Faith - Lesley Pearse [68]
‘She won’t have a leg to stand on unless he left it to her in his will.’ Laura said. ‘What was in his will?’
‘That’s the problem, he hadn’t made a new one.’ June began to cry. ‘The one his solicitor had was made before his first wife died. He said he was going to make a new one when we got married, but he never did it.’
‘Well, you’re fine then,’ Laura said. ‘It all goes to the wife in that case. No one can chuck you out of the house.’
‘That’s not what his sons say, or that cow. The sons reckon they should get it because this house was bought with their mother’s money, and that bitch says she’s got a letter from Vince where he said I tricked him into marrying me. He said he was going to get rid of me and my brats because I was a lazy slut. She reckons he wanted her to have everything if he snuffed it.’
‘I don’t think for one moment that would stand up in court,’ Laura replied thoughtfully. ‘Have you been to a solicitor?’
‘Yes, but half the time I don’t know what he’s talking about. He said that in this case, the court will look into the whole family and decide who has what. Even if they favour me, Vince’s kids can appeal against it and have a share. What chance do I have over them? They went to posh schools and university, they know what they are doing.’
‘Then you have to get a solicitor who knows what he is doing. I could come with you and speak up for you,’ Laura offered.
‘You do want a slice of the pie then?’ June said nastily.
‘You what?’ Laura exclaimed. ‘I don’t want even the scrapings from his toe nails. Don’t you know why I left? He was always coming on to me. Part of the reason I came today was that I was afraid he’d start on Meggie or Ivy.’
June looked at her as if she’d just come down from Mars. ‘Don’t be bloody silly! He didn’t even like you, and he treated Meggie and Ivy like they were his own flesh and blood.’
A kind of snort from behind her made Laura turn to see Meggie was back standing in the doorway, listening. ‘Did he touch you, Meggie?’ Laura asked.
She had the same insolent, arms-crossed stance as earlier, but her expression had changed from sulky to wary. Instinctively Laura knew that Vincent had pestered her, and maybe that was why she was acting so hostile. ‘Did he, Meggie?’ she asked more gently. ‘You should tell us if he did. I expect he said you were never to tell Mum or he’d throw you all out. That’s what he told me.’
‘Don’t put such ideas into her head,’ June suddenly screamed out. ‘How dare you come walking in here telling lies about my Vince?’
Laura was horrified June would defend Vincent even though he had betrayed her, yet not show any concern about her own daughters.
‘Do you really think I’d have left here at fifteen if there was nothing wrong?’ Laura shouted back angrily. ‘He made it impossible for me to stay, and you were a bloody useless mother, you couldn’t even see what was going on under your very nose.’
‘She hasn’t changed,’ Meggie said dourly.
All at once Laura wished she hadn’t come. June was beyond her help, for whatever Laura did for her, whether it was practical stuff like cleaning up, or giving her sensible advice, she’d just go her own way. By tomorrow there would be more dirty dishes on the table, she’d still be sitting here smoking and not acting on advice. She wouldn’t stir herself to fight this other woman, or Vince’s greedy sons, she was what she’d always been, lazy and stupid.
Where are Ivy and Freddy?’ she asked.
‘Out somewhere,’ June replied, her tone suggesting she had no idea where and cared less.
‘You’ve got to pull yourself together, Mum,’ Laura said. ‘You should know where Freddy and Ivy are, what is wrong with Meggie, and you should be a real mother to all three of them and look after this place.’
June looked Laura up and down, pursing her lips. ‘Looks like you’ve done well for yerself anyway, gotta sugar daddy?’
‘No, I bloody well haven’t,’ Laura snapped