Underbelly (10 page)

Abner shut the door to the sitting room pointedly so that Germaine would not hear them. “I’m glad you’re home, son, don’t get me wrong, but you’ve made your bed now and you’ve got to lie in it. I’ll say no more, good night,” he said, believing that he had made his point.

“
I don’t understand,” Grey said.

“
Yes, you do,” he said as he made his way up the stairs.

Grey let him go without an argument, even though he thought that he had deduced his meaning and it provoked him. He could cope with criticism, but not if the criticism was because of his choice of wife. His father’s objections were ludicrous, Germaine the pleasantest, nicest girl, and with the difficulties his father seemed to have accepting her Grey wondered what he would have made of Laura. Now that he knew more of her past he knew that any parents would view her unsuitable for their son and eventually he had had to ask himself whether the woman he loved (but who kept her own feelings concealed and sent out very mixed messages) was right for him. His heart demanded that he still want her whatever her crimes, while his head dictated that a union was unacceptable, his mind ultimately winning out, though he would always care for her deeply and he never judged her, viewing her as a changed woman. He did not look for a replacement and Laura left him to decide for himself whether Germaine was the one, never actively interfering. She left them alone when she travelled, leaving them alone for around a week every month as she visited her small home outside Durham and stayed at rented accommodation at London and Edinburgh. She heard Germaine crying in her bedroom late at night and deliberately ignored her, which compelled Grey to crawl from his room to see to her, staying up all night with her at times, comforting her. She had Germaine fetch her shopping from the village and had her take Grey with her in his wheelchair. Laura gave them the space and opportunity for something to develop, deliberately taking a trip away so that she was not there on his birthday (though she did give him a good present when she returned), without forcing it. If any love existed, she gave it the chance to blossom. He became closer and closer to Germaine (who Laura could see loved him dearly) without falling in love with her.

It took a serious viral infection for things to change. As Grey lay in hospital with his two visitors, it was Germaine who clutched his hand as he felt close to death, Germaine who cried and prayed for him to recover. Laura wasn’t so expressive and Grey knew that was just her nature and that she was concerned for him, but would get over it easier – as she had to, her long life teaching her to be strong when people around her died. Germaine wouldn’t, she loved him. He was in hospital for two months and he found his feelings changing slowly. When a returned soldier began sniffing around Germaine, who actively discouraged his attentions, the threat of competition stirred him and made him appreciate what he could lose. Her emotional reaction the first time he admitted that he had romantic feelings towards her was strangely affecting, making him feel guilty for being so slow to respond, and their tender relationship progressed quickly and smoothly. While to others, like Laura, their wedding seemed in haste, to them it seemed too long to wait, the couple waiting until Germaine was 16 (Grey felt it would seem improper to marry a 15-year-old). They had waited for respectability’s sake and Grey knew it was the best decision he’d ever made and his father’s disapproval was unwarranted.

Germaine pretended that she hadn’t noticed any undercurrent as they talked in the cramped single bed, stressing the positives, how she’d connected with his mother and how she was sure in time she would become close to his father too. Grey woke up in the early hours thanks to an insane spirit visitor who left him after three long hours by which time sleep was pointless and he got up early and saw his parents before they left for work, during which time his father antagonised him by making a subtle comment implying that Germaine was lazy.

“
What is your problem with her?” Grey snapped, more prepared to argue with Germaine out of the way.

“
He’s just worried about you,” Shirley said, trying to diffuse the situation. “He doesn’t want to see you get hurt.”

“
She won’t hurt me.”

“
She’ll be a flighty one, James. Watch her like a hawk,” Abner said, believing that his advice was in his son’s best interests.

“
Why do you believe that all French girls are sluts…”

“
Don’t use language like that in this house! “Abner said furiously, pointing a finger in Grey’s direction threateningly.

“…
When you’ve never even been to France? Seriously, where does this come from? I had the wrong idea too. Don’t let books mislead you. Get to know her and you’ll see she’s not that type.”

Abner grumbled and left without saying goodbye. Shirley worked part time hours at a large department store and didn’t have to leave until midmorning and saw Germaine, who got up a little after nine.

“
Excuse me,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I’m a farm girl, I’m normally up much earlier than this.”

“
You don’t have to explain yourself. You’ve been travelling all week and you’re entitled to be tired and have a lie in,” Grey said, looking at his mother as he stood up for his wife.

It took all day for Grey to show Germaine the sights of Keokuk, reacquainting himself with them in the process. It was only a little over 18 months since he had last lived here, though it felt more like five years, so much had changed in him. He had wanted to take her to a baseball game but when he asked people near the baseball ground when the next competitive game was (in whatever incarnation, Grey used to his chosen team folding and having to change allegiances to another Keokuk team) no one had any idea. As well as the sights of historic importance and the shops, Grey took her to places he’d talked of with her, starting with Lanfred Hearnus’ derelict property.

“
He has bogeyman status now. Kids get dared to go in and spend the night – it’s a shame nobody understood him,” Grey said.

“
Somebody did,” Germaine said, her kind words making him feel good about himself. He took her to the exterior of a house he dreaded visiting, the Soames’ – he had gone to school with Joseph and had a message from him for his mother.

“
Today’s our day, Germaine. I’ll talk to his mother tomorrow.”

Germaine could see the tension in his face as he looked at the closed front door and she realised how daunting it was for him. “Wait until you’re ready. We’re not leaving yet.”

“
She might hear that I’m back in town so it would look bad if I wait to pass on her dead son’s message. She’s a nice woman, I’m not too worried,” he said unconvincingly.

Over the course of the day Grey ran into a few familiar faces, which he mentioned to his parents as they had dinner together. He talked of how unhealthy Mrs Dean looked, once a large, jolly woman and now skeletally thin and with a morbid disposition.

“
All three of her boys died. The eldest two’s boat was sunk and Matthew died at Normandy,” Shirley explained.

“
I was talking to her for about ten minutes and she never said anything. I asked her how they were and she said they were fine,” Grey said, a little baffled.

“
She said it miserably though,” Germaine said, finding her behaviour strange.

Germaine’s words, which Abner (wrongly) believed were critical of poor Liz Dean, incensed him and made him erupt. He’d had a hard day at work, his ability as a wages clerk challenged by two new starters who felt their pay was short, and the last thing he needed was hearing his foreign daughter-in-law pour scorn on a bereaved, decent woman. “You can’t expect her to be cheerful when all three of her boys died fighting to liberate your country. I think it’s an outrage that any of our boys had to go and fight in your country. If your people had put up a decent fight that wouldn’t have been necessary only that doesn’t seem to be in your national character,” Abner said acrimoniously.

“
Hold it right there. I met enough brave and noble French people during the war to know that what you are saying is a total misconception,” Grey said protectively. His father’s outburst had upset Germaine, who was managing to repress her tears.

“
Really? And what did your family do in the war?” Abner said to Germaine.

“
They all died,” she said emotionally. Grey had tried to prepare her for his parents for a while but the reality was worse, his father’s hurtful words upsetting her rather than making her angry.

“
Dad, now that I’ve married a French girl I think it would be a good time for you to get rid of these blind prejudices against the French. In the army everyone thought I was a farmer just cause I’m an Iowan – equally wrong.”

“
You knew how I felt about the French before you married her. You’ve likely done it just to try and annoy me,” Abner said irrationally, his temper cooling a little as he considered Germaine’s tragedy.

“
Let’s not quarrel,” Shirley said, starting to flap about as things got heated. “Who wants some tea?”

“
We don’t, we’re not staying,” Grey said. “You can say what you like about me, Dad, and you have over the years, but I’m not going to have you criticise my wife. You know nothing about her.”

“
I know that you broke your mother’s heart by not coming back here when you were injured. She tried her hardest to get you shipped home and when that failed she looked into crossing the Atlantic herself.”

“
Well done for talking her out of that. That would have been the last thing I would have wanted,” Grey said, aghast at the notion of his mother risking hostile waters during wartime, especially to see him. Even though he was mad at his father he had to thank him for deterring her from this course of action, as he knew Abner would have shot this idea down in flames, rightly so.

“
She paid no heed to me. You have no idea how close to the edge you sent her. Madness graced our door again. And then you didn’t have the decency to get married in your home state. I had to sit here and watch your mother in tears on your wedding day because she couldn’t be there,” Mr Grey bellowed.

“
Abner, I wasn’t that bad,” Shirley said, trying to diffuse the situation.

“
Don’t try and protect him, you were pitiful.”

Germaine stood up and walked away just in time, the tears flowing once she’d left the room. Grey went to follow her, his mother grabbing his wrist and looking at him imploringly. “Your father didn’t know about her family, you’ve never told us.”

“
You owe her an apology,” Grey said soberly to his father.

Abner screwed his eyes shut and said through gritted teeth, “Perhaps.”

“
Definitely,” Grey said as he walked past him and he found Germaine crying on their bed. He stroked her shoulders and apologised for his father.

Germaine was able to talk and she said, “I don’t think it’s your father’s fault. He’s probably never met anyone French so maybe I can teach him that we’re not how he thinks we are.”

“
There’s a saying that goes ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’. At his age he should be educated enough – and he is a very intelligent man, that’s what annoys me – he should know better.”

“
I want to make him like me.”

“
You shouldn’t have to. The welcome mat should be rolled out. This hostile reception is killing off any feelings I had for him. If he wants to have a go at me then at least he has some grounds. Taking it out on you is totally classless. I’m embarrassed. This apple has fallen far from the tree,” Grey said solemnly. Germaine turned to look at him and he caught confusion in her querying eyes and he smiled and said, “That phrase hasn’t translated well, has it? Another phrase goes ‘Like father, like son’. In this instance that doesn’t apply. I’ll never be as mean as him.”

“
He’s not mean. It’s just that generation are that way, harder. I still want to keep trying. My parents would have been difficult with you, because of your nationality and because they were very…a word for caring a lot about me.”

“
Protective?”

“
Yes. Even though they might have made it hard for you I would have wanted you to keep trying with them until they adored you too and I have to do the same with your parents.”