The Other Wife

by Juliet Bell

  Betty felt her daddy’s hand rest on the top of her head. His voice was quieter than usual. ‘It’s all right. I’m working on the production line at the moment. Regular shifts, so I can bring her before work.’

  Mrs Oakley glanced from side to side at the neat little houses that butted up against hers, and the other parents who were picking up their children. They chatted to each other, but none of them spoke to Betty’s father. They didn’t even look at him.

  ‘I don’t think so. It’s not really…’ She stepped back into the hallway. ‘Not really right for you in this area.’

  Betty’s father’s voice raised now. ‘But she’s my daughter.’

  ‘Well, yes, but…’ Mrs Oakley peered around the door at Betty. ‘You’d not really know, would you? She takes from her mother.’

  The door swung closed with a definite thud. Betty’s father stood very still for a moment. The net curtain at the window of the house next to Mrs Oakley’s twitched slightly. Daddy took her hand. ‘Come on, Betty girl. We’ll get a fish supper and listen to records. Shall we?’

  Betty nodded. She didn’t like fish, but, when Mummy wasn’t there, Daddy let her pull the crispy batter off with her fingers and just eat that dipped in the bright green mushy peas. She leant against Daddy’s hip while they waited in the chip queue. ‘Will Mummy be coming back soon?’

  ‘I hope so, little firefly. I hope so.’ He clapped his hands together. ‘And until then we’ll need to find someone to keep an eye on you while I’m at work.’

  ‘Good. I don’t like it at Mrs Oakley’s. Sometimes they look at me strangely.’

  She felt her father tense for a second, then he stroked her crisp red-brown curls. ‘That’s only because they don’t understand that you are special, my bright little firefly.’

  Betty leant more closely into his body.

  ‘It’ll be all right. We’ll work something out,’ he said.

  The next morning, Betty clung to her father’s hand outside a big red-brick house that she thought she sort of recognised.

  ‘Do you remember coming here, little firefly?’

  Betty shook her head.

  ‘This is your grandpa and grandma’s house.’

  She followed her father up the driveway and stood half behind his legs while he rang the bell.

  The door was opened by a tall man with thick black-framed glasses and a big moustache.

  ‘Mr Thompson…’ Daddy started.

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I … Can we come in?’

  The man shook his head. ‘I’ll not have you upsetting Pam’s mother.’

  ‘Right. Well, it’s Pam. She’s in the hospital. The Retreat.’

  The man folded his arms.

  ‘And Betty…’ Betty felt her father step to one side so the man could see her properly. ‘I’ve no-one to watch her while I’m at work and so…’

  ‘And so you thought you’d turn up here like nothing had happened.’

  ‘No. I …’

  ‘We were quite clear when Pamela made her decision. We’re happy to take her back and we’ll look after the girl. You can leave her here right now and go off and get on with your life.’

  Betty’s father reached down and took hold of her hand. ‘I won’t abandon my child. If you could just take care of her for a few hours.’

  The man on the doorstep calmly shook his head. ‘We’ll take her and we’ll raise her properly. But we will not have you coming to this house. Make your choice.’

  Betty glanced up at her father. His face was creased with emotions that she didn’t understand. He knelt down next to her. ‘Would you like to stay here, Betty?’

  ‘’Til you come back?’

  Her daddy screwed his eyes shut for a second like Betty did sometimes when she was trying not to cry. When he opened them again, he reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand. ‘Don’t worry, little firefly. It was a silly idea. Daddy won’t leave you anywhere…’

  Betty didn’t hear the rest of his sentence. Her own wail drowned it out. Even the idea of him leaving her was too much to hold inside her head. Mummy had to go away, but Daddy was still here. She flung herself against his body, throwing her arms around his neck. His hands wrapped straight around her, lifting her up as he stood. ‘Well, that’s settled, then.’

  She buried her face in his neck.

  ‘We’ll be going.’

  She let him carry her back down the driveway and into the street. Eventually he put her down next to a shiny red telephone box. ‘I just need to telephone the office at work, and then we’ll go to the park. Feed the ducks.’

  Betty beamed. A whole day out with Daddy was so exciting. And maybe tomorrow Mummy would come back and everything would be normal again.

  Chapter 3

  Jane

  It was so quiet when I woke up. At home, it was never quiet. There were always people running around, dogs barking, and children laughing. And seagulls, because we all lived near the beach. But in this new place, it was very, very quiet. I guess that was because there was only me and Mrs Reed and my two cousins. That’s not many people for such a big house.

  I got out of bed and put my clothes on. My tummy rumbled as I did, so I left my tiny room with its pretty pink bedspread, and went in search of breakfast. I hoped the Reeds had cereal and milk.

  I found the milk in the fridge, and put it on the bench. I started opening cupboards and found a bowl, but there was no food. I looked up at the cupboards above my head. I would need a chair to stand on. I found chairs around a big polished wooden table in another room and dragged one into the kitchen.

  I took a deep breath then I climbed on the chair. I kept one hand on the back of the chair, and quickly grabbed the cupboard handle until the room stopped swirling around me. I didn’t like high places. Mum always kept the cereal in the low cupboards so I didn’t have to stand on chairs. I hoped Mrs Reed would do the same if I asked her. But until then, I told myself, I really could do this. And besides, I was hungry.

  When I felt better and opened the cupboard nearest to me, there were biscuits. Lots and lots of biscuits. Biscuits were much better than cereal and milk. I dropped two packets of chocolate biscuits onto the bench and then climbed down off the chair. I was eating my second biscuit when I heard a familiar noise from outside.

  There were seagulls here in the city too. That was exciting. I hadn’t expected to see any birds or animals at all.

  I grabbed a couple more biscuits and ran out of the kitchen into the big living room. The seagulls must be out there, through the big glass doors where I could see the sky. It took me a couple of tries to get the door open, but finally the latch clicked and I jumped through the door.

  The sky was right in front of me. There were no people, or trees, or cars, or even buildings to break up the big blue open sky. I glanced down and my tummy twisted. I was looking down onto the tops of the buildings across the street and then below that the road was a tiny slither of grey a million miles below me.

  I was going to fall. I was going to fall until I was as small as the people in the miniature cars beneath me. The ground was so far away, and the sky was spinning around and around me. I grabbed at the nearest thing I could reach. A little basketwork chair. But that didn’t help, the chair fell too and I dropped onto the hard tile floor with the chair on top of me.

  All I wanted to do was crawl back through the big glass doors to a place where I was safe from falling. The chair was light. I should have been able to lift it off myself quite easily, but it wouldn’t budge. Something, someone, was holding it down. I wriggled as much as I could and caught a glimpse of a pair of feet; feet that were still safely on the soft carpet.

  ‘Help me up.’

  The feet didn’t move. There was the sound of laughter.

  ‘Please…’ I pushed against the chair.

  ‘What is going on here?’ At last someone lifted the chair out of the way. A rough hand grabbed me by the arm and hauled me to my feet. I darted back int
o the room where it was safe, backing away from the open door, trying very hard not to cry.

  My cousin John was standing just inside the door. He was smiling, not a friendly smile, but a nasty, tight smile. It was the sort of smile I had never seen before. Nobody at home smiled like that.

  ‘What on earth were you doing out there at this hour of the morning? Come on, girl. Stop your snivelling.’ Mrs Reed towered over me, and, try as I might, I could not stop sobbing. My whole body was shaking with fear.

  ‘What’s that in your hand?’ Mrs Reed grabbed my closed hand and slowly prised the fingers opened to reveal the broken biscuit still tightly clutched inside.

  ‘Have you been stealing food?’

  ‘Stealing? No! I don’t steal.’ My sobs stopped.

  ‘This …’ Mrs Reed slapped my hand and broken bits of biscuit fell onto the soft clean carpet. ‘You took this from the cupboard, didn’t you?’

  I nodded. Of course I took it from the cupboard. That’s what we always did at home. It wasn’t stealing. You took what you needed and everybody shared. ‘I was hungry…’

  ‘Hungry? Selfish child. You can’t just take food when you want too. Stealing is a sin. And today is Sunday. We go to church on Sundays and we don’t eat anything before we go to church. You will be praying for God’s forgiveness. You wicked, ungrateful girl.’

  ‘I’m not wicked!’

  The slap was as sudden as it was painful. I staggered backwards, clutching my stinging cheek. My eyes filled with tears all over again. No-one had ever hit me before, not even my mother.

  ‘We will not mention this incident again. Go to your room and get ready for church.’

  I went to my room.

  In the mirror in my room I could see that my right cheek was red where Mrs Reed had slapped me. I had to get ready for church. I’d never been to church before. I wasn’t really sure what church was, but I decided to put on the best dress I’d brought with me. Maybe then Mrs Reed would see that I was trying to be good. I turned to get it and saw that John Reed was standing in my open doorway, with that same smile on his face again. He was eating a chocolate biscuit.

  Chapter 4

  Betty

  Betty sat quietly next to Daddy in the cold office. The chair had scratchy material on it and she wriggled in her seat to try to pull her dress down to cover her legs. The grown-ups were talking in low, quiet voices.

  ‘So it will only be for a few weeks. Less than that probably. Her mother…’ Daddy turned his head and smiled at Betty. ‘She can’t look after her just at the moment, but when she’s back everything will be all right again.’

  The man opposite Daddy on the other side of the big desk nodded curtly. Betty swung her legs while the two men filled in forms and signed papers. Then Daddy lifted her up out of the seat. ‘So you’re going to have a lovely holiday here with lots of other children. And me and Mummy will come back and get you really soon.’

  Betty’s bottom lip started to quiver. ‘Do I have to go? I want to stay with you.’

  ‘Really, really soon. I promise, little firefly. All right?’

  Daddy’s eyes looked like he was about to cry. Betty rested her head on his shoulder. ‘It’s OK, Daddy.’

  He took a deep breath and smiled as he set her down on the ground. ‘That’s right. You need to be very brave for me and remember that everything’s OK. I love you, but while Mummy is away, I can’t keep you with me. As soon as Mummy comes home, I’ll come back. I promise.’

  The stranger ushered Daddy out of the office and Betty was alone.

  A few minutes later, a lady came into the room and picked up Betty’s little case. ‘Come on.’

  She followed the lady along long white corridors and into a big bedroom with lots of beds in it. The lady popped her case on one of them. ‘You’ll be here. You can put your things in here.’ She pointed at a cupboard next to the bed. ‘Quickly now. Chop-chop!’

  She flicked the case open and started lifting Betty’s things into the cupboard. Betty watched. It seemed silly. She’d just have to put them all back in her case very soon when Daddy came back.

  Betty couldn’t count how many days and nights she was in the home. She slept in a big room with other children. Little ones, like Betty, at one end, and bigger girls further down. She didn’t like having so many people sleeping in the same room. Some of the girls cried at night, and that made Betty want to cry too. During the day they did chores, and the bigger girls did reading. Whatever she was doing, Betty waited. She waited for Mummy and Daddy to come back and take her home. So when one of the ladies who usually looked after the little babies, came and told her to bring her coat and hat, and her little suitcase with her pyjamas and hairbrush, she thought it was time.

  She climbed into the back of the car waiting outside and was surprised to find two boys, both a couple of years older than her, already sitting there. The lady sat in the front with the driver, who was the man from the office from the very first day. He looked over into the back seat and frowned when he saw Betty.

  ‘What’s she doing here? We’re only supposed to send white children.’

  ‘She’s white enough.’

  ‘She’s half-breed. You saw her father.’

  ‘I did. But they won’t. And if you didn’t know, you’d think she was white, wouldn’t you?’

  The driver turned around and stared directly at Betty. ‘She’s got that hair.’

  ‘Well, stick it under her hat when we get there and tell her not to say anything.’

  Betty patted her hair. It had tight little curls like Daddy’s but in the sunshine it looked ginger like Mummy’s. Daddy said it was special. Daddy said her hair shone like a beautiful flame.

  Betty felt her stomach flip. ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘On an adventure.’

  ‘Will my mummy and daddy be there?’

  The woman twisted in her seat to look at Betty. ‘Your mummy and daddy are gone. We’re sending you somewhere that you’re wanted. You’ll have a far better home than with … him. Now be quiet.’ Betty did as she was told. She stared out of the window trying to remember the places they were driving past so she could find her way back, but they drove for too long and eventually it got dark. Betty’s eyes fell closed.

  When she opened them again, the car had stopped. Rain was lashing down, which meant nobody thought it was odd that the woman rammed Betty’s hat onto her head and tucked her hair away inside. ‘Come on now.’

  Betty was dragged along by the woman’s tight grip on her hand. The two boys ran along behind. They were by the sea, but not the seaside like when Mummy and Daddy had taken her for a day out on the beach at Scarborough. There was no beach here, just buildings and the ships were much bigger than the fishing boats Daddy had taken her to see. The woman stopped in front of a man with a clipboard, who ticked some items off his list and then pointed them towards a metal bridge leading to the biggest ship Betty had ever seen. She couldn’t get on a ship. Ships went over the sea. If she went over the sea, Mummy and Daddy would never find her. ‘But my daddy’s coming back for me.’

  The woman folded her arms. ‘You’re going somewhere much nicer. Now, on you get. Chop-chop. Off on an adventure.’

  There was a sharp shove in her back and Betty had no choice but to follow the wave of tiny bodies making their way onto the boat.

  Chapter 5

  Jane

  Church soon became the best part of my life. On Sundays we would walk up to church. It was a beautiful old building with stone arches and a statue of Jesus at the front door. There was a routine to church, and order of things. At church, nobody would shout or point out what I was doing wrong. At church I could listen to the words of the priest and look at the pictures in the windows and above the altar. Christ on the cross. Mary with her baby. According to the priest she was kind and the most loving of mothers. In the big window she was gathering little children of all nations to her. Sometimes I wished I could step into that picture and be gathered up, safe and love
d, far, far away from Mrs Reed.

  Each night I knelt beside my bed, and Mrs Reed stood in the doorway and listened to my prayers. I had to thank God that I had a home with her. I had to pray for my cousins, John and Emma. I had to pray for forgiveness for all my wickedness. After Mrs Reed was gone, I always got back on my knees and prayed for my mother. The night before my seventh birthday I prayed extra hard that she would come and find me.

  The next morning I got up, wondering if there would be presents on the breakfast table or if I’d have to wait until evening. Mrs Reed hadn’t asked me what I wanted to do, but I imagined a trip to the beach, like I’d done on my other birthdays, when the whole community had joined me and Mum for a picnic.

  There were no presents on the breakfast table.

  There was no day at the beach.

  There were no presents after school, either.

  At bedtime, before I knelt down to say my prayers, I took a deep breath in and asked Mrs Reed, ‘Did you know it was my birthday?’

  The woman frowned, but didn’t answer my question. ‘I don’t have time for silliness like that, Jane. Go on, say your prayers.’

  That night, in my head, I asked God to take me away from the Reeds.

  Two weeks later, Mrs Reed came into my room before breakfast and told me to put my best clothes on because we were going to the cinema. ‘It’s Emma’s birthday day out,’ she said.

  Emma had grown out of a very pretty yellow dress that was now my smartest outfit. I pulled off my pyjamas and was taking the pretty yellow dress out of my wardrobe when I heard a noise. John was standing in my doorway. He was looking at me in the strangest way. I pulled the dress off the hanger and held it in front of my body. ‘What are you doing in here?’

  ‘You can’t hide from me, you know.’ He was still smiling as he stepped into the room.

  ‘Go away!’ I spoke softly. I always spoke softly. Mrs Reed didn’t like shouting.

  ‘You can’t make me.’ He took another step into my room.

  ‘Go away.’ I backed away from him, but there was nowhere I could go.