Peppercorn Street (18 page)

‘It’s all right, Mum. I always knew you were there for us, even if I didn’t show it.’

‘You’ve not talked to me like this for a long time.’

He bit his lip, shrugging. ‘I’ve been keeping out of everyone’s way since William went aggro, hiding out in my room a lot. He could have beaten me into a pulp if I’d upset him.’

Thrusting his hands into his pockets he went to stare out of the window with his back to her and she guessed the confidences were at an end for the moment. ‘I’ll go and do some unpacking, then make lunch.’

‘When’s lunch?’

‘About half an hour. I want to unpack the things that will crease first. There are some apples in a bowl in the kitchen if you’re feeling hungry.’

He loped off to get one, then hoisted up two large bundles of clothes and disappeared into the smaller bedroom.

She carried some things into her own bedroom, feeling sad that Paul felt like that about his father, especially now, and also a bit flustered by his far too perceptive comments about their new friend. She did like Kieran … and trust him … and was attracted to him. It had happened quickly. But it was good that Paul also seemed very much at ease with their new friend.

And her son was right. Although Sam had reluctantly done his share of household chores, he’d always acted as if they were her responsibility and waited for her to tell him what to do. It was years since he’d talked to her properly. He’d not only worked long hours, but had always been the active sort, going out playing sports at weekends
(‘networking’), working extra hours (she hoped that’s what he’d been doing), leaving her to look after the children.

She hadn’t minded at first, because she’d been thrilled to be a mother and too busy to think straight. But later, she’d started to resent Sam’s attitude, wanted a more willing partner in raising their family.

Had Sam’s attitude influenced William? Was his behaviour the result of taking anabolic steroids or was he mentally ill? Who knew?

She got angry with herself. Why was she going over all this old stuff about Sam and the family? She had unpacking to do, then food to provide.

But before she started, she rang work and explained what was going on, asking for emergency leave. Michael was once again very understanding.

A short time after she’d got off the phone to him, Helen rang to find out exactly what was going on and the two friends had a short chat.

‘We’ll go to the hospital first, then buy a security alarm,’ she said later, as she and her son ate lunch. ‘I’m sure Kieran won’t mind.’

‘I’m sure he won’t.’ Paul gave her another smug smile and she could feel herself blushing. Honestly! At her age!

‘Anything you need for your computer while we’re at it?’

‘Well, I do need a new connecting cable, if that’s OK. William cut mine into several pieces.’

‘I think my budget could stretch to that.’

‘Thanks, Mum. You’re the best.’

Warmth filled her. At least one of her sons was normal, and loving.

Once Janey had left, Dan smiled at Winifred. ‘Is it all right if I go over the garden. I can pace it out and start thinking how many plots we can make – if you’re all right about sharing it? Don’t let anyone dragoon you into this if you’re not.’

‘I think it’s an excellent idea. Shall I get some paper? You can call out the number of paces and I’ll put them on to a diagram. That at least I can do.’

‘Good. It’ll speed things up.’

They worked together for an hour, then she realised she was hungry. ‘Would you like something to eat?’

He stopped, head on one side. ‘Are you sure? After all, I’ve been dumped on you. I do have some sandwiches back at my allotment.’

‘It’s nice to share a meal. It’ll just be ham and lettuce sandwiches and cake. I need to go and do some shopping later.’

‘Sandwiches will be great. Can I help?’

‘No, thanks. It won’t take me a minute.’

He sat down at the table, watching her. ‘I hope you don’t mind me asking, but you’ve never been married?’

‘No. And you? Are you on your own?’

‘My wife died recently. Alzheimer’s, poor love. In the end, it’s a relief when they go.’

‘My mother suffered from dementia for the last few months of her life. Then she had a heart attack. I looked after her as best I could, but oh dear, she could be very difficult at times. In the end, they took her into hospital.’

‘I had to put my Peggy into care in the later stages. Eh, we never know what’ll happen to us, do we? I try to enjoy each and every day. A friend of mine used to say, “As long
as you’re on the right side of the grass.” Now he isn’t, poor chap. But I still am.’

‘My friends have all died and I’ve been doing most of my living through books. Recently, thanks to Dawn, I’ve met Hazel and I bumped into that nice young girl one day in the street, or rather she came to my rescue when I was trying to bring back too much shopping.’

‘Janey’s a lovely lass.’ He smiled. ‘And that’s a cracking baby. Widest smile I’ve ever seen, little Millie has.’

‘I’m going to teach Janey to bake cakes.’

‘You couldn’t teach me at the same time, could you?’

She looked at him in surprise.

‘I miss home cooking.’ He gestured to the piece of cake on his plate. ‘This is delicious.’

‘I’d be happy to.’

Somehow she found herself telling him about her nephew and he grew upset. ‘How can he try to rob you like that? Family, too. Have people like him no consciences?’

‘They don’t understand how deeply we care about our homes, do they? And they think any place is good enough for the elderly, as long as there’s no obvious cruelty and the inmates have enough to eat. They don’t even allow room for people to take many of their possessions with them. I’ve visited friends in such places. One wasn’t too bad, and the staff were lovely, though she’d still had to get rid of most of her treasures, but the other place was awful, three people to a room.’

When Dan had gone, taking his rough plan of the garden with him, she sat for a while thinking. Her life was opening up in so many ways. She must go to church and say thank you properly for that.

And surely Bradley would leave her alone from now on? He had nothing whatsoever to gain from pestering her now. She’d made sure of that. It occurred to her suddenly that he didn’t know that. Well, if he came near her again, she’d tell him straight out that he’d get nothing under her new will.

But she didn’t want to be alone with him when she said it.

Janey went off happily to college. Was it only a few days since her first visit here? So much seemed to have happened in the meantime.

Today she felt more confident about leaving Millie in the crèche and found her way to the first class easily. She recognised some of the people from last time and smiled at them, though she couldn’t remember their names.

At lunchtime she again went and sat in a quiet corner of the gardens, thankful it was fine, not wanting to spend money in the canteen.

‘Mind if I join you?’

She looked up to see the lad who’d asked her out for coffee, and suddenly her mouth felt as if it was made of wood and unable to form words. She still wasn’t emotionally used to the idea that she could sit and chat to anyone she wanted without getting into trouble. She managed a nod and he sat down beside her, pulling a
plastic box of food out of a bulging backpack.

‘I bring my own lunches. It’s much cheaper. I’m Al Bevan, by the way, short for Alexander not Alan.’

‘I’m Janey Dobson and I’m doing the same thing as you: saving money.’

They were both holding sandwiches so he mimed shaking hands.

‘How’s your baby? Millie, isn’t it?’

She was amazed he’d remembered that. ‘Millie’s fine. She’s in the crèche at the moment. It’s such a help being able to go and study in the library as well as come to classes.’

‘Must be hard sometimes.’

She shrugged. ‘Worth it.’

‘My mum brought me up on her own. My dad ran off soon after I was born.’

‘Do you wish now that you’d had a father?’ It was one of the things that concerned her for the future. Would Millie resent not having a father, not even knowing who he was? Janey hoped she’d never have to tell her how she’d been conceived.

‘I don’t know. I never had one, so I’m used to being with Mum. We get on really well these days, though I gave her a few hassles when I was younger. She’s only thirty-nine so I keep telling her to start dating, but she says she’s too set in her ways to put up with another man.’

Maybe being with his mother had made him more communicative than other lads she’d listened to. And he certainly had a good appetite. She watched in amazement as he started on another round of doorstep sandwiches. How could someone so thin eat so much?

He swallowed his mouthful and grinned as if he understood what she was thinking. ‘I get hungry.’

She picked up the piece of the cake Miss Parfitt had given her and started telling him about the cookery lessons and the garden sharing. After that they chatted more easily, though he knew nothing about gardens. It seemed natural to walk to the next class together and sit next to one another, but she was glad when he left after the class.

She didn’t want to get involved with anyone. Involved! As if! He was just being friendly, because his mum was a single mother. No guy of her age would be interested in dating a single mother with a child to bring up.

In the library she settled down to some serious study and was amazed when it was time to collect Millie and leave.

She kept a careful watch as she walked home, but she didn’t see
him
. She felt better immediately she got into her flat, because there were people all round her there, especially Kieran. She was so lucky in her landlord.

Perhaps Gary had just been looking at where she lived or wanting a glimpse of his daughter. Perhaps now his curiosity was satisfied he’d leave her alone.

And pigs would fly! He liked causing trouble, laughed with her father about nasty things he’d done.

The worry of it all niggled at her and in the end she wrote a letter in case anything happened to her. She’d ask Kieran to keep it safe and open it if anything went wrong.

That settled her mind enough for her to fall asleep and to her relief, Millie slept right through until five o’clock.

Several pieces of mail fell through the letter box that day. As Winifred picked them up, she saw that one was from
her friend Molly’s solicitor. No doubt it’d be a reminder to make an appointment to see them. She’d completely forgotten that she was supposed to get in touch about a bequest.

Another letter was from an estate agent, offering to sell her house for her. She was about to rip it to shreds when she saw that it was the same company for which Ebony worked. Was Bradley still trying to get her to sell? Or was Ebony working on her own? Whichever it was, they’d get nowhere with her. She tore it into tiny pieces, taking out her annoyance with her nephew on it.

A third letter was from a social care officer, not the one who’d provided her with the pendant. She frowned and reread it. Following her phone call to ask for help, they would be happy to come and assess her home, and were sure they’d be able to help her to cope. Would she please ring to make an appointment?

She rang up, all right, but it was to ask why they thought she’d contacted them.

She was passed from one to the other, then a woman with a soft, cooing voice said gently, ‘Perhaps you’ve forgotten, dear. We have a record of a call from you on Monday and we responded quickly, since you sounded distressed. There was no answer when we rang and you don’t seem to have an answering service.’

‘I didn’t phone anyone on Monday.’

Silence, then, ‘Perhaps you’ve forgotten.’

‘No. I’ve not forgotten anything. I’m old but not losing my wits, thank you very much. Please make a note in your records that I did not make that call, and in future, you should check back with me. This is the second time
someone has tried to contact the council, pretending to be me.’

‘There’s nothing to be ashamed of in forgetting things, and—’

‘If you won’t do as I asked, I’ll get my lawyer to contact you on my behalf.’ She put the phone down, furiously angry at the way that woman had talked down to her.

She might check with Dawn later about what she could do. For the moment, she had some shopping to do, just a few bits and pieces, then she was going to walk over to Hazel’s house for coffee.

Smiling, she went to get ready, dismissing the woman at the council from her mind. It was some silly mix-up, but that was still no excuse for treating her as if she’d lost her wits.

A couple of days later Nicole decided to go back to work and suggested Paul go back to school.

‘I can’t! Kieran’s coming round to help me fit the security system.’

She hesitated – and was lost. ‘Very well. Just this once. But from now on, you’ll be going to school regularly, whether we stay here or move back home. You’re an intelligent lad and you could go to university or anything you liked.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘I haven’t got time to discuss that now, but we should have a serious talk about your future at some stage, don’t you think?’

‘I’ve got a few ideas about what I want to do, but Dad said they were rubbish and he wanted me to study business.’

‘It’s your life and in the end, your choice, but I do hope
you’ll listen to advice before you make up your mind. There’s just one thing: would you mind if we stay here at the flat for the moment? I know it’s quite small, but I wouldn’t feel safe going back to the house.’

‘I’d rather stay here. This street is quite busy, so I’ll feel safe walking back from school.’

He kept shocking her with such revelations. ‘Have you been feeling that unsafe? Is it William or someone else?’

He hesitated, then said, ‘William and some friends of his. And Mum – take your car to work this time.’

‘I will. And don’t open the door to anyone except Kieran.’

She walked down the street. The garage door opened smoothly, and as she backed her car out, Kieran came across from the flats to see her, so she rolled her window down.

He bent over. ‘Going to work today? Are you sure you should?’

‘I can’t keep taking time off. But I’ll take things easy physically. They’ll understand. Paul’s staying home to help you with the security system.’

‘He’s a great kid.’

‘Not such a kid any more. He’s growing up fast.’

‘Will your car be somewhere safe?’

‘Yes, we have a locked basement car park for staff.’

‘Good. Are you going to the hospital today as well?’

‘Yes, of course. I thought I’d nip across in my lunch hour. I don’t see the need to make Paul go through that every day. It’s hard seeing someone who was walking and talking normally a month ago lying comatose.’

‘How about I pick you up at the library and drive you to the hospital? It’ll be safer.’

She went very still, then had to ask, ‘Do you think William’s that dangerous?’

‘No one knows exactly how far he’d go. Some drugs have unpredictable effects and we don’t know exactly what he’s been taking. Those car parks at the hospital are very big. Better safe than sorry, don’t you think?’ He waited then asked gently, ‘So … what time shall I pick you up?’

‘One o’clock. At the main entrance to the library. I’ll ring if there’s any difficulty with that.’

As she drove off, she could see him in her rear-view mirror, a lean man with a thin, intelligent face. A kind man, helping strangers like her.

And a very attractive one, too.

Guiltily she tried to suppress this train of thought, but it wouldn’t be suppressed. It was a long time since she’d felt that stirring in the blood which came from sheer physical attraction. It made her realise how long that had been missing from her relationship with her husband.

Had Sam stopped finding her attractive? No, she kept forgetting. He’d not been unfaithful, he’d been ill.

Only … what
had
he been doing all those times when he’d come home late? He said he’d been working late, but she’d rung once or twice and the security guy said there was no one in the building.

Maybe he’d been having a drink with friends.

Oh, hell, why was she obsessing about this? Done was done. You had to move on.

Janey rang up Miss Parfitt to see if she was going shopping and needed any help.

‘No, dear. Dawn’s going to drive her mother and me
out to one of those big shopping centres to get our heavy stuff. It’ll be a wonderful help. But how kind of you to remember me! I hope you’re still coming for some cookery lessons?’

‘I’d love to. Just tell me when it’s convenient, only not Wednesdays and another day. I’m not sure which yet because I’m changing to another class to avoid a boring lecturer. One of my friends told me you could do that.’

‘How about coming tomorrow? I can get the ingredients today. We said we’d make a fruit cake, didn’t we?’

‘That’d be great. Only you must let me buy my share of the ingredients.’

‘No, dear. You’ve enough on your plate. And we may have another student. Mr Sh—Dan wants to learn how to make cakes, too. I’ll give him a ring. Will one o’clock suit you? I’d like to go to church in the morning.’

‘One o’clock would be fine. I’m going to church too. Tidmas Street Church have a crèche for littlies and the people there are so friendly.’

‘I’ve always gone to the parish church. But I don’t know anyone in the congregation there any more. My mother would be horrified at me offering that as an excuse, but it does make a difference.’ She chuckled. ‘Especially on rainy days.’

Poor Miss Parfitt, Janey thought. She’d been under her mother’s thumb all her life, from the sounds of it, and she still felt guilty if she went against her mother’s rules. Janey’s mother always did what her father told her to. She was as unnoticeable as a piece of wallpaper.

Janey felt very pleased with the progress she’d made in the last few weeks in getting her life together. Surely
he
would leave her alone if she made it obvious she wasn’t going to cave in to him?

She picked up her baby and forgot her worries in giving her a tickle and a cuddle, which made them both laugh. Millie was growing so fast. Soon she’d be too big for this. Soon she’d be sitting unsupported, feeding herself, walking, talking. How wonderful to watch all those milestones!

They had an appointment next week at the child health clinic, so that Millie could be weighed and checked generally.

As she was going out, she knocked on Kieran’s door, hoping to catch him in so that she could leave the letter with him. The more she thought about the letter, the more certain she became that it would be a wise precaution. But no one answered the door.

She was walking slowly home from the supermarket, pushing a heavily laden buggy when a voice said, ‘You’ll need some help getting that up the stairs.’

And when she looked,
he
was there, standing right beside her, smiling.

She couldn’t move, could hardly breathe.

He wasn’t going to leave her alone!

Kieran grinned at Paul. ‘Here goes!’ He switched on the security system they’d just installed, waited a minute or two outside on the landing, then gestured to Paul. ‘You christen it.’

Paul walked inside. There was a thirty-second delay then it began to scream a warning. The noise was ear-piercing. No one could ignore that. ‘You should warn the other owners about this, and the neighbours, so that they can ring
the police if it goes off while you’re out.’ He switched the alarm off. ‘Right, I’d better get back now. I’m taking your mother to the hospital. Will you be all right?’

‘Yes. I want to set up my computer properly and change our Internet connection to this phone number.’

‘Don’t go out on your own.’

Paul looked sharply at him. ‘You told Mum to be careful, too. Do you think William would really hurt us?’

‘Yes, I do. I haven’t been able to forget his expression when we were at your house. He looked wild and menacing. I’d not have liked to face him on my own, even before my accident.’

Paul shivered. ‘You don’t have to persuade me to be careful. It’s Mum you have to persuade. I’m worried sick about her. She doesn’t really believe he’d hurt her.’

‘That’s why I’m taking her to hospital, and she didn’t refuse, did she? I can park really close in a disabled bay.’ He grimaced at the thought. ‘See you.’

Kieran got into the car and drove the hundred yards or so to his flat. He wanted to change into something smarter before he met Nicole.