Chapter Eighteen
"Well ladies! Have a lovely lunch, but behave" warned Hugh "I don't expect to be reading about your antics in the papers tomorrow"
"Hugh!" Margaret admonished. Isobel just laughed. They climbed into the waiting taxi and were gone.
"I think I'll walk to Tim's" Dickie told Hugh "I could do with the chance to think about what I can say to him."
"Good luck old chap. Shall I meet you at the Club for lunch?" Hugh gave Dickie a brotherly pat on the back.
Dickie just nodded, put his hat on his head and started down the street.
-TW- -TW- -TW-
"How long will it take to get there, do you think?" Isobel asked.
"Ooh, only about 20 minutes or so. Why?" Margaret queried.
"There's something I wanted to ask you about, and I wondered whether we have enough time" Isobel turned to her friend "It's about Amelia."
"Ah, I see" Margaret avoided Isobel's eye. She knew it wouldn't help, but still.
"When we were discussing John coming to us in Yorkshire during dinner last night, you said 'that's interesting'. What did you mean?" Isobel was determined to get an answer.
Margaret sighed. "It's a bit difficult to know where to start." Margaret prevaricated. Isobel just lifted an eyebrow "I've known Amelia a long time: I knew her mother many years ago. I never liked her father, and I helped her mother cope with his mood swings and offered her refuge a couple of times when she didn't want to go home." Isobel's mouth opened "Oh, nothing like you and I have seen in women's refuges through the years, it was only ever words, but he was controlling, vindictive and very loud. A bully. When Molly was dying, she asked me to always look out for Amelia. She feared that Arnold would use her for his own ends. But Amelia was always a determined little thing. She had her father wound around her finger, and would never let him get away with anything. She would stand toe-to-toe with him and shout him down. It was really something to behold." Margaret paused, looking at the world passing outside the window. "She wasn't interested in me despite Molly's request, but I always kept an eye out for her. I was a little concerned when I heard about her and Larry because I knew Ada, but she insisted she knew what she was doing." Margaret sighed "Then, just over a year ago she sent me a message asking to meet. She suggested we go to a Tuesday night party as no one would suspect anything."
"Suspect what though?" Isobel looked concerned "I never liked Larry, but he didn't strike me as the bad husband type."
"She'd just found out she was pregnant. I don't think they'd planned a family at that stage and his reaction made her question a few things. Mostly, she just wanted to know about what raising children involved." Margaret looked at her friend "It was a fluke that we were in a conversation with someone else at one of the parties and she found out we knew each other. We had an exchange of views, shall we say, and I thought that was that."
"She had hoped to use me as a companion and nursemaid for Dickie so that she didn't have to bother with him, and then park me somewhere out of the way after he had died" Isobel said quietly. "Her support for us being together evaporated when she found out he had a terminal illness. As Cousin Violet put it, she didn't want me having a claim on Dickie's estate."
"Yes, I think she made that quite clear. She had some… inaccurate, shall we say, ideas about her dead mother-in-law too, which I tried to disabuse her of." Margaret sounded frustrated.
"Larry has always idolised his mother, from what I understand. They were very close" Isobel confirmed.
"Our conversation must have had some effect, because she came to see me out of the blue in August. She brought John, who was a lovely baby and very easy from what I understood. Larry had been putting pressure on her to leave raising the child to the staff, said he needed her help with maintaining his position and that was more important. We had a conversation about motherhood, what she felt was important in a child's life. She asked me about Molly and what I remembered, and how Molly had coped with her father. She asked me about you and Reginald and Matthew. She seemed to be in a quandary about whether to challenge Larry about how they raised their children." Margaret looked at Isobel with concern "She never mentioned anything about money worries, or travelling, or anything else. It was just young mother stuff. But from what you said last night, she must have already been thinking of something else?"
"Maybe, and maybe we'll never know." Isobel reached out to cover her friend's hand and squeezed it. "There's no way you could have known what would happen. I'm glad that she could talk to you. I'm still surprised at the decision she made, but at least we know it was a considered decision and not a last minute panic."
"Yes, I suppose so" Margaret said distractedly "I still have this feeling that I missed something, and that I've let Molly down."
"You were there, and I'm sure Molly would be grateful for that" Isobel consoled her friend.
"Ah, we're here!" Margaret announced, determined to focus on the party. "Let's leave our worries in the cab and enjoy ourselves for a while" She gave Isobel a wide grin and stepped out of the cab.
-TW- -TW- -TW-
Dickie knocked on Tim's door, unsure whether he was doing the right thing. He was about to walk away when it finally opened.
"Come to gloat, have we?" Tim looked dreadful. Clearly hungover, still wearing the stained clothes from the night before and sporting a fresh balck eye.
"No, I was worried about you after your display last night." Dickie assured him "I came to see if you are alright?"
"I'm fine" Tim replied "You can take your quasi concern and toddle back to your cosy friends."
"I am concerned Tim. However rude you choose to be, you are still my son and I worry about what happens to you" Dickie insisted. "I know you looked up to Larry, and this must all have been quite a shock. Just remember, whatever happens, I am still here if you need me."
Tim stood leaning against the door, head hanging down. Dickie waited for a few minutes, then quietly turned to leave. He was almost at the stairs when he heard Tim say "Wait" and turned.
"Did you know?" Tim asked quietly.
"About what?" Dickie replied.
"About any of it? The money? The investments? The gambling?" Tim looked up "Did you know?"
Dickie slowly walked back along the corridor "No. None of it. Do you think I would have signed any of it over to him if I thought this would happen? There are people who have worked for me for 20 years who no longer have a roof over their head; do you honestly think I would have knowingly let that happen?"
Tim looked at his father and slowly turned to lead the way back in to the flat. He looked strikingly like a little boy again, and as Dickie followed him he cursed Larry for the hurt he had caused his brother.