‘I’ve said nothing of the kind.’ Hannah scratched at the bandages on her leg.
‘You’ve called Linda,’ Ted ground out his words, ‘my daughter, a bastard.’
‘Never.’ Hannah scratched harder. A small patch of brown discolouration from the infection had come through the dressings. ‘One thing I will say though, your wife does neglect our William for the other one all the time. Poor little beggar can be screaming his head off and she just ignores him, when t’other just has to click her fingers.’
‘You’re lying.’ Ted walked back and forth in front of Hannah. He swung round to face her, almost overbalancing on his weak ankle. ‘All this nastiness about Ellen.’ He steadied himself, rubbed his hands over his face. ‘Why Mother?’
Hannah clamped her mouth together, pushing out her lips. The two metal rollers on her forehead quivered as she shook in indignation. ‘I’m not the one who’s lying to you. I’m not the one who’s told that many lies about herself in the past she wouldn’t know the truth if it smacked her in the face.’
‘Shut up.’
‘And you soaked them all up. You’re a fool.’
‘I won’t have you talking about Ellen like that.’ Ted turned away so he didn’t have to see her. ‘Ellen has been good to you. God above, she came to live with you, to help you, when you thought I was dead.’
‘Don’t give me that. She just knew which side her bread was buttered. She didn’t want to be in Henshaw Street the way things were there.’ Hannah’s voice rose. ‘You’re too soft.’
‘I’m too soft? I’m too soft?’ The heat of his anger towards his mother, dormant for so long, boiled to the surface. ‘I’ve listened to you, “Do this, do that, go here, go there,” telling me how to live my life. And I let you. And why? Because I thought you’d had it rough being left on your own to bring me up. When I was a kid I felt guilty, thinking Dad had left because of something I’d done.’ He pushed his face towards hers. ‘But it wasn’t, was it? I’d done nothing. It was you. With your nasty tongue and spiteful ways, your incessant carping and nagging. You drove him away.’ His breathing was shallow and strained. He noticed a fleck of his spittle on her cheek but he didn’t care. ‘Just like you drove me away in the end. Why do you think I volunteered? To get away from you. Did you think I didn’t know why you kept on and on about trying for the bakery at the Co-op? You knew it was a reserved occupation and if I got in you wouldn’t have to be on your own.’ He gulped in a quick breath. ‘When I got accepted into the RAF Voluntary Reserve in Manchester and left here I felt free for the first time in my life. All because I was away from you.’
Her jowls trembled with an anger that equalled his but she stayed silent.
Ted flung himself onto one of the kitchen chairs but in his rage he couldn’t keep still. His knee jerked up and down under the table, knocking against the drawer and jangling the cutlery inside. When he noticed what he was doing he swung himself around and faced her. ‘This is how it’s going to be from now on,’ he said firmly. ‘You’ll leave Ellen alone and…’
‘Oh, will I?’ Hannah finally found her voice. She pushed the loose sleeves of her black cardigan up her forearms.
‘Yes, you will.’ Ted spoke harshly. ‘And if I hear you’ve said anything else about Linda you’ll be sorry.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yes, oh! Any more nastiness, Mother, and I’ll have to ask you … no, I’ll tell you to leave and find somewhere else to live.’
‘Then I won’t be the only one who’ll be sorry, Ted, will I?’ his mother said. ‘I just hope you’ll be prepared to sell the shop and give me my money back.’