Brutal, page 10
‘Woman?’ Marie repeated, frowning. ‘You never told me he had a woman living with him.’
‘She’s not actually living there,’ Evan backtracked. ‘He’s letting her stay till she finds her own place.’
‘Was she there while you were staying?’
‘Yeah, but I didn’t spend any time with her, so you’ve got nothing to worry about,’ Evan lied. ‘I stayed in my room and left them to it.’
‘Left them to what? Is he seeing her, or something?’
‘He reckons not, but who knows?’ Evan shrugged and took a swig of beer.
‘What’s she like?’
‘I haven’t really spoken to her, but she’s dog ugly, and skinny – like a junkie.’
‘Why would Frank go for someone like that?’ Marie’s frown deepened. ‘I know he’s getting on a bit, but he’s a good-looking bloke, so he could easy get someone better.’
‘No idea.’ Evan shrugged again. ‘But our Jo’s told him she’s having nothing to do with him till he gets rid, so I doubt he’ll keep her there for too much longer.’
Marie’s eyes had narrowed again, and she peered at him with suspicion.
‘Is that why you’ve come back? Did he kick you out because you and Jo don’t like his girlfriend?’
‘No.’ Evan shook his head. ‘I’m not gonna lie, we did have words, but that’s not why I left. I came back because this has been going on too long and I wanted to come home.’
Marie took a swig of wine and stared down at the rug for several seconds, as if mulling everything over. Then, releasing a weary breath, she said, ‘OK, I suppose you can stay. But things have got to change, ’cos we can’t go on like it was before.’
‘Absolutely,’ Evan agreed.
‘I mean it,’ she said. ‘No more lies, and no more putting me down.’
‘We both need to make more effort,’ he replied evenly.
‘Yes, well, we’ll talk in the morning and set some ground rules,’ Marie said, shoving the dog off her lap and putting her glass down on the table. ‘I’m going to bed. Are you coming up, or stopping down here?’
Surprised, and grateful, because he hadn’t expected to be allowed back into their bed so quickly, Evan said, ‘I’ll be up in a minute, love.’
15
The sun was shining when Frank came back from feeding Yvonne’s animals the next morning, and the snow had started to melt, revealing patches of green. Certain that Irena would be pleased, because he imagined she must be desperate to get away after the events of the previous night, Frank smiled when she joined him in the kitchen as he was making them both a cup of tea.
‘Looks like you’ll be able to get going soon,’ he said, nodding toward the window, through which the sunlight was streaming. ‘I checked earlier, and the trains and buses are running again, so I’ll take you to the station when you’re ready.’
‘I think this will make you happy,’ Irena murmured. ‘But I will miss be here with you.’
‘We can stay in touch, if that’s what you want?’ Frank said, handing one of the cups to her when she took a seat at the table. ‘But London’s a huge city, and you’ll soon forget about me when you make new friends.’
‘I do not want to make new friend,’ she replied quietly, her gaze fixed on the steam rising from the cup.
‘I thought you were looking forward to moving on?’ Frank said. Frowning when Irena gave a tiny shake of her head and pulled a tissue out of her pocket, he sat beside her. ‘Is this about last night? I know you’ve been treated badly in the past, and I’m really sorry for what Evan did, but I honestly don’t think he meant to hurt you.’
‘This is not about Evan.’ She spat the name out. ‘I do not care about him, I care about you, and I am sad to know that I will not see you again. I am sorry if this make you uncomfortable, and I know you do not feel same, but is how I feel.’
Sighing, Frank reached for her hand.
‘Love, you don’t want me. You’ve been through a terrible experience, and you’re bound to be feeling vulnerable, but—’
Before he could go on, Irena leaned forward and kissed him. Instantly aroused, Frank leapt to his feet.
‘You can deny, but I know you feel something for me,’ Irena said, her gaze intense as she too stood up. ‘You have guilt because of wife, but she is gone and I am here, so please do not push me away.’
Frank raked his fingers through his hair and backed away from her. He had given himself a good talking to before going to sleep last night, and he’d truly thought he had got his emotions under control when he woke this morning. Irena was beautiful and, at thirty-six to his sixty, the age-gap wasn’t so great as to make a relationship completely unthinkable. But her being here had caused a rift between him and his children, and he had to put them first.
‘Frankie, look at me,’ Irena urged, cupping his cheek in her hand. ‘I did not expect to feel love when I meet you, but it happen, and I cannot leave without tell you this. If there is chance you can ever feel same, let me stay for few more days. If you do not want me after this, I will leave and you will never hear from me again.’
Frank squeezed his eyes shut. You’ve got to stop this, he told himself. Why? another voice argued. She wants you, and you want her, so what’s the problem?
When he still hadn’t spoken a few seconds later, Irena sighed and dropped her hand.
‘Is OK. Your silence has answer for you.’
‘Wait,’ Frank said when she turned to walk out.
She paused and gazed back at him.
‘Yes?’
‘Don’t go,’ he said. ‘Not yet, anyway. You’re right, I do feel something. I’ve tried not to, I really have, but it’s not working. And I know we haven’t known each other long, and my kids will probably never speak to me again, but—’
‘Stop talk,’ Irena said, walking up to him and looping her arms around his neck. ‘You have already say everything I need to hear.’
Their lips connected, and Frank went into an immediate state of turmoil: his body craving the intimacy after two – or was it closer to three? He honestly couldn’t remember – years of celibacy; his head warning him that his already damaged relationship with his children would undoubtedly disintegrate even further if he went ahead with this.
His touch-starved body won and, no longer trying to resist, he walked Irena backwards through the hall and into the living room, their lips still locked together, their hands unbuttoning and unzipping their clothes as they went.
Lying on top of her on the rug in front of the fire a few seconds later, Frank hesitated, and asked, ‘Are you sure about this?’
‘I thought I tell you to stop talk,’ she replied huskily, pulling him into her.
‘Was good?’ Irena asked, gazing into Frank’s eyes as she played with the hairs on his sweat-slick chest a few minutes later.
‘Uh huh,’ he murmured, his heart beating too hard for him to form complete words.
‘Is good for me, too,’ she purred, her soft breath tickling his throat. ‘I have dream of this since night of storm when you sleep in bed with me.’
Breathing out loudly when his pulse began to slow at last, Frank put his arm around her and pulled her closer. He hadn’t lasted very long, but she didn’t seem to mind, so he obviously wasn’t as rusty as he’d thought. Next time would be better – if she didn’t change her mind in the meantime.
They had been lying in each other’s arms for a few blissful minutes, when the doorbell rang, shattering the peace that had descended over the room.
‘Do not answer,’ Irena urged when Frank sat up. ‘If is important, they will come back.’
Another peal echoed through the hallway, and then a shadow crossed the window. Conscious that the curtains were open, Frank glanced round, and his blood ran cold when he saw Evan peering in. Their eyes met, and Evan jerked back as if he’d been burned.
‘Oh, shit!’ Frank muttered, scrambling to his feet.
‘What is wrong?’ Irena asked, snatching her clothes up off the floor to cover herself when he dragged his jeans on. ‘Where are you go, Frankie?’
He ran out into the hall without answering, and opened the front door in time to see Evan striding to the Land Rover.
‘Evan, wait!’ he yelled, pausing to pull a coat on to cover his bare chest before going after him.
‘For what?’ Evan asked angrily. ‘So you can tell me that wasn’t what it looked like? Ironic, eh? That’s exactly what I said to you last night, only in my case it was true.’
‘I can explain,’ Frank said breathlessly, putting his hand on the roof of the car to steady himself when stars began to pulse behind his eyes.
‘Don’t bother,’ Evan said coldly. ‘I saw everything I needed to see. I just can’t believe you’re being such a fucking hypocrite. And when did it start – before or after I came to stay? I mean, I knew you had a problem with me cracking on to her, but if I’d known it was because you were already screwing her, there’s no way I’d have touched her.’
‘That was the first time.’
‘Do me a favour! It was obvious you had the hots for her, and I even tried to tell you I’d be OK with it, but you flat out denied it.’
‘It’s true,’ Frank insisted. ‘And I was going to tell you next time we spoke.’
‘Well, I guess that’s one awkward conversation we don’t need to have now, isn’t it?’ Evan replied coolly. ‘But whether it was the first time or the millionth time, you need to ask yourself why she tried to cop off with me the minute your back was turned last night.’
‘You were drunk and you misread the situation,’ Frank argued. ‘I’m sure you didn’t mean for it to go as far as it did, but, come on, Son . . . you can’t keep blaming Irena.’
‘Bullshit!’ spat Evan. ‘I didn’t misread a damn thing! She started it, and I reckon she heard you coming down the stairs and put that show on for you ’cos she didn’t want you to see her for what she really is. The only thing I did wrong was put my hand over her mouth. I shouldn’t have done that.’
‘Well, that’s a start,’ said Frank. ‘And I’m sure Irena won’t hold it against you if you apologize.’
‘Are you for real?’ Evan’s eyebrows knitted together in disbelief. ‘I’m not apologizing to that conniving bitch. I was going to, for your sake, but you can both fuck off.’
He climbed into the car with that, and Frank was forced to jump back to protect his bare feet when Evan slammed his foot down on the accelerator and reversed out onto the lane.
Irena was standing in the hall when he went back inside the house.
‘Was bad?’ she asked.
‘Awful,’ he muttered. ‘I need a drink.’
‘I will get,’ she said. ‘You go sit down. Your face is very pale.’
Frank didn’t argue. His heart was still pounding, and he knew his blood pressure must be sky high, so he went into the living room and took his medication before sinking down on his chair.
Irena came back a few minutes later and handed him a cup of tea. Thanking her, even though he’d meant that he needed an alcoholic drink, Frank was about to take a sip when his mobile phone started ringing, and he said, ‘That didn’t take long,’ when he saw Jo’s name on the screen.
‘Is daughter?’ Irena asked, still standing beside the chair. ‘Would you like for me to talk to her?’
‘No, definitely not,’ said Frank. ‘Give me a minute, eh?’
Irena nodded and left the room, and Frank took a deep breath before answering the call.
‘Hello, love.’
‘Evan just rang me, and I can’t believe what he told me,’ Jo launched straight in without returning the greeting. ‘I’m absolutely disgusted.’
Sighing, Frank said, ‘I know it looks bad, but he’d had a lot to drink, and I’m sure he didn’t mean to—’
‘I’m not talking about him, I’m talking about you,’ Jo interrupted. ‘You’re his father, and you’ve known him his entire life, so how could you accuse him of something as vile as that?’
‘I didn’t accuse him of anything,’ Frank replied evenly. ‘I caught him. But, like I told him, I’m sure he got his wires crossed and misread the situation.’
‘She threw herself at him. There’s nothing to misread in that.’
‘With respect, love, you’re not here, and you haven’t seen the way he’s been behaving around her.’
‘So he flirted with her – big deal. He’s a man. That’s what they do when they’re attracted to someone.’
‘Not all of us.’
‘Oh, come off it, you’re no saint. Mum knew exactly what you were like, and it used to really piss her off when you turned on the charm for other women.’
‘I never cheated on your mother,’ Frank protested. ‘I loved her.’
‘So why are you disrespecting her memory by screwing that bitch in her house?’ Jo demanded. ‘And why would this woman even want to have sex with you if Evan tried to force himself on her? Rape is one of the most traumatic things a woman can go through, and there’s no way she’d have got over it that fast.’
‘I know what I saw,’ Frank said, rubbing his temples when they started throbbing. ‘Evan was lying on top of her with his hand over her mouth when I walked in, and she was absolutely terrified.’
‘She put it on because she heard you coming down the stairs,’ Jo said, repeating Evan’s theory. ‘But if you’d given him the chance to tell you what actually happened, you’d know she’d offered to give him a blow job immediately before that. And I’m sorry if that offends you, but you need to know the kind of woman you’re dealing with.’
Patience wearing thin, Frank said, ‘Irena has done nothing wrong, and I don’t appreciate you talking about her like this when you haven’t even met her.’
‘No, I haven’t met her, and I don’t bloody want to, because I’d be tempted to rip her lying face off,’ Jo retorted defiantly. ‘How dare she worm her way into my mother’s house and cause trouble like this!’
‘This isn’t really about her, is it?’ Frank asked perceptively. ‘It wouldn’t matter who she was, or where she’d come from, you just can’t bear that she’s here. But your mum’s gone and she’s never coming back, so it’s about time you accepted it.’
‘I can’t believe you said that,’ Jo gasped. ‘You might want to forget about Mum, but I never will.’
‘Neither will I,’ said Frank. ‘And you know damn well that isn’t what I meant. I’ll never stop loving your mother, and I wish to God she was still here. But she isn’t, and nothing’s ever going to change that.’
‘Well, I hope you’re very happy with your new life,’ Jo said bitterly. ‘But don’t expect me and Evan to accept that . . . woman into the family, because it’s never going to happen!’
She hung up at that, and Frank slammed his phone down on the arm of the chair. He shouldn’t have said that about Maureen being gone, because Jo had been very close to her, and that remark had clearly stung. But she’d been out of order, too. Both she and Evan had made choices he’d disagreed with in the past, but they were adults, so he’d figured they were entitled to make their own decisions. It was disappointing they weren’t willing to extend the same respect to him, though.
Irena tapped on the door, and Frank guessed from the wary expression on her face when she entered the room that she’d heard him raise his voice.
‘Is OK?’ she asked.
‘Not really,’ he admitted. ‘But it’s my problem, not yours, so I don’t want you worrying about it.’
‘Is my fault,’ she said dolefully. ‘I should leave.’
‘It is not your fault,’ Frank argued. ‘If you want to leave, that’s your decision, but I won’t have you chased out of here because my children can’t accept that I’m moving on. I know they think it’s too soon, but I reckon they’d feel the same if this had happened next year, or in ten years, so there’s no point waiting for their approval.’
‘So you do not want me to leave?’ Irena asked.
‘No.’ Frank reached for her hand. ‘Nothing’s changed as far as you’re concerned.’
‘Then I will stay,’ she said, smiling as she walked over to him. ‘And we will prove son and daughter wrong – yes?’
Frank rested his cheek on her sweet-smelling hair when she slid onto his lap. He had no idea if this was the beginning of something special or the biggest mistake he’d ever made, but Maureen had wanted him to be happy, so he owed it to her, and himself, to at least try to make a go of it.
16
Frank didn’t hear from Evan or Jo again in the run-up to Christmas, but he tried not to dwell on it, reminding himself that he’d done nothing wrong, and it was down to them to make the first move to build bridges.
It hadn’t snowed again since that last bad spell, and bright sunlight was streaming through the partially open curtains when he woke on Christmas morning. It brought him no joy, and he felt like dragging the quilt over his head and staying there until it was all over. This had always been the one day of the year when Maureen would get up a couple of hours before him, and she’d have made a start on the cooking by the time he went downstairs and would be pottering around making sure the house was ready for when the kids and their families arrived. But, today, with Maureen gone, and Jo and Evan still giving him the cold shoulder, there would be none of the usual noise, laughter, and present swapping.
He caught the lyrical strains of Irena singing along to the radio in the kitchen, and sighed as he shoved the quilt off his legs. He might not be feeling particularly festive, but she’d been looking forward to spending Christmas here with an almost childlike excitement, so, for her sake, he would make the effort to shake off the gloom. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she’d tried so hard to cheer him up these past few weeks, he figured he owed her the same consideration.
After washing and dressing, he made his way downstairs and paused in the hallway when he saw Irena swaying her hips to the music as she peeled vegetables at the kitchen sink. The ugly bruises that had marred her face when she’d first arrived had completely disappeared, and her confidence had grown as the terrible fear she’d been feeling lost its power over her. She regularly went with him in the evenings to feed Yvonne’s animals, which was nice, but she still wasn’t quite brave enough to go out in daylight in case someone spotted her. Still, she seemed content to stay behind and take care of the house whenever Frank had to go out, and the place was as spotless as Maureen had always kept it.
