The Legacy: Trouble Comes Disguised As Family (Unspoken Book 2) T. Belshaw (management books to read .txt) 📖

wine that was still half full. She poured a good measure into her glass, then put the bottle next to her plate and gave Martha a defiant look. A shell-shocked Marjorie looked from Jess to Bill to Martha.

‘Who’s Bill? I’m confused.’

‘Then you’re in your usual state of mind.’ Martha shook her head and turned her attention to Jess. ‘If you do find a way to release money from the trust, don’t forget, I was at the front of the queue. Don’t allow yourself to be coerced into giving in to that snivelling idiot. You may as well hand it straight to the nearest money lender.’

Bill shot a glance over his shoulder as he heard the scrape of a chair behind him, but it was only a customer leaving her seat to visit the cloakroom. He put his hand on top of Jess’s.

‘Please, Jess. I’m begging you. Just a few thousand. I promise, I’ll make a clean start afterwards. I’ve seen the error of my ways. I’ve had enough of running and hiding. Honestly.’

‘PAH! You pathetic individual.’ Martha shook her head again.

‘Dad, I don’t have a few thousand to give you even if I wanted to.’ Jess got stood up and nodded towards the waitress. ‘I think it’s time we all went home.’

Bill got to his feet with a furious look on his face.

‘So, that’s it. You’re just going to throw me under the bus? Can’t we at least talk about it?’

‘Of course we can talk about it, Dad. Come to the farm tomorrow morning, but I’m telling you now, my answer will be the same, because there is nothing I can do.’

Bill looked around as if trying to plot his escape.

‘I’ll be round in the morning then. I’ll stay with Nicola tonight.’

Nicola beamed, reached out and took his hand. ‘You can stay as long as you like, Owen.’

He snatched his hand away.

‘It’s Bill for Christ’s sake.’

A few seconds later, the waitress arrived with the manager.

‘Is everything all right, Ms Griffiths?’

Jess nodded. ‘Everything’s fine. This is just the way our family reunions go.’

‘Then you have my sympathy.’ The manager took the bill from the waitress and handed it to Jess. She scanned it, then followed him across to the far end of the bar to pay. As she was tucking her card back into her purse, she heard Nicola call from further along the bar. She waved a bottle of red wine in the air.

‘Add this on, Jess,’ she said.

In the car park, as Jess opened the back doors of her Toyota to allow Martha and Marjorie to climb in, Bill popped up from behind a Ford KA and slipped in to take the middle seat meaning it would be a bit of a crush on the drive home. The car wasn’t really made for five adults. Nicola, clutching her precious bottle of house red, almost fell into the passenger seat. Jess closed both the back doors, climbed into the driver’s seat, then reached across to help her struggling mother find the slot for the seat belt. She switched on the lights and with a deep sigh, started up the engine.

At her grandmother’s house, Marjorie, and a still furious Martha, got out of the car and walked towards the front door without a word.

‘Goodnight, Grandma, goodnight, Aunt Marjorie,’ Jessica called as the pair entered the porch.

Martha inserted the key in the lock, pushed open the door, then turned around.

‘I’ll call you in the morning, young lady. Don’t do anything stupid.’ With that, she stepped into the house and slammed the door behind her.

As soon as Jessica pulled away from her grandmother’s house, Bill started work on her again.

‘Jess, honestly. Just this one favour. I’ll never ask for anything again.’

‘You’ll never ask for anything until the next time you’re in trouble,’ said Jess quietly as she pulled out of the side street onto the main Gillingham road.

‘You can trust him, Jess,’ slurred Nicola. ‘He’s your father after all.’

‘I remember trusting him when he said he was taking my piggy bank away, to get it paid into my post office account. But not only did he smash the pig and take out a year’s savings, he emptied my account too.’ Jess wiped away the tear that appeared as she remembered the incident.

‘Jess,’ said Bill, soothingly.

‘I’d saved that money to buy a doll. The doll you promised me for Christmas but never arrived.’ A stream of tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘I’d saved eight pounds, Dad. Eight pounds and you stole the sodding lot.’

‘Jess. I’m sorry, but—’

Jess pulled off the main road, turned onto Burnett Street and pulled up outside her mother’s house.

‘What did you get for eight measly pounds, Dad?’ Jessica wasn’t going to let it go now.

Bill opened the car door and slid across the seat.

‘You got your bloody doll, didn’t you?’

‘No thanks to you. Nana, bought it for me.’

‘Leave it, Jess.’ Nicola pressed the release catch on her seat belt three times before she managed to free herself. She opened the passenger door and crawled into the street with her bottle tucked safely under her arm.

Bill closed the rear door then walked around to the passenger side and leaned into the car.

‘I’ll see you in the morning, Jess. You, err, couldn’t come here instead, could you, save me the bus fare?’

‘No, I bloody couldn’t,’ said Jess with feeling. ‘Don’t leave it too late either. I’m out for the afternoon and I have to get ready.’

‘Oh, you have a new boyfriend already? Nic told me about Calvin. I never did like him. He was a wrong ‘un.’

‘It takes one to know one, Dad. Shut the door please. I’m going home.’

Chapter 17

Jess made the short trip home with tears streaming down her face as she remembered the hardships and betrayals she had been forced to endure as a child. In bed that night, she found sleep to be impossible as her overworked brain trawled up the memories of her childhood.

One occasion in particular refused to be sent back to the dark