Chapter 42
Lunch was a simple buffet feast of baked potatoes, torn salad leaves, cheeses, hams, pickles, and slices of the picnic pie that hadn’t been touched as yet.
No doubt Mr Ingleton’s staff would have factored in that his food on board would be no longer fresh enough and were busy scrabbling around trying to order more to pick up en route.
‘I’m going to be the size of a house when I get home,’ said Roo. Then she wrinkled up her nose. ‘I say “home”. Not sure that’s the right word for it. It won’t be a wrench to leave when I find somewhere else. At least wherever I end up can’t be any worse than that damp dump.’
Frank cast a glance askance at Grace. They’d been talking as they walked from Figgy Hollow back to the train.
Talking like they hadn’t talked in a long time.
She hadn’t taken her locket off since she had put it on.
And she’d asked if, when they got back, he would ask Ella if she could go with him to meet Billie.
She confessed that she wasn’t sure what she’d feel like when she saw her, but there was only one way to find out.
Frank’s heart had swelled to twice its size in his chest. Ella would of course say yes, it’s what she had wanted from day one.
Frank felt as if his wish made on Santa-Tim’s knee was in the process of being granted. And they’d also been talking about Roo.
‘You two aren’t saying much,’ said Roo, moving her finger between Vincent and Elizabeth.
It wasn’t that they weren’t saying much, it was that something was unsaid, which was slightly different.
She saw Elizabeth’s pale skin begin to flush on her throat and there had to be a reason for that blushing.
She switched off the too-bright spotlight she’d swung on them and aimed for damage limitation.
‘I bet it robbed you of breath getting some fresh air after all this time. Your lungs won’t have known what hit them. No wonder you’re quiet.’
It was the best she could come up with, but it worked to take the heat away. She couldn’t wait to hear the goss later though.
‘Yes, quite the assault,’ said Elizabeth, an artificial smile flickering on her lips.
‘I was writing some poems while you were gallivanting, want to hear one?’
‘I can think of nothing I’d like more,’ said Vincent, his tone dry and deadpan. He winked at her and she stuck her tongue out at him.
Roo pulled her notepad out from under her bottom and opened it at her working page.
‘This one is called “The Vow”.
She said ‘Let’s not do presents at Christmas,
Not when there’s just only us.
It’s just something extra to think on,
We don’t need that bother and fuss
‘So let’s make a pact here and now
And seal it in Jesus’s name.
I will be buying you nothing,’ she said
‘And you promise that you’ll do the same.
‘We can buy what we want, when we want it,
There’s nowt that I need anyway.’
So he stuck to the pact and bought her not a jot
And she filed for divorce New Year’s Day…
‘… Boom boom. Just carry on eating, folks, no need for a standing ovation.’
But she got a seated one anyway.
‘I’m going to miss you, Miss Roo,’ said Vincent, grinning fondly. ‘I’m going to miss all of you. We should do this every year.’
‘If only.’ Jane smiled wistfully. ‘It’s been very special. Although I intend to be in the Bahamas next Christmas.’
‘You better had be, Lady Jane, and not in some poky flat in Lancaster or we’ll form a gang to rescue you,’ said Tim.
‘I promise, Tim. I won’t be there. I’ll be many many miles away in the sunshine.’
When Elizabeth shuffled position, something hard dug in her leg. She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out the little silver whistle that had been in the cracker. She blew on it lightly.
Vincent lifted his head. ‘Is that a call for help?’
Elizabeth smiled weakly. Oh god, if he only knew how much she needed help.
‘Can I see?’ asked Jane, taking it from her and examining it.
‘It’s a pea whistle, I thought as much. I can tell from the pitch.
And it’s hallmarked. Those really weren’t cheap crackers, were they?
’ She would find a chain for her enamelled orange pendant when she was home and wear it often.
And she’d remember the significance of it when she did so: the fruit – the life – with all that juice in it still to savour.
Tim swallowed the last of his pie and his tastebuds sighed with pleasure.
He doubted he’d ever have food that hit the spot as well as this again and he had eaten in some amazing restaurants around the world.
It was enlightening how much good company made everything feel and look and taste as if it belonged to a higher state of existence and these people at the table really were the best of the best. Although he was very much looking forward to ‘throwing another prawn on the barbie’ in New Zealand.
He was now desperate to see his girl. He needed to fold her in his strong, daddy arms and tell her that he would never let her down again and he’d be there for her whenever she might need him.
But he would hold these days in his heart forever, because they had been the medicine he didn’t know he needed.
He wiped his mouth with a soft cloth serviette and then addressed Henry. ‘So, what’s the plan of action then? Have you got one, or do you need us to brainstorm with you?’
‘There’s a station after the next one called St Hilda.
I can get a train to London from there and lose myself for a while.
I need a city law man. One of the big boys.
And I need the newspapers drawn to my cause.
So I shall walk down Fleet Street and knock on as many doors as I can.
’ Henry had taken their advice on board, it seemed.
‘What about the fare?’
‘I have enough money. I’ve been saving for a while from work and what my mam sent in for us. I always carry it on me for safekeeping. Just as well, eh?’
‘If we can help you in any way, we will,’ said Jane, looking around the table. ‘I’m sure I speak for us all. We’ll give you our details and you call us if you need us.’
Everyone nodded or made small noises of agreement and it touched Henry because he had a brief moment of fidgeting in his chair to dispel the rise of emotion.
‘I won’t forget your kindness. And your trust in me not to murder you.’
‘You’ve still got time, Henry,’ quipped Roo, nudging him with her shoulder.
‘I’m going to insist you sleep in the other bed in my cabin though,’ said Tim. ‘A bench in “Maria Gloriosa” is not a patch on what might be the last quality kip you have for a while. It’s really not to be missed, Henry.’
‘Aye, all right then, I’ll give it a go tonight,’ he replied.
Brian’s voice came out of the radio and Roo leaned over to turn him up because he’d just been on a low babble in the background and this sounded important.
‘I’m getting reports that most of the major roads in the area are now back to normal, although there is some very nasty flooding from the swollen rivers so let’s hope your homes are safe and you all live on top of mountains.
We live just next to a river but it’s usually a piddly little thing and Cath’s very concerned that it’s going to burst its banks.
Our friend, Malcolm, is doing nothing to allay her fears by offering to make up some sandbags for us. ’
‘I’m going to really miss Brian and his inane drivel,’ said Roo with a loaded sigh. ‘I’m going to miss Cath too and even Malcolm though I’ve only just heard about his existence.’
She walked over to the window. ‘I can see green on those hills over there,’ she said. ‘The thaw is really happening now, isn’t it? I reckon this is our last night, don’t you? So later, I’m hitting that jar of cherries like there’s no tomorrow.’
She smiled but she felt a hit of sadness, like the opposite of one of Jane’s glimmers, because real life and her shit job and that bleak bedshit and shitty lonely existence was banging at the door and the hinges were ready to break.
Jane and Grace cleared the table. Jane volunteered them both to wash up because she wanted to talk to her in private.
A change had come over the woman, she could feel it, a shadow lifted, her dark energy replaced with a much lighter one.
Also, she looked a decade younger than she had when Jane had first laid eyes on her.
Even the dull auburn of her hair seemed brighter, shinier.
‘I’m going to see Ella – and Billie May,’ Grace said, before Jane had even commenced with her interrogation.
‘I’m so glad,’ said Jane, giving her arm a comforting rub. ‘Glad for you both. For you all.’
‘Oh, Jane, I’m dreading it. I’m dreading scaring the little girl by exploding in front of her.’
‘No, you won’t. And you can always implode instead. You’ll feel the glimmer of all glimmers, but yes, be prepared for a tidal wave of mixed feelings to knock the legs from under you. Grief and joy can react together like potassium and water. Brace.’
Jane dipped the first plate into the water and scrubbed at it with the brush.
‘I have pushed Frank away for five long years and I can’t believe I haven’t lost him. He must be a fool.’ Grace took the washed plate from Jane’s hand and dried it with a fresh Yorkshire Belle tea towel.
‘Oh, Grace, he loves you so much. Anyone can see that. You’ve come through a lot together. Both of you. It’s time to fall back into step. Do something special for your thirtieth anniversary.’
‘Yes, I’ve been thinking about that, I have an idea,’ Grace said, then in a whisper added: ‘I just hope he’s not too sick of trains yet.’
Tim handed the piece of paper to Henry. He’d been round everyone for their contact details and written them down.
‘We all genuinely mean this, Henry, if there’s anything we can do. You ring us or turn up on the doorstep, though I’ll be in New Zealand for a while, remember.’
Henry’s hand reached out and took it as reverently as if it were a pertinent page of a prayer book.
‘I promise I will.’ He folded it up and put it in his jeans pocket and pulled it straight back out again.
‘No, I better not shove it in there, Vincent will want these back.’
Vincent shook his head. ‘Henry, keep the clothes.’
‘I’ll give you a few bits more in a bag from me,’ added Frank. ‘If you don’t mind wearing someone else’s boxers. They’re clean, mind. I always bring way too much stuff with me.’
‘And there’s some money in an envelope for you,’ said Tim. ‘We’ve all chipped in.’ Even young Roo had insisted on sticking a fiver in because she didn’t want to be the only one not to contribute.
‘If you can find a place that takes cash these days,’ added Vincent.
Henry laughed, but he didn’t understand the inference.
Life outside prison changed quickly, he knew.
He’d seen lags who’d left come straight back inside again because they couldn’t cope with the changes the years brought, couldn’t adjust and sought the familiarity of dysfunction. That wouldn’t be him.
‘I will keep you all in my prayers until the day I die and wish nothing but the best for you. You have shown me friendship and acceptance and wisdom. My life is richer for knowing every one of you,’ said Henry, the envelope shivering in his hand.
Tim clapped him on the shoulder and said he was going down to ‘Maria Gloriosa’ to finish off the last of the Great Bells of the World book, because he wasn’t good with raw emotion; but even he would admit, he was getting better at it.