‘She won’t listen to me.’ Ted slumped onto one of the kitchen chairs when he eventually came downstairs.
‘You’ll just have to keep trying.’ Mary studied him for the first time since he arrived. The flesh around his eyes was grey and puffy and she could see a thin dusting of flour around his hairline. He must have driven straight there from working overnight. No wonder he looked dreadful. ‘You’ll have to make her listen.’
‘She’s said she won’t come home.’ He rubbed at the red mark indented in his forehead from wearing the trilby. ‘I know she’s upset about Tom – I know you both are,’ he added hastily as Mary flinched. ‘But there’s something else. It can’t just be about my mother. What has she said?’
Mary leaned against the worktop. ‘It’s not up to me to tell you, Ted, it should come from Ellen.’ She couldn’t believe he was having an affair. He’d loved Ellen for as long as Mary could remember. But her sister obviously did believe he was unfaithful. And that fear needed to come out into the open and be sorted out before they could tackle the issue of Hannah Booth.
‘If she won’t talk to me what can I do?’
‘You fight for her. Do you want to give up on your marriage that easily?’
‘You think it’s come to that?’ Ted paled.
‘I do.’
There was a querulous high-pitched complaining above their heads. They glanced at the ceiling.
‘Linda’s like her mum.’ Mary gave him a small smile. ‘Determined to get her own way. She wants to see you.’
‘I love that little girl, Mary.’
‘I know.’
‘I’ve loved her from the day Ellen brought her home, the moment I opened the door and saw you both on the step.’ He leant forward, his arms on his thighs. ‘I knew already. Ages before I’d found a small photograph of a baby on the floor of our room. Ellen must have dropped it. I left it there, didn’t say anything.’ He wiped his hand over his mouth. ‘I don’t mind telling you that was a blinkin’ hard thing to do, Mary, waiting for her to tell me.’
‘Did Hannah know?’
‘Not until afterwards.’
‘How was she about Linda?’
He moved his shoulders.
‘Do you want me to be perfectly honest, Ted?’
He nodded.
‘From what I can make out, it’s Linda your mother has the most problem with. And Ellen’s had as much as she can take from Hannah.’ She watched him, head tilted to one side. ‘Ellen loves you, I know that. And you love her.’
‘Yes.’
‘Then I think you and your mother have a bit of straight talking to do. If you don’t make things right, somehow, I think Ellen will leave you. And then what will happen to the children?’