Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [125]
Had he heard her telling her mother about the baby? What did it matter if he had? After all, she hadn’t done anything wrong, had she? Not like Trixie. Bella nodded her head and then turned her back on him, as he walked back to join his family.
‘Yes, of course I’ll make sure I get plenty of rest, Mummy,’ Bella told her mother. ‘No, I haven’t told Alan yet, but I will tell him when he comes in … When? Oh, not for ages yet, not until January.’
Bella was upstairs lying down when Alan came home – early for once – and her stomach muscles tightened as she heard him coming up the stairs. Outwardly she might be blaming Trixie for that kiss she had witnessed, but inwardly no matter how hard she fought against it, there was a small hard impossible-to-destroy kernel of knowledge that said otherwise.
If Trixie was to blame and she had told Alan that Bella had confronted her, then surely Alan would be returning home feeling both guilty and anxious to reassure her. She was the one who had the upper hand after all, because she was his wife.
Alan thrust open the bedroom door carelessly, letting it bang against the wall before slamming it closed again.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing, going into the office like that and upsetting poor Trixie?’
This was not what Bella had been expecting. Guilt, defensiveness and, hopefully, remorse, yes, but not this savage anger.
‘All I did was warn her to keep away from my husband,’ Bella defended herself.
‘Your husband? I’ve never been your husband. All I’ve ever been is the fool you managed to trick into marriage. Well, it’s over now, Bella. I’ve spoken to my father and he reckons that I can get the marriage annulled; after all, it was never properly consummated, not really. And once I’m free of you I’m going to marry Trixie. She’s the one I love. She’s the one I’ve always loved, and I’d be married to her now if it hadn’t been for you.’
Annulled? A thrill of horror electrified Bella into sitting up in bed. The thought that Alan might actually be planning to leave her hadn’t crossed her mind, at least not properly. All she’d feared had been looking a fool because he spent more time at work with Trixie than he did at home with her. And he wasn’t just planning to leave her, he wanted to have their marriage annulled, making it look as though she hadn’t been a proper wife to him; as though there was something wrong with her. Well, they’d soon see about that!
‘Is that what you’ve told Trixie?’ Bella accused him furiously. ‘Because if it is you’d better go back and tell her that it isn’t the truth, hadn’t you? Our marriage is a proper marriage.’
‘A proper marriage, when I had to be so drunk that I could hardly perform, just to go anywhere near you.’ Alan’s face was red and he had raised his voice to such a pitch that he was almost screaming at her.
‘But you did do it, didn’t you, every night for a week? Have you told your precious Trixie about that?’
‘Yes I have,’ Alan shot back. ‘She’s not like you, Bella; she’s the most darling brave girl. I’m not worthy of her and I never will be. She actually blames herself because she said that we had to wait until I could leave you officially. She knows that it was only my frustration with wanting her so much that made me turn to you. I should have paid a whore instead. It would have been cheaper and I’d certainly have enjoyed it more. God, but you’re cold. It’s like having it with a dummy.’
‘Keep your voice down,’ Bella hissed at him. ‘The refugees will hear you.’
‘I don’t care if they do,’ Alan yelled at her. ‘In fact I hope they do. The more people who know what you’re really like, the better. It doesn’t matter anyway if I can’t get an annulment; I’ll get a divorce instead. Trixie will wait for me.’
‘You can’t divorce me, Alan. I’m pregnant. I’m having your baby.’
‘What?’
This was the moment, her moment, when she should have been feeling triumphant and smugly self-righteous, knowing she was in an unassailable position. Whatever Alan’s father might choose to say to his son in private,