Part Thirty Six
Denny woke up on yet another Sunday morning which wasn't any different from any other. The morning felt crap and the rest of the day wasn't going to get
better. She just had that feel about things. There, in the top bunk opposite, the large mound under the shabby quilt contained Al's sleeping body. The
sun shone in through the steel bars high up in the cell but that didn't make her feel warmer inside or feel any better about herself.
Karen parked her green sports car in her usual spot and handed in her keys to a surprised Ken on the gate who wondered why the Wing Governor was in on a
Sunday lunchtime and why she seemed so happy with herself. Any screw turning in on a Sunday was only happy when he'd filled in his overtime claim form
and figured out how much it would rake in. She walked rapidly across the courtyard before reaching for her bunch of keys and wondered why such a grey,
prosaic scenery could look so sharp, so well defined and new.
"Morning, maam. Surprised to see you in today." Bodybag's suspicious tones enquired." Come to see how the troops are going on."
The last remark was her muted version of 'Have you come to spy on us?' but not so muted that Betts wouldn't get the hint.
"I've only come in to do a spot of work that I couldn't do at home," Karen replied quite truthfully leaving Bodybag to draw the quite erroneous conclusion
that she would be working in the office. She had that delicious lazy slightly sleepy self satisfied feeling from a night with Yvonne that nothing could
shake. Bodybag was just a minor irritation that could float off elsewhere and take her gloom and misery with her. Perhaps she hadn't been getting it since
well before her Bobby died and that was what made her crotchety and determined that everyone else would be made miserable and sexually frustrated too.
Denny's hopes and fears for the trial had been seesawing all week as her life was on hold until the trial was over. At least she would know the best or
the worst. The best moment this week came when she heard Yvonne's familiar reassuring voice over the phone midweek. Yvonne could take one look at her and
see behind that hard angry surface the scared or perplexed child underneath. Her blend of humour and warmth could lift that black mood of depression and
cheer her up, even from the unlikely setting of Betts's room. It did her good to hear that familiar voice over the phone when Yvonne's as much as if she
was there in the flesh was with her even if it were out there and disembodied. Looking back on that day, it seemed strange to her to be hauled into the
room where, time after time, an angry faced Wing Governor dispensed one way justice over her head as a preliminary to two screws grabbing her by each shoulder
and hauling her off down to the block. Miss Stewart sent her there once and it did her head in, shut away on her own away from human contact. Nothing scared
her more than that.
"Denny Blood, will you report immediately to Miss Betts's office." Bodybag leaned over her while she was chatting to Al at breakfast table. Bloody hell,
the frigging screws won't let her even light a fag after luncht when she was dying to light up.
"What's it this time." Denny demanded aggressively. She ran over in her mind exactly what she might have done in the last week that some bitch might have
grassed her up for. Betts had been all right in letting her talk to Yvonne over the phone from her room but that same ingrained reaction kicked in every
time.
"You'll find out soon enough when you come with me." Bodybag replied enigmatically. In truth, she was as curious as anyone else as since when did Madam
change the habits of a lifetime and come in on a Sunday. She had just appeared, breezed in unexpectedly from nowhere. Bodybag went in first while Denny
waited outside and worried.
"Will that be all?" Bodybag asked suspiciously."Will you need me for later, only my shift ends in a few hours time and I'm off to cook my dinner."
"That will be all, Sylvia," Karen smiled."Except……."
"Except what" Bodybag irritably
"…..Except that I shall be out for the day, on prisoner escort taking Denny Blood to Yvonne Atkins's house for the day. Don't worry, I'll be responsible
for security and I won't make any extra work for the late shift." Karen told her with perfect aplomb.
"Daniella Blood," Bodybag started to say but her mouth stuck fast opened in anger, as the words never came. Other than to question the decision openly,
there was no specious argument that she could use.
"Ah, Denny, take a seat," Karen greeted her with a dazzling smile when Denny had knocked to enter and Bodybag stomped off past her, moaning under her breath.
Denny was still looking warily though her first impressions of Miss Betts was that she seemed to be in a good mood. Perhaps the worst that will happen will
be a warning.
"Denny, how would you like the idea of a day out under escort to Yvonne's house for her birthday." And Karen's wide smile was focussed on her.
"That's cool, Miss Betts." Denny's reply contained restrained enthusiasm though it sounded too good to be true. "But when's the day?"
"Like, twenty minutes time to get yourself ready and I'll be the escort. Does that sound good enough."
"Wicked." Denny could only react with her most overused word which covered a multitude of feelings. This seemed too good to be true but Miss Betts was telling
her this one. If nothing else, Betts was good for making good any promise that she made, good news or bad. At least bleeding Fenner wasn't going to be
the escort.
"Have you got everything you need for the day,"Karen asked a very excited Denny looking precisely like her eight year old former self out for the day for
a treat and dressed in a smarter outfit than her inevitable combat trousers and sleeveless T shirt. Denny wasn't into makeup and never had been apart from
that mysterious phase when for a short while, she paraded around , all dolled up and in a mini skirt.
"Sorry to have to put the handcuffs on, Denny." Karen said very apologetically. Denny nodded in acknowledgement as this was still Larkhall and to her, Miss
Betts played fair enough.
Denny looked round in Karen's green sports car and this, to her was her first taste of luxury and another was when Karen slipped off the handcuffs just
outside prison with a smiling remark that they would look a sight handcuffed together for Yvonne's birthday.
Denny lay back in the luxury of the car seat, her hand resting on the wound down car window and luxuriating in it all. Karen was softly singing to herself
an Elton John song, as it brought back the flavour of last night. To Karen, that song would be indissolubly linked to a feeling of carefree happiness and
freedom.
"I saw you dancing out the ocean
Running fast along the sand
A spirit born of earth and water
Fire flying from your hands
In the instant that you love someone
In the second that the hammer hits
Reality runs up your spine
And the pieces finally fit
And all I ever needed was the one
Like freedom fields where wild horses run
When stars collide like you and I
No shadows block the sun
You're all I've ever needed
Baby you're the one
There are caravans we follow
Drunken nights in dark hotels
When chances breathe between the silence
Where sex and love no longer gel
For each man in his time is Cain
Until he walks along the beach
And sees his future in the water
A long lost heart within his reach "
Denny listened while Miss Betts was singing half to herself and wondered lazily what was making her feel so good. Up till then, screws didn't have a private
life. They existed only in uniform apart from the gaps in time between which they passed in or out of the prison gates. This woman seemed different and
was taking her very kindly to Yvonne's house when she might have other things to do. That was nice of her.
They passed out of the snarling traffic noises and stop start of city streets, out towards spacious suburbs.
"There's a florist, Miss Betts. You've got to let me buy some flowers for Yvonne.
Karen smiled indulgently as her parent days instinct kicked in and she trailed after an excitable Denny as she wavered indecisively between various ideas.
The perfume of the flowers in the shop, in itself was a novelty. Eventually, the gift wrapped flowers were laid down carefully in the back seat of the
car and Karen carried on with the dreamy ride. Presently, the car whizzed into the front drive of absolutely the largest house Denny had seen in her life
which towered over her.
"Fucking hell" Denny breathed in total gobsmacked wonderment when she stood outside the car looking all around her, her eyes almost refusing to believe
the evidence in front of them. Karen smiled understandingly, remembering her own feelings a lifetime ago when she had first really entered Yvonne's world
for the first time. Denny's feet carried themselves slowly past the expensive cars while she looked all around her at the world she had suddenly been pitchforked
into.
The front door opened and a riotous splash of luxurious colours and smells hit Denny in the face but in the middle of it was Yvonne as she had always known
her. She held out her arms and Yvonne gave her a big hug. All Denny knew was that Yvonne sounded the same looked the same as she always was.
"Happy birthday.man" Denny eventually said."If you'd told me before, I would have got you something better than this." Denny said with more confidence than
she felt.
"These flowers and having you here, Denny, is enough. You don't need to worry." Yvonne said softly, knowing exactly how Denny was feeling. When they were
all at Larkhall together, they all had the same cell, suffered the same hardships, it was just that Yvonne was able to sneak or legally get in anything
from guitars to miniature bottles of scotch. This was different.
"You'll know my daughter, Lauren. She's no stranger to you." Yvonne gestured to her daughter Lauren who was politely standing back, looking questioningly
at her.
For the first time, Denny took in the surroundings and the sheer sensation of size stretching away from her hit her, after years accustomed to the close
confinement of her cell, threading her way past crowded corridors, up and down narrow metal staircases and keeping her arms close to her body. The staircase
in the hall was impossibly wide, and carpeted, winding its way round to a top half of the house she could only guess at. Expensive pictures hung upon the
walls.
"Come through this way and I'll fix you and the others a drink." Yvonne gestured.
In a daze, Denny could only follow the others blindly into the lounge where she sank into an enormous armchair that seemed to curl itself around her. She
leant back while a drink was put into her hand and she was offered a cigarette. She inhaled a lungful of air deeply and relaxed with a rush into the scenery
that she now found herself in. It wasn't just the nicotine but also the feeling of luxury of the house. It wasn't just the sip of beer that went to her
head as she chattered away in a much more expansive Denny than she was used to being for a long time.
A large black Alsatian dog made its noisy audience, wagging its tail and made its way towards Denny sensing a friend and asking to be made a fuss of. Denny
was in her element and patted him.
"Since he's made a friend of you, Denny, I ought to explain that his name is Trigger." Karen smiled by way of explanation to Denny who had found another
little fragment of experience from the outside world that she had not experienced since she lived at the Children's Home, one good memory of the place
that she had. It reminded her forcibly of her first love Jo Hall, the social worker in charge who had a similar dog.
"Excuse us, Denny, while Trigger takes over as usual," Yvonne smiled.
"I'll take him out for a walk in a bit, Mum. He could do with some exercise and it's still your birthday." Lauren offered graciously. In reality, she wanted
to clear her head and get her head round the thought that Mum and Karen had slept together last night. She was a bit conscious that all the focus of attention
was going to Denny while Lauren, who did everything uncomplainingly was being marginalised. "I'll be back a bit later on. See you Mum."
Trigger, on hearing the magic word 'walk' had trotted off ahead and returned gripping between his teeth the lead and made a fuss of Lauren in turn who was
now his clear favourite.
The room quietened down after Trigger took Lauren for a walk and Denny had more chance to take in her surroundings. Facing her, was the most enormous fireplace
that she could imagine outside a photo shoot in OK Magazine. To one side was a luxurious sofa that Karen and Yvonne naturally settled into.
If Yvonne and Karen Betts aren't shagging, thought Denny, then dress me up in a bleeding wedding dress to get hitched to a guy in a top hat and tails. There
is most definitely a feeling between each other and the way that Karen Betts behaves that she is at home here, that she belongs with Yvonne.
"I can't believe it, man." Denny said, smiling and shaking her head."I kind of thought you'd have a nice house but I didn't expect anything like this."
"It does take some getting used to, Denny." Karen smiled.
This is a different woman than the Miss Betts that I am used to, Denny thought. This woman is so relaxed and so cool, Denny thought admiringly. There was
a natural flair and sophistication with which Karen carries herself, and a real kind heartedness. This was a woman who if she were reborn and had the chance
of reincarnation, then she might want to grow up and be like.
"How are you getting on. I hope you have made dead sure that you haven't let some bastard get near to you like you promised."
"You can take it as read, Denny," Yvonne smiled smugly to herself,"That the chance of that happening right now is even less than when I was at Larkhall
and the only decent man around that way was the bleeding vicar." The way that Karen looked sideways at Yvonne looking like the cat that had lapped up the
cream removed Denny's last doubts, improbable though the idea was on Yvonne's past public reputation. However, she kept her thoughts to herself.
The three of them sank back into feelings of deep content that a sunny, lazy afternoon can bring in. The afternoon sun shone in through the windows and
Denny felt more than anything that she was in the family situation that she had longed for all her life. She had once seen one of her friend's father drive
up to the children's home she lived in and watch them drive away forever in the car and wished it was happening to her. Now she bathed in the warm glow
of being wanted while they chatted away inconsequentially.
They drifted out onto the terrace and they fetched out a cold buffet salad out by the swimming pool and a bottle of good white wine. The sun beat down gloriously
down on what was a natural heat trap on a summer day. Just then Lauren materialised out from nowhere from the trees at the end of the swimming pool and
a very happy Trigger had more humans to adopt.
It was heavenly for them all to watch the time go by and all seemed peaceful and serene while the sun described its arc inch by inch across the sky.
"I want to have some time with my mother," Lauren said slightly aggressively suddenly out of nowhere." Nothing personal to you two."
That was the one very slightly edgy note that spoiled the mood of perfection. On the face of it, Lauren was a very strong, highly independent woman who
had been used to going her own way, not least when Yvonne had been locked up for several years at Larkhall. Now, Lauren had the air of either being possessive
towards her and 'hands off' to any intruders or else simply wanted to have a family stand up row on their own. Karen knew the signs from past experience
though a bit of her wondered if Lauren was beginning to catch on to them.
Denny started to become slightly uneasy when Yvonne was being taken away from her
when Karen turned to her to reassure her.
"We ought to give them ,Denny. Tell you what, I'm going to change into my bikini and I'm going for a swim. I'll keep you company here. Promise." And Karen
looked directly into Denny's eyes to promise her that she would not desert her at any price. The irony of Denny actually wanting her prison escort not
to desert was not lost on Karen however opposite she appeared to be at that time. Karen had not really abandoned The Wing Governor on prison escort side
of the situation but that she knew how to be in control of a situation with very loose reins
Denny breathed a huge sigh of relief and sipped her goblet of white wine as the reassuring shape of Karen in a black bikini grew bigger and more real as
she approached her. It was Denny's desperate need for a mother figure that caused her first feelings to be of reassurance. Only as Karen came closer did
Denny wonder why in hell had she never realised how stunning she looked and how lucky Yvonne was.
Karen dived off into the pool and a slow leisurely backstroke took in gradual pulses of body and leg movement across the width of the pool. She looked up
at the blue sky and the trees leaning over above her.
"You'll hit the side, man" Denny called out
Karen only laughed, twirled her body round in time and splashed water over Denny's attempted sun tan.
"You bitch, you die." Denny called out jokingly.
"You'll have to catch me first," Karen laughed and they started a game of catch which passed the time until a silent Yvonne and a very tensely silent Lauren
emerged, not speaking to each other. This did not look good.
Karen was feeling rather chilled and announced that she was going to get changed.
"Do you want a hand with anything, Karen." She asked anxiously.
Karen smiled and nodded. A part of her was enjoying having Denny around like the daughter that she had never had.
It was later that Denny became painfully conscious that time was running out and what she had got was going to slip away from her. Yvonne's house was going
to follow a separate path from her life and no matter that she was going to get her freedom in the end, the time that felt like an infinity away and was
as if the day of freedom might be never.It never showed on her face except to Yvonne's sharp eyes who made an especial effort to laugh and joke when they
had all assembled together and Yvonne and Lauren had at least kept their private row to themselves. The shadows cast by the trees on the swimming pool
lengthened and the sun dipped below the line of the trees as they chatted away and smoked and drank.
"We'll have to be going soon, Denny," Eventually Karen said softly and sadly.
"I'm sorry I've not spoken to you more earlier," Lauren said, trying to be her nicest while pointedly ignoring Yvonne." I've been trying to sort out some
family matters."
"Same for me, Denny.And thanks for the flowers. I'll be thinking of you."Yvonne said with a slightly strained smile."Come here." And Yvonne gave a big hug
to Denny who had never withheld her affection from her. It helped her out as well as Denny.
The sun was low when a miserable Denny climbed into Karen's car and rewound the climb up to the pinnacle of pleasure that she had climbed. As Karen pulled
into the courtyard of Larkhall prison, Denny turned round and asked her with pleading in her eyes.
"Do I have to go back?"
It tore at Karen's heart to tell her the truth however unpalatable it was. She knew no other way than the truth though.
"I'm afraid you have to. But you've got Karen Betts looking after you from now on even though I have to be Wing Governor as well."
Denny gave Karen's arm a quick squeeze for telling her that she had gained something this day.
"Come on, I'll have to put the handcuffs on."
Denny held out her hand compliantly while Karen and Karen rattled with the keys as normal and let them in to the dingy cramped prison wing that was her
reality.
Karen was mildly surprised to see Sylvia pass by in a tearing hurry.
"I left something in my locker that I needed. Don't think I come to this place for pleasure, Miss Betts."
"No of course not," Karen smiled broadly at the prospect.
Then Sylvia peered closer at her trying to work out what was passing through her mind. Clairvoyant she is not and never will be.
"You look like the cat that got the cream." She said at last.
Got it in one, Sylvia, for once in your life though you don't know it. Then she escorted Denny back to her lonely drab dark cell and locked her in for the
night.
"The time will come, Denny. Trust me." She said urgently for herself and Denny who smiled through her tears.
Denny woke up on yet another Sunday morning which wasn't any different from any other. The morning felt crap and the rest of the day wasn't going to get
better. She just had that feel about things. There, in the top bunk opposite, the large mound under the shabby quilt contained Al's sleeping body. The
sun shone in through the steel bars high up in the cell but that didn't make her feel warmer inside or feel any better about herself.
Karen parked her green sports car in her usual spot and handed in her keys to a surprised Ken on the gate who wondered why the Wing Governor was in on a
Sunday lunchtime and why she seemed so happy with herself. Any screw turning in on a Sunday was only happy when he'd filled in his overtime claim form
and figured out how much it would rake in. She walked rapidly across the courtyard before reaching for her bunch of keys and wondered why such a grey,
prosaic scenery could look so sharp, so well defined and new.
"Morning, maam. Surprised to see you in today." Bodybag's suspicious tones enquired." Come to see how the troops are going on."
The last remark was her muted version of 'Have you come to spy on us?' but not so muted that Betts wouldn't get the hint.
"I've only come in to do a spot of work that I couldn't do at home," Karen replied quite truthfully leaving Bodybag to draw the quite erroneous conclusion
that she would be working in the office. She had that delicious lazy slightly sleepy self satisfied feeling from a night with Yvonne that nothing could
shake. Bodybag was just a minor irritation that could float off elsewhere and take her gloom and misery with her. Perhaps she hadn't been getting it since
well before her Bobby died and that was what made her crotchety and determined that everyone else would be made miserable and sexually frustrated too.
Denny's hopes and fears for the trial had been seesawing all week as her life was on hold until the trial was over. At least she would know the best or
the worst. The best moment this week came when she heard Yvonne's familiar reassuring voice over the phone midweek. Yvonne could take one look at her and
see behind that hard angry surface the scared or perplexed child underneath. Her blend of humour and warmth could lift that black mood of depression and
cheer her up, even from the unlikely setting of Betts's room. It did her good to hear that familiar voice over the phone when Yvonne's as much as if she
was there in the flesh was with her even if it were out there and disembodied. Looking back on that day, it seemed strange to her to be hauled into the
room where, time after time, an angry faced Wing Governor dispensed one way justice over her head as a preliminary to two screws grabbing her by each shoulder
and hauling her off down to the block. Miss Stewart sent her there once and it did her head in, shut away on her own away from human contact. Nothing scared
her more than that.
"Denny Blood, will you report immediately to Miss Betts's office." Bodybag leaned over her while she was chatting to Al at breakfast table. Bloody hell,
the frigging screws won't let her even light a fag after luncht when she was dying to light up.
"What's it this time." Denny demanded aggressively. She ran over in her mind exactly what she might have done in the last week that some bitch might have
grassed her up for. Betts had been all right in letting her talk to Yvonne over the phone from her room but that same ingrained reaction kicked in every
time.
"You'll find out soon enough when you come with me." Bodybag replied enigmatically. In truth, she was as curious as anyone else as since when did Madam
change the habits of a lifetime and come in on a Sunday. She had just appeared, breezed in unexpectedly from nowhere. Bodybag went in first while Denny
waited outside and worried.
"Will that be all?" Bodybag asked suspiciously."Will you need me for later, only my shift ends in a few hours time and I'm off to cook my dinner."
"That will be all, Sylvia," Karen smiled."Except……."
"Except what" Bodybag irritably
"…..Except that I shall be out for the day, on prisoner escort taking Denny Blood to Yvonne Atkins's house for the day. Don't worry, I'll be responsible
for security and I won't make any extra work for the late shift." Karen told her with perfect aplomb.
"Daniella Blood," Bodybag started to say but her mouth stuck fast opened in anger, as the words never came. Other than to question the decision openly,
there was no specious argument that she could use.
"Ah, Denny, take a seat," Karen greeted her with a dazzling smile when Denny had knocked to enter and Bodybag stomped off past her, moaning under her breath.
Denny was still looking warily though her first impressions of Miss Betts was that she seemed to be in a good mood. Perhaps the worst that will happen will
be a warning.
"Denny, how would you like the idea of a day out under escort to Yvonne's house for her birthday." And Karen's wide smile was focussed on her.
"That's cool, Miss Betts." Denny's reply contained restrained enthusiasm though it sounded too good to be true. "But when's the day?"
"Like, twenty minutes time to get yourself ready and I'll be the escort. Does that sound good enough."
"Wicked." Denny could only react with her most overused word which covered a multitude of feelings. This seemed too good to be true but Miss Betts was telling
her this one. If nothing else, Betts was good for making good any promise that she made, good news or bad. At least bleeding Fenner wasn't going to be
the escort.
"Have you got everything you need for the day,"Karen asked a very excited Denny looking precisely like her eight year old former self out for the day for
a treat and dressed in a smarter outfit than her inevitable combat trousers and sleeveless T shirt. Denny wasn't into makeup and never had been apart from
that mysterious phase when for a short while, she paraded around , all dolled up and in a mini skirt.
"Sorry to have to put the handcuffs on, Denny." Karen said very apologetically. Denny nodded in acknowledgement as this was still Larkhall and to her, Miss
Betts played fair enough.
Denny looked round in Karen's green sports car and this, to her was her first taste of luxury and another was when Karen slipped off the handcuffs just
outside prison with a smiling remark that they would look a sight handcuffed together for Yvonne's birthday.
Denny lay back in the luxury of the car seat, her hand resting on the wound down car window and luxuriating in it all. Karen was softly singing to herself
an Elton John song, as it brought back the flavour of last night. To Karen, that song would be indissolubly linked to a feeling of carefree happiness and
freedom.
"I saw you dancing out the ocean
Running fast along the sand
A spirit born of earth and water
Fire flying from your hands
In the instant that you love someone
In the second that the hammer hits
Reality runs up your spine
And the pieces finally fit
And all I ever needed was the one
Like freedom fields where wild horses run
When stars collide like you and I
No shadows block the sun
You're all I've ever needed
Baby you're the one
There are caravans we follow
Drunken nights in dark hotels
When chances breathe between the silence
Where sex and love no longer gel
For each man in his time is Cain
Until he walks along the beach
And sees his future in the water
A long lost heart within his reach "
Denny listened while Miss Betts was singing half to herself and wondered lazily what was making her feel so good. Up till then, screws didn't have a private
life. They existed only in uniform apart from the gaps in time between which they passed in or out of the prison gates. This woman seemed different and
was taking her very kindly to Yvonne's house when she might have other things to do. That was nice of her.
They passed out of the snarling traffic noises and stop start of city streets, out towards spacious suburbs.
"There's a florist, Miss Betts. You've got to let me buy some flowers for Yvonne.
Karen smiled indulgently as her parent days instinct kicked in and she trailed after an excitable Denny as she wavered indecisively between various ideas.
The perfume of the flowers in the shop, in itself was a novelty. Eventually, the gift wrapped flowers were laid down carefully in the back seat of the
car and Karen carried on with the dreamy ride. Presently, the car whizzed into the front drive of absolutely the largest house Denny had seen in her life
which towered over her.
"Fucking hell" Denny breathed in total gobsmacked wonderment when she stood outside the car looking all around her, her eyes almost refusing to believe
the evidence in front of them. Karen smiled understandingly, remembering her own feelings a lifetime ago when she had first really entered Yvonne's world
for the first time. Denny's feet carried themselves slowly past the expensive cars while she looked all around her at the world she had suddenly been pitchforked
into.
The front door opened and a riotous splash of luxurious colours and smells hit Denny in the face but in the middle of it was Yvonne as she had always known
her. She held out her arms and Yvonne gave her a big hug. All Denny knew was that Yvonne sounded the same looked the same as she always was.
"Happy birthday.man" Denny eventually said."If you'd told me before, I would have got you something better than this." Denny said with more confidence than
she felt.
"These flowers and having you here, Denny, is enough. You don't need to worry." Yvonne said softly, knowing exactly how Denny was feeling. When they were
all at Larkhall together, they all had the same cell, suffered the same hardships, it was just that Yvonne was able to sneak or legally get in anything
from guitars to miniature bottles of scotch. This was different.
"You'll know my daughter, Lauren. She's no stranger to you." Yvonne gestured to her daughter Lauren who was politely standing back, looking questioningly
at her.
For the first time, Denny took in the surroundings and the sheer sensation of size stretching away from her hit her, after years accustomed to the close
confinement of her cell, threading her way past crowded corridors, up and down narrow metal staircases and keeping her arms close to her body. The staircase
in the hall was impossibly wide, and carpeted, winding its way round to a top half of the house she could only guess at. Expensive pictures hung upon the
walls.
"Come through this way and I'll fix you and the others a drink." Yvonne gestured.
In a daze, Denny could only follow the others blindly into the lounge where she sank into an enormous armchair that seemed to curl itself around her. She
leant back while a drink was put into her hand and she was offered a cigarette. She inhaled a lungful of air deeply and relaxed with a rush into the scenery
that she now found herself in. It wasn't just the nicotine but also the feeling of luxury of the house. It wasn't just the sip of beer that went to her
head as she chattered away in a much more expansive Denny than she was used to being for a long time.
A large black Alsatian dog made its noisy audience, wagging its tail and made its way towards Denny sensing a friend and asking to be made a fuss of. Denny
was in her element and patted him.
"Since he's made a friend of you, Denny, I ought to explain that his name is Trigger." Karen smiled by way of explanation to Denny who had found another
little fragment of experience from the outside world that she had not experienced since she lived at the Children's Home, one good memory of the place
that she had. It reminded her forcibly of her first love Jo Hall, the social worker in charge who had a similar dog.
"Excuse us, Denny, while Trigger takes over as usual," Yvonne smiled.
"I'll take him out for a walk in a bit, Mum. He could do with some exercise and it's still your birthday." Lauren offered graciously. In reality, she wanted
to clear her head and get her head round the thought that Mum and Karen had slept together last night. She was a bit conscious that all the focus of attention
was going to Denny while Lauren, who did everything uncomplainingly was being marginalised. "I'll be back a bit later on. See you Mum."
Trigger, on hearing the magic word 'walk' had trotted off ahead and returned gripping between his teeth the lead and made a fuss of Lauren in turn who was
now his clear favourite.
The room quietened down after Trigger took Lauren for a walk and Denny had more chance to take in her surroundings. Facing her, was the most enormous fireplace
that she could imagine outside a photo shoot in OK Magazine. To one side was a luxurious sofa that Karen and Yvonne naturally settled into.
If Yvonne and Karen Betts aren't shagging, thought Denny, then dress me up in a bleeding wedding dress to get hitched to a guy in a top hat and tails. There
is most definitely a feeling between each other and the way that Karen Betts behaves that she is at home here, that she belongs with Yvonne.
"I can't believe it, man." Denny said, smiling and shaking her head."I kind of thought you'd have a nice house but I didn't expect anything like this."
"It does take some getting used to, Denny." Karen smiled.
This is a different woman than the Miss Betts that I am used to, Denny thought. This woman is so relaxed and so cool, Denny thought admiringly. There was
a natural flair and sophistication with which Karen carries herself, and a real kind heartedness. This was a woman who if she were reborn and had the chance
of reincarnation, then she might want to grow up and be like.
"How are you getting on. I hope you have made dead sure that you haven't let some bastard get near to you like you promised."
"You can take it as read, Denny," Yvonne smiled smugly to herself,"That the chance of that happening right now is even less than when I was at Larkhall
and the only decent man around that way was the bleeding vicar." The way that Karen looked sideways at Yvonne looking like the cat that had lapped up the
cream removed Denny's last doubts, improbable though the idea was on Yvonne's past public reputation. However, she kept her thoughts to herself.
The three of them sank back into feelings of deep content that a sunny, lazy afternoon can bring in. The afternoon sun shone in through the windows and
Denny felt more than anything that she was in the family situation that she had longed for all her life. She had once seen one of her friend's father drive
up to the children's home she lived in and watch them drive away forever in the car and wished it was happening to her. Now she bathed in the warm glow
of being wanted while they chatted away inconsequentially.
They drifted out onto the terrace and they fetched out a cold buffet salad out by the swimming pool and a bottle of good white wine. The sun beat down gloriously
down on what was a natural heat trap on a summer day. Just then Lauren materialised out from nowhere from the trees at the end of the swimming pool and
a very happy Trigger had more humans to adopt.
It was heavenly for them all to watch the time go by and all seemed peaceful and serene while the sun described its arc inch by inch across the sky.
"I want to have some time with my mother," Lauren said slightly aggressively suddenly out of nowhere." Nothing personal to you two."
That was the one very slightly edgy note that spoiled the mood of perfection. On the face of it, Lauren was a very strong, highly independent woman who
had been used to going her own way, not least when Yvonne had been locked up for several years at Larkhall. Now, Lauren had the air of either being possessive
towards her and 'hands off' to any intruders or else simply wanted to have a family stand up row on their own. Karen knew the signs from past experience
though a bit of her wondered if Lauren was beginning to catch on to them.
Denny started to become slightly uneasy when Yvonne was being taken away from her
when Karen turned to her to reassure her.
"We ought to give them ,Denny. Tell you what, I'm going to change into my bikini and I'm going for a swim. I'll keep you company here. Promise." And Karen
looked directly into Denny's eyes to promise her that she would not desert her at any price. The irony of Denny actually wanting her prison escort not
to desert was not lost on Karen however opposite she appeared to be at that time. Karen had not really abandoned The Wing Governor on prison escort side
of the situation but that she knew how to be in control of a situation with very loose reins
Denny breathed a huge sigh of relief and sipped her goblet of white wine as the reassuring shape of Karen in a black bikini grew bigger and more real as
she approached her. It was Denny's desperate need for a mother figure that caused her first feelings to be of reassurance. Only as Karen came closer did
Denny wonder why in hell had she never realised how stunning she looked and how lucky Yvonne was.
Karen dived off into the pool and a slow leisurely backstroke took in gradual pulses of body and leg movement across the width of the pool. She looked up
at the blue sky and the trees leaning over above her.
"You'll hit the side, man" Denny called out
Karen only laughed, twirled her body round in time and splashed water over Denny's attempted sun tan.
"You bitch, you die." Denny called out jokingly.
"You'll have to catch me first," Karen laughed and they started a game of catch which passed the time until a silent Yvonne and a very tensely silent Lauren
emerged, not speaking to each other. This did not look good.
Karen was feeling rather chilled and announced that she was going to get changed.
"Do you want a hand with anything, Karen." She asked anxiously.
Karen smiled and nodded. A part of her was enjoying having Denny around like the daughter that she had never had.
It was later that Denny became painfully conscious that time was running out and what she had got was going to slip away from her. Yvonne's house was going
to follow a separate path from her life and no matter that she was going to get her freedom in the end, the time that felt like an infinity away and was
as if the day of freedom might be never.It never showed on her face except to Yvonne's sharp eyes who made an especial effort to laugh and joke when they
had all assembled together and Yvonne and Lauren had at least kept their private row to themselves. The shadows cast by the trees on the swimming pool
lengthened and the sun dipped below the line of the trees as they chatted away and smoked and drank.
"We'll have to be going soon, Denny," Eventually Karen said softly and sadly.
"I'm sorry I've not spoken to you more earlier," Lauren said, trying to be her nicest while pointedly ignoring Yvonne." I've been trying to sort out some
family matters."
"Same for me, Denny.And thanks for the flowers. I'll be thinking of you."Yvonne said with a slightly strained smile."Come here." And Yvonne gave a big hug
to Denny who had never withheld her affection from her. It helped her out as well as Denny.
The sun was low when a miserable Denny climbed into Karen's car and rewound the climb up to the pinnacle of pleasure that she had climbed. As Karen pulled
into the courtyard of Larkhall prison, Denny turned round and asked her with pleading in her eyes.
"Do I have to go back?"
It tore at Karen's heart to tell her the truth however unpalatable it was. She knew no other way than the truth though.
"I'm afraid you have to. But you've got Karen Betts looking after you from now on even though I have to be Wing Governor as well."
Denny gave Karen's arm a quick squeeze for telling her that she had gained something this day.
"Come on, I'll have to put the handcuffs on."
Denny held out her hand compliantly while Karen and Karen rattled with the keys as normal and let them in to the dingy cramped prison wing that was her
reality.
Karen was mildly surprised to see Sylvia pass by in a tearing hurry.
"I left something in my locker that I needed. Don't think I come to this place for pleasure, Miss Betts."
"No of course not," Karen smiled broadly at the prospect.
Then Sylvia peered closer at her trying to work out what was passing through her mind. Clairvoyant she is not and never will be.
"You look like the cat that got the cream." She said at last.
Got it in one, Sylvia, for once in your life though you don't know it. Then she escorted Denny back to her lonely drab dark cell and locked her in for the
night.
"The time will come, Denny. Trust me." She said urgently for herself and Denny who smiled through her tears.