by Paul Kelly
“That brat is nothing to do with me, thank God,” she screamed and Robert lurched forward to hit her, but Freya stopped him.
“If the court heard how you have reacted since you arrived here, it wouldn’t stand you in very good stead, I think,” said Freya but Sarah looked at her with wild eyes.
“Shut your mouth and mind your own business,” she squealed, “I will say what I want to say here and nobody will stop me, do you hear?” Cameron put his arms around Freya and she hugged him closer to herself, but Sarah only laughed. “Don’t think a cuddle from that little shit will make me change my mind. I’m the innocent partner in this fucking problem and I want everyone to know it ... and I’m gonna get everything I deserve after having put up with that weak bastard for the time that I did. I’ll make you pay, Robert Peterson ... I’ll make you pay every bloody penny you owe me for the way I looked after you when we were ... together.”
Robert sat down heavily on a chair; running his hand across his brow.
“You must be mad,” he said, but his voice was low. “I lay ill for nearly three weeks and you never lifted a finger to help me. I asked you for a drink of water and what did you do?” There was silence in the room for a few moments when he said that. “You got me a glass of water alright, but you threw it at me,”
Freya looked on in alarm, but Sarah only grinned.
“I knew you were play-acting, little man,” she said, “I knew you wanted pity in your act, but you got the wrong audience for your performance.”
Freya was sorry for what she heard and she could have hit Sarah herself, but instead she reached into her handbag to retrieve a handkerchief ... and more so to turn on the recorder.
“You’ve got a great deal to say about yourself,” Freya said to Sarah, hoping she would indeed say much more so that she could record anything that might be useful in the court for the impending divorce procedures.
“You bet I have,” replied Sarah with renewed confidence, “I could tell you things about this little man that would make you cringe.”
Robert was about to say something to Sarah when Freya put her hand on his arm and he realized that something was going on, something that as yet, he had no knowledge, but by the look on Cameron’s face and by the way he stared at his daddy, Robert withdrew his remarks and sat back in his chair.
“Perhaps it is none of my business, but weren’t you married before you met Robert,” Freya asked and Sarah fell into the trap.
“It is none of your business, but Robert already knew about that marriage before we got together,” she replied and Freya continued,
“No, I don’t suppose it is my business, but now that we are on the subject and I think I would like to make it my business ... That marriage didn’t last long either, did it?”
Sarah smirked and stroked her hair.
“He was a creep, just like this one was,” she snapped, and again pointing a finger at Robert, but Freya thought of something that Cameron had told her before and she felt she could use it in her tape recorder.
“Your first husband ... Is he ... I mean, has he re-married since your divorce?” she asked and Sarah looked to the ceiling.
“Oh yes, he’s married O.K. and she’s as much a creep as Tony is,” she replied, accidentally revealing the Christian name of her first husband, much to Freya’s delight, as she broke into the conversation, “So he must be happy now then ... even if he is married to a creep?”
Sarah sat down clumsily on the sofa and looked around the lounge.
“I think we should change this bloody subject. It’s boring me to death,” she snapped, but Freya moved nearer to the sofa and looked down on Sarah’s head.
“Perhaps if you been a little more ‘loving’, Tony and you would still have been married, eh?”
“No way, “ sighed Sarah, “I hate being married. I don’t know why the hell I ever thought of it in the first place. Men are a pain in the arse. Always wanting something or other. If it’s not sex, it’s bloody housekeeping or cooking or even bloody children. No I hate that sort of stuff.”
Freya tapped her hand bag and hoped her tape recorder was still working.
“So there’s no other man in your life now then?” she asked and Sarah grinned.
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out ... if you’re interested ... .” she answered back as she shrugged her shoulders and laughed aloud, but that was a sufficient enough flippant answer for Freya to record.
“I don’t suppose he’s been living the life of a monk since he shifted away from me, has he?” demanded Sarah, pointing an accusing finger at Robert, but no-one in the room answered as Freya lowered her eyes and thought ... if only Sarah knew how much she had wanted Robert to take no notice of the visiting ;witch’ ...
“I think you had better leave now, Sarah. You’ve said all there is to say,” said Robert, but the brazen Sarah would have none of it.
“I’m here to tell you that I want what you took from me when we were married,” she went on, “I want ... first of all, the £50,000 my mother gave you as a deposit on a house and ...”
Robert interrupted here as he raised his hand in protest.
“Gave to US ... not to me alone,” he went on, but Sarah threw her hands in the air.
“Well we are not US now are we? So I want that money back and lots more besides,” she snarled. “I’ve wasted enough of my life with you and your dreary thoughts on everything as well as this bloody thing you call an instrument,” She looked around for the violin as she spoke., but Robert had it securely in its case in the bedroom.
“Did you get much from your first marriage to Fred?” asked Freya as she stepped aside to go into the kitchen, hoping she had got the fella’s name right but Sarah ignored her remark as if it was of no concern, however any doubts that Freya had about Sarah’s first husband’s name was confirmed in the look she got from his ex-wife. “Did you hear what I asked you,” repeated Freya and Sarah turned on her with fury in her eyes.
“Shut your fuckin’ row,” she shouted, “What I did in my marriage to Tony was my business,”
“And also the business of your first husband’s new wife Sheila, surely,” Freya went on, making Sarah even more angry.
“You have been doing your homework I can see,” replied Sarah, narrowing her eyes, “I don’t think it is any of your business anyway,” she went on, but Freya treated Sarah as she had been treated and ignored the remark with a further question.
“Some people make a career out of doing what you are doing. Did you know that?” she asked in anger, but Sarah threw her hair back from her forehead and scoffed.
“And thinking of making a bit of extra with this one?” Sarah replied pointing a narrow forefinger at Robert as she laughed and Freya was sure her tape recorder would certainly have picked that information up ... clearly, she hoped.
Freya looked across the room to where Robert was sitting. His face worried her and she could see that he was troubled over everything that was being said.
“You know,” she went on very slowly as she looked straight into Sarah’s eyes, “There is something in this world which is much more than money or anything else you would consider worthwhile in your life, but I don’t think you have ever known about it.”
“What’s that then?” asked Sarah, “the premium bonds or the fucking lottery?”
Freya smiled. She had really hit the spot and she knew that Sarah was as ignorant as they come.
“Love,” she said, “old fashioned love,” and gave Sarah a knowing look, but Sarah laughed all the more as she strutted around the room.
“You’ve been reading too much of Barbara Cartland, darling,” said Sarah as she grabbed her coat and made towards the door. “I’ll see you in court,” she added and stared at Robert.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Cameron had returne
d to boarding school and Robert was feeling more than a little low when the telephone rang. He hesitated before he answered, thinking it might be the ‘witch’ on the other line and he had no inclination to have any conversation with her on any subject. He waited until the ringing stopped and then he checked the number on the 1471 code. It was Freya who rang and he immediately picked up the phone and got through to her.
“Hello Freya. Sorry I didn’t answer your call sooner, but I can get some funny calls on this phone as I am sure you can imagine.”
Freya paused for a moment before she spoke.
“Oh! of course I can understand that, but why don’t you do as I do? I have a system where I ring three times and then put the phone down before I redial ... In that way the person I want to speak to knows it’s me.”
Robert ruffled his hair and grinned into the phone.
“Brilliant ... but I will have to be more patient when I answer the phone, won’t I? I hope I can remember to wait for the third ring.” Robert frowned when he said that and Freya wondered if he thought there might be a difficulty in either doing what she suggested or in remembering the code, but when she asked Robert about that, he frowned even more as he grunted into the telephone.
“Are you alright Robert?” she asked with concern, as he seemed to come out from some sort of a coma and she wished she had been nearer to him in that moment.
“Yes, oh yes, I’m fine ... It’s just that ... I miss Cameron so much and he’s only been gone a couple of days. He’s so lively around the house and ... “ Robert laughed as he spoke, “I miss the bloody noise,” he added.
Freya grabbed her jacket as he spoke and made a comment of her own.
“I don’t make the noise that Cameron did, but I can be just as interfering in the way you run your house. Come on ... I’m coming to collect you right now. We’re going out to dinner ... and I won’t take NO for an answer. Come on. Get your kit on.”
Robert dressed himself, putting on his tie, but he had hardly got ready when Freya arrived at the door.
“None of that old school tie stuff “she said, “let’s go out and stuff ourselves with anything we fancy.”
Robert was hungry and he was glad of Freya’s company, but he was afraid of the consequence that he had experienced so well. He liked Freya. He liked her a lot, but he was determined ... and there was no way that he would hurt her, but the association had grave difficulties for him.
The meal went off O.K and both chatted away to each other which was a significant breakthrough for Freya and some sort of ‘weakness’ for Robert, but he had to admit that he enjoyed the evening, as he kept trying to analyze his feelings.
It would be wrong to let Freya think that there was anything more than friendship. He knew that, but only the other day when he was out with Cameron getting him things he needed before he went back to school, he met a guy that had been to school with him and they chatted for some time. Robert had forgotten his name, but the friend was a ‘talker’ and soon informed him that his name was Andrew, which brought fresh memories back to Robert as he had forgotten the face. Within a few moments they were chatting as if they had only parted yesterday and Robert’s thoughts of that occasion tripped off away from his conversation with Freya with his mind and thoughts fixed to the gripping conversation he had with his friend Andrew.
Andrew informed Robert that he was ‘seeing’ a girl and Robert naturally thought that marriage was in the not too distant future, but Andrew advised him otherwise when Robert asked if wedding bells were on the horizon. Andrew looked at Robert as if he was surprised that he should ask that question as he explained that he had only known her for about seven months.
“Oh I am sorry,” Robert remembered saying, “I thought from the way you referred to this lady that she was the one that you thought might be suitable to be your wife.”
Andrew laughed. “We’re only friends,” he said very happily, “No such thing as marriage in the future with that one,” he added and Robert felt very old fashioned indeed.
“Where have I been all my life,” Robert had asked himself aloud and confused Andrew.
“What was that you said?”
“Oh nothing, I just thought that as you were friends, it might lead to more than that. Sorry.”
“Well, I suppose you could say we were half way there, I guess,” said Andrew and left Robert in more confusion as Andrew went on. “We do everything together you know, I mean, we share the same bed and that, but ... well, this isn’t the first girl I’ve had in my bed Robert. Surely you must ...”
Robert remembered only too well what he said after that ...but he had hesitated and felt as if he was one hundred and nine years of age as he answered.
“I don’t have any ‘friends’ he said” and Andrew fell about laughing.
“Do you mean to tell me that you don’t have any sex at all,” he asked leaving old fashioned Robert tongue tied. “A wrist job, that’s what I guess or are you a fuckin’ monk?”
Hardly that, thought Robert if there was such a thing as a ‘fucking monk ...’
but at that moment, Freya tapped Robert’s hand gently and all thoughts of Andrew left him.
“I’m still here,” she said as she laughed away the distant look in Robert’s eyes and her voice made him wince as he shook his head.
“Oh sorry, Freya, I was thinking of something that happened to me not so long ago. I think I’m getting old as my memory and my mind seem to be all over the place.” Freya rubbed his fingers.
“You had a lot to go through in the past few months,” she said, “Things can only get better and you know what they say ... It’s always darkest before the dawn ...” .Robert smiled, but his smile was weak.
“I know I should feel as optimistic as you seem to feel, but somehow I can’t. There’s a dark cloud surrounding me wherever I go; like some sort of foreboding thing and I can’t shake it off.”
“I wish you’d let me help you Robert. You know I would do anything to make you feel better.”
Robert smiled again and this time he took Freya’s hand in his.
“We should have met two hundred years ago, “ he said and raised his eyebrows in despair.
They trudged home together in silence and Freya knew that anything she could say from that moment on, would have no effect on Robert’s state of mind. He needed some bolt of really good news to put him right, but she knew she could not provide that and her heart was as sore as his.
The following morning when she was getting dressed to go to work at the cafe, she received a telephone call from Robert.
“I might as well be dead,” he said, “she, the bitch has walked away with everything.”
Freya stopped what she was doing and ran her fingers through her hair.
“What do you mean, Robert? Are you talking about the court decision? But I thought they still had to have a discussion on that?”
Robert shook his head and stared at the carpet.
“She’s got everything. I’ve lost the flat, my job, my pension ... everything.”
“But Robert... How can that be? It was Sarah who walked out on you. You are the innocent party in all this business.”
Robert smiled sardonically.
“Tell that to the court, will you ... and just see what answer you’ll get. She’s a cow; a veritable bastard,” he replied and Freya wished she could have been near him in that moment. A cuddle wouldn’t have gone amiss, she thought..
“I’m so, so sorry, Robert. I wish there was something I could do to help. Tell me if there is anything ... Please tell me and I mean ANYTHING.”
“Well you could come here and make me a coffee, please?” he asked and Freya jumped up from where she had been kneeling and crashed the telephone back into its cradle, as she checked to make sure she still had the keys to Robert’s flat.
“Be with you in a jiffy, me lud,” she giggled as she threw her coat around her shoulders and headed for the street door.
“Black with only a little sugar,” he called out after her, before he realized that she had put the phone down.
“Black with only a little sugar,“ he said again wistfully as he waited for Freya’s visit, but he did not have to wait long as Freya, feeling out of breath, popped her head into his living room “As if I could ever forget ... “ she called out and made her way into the kitchen, but Robert’s worries were always on her mind. They were her worries and she wished with all her heart he would allow her to help him. He was such an independent person, so different from the first ‘love’ of her life, who simply used people to his own end.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Robert had a lovely letter from Cameron the following morning which helped to cheer him up. He had spent the day with a splitting headache, which wasn’t surprising after the news he had received from the courts only the day before.
Cameron was happy, or so he said in his letter, but Robert knew that his son was missing being with him at the flat by the way the letter read. It was full of punctuations, as if he wasn’t sure what to write to keep his dad happy, but Robert was pleased with any type of letter from his little boy and hoped he was as happy as he said he was. Cameron asked very kindly after Freya and made a few remarks about another person with a load of hyphens instead of a name. Robert grinned when he read that and put the letter under the clock on the mantelpiece, so that Freya could read it when she came to see him again, but what he didn’t realize was that Freya was seeing the solicitor who settled her own divorce to see if anything could be done to help her friend.
She had taken with her the tape recorder and a few notes that she had made herself, to Adams and Adams & Co., but her visit wasn’t anything like she expected it to be. Mr. Adams senior, the solicitor was ‘THE LAW’ and the law was ‘an ass’ ... even old Adams said the same. No matter what Robert did or did not do now, wouldn’t make the slightest difference in the proceedings which by this time had been completed and tape recordings were not acceptable in court.
