A Dangerous Fortune - Ken Follett [114]
When they finished eating Micky poured another glass of wine and said: “I’m going to marry Rachel Bodwin.”
Muriel and Lily giggled.
Edward stared at him for a long moment then said: “I don’t believe it.”
Micky shrugged. “Believe what you wish. It’s true, all the same.”
“Do you really mean it?”
“Yes.”
“You swine!”
Micky stared at his friend in surprise. “What? Why shouldn’t I marry?”
Edward stood up and leaned over the table aggressively. “You’re a damned swine, Miranda, and that’s all there is to say.”
Micky had not anticipated such a reaction. “What the devil has got into you?” he said. “Aren’t you going to marry Emily Maple?”
“Who told you that?”
“Your mother.”
“Well, I’m not marrying anyone.”
“Why not? You’re twenty-nine years old. So am I. It’s time for a man to equip himself with the semblance of a respectable household.”
“To the devil with a respectable household!” Edward roared, and he overturned the table. Micky sprang back as crockery smashed and wine spilled. The two naked women cringed away fearfully.
“Calm down!” Micky cried.
“After all these years!” Edward raged. “After all I’ve done for you!”
Micky was baffled by Edward’s fury. He had to calm the man down. A scene like this could prejudice him against marriage, and that was the opposite of what Micky wanted. “It’s not a disaster,” he said in a reasonable tone. “It’s not going to make any difference to us.”
“It’s bound to!”
“No, it’s not. We’ll still come here.”
Edward looked suspicious. In a quieter voice he said: “Will we?”
“Yes. And we’ll still go to the club. That’s what clubs are for. Men go to clubs to get away from their wives.”
“I suppose they do.”
The door opened and April swept in. “What’s the noise about?” she said. “Edward, have you been breaking my china?”
“I’m sorry, April. I’ll pay for it.”
Micky said to April: “I was just explaining to Edward that he can still come here after he’s married.”
“Good God, I should hope so,” April said. “If no married men came here I’d have to close the place.” She turned toward the doorway and called out: “Sid! Fetch a broom.”
Edward was calming down rapidly, to Micky’s relief. Micky said: “When we’re first married, we should probably spend a few evenings at home, and give the occasional dinner party. But after a while we’ll go right back to normal.”
Edward frowned. “Don’t wives mind that?”
Micky shrugged. “Who cares whether they mind? What can a wife do?”
“If she’s discontented I suppose she can bother her husband.”
Micky realized that Edward was taking his mother as a typical wife. Fortunately few women were as strong-willed or as clever as Augusta. “The trick is not to be too good to them,” Micky said, speaking from observation of married cronies at the Cowes Club. “If you’re good to a wife she’ll want you to stay with her. Treat her roughly and she’ll be only too glad to see you go off to your club in the evening and leave her in peace.”
Muriel put her arms around Edward’s neck. “It’ll be just the same when you’re married, Edward, I promise,” she said. “I’ll suck your cock while you watch Micky fuck Lily, just the way you like.”
“Will you?” he said with a foolish grin.
“Course I will.”
“So nothing will change, really,” he said, looking at Micky.
“Oh, yes,” said Micky. “One thing will change. You’ll be a partner in the bank.”
CHAPTER TWO
APRIL
1
THE MUSIC HALL was as hot as a Turkish bath. The air smelled of beer, shellfish and unwashed people. Onstage a young woman dressed in elaborate rags stood in front of a painted backdrop of a pub. She was holding a doll, to represent a newborn baby, and singing about how she had been seduced and abandoned. The audience, sitting on benches at long trestle-tables, linked arms and joined in the chorus:
And all it took was a