Rainy Days for the Harpers Girls

by Rosie Clarke

  ‘Get me a blanket to put round her,’ Dan ordered and Marion ran to do as she was told, tucking it round her mother’s limp form as he held her to his chest and then carried her from the room and down the stairs. When they returned to the kitchen, Robbie showed him the keys to their neighbour’s van.

  ‘Bob Brandon says fer yer ter take the van,’ Robbie said. ‘He’s got a job his missus needs him to do, but he says yer a good driver and he trusts yer.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Dan said, ‘put them in me pocket – and get the door open. I’ll need yer to help me take her to the infirmary, Robbie. Are you all right, Marion? If that bugger comes to and starts on at yer, hit him wiv the rollin’ pin and run next door, taking Milly and the others wiv yer.’

  ‘He looks as if he’ll be out for a while,’ Marion said grimly. ‘Go on, look after Ma – I can manage here.’ Her father usually behaved reasonably around her; it was just his wife that brought out the monster in him.

  Dickon came in a few seconds later and asked what was going on.

  ‘Ma is bad, so Dan has taken her to the infirmary,’ Marion said and Dickon glared at her. ‘Yes, it was Pa – Dan hit him and he’s out for the count. Come and sit down and I’ll get you a sandwich. There’s no point in cooking tea if no one is here.’

  ‘Will Ma be all right?’ Dickon asked as he sat at the table and watched Marion make a cheese and pickle sandwich.

  ‘I don’t know, love,’ Marion said and caught back the sob she’d been holding inside since she’d heard the row upstairs on her return. ‘He’s hit her so many times and she’s survived – but one of these days…’

  ‘Robbie says he’ll go too far and then he’ll clear off or the police will arrest him and he’ll hang for murder.’

  ‘Would you care?’

  Dickon thought for a moment and then shook his head. ‘I hate him. I wish he was dead…’

  Marion nodded, seeing the strain and distress in his young face. ‘Sometimes I do too,’ she said. ‘When he’s sober, he’s more like Dan and then I like him all right, but as soon as he has too much to drink, he’s like a wild beast.’

  ‘Yeah, I know,’ Dickon said and she thought he looked as if he might cry. ‘I hate him then, but he’s still Pa…’

  They heard the sound of someone moving about upstairs and then heavy steps on the stairs. Marion had expected her father to be unconscious longer and she sprang back, seizing the heavy iron poker from its stand, ready to defend herself and her brother from the beast that was her father when in drink.

  As Pa came into the kitchen, he was wiping his mouth and grimacing as if he could taste the blood. His bleary eyes looked at Marion and he spat blood on the floor.

  ‘Where is the bitch?’

  ‘Don’t speak about Ma like that!’ Marion cried.

  ‘I’ll do as I like in me own ’ouse and don’t yer forget it!’

  ‘Dan took her to the hospital,’ Marion said, keeping a tight hold of her weapon. ‘You hurt her bad…’

  ‘Bloody bugger that one,’ Pa said and spat again. ‘You needn’t look like that, girl. I ain’t goin’ ter hit yer – it weren’t yer that ruined me flamin’ life, it were that bitch.’

  Marion stared at him in disgust. She wanted to throw his wicked deeds at him and yell defiance, but there was no one here to defend her or the others and if she dared to argue, he might decide to punish her or Milly, or Dickon.

  ‘Well, I’m orf,’ Pa said and picked up his kit. He slapped down a couple of pound notes and some silver on the kitchen table. ‘I only come ter give yer that, it’s all I’ve got left of me wages for the past few months. I don’t reckon as I’ll be back fer a year or more this time, what wiv the bloody Germans an’ all – that’s if I ever get back. Yer still me kids, yer and Dickon and Kathy and the little one, Robbie maybe. She was seein’ him again, the bugger what ruined her, around the time Robbie came along; that’s why I started beltin’ her. I let her get away wiv it once, but no bugger makes a fool of me twice. The other sod ain’t mine fer sure – and if yer don’t believe me, ask that bitch…’

  ‘What do yer mean?’ Marion demanded. ‘Why isn’t Dan yours?’

  ‘Don’t ’ave ter spell it out, do I?’ he muttered. ‘She cheated me – tricked me into marryin’ her when she was havin’ another bloke’s kid. He’d gorn orf and left her in the lurch, so she let me do it to her when I was half drunk. I knew what she’d done, but I loved her, so I married her when she told me she was havin’ that bugger, but then she went to her fancy man again, after you come along, and if she thinks I’ll forget and forgive, she’s kiddin’ her bloody self.’

  Marion didn’t answer, she couldn’t. Instead she just stood watching until he walked out and slammed the door after him. Her hands were still trembling as she replaced the heavy iron poker in its stand.

  ‘He’s a liar!’ Dickon burst out. ‘Ma wouldn’t do that… would she?’ He looked distressed and anxious.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Marion said. She felt sick and faint. All of a sudden, her father’s rages and resentment made sense. Yet if he’d been cheated, why hadn’t he walked out and left his wife for good – why did he keep returning just to punish her? Or was that it – he just couldn’t forgive and so he had to go on making her pay for what she’d done?

  He had no right to inflict physical torture on her even if she’d made a mistake years ago. Marion could understand he might feel cheated and angry, but that didn’t give him the right to beat his wife. He should have forgiven her or walked out and left her years ago.

  A sound from the stairs made her investigate. Kathy was standing there shivering in her nightgown, tears on her cheeks. ‘I heard…’ she whispered.

  ‘Come and sit down,’ Marion said. ‘Stop crying, Kathy. Pa has gone and he won’t be back for a while.’

  ‘I heard her screaming,’ Kathy said, looking at Marion, the fear still in her eyes. ‘Dan took her away…’

  ‘To the infirmary,’ Marion told her. She looked at her brother and then Kathy. ‘You are neither of you to tell either Dan or Robbie what he said, do you hear me?’

  ‘Yeah, I hear,’ Dickon said and looked at Kathy. ‘We don’t breathe a word of this, right – Dan is our brother and Robbie. They don’t like Pa, but they needn’t be made bastards, right? It’s a secret we all keep.’

  A bastard was a dirty word round here and Marion thought there were still laws that meant they couldn’t inherit stuff – not that Pa had anything to leave, but it was a stigma. It would label Ma a whore too and Marion would never say anything to anyone outside this room that made her mother a whore. Everyone felt sorry for her, but if they knew why Pa beat her so remorselessly, most of the men, and actually some of the women, too, would say she deserved it. Marion might have felt impatient with her mother sometimes for just taking the punishment and not fighting back, but she loved her and it was breaking her heart. Pa’s accusations had been genuine; she knew that he believed his wife had cheated on him before and after their marriage and it had turned him sour, turned him from the generous father she could just remember from her childhood into the bitter drunk he’d become.

  ‘He’s a liar,’ Kathy said fiercely. ‘Ma told him he forced himself on her before they were wed and Dan was his… I heard her say it when he was beating her. He just said all that to stop you telling the cops.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s right,’ Dickon agreed, but the look in his eyes told Marion that he didn’t believe it. He’d been in the room and seen Pa’s bitterness and Marion believed her father too. She didn’t know it all, but there was some truth in his story and perhaps one day her mother would tell her what had really happened – and who the man was that she was supposed to have had an affair with before her marriage.

  It was gone twelve when Robbie and Dan got back that night. Marion had lain on her bed fully dressed waiting for them to return and she got up and went straight down to the kitchen.

  ‘How is she?’ she asked, but as she saw the look in their faces, she felt
cold all over. ‘No… she isn’t…’ The word wouldn’t leave her mouth because it was too awful to speak or even to think. ‘Dan, tell me, she’ll be all right…’

  ‘She’s dead,’ he said in a cold flat voice. ‘The doctors did what they could for her, but it was too late. At least he’ll never do that to her again…’ He sounded so angry, so bitter, that he could have been Pa, and in that moment, she saw her father in him and knew that whatever had happened before their marriage, Dan was his father’s son. Pa just couldn’t believe it because of what his wife had done.

  Marion felt the sob rise in her throat, but she couldn’t speak, just staring at her brother for what seemed like hours. ‘He killed her… he’s a murderer…’

  ‘I’ve told the police everything,’ her brother said. ‘They’ve told me they will look for him and he’ll be arrested – but I doubt he’ll hang around to be thrown in prison. He’ll be on a ship and away…’

  ‘Will they go to the ports and search for him?’

  ‘We know he’s on the merchant ships,’ Dickon said. ‘Surely the police can stop them sailing and drag him back…’

  ‘If the bloody cops don’t get him this time, I shall,’ Dan said bitterly. ‘I swear to you, Marion, if they don’t hang him, I’ll swing for him. If he ever gets near enough to me, I’ll stick a knife in his guts and watch him die in agony the way she did…’

  ‘Oh, Dan…’ Marion’s tears were released. ‘I’m so sorry. I know how much you loved her…’

  ‘She was a lovely caring mother when I was Milly’s age,’ Dan said. ‘He was all right too then. Didn’t make much fuss of me, but he adored you, and he was all right with Ma most of the time. I don’t know what happened, but just after Robbie was born, she started to change, little by little I saw the life go out of her until she was just goin’ through the motions. I was fifteen before I realised what he did to her – the filthy bastard. I had a go at him the first time I saw her injuries after he’d raped and beaten her; he knocked me flying, told me if I tried it again, he would kill me…’ Dan rolled up his sleeve and showed them an old scar of a burn. ‘He did that when I was sixteen. I tried arguing with him rather than trying to hit him and he did that with Ma’s flat iron. He threatened to put it on her face if I interfered again. The last time I hit him before I left, he stayed down for a few minutes. This time, I told him that if he touched her again, I would kill him and he knows I meant it…’

  ‘That’s why he went after he came to himself,’ Marion said. ‘He didn’t try to touch us, Dan, he just went… I don’t think he’ll be back for a while, perhaps never…’

  ‘He’s a dead man if we meet,’ Dan said and she knew that he meant it. ‘What will you do now, Marion?’

  ‘I’m not sure – it will be difficult with Milly…’

  ‘Someone round here will look after her,’ Robbie said. ‘Mrs Jackson thinks the world of her. She’ll have her if you ask, Marion – ’specially wiv you and Reggie being friends…’

  ‘That’s the first I’ve heard of it?’ Dan looked at her and frowned. ‘You’re not serious are yer?’

  ‘We’re good friends,’ Marion said. She wasn’t ready to talk about marriage to her family yet. ‘I think Mrs Jackson would help out by having Milly until I get home.’

  ‘If Mrs Jackson will have her and give her some tea for a couple of bob a week, I’ll pay. I’ll have the house put in my name so I pay the rent and you and the others can live here. I’ve saved a bit for you, Marion. It will keep you goin’ if anythin’ happens to me in this war…’

  ‘No, Dan, no…’ she said, her throat tight with the effort not to cry. ‘You’re my brother; you’ve got to survive…’

  ‘I’ll do my best…’ Dan grinned at her suddenly. ‘I’ve got a girlfriend, Marion. I was goin’ ter bring her round fer tea before I leave, but not this time… not with Ma in the morgue.’ For a moment the anger was replaced by tears, but he dashed them away. ‘I’ve put me ring on her finger and we’ll be married when I get a longer leave. Her name is Sarah and I want yer to be nice to her when she comes.’

  ‘Of course, I shall.’ Marion threw her arms around him. ‘I love you, Dan. I wish I could make things better for you, but I can’t. And tell your Sarah to come round any time.’

  ‘I’ll tell her, but she’s a bit shy,’ he said and his cheeks were pink. ‘I love her, Marion. I want my family to welcome her…’

  ‘Why shouldn’t we?’ Marion asked.

  ‘She comes from a better class than us,’ Dan said and frowned. ‘Her father owns a bookshop and she works behind the counter, but she went to senior school and passed a lot of exams, could have been a teacher if there had been the money for it. Mr Hardwick is a scholar and a gentleman but not very good at business.’ He gave her a lopsided grin. ‘So, don’t let the lads round here tease her about bein’ stuck up – ’cos she ain’t.’

  ‘If she isn’t, they won’t,’ Marion told her. ‘If she’s your girl, she’s welcome here, Dan, and you know it.’

  ‘I wish I could have told Ma,’ he said and grimaced. ‘She was always on to me about gettin’ wed and I laughed and said it was a sailor’s life fer me – girl in every port – but when I saw Sarah, I only wanted her.’

  ‘You didn’t tell us…’

  ‘I wasn’t sure she would have me,’ Dan said and his eyes lit up from inside. ‘She’s far above me, Marion, but I swear I’ll never treat her the way he did Ma – I’ll never lay one finger on her in anger…’

  ‘If you do, I’ll take the poker to you myself,’ Marion said and then shook her head. ‘Only teasing, Dan. I know how gentle you were with Ma when she was ill. Your Sarah is a lucky girl.’

  ‘I hope she will be,’ he said and the light left his eyes. ‘This war is goin’ to be a bastard, Marion. I’ve had a few close calls at sea, but I know the Germans are only waiting for the right moment to strike. At the moment they’re concentrating on the fight for Belgium and France, but their navy is strong. You just wait until they start on us…’

  Marion reached across and squeezed his arm. Her boyfriend and two of her brothers were all ready to fight and the thought of it made her blood run cold. She was more afraid of losing one of them to the war than she had ever been of Pa’s rages.

  ‘Will you be here for Ma’s funeral?’ she asked and Dan shook his head.

  ‘I’ll arrange it all for you,’ he said, ‘but I’ll have to go. I used up some of my leave with Sarah. I wish I could stay, but if I ask for compassionate leave, the ship will sail without me and I can’t do that now. I need to be wiv me mates or I’ll get transferred.’

  ‘Yes, I understand,’ Marion said. ‘I’ll leave the funeral arrangements to you but come back as soon as you can please…’

  ‘Only death will keep me away,’ he vowed, ‘and when I do come, I’ll bring my Sarah, and she’ll be my wife. She’ll be living with her father until we marry and get our own place, but I’ll always look out for you, Marion. You have my word…’

  The police visited the next day. They talked to Dan and Marion and took witness statements from both of them but made no comment, except to say that Mr Kaye would be arrested if he returned to the area.

  ‘Useless buggers,’ Dan said after the constable had left. ‘I’ll have ter go after me dinner, Marion – but I’ll write and send money.’ He hesitated, then, ‘You know what ter do about the funeral and the police will let yer have it next week – so when will yer go back to work?’

  ‘Tomorrow, but I’ll have time off to take care of the arrangements,’ Marion said. ‘Mrs Jackson is going to keep Milly off school until after the funeral and then she should settle down a bit. It’s lucky she often goes there for her tea…’ She caught back a sob. ‘I can’t believe we’re talkin’ like this, Dan. I keep thinkin’ Ma’s still upstairs…’

  ‘I know, love,’ he said. He frowned at her. ‘I should have done fer ’im while I had the chance…’

  ‘No, don’t think that,’ Marion said. ‘If you had, you
would be on trial for murder. I care about you, Dan, and I don’t want you to hang – let the police do their work. I hope they catch him or that he never comes back…’ Emotion caught at her throat. ‘I hate him now, Dan, and I wish I’d done something, but there was nothing I could do to stop him…’

  ‘I should have been the one,’ her brother told her firmly. ‘She’s better off out of it, Marion. That brute never gave her any peace. One day he’ll pay – either at the rope’s end or I’ll kill him.’

  Marion nodded. She was still numb with shock and grief, but she knew she didn’t want her brother to kill the man she believed was his father, no matter what her father said about her mother cheating on him before their marriage. She wanted him to live and marry this girl he’d found and she wanted the police to arrest her father – or perhaps she wanted him to disappear and never come back. It was all too painful to think about and she couldn’t wait for the funeral to be over so that she could return to Harpers fulltime and to the work she loved. Especially now that Mr Marco had recommended her to help with the window dressing. He’d asked her to make a display of hats and scarves and been so pleased, he’d talked to Mrs Harper – and the upshot was that Marion would be trained, going one afternoon a week to art school for a window-dressing course and learn with Mr Marco’s other apprentice.

  ‘You will make a good team,’ he’d told her. ‘Work closely with Mrs Harper and you’ll both be fine.’

  It was exciting and there had been a hint of more pay, but for the moment all Marion could think of was the wicked waste of her mother’s life – just because of a mistake when she was young. It was tragic and painful and she knew that the whole family would struggle to put their mother’s death behind them. However, Marion had things to look forward to and Dan would learn to live with his bitterness and perhaps put it aside when he married.