A Family Secret: No. 1 Bestseller of family drama

‘What do you mean, you didn’t pay the rent? How could you not pay it? Answer me that.’

‘How could I pay it when you stole the money I’d put by and spent it in the pub?’

‘Stole? You accuse me of stealing and it was my money all along!’

‘It was for the rent, Bob.’ Peggy’s tone grew sarcastic, as if she was explaining to an idiot. ‘You know, the rent, the money we have to pay the landlord in order to keep a roof over our heads.’

‘So what? You’ve always managed to pay it before … haven’t you?’

‘You stupid man, how do you think I pay it when you keep stealing it and drinking it away? I haven’t paid the rent for weeks.’

For a moment there was silence, but Dave guessed that the argument was just getting going after that revelation. Sure enough Bob’s temper erupted once again in a frenzy of swearing, and Peggy was giving as good as she got.

‘… And if it’s not bad enough there’ve been complaints,’ Peggy shouted. ‘Folks round here have been snitching on us to the landlord about the kids.’

‘Who?’

‘I don’t know, Bob. He’d hardly tell me, would he? Just sent a letter saying the kids were making too much noise too late at night. A warning, he said.’

‘Well, that’s your fault, that is. It’s your job to discipline the children and you’re so lazy you can’t even manage that. You’ve got no control over those kids and you’ve brought them up to be ruffians with no respect for anyone else.’

‘Who says it’s my job? You’re their father, you tell them!’

‘Tell them what, that their mother can’t keep them in order? Whenever I chastise them you complain so they take no notice of me whatsoever. Tell them that you’re a born liar who gets a letter from the landlord and doesn’t tell me – me, the man of the house – and then gets behind with the rent and doesn’t tell me that either?’

‘I’m telling you now, aren’t I?’

‘Too ruddy late now, you daft woman, when we’re about to be homeless. You created this mess, now you deal with it …’

And so it went on, each blaming the other and neither doing anything to help the situation. Their voices rose and there was a sound that Dave thought might have been a plate smashing.

‘I’ll be round there giving that landlord a piece of my mind. He can’t go throwing us out without formal notice,’ Bob yelled. ‘It’s not legal.’

‘You’ll be in trouble if you do, Bob, ’cos he has given us notice.’

‘When? Answer me that. When did he give us notice?’

‘I don’t know! It was a while ago, some weeks. Some snooty letter asking us to leave. I was that angry I threw it in the bin.’

‘You did what?’

‘You heard!’

‘I don’t believe you were so stupid. What in hell’s name did you think would happen? Did you think it would just all go away – that he’d forget about it? Well, did you?’

‘Ah, shut up, Bob. I’ve had it up to here with you, and the landlord.’

‘No, you shut up. You just shut up and listen …’ The shouting continued, the language becoming quite shocking, and Dave retreated indoors, having got more than the gist of the situation.

He hadn’t been inside long before there was a knock at the back door. When he answered it, Ronnie, Cathy’s boyfriend, was standing there, a knapsack at his side.

‘Come in, Ronnie,’ Dave said. ‘I know about next door.’

Ronnie gave an ironic smile as he stepped inside. ‘Yeah, I reckon there aren’t many who haven’t heard,’ he said. Bob and Peggy’s raised voices were audible even now and the two men stood listening for a few seconds.

‘Thing is, Dave, I’m going to have to find myself a new place. No use waiting a minute longer when it’s this plain which way things are going. So I’m off. Is your Cathy in? I wouldn’t go without saying goodbye.’

‘But what about your job, Ronnie? What about Cathy? I know you and our girl have got really close these last few months, and it’d break her heart if you left.’

‘I wouldn’t hurt Cathy for the world, Dave. Of course I wouldn’t. She means everything to me. But they’ve just laid me off at the garage as there’s not enough work to go around, and with what’s happening next door it’s time to move on. I mean to find something that pays enough for me to save up, make a future for Cathy and me. I shan’t let her down, but I do need to look around, see what’s on offer, and I know already that there’s nothing here for me. It won’t be long before I’m settled and then I’ll be able to make some plans with Cathy and our future in mind.’

‘I’m sorry you’re having to get away to look for a new job, Ronnie, and Cathy will be that upset when she hears. Thing is, she isn’t here now. She’s gone to meet her nan at the station. She’s been there a while but I don’t know how much longer she’ll be.’

Ronnie looked stricken at this news, but then he had an idea. ‘I’ll go there and see if I can find her. But in case I miss her I’d better leave her a note. I need to find somewhere to stay tonight and I’ve got to see Beth, too, so I best be getting on.’

‘Of course,’ Dave approved. Ronnie was a good lad who cared deeply for his sister, the only family he had. Dave couldn’t think of a nicer man for Cathy, though she was very young to be thinking of a permanent relationship. ‘Here, I’ll just get you some paper. I think there’s another cup in that teapot if you can squeeze it.’

Ronnie laughed and poured himself a cup of the, by now, very strong but not very hot tea while Dave disappeared briefly and returned with a writing pad, a ballpoint pen and an envelope.

Ronnie dashed off a few sentences in a spikey scrawl while Dave loitered at a polite distance and the muffled sounds of smashing pots and swearing came from next door.

‘Reckon you’re well out of that, lad,’ said Dave as Ronnie folded the paper and sealed it in the envelope.

He wrote ‘Cathy’ on the front and gave it an unselfconscious kiss before handing it to Dave. Then he drank down his lukewarm tea and shook Dave firmly by the hand.

‘Thanks, Dave. I’ll see you soon, I hope. Tell Cathy … well, tell her I’ll be in touch. She knows …’ He nodded at the envelope, which Dave had propped behind the toaster.

‘If you hurry you may yet see her at the station,’ Dave said, showing Ronnie to the door. ‘Take care, young fella. And best of luck.’

‘Thanks, Dave.’

‘And we’ll see you again before long.’

‘Sure will. Goodbye.’ Ronnie shouldered his heavy bag and, with a smile and a wave, set off down the path to the front of the house, where, next door, the fight had erupted into the garden and Bob and Peggy were yelling obscenities at each other and hurling flower pots.

Dave hoped the young man would meet up with Cathy to say goodbye in person. She’d be devastated to have missed him.

CHAPTER SEVEN (#ulink_3ad512c9-a344-521b-b074-e59ce2425034)

MARIE, STILL IMPATIENTLY waiting at the station, placed her case on the bench and took to pacing along the platform, back and forth, until she felt bone weary. After a while, she settled on the bench, content enough to watch another train disgorging its passengers. Feeling weary, she closed her eyes and, leaning back into the cold, iron bench, she mentally took stock of her predicament once again.

Drifting into sleep, she felt the shiver of a breeze, and in that most private moment her heart leaped, on hearing a beloved and familiar voice calling to her from the far end of the platform.