Chapter 18
When her father had finished eating, Bobby took his bowl to the sink and sat back down again.
‘Did you see anyone you knew at the pub?’ she asked, as a way of opening the conversation.
‘Ran into Pete.’
‘Pete Dixon?’
Her dad’s friendship with that local ne’er-do-well had largely petered out since he had started working for Topsy, but Bobby always worried Pete would try to drag her father into some fresh trouble.
‘Aye. Gave him an earful about them rabbit traps I found up by t’ lake last week.’
‘What did he say?’
Rob shrugged. ‘Just laughed and bought us a pint. Hard to be angry wi’ t’ man for long. Still, he knows full well I’ll smash ’em up soon as he puts ’em down. Don’t know why he wastes his time poaching on my patch.’
‘Don’t let him talk you into anything, will you? I know what he’s like.’
‘I know which side my bread’s buttered, don’t worry. I’ll not chuck a good job away for Pete Dixon’s benefit.’
‘Glad to hear it.’
Bobby hesitated, wondering how to broach the tricky topic of her sister and Tony.
‘It’ll be nice to see our Lil, won’t it?’ she said after a moment.
‘Aye, always nice to have the pair of you at home,’ her dad said with a vague smile.
The wireless was on in the background. Bobby went to turn it off. The swing music it was playing didn’t feel appropriate to what she was about to say.
‘Dad… Lil wanted me to tell you that, um, she won’t be alone when she visits,’ she said when she had taken her seat again.
He frowned. ‘Who’s she bringing? One of her girlfriends from down south?’
‘No. An old friend from Bradford.’
‘She put all that in a telegram? That must’ve cost her a few bob.’
‘Actually she told me before. I was just waiting to pass it on until some things had been sorted out.’ Bobby took out the telegram and smoothed it on her knee. ‘It’s… Tony Scott. You remember him, from when I worked at the Courier?’
Her dad stared at her. ‘Scott? What on earth would she want to bring him here for?’
‘Look, I know you won’t like this but stay calm, please.’
His brow knit. ‘What’s to stay calm about, Bobby?’
‘It’s just that Tony and Lil, they’ve sort of been… walking out,’ she murmured. ‘That was why it ended between Lil and Lieutenant Cartwright.’
Rob looked too dazed to be angry.
‘Walking out?’ he repeated.
‘It began last year, when Lil had some home leave. I don’t think they meant it to be serious, but she and Tony quickly found themselves getting fond of each other.’
He laughed in disbelief. ‘Fond? Of that idle bugger?’
The news seemed to be sinking in now as the initial shock wore off. Rob stood up and started pacing the floor. Bobby winced, knowing there was worse to come.
‘You’re telling me that worthless bastard has got the bloody… presumption to go after my daughter?’ he demanded. ‘With his reputation? If I was still in town he’d never have dared.’
‘This isn’t some trivial fling, Dad. He’s been courting her – seriously courting.’
‘Are you joking? Men like him don’t court, whatever promises they might make. There’s only one thing they go after a lass for. I can’t believe your sister’s as green as that at her age.’
He took off his cloth cap and tossed it away. Bobby retrieved it and quietly hung it over the mantelpiece. Perhaps it was best to let him get all this out of his system before she broke the next lot of bad news.
‘Honestly, I really think he’s changed,’ Bobby said, resting a hand on her dad’s shoulder. He shook it off impatiently.
‘He won’t change. Not that one. No doubt he’s “seriously courting” four or five other lasses an’ all.’ He stopped pacing and turned to her. ‘Here, bring us a pen and a bit of paper.’
‘To do what?’
‘I’m going to write to her, aren’t I? If you’ve not bothered to tell her the sort of man this worthless friend of yours is, it’s down to me. I am still her father, for all that she’s over twenty-one.’
‘What would you say?’
‘For a start, I’ll tell her it’s over my dead body she brings that nowt across my threshold. She can damn well understand it’s him or me.’
‘Dad. Sit down, please,’ Bobby said soothingly. ‘Look, you can’t… well, there’s more.’
He refused to be guided back to his chair. ‘More? What else?’
‘Won’t you sit down?’
‘Say what you’ve got to say, Bobby.’ His expression had darkened, as if he had guessed what she was about to tell him. ‘You’re not going to… He didn’t…’
‘They’re married,’ Bobby said simply. ‘Today, at the registry. That was what the telegram was for. Lil’s Mrs Scott now.’
He just stood staring at her. Then he sank back into his seat.
‘Mrs Scott!’ he repeated, as if he could hardly believe the words.
‘I’m sorry. I know you ought to have been told, but she is over twenty-one, and, well…
’ Bobby flushed. ‘The wedding had to happen. I think you’ve guessed why.
But Tony does love her, he says, and he’s promised to take care of her and…
and anyone else who makes an appearance.
He wouldn’t have been my first choice either, but that’s up to Lil, isn’t it?
He really isn’t half the rogue you think he is. ’
Her dad just stared with glazed eyes. Judging it best to give him a moment to absorb the news, Bobby stood up and filled the kettle to heat water for the washing-up. She spotted her dad’s shotgun propped by the door and went to put it away.
‘Leave it,’ her dad murmured.
‘I was going to put it in the surgery out of the way.’
‘I said leave it.’ He turned his gaze on her, his face livid now – whether with fear, anger or a combination of the two, she couldn’t tell. ‘This is your doing, Bobby.’
She blinked. ‘Me?’
‘He was your mate, wasn’t he? You introduced the pair of them.
A man like that, you should’ve done everything you could to keep your sister away from him.
Instead you’re encouraging him with one hand and keeping the whole thing behind my back with the other.
’ He stood up and turned away from her. ‘Your own sister.’
Bobby stared at him. ‘You’re seriously going to blame me for this?’
‘Without your mam around, I’d have thought you girls would take better care of each other, that’s all.’
With a sudden movement he punched the back of his chair, making Bobby flinch.
Her dad had never been violent within the family. Not even to punish her brothers, who as children had been given their spankings by their mam. But her dad’s black tempers, rare but unsoothable, were almost as frightening as any threat of physical violence.
‘Tony bloody Scott!’ he said, in a voice strangled with grief and rage.
‘She’s to be kept on a newspaperman’s salary, is she, with a bairn to feed and clothe?
’ He laughed, pressing his head between his hands.
‘Scott’ll have spent his wage on other women before she gets a penny out of him in housekeeping.
That’s if he hangs around. Marriage don’t mean much to men like that. ’
Bobby flushed. ‘Actually, Tony’s not working for the paper any more.’
Her dad turned to glare at her. ‘Not on the paper? What’s he doing then?’
‘Nothing. He’s looking for a job.’
‘Bloody hell, Bobby!’ He spun away from her, his whole body shaking. ‘I’ll not have that man coming here – nor her either. You write and tell her. Neither one of them is welcome in my house.’
Bobby laughed. ‘Your house? Don’t I live here too?’
‘I’m head of it, aren’t I?’
‘But it’s me that makes it a home.’ She glared at him.
‘You’ve got no idea, have you, Dad? No idea how much time I spend scrubbing and boiling before work while you’re still in bed, to make this place habitable for you.
No idea how often Lil and I gave up our meat and butter rations when we were all living in Bradford so you and Jake could have extra.
How many hours we spent queueing to get you what was going short, on top of working so we could bring money into the house – money that went straight down your throat. ’
Rob flushed deeply. ‘You’d no cause to bring that up.’
‘You need to know. It’s about bloody time you did.’
‘Watch your damn language.’
‘I will not. I’ve spent enough of my life watching what I say.
’ She shook her head. ‘Men always are too blind to see all that women do for them. Without us, you’d have no homes to be the heads of.
And you’d really deny our Lilian this house, after everything she’s done for you?
’ Bobby turned away from him, her cheeks on fire with anger and hurt.
‘Well if it’s your house then you can bar the door to me too, because I won’t set foot in any home where my sister isn’t welcome. ’
‘You knew,’ her dad persisted, although there was a quaver in his voice now, as if he was close to tears. ‘Knew all this time, and did nowt to stop it. How could you have let this happen, Bobby?’
‘It’s nothing to do with me! Lilian’s an adult, isn’t she?’
‘You could have told me.’ His glance rested briefly on the shotgun. ‘I’d have put a stop to it quick enough.’
‘You could’ve put a stop to it before it happened, if you’d only thought about how your actions might affect other people,’ Bobby snapped, the words falling out of her mouth before she could stop them.
He frowned. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It was because of you, Dad! The meat raffling, with Pete Dixon. Tony found out about it and was going to run a story, but he pulled it when he found out you were involved. For Lil’s sake.’
‘You what?’
‘That was why Lil started walking out with him – sort of a thank you. And then one thing led to another, and now…’ Her voice sank to a whisper. ‘Now this.’
Rob stood for a long time in dumbfounded silence, different emotions flickering over his face.
His eyes fell once more on the shotgun in the corner, and Bobby went to take it up.
He didn’t stop her this time. She took it to the adjoining room – the one that had been Charlie’s veterinary surgery in civilian life – and locked it away in the cupboard, in case he should get any ideas.
She stopped in the room for a moment, resting her elbows on Charlie’s examination table and propping her head on her palms. The fight had gone out of her now, and she felt defeated and inexpressibly weary. Sobs shook her, but no tears went with them. Her grief fell from her in dry gasps.
Why had she said that? She had never meant to.
Over and over she had reminded herself that Lilian’s situation wasn’t her father’s fault; that he could never have foreseen this outcome.
But there had still been that little flame of anger, buried deep inside.
When he had accused her, said it was all her fault, it had burst from her in a sudden explosion.
And had guilt, too, eased its way? Because Bobby did feel responsible.
For all her reminders to herself that Lilian was an adult who could make her own choices, the natural urge to protect her sister couldn’t help but make her feel that she had betrayed Lil in some way when she had allowed her to get close to Tony Scott.
Oh God. What had she done?
When Bobby had got herself under control, she went back into the parlour.
Her dad was once more sitting in his chair, his expression blank.
He didn’t even look up when she entered the room.
He looked like he often did when he’d drunk too much: far away in the past, unable to engage with the world around him.
‘Dad, I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I shouldn’t have told you that. None of this is your fault. You couldn’t have seen it coming.’
He didn’t answer her.
‘Dad?’
Rob rubbed his head, and forced his vacant gaze to focus on her. ‘Well. Happen I said a few things I shouldn’t have an’ all.’
‘I’m so sorry. Please let me take it back.
’ She approached to take his hand, which rested limply in hers.
‘I love you. So does Lil – that’s why she went out with Tony.
But it was her choice, and I do believe she and Tony are fond of each other despite how things started.
At the very least, he seems determined to put things right as best he can. We shouldn’t grieve for her.’
‘There’s a bairn coming then?’
Bobby allowed herself a small smile. ‘Yes. You’re to be a grandfather again.’
She had hoped this might elicit some sort of positive response, but he only looked blank. Bobby sank back into her seat.
‘I have to go,’ she said quietly. ‘To the WAAF. I’m sorry, Dad.’
‘Aye, well.’ His voice was flat; devoid of emotion. ‘Don’t suppose it matters much now.’
‘Please don’t talk like that.’ She leant forward to take his hands. ‘You didn’t mean it, did you? About denying Lil the house?’
‘I… No. I reckon not.’ He blinked hard, as if to force himself to remain present. ‘You were always good girls. It’s him. That Scott.’
‘But like it or not, Tony is Lil’s husband. And she’s lucky, in a lot of ways. You wouldn’t want her to have to give the baby away, would you?’
He sighed. ‘No. I’d never want that.’
‘Dad, if I was able to arrange things so that Lil could stay here with you – I mean, with Tony, and the baby when it comes – how would you feel about that?’
‘Don’t seem to be able to feel owt right this minute.’ Rob rubbed his face. ‘Fetch us a drink, will you, our Bobby?’
She bowed her head. ‘I thought you might ask.’
‘Special occasion, isn’t it?’ He laughed harshly. ‘Wetting the baby’s head. Have one yourself, why don’t you?’
‘Tonight, I think I will.’
She went to unlock the surgery cupboard where she kept the potato peel spirit she administered to chase away his nightmares, poured them both a generous measure and took them back to the parlour. They drank in silence, not meeting each other’s eyes.