The Letter, page 33
‘Well, it looks as if it was,’ said Gloria, quick as an alligator’s snap.
‘Aah, you betrayer!’ Mona shrieked. ‘And now you bring your floozie to my door, and this … this by-blow, to mock me. Was ever an innocent woman so treated? And you, Millie Boyd, I can guess your part in all this.’
‘Then you’ll know why you deserve everything you’re getting, the pair of you,’ said Millie. ‘I’ve longed for this day, to see you being paid back, mostly for what you did to my mother, Frank – the violence, the bullying – yes, and to Uncle Thomas, too, and for what you both did to me: pretending to want to give me a loving home, and then not showing one single moment of any kind of love or generosity of heart.’
‘No!’ yelled Frank, ‘that’s not true. Whatever Nanette told you, she was lying. She always was unstable.’
‘Lying? Unstable?’ shrieked Mona. ‘You’d know all about that, I reckon. You must be off your head to think you can have two wives!’
By now, the shouting and the accusations had reached an ear-splitting volume and the poor toddler was terrified. He sat down heavily on the doorstep and started wailing at the top of his voice, big fat tears flowing down his round red face.
The Marchants’ next-door neighbour opened her front door to see what the disturbance was. She was a hatchet-faced middle-aged woman who didn’t take kindly to having her Saturday morning disturbed.
‘What’s going on?’ she demanded.
‘I’m married to a bigamist,’ bellowed Mona, ‘and this woman’s come round to move into my home. To throw me out! The nerve of her! Brought her son with her and thinks she’s coming to live here.’ She turned back to poor Gloria, spitting venom. ‘Well, I’ll show you, you young madam. Frank’s been married to me since before you were born, so you’re the false wife, not me. So you can just get off my doorstep and take your bastard with you before I come out there and kick you off.’
Aunt Moaner is definitely showing her true colours, thought Millie.
She was beginning to feel a bit sorry that she had caused Gloria to be subjected to this onslaught of vitriol, and the whole unfortunate situation, but what else could she do? If Uncle Frank’s crime were to be revealed, the evidence had to be shown.
‘Bigamist?’ demanded Mrs Bossy Boots next door. ‘Disgusting! A perversion of God’s laws, and criminal, too. I’m going to call the police now. And you can all shut up and tell it to the constables instead of shouting about it in the garden.’ She went back into her house and slammed the door.
‘This is the worst day of my life,’ wept Gloria. ‘I thought you loved me, and it turns out it’s all lies, Frank, even our marriage. I reckon you’re not even a travelling salesman at all, but have been shacked up all along with this woman who’s also your wife, and only a short way across town from me.’
‘There’s only one wife, and that’s me,’ said Mona. ‘And my Frank works at a bank.’
‘Not for long after this,’ muttered Millie. Maybe the moment had come to leave them all to it. There was really only one thing she could add. ‘I doubt I’ll see you again, Uncle Frank,’ she said, ‘but you might want to bear in mind: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper.”’
‘Wait a minute,’ said Gloria, outraged. ‘Did you say this fella is your uncle? Why have you done this? He’s Frankie’s father. Couldn’t you have left us in peace? We were just about going on all right until you came and played this horrible trick on us.’
‘It wasn’t idle mischief-making, Gloria. It was time for the truth to come out. I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time. I’m sorry you and young Frankie are the innocent victims in my revenge on these two monsters, but I can’t help that.’
‘Monsters!’ yelled Mona. ‘You’re the monster, Millie Boyd. You’re a fiend from hell, a devil in human clothing! You are to blame.’
‘No, you and Frank are to blame,’ said Millie. ‘And now Frank’s going to get his punishment, and so are you.’
She turned and walked quickly away, the shouting and yelling continuing behind her.
Round the corner from Beaucroft Road, she met two police constables heading in the direction of the Marchants’ house to question and possibly arrest the bigamist. She stepped to the side of the pavement to let them hurry on their way.
At Blackburn Station, Bella was just coming out onto the street when she saw Millie walking quickly towards her, holding her umbrella to one side against the rain.
‘Millie! Oh, thank goodness I’ve met you here. I was thinking I’d have to go to Uncle Frank and Aunt Mona’s, and I had hoped never to have to go there again after last time.’
They moved into the station out of the rain. Bella saw Millie was looking a little hectic. Her eyes were darting this way and that, and there were two patches of high colour on her cheeks. Whatever she had been up to, it had involved drama.
‘What’s happened?’ Bella demanded, fearing some kind of violence. There had been a few terrible incidents around people who had crossed Millie, and although those had surely been just coincidences, they were difficult to forget.
‘How did you know I was here?’ asked Millie.
‘Dad and I saw you’d left early, which suggested a long journey. We found the rejected letters you’d typed in the waste-paper basket, which pointed to your coming here. Then I asked at the station and the man there told me a young person had bought a ticket to Blackburn, and described you. So here I am, to make sure you’re all right. But you don’t look completely all right to me. Please, tell me what’s happened.’ She was fearful now.
‘Oh, Bella, don’t look so worried. It’s all going to be sorted out. The police were on their way when I left.’
‘Police! Millie, what have you done?’
‘Just revealed a truth that needed telling,’ Millie said. Already she was beginning to look calmer. ‘And if we get a move on, we can get that train to York.’ She pointed towards the departure board.
‘I can’t get on a train until I know what’s been happening. Millie, I have to know you’ve not done owt awful. You’re scaring me, and I need to know Uncle Frank and Aunt Mona are OK.’
‘I promise they’re not physically harmed,’ said Millie. ‘Not unless they’ve harmed each other. Now come on, or we’ll have to wait for ages for the next train.’
She set off towards the platform, dragging Bella with her.
When they were sitting comfortably in third class, or as comfortably as third class would allow, Millie told Bella the whole story of her revenge against Uncle Frank. How she’d seen him with the woman who turned out to be Gloria and her baby, Frankie, in the street one day when she was playing truant from school. The baby so very obviously looked exactly like Frank, with his big round head and his large and characteristic nose, that she’d followed them home, making a mental note of the address. Then she had knocked on the door of the house next door but one, asking about a woman with a baby, saying she’d found a baby’s rattle in the street and wanted to return it. Gloria’s neighbour had provided quite a lot of information, interested as she was in the woman who claimed to have a husband but whose husband was mostly not there. How keen people were to share their disapproval. Mrs Marchant, the young mother was called.
‘Good grief,’ said Bella, but quietly. She lowered her voice still further. ‘So Uncle Frank was married to two women. I’m astounded.’
‘I thought it was about time to bring this to light,’ said Millie. ‘My goodness, you should have heard the shouting. It was the woman next door who called the police when it all got a bit … heated.’ She grinned at her deliberate euphemism. ‘You know what hypocrites those two were, always so strait-laced and holier-than-thou. It serves them right that everyone now knows all about them. As I said, people are very keen to share their disapproval. Aunt Moaner will have quite a lot of anxiety about what the neighbours think when Uncle Frank is banged up in prison. I’m really sorry for Gloria, though. I’m sure Uncle Frank took her in, and their baby is perfectly hideous to look at: the very image of Uncle Frank, but aged two. Something the little one said makes me think Uncle Frank smacks him, so perhaps he’s better off without his father in his life. Shame about his looks, though. He’s stuck with those.’
Bella felt quite shocked that Millie could find anything funny in any of this. Sometimes, still, it was difficult to fit Millie’s behaviour into the accepted norm. She seemed to have her own rules, although Bella had noticed more humanity creeping into her dramas since Thomas’s bicycle accident and Millie’s revelation about her guilt over her parents’ deaths. It was as if she were allowing herself to feel. She no longer had to harden her heart in case her anguish broke her. ‘Shush, Millie. Please. It’s not funny.’
‘It is a bit,’ said Millie, but she looked chastened.
The train on the last leg of their journey was quiet and they had two seats each to themselves. Both Millie and Bella were tired.
‘Reminds me of that first journey, when Alice and I rescued you from Uncle Frank and Aunt Mona, and brought you home with us,’ said Bella.
Millie smiled. ‘Yes, home. At first I didn’t know if it would become my home but now I know it is.’
‘It’s your home for as long as you want it. You do know that, don’t you? Dad and I – well, you’ve made a difference to us. He’s so much happier, so much more … fulfilled. You found his job for him, his vocation. Now he’s having his book of stories published, and with those lovely pictures of yours on the jacket and as a frontispiece – Alice tells me that’s what it’s called. We’re all so excited for both of you. Dad’s a success in his work at last, and we are so proud of him. We owe that to you, Millie.’
Millie nodded. ‘Thank you,’ she said quietly. ‘But he just needed a little help finding what he wanted to do, that’s all.’
‘And you’re really making a success of your work, too. I’m so happy for you. It’s what you deserve. I thought you’d lost your way at one time, but I realise now you were just waiting for your opportunity. It wasn’t that long in coming.’
‘Ha, I’m good at that,’ said Millie. ‘Waiting for my chance. I think my big opportunity came with Bobbie, as did Alice’s, but in a different way.’
‘Yes, dear Bobbie. Alice is happier than she’s ever been. And Bobbie’s father adores Alice. I’m pleased for both Alice and Bobbie that each is with the person she loves.’
There were some minutes of silence between them. Then Millie said, ‘And what about you, Bella? Are you going to leave the nest?’
‘I’m in no hurry this time,’ said Bella carefully. ‘You know, I was very upset with you for finding out about Sidney. I was silly – I had to know the truth – but I thought at first that you’d ruined my life, and I wasn’t sure how much I wanted you as my sister just then. I had a terrible nightmare in which you were … well, never mind. Oh, forgive me, Millie. I was foolish about so many things, and Sidney was just one. Dad and Alice didn’t want to … redirect me onto a saner path because they thought they were respecting my choice, however daft I was, but you had no reservations about speaking the truth. I’m so glad you did.’
‘So am I. Honestly, Bella, imagine being married to that half-wit Sidney Bennett. And his mother seemed to come as part of the deal, from what I could see. What a nightmare!’
‘I hear Mrs B isn’t boasting about her marvellous boy quite so much since he lost his job at the town hall. You might have seen, he spent the rest of last summer hiring out deck chairs, and now he’s selling newspapers and chocolate at the newsagent’s. I don’t mind seeing him in there – I’ve nowt to be ashamed of – but I’ve noticed him sneaking away round the back if he sees me coming in.’
‘Not much use for his fancy suits there.’ Millie giggled. ‘I wonder what he does when Muriel Chalfont goes in.’
‘Ha, probably the same. I saw her in the High Street shortly after Sidney got the sack, when I was with Vera. Well, of course, Vera knew all the details, and she said in a big loud voice, “Isn’t that the ghastly woman Sidney Bennett got taken in by?” And I said, “Yes: Muriel Chalfont. It’s hardly surprising that she’s never seen with any friends. Folk know to avoid her.” Of course, everyone around heard, including Muriel herself, and they turned to look at her as she hurried away.’
Millie laughed. ‘So what about Toby? Seems a shame he’s in London and you get to see him only every so often.’
‘Well, we’ll have to see what happens,’ Bella replied. ‘He’s hoping to start up his own business soon, and he’ll want to avoid being in competition with Mr Meyer, his employer. That wouldn’t be fair after Mr Meyer has taught him all he knows. So mebbe Toby will move back up to Yorkshire, perhaps open a tailoring business in Baybury, where there’s a bit more money and more folk to buy smart clothes than in Theddleton. He’s thinking about it. Certainly, Mr and Mrs Warminster will be pleased if he does.’
‘As will you.’
‘Yes …’
They leaned back in their seats. Millie took off her shoes and tucked her legs up beside her.
After a while she said, ‘Bella …’
‘Mm?’
‘I’ve learned now, thanks to you, that making my own way doesn’t mean having to do it all on my own, shouldering all the bad things alone.’
‘No, of course it doesn’t. You’ve got us to help you.’
‘Exactly. Alice told me that, too. And we are all far better off together than apart.’
Millie leaned back and closed her eyes. Soon she was asleep.
Bella watched her, free to examine the face that so closely resembled her own. In many obvious ways, Millie Boyd fitted in perfectly as the third Marchant sister. But in other ways, she was not an ordinary, predictable, comfortable person at all. Some strange things had happened in this last year, good and bad; the lives of the entire family had changed and taken new paths, and some secrets had been revealed. Much of this was clearly down to Millie but, thank goodness, the belief that Millie had had, that her fury had power and could influence events and that she was in some horrible way responsible, had been well and truly overcome.
Just as this thought passed through Bella’s mind, the clouds parted for the first time that day and the low sun blazed through the train window onto Millie’s face, transforming her instantly, her head lit and haloed like a madonna’s, her blue dress glowing as if it were painted with precious lapis lazuli.
Yes, that’s what she is, thought Bella. Our naughty angel, the missing sister. How thankful they all were that she had written that heartbreaking, misspelled letter, begging to be rescued. How far Millie had come in a year.
Millie opened her eyes. ‘What are you thinking, Bella?’
‘What a difference you have made to us and how lucky we are to have you, Millie.’
‘That’s strange,’ she said. ‘I was thinking exactly the same – about you and Uncle Thomas, and Alice and Bobbie.’
The radiant light shifted, and Millie smiled her Marchant sister smile.
Keep Reading …
If you enjoyed The Letter, discover these other captivating family dramas from the No. 1 bestselling author, Josephine Cox.
Maureen Bancroft has never learned the art of putting herself first. As a widow with a gentle temperament and humble ways, she’s been easy to take advantage of.
All that changes when an unexpected windfall comes her way. Determined to make up for lost time, she decides to take a holiday and looks up her old friend, Barbara Hayle.
Glamorous, and with a successful career on the stage, Barbara seems to be everything that Maureen is not. But what starts out as a nostalgic trip between friends, soon becomes something different altogether. Maureen has something that her friend desperately needs, and Barbara is used to getting exactly what she wants.
Will this be the one friendship that Maureen should have left firmly in the past?
Click here to buy now
Florence Stanville is a woman with a past. When she moves to Guisethorpe on the east coast of England, the townsfolk are intrigued by the glamorous and mysterious stranger.
Florence doesn’t care about the gossips – she’s drawn to the peaceful seaside town by the pull of her childhood, when she lived for a brief but happy time with her beloved late mother. The riddle of those days remains and now Florence can only snatch at half-remembered memories and shadowy figures in her dreams.
As Florence is drawn into the lives of her new neighbours, the layers of her own life are revealed, but far from finding peace, Florence has found instead turmoil and secrets. Can she put the pieces of her past together, or will it remain a closed book forever …?
Click here to buy now
The pretty Arnold sisters have grown up on their father’s farm and yearn for something more out of life than drudgery and toil.
Ellen, loyal and honest, is her father’s favourite, but Georgina is impulsive and unreliable, and can’t please a father who has never shown her love.
The big house, Grindle Hall, offers them both a chance of betterment, but while Ellen follows the steady path, Georgina takes a darker road and soon, her actions will have fateful consequences for them all. Only Ellen can help them, but will a sister’s love be enough?
Click here to buy now
With her family’s fate resting on her shoulders, Evie learns her lessons in life fast. It’s going to take a woman’s courage to find a new beginning …
One night, after her father gambles everything away, Evie and her family are forced to do a moonlight flit. It’s a fresh start in the South, where no-one knows their name, and Evie desperately misses all they’ve left behind. Yet Evie’s troubles are just beginning. Her mother, worn down by life, deserts them for a new man, and with her grandmother’s sight failing, Evie must carry the burden of earning their keep. Holding the family together becomes harder when tragedy strikes at its heart, but there is hope on the horizon …
