Lilian came jogging up the track behind him, Bobby behind her with the two girls gripping a hand each.
‘You,’ Tony muttered to the other man.
The captain examined him coldly. ‘Can I help you?’
‘You can. You can keep your damn hands off my wife, for a start.’
The captain stared at him. He looked unsure how to respond while Tony squared up to him.
‘I’ve never touched your wife, Scott,’ he said at last. ‘I respect her far too much.’
‘Tony, please, leave the man alone,’ Lilian said, putting a hand on her husband’s shoulder. ‘It’s true, I swear it. He never touched me. Come back to the house and let’s discuss things calmly.’
Tony ignored her, pushing the hand on his shoulder roughly away.
‘You wanted to, though, didn’t you, Parry?’ he demanded with a sneer. ‘Who the hell gives a fur coat to a woman and doesn’t expect to get into her knickers? Bringing your kids over to play happy families every day. Is she your wife? Is she?’
‘My wife is dead,’ George said stiffly.
‘So you thought you’d fill her place with mine, did you?’
‘Daddy, I’m scared,’ Jess whispered. ‘Can we go home please?’
The captain took his house key from his pocket and handed it to Florrie. ‘Here. Take your sister home. I’ll be there soon, when I’ve finished my discussion with Mr Scott.’
‘We don’t want to leave you,’ Florrie said.
‘This gentleman and I need to have some grown-up talk. I won’t be long, sweetheart.’ He looked at Tony. ‘I suppose it’s all right with you if my daughters leave before we continue this… conversation?’
‘Aye, get them out of the way. Some things it’s best bairns don’t see.’
‘All right, girls, go on.’
Florrie hesitated before taking the key from her father. She took her sister’s hand and they ran off towards their cottage.
‘And now I suppose you’re going to demand satisfaction,’ the captain said calmly to Tony. ‘Would you prefer pistols or swords?’
‘What I’d prefer is to plant my fist in your smug face, you bastard. You’ve been watching my wife ever since we came here. I’ve seen you. Maybe summat happened between you and maybe it didn’t, but I know well enough what was in your mind.’
‘You never could understand what a treasure you had in Lilian.’ The captain paused. ‘But for what it’s worth… I apologise. I did wrong in seeking out your wife’s company behind your back. I knew it was wrong, and unbecoming ofa gentleman, yet selfishly I pursued it because… well, because her company was pleasant to me. You have every right to be aggrieved, but I can assure you Lilian has behaved impeccably. If it wasn’t that she had so few pleasures and holidays, I’m sure she would have told me to go to the devil long before now.’
Tony gave a hollow laugh. ‘But that’s no good, is it, mate? Because now she loves you. How can she not, with you standing there talking all posh with your pipe and your moustache and your sodding war wound, when it’s me she’s got to come home to? I mean, I’m no war hero, am I? I’ve never had a bullet put in my shoulder by a Luftwaffe pilot on the beaches of Dunkirk. I’m just Tony bloody Scott, that’s who I am. Anybody back where I used to live can tell you who I am.’ He swallowed a sob. ‘Couldn’t it have been anyone else, Parry?’ he asked in a whisper. ‘I’ve had one damn thing to love in my entire waste of a life, and you… you had to take her away from me.’
The captain flashed Lilian a helpless look. ‘I really am so sorry.’
Tony laughed. He turned away, as if he was going back to the house, but Bobby knew better. She had seen the clenched fist. A split second later he had swung, his knuckles catching the unprepared captain full in the face. There was a cracking sound and George fell backwards with a sharp groan, clutching his stricken nose. Blood streamed from his nostrils.
‘I had to do that,’ Tony said in a strangely detached tone as he stood over his bleeding rival. ‘Wouldn’t be a man if I didn’t.’
‘Tony, for God’s sake, stop this!’ Lilian ran forward to wrap her arms around her husband’s back, trying to wrestle him away. George was staggering to his feet now, and Tony’s fist was still white-knuckled at his side.
‘Lil, get off me,’ he said, pushing against her with his shoulders. ‘Take Bobby and go back to the baby. This is between me and him.’
‘He’s bleeding, Tony! I swear you must’ve broken his nose. Just get the hell away from him.’
‘It’s men’s business. It doesn’t concern you.’
Still she held on to him. ‘I won’t leave you here to beat him to a bloody pulp. Come home, can you?’
