‘I don’t think so, Mr Fletcher. He’s rather upset.’
‘He’ll be more than upset if I have to go up and drag him down.’
‘You’ve been listening to Hannah’s lies, haven’t you?’ Miriam’s voice was low but without a tremor in it; in fact, unbelievable though it was, Jake could have sworn there was a touch of elation in her tone. ‘Edward told me exactly what happened earlier.Were you aware your son and Hannah have quarrelled?’ she added, turning to Rose. Without waiting for an answer, she went on, ‘And she came in upset and Edward tried to talk sense into her. He reprimanded her admittedly, told her to have some pride and to stop chasing Adam, but that was all. And then she went mad.’
‘So mad she slapped her own face and tore her clothes?’ Jake’s voice made Rose shiver. ‘Let me make myself clear, Mrs Casey. If your brother-in-law isn’t down here in thirty seconds flat I’m raising the street. All right? And I’ll tell them exactly what transpired and show them the lass to prove it.’
Miriam raked Jake with her cold eyes before stepping back a pace. ‘You had better come in.’
Once they were both standing within the aromatic confines of the shop, Miriam said shortly, ‘I’ll fetch him but please keep your voices down. My sister-in-law has been unwell today and he doesn’t want her distressed.’
‘I bet he doesn’t.’
As Jake glared at her, Rose spoke. ‘How could you take his part, Miriam? Against your own child, against Hannah? You must know what he tried to do to the lass and she wouldn’t make a thing like that up. Not Hannah.’
‘What do you know about it?’ Miriam stared at the woman she would once have termed a friend, certainly in the early days when she had first come to live with her brother-in-law and Hannah and Naomi had been two little bairns playing together. Many a time she had sat in Rose’s kitchen and bemoaned her lot but she had not visited the house in years, not since she had first begun sleeping with Edward and had assumed the rights of mistress of his house.‘You think butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, don’t you? Oh, I know she’s got you twisted round her little finger all right, Rose. But she’s not what she seems.’
‘I find that difficult to believe.’
‘Aye, well, like I said, she’s got the lot of you on her side.’
‘I think you had better fetch your brother-in-law, Mrs Casey,’ said Jake flatly. He couldn’t take any more of this. The woman wasn’t normal, to talk about her own daughter like that. And a daughter like Hannah. You only had to look at the girl to see she was a nice little lass. But all this about her and Adam falling out was news to his mam, he’d seen her expression when this venomous old shrew had spoken. If his brother had been here he’d have agreed with him about one thing, probably the first time he’d agreed with Adam about anything: Hannah’s mother was a witch and a spiteful one at that.
It was a good five minutes before Edward made an appearance; Jake was just about to go to the foot of the stairs and holler when Hannah’s uncle opened the door and walked in, positioning himself behind the counter.
He didn’t wait for them to speak. ‘I didn’t touch her, whatever she’s been saying. I gave the lass a bit of a dressing down about getting herself into a state about Adam and she went for me. Claws, teeth an’ all. It ought to be me creating. Took her in when she was nowt but a baby and this is the thanks I get.’
‘You’re a liar,’ Jake said, his tone deep with anger. His gaze moved to Miriam who had come in behind her brother-in-law and was now standing with one hand on his arm. ‘And you know he’s lying.’
‘Who are you calling a liar?’ It was Miriam who spoke, her stance aggressive. ‘He’s her uncle, for goodness’ sake. He wouldn’t do anything like she’s suggesting.’
‘How do you know what she’s suggesting?’ Jake said softly. ‘Neither my mother nor me have said anything, as I recall. We merely said we wanted to speak to Mr Casey.’
‘It’s obvious, isn’t it?’ Edward was blustering, his face scarlet. ‘A young lass runs screaming from the house in a two-an’-eight. What else could it be?’
‘A hundred and one things, Mr Casey.’
‘Don’t talk to him in that tone. Who do you think you are?’ Miriam said tightly. ‘You come in here all holier than thou. You’ve got no idea what she’s like. Flaunting herself every minute she gets, giving him the eye, leading him on. I’ve seen it.
I’ve seen it
. She deserves everything she gets, the little strumpet.’ She stopped abruptly.
Jake’s voice was hard and flat, holding a wealth of disdain when he said, ‘You disgust me. Do you know that? You disgust me. How Hannah ever came from the likes of you is beyond me. How long have you two been at it, eh? How long? Long enough for you to come to understand the type of man he is, that’s for sure, because if ever the green-eyed demon shone from a pair of eyes, it shines from yours. And you,’ he turned to Edward, his eyes blazing, ‘I’ll see you go down the line for this, you mealy-mouthed bit of scum, you.’
Rose was looking from one to the other of them in naked bewilderment, her face expressing a variety of expressions as the truth dawned. And when Jake suddenly moved forward, doubling his fist and punching Hannah’s uncle full in the face, she said not a word. Edward sprawled backwards and onto the floor, Miriam screaming shrilly, and it was into this ear-splitting sound that Jake said, ‘That was for Hannah, you dirty swine. You come within a mile of her again and see what you get.’
‘He wouldn’t touch her with a bargepole.’ Miriam was now kneeling at her brother-in-law’s side and like a child he had buried his face in her flat bosom. ‘And I’ll have the law on you, you see if I don’t. This is assault.’
‘You do that.’ Jake’s voice was quiet now, as though with the venting of his anger a pressure had been released. ‘I’ll be waiting for them, make no bones about that. And what I’ll tell them will fill their notebooks from end to end. But for now, you,’ he pointed to Miriam, ‘you get all the lass’s things, everything. She’ll not step foot in this place again unless it’s of her own choosing, which I doubt.’
Miriam stared at him for a moment, then turning to Edward she said, ‘Come on, come on out of it.’ She helped him to his feet and led him to the door, supporting him with her arm as though he was weak and infirm. She turned at the door to say, ‘I’ll bring her things round later.’
‘You won’t.’ Jake’s voice was harsh. ‘You’ll get ’em now and be quick about it, and if you leave something she’s fond of out of spite I’ll be back when the shop’s full shouting the odds. Just so you know.’
The look Miriam cast upon him was so vitriolic Rose caught her breath. When they were alone, she said shakily, ‘By, lad, I can’t believe it. Her and him. I’d never have thought it in a month of Sundays. Poor Aggie.’
Poor Aggie? Jake stared at his mother for a moment. The little lass in his mother’s kitchen had been pawed and slobbered over by that swine and she was thinking of his wife? And then he caught the anger and irritation. The wife was to be pitied for sure, bedridden as she was and cared for by that one who had stated her claim on her brother-in-law as brazenly as if she’d voiced their goings-on, but to his mind the lass had the whole of her life in front of her and something like this could put a blight on it the like of which she wouldn’t recover from. If he’d had her, if there had been penetration, he would be back here to take it out of his hide no matter what his mother said.
‘I’d best get back and see how Hannah is while you wait for her things.’ Rose glanced at her son before clearing her throat. ‘To be truthful, lad, I don’t know what to do with her. You know how on top of each other we are with the lads upstairs and me and Wilbur in the front room and Naomi on the desk bed in the kitchen. And all that apart, there’s always the chance she’ll run into one or the other of them if she stays round here and that’s enough to make the lass as skittish as a pony. She needs to put some distance between her and them to my mind.’
‘You’re asking me to take her to the farm?’
‘Would you?’ Rose said eagerly. ‘It’d be the perfect answer for the time being. She’ll be well out of the way and it’ll be easier for her all round. She’s without a job now, without a home and—’
‘All right, all right.’ Jake raised a hand, silencing his mother. ‘But there’s a couple of things you’re forgetting. Adam won’t take kindly to her coming with me and, more to the point, she might not want to. Added to which, if he did manage to interfere with her there might be a bairn at the end of all this.’
‘Oh, lad, don’t say that. Not a pure young lass like she is.’
‘Aye, well, she still might be pure but if she’s not then likely the law’ll be involved and that’s a whole new ball game.’
‘I see that.’ Rose nodded. ‘But if she’s all right and she wants to get away for a while? You’ll take her?’
‘There’s always work to do on a farm and she could stay with Frank Lyndon and his wife. Since young Herbert married Florence there’s only been the two of them in their cottage. Likely she’ll need a woman to talk to after this lot and Clara is a motherly soul.’
‘Thank you.’ She reached out and squeezed his hand. ‘You’re a good lad, none better. Look, I’ll get back and see how things are and you come when you can. I just hope Wilbur and the lads don’t come back before she’s gone.’
His mother was talking as though Hannah was definitely accompanying him to the farm. He didn’t voice this, saying instead, ‘Why?’
‘She’s a bit of a lass, Jake. This must have been awful for her and she’ll be so ashamed.’
‘She’s got nothing to be ashamed of,’ he said sharply.
‘Aye, well, likely she won’t see it like that for a while.’
Once his mother had gone, Jake stood exactly where he was in the middle of the shop floor, his brow furrowed. His mother was one of the kindest souls on God’s green earth but she had talked of Hannah being ashamed as though it was inevitable, even as though she should be. And while his mam might not think that at the heart of her, he knew plenty round these streets who would point the finger if they got to know of tonight’s events. But there was no reason they should, not if Hannah came to live and work at the farm for a while until she found something else. No one had to know anything.
When Miriam entered the shop carrying a bulging cloth bag and Hannah’s coat and hat over her arm, he was still in the same spot. He watched as she placed the bag and other things on the counter and then stood back a pace. He walked over and picked them up and when their eyes met, he said quietly, ‘You’d better pray he wasn’t able to do what he’d got in mind.’
Miriam said nothing until he reached the front door. Then her voice came low and harsh. ‘You tell her from me that from this day forth I’ve got no daughter and she’s got no mother. You tell her that from me, the ungrateful little madam.’
He turned and gazed at her. She was still determined to keep up this game of pretence she was playing. Her effrontery was amazing. When, and only when, she dropped her eyes, he said, ‘It seems to me that Hannah has never had a mother, Mrs Casey, but then you’d know more about that than me.’
Out in the warm claustrophic street, he stood for a moment, annoyed at the position he found himself in through no fault of his own. The last thing he wanted was to cart that young lass back to the farm with her in a state worse than China. And she likely wouldn’t want to go with him either. He touched the side of his face, running his fingers down the lumps and bumps. All in all he wished he’d stayed home the night and had been well out of it.
His mother must have been looking out for him because she opened the front door as he reached the doorstep. ‘He gave her a fright, that’s all,’ she whispered as he stepped into the brown-painted hall.‘She managed to get away before any real harm was done.’
‘Thank God,’ he said, and he meant it. ‘How is she now?’
‘Better.’
His mother led the way into the kitchen and when Jake entered and his gaze went to the young girl sitting in the dilapidated armchair, he saw she had dried her eyes and was sipping a cup of tea. She gave him a wan smile but her voice was unfaltering when she said, ‘Thank you for helping me, Mr Fletcher. I’m sorry to have been such a trouble.’
She’d got a bit about her, had Hannah. He liked folk who fought back. His thoughts made his voice warmer than usual when he said, ‘No trouble, lass.’
‘Mrs Wood told me what my uncle and mother said.’ She swallowed hard but again her voice did not tremble. ‘It’s not true, Mr Fletcher.’
‘I never thought it was.’