Daughter of Mine by Anne Bennett Page B

bad enough, but fighting! And yet the family took it almost as a matter of course, so much so thatRodney hadn’t even raised his head from where he sat, staring into the fire.
    Steve looked at Lizzie and regretted she’d seen any of this. ‘Get your coat,’ he snapped.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Are you deaf? Get your coat!’
    Lizzie hurried to obey him. She knew it wasn’t her that Steve was so cross with, but she was still unnerved by the angry, curt way he had spoken.
    They walked side by side in silence, Lizzie knowing anything she said would be wrong. She didn’t care about Steve’s past, she didn’t really care about his future either, because she wasn’t going to figure in it. This had decided her. She’d dallied long enough and really had made a monkey of the man, and the sooner she came clean the better. Neil’s phrase—‘what she’s taking on,’—had filled her with dread. Someone else would have to fill that role; it would certainly not be her.
    She kissed Steve when he left her at the hotel, but on the cheek only, and turned without even a hug and opened the door to the stairs.
    Christ Almighty! Steve thought. He knew the rage, still burning within him, needed some outlet. Sex would fit the bill nicely and he turned to make for one of his familiar haunts, where he knew one or two of the women liked him to be a bit rough.
    Lizzie waited for Tressa to come in that night, not a thing she did now as a rule, but she needed to talk to her about Steve. They both had the whole evening off and so, after tea with the family, Mike had probably taken Tressa out somewhere. Steve might havedone the same if that distressing scene at the house hadn’t happened. It seemed to have upset Steve totally, and whether he’d forgotten Lizzie had the evening off or whether he’d wanted to be by himself, she didn’t know nor care. In the few hours she’d been with the family, she had had enough of them all; enough to last a lifetime. How could one simple question start such a barrage? She was glad to reach the peace and quiet of her room, for her nerves were still jangling, and she lay down on her bed fully clothed and thought about it.
    She was woken by Betty and Pat, who’d been on duty, coming in and complaining about their feet. They’d turned the light on before they noticed Lizzie.
    ‘Sorry!’
    ‘That’s all right,’ Lizzie said. ‘I must have dropped off.’
    ‘You’re back early.’
    ‘Aye, let’s say it wasn’t a total success.’
    ‘Oh!’
    ‘Aye, Steve had a row with his brother, which turned into a fight.’
    ‘That’s men all over,’ Betty said. ‘Solve everything with their bloody fists.’
    ‘Well, I was glad to leave anyway,’ Lizzie said. ‘It’s not my idea of a pleasant Sunday afternoon. I’ll wait for Tressa and see what she makes of it.’
    ‘You won’t see your cousin for some time yet,’ Pat said.
    ‘How late is it usually then?’ Lizzie said. ‘I never hear her come in.’
    ‘I know you don’t hear her,’ Betty told her. ‘You must be a deep sleeper. It’s always the early hours whenshe arrives home. She’s woken me a few times. She has an arrangement with the night porter to let her in when she knocks in a certain way.’
    ‘The early hours!’ Lizzie repeated. ‘What does she do till the early hours?’
    The two girls giggled. ‘Don’t you know about the birds and the bees?’ Pat said with a smirk. ‘I’d have a good guess at what she’s up to, her and that feller she has. Lead you on, blokes do. You’ve got to keep your wits about you. I tell you, Lizzie, it would be good to warn her, like. A girl needs to watch herself.’
    ‘Yeah, and she’s in a state sometimes,’ Betty put in.
    ‘A state?’
    ‘Yeah, drunk, like, or very near it, anyroad.’
    ‘I had no idea, though I know she’s hard to rouse sometimes, but then she has never been easy to get up.’
    ‘Thought you hadn’t guessed,’ Betty said. ‘Glad to have told you. You’re the only one