The Nothing Girl (9 page)

The poor lad was suddenly shattered. After nights without proper sleep and then a big meal on an empty stomach, he could hardly keep his eyes open. He did, however, remember to thank Mrs Crisp for the meal. Underneath the world’s most inefficient mugger was a nice boy.

We gathered up various bits and pieces and made our way to the stable block on the other side of the yard. Russell led the way, so when he stopped dead, I walked into him and Kevin walked into me. Thomas neatly sidestepped all of us.

‘I’ve just thought, do you smoke?’

‘No.’

‘You sure? It’s not a problem if you do, it just means I’ll put you in another room, but I need to know if you smoke.’

He shook his head. ‘No. Never tried and now I can’t afford it.’

‘OK, then.’

He opened the door to the stable block. In his big box at the end, Boxer stirred and stuck a sleepy but curious head out to look.

‘Oh, neat. A horse.’

Kevin dropped everything onto the tack table and went off to look. Boxer lowered his head and sniffed.

‘
Good job he’s had a bath,
’ muttered Thomas. ‘
You have no idea how snooty ex-racehorses can be.
’

‘Wow, this is really cool. What’s his name?’

‘Boxer.’

He reached a tentative hand and Boxer deigned to have his nose gently stroked.

Russell looked at me and wiggled his eyebrows. I had no idea what he was trying to say.

‘Come on, Kevin. This way.’

We climbed a rickety stair and he opened a door at the top and switched on a light. This must, once upon a time, have been the old feed store. It still retained a certain – atmosphere, but being made of wood, it was warm.

‘You can sleep here tonight. There’s a sleeping bag and a couple of extra blankets. Jenny has the pillows. I’m sorry there’s no bathroom. If you get caught short nip downstairs and pee in one of the buckets. You can blame it on Boxer.’

He smiled, but it was a poor effort.

‘Don’t rush to get up in the morning. Come over when you’re ready. You can use the bathroom and we’ll give you breakfast.’

He stopped.

Kevin was looking at him. I could see him thinking – then what?

I was wondering that myself.

‘OK, got everything you need?’

He was unpacking his sad little carrier bag. There were a couple of grimy T-shirts which he carefully spread out to dry, three socks (he’s a man, they can only do socks in odd numbers) and a battered Harry Potter with an old photo being used as a book mark. He put this on the floor and stood politely, waiting for us to go.

Russell seemed to be in another world again, so I pulled his sleeve.

‘Oh, right. Good night then.’

As we crossed the yard, I said, ‘Russell, he’s sleeping in an outbuilding on … the floor.’

‘He’s dry, warm, fed, and safe. It’s the best thing that’s happened to him in weeks.’

‘What about tomorrow?

‘Don’t know, Jenny. I’ll have to think about it. I’ll drive you home.’

I was glad to go. I was tired too.

It was well past midnight when we got back. I fumbled anxiously for my key. Russell walked with me to the door. Various lights came on as we walked up the path. Russell stopped and looked around us but said nothing.

I was too tired to ask.

Finally, he said in a whisper, ‘It’s very neat, isn’t it?’

I looked around with new eyes. After the shabby cheerfulness of Frogmorton, I suppose it was. Uncle Richard and Aunt Julia lived in a solid, respectable, detached house on the solid and respectable side of town and their property was immaculate. The extensive gardens, front and back, belonged to the conifer and heather style of horticulture, which means they required minimum maintenance, were always neat and looked exactly the same during all the seasons of the year – dull.

We tiptoed up the path and Russell opened the door for me. ‘Goodnight, future wife,’ and before I had time to worry about goodnight kisses, and with the unerring sense of timing that all men responsible for unwed females seem instinctively to possess, Uncle Richard appeared. He wore pyjamas and dressing gown and carried the local newspaper. He said nothing at all in a very meaningful way, but Russell remained unabashed.

‘Good evening, Richard. Where was I? Oh, yes. Jenny, I’ll pick you up at ten tomorrow. Don’t be late – lots to do, people to see and so on. Sleep well.’ He gave me an affectionate clap on the shoulder that made me stagger slightly and disappeared back down the path. I watched the lights flash on and off, marking his progress. His Land Rover started with a clatter and roared away into the night, leaving a sudden velvet silence.

Uncle Richard held the door for me. I remembered to keep the key.

‘Uncle Richard, you didn’t have to … wait up for me,’ I said, feeling very guilty because if we hadn’t been feeding and housing a potential member of the criminal classes then I would have been home hours ago. Some instinct warned me not to mention Kevin.

He smiled slightly. ‘I think you’ll find that waiting up for young female members of his family is in every father’s – and every uncle’s – job description. Come into the kitchen a minute, please. I’ve left the milk on.’

I sat at the table while he poured himself a cup of hot milk. I shook my head when he offered me some. It was a kind gesture and now didn’t seem to be the time to point out I’d lived here for twenty years and he still didn’t know I hated milk.

He sat himself down opposite me.

Thomas yawned. ‘
Are we ever going to get to bed?
’

‘Shh,’ I said, because if Uncle Richard stirred his milk any more he’d go through the bottom of the cup. (There are no mugs in Aunt Julia’s house.) Clearly, he had something to say.

‘She has your best interests at heart, you know,’ he began, finally laying the spoon down in the saucer.

In the quiet kitchen I could hear the pipes ticking as the heating system shut down for the night and the house bedded itself down.

I nodded.

‘You must see that this has come as a tremendous shock to us. Especially since it’s that man …’

‘
Good old Russell Checkland. Causing trouble in the Kingdom household since he could walk.
’

I nodded.

‘I want to ask you, quietly and away from – any upsetting moments – I have to ask – Jenny, is he putting any sort of pressure on you to marry him? You can tell me.’

I shook my head.

He looked down again. ‘Are you – pregnant?’

Another head shake.

‘Are you doing this of your own free will?’

I nodded.

‘It’s just – I know you live quietly. Indeed, it’s necessary for you to do so. But this is so drastic. If you wanted to go away, I’m sure a little trip could be arranged. A change of scenery, perhaps, would do you good. Would you like that?’

‘
Wow!
’ said Thomas. ‘
They really don’t want you marrying their daughter’s lover, do they? What do you want to do?
’

And suddenly, it was all very clear, like a path laid out in front of me and lights to show the way. Doubts fell away, leaving me suddenly calm and peaceful.

‘I want to marry Russell Checkland,’ I said to both of them.

‘Well. I see. Yes. I see,’ said Uncle Richard, who clearly didn’t. ‘In that case … Jenny, I want you to listen to me very carefully. This is important. I will speak to your aunt. She won’t be happy for a few days, and if you want to spend time with your fiancé, coming and going quietly from the house then I think that would be a very good idea. In the interests of peace and harmony you might want to discourage him from too frequent visits here. He does seem to have the knack of annoying your aunt.’

I nodded.

‘But, and this is the important thing, Jenny. I – we both – want you to know that should you – not be happy – for any reason at all – you still have a home here. I urge you never to forget that. Normally, of course, I would never advocate interfering in the affairs of husband and wife and please don’t think I’m doing so now, but I’ve grown very fond of you over the years and I just want you to be happy. So if, one day, you find that you are not, you will always be welcome back here, with us to take care of you.’

I swallowed a huge lump in my throat and nodded. At that moment I was conscious of all the things I’d missed. Maybe I should have done this years ago, had little chats in the kitchen with dear Uncle Richard, just for a few minutes before we went to bed. How comforting that would have been.

Too late now.

I got up before I burst into tears, smiled at him, and took myself off to bed.

The next morning, I met Russell at the bottom of the road.

‘Ah,’ he said, ‘I’ve been warned off. Presumably, this is so she won’t come at me like Norman Bates’s mother.’

‘Who’s Norman Bates?’

He sighed. ‘Remind me to rent you the movie.’ He looked at me. ‘Or not.’

‘Is he still there?’

‘Kevin? Yes. He was just stirring when I left. Mrs C is preparing his own body weight in bacon. You’re going to have to marry me soon or he’s literally going to eat me out of house and home.’ He gave me a quick look ‘Everything all right last night?’

‘Oh yes, although Uncle Richard thinks it might be best if you stay away for a while.’

‘Yes, he’s not an idiot, is he? So, Kevin.’

‘Yes?’

‘I’ve been thinking.’

‘
Is he going to marry him, too?
’

‘I’m going to ask him to stay a while. As if he’s doing me a favour. I’m sure he’ll say yes. He doesn’t want to go back on the streets. Some do, they can’t settle, but not this lad. He can help me around the place, doing odd jobs and such. I can’t pay him – yet – but he can have board and lodging. Will you help fix up his room? There’s plenty of old furniture around the place. He can have a bed, table, an armchair, chest of drawers, you choose. I think I might even have an old TV around somewhere. What do you think? It’s a face-saver for him and it’s a good deal for me.’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I hope he stays.’

‘I think he will.’

‘And you’ll be able to pay him – later, I mean.’

He skidded off the road into a layby. Intentionally, I hoped.

‘Yes. I want to talk to you about that. I’ve been thinking about this money business. My solicitors will have some stuff for you to sign about the house which we’ll send on to your uncle as a sign of good faith. I’ll admit I was winding him up the other day, but I can see how this must look to him, so I’ve had an idea. I know your uncle thinks I want the money for drink, gambling, dancing-girls, whatever …’

Or to support Francesca when you manage to lure her away from Daniel Palmer, I thought.

‘… so I thought of a compromise to show my good faith and to keep you out of the line of fire. He continues your normal monthly allowance, or whatever you have and I pay for everything on my credit card and send him the bills to settle on our behalf. That way he can reassure himself that the bulk of the expenditure is on our house and supporting you and he can see I’m not running up bills for anything else. When it’s all done and we’re still together – and we will be – then we’ll sort out something more permanent. What do you think?’

‘
Hmm,
’ said Thomas, behind me.

‘What?’

‘
No, actually, now I come to think of it, it’s quite a good scheme. I can’t see your uncle objecting at all. And presumably, all your money’s invested so he’ll need to draw up lists of what’s where for Russell and that will take time, so yes, in the short-term, this might work.
’

‘So,’ I said to Russell, ‘you’ll put this idea to my uncle?’

‘Good God, no,’ he said, starting the engine and roaring out of the layby. ‘My solicitor will present the suggestion. I shall object most strongly.’

He grinned at me like a naughty boy. ‘I’m not just a pretty face, you know.’

Kevin was just finishing breakfast when we arrived.

He got to his feet as I walked in, clumsily bumping against his chair and nearly knocking over his mug of tea. His bruises had reached the yellow and green stage, except for the one across the bridge of his nose and under one eye which was still a vivid red and purple.

It seemed to me that just for once it was up to me to put someone else at their ease, so I said good morning and asked him if he had slept well.

He nodded and swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple moving up and down his throat. He said, nearly as jerkily as me, ‘I’m sorry about last night. Really sorry.’

Russell said, ‘Will you ever do it again?’

‘Oh, no, no. I didn’t want to do it once. I sat for hours behind that wheelie bin, working up the nerve.’

‘And waiting for someone to walk past.’

‘Yeah, it wasn’t a good spot. You were the only people to walk down that alley all night.’

‘Fancy that,’ I said to Thomas.

‘
Sorry,
’ he said. ‘
Miles away. What?
’

While Kevin and Russell heaved the furniture up the stable stairs, Mrs Crisp and I made up the bed, hung some curtains, put down a few rugs, and found a lampshade and a few cushions. Russell plugged in a space heater, with dire warnings about going off and leaving it on. I remembered him asking Kevin if he smoked. He had a real fear of fire. ‘Nothing goes up like stables,’ he said. ‘And if you can’t get the horses out it’s just … So watch it, Kevin.’

He nodded solemnly. ‘I will. I promise.’

In the end, it looked quite nice. He carefully placed his book in the exact centre of his bedside table and put his two freshly washed T-shirts in one drawer and his three socks in another. He hung his towels on the back of the door and laid his comb under the small mirror.

I noticed he had still been unable to throw away his flat cardboard box and had carefully stored it under the bed. I could have cried for him.

And then we all had some lunch.

‘Eat up,’ said Russell, ‘We have a busy afternoon ahead of us.

A busy afternoon which, for me, soon became just a formless blur of faces and places. The people in the Register Office were very kind, which was just as well, because after I’d handed over my documents and tried to look radiant, it all rapidly became too much. I kept telling myself to enjoy this once in a lifetime experience but this sudden escalation, from nothing to everything all at once, was difficult and left me longing for peace and quiet. To give him his due, Russell tried to do most of the talking for me. Some questions, however, I had to answer for myself and they were kindness itself while I struggled to get out the answers.