The Girl with the Creel (29 page)

Returning to his sister, Mick said, ‘I went to tell Jenny, as well as the doctor, and she'll be coming to see you.'

‘Did you tell Mother and all?'

‘No, I thought I'd better wait.'

When Jenny arrived she ordered Mick to go home. ‘I've nobody to worry about now,' she went on, ‘so I can stay with Lizann till she's on her feet. Hannah'll need you.'

Dr Mathieson came in shortly after this, and she stayed in the kitchen to let him examine his patient. ‘She's very weak,' he reported in a few minutes. ‘She's had two bad shocks, and it will take her whole system a long time to recover. Are you to be staying here with her?' At Jenny's nod, he continued, ‘Good. If she is left alone, she could fall into a deep depression, which in turn … well, just keep a careful eye on her. Now, go through to her until I attend to things here.'

After making a thorough inspection of the still-born infant and the other remnants, he called Jenny through again. ‘The birth will have to be registered even if …' He paused, his mouth screwing up. ‘The father has been lost, of course, but I can explain all the circumstances to the registrar. What name shall I give the child? William, after her father?'

‘That's fine.'

Dr Mathieson having taken everything away in the blood-saturated coat, Jenny cleaned the kitchen floor and organized the supper, keeping up a loud one-sided conversation to let Lizann know she hadn't forgotten her. When she went through to the bedroom and saw her charge lying with her face to the wall, clearly not wanting to speak, she sat down in the chair, ready to give solace when it was needed.

Mick had been in the house for some time before he plucked up courage to tell his mother anything. With his mind occupied by the sad mission he had to carry out, he had come off the boat the night before without even waiting for a fry of fish, so he had bought some mince on his way from Freuchny Road. Hannah talked to him quite sensibly while he made it ready, and ate a good plateful, but now, with the table cleared and the kitchen tidied, he could procrastinate no longer.

‘You're awful quiet, Mick,' Hannah said suddenly. ‘What's bothering you? Is something wrong wi' Lizann? She didna come the day.'

‘Will you promise not to get upset if I tell you?'

Her eyes narrowed with apprehension. ‘I'll try not to.'

‘Oh, God!' he groaned. ‘I can't whitewash it for you. You see, George Buchan was washed overboard yesterday.'

‘Lizann's man? Oh, poor soul, she'll be awful …'

‘I'd to go and tell her, and she … lost the baby.'

‘Oh, my dear Lord! Oh, if only I could go to her.'

‘I was with her all night, and Jenny's there now.'

‘It's me should be wi' her, but I'm hardly fit to walk nowadays.'

‘She knows you can't go, and Jenny'll look after her.'

After several minutes of silence, Hannah said, ‘I blamed George for your father dying, you ken. I said it was his fault for making him buy that boat, when naebody could've made Willie Alec do anything he didna want to do.'

Mick was taken aback by what she was admitting, but he hoped that, as seemed likely, this second shock had cleared his mother's brain of the confusion she'd been labouring under. ‘Don't blame yourself, Mother,' he soothed. ‘You haven't been … yourself for a long time, and Lizann'll be pleased you're better.'

‘When you go back to see her, tell her how sorry I am, about George and the poor wee bairnie … and for the things I said to her and her man. Oh, and tell her nae to worry about me. Lou'll see to me.'

Marvelling at the change in her, Mick just nodded.

When Peter arrived home, Elsie said, ‘Did you know Lizann Jappy's man's been drowned?'

He decided to be completely honest. ‘I met Mick on my way to work, and he told me … and she lost her baby, as well. He was going for the doctor so I said I'd go and sit with her till he came back.'

Elsie's top lip curled. ‘Oh, aye? Playing Santy Claus, was you?'

‘I did what any friend would've done.'

‘You must have been a lot more than friends when you was engaged.'

Scowling, he retorted, ‘I loved her, but I was never her lover!'

‘Pull the other one,' she sneered. ‘This one's got bells on.'

‘Look, Elsie, I didn't need to tell you I'd been to see her, but I didn't want to keep it secret from you.'

‘In case you was found out? And I suppose you'd been cuddling her and whispering sweet nothings in her ear?'

‘I did try to comfort her. Poor Lizann, she was nearly out of her mind and I …'

‘Poor Lizann my backside!' Elsie snapped, forgetting all her pseudo-refinement. ‘Nae content wi' one man, she kept you dangling on the end o' a string, and all. You needna think I didna ken.'

‘You're a callous bitch!' he shouted. ‘She only wanted George Buchan, and now she's lost him, and their baby! Have you no pity for her?'

‘For the woman my man's been lusting after for years? I'm nae blind, Peter Tait. You look like a love-sick young laddie when anybody speaks about her. I wouldna be surprised if you wed me to make her jealous!'

This was too much for him. ‘I went out with you to make her jealous, but I married you because you said you were expecting my child.'

‘Oh, aye, I forgot. But you wasna long in putting a real bairn inside me, was you? And starting Tommy just weeks after Pattie was born.'

Wanting to hurt her now, he yelled, ‘What did you expect, the way you sat about with everything you had on show?'

She smirked now. ‘That was the way to get you going, wasn't it? One look at my paps and your tongue was hanging out.'

‘That's disgusting!'

‘It's true, though. I could twist you round my little finger any time I want, nae like your prim fancy woman.'

Peter's face flamed with guilty shame. Elsie could set him ablaze with an animal lust, no matter what he thought of her as a woman. She was an addiction, while what he had always felt for Lizann was reverent love.

‘That made you think,' she crowed now. ‘I'm right, amn't I?'

‘Aye, you're right,' he sighed. ‘You're like a drug I can't give up.'

In the evening Jenny sat down again by the bedside and, thinking that Lizann looked slightly brighter, she said, ‘I believe you'd Peter Tait seeing you this morning?'

‘Peter's another good friend.'

‘More than a friend at one time? You got engaged to him.'

‘That was … before George came back to me.'

Lizann's lips had started to quiver, so Jenny changed the subject. ‘I meant to ask you before, where do you keep your spare blankets?'

Lizann looked surprised. ‘What d'you want blankets for?'

‘I'm going to make a bed on the two easy chairs in the kitchen.'

‘There's no need for that, you can sleep with me.'

‘Are you sure?'

‘Quite sure.'

When Jenny finally went to bed, she was so tired that she fell asleep almost at once, and Lizann lay wide awake beside her, thinking about George and the plans they had made for the baby. Then she recalled her premonition on the day her mother had looked so queer. She had been sure that something awful was going to happen, but she hadn't foreseen this double tragedy, husband and child both gone. Not wanting to disturb Jenny by giving way to her grief again, she bit on her bottom lip, but the tears still edged out and rolled down her cheeks.

She would never see George again. There would be no more love-making, no more babies. It was goodbye to the family she had planned to start, goodbye to all her dreams.

She was too distraught to realize that without a husband, there would be no money coming into the house, either. That worry was still to come.

Chapter Sixteen

Heck Lindsay appeared the following day, and although Lizann was not really up to receiving visitors, Jenny showed him into the bedroom in case he had something important to say. A short, stout, florid man, George's skipper stood at the foot of the bed twirling his flat cap in his hands.

‘I'm devilish sorry, Missus Buchan, it was a terrible thing to happen, and the other lassie said you lost the baby, and all. I ken it doesna help, like, but for what it's worth, you've my deepest sympathy, for he was a fine man. I wouldna intrude on you, but … well, George would have been due …' He paused before ending uncomfortably, ‘The thing is, I didna even cover my expenses this trip seeing we'd to turn back so early …'

Having told the widow a deliberate lie – they had come back because the catch was so poor – his lined, weather-beaten face took on a redder tinge. Then, clearing his throat as well as his embarrassment, he went on, ‘I thought you'd be needing some cash, so here's something, for … compensation, like.' He laid an envelope down on the bed. ‘What would you like done wi' his seabag?'

Unable to speak, Lizann shook her head helplessly, and it was Jenny who said decisively, ‘Give it to Mick. She'll maybe want to keep some of George's things.'

‘Aye, of course. Well, I'll be on my way, Missus Buchan, and I hope you'll soon be up and about again.'

When her brother brought the seabag to her, Lizann told him to keep it and everything in it. ‘You may as well get the good of his seaboots and oilskins and …'

‘There's only a shirt and ganzy, and his spare set of underclothes,' Mick mumbled. ‘He was wearing the rest when he …' His face scarlet, he broke off.

Frowning at him, Jenny said, ‘Take it away, you've upset her.'

Lizann withdrew into her own dark world now, and for the next two days she hardly spoke to Jenny, pretending to be asleep when she heard her brother or her aunt coming in.

‘Poor soul,' Lou sighed to Jenny, ‘but maybe sleep's the best thing for her.'

‘I'm worried about her,' Jenny confided. ‘She hasn't eaten anything, yesterday or today.'

‘Dinna force her. She'll eat when she feels like it.'

It didn't seem right to Jenny to let anyone keep refusing food. She said nothing when her patient left her breakfast untouched, but she couldn't hold her tongue at dinner-time. ‘You'll never get your strength back if you carry on like this,' she scolded gently, when Lizann shook her head. ‘Come on, try some of this lentil soup, it'll do you good.'

Lizann picked up the spoon listlessly, but after a few mouthfuls, she set it down again, her lips pursed. Wondering if she should coax her appetite with invalid foods, Jenny made scrambled eggs for supper, and was about to take through the tray when someone knocked at the door.

It was Peter Tait. ‘I'm not coming in,' he said. ‘I just wanted to know how Lizann is now.'

‘She's not eating,' Jenny told him, sadly, then inspiration hit her. ‘Would you take this through to her? She might eat it for you.'

Love for Lizann almost shoked him when he saw that she looked even worse than on the morning she'd been sobbing in his arms, but he managed to joke. ‘It's the waiter, Lizann, and the chef'll sack me if you don't eat every mouthful.'

A ghost of a smile touched her lips. ‘Oh, Peter.' It was all she said, but he was sure he could detect a fondness in her voice.

He stood over her until the plate was empty then moved the tray to the chest of drawers and sat down on the bed. Taking her hand, he said, ‘I don't like to see you so down, my dear. You're not the Lizann we knew, so will you please try to come back to us? Please, for me?' The pressure of her fingers encouraged him. ‘I know you're suffering, and you likely think you'll never get over this, but George wouldn't want you to give up. You're young, you're a lovely girl …'

Her eyes clouded, and he said quickly, ‘I'm speaking as your friend, Lizann, but I'd better go. My wife'll be wondering why I'm late. You'll remember what I said, now?'

She nodded weakly and when he stood up, she murmured, ‘Thanks, Peter, it was good of you to come.'

Jenny was delighted to see the empty plate when he took back the tray. ‘You've fairly done the trick, Peter. You should be here all the time.'

Wishing that were possible, he smiled and took his leave, but on his way home he wondered if Jenny knew how he felt about Lizann … but she wouldn't have made that last remark if she did. He had wanted to tell Lizann herself that he still loved her, and it was only her unease when he said she was a lovely girl that had stopped him. It was also why he had mentioned his wife.

As he had expected, Elsie was angry when he went in. ‘Where the hell have you been?' she demanded. ‘Your supper's been ready for the past hour.'

‘I'm just half an hour late,' he said, calmly. ‘I went to see Lizann.'

‘Again? You know I don't like you going there.'

‘I'm glad I went, for she hadn't been eating. Jenny asked me to take through her supper.'

‘I suppose she ate it for you.'

‘She did, and not before time – she's just skin and bone.'

‘You'd surely had your arms round her again to know that?'

Peter looked at her with distaste. Her face was plumper than when he first knew her, and after two children her waist had thickened. Not that either of that would have mattered if he loved her, but he didn't. He never had! ‘No, Elsie,' he said, ‘I didn't have my arms round her, much as I wanted to.' Her gasp gave him a small degree of pleasure.

Furious inside, Elsie tried to laugh it off. ‘So you can keep your hands off her, but I bet you can't keep your hands off me.' She came forward now, her breasts swelling almost out of the low-cut nightdress she always wore for him, and with her dark-ringed nipples so close to him, he groaned hopelessly. ‘No, you bitch! I can't.' He pulled her into his arms and thrust himself against her as she laughed in his face.