22 Britannia Road - Amanda Hodgkinson [125]
He drops onto the mattress beside her, breathing heavily. Quickly, she pulls the other stubborn slipper off and throws it across the room, her own breath coming in short gasps.
‘Are you all right?’ he asks, his hand searching for hers. He grips it tightly. She has the sensation of having lived through a small earthquake. Outside the rain quickens and lightning flashes again.
‘I’m fine, yes.’
They lie listening to the rain and the wind and he asks her about Poland. About what she left behind.
‘Tell me about your family. Your parents?’
‘I can’t remember,’ she says firmly. ‘I can’t remember a single thing.’
He turns and twists onto his side, facing her.
‘I don’t need to know. I think I like you being a mystery. I have something important to tell you in any case.’
Janusz? she thinks. Some news of him?
‘Somebody has offered to buy the pet shop.’
‘The pet shop?’
‘They’re willing to pay good money. House prices are rising around here. You’ve got to do what you can to turn a profit these days. My father-in-law thinks it’s time Peter went away to board. He wants him to go to his old school. It’s miles away in Wiltshire. My father-in-law will pay for it. But it’s not just the fees, is it? You’ve got to have the whole lot, the right car, the right clothes. The accent. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what they’re giving him. Peter doesn’t need me at all.’
He talks about class and money and what people expect in Britain, shifting his weight in the bed, his hand occasionally brushing against her breasts or her hip.
‘It won’t be for ever, this situation here. I don’t like to leave you all week while I run the shop in Ipswich, and I’ve had enough of the black-market stuff. It’s time to get out.’ He caresses her hand. ‘I’m thinking of buying a place in London. In September, when Peter has gone to boarding school. Nobody would know us there. We could say we were married.’
‘What about Aurek?’
Tony is silent for a moment. He has obviously not considered Aurek.
‘He’ll be with us.’
Silvana shivers. She slips out of bed and searches for her discarded nightdress. Tony switches the bedside lamp on. He watches her.
‘Come and get back under the covers.’
‘No. I should go back to my own bed. I don’t want Aurek to wake and find me here.’
Tony throws the covers back, pulls her towards him, and she gives in, climbing back between the sheets. She doesn’t want to go back to her cold bed all alone. The gutters gurgle and the sound of rain washing through the downpipes into the storm drains outside makes her feel as though the sea might be pulling the house into its depths.
‘So what do you think?’ Tony asks. ‘Shall we give London a go? I’ll look after you like a princess. You’ll have everything you want, I promise.’
Silvana rests her head on his shoulder. Tony is full of these ideas. She has learned that each week brings a new scheme, and it always involves promises.
‘Aurek and I will be –’ She stops herself. She almost told him she would be going home soon. She should really give up on all that. Especially now Janusz has gone.
He strokes her hair gently.
‘And if you say yes now, I promise I will get you a pair of slippers in a bigger size tomorrow.’
She closes her eyes.
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘Yes.’
Aurek has his torch on under his covers. He is writing. It takes him a long time, printing each letter, trying to control the pen. He struggles, but it is important and he will not give up. He has ink on his face and blue-stained teeth and lips. He is so tired by his efforts that when he falls exhausted into his dreams, his pen dribbling onto his pyjamas, he sleeps soundly, curled up, knees to his chin all night, a peaceful whorl of a child.
In the morning, his mother talks to him of the storm the night before. She asks him if he heard it. He tells her he heard nothing.
‘Not even the wind rattling the windows?’
He shakes his head. ‘Nothing.’
‘Good,’ she says. ‘That