Tangled Threads (22 page)

‘You’re to go and lodge at Gran’s,’ Eveleen told Jimmy later that same night.

She had waited up for him and now, gone midnight, he was creeping into the darkened house expecting that everyone would be safely in bed.

‘Heck, Evie, you made me jump. I thought it was him waiting for me with a big stick.’

‘You can joke, Jimmy. You’ll be laughing on the other side of your face soon if you don’t watch out. He’s given you a final warning. Any more trouble and you’re
out. We all are.’

Jimmy pulled a face at her and Eveleen felt the urge to slap him. But she kept her hands clenched and firmly by her sides. ‘So,’ she went on, trying to keep her voice low so that no
one would hear. ‘You can sleep here tonight, but tomorrow you move your things to her house.’

‘There’s no room,’ Jimmy argued. ‘She’s got lodgers.’

‘One of them’s going to Mrs Burns. It’s all arranged.’

‘I see. Trying to put as much distance between us as he can, is he?’

‘He’ll put a lot more distance between you, if you don’t watch it. And keep your voice down. We don’t want him down here.’

‘I’m not frightened of him,’ Jimmy said boldly, but Eveleen, even in the dim lamplight, had seen the flicker of fear in his eyes.

‘Of course you’re not,’ she tried to appease him. ‘But you ought to respect him more, Jimmy. He is giving us a home at the moment and employment, don’t
forget.’

‘I’m hardly likely to,’ Jimmy muttered, glowering. ‘Since you keep pushing it down me throat every five minutes. I’m off to bed.’

As he made to pass her towards the stairs, she caught hold of his arm. ‘Jimmy, please, for my sake, and Mam’s, please do what you’re asked.’

‘What I’m told, you mean.’

Their faces close together for a moment, the brother and sister looked into each other’s eyes, seeing themselves mirrored in each other’s face. At last Jimmy smiled. ‘All
right, Evie. I’ll be a good boy.’ But then he added ominously, ‘For now, at any rate.’

Eveleen had been wrong about Andrew Burns. She had thought he would be frightened off by Harry’s threats, but the following morning as she went down the path towards the
workshops, he was waiting for her.

He grabbed her arm. ‘Eveleen, I’ve got to see Rebecca. I’ve got to talk to her.’

‘Andrew, don’t. The poor girl’s in enough trouble as it is.’

His eyes widened. ‘Trouble? What sort of trouble? You don’t mean she’s – that he’s . . .’ His grip tightened on her arm. ‘If she is, I’ll kill
’im.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘She’s not in the family way, is she?’

Eveleen gasped and said swiftly, ‘No, of course she isn’t.’

Andrew looked into her face. ‘She might well be, from what I saw yesterday. Half undressed, the pair of them were.’

Eveleen stared at him in dismay and she began to tremble. ‘You – you’re not serious. You’re making it up to make trouble for our Jimmy.’

Andrew’s face twisted. ‘I’d like to make trouble for ’im all right and no mistake. But no, I wouldn’t make trouble for Rebecca. I love her, Eveleen. I have done for
a long time. And until your blasted brother came on the scene, I thought I had a chance. I thought she liked me. And we were doing it all proper. Not behind her dad’s back. But now, all
because of Jimmy, ’er dad’ll tar me with the same brush. I won’t stand a chance either now.’

‘Andrew, I’m sorry. Truly I am, if Jimmy’s come between you. Look, I’ve got to get to my work now. And you’d better too. Let’s talk later. Maybe we can help
each other.’

Andrew’s face lightened. ‘You’ll help me? I thought you’d be on Jimmy’s side.’

‘Not this time,’ Eveleen said grimly. If what Andrew said was true about what he had seen the previous day in the woods, then even Rebecca had not admitted the whole truth to her
father. ‘This time,’ she went on, ‘he’s really gone too far.’

Preoccupied with her family’s problems, Eveleen had a bad day at her frame, but her uncle, no doubt just as worried, did not notice. Eveleen slipped out of work early that evening to make
sure that Jimmy was gone from the house before their uncle arrived home.

‘I’ll go altogether,’ Jimmy grumbled, hoisting a pillowcase of his few belongings on to his back. ‘At least, I would if it wasn’t for Rebecca.’ He grinned
archly. ‘I’ve got a good reason to stay now.’

‘Oh no, you haven’t. Uncle Harry would never let her marry you.’

‘Who said anything about marriage?’ Jimmy said airily. ‘I’m not the marrying kind.’

‘And what if she gets pregnant?’ Eveleen asked baldly.

‘That’s her problem.’

‘Jimmy! How can you be so callous?’

She remembered he had said something very similar before and, unbidden, into her mind came the image of Stephen Dunsmore. His fair hair and handsome features. And those brilliant blue eyes that
could shine with love and then, so suddenly and ruthlessly, turn cold.

‘Typical,’ Eveleen said bitterly. ‘Just like a man.’

‘Thanks for the compliment,’ Jimmy said, as he slammed the door of the cottage and walked along the path in front of the row of houses towards their grandmother’s home.

Eveleen breathed a sigh of relief and vowed to keep the two cousins apart. She turned and went into the scullery to find Rebecca peeling potatoes. She was sobbing, her tears falling into the
water in the bowl. Her hands were shaking so much that Eveleen expected the knife to slip at any moment.

‘Here, let me do that,’ Eveleen said gently, taking the potato and the sharp knife out of the girl’s hands.

Rebecca made no protest.

‘Now, dry your tears and set the table,’ Eveleen went on, briskly but not unkindly. ‘Where’s me mam?’

‘Taken to her bed. She – she says all the trouble’s upset her.’

‘It would,’ Eveleen said shortly and then rebuked herself for her impatience. No doubt this particular bit of family trouble was bringing back some very unhappy memories for
Mary.

As the girl moved between kitchen and parlour, setting the table for supper, Eveleen pondered on the best way to help ease the situation. If only she could persuade Rebecca to focus her
affections on Andrew Burns rather than Jimmy, then all might be well. She sighed. But even then, it sounded as if her uncle had no intention of letting his daughter walk out with any young man. As
she dropped another potato in the saucepan of water, she wondered if the best way might be to talk to Harry himself first. Then she shook her head. No. That was not the way. She had tried already
and he was so angry at the moment he would not listen to reason.

Perhaps her grandmother might help. Bridget had admitted that she regretted not standing up for her own daughter at the time of her troubles. Maybe, now, she would stand up to her son and
persuade him to let Rebecca walk out with a young man.

A young man of whom Harry could approve.

‘The table’s ready,’ Rebecca interrupted Eveleen’s thoughts. ‘I’ll shell the peas.’

Eveleen nodded and took the heavy pan of potatoes through to the parlour to put on the hob to boil. Straightening up she went to the window overlooking the yard. There was still a light in the
workshop window near where her uncle’s frame stood.

Going back into the kitchen, she said carefully, ‘Rebecca, Andrew was asking after you today. He wants to talk to you.’

The girl looked up. ‘Well, I don’t want to talk to him.’

‘Why not?’

The girl shrugged. ‘I don’t like him.’

‘He’s very fond of you.’

Rebecca hung her head and said nothing, but Eveleen was not about to let the matter rest. ‘From what he said, I thought that you were friends.’

Rebecca’s head came up quickly. ‘What did he say?’

Eveleen decided that the time had come for complete honesty, if she was to prise Rebecca away from Jimmy. ‘He said that he loves you and that before Jimmy came on the scene he thought he
had a chance with you.’ Eveleen bent towards her. ‘Did he?’

‘Maybe,’ Rebecca was defensive now. ‘But not any more. It’s Jimmy I – I love now. And he loves me. I know he does.’

‘Have you – have you . . . ?’ Eveleen was at a loss as to how to ask the question delicately.

‘That’s none of your business,’ Rebecca almost snapped, showing the most spirit that Eveleen had ever seen.

But her defensive answer told Eveleen what she most feared to hear.

‘Gran, will you help me sort Jimmy and Rebecca out? We’ve got to put a stop to it. Right now.’

The old lady leant back in her chair and closed her eyes. ‘Oh, Eveleen, I’m too old for all this trouble. Maybe if I was a few years younger—’

Before Eveleen could hold back the words they were out of her mouth. ‘But you didn’t do anything when you
were
younger, did you? You didn’t stick up for my mother
against her father. You let them make her life so awful that she ran away.’ Instantly the words were said, Eveleen regretted them. ‘Oh I’m sorry, Gran. I shouldn’t have said
that.’

Bridget sighed wearily and tears watered in her old eyes. ‘Tell the truth and shame the Devil, eh, Eveleen?’ she murmured and smiled sadly. ‘But you’re right. I’m
all talk and no do. That’s me.’ She lifted her head and looked straight into Eveleen’s eyes. ‘You’re like me, but you’ve more spirit than I ever had. Mind you
never lose it, love. Don’t let anyone rule you, Eveleen. Not anyone. Not even if you fall in love. Don’t fall so hard that you lose your own personality. You’re someone in your
own right, Eveleen. Never forget that.’

Softly Eveleen said, ‘I won’t, Gran. But what are we going to do about Jimmy and Rebecca?’

The old woman rested again. ‘It’ll sort itself out,’ she said tiredly.

Eveleen watched as Bridget’s eyes closed and she dozed. But would it? the girl asked herself and found no answer.

Over the following days, Eveleen watched the pair like a hawk. As far as she could see, Jimmy seemed to be obeying Harry’s orders. He never came to their cottage. He
didn’t even linger to talk to Rebecca when he passed through the yard to work and she just happened to be going to and fro between the house and the washhouse, her arms full of laundry. If
either of them looked about to disobey, Eveleen had to admit that it was Rebecca who looked the most likely.

Often she would find the girl standing at the parlour window overlooking the yard. She was watching for someone. That much was obvious. In the evenings when the young lads played cricket in the
yard, Jimmy was no longer among them. Andrew always positioned himself behind the pump, playing wicket keeper so that he could be close to the window of the cottage. Eveleen saw him casting
anxious, pleading glances towards it, but Rebecca would turn away, deliberately ignoring him.

‘Rebecca,’ Eveleen said at last, exasperated. ‘Forget Jimmy. He’s not worth it. Believe me.’

‘I don’t know why you’re so against us.’ Rebecca turned tearful eyes upon Eveleen. ‘I’d have thought you’d have been happy for us. Don’t you like
me, Eveleen?’

‘Oh, Rebecca. It’s because I like you – I love you – that I’m so afraid for you. For both of you.’ Eveleen ran her tongue over her lips before saying
carefully, ‘I know he’s my brother, Rebecca, but even I have to admit that he’s not – not reliable. And your father can see that. He’ll never allow you to marry Jimmy,
even if . . .’ She faltered, unwilling to hurt the girl further by telling her of Jimmy’s own views on marriage.

‘My father will never allow me to marry anyone,’ Rebecca said bitterly. ‘He wants to keep me here an old maid. Just to look after him.’

‘Oh no, surely not.’

‘Oh yes, surely yes,’ Rebecca mimicked bitterly. ‘If I want to get married, the only way I’ll ever be able to do it is to run away. Just like your mother did.’

‘That was different. That was because she was in disgrace and – and she was . . .’ Eveleen faltered, staring at Rebecca. She noticed now the girl’s white face, the blue
smudges beneath her eyes.

‘So,’ Rebecca whispered. ‘Where’s the difference?’

‘Oh no,’ Eveleen breathed, feeling as if she had been punched hard in the stomach. ‘Oh, Rebecca, no!’

They stood for several moments just staring at each other, Eveleen with a look of horror on her face, while Rebecca was pale and silent and yet with a strange expression of relief. Eveleen
guessed that the girl had carried her secret for some time and now, sharing it with someone, eased the fear, even if only a little.

But Eveleen felt as if she had been handed yet another burden to carry; a weight that threatened to crush them all.

She put out her arms and enfolded the girl to her. At the show of kindness, Rebecca’s resolve crumbled and she wept against Eveleen’s shoulder. Awkwardly Eveleen patted her back.
‘There, there, don’t cry. We’ll sort it out.’

But Eveleen’s brave words held far more confidence than she was feeling inside.

Now there was going to be real trouble.

Eveleen still fretted over Rebecca and fumed over Jimmy. How could he have been so thoughtless, so stupid? The only respite she got was when she was at her work. For a few
hours she determined to put aside all thoughts of the impending cataclysm and to do her work well. Ruefully she admitted that she had every need to. Soon, she thought, they would be leaving here.
When the news broke, as break it must, they would be out on the streets once more.

And where to this time? Back home? But to what? They were no better off now than when they had left Bernby. She sighed. Perhaps they should never have left. Perhaps they should have tried
harder, she and Jimmy, to find work locally in or near Grantham and to rent a small cottage somewhere.

But we did try, she reminded herself. We tried very hard. At the time, coming to her mother’s family had seemed the best solution, but she had not known exactly what they were coming to.
She had pictured her mother’s family as being like her own, with a kindly, understanding father at its head. Harry Singleton was no Walter Hardcastle. And that had been Eveleen’s
mistake.

‘Here, I want a word with you.’ One evening after work she grabbed hold of Jimmy’s arm and, anger giving her strength, hauled him into the empty washhouse, slammed the door
behind her and leant against it.