‘Mrs Scott!’ he repeated, as if he could hardly believe the words.
‘I’m sorry. I know you ought to have been told, but she is over twenty-one, and, well…’ Bobby flushed. ‘The wedding had to happen. I think you’ve guessed why. But Tony does love her, he says, and he’s promised to take care of her and… and anyone else who makes an appearance. He wouldn’t have been my first choice either, but that’s up to Lil, isn’t it? He really isn’t half the rogue you think he is.’
Her dad just stared with glazed eyes. Judging it best to give him a moment to absorb the news, Bobby stood up and filled the kettle to heat water for the washing-up. She spotted her dad’s shotgun propped by the door and went to put it away.
‘Leave it,’ her dad murmured.
‘I was going to put it in the surgery out of the way.’
‘I said leave it.’ He turned his gaze on her, his face livid now – whether with fear, anger or a combination of the two, she couldn’t tell. ‘This is your doing, Bobby.’
She blinked. ‘Me?’
‘He was your mate, wasn’t he? You introduced the pair of them. A man like that, you should’ve done everything you could to keep your sister away from him. Instead you’re encouraging him with one hand and keeping the whole thing behind my back with the other.’ He stood up and turned away from her. ‘Your own sister.’
Bobby stared at him. ‘You’re seriously going to blame me for this?’
‘Without your mam around, I’d have thought you girls would take better care of each other, that’s all.’
With a sudden movement he punched the back of his chair, making Bobby flinch.
Her dad had never been violent within the family. Not even to punish her brothers, who as children had been given theirspankings by their mam. But her dad’s black tempers, rare but unsoothable, were almost as frightening as any threat of physical violence.
‘Tony bloody Scott!’ he said, in a voice strangled with grief and rage. ‘She’s to be kept on a newspaperman’s salary, is she, with a bairn to feed and clothe?’ He laughed, pressing his head between his hands. ‘Scott’ll have spent his wage on other women before she gets a penny out of him in housekeeping. That’s if he hangs around. Marriage don’t mean much to men like that.’
Bobby flushed. ‘Actually, Tony’s not working for the paper any more.’
Her dad turned to glare at her. ‘Not on the paper? What’s he doing then?’
‘Nothing. He’s looking for a job.’
‘Bloody hell, Bobby!’ He spun away from her, his whole body shaking. ‘I’ll not have that man coming here – nor her either. You write and tell her. Neither one of them is welcome in my house.’
Bobby laughed. ‘Yourhouse? Don’t I live here too?’
‘I’m head of it, aren’t I?’
‘But it’s me that makes it a home.’ She glared at him. ‘You’ve got no idea, have you, Dad? No idea how much time I spend scrubbing and boiling before work while you’re still in bed, to make this place habitable for you. No idea how often Lil and I gave up our meat and butter rations when we were all living in Bradford so you and Jake could have extra. How many hours we spent queueing to get you what was going short, on top of working so we could bring money into the house – money that went straight down your throat.’
Rob flushed deeply. ‘You’d no cause to bring that up.’
‘You need to know. It’s about bloody time you did.’
‘Watch your damn language.’
‘I will not. I’ve spent enough of my life watching what I say.’ She shook her head. ‘Men always are too blind to see all that women do for them. Without us, you’d have no homes to be the heads of. And you’d really deny our Lilian this house, after everything she’s done for you?’ Bobby turned away from him, her cheeks on fire with anger and hurt. ‘Well if it’s your house then you can bar the door to me too, because I won’t set foot in any home where my sister isn’t welcome.’
‘You knew,’ her dad persisted, although there was a quaver in his voice now, as if he was close to tears. ‘Knew all this time, and did nowt to stop it. How could you have let this happen, Bobby?’
‘It’s nothing to do with me! Lilian’s an adult, isn’t she?’
‘You could have told me.’ His glance rested briefly on the shotgun. ‘I’d have put a stop to it quick enough.’
‘You could’ve put a stop to it before it happened, if you’d only thought about how your actions might affect other people,’ Bobby snapped, the words falling out of her mouth before she could stop them.
He frowned. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It was because of you, Dad! The meat raffling, with Pete Dixon. Tony found out about it and was going to run a story, but he pulled it when he found out you were involved. For Lil’s sake.’
