Chapter 34
It was five days later when Bobby looked out of her window to see Florence Parry moving furtively around the graveyard opposite.
Charlie was out, meeting with Roger Turner to discuss the arrangements for their new practice, and Bobby had pulled her chair to the window while she worked on the second Lindy story.
She was hoping to find inspiration among the crocuses and primroses in the churchyard.
If she couldn’t get out to enjoy the springtime, she could at least make sure Section Officer Langstaff was able to do so.
It was Sunday, but there were to be no family dinners that day.
Word had quickly spread of the row that had taken place between Lilian, Tony and the captain.
The news that George Parry had had his nose broken by the jealous husband of ‘that Mrs Scott’ was being spoken of in whispers all over Silverdale, much to Bobby’s chagrin.
She hated to think of her sister being the subject of gossip, especially when the connection with the captain had been – from a physical point of view, at least – entirely innocent.
Of course Reg and Mary knew what had occurred, and it was unavoidable that Bobby’s dad would get to hear of it.
Neither he nor anyone else knew about Lil’s head injury, however, which Bobby was grateful for.
She felt sure there’d be another broken nose in the family if her dad got wind of it, and this time it would belong to Tony Scott.
The whole family – Scotts, Parrys, Bancrofts and Athertons – were in a state of collective shock about the business.
No one seemed to know how they ought to behave: whether they ought to still be on speaking terms with either Tony or the captain, how to keep George’s daughters within the fold now he and the Scotts were estranged, or who was ultimately to blame for what had happened.
No one even knew what had happened, exactly.
Only that Tony had suspected his wife and the captain, and had broken the man’s nose in a fit of jealousy.
On top of that had come news of the breaking of George Parry’s engagement to Veronica Simpson.
No one knew why, but gossip said it had been he who ended it.
Bobby, fingers itching as ever to fix things, was at a loss as to how they could move forward.
Lilian and George had said their goodbyes, and yes, their relations would have to be different from now on, but where did that leave the children?
It would be impossible to sever relations with George without losing Florrie and Jess, and no one could bear the thought of that.
Mary was in some distress about it all. But how could things be managed, after what had happened?
A sort of numb inertia seemed to have descended on the family, with no obvious next step.
Bobby watched as Florrie scuttled around the graveyard. What could the child be up to? After a moment, she put down her notepad and heaved herself to her feet to find out.
‘Florrie!’ she called on entering the graveyard, waving to the girl.
‘Hullo, Bobby.’ Florrie came running over to hug her around her huge belly.
Bobby smiled and bent to kiss her hair. ‘It’s nice to see you, sweetheart. But what on earth are you doing in the churchyard?’
‘I was looking for Georgia. I can’t remember which one’s her grave.’
‘Well, let me help you.’ Bobby guided her to the right plot. ‘Here she is, look. Why did you want to see her?’
‘To talk,’ Florrie said quietly. ‘Aunty Lil told me she always talks to Georgia when she’s sad and it makes her feel better.’
‘Are you sad, my love?’
Florrie nodded, brushing a tear away. ‘I thought I’d be happier than anything if Dad only said he wouldn’t marry that Miss Simpson, but I wish he would marry her if it meant… if it meant…’ She broke off to swallow a sob, and Bobby pulled her into a hug.
‘If it meant what, sweetheart?’
‘If it meant we could stay,’ Florrie whispered.
Bobby frowned. ‘Stay? Where are you going?’
‘Dad says we’re to go back to London. He says he’s caused trouble here and now we have to go.’
Bobby held her back. ‘Your father’s planning to move you back to London?’
Florrie nodded miserably. ‘Because of what happened with Mr Scott, when he hurt Dad’s nose.
’ Her face took on an expression of defiance.
‘But I won’t go, Bobby. I’ll… I’ll hide and not go.
I want to stay here, with Mary and you and Aunty Lil.
I don’t see why me and Jess should have to go away just because Dad did something wrong. ’
‘No,’ Bobby said absently, her thoughts on this new development.
It had never occurred to her the captain might take his children away as a result of what had happened, but of course it was logical.
She knew he blamed himself for the trouble Lilian had found herself in.
But to take the girls away from their new family, where they were so loved…
that was far worse than his ill-judged liaison with her sister.
Mary would be devastated if the girls were taken away. Everyone would be in a state of grief.
‘Bobby?’ Florrie murmured, her eyes fixed on the gravestone.
‘Yes, my love?’
‘What did Dad do to make Mr Scott want to hit him? I know it’s about Aunty Lil, and Georgia as well because she was named after him.
And I know that, um, there’s something where ladies who are married aren’t allowed to have man friends who are sort of like their husbands, and kiss them and things.
Like our Aunt Sadie used to have, where she had boyfriends and Uncle Jack never knew about it.
But Dad says he didn’t do any of that with Aunty Lil.
They just went to the pictures sometimes. ’
Bobby wondered how she could explain. Florrie was growing into a young woman, but she wasn’t one yet and her view of the world was still very much that of a child.
It would be hard to make her see how Lilian’s friendship with her father was different to Florrie’s innocent friendship with Louis Butcher, her favourite playmate from school.
‘It’s a little complicated,’ Bobby said. ‘Sometimes it’s about more than kisses.’
‘Like the thing people do to make babies. I know all about that,’ Florrie told her, sounding rather proud of the knowledge. ‘Aunty Lil told me about it.’ She pulled a face. ‘It sounds horrid.’
Bobby smiled. ‘No, I don’t mean that. I’m talking about feelings. Sometimes when men and women are friends, even without kisses and… and the thing they do to make babies, they have feelings which make them different to ordinary friends.’
‘You mean like love?’ Florrie said, with another disgusted grimace.
‘Yes, I suppose I do.’
‘Dad doesn’t love Aunty Lil like that, does he?’
‘I don’t know, sweetheart. It’s hard to know what other people feel unless they tell you. But I suppose Mr Scott thought he might do, and that’s what made him angry.’
‘So if Dad tells him he doesn’t love her, then that’ll be all right, won’t it?’ The girl looked at her hopefully. ‘Then we could stay.’
‘I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. But I hope your father changes his mind, all the same.’ She glanced at Florrie. ‘Does he know you’re here?’
‘No, I sneaked out. I was going to run and see Mary, but Dad says I’m not allowed to go to Moorside. Then I remembered what Aunty Lil said about Georgia. I’d rather talk to you about it though, Bobby.’
‘We ought to get you home, before your dad worries. I hope you won’t get into trouble.’
‘Don’t care if I do anyhow,’ Florrie muttered darkly. ‘Are you coming too?’
‘Let me lock up the cottage, then yes. I’d like a word with your father.’
After Bobby had locked up, she walked – or rather, waddled – with Florrie to the cottage by the bridge. From a little distance, she could see the shepherd’s hut behind it where she and Tony had worked. She breathed a sigh.
Tony was to be pitied in this too. What was tragic about it was that no one was entirely to blame. Lilian and George couldn’t help their feelings any more than Tony could help his. It was all such an awful muddle that there didn’t seem any happy way out of it.
When they reached the cottage, Bobby knocked on the door. The captain opened up a moment later. He still wore a dressing on his nose, which looked very bruised.
‘I have something that belongs to you, I think,’ Bobby said, nodding to Florrie.
The captain shook his head. ‘Florence Parry. Now where have you been running off to this time? You know I expressly forbade you to go bothering those poor people, and that includes Bobby too.’
‘Don’t care,’ Florrie said, looking belligerent. ‘Didn’t go to Bobby’s house anyhow.’
‘That’s true,’ Bobby said. ‘I found her wandering in the graveyard.’
‘Well you can come inside this minute, young lady, and help Mrs Wilcox prepare the dinner,’ the captain told Florrie sternly. ‘And no more running off.’
‘Fine.’
‘Say goodbye to Bobby.’
Florrie turned wide eyes on her. ‘You’ll tell him, won’t you, Bobby? That he’s not to be allowed to take us?’
Bobby smiled sadly. ‘I’m afraid I don’t have that right, my love.’ She gave the girl a kiss. ‘Go on inside as your father says. I’m sure I’ll see you soon.’
Florrie went inside, her eyes filled with angry tears.
‘I’m so sorry you’ve been troubled,’ the captain said. ‘I can’t think what possessed her to go to the churchyard.’
‘She said she was visiting Georgia.’
‘Was she?’ He paused. ‘And, um… your sister is well, I hope?’
‘She’s been better. Could I come in a moment?’
The captain looked hesitant.
‘It won’t take long.’ Bobby rested a hand on her stomach. ‘There’s no scandal in you and me being seen alone together, I suppose.’
‘No. I’m sorry, I was being thoughtless. Do please come inside and rest awhile.’
Bobby followed him into the house, where he showed her into the parlour.
‘Would you like a drink of tea, or some water?’ he asked when she was sitting down.
‘No, thank you. I just wanted to ask about… well, Florrie said you were thinking of moving back down south. That can’t be true, can it?’
The captain sighed as he took a seat opposite her. ‘I’m afraid it is.’
Bobby shook her head. ‘But you can’t! I mean, I’m sorry, of course you can do whatever you like. But I really wish you wouldn’t.’
‘You heard about my engagement being broken off, I suppose?’
‘Yes. I was sorry to hear it.’
George looked past her out of the window, as if half his thoughts were somewhere else.
‘It seemed only fair. I couldn’t tie a young girl like that to me knowing my heart was somewhere else.
Besides, she never had been able to win the admiration of the children.
It was them I was thinking of more than myself when I formed the connection – their need for a mother. ’
‘When you say your heart was somewhere else…’
‘I doubt I need to explain it to you, do I?’
‘No,’ Bobby said quietly.
‘I was naive,’ he said with a sigh. ‘The intention was innocent, in the beginning. Your sister reminded me of my Rose, and how I’d longed to pamper her after Jess was born.
When I saw something I knew Lilian would like – the coat – I thought, well, where is the harm?
She made me smile, in a way I hadn’t smiled in so long.
Then before I knew it, I… felt for her in a way I wasn’t able to change.
’ He met her eyes. ‘It wasn’t planned, Bobby.
None of this was planned. It just seemed to happen. ’
‘I am sorry. You acted unwisely, as did my sister, but neither of you can help your feelings being what they are.’
‘If I could, I’d change them in an instant.’
Bobby leaned forward. ‘But do please reconsider moving back to London. This business has brought you pain, I know, but it will bring so much more to so many people if you take the girls away. They belong here.’
‘What else can I do? I know it must be as hard for Lilian to see me as it is for me to see her, and while I’ll always believe Tony Scott to be a boor entirely unworthy of her, he is nevertheless her husband.
It complicates things for me to be here, and it gives rise to gossip that affects your sister’s standing in this community.
I won’t be responsible for bringing her further unhappiness. ’
‘It isn’t only about you and Lil though. Do you have family in London?’
‘None of any significance, now,’ he told her. ‘There was only my brother Jack, who as you know was killed in the war. His widow has a new husband, and no interest in her former family.’
‘And yet here you’ve found a large family.
Mary Atherton loves those girls like a mother.
We all love them, and we’ve grown fond of you as well, George.
It will break the children’s hearts and ours if you take them away.
’ Bobby looked earnestly into the solemn, honest green eyes above his broken nose.
‘Please, please do stay. You’ve got a good job, and people who care about you.
If you and Tony can make it up, perhaps we can move beyond this. ’
‘It wouldn’t change the way I feel about his wife,’ the captain said quietly.
‘Nor the way I believe she feels about me. As long as I’m here, it must cause problems between Mr and Mrs Scott.
I acted very wrongly in my dealings with them.
It’s right that I remove myself from their lives so they can be happy with one another. ’
‘But what of your children? What of their happiness?’
‘Young people are generally resilient. The girls may be sad for a time, but no doubt they will find happiness in their new life after a period of adjustment. So, I suppose, will everyone here.’ He closed his eyes.
‘Still, I will miss this place. We could have been content here, if I had only been stronger. What a damn fool I was to give in to it!’
‘Please, George, I wish you’d reconsider. For the children’s sake.’
‘I’m sorry, Bobby. I made a poor choice in allowing myself to grow close to a married woman. Now it’s time to choose what’s right.’