Lost & Found (19 page)

Slowly Mavis calmed, her anger replaced by worry. Alec was talking to his mother now, but if Edith still insisted that her father left Mavis
didn’t know what she’d do. She had threatened to leave, and, no matter what Alec said, she’d take the children. But where could they go?

Mavis had no idea how long she had sat there before Alec returned, her eyes lifting to meet his as he walked into the room. ‘Well, what did she say?’

‘It’s all right, your father can stay, but you’ll have to go downstairs to see to my mother now. She needs the commode.’

Mavis saw that her father was still asleep and rose to her feet. It wasn’t going to be easy with both her father and mother-in-law to look after, but she was too relieved to worry about it now.

‘Thank you, Alec,’ she said coldly, and after one last look at her father she quietly left the room.

She had more to ask of her husband yet, and it would probably mean another argument, but her father had asked something of her and there was no way she was going to let him down.

The next morning, Edith was still fuming. She felt she’d been blackmailed, that unless she allowed Mavis’s father to stay, her daughter-in-law would leave. Of course, she couldn’t manage without Mavis, the girl for once having the upper hand. The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that Ron Jackson was dying and would soon be out of her house.

Edith rang her bell, already feeling neglected, and when Mavis at last appeared she snapped, ‘It’s about time.’

‘I came as soon as I could.’

There was no apology for keeping her waiting, and Edith could sense a change in Mavis. She no longer appeared obsequious; had barely thanked Edith for allowing her father to stay, and, not only that, she had somehow persuaded Alec to take the morning off work, something he had never
done before unless forced by severe illness. ‘You’ve forgotten my pills again.’

‘No, Mother, I haven’t. I gave them to you half an hour ago, and I know that because I had to give my father his medication at the same time.’

‘I have
not
had my pills,’ Edith insisted. ‘Now go and get them, and to prevent this happening again, I want them left in here.’

‘Very well,’ Mavis said, ‘but, remember, you’re only supposed to take two every four hours.’

‘I know that, you silly girl.’

Mavis left the room, returning shortly afterwards to shake two pills out of the container. She held them out, and then poured a glass of water, saying as Edith swallowed them, ‘There, and if you don’t need me for anything else, I’ve got a lot to do.’

‘Yes, yes, go,’ Edith waved, ‘but you can leave the rest of my pills here. I’m sick of you forgetting to give them to me on time.’

Mavis handed them over and marched out of the room without a word. With an angry huff, Edith lay back on her pillow. She wasn’t going to stand for her daughter-in-law’s attitude. Now that she’d had time to think about it, she was sure that Mavis’s threat to leave had just been bluff. After all, she had nowhere to go.

Edith felt her pain easing. What did it matter if she took a couple of extra pills? They relieved
her symptoms, and that’s what mattered. She found herself drifting, her mind on the plans she had to make. As soon as Alec returned there’d be more disruption in the house, something that she was determined to put an end to.

‘Alec, what are you doing here?’ Lily asked as she ushered him inside.

‘You aren’t on the telephone so I couldn’t ring you. Mavis asked me to come here. Her father has turned up and he’s asking for you.’

‘Ron! Ron’s back,’ Lily gasped, her knees caving in shock.

‘Yes, but I must warn you. He’s very ill.’

Lily found that she had to support herself and gripped the edge of the table as her thoughts spun. ‘Where is he?’

‘He’s staying with us. Mavis is looking after him, but he’s in a very bad way.’

‘What’s wrong with him?’

‘I’m not sure, but I’m afraid he’s dying.’

Lily’s knees went entirely then and she was hardly aware of Alec pulling out a chair, supporting her until she was able to sit down. She fought to pull herself together. Despite all that had happened, all he had put her through, Lily found that she wanted to run to Ron, to be by his side. ‘Give me a minute and I’ll get me coat,’ she said.

‘Are you all right?’ Alec asked.

‘I’m fine. It was just a bit of a shock, that’s all,’ Lily told him, taking in a few deep breaths to calm her churning stomach before she stood up again. She should be back before Pete came home, but, just in case, Lily scribbled a quick note to say she’d gone to see Mavis, leaving out any mention of Ron. There’d be time enough to tell him face to face, but for now she just wanted to get to Battersea.

Lily picked up her handbag, fighting tears as they left the house. Despite trying to make a new life she had never been able to get Ron out of her mind.
Ron, Ron
, she cried inwardly,
you’ve only just come back. Don’t leave me again
.

Mavis was sitting by her father’s side, Grace playing with toys on the floor beside them. It was odd really. Her daughter was usually such a difficult and demanding child, but since the moment she’d met her grandfather Grace had been strangely quiet.

Alec hadn’t been happy when she’d gone to ask for Jenny’s help earlier, but her neighbour had been wonderful. She’d agreed to take James to school and bring him home again. Jenny had also offered to look after Grace, but her daughter would have none of it, only calming down when she was allowed to be with her grandfather. He had hardly been able to speak when Mavis had led the children into
his room that morning. James had been nervous, hanging back, but Grace had gone straight to him, taking his hand as though an instant bond had formed. But now, hearing her mother’s voice, Mavis rose to her feet. It had taken another argument to get Alec to go to Peckham that morning, but at last her mother was here.

‘Oh, Ron,’ her mother cried when she saw him, blind to Mavis and Grace as she rushed to his side.

Though she had thought him asleep, Mavis saw her father’s eyes open, a weak hand reaching out as he croaked, ‘Lily, Lily.’

‘Ron, where have you been? What happened to you?’

‘Doesn’t matter. Had to see you. Had to say I’m sorry,’ he gasped, every short sentence an effort, but then Mavis saw that his eyes had closed again.

‘Mavis, has he seen a doctor?’

‘Yes, Mum, he saw one last night, and I rang our doctor this morning. He’ll be round after his morning surgery.’

‘He looks terrible.’

‘Mavis, can I have a word?’ Alec asked as he poked his head into the room.

‘Yes, all right,’ she said, lifting Grace into her arms to walk outside.

‘I’ve got to go to work now,’ Alec said urgently, ‘though I’m a bit worried about my mother. I just
looked in and found her sound asleep. She doesn’t look right, Mavis.’

‘She tires easily and I’m sure she’s fine, but when the doctor calls round to see my father, I’ll ask him to look at her too.’

‘Good idea, but until then keep an eye on her, Mavis.’

‘Of course,’ she said, relieved when Alec then left for work. It had surprised her that he’d gone to Peckham, but his manner since she had threatened to leave him had been subdued.

Mavis walked back into the room, still holding Grace, to find her mother clutching her father’s hand. ‘I’ll make you a cup of tea, Mum.’

‘Thanks, love. I must admit I could do with one. I thought that bus was never going to get here.’

‘Stay here, Mummy,’ Grace said.

‘Yeah, leave her, love. I ain’t seen the kid for ages.’

Mavis lowered Grace down, amazed when she ran to stand quietly beside her grandmother. She hardly ever came to visit them and, too busy looking after Edith, they couldn’t go to Peckham, yet even so there seemed to be an instant rapport. Shaking her head in bewilderment, Mavis went down to the kitchen, and after making a pot of tea she first carried one into her mother-in-law’s room. Alec was right, she
was asleep, but that suited Mavis fine and, hoping she’d stay that way for a while longer, she crept out again.

It was late afternoon and Lily was still sitting with Ron. The doctor had been and gone, James was back from school, but thankfully the woman next door had insisted on taking both children home with her. She seemed a nice sort, and though Grace had kicked up a bit, the woman had made it seem an adventure that they’d be sleeping in her house that night.

‘Stop worrying, Mavis. Your fault or not, Edith is gonna be fine. I just wish I could say the same thing about your father.’

‘Don’t, Mum. I can’t face it,’ Mavis begged.

‘We’ve got to,’ Lily said, fighting tears as she turned to look at Ron. The doctor had been kind and sympathetic when after examining Ron he’d warned that he might not even last the night. Worse was when the doctor said that Ron knew he was dying, knew that years of alcohol abuse had finally taken its toll. Lily looked at Ron’s face, unable to believe how old he looked, his hair and beard streaked with grey. He’d been drifting in and out of consciousness since she arrived, hardly able to talk, yet when awake he had enough strength to cling on to her hand.

His eyes opened again now, seeking hers, the
appeal in them almost breaking her heart as he fought to speak. ‘Forgive me, Lily.’

Lily had never expected to be able to say these words, but now she blurted out, ‘Ron, Ron, of course I do.’

‘Don’t…don’t deserve it, but…but had to come. Where…where’s my girl?’

‘I’m here, Dad,’ Mavis cried, rushing forward.

Ron looked at Mavis, managing the ghost of a smile. ‘My lovely girl,’ he gasped, his breathing ragged, tortured, as his eyes closed again.

‘Oh, Mum, Mum.’

‘I know, love, I know,’ Lily said.

‘Mum, you…you won’t leave, will you?’ Mavis sobbed.

‘Of course I won’t,’ Lily assured.

Mavis drew in juddering breaths, dashing tears from her cheeks, and saying as she left the room, ‘Th…thanks, Mum. I…I’d better see to dinner. Alec will be home soon.’

Lily felt a surge of guilt. Mavis had sounded so grateful, but in truth she knew that wild horses wouldn’t have been able to drag her away from Ron’s side. The room was quiet now, with just the sound of Ron’s shallow, tortured breathing, and Lily found herself breathing in time with him—fighting with him.

Lily was so wrapped up in looking at Ron that it was some time before she became aware that
downstairs, Alec was home and shouting. Lily felt sorry for Mavis. When the doctor had looked in on Edith, he said it appeared that she’d been given too many pills, though Mavis had denied it. All right, maybe she had made a silly mistake with Edith’s medication, but with her father dying and the state she was in, surely it was understandable.

At least no harm had been done, Lily thought, but then, instead of Alec yelling, it was Edith Pugh. Lily stood up and crept onto the landing to listen. She had never liked Edith, but felt sorry for her now that she’d been confined to bed—though with her voice bordering on a screech, she certainly didn’t sound weak.

What was that she said? Lily’s eyes widened in shock. Mavis was crying out now, begging, but Lily was enraged. Over my dead body, she decided, ready for a fight as she stormed downstairs.

‘Please, please, you can’t make him leave. He can’t be moved again. He’s dying! My father’s dying,’ Mavis was pleading.

‘He ain’t going anywhere!’

Mavis spun around to see her mother on the threshold of the room, and, though small in stature, she looked like an Amazon, blazing with temper.

‘Yes he is,’ Edith spat. ‘Thanks to your daughter I nearly died and I won’t be neglected again.’

‘Died! Leave it out. You took a couple of pills too many, that’s all, and from what Mavis told me, it wasn’t her fault.’

‘I can assure you it was, and this has proved that she’s incapable of looking after both her father and me. I’ve hardly seen her today, despite repeatedly ringing my bell.’

‘You lying cow! You’re forgetting I’ve been here to see how you’ve run her ragged.’

‘I did no such thing,’ Edith blustered. ‘And, anyway,
you
seem to be forgetting that thanks to Mavis’s negligence, I’ve been really ill.’

‘Ill my foot! If you want to see ill, go up and take a look at my husband.’

‘Yes, your husband, and as such he’s your responsibility. Now I suggest you either take him home with you, or make arrangements to have him admitted to hospital.’

‘You bitch. The doctor said he might not even last the night, yet you’d see a dying man disturbed. My God, I don’t know how my daughter puts up with you.’ But then, as though struck by a thought, Lily’s eyes narrowed into slits. ‘But she doesn’t have to. When I go, Mavis can come with me. She can live with me, and in future you can find someone else to wipe your shitty arse. Ain’t that right, Mavis?’

Mavis stared at her mother in amazement. ‘Er…er, yes.’

‘Right then, girl. I’ll see about getting your father taken into hospital, and in the meantime get some stuff packed for yourself and the kids.’

Alec stepped forward. ‘No, you can’t go, Mavis. I won’t allow it.’

Mavis didn’t have to answer. Her mother did that for her. ‘You little shit. How do you think you’re gonna stop her?’

‘She’s my wife! James and Grace are my children!’

‘Wife! Don’t give me that. Mavis is nothing but a bloody slave to your mother. How my daughter puts up with the way she’s treated is beyond me, but this is an end to it. She’s coming with me and I’ll see that she files for divorce
and
custody of the kids.’

‘Mother!’ Alec cried, his eyes wide in appeal.

‘Mavis, perhaps taking too many pills
was
my mistake,’ Edith said quickly. ‘It frightened me and I’m afraid I overreacted by insisting that your father leaves. I’m sorry, and of course he can stay.’

‘I should think so too,’ Lily snapped. ‘Right, that’s sorted and, if you don’t mind, I’ll get back to Ron.’

Still reeling, Mavis watched her mother march from the room. She couldn’t believe that she’d stood up for her like that, offered her a way out—a home.

Alec suddenly ran towards his mother, asking anxiously, ‘What is it? Mother, are you all right?’

‘Oh, dear, I’m afraid this has all been a bit too much for me. I just need a little peace, a chance to rest.’

‘Of course you do,’ he said, ‘and we haven’t eaten yet. Mavis will see to our dinner and then you can settle down for the evening.’

Alec turned to look at her and Mavis nodded. Yes, she’d see to dinner and then leave Alec to sit with his mother. She wanted to be upstairs with her father, and, not only that, she needed to talk to her mother.

Though over an hour had passed, Edith was still angry. She’d had to give in and hated it, but when Lily Jackson had offered Mavis a home, Edith knew that she had gone too far—that if she continued to alienate Mavis, the girl might actually leave.

‘Do you feel a little better now, Mother?’

‘Yes, a little, though I can’t believe the way Lily Jackson spoke to me. The woman is so coarse and her language appalling. Not only that, the dinner that Mavis just cooked was barely digestible.’