a nice smile and Rhona smiled back but she was none the wiser. She’d met a lot of men in Soho bars in the early part of the year so this didn’t really narrow it down.

  ‘The basement bar near Soho Square, it was,’ the man went on, as if he could tell she still didn’t have a clue. ‘You were with Gary, and you were losing your voice.’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Rhona remembered that Gary had teased her in front of a friend, and they’d talked for a few minutes before the band came on, but that had to have been the only time she’d seen this man, ‘I know what night you mean, but I still don’t think …’

  ‘I’m Jeff,’ the man reminded her.

  That was it. She nodded. ‘Hi, Jeff. Why do you want to see me? In fact, how did you know I work here?’

  A look of concern appeared on his face. ‘Well, that’s the thing,’ he began and now he sounded awkward. ‘Penny mentioned it.’

  ‘Penny? You know Penny?’

  ‘A bit. I met her through Gary. She said she used to work here and that you still do, and as I don’t know where she lives, I thought you might be able to tell me.’

  Rhona wondered how well Jeff knew Penny, and whether it was well enough to know that she was pregnant. She had been racking her brains for a way to help her, but hadn’t come up with anything that didn’t involve a back-street abortionist, something she would never suggest. ‘That depends. Why do you want to see her?’

  ‘I’ve got some news to pass on to her, something she’d want to know, and this was the only way I could think of to find her.’

  Rhona looked at him more carefully and had a sense of foreboding that this wasn’t going to be good. ‘I see,’ she said slowly. ‘Well, you’d better tell me what this news is.’

  Jeff met her eyes and nodded. ‘Right. Well, the thing is,’ his voice sounded heavy with apology, ‘what it is … Gary’s done a runner.’

  Rhona sat in the lounge bar of the pub a few roads away from her house, trying not to notice how sticky the floor was. Jeff had suggested going to the bar closest to the factory but Rhona had said no to that idea very firmly, without explaining why. She barely knew the man and didn’t want to go into the whole story of being attacked and left in the cellar. Still, she’d agreed to have a drink with him while he told her what he knew of Gary’s disappearance.

  He sat opposite her, slowly drinking a pint of bitter while she sipped at her orange juice. Her head still hurt now and then and she didn’t want to have anything stronger in case it made it worse.

  ‘OK, tell me again. I can’t quite make sense of it,’ she said. It wasn’t that she particularly cared what Gary was doing with himself these days but she knew, even if Jeff didn’t, how important this might be for Penny.

  Jeff shifted uneasily in his seat. It was as if he didn’t want to be disloyal to his friend, yet knew Gary’s girlfriend wasn’t going to find out the truth any other way unless he told her. ‘You know he was trying to get in to several bands,’ he began.

  ‘Yes. Or, well, no. He said it was the other way round; that they all wanted him and he was trying to decide between them.’

  Jeff raised his eyebrows. ‘Maybe he thought that if he could get you to believe that he’d start to believe it himself. No, he’d always manage to talk himself into having an audition, but when they heard him play, they’d turn him down.’

  ‘Oh.’ Rhona was surprised. ‘But I thought he was good, and he taught me some guitar too.’

  ‘Did he?’ Jeff asked. ‘How many chords did you learn?’

  ‘Three or four.’ Rhona tried to remember.

  ‘And then did he tell you that you’d better stop before learning anymore, and to just practise those to begin with?’

  Rhona stared at him. ‘Yeah, that’s just what happened. How did you know that?’

  Jeff took a swig of his pint. ‘’Cos he doesn’t know many more chords himself. I’m not saying he isn’t musical, but he hates practising. He could be miles better if he put the work in, but he never does.’

  ‘So what’s he doing now then?’

  ‘He finally got asked to join a group and he jumped at the chance. They don’t care that he doesn’t play well. They like how he looks.’

  Rhona snorted, remembering how Gary always maintained that women were in bands to look good while men did all the actual work of playing and writing songs. ‘And he’s up and left, just like that?’

  ‘Yeah, he said they didn’t want to wait around,
they’re off on tour,’ Jeff explained. ‘He didn’t even give in his notice at work. He got the offer in the afternoon and was gone by the evening. If this all works out then there’s a chance that they’ll be asked to tour with Herman’s Hermits.’

  ‘But Gary hates Herman’s Hermits!’ Rhona exclaimed, almost knocking over her drink. ‘He says they’re for bored housewives and have no soul.’

  Jeff spread his hands. ‘What can I say? It’s his one shot at the big time. He’s been given a chance and he’s grabbed it with both hands.’

  ‘Without telling Penny.’ Rhona sighed heavily and thanked her lucky stars that she was no longer involved with Gary. He’d only cared about himself, she saw that now. She’d been a piece of arm candy he was happy to be seen with, but no more than that. He’d have done the same to her, abandoning her without a second thought.

  ‘Yeah, without telling Penny,’ Jeff echoed. ‘So I thought somebody had better tell her, or she’ll turn up at the Talisman and wonder where he is. I didn’t like to think of her standing around, not knowing what was going on. I’m sorry to be the bringer of bad news. Gary’s impulsive like that, always has been, even when we were kids together at school. It’s just how he is.’

  Rhona slumped in her seat. Jeff was being very sweet about this, and clearly was trying to be loyal to Gary while disagreeing with what he’d done, but he had no idea how much depended on this conversation. Penny was pregnant and had now been left high and dry. Even if Gary hadn’t known about it, he was still meant to be her boyfriend and they’d been together all summer. She looked up at Jeff. ‘What a bastard.’

  Jeff shrugged. ‘Well, he’s waited a long time for this. In some ways I can’t blame him.’

  ‘I can,’ said Rhona decisively. ‘He’s dumped her without a backward glance. Bet he’s hoping to pull loads of girls on tour – they’ll be all over him like a rash once they see him on stage. He’ll be doing very nicely thank you and she’ll be breaking her heart over him.’

  Jeff nodded. ‘Yeah, it’s tough on her, I do realise that. That’s why I came here. So are you going to give me her address so that I can break the news to her? The sooner she hears the sooner she can get over him.’