A Family Scandal. Kitty Neale

Mavis knew the tantrum would subside if she gave it enough time. Typically Grace, who’d done nothing but complain about having to share a room with her brother, was now kicking up a storm faced with being left to sleep on her own. She’d get over it soon enough. She’d chosen the colours for the room herself – purple walls and pale green woodwork. It might not have been the choice of most other little girls but Mavis had to admit the colours went well together. Maybe her daughter had an eye for such things even at such a young age.

      ‘Stay with me, Mummy.’

      Grace gazed up and Mavis felt her heart constrict with love. Still, she knew she couldn’t curl up beside the girl on the new bed with its smart white headboard, as James was still up, minding Bobby in his room below. Instead she drew out a battered teddy from behind the pillow. ‘Look who has come all this way to stay with you. Recognise him?’

      ‘It’s Little Ted!’ Grace exclaimed, and the tears stopped. She’d taken a fancy to the children’s TV programme Play School, which she’d been able to watch when visiting their old neighbours, the Bonners, and Little Ted was her favourite toy on it. So she’d named her own teddy after him. Mavis was hoping to get a television for the flat but thought it best not to mention it until it happened, or Grace would be inconsolable.

      The doorbell rang and Mavis had to take a moment to realise what the unfamiliar sound was. Back in Harwood Street everyone just banged on the door, but Pete had insisted they had a bell, so that Mavis would be able to hear it from the top floor. ‘Right, time to say night-night. See if you can race Little Ted to be first asleep.’ She kissed the top of her daughter’s head as Grace snuggled down, pulling the new purple eiderdown up to her chin. ‘Sleep tight.’

      ‘Mmmmmm.’ Grace was already seriously challenging Little Ted to the prize.

      Mavis paused at the mirror in the hallway, checking her hair, even though she knew she’d hardly be expected to look glamorous after a day moving house. Her dark curls were flattened where they usually bounced attractively but her blue eyes had that sparkle which always appeared when she knew she’d soon see Tommy. Brushing the dust from her cardigan, which she’d thrown over her shift dress, she ran down the stairs. Although it had only been a couple of days she didn’t want to be parted from Tommy for a minute longer.

      She could see his silhouette through the glass panels in the upper part of the front door that both flats shared. He was tall, and also had dark curly hair, which he kept quite short or it would have got in the way. Tommy had trained as a signwriter, but now he managed his own firm and didn’t do so much of the painting himself. He ran the business from a yard not far from where they’d grown up, much to the disgust of his meddlesome mother who couldn’t get over the fact her son had gone through the disgrace of a divorce.

      Tommy grinned broadly as she opened the door and immediately stepped in and took her in his arms. ‘Hello, gorgeous.’

      ‘Stop it, Tommy, the neighbours will see!’ Mavis reached around him and pushed the door shut again.

      ‘Thought you didn’t care?’

      ‘Not normally, no, but why give them something to gossip about if we don’t have to.’ Mavis led him into Lily and Pete’s flat. ‘Come and look around. James is through there, minding Bobby, so we’ll leave that room till last. But here’s the living room. Have a seat while I make you a cup of tea.’

      Tommy looked around at the three-piece suite clustered around the electric fire in the tiled grate. ‘Very nice, but I’d rather be with you. Show me the kitchen.’ He followed her through to the back of the house. ‘How did the move go? Everything unpacked yet?’

      ‘You must be joking.’ She pointed at a pile of boxes, still bulging with their contents. ‘We’ve only got as far as the essentials. I haven’t even found my own teapot, I’ve just used Mum’s.’ She handed him a cup and reached for one herself. ‘Haven’t found a matching set yet, but I don’t suppose you’ll mind?’

      ‘Hardly. I’d drink out of tin cans as long as it was with you.’ He pulled her close again. ‘I love to see you so happy. Give me a kiss, a proper one.’ He bent his face to hers. ‘Listen, I’ve got something for you.’ He reached into his jacket pocket.

      Mavis rested her head against his shoulder. ‘Silly, I don’t need a present.’

      ‘I know you don’t but I wanted to mark the occasion.’ He drew out the little box.

      Mavis gasped. For a moment she hesitated and an uncertain look came into her eyes. ‘What … what’s this, Tommy?’

      ‘Go on, open it.’

      With trembling fingers she took off the lid, to reveal a sparkling gold chain attached to a small locket. ‘Oh, Tommy.’

      ‘Do you like it?’ He could hardly keep the eagerness from his voice. ‘I know it’s not your birthday until April but I saw it in a jeweller’s window and I knew it would look just right on you. Do you want me to fasten it for you?’

      ‘Please.’ Mavis took a deep breath and tried to calm down. For a second she’d been struck with fear and yet it was mixed with desperate hope. Now she felt stupid for having overreacted. It was a beautiful present, and from the name on the box it must have been expensive, but it was a necklace. ‘There’s a mirror over the fireplace so let’s go back to the front room where I can see it. Thank you so much, Tommy, that’s really thoughtful.’

      She led him into the sitting room and switched on the table lamp in the corner near the mantelpiece. Now she could see how lovely the present was, and that it sat perfectly just above her collarbone. How well Tommy knew her. He stood just behind her and gazed at her reflection in the big mirror. He bent his head so he could whisper in her ear.

      ‘You look gorgeous. Is it all right?’ His eyes were bright with pleasure.

      Mavis turned around so he could kiss her again. As he dropped his head and his lips met hers, she told herself not to be ridiculous, but couldn’t help a shudder of relief tinged with disappointment. She’d thought just fleetingly that it was a ring in the little box and he was going to ask her to marry him. Mavis knew she couldn’t say yes – she didn’t know when she would be free. She was overwhelmed with a need to give herself to this man who loved her and understood her, who she believed would do anything for her. But after what she had been through with Alec, she couldn’t.

      Not yet. Maybe never. She just couldn’t.

       Chapter Three

      ‘And then he left me there, stranded!’ Rhona was outraged. ‘Can you believe it?’

      ‘I hope you told him where to get off,’ said Penny loyally. ‘I hope you rang him this morning and gave him a right earbashing. What a thing to do. Anything could have happened to you.’

      ‘And I was freezing!’ Rhona continued. ‘I had my new miniskirt on and how was I to know we were going there on his motorbike? Then I had to get night buses home. All the way from bleeding Enfield. Can I have one of your fags?’ She reached across the scratched wood coffee table to her friend’s handbag. ‘I left my last packet in his jacket and I’ve not had a change to buy any more. I made him give me it to wear once we got there, and now the bastard has got them, and I hope he bloody chokes.’

      ‘Serve him right,’ said Penny. She’d come round as soon as breakfast was finished to see how the night had gone and to share in the excitement, only to find her colleague furious and swearing vengeance. Kenneth had made good his promise to take Rhona to see the Rolling Stones and then to get her backstage after the concert. His claims to know the band’s crew weren’t idle boasts. The trouble was, he’d been asked along to the after-show party but it had been made clear extra friends weren’t welcome, even those as young and glamorous as Rhona. It turned out the band had more than enough of those kinds of followers already. So Kenneth had dropped Rhona