Unspoken: A story of secrets, love and revenge T. Belshaw (good books to read for beginners txt) 📖

sure you hear me properly because I’m not going to repeat it. One, your pram was overpriced, I got a better one for a few quid less, and actually, I never agreed to buy yours in the first place. The agreement was that I would consider it, which I did, for all of ten seconds. Two, I didn’t borrow money from you, Frank did, so I suggest you stop bothering me and bugger off back to your shop, because I’m not paying for Frank’s piss up. Do I make myself clear?’

‘I’ve sold the shop,’ she said, huffily. ‘I’ll have a word with the police; let’s see what they make of it.’

‘I don’t care if you have a word with the bloody King, you’re not getting a penny out of me.’ I marched past the telephone kiosk and turned onto the lane that led to the farm. The rain got heavier, the clouds got blacker, but even the darkest of them couldn’t match my mood.

That night, I told Amy all about it.

‘Blimey! He left debts all over the place. All you need now is for some poor, unfortunate woman to turn up to tell you Frank got her pregnant and she wants you to support the baby.’

‘Don’t even joke about it,’ I said.

‘What if he’s a murderer too, imagine that?’

‘I don’t want to imagine anything to do with that man,’ I replied.

‘I imagine him floating in the sea without a life jacket,’ she said, her eyes lighting up.

She put on another Bessie Smith record and sat next to me on her bed. ‘You haven’t mentioned Romeo for a while? Is he too busy lawyering to look after your… needs, these days?’

‘Oh, I don’t think I’ll be seeing him again. He was worried his wife might find out about us.’

‘He should have worried about that before he started chasing you,’ she replied.

‘Possibly, but I don’t regret what happened, Amy, it was really nice, but, well, we both got what we wanted out of it so, I’m not too bothered that it fizzled out.’

Amy clasped her hands together. ‘Talking of fizzing. I wonder if he’ll still invent that Martina drink. Maybe he’ll think of you when he’s in his dotage and he’s sipping it on his terrace.’

I laughed. ‘I think he’ll have forgotten about me long before then.’

It was still raining as I walked home from Amy’s. When I got in I shook my coat and hung it on the back door. Miriam had just made a pot of tea so we sat down and chatted about mundane, everyday things, until Martha woke up for her feed. Miriam always gave her the last feed of the day. It helped her settle for the night.

‘Michael was asking about you when he came to measure up for the new cowshed,’ I said, looking for a reaction.

‘Was he now?’

I nodded. ‘I think he’s still interested, Miriam.’

‘I know, he telephoned me while you were at Amy’s. He wants to meet and have a chat about things. He won’t change his mind on marriage though.’

‘What are you going to do then?’ I asked.

‘Oh, I don’t know. I did love the tea dances and I miss his company.’

‘Give it a go, Miriam, you never know, he might come around to your way of thinking.’

She nodded and put the bottle on the table to give Martha a breather. ‘That’s what I thought. He is going to be here rather a lot over Christmas and New Year, I can’t keep avoiding him.’

‘It’s back on then?’ I asked, crossing my fingers.

‘We’ll see. I did say I’d go to the dance on Saturday.’

I patted her hand. ‘You have a bit of fun, love.’ I thought about me and Godfrey and smiled to myself. ‘Just don’t let him get off too lightly. Women should decide their own futures. Men get their own way far too much of the time.’

When Miriam had gone to bed, I sat in front of the stove in my dressing gown, thinking what a sad life Edna had lived, and what a sad ending she received as a bonus. I was determined it would never happen to me. I was worth so much more than that.

Chapter 80

Calvin

On Thursday morning, Calvin ate a late breakfast, showered and changed into a pair of loose tracksuit bottoms and a baggy t-shirt, and perused the online jobs. He wasn’t particularly bothered whether he got one in the immediate future or not. Jess, for all her bluster, was hardly about to chuck him out, and when that precious Nana of hers kicked the bucket, money would cease to be a problem anyway. The old bitch was loaded, the sale of that huge farmhouse would buy this flat and five more like it. All he had to do, he worked out, was to hang around Jess for a year or so and put in a claim for a good wedge of her money, if and when they split up. Holidays and clothes wouldn’t be a problem, so all he needed was something to keep the boredom at bay. He could even go into private tutoring. He could earn enough to keep the wolf from the door if the worst did happen, Nana lived on for a few more years, and Jess had to give up the flat. Tania had a nice little place herself. He was sure that she wouldn’t see him on the streets. She was a bit of a challenge anyway. Jess had succumbed far too easily.

On impulse, he rang the two local independent colleges and asked for the IT dept. Both gave him short shrift. It seems that his ex-boss and been straight on the phone to warn the others off.

After lunch he went down to the driving range and hit a hundred golf balls, seeing that semi-pro arsehole, Jamie’s face on every ball he hit.

In the evening he watched a recorded episode of Game of Thrones, then showered, dressed and prepared himself for another night with the passionate Tania.

He arrived