Father Unknown Page 8

  ‘I’ve only seen her once,’ Ellen said, sipping the drink and looking around the garden which was even nicer than the front one, with dozens of rose-bushes in full bloom. ‘She looked very old then.’

  ‘How are you girls going to manage if your mother stays there for a while?’ Mrs Peters asked.

  ‘We’ll be fine,’ Ellen said, trying not to look too happy about it. ‘We can both cook and I always help Dad around the farm anyway.’

  ‘If you need any help, you come to me,’ Mrs Peters said, and she reached out her hand and patted Ellen’s knee as if trying to say she understood how it was for her.

  Ellen often felt this wordless understanding from people in the village. She guessed that everyone knew about her real mother, and perhaps if she was brave enough to ask they could tell her a great deal more than her father had. But it seemed so disloyal to him to ask about her, and anyway he’d be furious if he found out.

  Yet the Peters were people she could ask. Just to see the loving way they treated each other and the way they always helped anyone in the village if they could, was enough to know they could be trusted never to pass on what was said to anyone.

  ‘That’s very kind of you, Mrs Peters,’ she said. ‘I just love coming here, your house and garden are so beautiful.’

  ‘Bless you, dear.’ Mrs Peters beamed. ‘But with your looks and brains I don’t doubt for a moment that you’ll end up somewhere even nicer. If you wish for something hard enough it comes, you know.’

  That night in bed Ellen thought of Mrs Peters’ remark again. She had wished for her stepmother to go away, and she had, so perhaps her other wishes would come true too.

  She had been driven back to the farm by Mr Peters, and she was pleased to see that Josie had managed to tidy their mother up. Violet was still barking out instructions to them when she left, one of which was to explain to their father where she’d gone and that she might be away for some days.

  Dad grinned broadly when Ellen relayed this to him. He didn’t even bother to ask why his wife hadn’t come and found him to tell him herself. It turned out to be quite the jolliest evening they’d had in a long time; they had their tea sitting outside in the sunshine, then Josie washed up while Ellen helped Dad with the milking and getting the chickens in. Then to their surprise Dad suggested they played cards, something he never did. When it was bedtime he kissed both girls and said they weren’t to worry about anything as they’d all manage fine. Josie looked so delighted Ellen thought she might burst.

  A note arrived from their mother three days later, just as the girls were leaving to catch the school bus. Dad read it and put it down on the table. ‘Her mother’s had a stroke, and she’ll be staying for some time, as she can’t do anything for herself,’ he said. ‘She says Josie is to join her there.’

  Josie looked at Ellen in absolute horror.

  Ellen thought quickly. It was one thing to get shot of her stepmother for a few weeks, quite another to lose Josie too. She remembered how nasty the old woman’s house was. Josie would be miserable there. ‘She can’t go, Dad, she’s got the end of term exams to sit, and the teachers won’t like it if she misses them,’ she said quickly.

  There was utter silence as they waited for Dad to reply. He scratched his head, read the letter again, then rolled up a cigarette and looked at Josie thoughtfully.

  ‘Don’t you want to go?’

  She shook her head furiously. ‘Please don’t make me, Dad,’ she pleaded. ‘I want to stay here with you and Ellen.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ he said, but his expression gave nothing away. ‘You go off to school and I’ll post a letter back sometime today.’

  Josie leapt to her feet; they would have to run to catch the bus. ‘Thank you, Dad,’ she said, hesitating at the door, ‘but don’t say I didn’t want to go, it might hurt her feelings.’

  They never did find out if their mother’s feelings were hurt. She sent another letter back a few days later, but their father didn’t disclose the contents. All he said was that they had better both write to her, and not forget to ask after the old lady’s health.

  Both girls were equally happy that their mother was staying away indefinitely. For Ellen it was heaven not to have to put up with her sarcasm and criticism, and Josie could escape the endless questions.

  It seemed as though all the clouds had rolled away. The weather was hot and sunny, Dad was much nicer to Josie, and she reciprocated by helping out on the farm, which she didn’t usually do. Ellen knew she wouldn’t get her ‘O’ level results until August, but the headmistress called her into her study on the last day of school and gave her a pep talk about not thinking of leaving because she was sure she’d passed all her exams and she was clever enough to go on to university. That decided Ellen once and for all. Two more years of school was a long time, but she thought it would be worth it in the end.

  Everyone was let out of school early that day, so Ellen decided to walk home. As she got to Swanpool beach, she saw that the beach kiosk was advertising for part-time staff. They needed two girls for three days a week right through till the end of August. So Ellen suggested her sister could work with her, and to her delight the owner agreed, never even asking if Josie was over fifteen.

  When Ellen got home and told Josie the good news, they were both wildly excited. Even their father laughed with them and told them to clear off to the beach to give him some peace.

  It was baking hot, so they were only too eager to strip off their uniforms, and ran down to the cove in their swimming costumes, screaming with laughter. As Ellen lay on her back floating in the water, she couldn’t remember ever being so happy before. The thought of six whole weeks of holiday, a job and money to spend was wonderful. Everything seemed magical that afternoon, the sea was a calm clear blue, with a heat haze shimmering over the rocks. She and Josie played childish games, ducking under the water and grabbing each other’s legs, climbing on each other’s backs and having wild water fights. Later they lay on the baking sand with their toes just in the water, and for the first time ever they revealed to each other how they felt about their parents.

  ‘It’s Mum who spoils everything,’ Josie admitted. ‘I used to think it was because Dad was mean to her, but now she’s gone I can see who really starts it all.’

  ‘She can’t help it, I suppose,’ Ellen said. She was so happy that, old grievances had disappeared. ‘I don’t think she was ever cut out to be a farmer’s wife. I reckon she must have married him thinking she could change the way he lived.’

  ‘She told me a while ago that she still feels the ghost of your mother around,’ Josie said, and giggled. ‘Does he ever talk to you about her?’

  ‘No, never,’ Ellen said and told Josie what was said between them the day she found out Violet was her stepmother. ‘I don’t even know where she is buried.’

  ‘Don’t you?’ Josie said in surprise. ‘She’s in the graveyard by the church. Not right in the churchyard, just outside. Mum said she couldn’t be buried in consecrated ground because she took her own life.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me before?’ Ellen asked. It stung to think of anyone being put into unhallowed ground, and even more that her younger sister knew this, but she hadn’t been told.

  ‘Mum said I wasn’t to, and I didn’t dare,’ Josie said, looking a little shamefaced. ‘I’m sorry, but I thought you would have found out by now.’

  ‘Don’t let Mum get in between us any more,’ Ellen suggested. ‘I’m sure that’s why Dad is mean to you sometimes, because he knows Mum’s mean to me. If we stand together maybe it will stop for good.’

  Josie nodded agreement. ‘Don’t you wish we had a normal mum and dad, lived in an ordinary house and stuff?’

  Ellen had wished that countless times in the past, especially in the days when they had no electricity and only an outside lavatory. She would look at the modern houses in Falmouth with their neat gardens and white nets at the window and ache for the comforts other children took for granted. Yet anoth
er part of her knew she and Josie had some things lots of kids would die for – this beach, the animals, woods and cliffs. Those other kids might have televisions, record-players and a home that was always clean and tidy, but that might be very dull sometimes.

  ‘Sometimes, but we haven’t got ordinary parents, so there’s not much point in wishing for them. Josie, we’ll set the world alight, you and I –, you’ll be a famous model and I’ll be –’ She stopped short, suddenly aware she didn’t really know what she wanted to be.

  ‘What are you going to be?’ Josie asked, sensing her sister hadn’t got a clear picture.

  ‘I don’t know, maybe a teacher or something like that.’

  ‘You won’t get it if you don’t want it bad enough,’ Josie said. ‘I go to sleep every night imagining myself modelling on a catwalk.’

  They lapsed into companionable silence then, letting the sun’s rays toast their skin. But Ellen was a little disturbed to find she hadn’t got any clear idea about what she wanted to do with her life. It was as if she couldn’t see further ahead than just going back to school in September to be in the sixth form.

  They walked back to the farmhouse later, their arms linked, singing the Gerry and the Pacemakers’ song ‘I Like It’ at the top of their lungs.

  Suddenly Josie broke off and prodded Ellen. ‘There’s a car. Who’s that?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ellen said, looking at the light grey saloon on the farm track down from the road. ‘I’ve never seen it before.’

  Curious, they began to run, but stopped short just outside the fence around the front garden as they saw their mother at the open front door.

  ‘Oh no,’ Ellen gasped.

  Josie said nothing, but her face had blanched.

  ‘So this is what you do all day while I’m away,’ Mum shouted as they came in through the gate. ‘Off swimming. Clothes left all over the floor. Beds not made. Come on in at once and go upstairs to put something decent on. It’s a good job I came back to get Josie. I knew I couldn’t trust you two to take care of her.’

  With that the girls saw their father was in the kitchen, looking tense. Another man was there too; he was short and stout, wearing a dark suit.

  ‘Hello, Mum,’ Josie said nervously. ‘How’s grandma?’

  ‘Very sick,’ Mum said tersely. ‘And this is your Uncle Brian. I had to ask him to drive me over and get you, because it was clear to me you need supervision.’

  ‘Violet, they’ve both been fine,’ Dad said, his voice tight with anger. ‘They broke up from school today and it’s hot. Why shouldn’t they go swimming?’

  ‘Upstairs now.’ Violet pointed to the stairs and kept her hand up as if intending to clout them both as they passed her. ‘Get your clothes together, Josie, we’ll be leaving in a few minutes. I’ve kept Brian waiting for long enough.’

  Upstairs the girls wriggled out of their wet swimming costumes and into their clothes. ‘I can’t go with her, I’ll just die there,’ Josie whispered. ‘What shall I do?’

  Ellen was horrified too. They had their new job to start on Monday, and there were all the other plans they’d made. She couldn’t bear the thought of being separated, but it would be much worse for Josie.

  ‘I’ll try and get Dad to stop her,’ Ellen said hurriedly.

  But as they went back downstairs again, Ellen realized that Mum and her brother had already been here for some time, and that their dad had already told Mum about the job, because she began ranting about it.

  ‘No daughter of mine is going to work in a beach kiosk,’ she shouted. ‘Whatever are you thinking of, Albert? Her place is with her mother and grandmother.’

  ‘Don’t make her go.’ Ellen was so anxious she forgot Violet hated the sound of her voice. ‘She’ll be miserable in Helston and there’s nothing wrong with working at the beach. Most of the other people working there are students.’

  ‘Miserable with her mother?’ Violet screeched, her usually pallid face flushed with anger. ‘I’m giving her a chance to meet her real relatives, her aunts, uncles and cousins. You might be happy to spend the rest of your life mucking out cow sheds like your father, but I have much bigger plans for my daughter.’

  ‘Josie’s my daughter too and I say she stays here where she belongs,’ Albert snapped at her. ‘Your bloody relatives in Helston have never given a damn about you, why should they suddenly care about Josie?’ He caught hold of both the girls’ arms and bundled them outside, telling them to make themselves scarce.

  ‘Look here, woman,’ he shouted as he went back in, ‘I know what this is all about. You want to parade Josie round like a prize trophy, I expect she’s the first real beauty ever to enter your bloody family. Well, you aren’t going to make her miserable doing that. Or turn her head with all that praise. Get on back to your bloody mother, get whatever kicks you can out of being her nurse, but I’ll be buggered if Josie’s got to watch it.’

  The two girls clung to each other outside, both scared now, for when their father was angry enough to string more than a few words together, he could do anything.

  ‘Violet has a right to have her daughter with her,’ Brian chimed in, his tone measured as if trying to calm down his sister and brother-in-law.

  ‘You stay out of this,’ Albert warned him. ‘I say Josie stays here, so get in that car and go.’

  ‘I don’t trust you with Josie,’ Violet suddenly yelled out. ‘I wouldn’t put it past you to interfere with her.’

  ‘What did you say?’ Albert roared out, and the girls clung even tighter to each other, looking at the door of the house expecting to see a body come flying out of it. ‘I always knew you were a dirty-minded cow, but that’s sickening. Get out now!’

  The girls ran for the woods behind the house, but from behind them they heard the sharp crack of a slap. Violet screamed, then they heard what sounded like the two men fighting for there were crashing noises as if furniture was being overturned.

  ‘What am I going to do?’ Josie asked. Her face drained of all colour.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ellen replied. Her father was so strong she was afraid he would seriously hurt Violet’s brother, and that might lead to criminal charges. Yet what had really thrown her was her stepmother saying she wouldn’t put it past Dad to interfere with Josie. She knew exactly what that meant – only a few months ago a man from Padstow had been sent to prison for raping his daughter, and everyone in the neighbourhood had talked about it for weeks.

  ‘Would Dad really do that to me?’ Josie asked pitifully, beginning to cry.

  ‘Of course he wouldn’t,’ Ellen retorted. ‘She just wants to get her brother on her side. She deserves a good thumping for being so evil.’

  Josie didn’t reply, but began to walk back towards the farmhouse, leaving Ellen all too aware that she’d lost all the new ground she’d made with her sister in the past few weeks, and once again her wretched stepmother had triumphed by pushing a wedge between them.

  Ellen stayed in the woods for a few more minutes, wishing she hadn’t spoken out. Then, realizing her father might need someone on his side, she went back too.

  Uncle Brian was slumped in one of the chairs outside the house, holding a bloody handkerchief to his mouth. There was no sign of Dad, but she could hear Josie and Mum opening and closing drawers upstairs.

  Horrified, Ellen ran over to the barn and found her father sitting on a box, nursing bruised knuckles. ‘Is she leaving you for good?’ Ellen asked. While she was only too glad to see the back of her stepmother, she didn’t feel the same way about Josie.

  ‘I couldn’t be that lucky,’ he said dourly. ‘She’ll be back, but she’ll have ruined Josie by then.’

  ‘Don’t let her take her,’ Ellen implored him.

  He looked up at her with troubled dark eyes. ‘I can’t stop her,’ he said, his voice cracking. ‘I tried to, but by bringing her brother here and making me mad enough to hit both of them, I’ve hung myself.’

  Ellen realized he meant that if her stepmoth
er did take legal proceedings, the law would be on her side. ‘Please go and speak to Josie before Mum takes her away,’ she pleaded. ‘Don’t let her go thinking you don’t care.’

  When he didn’t move or speak, Ellen took that as a refusal and she turned and left the barn. Her stepmother was putting some bags into the boot of the car, her brother was already in the driving seat and Josie was just coming out of the house, her face streaked with tears.

  ‘Dad and I don’t want you to go,’ Ellen said, catching hold of both her sister’s arms. ‘We want you here.’

  Josie pulled away from her. ‘Don’t make it any worse,’ she said, sniffing and rubbing her eyes.

  ‘Get in the car, Josie,’ her mother called out.

  ‘Don’t hate Dad and me for this,’ Ellen said in a whisper, not wanting her stepmother to hear. ‘Remember what we promised each other today, that we wouldn’t let her come between us any more.’

  Josie just shrugged. Ellen couldn’t tell if that was agreement or her way of saying she didn’t care any more. She got in the back of the grey car and it roared off up the track. She didn’t even turn to wave.

  Chapter Five

  As Albert came into the kitchen for his breakfast, Ellen put the bacon and eggs she’d cooked for him on the table.

  ‘Where’s yours? he asked.

  ‘I’m not hungry,’ she said. ‘I’ll just have a cup of tea.’

  It was early August. Josie had been gone for two weeks now, and as it promised to be another hot, sunny day Ellen knew it would be very busy down at the beach kiosk.

  ‘What’s up?’ Albert asked. He thought his daughter looked a bit peaky and she usually ate a hearty breakfast. ‘Don’t like the job?’

  ‘The job’s fine,’ she said, but her voice held the weariness she felt. ‘I’m just missing Josie, that’s all.’

  She half expected him to snap at her, but he didn’t. ‘Me too, the place isn’t the same without her,’ he said, glancing at the empty chair. ‘I’d feel better if I knew she was enjoying herself, but Helston’s not much of a place, and her mother will keep on at her.’