Kitty Neale 3 Book Bundle. Kitty Neale

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       Chapter Eighteen

      Stan had been deep in thought and he’d hardly listened when Amy came back from seeing Carol, although she and Phyllis had yammered on about it for ages.

      Now though Phyllis was at work, and Amy was upstairs getting ready to go out with Tommy. When the young man turned up Stan was determined to have his say and only five minutes later there was a knock at the door. He let Tommy in, and with Amy still upstairs, Stan said sternly, ‘Now then, Tommy, I’m not happy about your mother barging in here earlier today and insulting my wife.’

      ‘She did what?’ he asked, looking shocked.

      ‘You heard me. Your mother wanted to know where Rose is, and when my wife couldn’t tell her she called her a tart. I’m not putting up with that.’

      ‘Mr Miller, I’m sorry, but this is all news to me. I arrived home to find my mother in a terrible state because she had found out about my dad and … and Rose, but she didn’t say anything about coming here.’

      ‘Yeah, well, she did, and if it wasn’t for my wife I’d have been up at your place giving your mother a piece of my mind.’

      ‘I’ll speak to her,’ Tommy said quickly. ‘I’ll see it doesn’t happen again.’

      ‘If you ask me, your mother’s a law unto herself and I can’t see her listening to you. She’ll be turning on Amy next and I’m not going to stand for that. In fact, now that there’s bad blood between your mother and us I want you to stop seeing my daughter.’

      ‘Dad!’

      Amy had come downstairs and Stan turned to look at his daughter. He saw by the shocked expression on her face that she must have overheard, but he wasn’t going to backtrack. ‘I’m doing this for your own good,’ he said to her, his attention then returning to Tommy when the young man spoke.

      ‘Mr Miller, please, you can’t blame me for what my mother said and did.’

      Stan was about to answer him, but it was Amy who spoke first.

      ‘Tommy,’ she said softly, ‘I was going to talk to you about this later, but to ease my dad’s mind I might as well get it over with now. I don’t blame you for your mother’s actions, but nevertheless she barged in here and insulted my mum. Unless your mother apologises, I’ll never speak to her again – though I doubt that would bother her. She doesn’t like me, I know that, and now that this has happened, maybe we should stop seeing each other.’

      ‘No, Amy, don’t say that. If she dares to insult your mother again, or you, I’ll walk out and find a place of my own.’

      Stan looked at Amy, loving her loyalty towards her mother, but impressed by Tommy’s response too. In the light of this, he decided that it was up to Amy now. If she wanted to go on seeing Tommy, he wouldn’t stand in her way.

      ‘Do you really mean that, Tommy?’ Amy asked.

      ‘Yes, I do.’

      ‘In that case,’ she said smiling at last, ‘where are you taking me tonight?’

      Stan saw the delight on Tommy’s face, but then the young man sobered and said, ‘Is that all right with you, Mr Miller?’

      ‘Yes, I suppose so,’ he answered, straight-faced, hoping as the two of them left that his daughter had made the right decision.

      Celia was waiting up when Thomas arrived home after seeing Amy, and she immediately asked, ‘Well, did you find out where your father is?’

      ‘No,’ he said sternly, ‘but I did find out that you barged into Mrs Miller’s house and insulted her.’

      ‘It wasn’t like that,’ Celia protested. ‘Phyllis Miller’s cousin went off with your father and I have every right to know where they are. She refused to tell me and then demanded that I leave her house.’

      ‘Was that before or after you called her a tart?’

      ‘Thomas, I was upset; angry that she was lying.’

      ‘She wasn’t lying, and I’m telling you now, Mother, if you don’t apologise, Amy will never have anything to do with you again.’

      Celia almost laughed – that suited her just fine, yet she knew tears were the best defence for her behaviour and wailed, ‘I know I haven’t been myself since your father le … left me, that I’ve been acting irrationally, without thought, but I … I can’t seem to stop myself, Thomas.’

      ‘Mum, please, don’t cry,’ he said worriedly.

      ‘I … I can’t help it,’ Celia sobbed. ‘I almost went out of my mind when I heard about your father and that … that woman, and I was hysterical when I went to see Amy’s mother. Surely you can understand that? СКАЧАТЬ