Blood Brothers Read online

  She gave him a shrivelling glance. ‘Besides, you’ve never once danced with me in public anyway, and only once in private, and that was on our wedding night when you were blind drunk and couldn’t care less who saw you.’

  ‘That’s not a nice thing to say.’

  ‘Mebbe not, but I don’t reckon it’s nice if you’re ashamed of dancing with your own wife in public.’

  ‘Don’t be daft, ‘course I’m not ashamed.’

  ‘Yes you are. I know it, you know it, and everybody in this village knows it.’

  Tom actually had a flush of conscience. ‘All right then, Nancy Arnold. If it’s dancing yer want, it’s dancing you’ll get, but it’ll be your doing if this old leg gives up the ghost.’

  Alice clapped her hands and gave him a kiss. ‘You’ll enjoy it,’ she promised.

  Nancy’s face was wreathed in a broad, happy smile. ‘That’s settled then, husband.’ And flushing with pleasure, she laid the leaflet on the table.

  When Joe picked it up, she told him with a twinkle in her eye, ‘I expect the girls will be swarming all over you. In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t find yourself a really nice girlfriend. That Rosalind Thompson always had an eye for you, and she’s still not wed. Oh, she’s had a few men-friends but nothing’s ever come of it.’

  Frank chipped in, ‘That’s because she only ever wants what she can get from them, then when their pockets are empty, she dumps them and moves on to the next victim. No wonder they call her the shark; given half a chance, she’ll eat you for breakfast and spit out the pips!’

  Joe laughed. ‘She won’t be interested in me then,’ he quipped, ‘I’ve got nothing worth the taking.’

  ‘You said it, not me,’ Frank said spitefully. ‘Anyway, like I said, Rosalind Thompson doesn’t want a serious relationship.’

  Tom spoke without thinking, ‘As I recall, didn’t you have a bit of a fling with her at one time?’

  Frank laughed it off. ‘Not really. She might have wanted to get her claws into me, but I’m nobody’s fool. I soon told her where to get off.’ He smiled at Alice and was relieved when she smiled back.

  He was furious with his father for mentioning the embarrassing fling he had had with that Thompson bitch.

  Truth be told, it was Rosalind who unceremoniously dumped him, and not the other way round. He was heartbroken, until he found Alice Jacobs.

  Frank had always been careful to make Alice believe she was the only one.

  He had no intention of letting her find out that she was his consolation prize.

  The conversation changed direction and continued over dinner, with Tom and Nancy having the occasional teasing dig at each other, and Alice thoroughly enoying their company.

  Frank assailed them all with talk of his ambitions to have his very own farm, ‘…with a hundred acres of prime, crop-growing land; another fifty acres of pasture, and a stable filled with top quality horses straight from Ireland. I’ll build us a fine house and hire enough experienced men to run the place, while the two of us travel the world,’ he told Alice.

  Joe was impressed at the scale of his brother’s ambitions; though he was naturally dubious. ‘So, how d’you intend funding this amazingly extravagant enterprise?’

  Frank resented his question. ‘Why, from Alice’s parents of course.’

  Alice was shocked. Like the others, she had no inkling that he was making such plans. ‘You mustn’t rely on my parents, Frank,’ she cautioned him gently.

  ‘Why not?’ Unlike the others, Frank was surprised and irritated by her remark.

  ‘You don’t know what they’re like where money’s concerned, or you would never have included them in your plans.’

  She revealed a snippet of information. ‘The only person they ever helped was my sister Pauline. She was always naturally good at hairdressing, and she learned her trade well. When her employer was ready to sell up, he offered it to Pauline, and she asked Mother to buy it for her. You see, it was always Mother’s dream to own a hairdressing salon for the well-off. So she went along with Pauline’s business plan, and it was a huge success. There are five salons now, right across the county. Father is tied up with his own business, so it’s Pauline who oversees them. She works long and hard because she revels in it. But the deeds to each and every shop are all in Mother’s name.’

  Worried, she glanced at the others. ‘I’m really sorry,’ she apologised, ‘but it’s best if Frank knows the way things are.’

  ‘So the hairdresser’s shops are all in your mother’s name, but what does that matter to us?’ Frank persisted, ‘I’m talking about a loan, a safe, secure loan for something I know inside out. I’m a mature man, tried and tested, and as far as I know, neither of your parents know the first thing about farming the land, or raising animals, or anything else that makes a farmer’s day. Now then, Alice my love, am I right, or am I not?’

  Frank did not appreciate having his plans cruelly dashed, especially in front of everyone.

  ‘Yes, you’re right, of course you are,’ Alice answered kindly. ‘But you had your father to share the load, and I’m sure he taught you everything you know. The way my parents will see it, is they had no one to lead or teach them; they had to learn the ropes the hard way, on their own with little or no guidance. They’ll tell you how they had to make sacrifices in order to get their first business off the ground, and that they did it themselves without asking help from anyone.’

  She gave a wry little smile. ‘When we were growing up, we heard it all, time and again. She lightly mimicked her mother. ‘“We did it all on our own, and you girls will have to do the same when the time comes!” They’ll expect you and me to do the same, Frank. To make our own way in life, the way they did.’

  Frank still did not accept her explanation. ‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ he insisted. ‘They must approve of me or they wouldn’t have sanctioned our marriage; or be spending an absolute fortune on our wedding. Besides that, you’re their flesh and blood…their baby daughter. It goes without saying, they’ll want to see you living in the style to which you’re accustomed.’

  Alice agreed. ‘I won’t deny they’re spending a fortune on our wedding, but that’s only because it will be a showcase for their friends, and you’re right, Frank…they will want to see us living in a fine big house with land. But they’ll expect us to work hard and provide it.’

  Frank was open-mouthed with disbelief. ‘I’ll believe that when I hear it from them!’

  Throughout this exchange, Tom and Nancy had remained quiet, listening but not wanting to interfere. But now Tom spoke his thoughts. ‘If you don’t mind me saying, Frank, I can understand what Alice is trying to tell you. And I have to say, I fully agree with her parents’ viewpoint. A man has to make his own way in this world. That way he remains his own man, not indebted to anyone. It’s the only way he can be proud of what he’s achieved.’

  Frank strongly disagreed. ‘You don’t understand,’ he argued, ‘If I’m given a kick-start, then I’d be on my way and never ask again.’

  Alice intervened. ‘Trust me, Frank. I know my parents. They’re just not those kind of people.’ She went on with quiet sincerity, ‘There’s just you and me, Frank. It’s up to us, and no one else.’

  ‘Well said!’ Nancy exclaimed. With every passing minute she was learning more about this quiet girl who Frank had chosen to spend his life with.

  ‘You’re wrong, all of you!’ Frank rounded on Alice. ‘When I mentioned my plans to your father, he seemed really interested. You’ll see! When we’re wed and I’m a part of the family, they’ll be falling over themselves to set us up with a business of our own.’

  Seeing how agitated he was, Alice reluctantly conceded, ‘Perhaps it’s me that’s got it all wrong.’ Though she knew it was not.

  Having remained silent throughout, Joe now added his contribution. ‘There’s something you appear to have forgotten,’ he reminded Frank. ‘If you’re so intent on building your empire, and so sure you
’ll get the help you need, then you won’t be here for Dad. Have you thought of that?’

  Frank assured him, ‘’Course I’ve thought of that. Unlike you, I would never let Dad down.

  ‘What I plan to do won’t happen overnight, Dad, not even with Alice’s parents helping me out. I’ll still be here with you for a good while yet. Meantime, Joe can learn the ropes inside out, and of course we’ll need to let go of Jimmy, because he’s a bloody liability! There are plenty of sensible, hard-working blokes who would jump at his job.’

  He congratulated himself, ‘So like I said, it will all work out in the end.’

  Tom thought differently, but he wanted this particular conversation ended. ‘Course it will, son,’ he said jovially, ‘course it will.’ There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

  Later, when the time was right, he would have a heart to heart with Frank. Somewhere along the line, his eldest son had become too full of his own importance, and that would never do!

  Nancy felt the same but kept her own counsel. She was disappointed to hear Frank talk that way in front of everyone. Such delicate issues should remain between a man and his partner, and no one else. At least not until it might be finalised and others needed to know.

  Determined that the evening should be a success, she kept the conversation going on a lighter note, and soon everyone was in much better humour.

  The apple pie was served and enjoyed, and the meal finished with a glass of homemade cider, and then it was time for Frank and Joe to check the animals and make sure the lambing-pens were secure. In the meantime, Alice and Nancy cleared the table, while Tom went to snooze on the sofa.

  ‘God help us, will you look at that?’ Nancy brought Alice’s attention to the round, pink belly bursting out of Tom’s shirt. In fond tones, she told Alice, ‘Fat belly or no fat belly, I wouldn’t change him for the world!’

  They were taken by surprise when suddenly the middle button of Tom’s shirt flicked off and went skidding across the room and out of sight. ‘It was the apple pie that did it,’ Nancy screeched, and the two of them laughed until they ached. ‘It’ll take me a month o’ Sundays to find that button,’ Nancy tittered, dabbing her tears with the end of her pinnie.

  When a short time later Frank and Joe returned and the wine was brought out, Tom awoke, complaining, ‘There’s a draught in ‘ere.’

  ‘That’s cause you’ve lost a button and there’s a bare patch on your belly,’ Nancy pointed out dryly; though she was aching to laugh out loud, and so was Alice. ‘It came at us a hundred miles an hour,’ she declared with a straight face, ‘you’re lucky it didn’t knock somebody’s eye out!’

  Tom was having none of it. ‘If you’d sewed the damned thing on properly in the first place, it would never have worked itself loose!’

  Nancy refused to take the blame. ‘It’s that big belly of yours!’ she retaliated. ‘You look like you’re eight months pregnant! Too much booze and apple pie, that’s what’s done it.’

  Ignoring her, Tom filled everyone’s wine glass. ‘Here’s to us!’

  Without further ado, they all toasted the forthcoming wedding. After that they sat and chatted, with another glass or three to warm the cockles. Tom was unusually merry, and Nancy was well on her way to being three sheets to the wind.

  Apart from Frank’s embarrassing declaration, the evening had been a great success; though things had been learned and the true nature of certain people revealed.

  Frank believed he was right and that Alice was wrong. Tom had seen a side to his eldest son that he did not particularly like, and Nancy had deliberately put it all out of her mind, because like Alice, she was already thinking ahead to the two most exciting events on her personal calendar. The wedding, and to a lesser degree, the barn-dance.

  After washing up the dishes and feeling all the merrier with the wine, Nancy even did a little Irish jig to show Alice her favourite dance. ‘The nuns taught us at school.’ She put her arms stiff by her side. ‘You should never jiggle your arms about, because then all your energy goes into your arm movements, instead of down to your feet.’ And to prove her point she went skipping across the room, feet a tapping, and arms stretched down at her sides, stiff as two pokers.

  Everyone clapped to Nancy’s fancy footwork, each with a happy smile on their face.

  ‘Give over, woman!’ Tom laughed, ‘You’re too old in the tooth to be prancing about like that. Keep it up and you’ll likely not be able to walk in the morning.’

  ‘You’re just jealous because you can’t do it!’ she teased.

  ‘I could if I tried,’ he argued with a grin, ‘only thing is, if the rest of my shirt buttons fly off, who knows what might happen!’

  Nancy laughed. ‘We’d all have to dive for cover!’

  Reverting to his original concern, Tom told her, ‘Whether you like it or not, Nancy Arnold, we’re not youngsters anymore. We’re a bit slower than we were, and far too old to be happy.’

  ‘Away with you, Tom Arnold!’ she chided. ‘You’re never too old to be happy. You’re only too old when you’re on your way to the knacker’s yard.’

  To prove it, she hoisted her skirt and while staying in the same spot, she let her two feet loose on a fast and furious tapping of the Irish jig. ‘My old Irish grandfather taught me this one.’

  Seeing Alice tapping her feet and clapping along, Nancy grabbed hold of Alice who soon got into the fast and furious rhythm; though both she and Nancy almost collapsed with exhaustion in no time at all. ‘That’s enough for now,’ Nancy clasped her chest. ‘I reckon you’re right, Tom,’ she told her husband, ‘I might be a bit too old for the tapping after all.’

  In the meantime, having helped himself to a lion’s share of cider, Frank was feeling the worse for wear. ‘I’m off to bed.’ He gave Alice a sloppy kiss, before stumbling drunkenly up the stairs.

  A few minutes later Tom followed, then Alice, and then Nancy. ‘Are you sure you’ll be all right on the sofa, son?’ Giving Joe the folded blanket and a pillow, she offered her cheek for a goodnight kiss. ‘It was good of you to give up your room for Alice.’

  ‘Don’t you worry about me, Mum,’ he smiled cheekily. ‘You’ve tired me out with watching all that dancing and tapping. Give it a few minutes and I’ll be out like a light. Go on…you get off to bed. You must be worn out with all that jigging about.’

  Growing serious, Nancy lingered a moment before asking quietly, ‘Frank didn’t spoil your homecoming with the arguing, did he?’

  Joe was quick to put her mind at rest. ‘Course not. Frank is Frank.’ He forced a smile. ‘Nothing changes in that respect.’

  Nancy lingered nervously. ‘Sometimes I wonder about Frank,’ she confided in a whisper, ‘…he should never have spoken out like that, embarrassing Alice in front of everyone.’

  Joe promised her, ‘I’m sure he didn’t mean to upset anyone, and I don’t think Alice was embarrassed; in fact I think she quietly gave him food for thought. So, don’t you worry. It’ll all be forgotten in the morning.’

  Nancy gave a sigh of relief. ‘It’s so good to have you home, son.’ She then ambled her way across the room and on up the stairs to a well deserved good night’s rest.

  Joe smiled when he heard her cussing herself as she went, ‘Whoops there, Nancy keep your balance! Hey! I reckon you’ve had a drop too much wine.’ She gave a hearty chuckle. ‘I reckon we all have. Dearie me! I expect we’ll suffer for it in the morning.’

  ‘You’re right, Mum!’ Muttering to himself, Joe pulled the blanket over his head. ‘I expect we will.’

  After Nancy had gone, he lay awake, thinking about Alice.

  He felt it his duty to be best man at his brother’s wedding. Once he’d made up his mind, he vowed that whatever else happened, he would keep his distance from Alice.

  He promised himself to think only of her as his future sister-in-law, rather than the girl he had fallen head over heels in love with.

  This evening though, when he saw how she had dealt w
ith Frank’s boasting, in a firm but tactful manner, and afterwards her childish joy as she danced with his mother, he knew then, that he would always think of Alice as the girl who stole his heart.

  He could see his life stretching before him, when Alice would always be there; his brother’s wife, and in time the mother of Frank’s children.

  He made himself a heartfelt vow. ‘However hard it might be, I’ll stand beside him as best man. I’ll stay to see them married. Then I’ll be swiftly away to make something of my life.’

  If he was to keep his sanity, what other choice did he have?

  CHAPTER THREE

  LYING THERE ON the sofa, knowing Alice was just a few steps away, Joe found it difficult to sleep.

  He had promised himself he would leave straight after the wedding, but then what? Wherever he went, Alice would be on his mind, and try as he might, he could not envisage a life without her.

  Of course there had been flings with other women. He was a red-blooded man after all. He was lonely and they were there, but he’d never wanted to get serious with any of them.

  It was always Alice. It always would be, and the strange thing was, although they had only met twice he felt as though he had known her forever.

  He did not know that even now, while he was thinking of Alice, she was thinking of him.

  Upstairs, seated on the edge of her bed, Alice wondered about Joe, and his brother Frank; tonight she had realised how very different they were.

  She had witnessed a side to Frank that she had never seen before.

  She had been shocked and ashamed to hear how he expected a share of her parents’ money like it was his Godgiven right. Moreover, he had stubbornly refused to listen to reason. Instead, he came across as being self-important and unable, or unwilling, to recognise his own faults.

  For the first time, she began to wonder if he had ever really seen her as being his partner for life, someone to build a future with. Could they trust and support each other like married couples do?