Johnny slept on the floor by the Wards’ fire and Ted slept in a chair. Ted said that he was willing to sleep on the floor but his father explained that after being captured by the sepoys he had slept on the ground in a cave without the luxury of a rag rug like the one in front of the Wards’ fire. ‘This is real comfort,’ he said. ‘And I’m in no danger of being shot or beheaded.’
They’d talked well into the night, for there was much catching up to do. Ted was nervous and reticent at first, but he was also keen to know why it was that his father had spent so many years away from home and they had never received a word from him.
‘What you have to realize, son,’ Johnny said, ‘is that when I joined ’military I didn’t expect to go abroad so soon, or that I would travel so far away. I knew that I would probably go to Ireland as there’s allus trouble there, but I was ignorant, I suppose, of what ’army did or where it went. At that time, your ma and me didn’t have any money; there weren’t many jobs out in ’country and folks were going into towns to look for work. The army seemed exciting; I’d get food and clothing and pay every month. But I was wrong,’ he admitted. ‘It’s a life for a single man, not for one wi’ a wife and childre’. But I’ve got a bit o’ money now, some of my back pay, and …’ On second thoughts he decided he wouldn’t tell Ted of the amber he’d sold. That was for Lily’s ears, if ever he found her.
‘What we’ll do in ’morning, Ted,’ he said, before settling down to sleep, ‘is make a contingency plan. We’ll talk about where your ma is likely to be. She’ll probably still be in Hull. If she’d come back somebody over at Hollym would have heard about it, but as it was they thought you’d all been drowned.’
‘She is still in Hull,’ Ted said urgently. ‘And I know where Daisy is,’ he added eagerly. ‘I know where she works. I’ve seen ’shop.’
‘Daisy working,’ Johnny murmured. ‘That little bairn! I can’t believe that I’ve been away so long!’
‘You have, Da!’
They grinned at each other then, at the acknowledgement that they were father and son. Ted reached out his hand to Johnny, who took it and squeezed it. ‘Goodnight, son.’
‘Goodnight, Da!’
The next morning Mrs Ward gave them a good breakfast of eggs and bacon, and then packed up a parcel of bread and beef to sustain them on their journey into Hull. ‘I wish you luck,’ she said, ‘and hope to see you back in Holderness with your wife.’
Johnny thanked her, but when John Ward came to see them off he asked him in a quiet voice, ‘Where will I find Billy Fowler? I need to see him before I set off for Hull.’
John Ward looked dubious. ‘You won’t do owt you’ll regret, will you? I’ve no regard for him, never have had, and what he did to his wife was despicable; but I’m onny thinking that if you should set about him it’d not be good. You’d find yoursen in trouble wi’ ’law.’
‘I won’t,’ Johnny assured him. ‘But I need to find out why he did what he did.’ And I want to take a look at him, he thought. To find out why Lily married him.
He called on the parish clerk to find out Fowler’s address but drew a blank. The clerk told him that Fowler had been to see him asking to be rehoused. ‘But we had nowhere for him,’ he said. ‘He was after a new property, but we have none. There are great plans afoot for when ’railway line comes to Withernsea, as it will afore long – then we shall have whole roads of new houses. Withernsea will be ’Brighton of the north.’
‘Can’t see it meself,’ Ted muttered.
The clerk glowered at him. ‘Oh, yes! Mr Bannister himself is planning it. It’s been in ’newspapers so it must be right.’
‘Who’s Mr Bannister?’ Johnny asked. ‘Sorry, but I’ve been out of circulation for a bit. I’ve never heard of him.’
‘He’s ’chairman of ’railway company that’s going to build ’line! Two or three years and it’ll be here.’
‘So what about Fowler?’ Johnny persisted. ‘Do you know where he went?’
The clerk shook his head. ‘He was right mad. I told him, onny empty property we’ve got is on ’Waxholme road and that’s standing right on ’edge of ’cliff. Somehow he’d got hold of ’notion that he’d get somewhere new and he went off muttering and grumbling. So, sorry, but I’ve no idea.’
‘Don’t let’s bother,’ Ted said when they got outside. ‘He’s not worth worrying about.’
Johnny heaved a breath. ‘But what’s bothering me, Ted, is that he’s married to your ma, and I don’t know if it’s legal. Were you there? Was it in church?’
Ted nodded. ‘It was in choch, but we didn’t go, Daisy and me. He said he didn’t want us there. Didn’t want a fuss, he said, so it was going to be him and Ma and ’vicar.’
‘And nobody else?’
Ted shrugged. ‘Don’t know. Ma went right quiet after. I thought mebbe she was wishing she hadn’t done it, and then when we went to Seathorne and saw ’hovel where he lived!’ Ted screwed up his face in disgust. ‘She had to clean it out afore we could live in it.’
‘All right.’ Johnny had made up his mind. ‘We’ll go to Hull and look for them and then decide what to do after that.’
‘Do we have to walk?’ Ted said wearily. ‘Can we tek carrier? I had ’owd hoss last time but coming back I didn’t have much money, so I walked.’
Johnny grinned. ‘I think I could find a copper to pay ’carrier if he hasn’t left already. And if he has,’ he tweaked Ted’s ear, ‘then we’ll walk. It’s nowt,’ he said. ‘Just a stroll.’ He looked questioningly at Ted. ‘When did you come back? Did you get a lift?’
‘Yesterday. I’d onny just got to ’Wards’ house when you knocked on ’door. I walked from Hull and then I got a lift on a cart.’ He gazed straight at his father. ‘It wasn’t you following me, was it? Somebody was.’
Johnny grinned. ‘I rather think it might have been. I kept thinking that if I could catch up wi’ that young fellow we could have a chat while we were walking.’
Ted groaned and then he grinned too. ‘And we’d have saved ourselves a walk back from Holderness, wouldn’t we, if we’d known?’
The carrier had already left from Withernsea so they walked into Patrington where Johnny hired a horse and small cart for the rest of the journey. ‘We can bring your ma and Daisy back in this, if they want to come,’ he said as they set off.
‘Daisy likes it in Hull,’ Ted remarked gloomily. ‘She’s working for this apothecary. He lets her count tablets and run errands.’
‘How come she’s there?’ Johnny asked. ‘She’d have no references. And why didn’t she stay wi’ your ma?’
‘Daisy said he’d helped Ma when she was – when she was—’ Ted stopped in confusion. Bad enough for his father to hear that his mother had married again, but what would he say if Ted told him that Ma had been expecting Fowler’s child? What if he didn’t stay? What if he went off and they never saw him again? He half turned and searched his father’s face. He didn’t know him well enough yet to guess how he would react to that kind of news. Right now he had a frown just above his nose which made him look stern, though not aggressive as Fowler used to look if Ted said something to upset him.
‘Come on, lad,’ Johnny said patiently. ‘I’ll not bite thee. Spit it out! Whatever your ma did or didn’t do doesn’t affect you and me. I’m your da. I’ll not let you down again.’
Ted lowered his head. ‘She was expecting,’ he mumbled. ‘Daisy said that this man, this chemist, helped her to his shop cos she’d—’ He swallowed. ‘Cos she’d started to whelp ’n’ there was nobody else to help her.’
Johnny swore under his breath. ‘So Fowler took her to Hull when she was expecting a bairn and sold her! I’ll search him out,’ he muttered bitterly. ‘I’ll teach him a thing or two. And it’s labour!’ he bellowed at Ted, more in frustration than anger. ‘Not whelp. She’s not an animal, even though Fowler treated her as if she was!’
Ted jumped, then said eagerly, ‘Can I watch, Da, if you go and find him and give him a good hiding? I told you, didn’t I, that I fought wi’ him, ’n’ he went ower ’cliff!’
Johnny nodded wearily, wondering when this nightmare would end and what the outcome would be. ‘So was your ma delivered safely? Was it a healthy child?’
‘No,’ Ted said. ‘It was aborted. That’s what Daisy said anyway. And I’m glad,’ he said vehemently. ‘Cos I wouldn’t have wanted any brat of Fowler’s to be related to me!’
‘That’s enough,’ Johnny said sharply. ‘It wouldn’t have been ’bairn’s fault.’
‘No, Da.’ Ted hung his head again. ‘Sorry.’ Yet even as he apologized, he felt an extraordinary exultation in his chest: that his father knew what was right and what was wrong and would tell him; and somehow Ted knew that from now on, if he was anxious or bothered about anything, he could ask without fear of the consequences, and his father would willingly advise him.