East End Angel Part 19

'It sounds as though she's unbearable company.' David licked his lips before adding, 'I can't understand why you go there so often.'

'Well, now she's preg-' Kathy pressed together her lips, regretting her slip. Jennifer's condition was constantly weighing heavily on her mind but she'd never intentionally have unburdened herself to anyone, least of all a boyfriend she'd just thrown over.

'Now she's ... What?' David echoed in a peculiar voice.

Kathy shot a look at him, noticing with sinking heart he'd grown pale. There was no denying it was an awkward subject to talk about. But they were both adults and she was sure her sister's ruination wouldn't come as a complete surprise to him.

'Sorry ... didn't mean to embarra.s.s you,' Kathy sighed. 'Forget I said anything.'

'No ... you can tell me. I'm not bothered by scandals,' David lied. He forced an insouciant smile to his lips but his gut was writhing in anxiety.

'The stupid fool's got herself in the family way and as I'm a midwife I feel I ought to keep an eye on her,' Kathy blurted.

'Is she getting married?'

Kathy recognised faint hope in David's voice and thought it sweet of him to be concerned. If he knew her family better he'd realise it was far too late to salvage the Finches' reputation by getting a ring on Jenny's finger. 'Not likely,' she muttered bitterly. 'Jennifer says she knows who the father is but hasn't named him yet. I expect she'll tell me in the end, whether I want to know or not. I don't care who the wretch is and neither will my parents. They washed their hands of her years ago.' She gestured sadly. 'If you knew her you'd realise the fellow can't be any good if he a.s.sociates with Jennifer. It's an awful thing to say about one of your own family, but it's true.' She gazed beseechingly at him. 'You'll keep this to yourself, won't you?'

David grunted agreement.

'You've guessed that my sister's fallen a long way?' Kathy raised her eyes heavenward. 'Sorry, you don't have to answer that. Most people who knew us around the time Jenny left home put two and two together. But they were polite enough to keep their suspicions to themselves. I expect your mum and dad were no different to the rest.'

Kathy knew she'd said too much about her family's rattling skeletons yet felt compelled to offer some mitigation for Jenny's troubled past. 'It wasn't all my sister's fault, though,' she stressed. 'She was just fifteen when an older man led her astray. After that she got into the habit of keeping bad company and letting men take advantage of her.'

'She wasn't a school kid at fifteen, was she? Perhaps she likes that sort of life,' David said hoa.r.s.ely.

'No, that's not true! She didn't like it at all,' Kathy heatedly championed her twin. 'After she left home, we'd meet up and she'd sob her heart out about her horrible life in Lambeth with the fellow who ruined her. Thing is ... she couldn't straighten out because Mum and Dad wouldn't have her back. She might have turned out differently if they'd just given her a second chance. But it was always the same with them: you've made your bed so lie on it.'

David nodded, staring straight ahead with his mouth pursed. Kathy felt sure he was finding it difficult to conceal his disgust.

'You won't speak badly of any of us, will you?' Kathy smiled bravely. 'Most families have one bad penny. I bet you've got a story to tell about Goldstein black sheep.'

'Wouldn't want to bore you with our revolting habits.' David laughed, swung about, raking his fingers through his hair. 'But I have got something else to tell you; it's about the Bar Mitzvah.' He placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, urging Kathy to walk with him along the street. 'Let's find a caff, shall we? No point in going in now, the film will have started.'

Glad the atmosphere between them had lightened, Kathy slipped her arm through his as they strolled.

'My cousin Samuel is going to Spain, to fight in the civil war against Franco.'

'He's very brave; his family must be worried about him.' Kathy had read about the uprising in the newspaper and heard it reported on the wireless. The Fascists seemed to be stirring unrest throughout Europe.

Kathy took little interest in politics but she in common with a good many people sensed serious trouble lay ahead because of the emerging extreme right-wing views. Sir Oswald Mosley had once pa.s.sed Kathy in his fancy drop-head Bentley when she was pedalling like fury to a woman in labour. She remembered scowling at him while wobbling and trying to regain her balance because his chauffeur had brought the vehicle too close for comfort.

'I'm going with Sam to Spain,' David announced. 'I wasn't sure before ... but now I am. I know it's the right thing to do.'

Kathy came to an abrupt halt, dragging him around by the arm. 'No! You can't do that just because we're breaking up! I won't let you go to war for my sake!'

'It's not just about you, Kathy. I've known for ages I need to change what I'm doing.' David was smiling quite placidly while gazing at a cloudy sky. 'I've been fed up with police work not just the job but the people too and something Sam said made me think about my life. He made me feel ashamed ... lots of things make me feel ashamed, and I want to stop that now.'

'But ... what about your new girl? Won't she mind?'

'She's not important,' David muttered. 'She's nothing compared to you.'

'Well, what about your parents ... do they know?' Kathy gasped.

'Don't worry about me, Kathy,' David said, becoming brusque. 'You must see your new fellow and live your life and be happy. And you must let me do what I want.'

'Fighting a foreign war is what you want?' Kathy whispered, bewildered.

'It is ... for now ...' David said with quiet determination.

'Crikey! You're a lovely lad, ain't yer, now.' Matilda chucked Paul Potter under his tiny chin, prompting the baby to give her a toothy smile. Matilda withdrew her head from the pram and turned her attention to Pansy. 'And who's this pretty young gel, then?'

Ruby gave her daughter a little nudge, hoping she might answer. But Pansy crept behind her mother, clinging to her hip. 'Her name's Pansy ... 'Fraid she don't have much to say fer herself.' Ruby ruffled her daughter's hair to rea.s.sure her that these strangers were on their side.

'Never mind, then,' Matilda said, leaving the shy child be. She turned to the boy, noticing he looked rather sullen. 'Reckon you must be Peter and you've gotta be twelve if yer a day.'

Peter blushed, secretly pleased. He'd only turned nine a couple of months ago and liked to be thought of as older than his age.

'Strapping lad like you must be a big help to his mum. That right, Peter?'

Ruby's son gave a nod, his red cheeks glowing.

'Go downstairs and help Mr Raven fetch in our stuff, Petie.' Ruby wanted to have a private word with Matilda.

'He'd sooner have stopped in the East End with his father, I take it,' Matilda remarked bluntly as the boy went out and clattered down the stairs.

'Got his pals over that way, that's all it is,' Ruby replied.

'He'll make new pals over this way,' Matilda said. 'Quite a few kids about his age live in the street.'

'Don't know how to thank you,' Ruby blurted gruffly. 'Or Nurse Finch and her friend Mr Raven. You've all been kinder to us than I can ever repay-'

'Gonna stop you there.' Matilda raised a hand. 'Round this neighbourhood, we do favours where we can 'cos we expect 'em back, see.' She grinned. 'Don't get nuthin' fer nuthin' in this life so when you're back on yer feet 'cos yer luck's turned and it will you might find I'm wanting summat off you. That's how we repay in the Bunk. Till then you're welcome to stop here.'

'Help you 'n' all, I would, any way I can.' Ruby's voice trembled with sincerity.

'I know, luv ...' Matilda squeezed Ruby's shoulder. 'I know what it is for a woman to be kicked down by a man. Me sister had a dog's life with the sc.u.mbag she married. Had years of it, she did, before she found the gumption to get free of him.' She tapped her temple. 'A lot of it with my Fran was up here. She believed him when he told her she got what she deserved. You make sure you don't get into that way of thinking 'cos it's worse than he's put chains on yer.'

'Charlie's got fancy women, so I hope he'll take one on permanent now I've left. He thinks I don't know about his tarts. Fact is, I don't care what he does s'long as he leaves us be.'

'That's the way, luv ...' Matilda praised, breaking off as Kathy entered the room loaded down with a cardboard box.

'Take it straight into the back room, if you would,' Matilda directed her. 'Lovely gel, she is ... diamond ...' Matilda watched Kathy edge through the doorway with the bulky weight.

Ruby murmured heartfelt agreement, then hurried to help unpack her possessions.

Matilda poked her head round the door, watching the two young women sorting through pots and pans and items of crockery. There was little in the back room. The last time it had been used was when her daughter Lucy had stayed with her when working as a waitress in the West End. The interior looked the same as it had then: a battered old chest of drawers was shoved against one wall and an iron bedstead against the other.

'Got some clean sheets for the bed.' Matilda took an end of the grimy mattress and gave it a shake, sending dust up into the air.

'You keep your'n,' Ruby said, but with a grateful smile for her hostess. 'You might need 'em yerself. I brought bed linen and a few blankets too.'

'Could do with a blanket meself,' Matilda said. 'Nights are drawing in now and the moths made lacework of mine.' In fact, it was a fib: Matilda had p.a.w.ned her good blanket when Reg ran out of work a few months back. By the time she went back for it, it had gone.

'I've got a spare,' Ruby immediately offered, and started poking about in some of the containers and sacks that her son had just put down. She drew out a faded length of wool, then another. Having sorted out the best blanket, she held it in Matilda's direction.

'Don't mind if I do,' Matilda rubbed a hand over the thick material. 'Reg'll be pleased to see that: won't have to put me freezing feet on his back no more to warm 'em.' Cackling a laugh, she went out calling over a shoulder, 'I'm gonna put the kettle on fer tea. Got some cups in them boxes? We'll need seven in all, by my reckoning, if the kids want a hot drink, so I'm two short.'

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.

'Do you think Ruby and the kids will be all right in Campbell Road?' Kathy was gazing up at the first-floor window of the house she and Nick had just exited. They'd said goodbye to the family only minutes ago, leaving them seated around Matilda's table, drinking tea and diving into the biscuit tin.

'Yeah ... I do. I've never spoken to Matilda Keiver before today but I reckon she's a good 'un, and none of it bulls.h.i.+t either.' Nick choked a laugh. 'She's a bruiser, though, if ever there was one.'

'My mum would vouch for that. She's known Matilda come off best in fights with men. So watch out.' Kathy's humour dwindled. 'She's wonderfully kind to those she likes but don't get on the wrong side of her.'

Nick turned the ignition then sat back to gaze at Kathy's sweet flushed features. She had a smudge of dust on a cheek that he smeared away with a thumb.

Kathy busily brushed together palms that felt mucky. 'Bet I look a right state.'

''Fraid so ... can't think what I see in you ...'

'Thanks!' Kathy feigned indignation, whacking his arm. 'Crikey, I'm tired. My shoulders are aching from lifting those boxes.'

'Need to get you fit, Nurse Finch.'

'I am fit!' Kathy remonstrated. 'You should try riding that bike every day and getting hot and sweaty.'

'Sounds like you need some different exercise,' Nick said. 'I'll have a think ... see if there's another way we can get you hot and sweaty.'

Kathy felt her cheeks starting to burn and dropped her eyes from his provocative gaze.

'Sorry ...' Nick said huskily. 'I forget sometimes ...'

'Forget what?' Kathy sounded p.r.i.c.kly.

'Just how lucky I am that a sweet girl like you wants anything to do with a bloke like me'

'What's wrong with you?' Kathy demanded, not wholly joking.

'Nothing much ... and I'll prove it ...' He gave her a long steady look. 'You've nothing to be scared of with me, Kathy. We'll take it slow and easy ... any way you like, for as long as you like.'

Kathy had been frowning at her clasped hands but her mouth softened into a smile, and she wondered how he'd sensed her apprehensiveness. She'd never seriously considered that David might try to get her into bed and into trouble. He'd kissed and caressed her quite pa.s.sionately in the early days, but had seemed too conscious of his breeding and his parents' feelings to give free rein to his own.

Nick Raven was a different sort of man: the rough edges of his character were still there beneath the gloss of his success. As yet, Kathy wasn't entirely sure whether it might be possible to remove them completely, or if she might prefer they stay ...

'I'm not a prissy cow, it's just ...' She sighed, unable to tell him yet about the consequences of her twin sister's slip when she was just fifteen. Forlornly, Kathy realised Jennifer might already be in the gutter but she was heading for the sewer.

'I know you're not a prissy cow, you're young and innocent.'

'You've just made me sound like a prissy cow,' Kathy complained.

'If you were a prissy cow you wouldn't have given up your afternoon to come and spend time with the likes of the Keivers and Potters.'

'Thanks for helping,' Kathy said solemnly. 'It would have been a real slog trying to move everything on the bus.'

'Do it again tomorrow, if you want ...' Nick tapped the steering wheel with restless fingers. 'So ... are you hungry?'

Kathy nodded vigorously. 'Starving ... could eat a horse.'

'Might have to settle for a nice juicy steak. I know a good grill house Wapping way.'

'I'd like to freshen up first.'

Nick nodded. 'Yeah, me too.' He pulled away from the kerb.

Kathy sank back into the seat, relaxed and happy.

'Did you speak to David?' he asked distantly.

'Mmm,' Kathy murmured, feeling drowsy from the motion of the car or she might have tuned into a strange inflection in his voice. The silence lengthened and Kathy blinked open her eyes, realising that Nick was politely waiting for her to elaborate. 'He was surprised, but sort of came clean that he has someone else. I think he might have been seeing her for a while 'cos he hinted they're already cooling off.' Kathy sighed. 'He's jacking in his job with the police and going to fight in the Spanish civil war with his cousin.'

Nick shot a sideways look at Kathy. 'Straight up?'

She nodded glumly. 'I wish he wouldn't; I'm afraid he might get-' She bit her lip unable to utter what was on her mind in case it jinxed David and came true. 'I hope he comes back soon.' She crossed her fingers in her lap.

Nick took his hand off the gear stick, covering hers in comfort. 'Take it from me, he's the sort of bloke who's used to covering his back.'

Kathy thought that Nick sounded callous but let it go. 'I hope David does whatever it takes to keep safe.' She sighed. 'It's a daft idea and I reckon he's depressed, not just about us breaking up, but other things as well. He said he's fed up working for the police.'

'Perhaps his conscience is bothering him,' Nick said. 'Getting shot at by a bunch of mad Fascists should put things in perspective. He'll probably be back behind a desk in Leman Street nick in a couple of weeks.'

'I take it you don't get depressed,' Kathy remarked drily.

'No time, Kath, wish I did, 'cos right now I've got a few things p.i.s.sing me off.'

Kathy smiled; she liked his odd sense of humour. She also liked him calling her Kath. She was always Katherine or Kathy to her parents. Only Jennifer called her Kath when she was feeling friendly so she hadn't heard her sister use the name in quite a while. 'Oh? What's up then?' she asked, all mock sympathy.

Nick shrugged. 'Property I own in Limehouse got set alight.'

Kathy's jaw dropped. 'Your house got burned down?'