The Exciting Life (26 page)

‘
I’m sorry Eddie. I really am. At least give me the chance to
explain.’

He
glanced down at her hand, then grasped it tightly, yanking it
up.

‘
Where’s your ring?’ he hissed.

‘
In my handbag,’ she replied, wriggling her wrist away. ‘I
should have never agreed to marry you. I’m sorry Eddie.’

He
turned and walked off down the hall and Annie followed behind him,
running to keep up with his step.

‘
Eddie you’ve done nothing wrong. I don’t want you to think
that. But I guessed you knew all along that I love
Patrick.’

‘
What about Iris?’ he asked, going over to the wireless and
switching it off. He picked up his cigar, put it in his mouth, and
stormed out of the room, going into the bedroom, where his tie and
jacket lay draped over a chair. He didn’t bother to put them on,
just hung them over his arm and went to head out of the
flat.

‘
Patrick doesn’t love Iris,’ Annie said. ‘But I’ve got to go
and meet with her because she’s telling me now that she’s my
sister.’

Eddie
turned around and looked at her, furrowing his brow.

‘
What?’

‘
She reckons we’ve got the same mother. Norma, the cleaner at
the club.’

‘
Has Patrick been giving you drugs?’

‘
Of course not. It’s all true. I’ve got to go and sort it out.
Then I’ll come back and we can talk. I don’t want there to be bad
feeling between us. We are business partners after all.’

‘
Are we?’ he said cryptically, raising one of his bushy
eyebrows. ‘Maybe I’ll have to see about that.’

He
stormed out of the flat, slamming the door behind him, and Annie
was left feeling a little out of body. Up until yesterday, she’d
been convinced she would be spending the rest of her life with
Eddie; and now everything had turned on its axis, and they were no
longer together. Right now, she felt as though her whole life was a
weird dream and she’d wake up soon and be back in that crummy flat
in Fulham, getting ready to go out on New Year’s Eve.

She had
a quick bath, fixed her hair and changed into a navy two piece
she’d had from back when she was married to Mario. She was a little
alarmed to find the side zip barely did up, and was frightened that
if she sat down, the whole skirt would rip. But it was too late to
worry about that, and instead she left the building and walked the
short journey to Bruno’s. She got there to find the door open and
as she entered, she realised her legs were shaking. She got in and
saw that it was Kenneth and Alice who’d arrived. Kenneth looked
most disgruntled to be here, and Alice looked
bewildered.

‘
There you are,’ she said to Annie. ‘What’s going
on?’

‘
We’ve just got to wait for a couple of other people to
arrive,’ Annie said. ‘Can I get you both a coffee?’

‘
I’d love one please my darling,’ said Alice. She looked at
Kenneth. ‘What about you?’

‘
No,’ he said snootily. ‘I don’t want to get comfortable. I
just want to be in and out of here as quickly as
possible.’

Annie
went into the little kitchen area and made herself and Alice a cup
of coffee, and when she returned to the front of the club, she saw
that Norma had arrived, all dressed up in her overall, ready to
work.

‘
Don't worry about that Norma,’ Annie said. ‘Can you join us in
the booth?’

As soon
as Annie clocked the knowing expression on the cleaner's face, she
realised Iris was telling the truth. Shaking, she slid in beside
Alice, feeling her waistband digging into her body and making her
catch her breath. Norma sat beside Kenneth and took out her
cigarettes.

‘
Is this about something Iris has said?’ she asked as she lit
her fag.

‘
Yes,’ Annie replied. ‘But I think we should wait until she
gets here.’

‘
Iris?’ Alice said. ‘Is that the blonde girl I met at your
party? The one who models for you?’

‘
That’s her, yes.’

And as
if the devil himself had heard his name, the door opened and Iris
walked in. She looked classy for once, with her hair rolled up and
a scarf tied around her neck. Leo Andersson was clearly wielding
his influence already - or maybe all Iris had ever wanted was to be
a rich man's wife and was more than happy to jump head-first into
the role.

‘
Oh what a lovely family gathering,’ she said
bitterly.

‘
I don't understand,’ Alice said. ‘What's
happening?’

Iris sat
beside Annie and she guessed she must have hated her mother a lot
to choose to sit beside her rather than Norma.

‘
Iris reckons that you’re her mother, Norma,’ Annie said. ‘Is
that correct?’

‘
Yes,’ Norma replied.

‘
And she also claims that you're my mother as well.’

Alice
gave a theatrical gasp, which almost made Annie laugh.

‘
Oh it gets better Alice,’ Annie said. ‘She also reckons that
Norma here is your niece. Which apparently makes you my real
aunt.’

‘
It's true,’ Norma said quietly.

‘
What?’ snapped Annie.

‘
All of it's true.’

‘
Is this some sort of scam to make money?’ Alice uttered. ‘How
could you possibly know you're related to me?’

‘
Because my father used to go on about you,’ Norma said. ‘He
always told me how his baby sister had been taken by their aunt and
brought up by her. The aunt, Bella, was a singer and actress and
taught little Alice how to dance, Little Alice Higgins.’

‘How did
you find out these things about me?’

‘
What? Like how you were born in January 1892 in Tennyson
Street? That your father was called Alfred Henry Higgins and your
mother was called Eliza but she died when you were little. Your
father couldn't cope with you so your Aunt Bella from Ireland took
you.’

Annie
sat enthralled. Even she didn't know these facts about her aunt. If
they were true that is.

‘
Whose daughter are you?’ Alice asked.

‘
Desmond.’

‘
My oldest brother,’ Alice said softly. ‘He used to carry me on
his shoulders while he went up and down Prince of Wales Drive,
knocking at the posh people's houses....’

‘
Asking for rag and bone,’ Norma smiled.

‘
Yes!’ gasped Alice. ‘You’re Desmond's daughter?’

‘
I am.’

‘
I've learnt something new about you Aunt Alice,’ Annie said
bitterly. She felt jealous of Iris being Alice's proper niece. She
still refused to believe she and Iris were sisters.

‘
I don't like talking about my past,’ Alice said. ‘It is true,
Aunt Bella did take me away from Battersea and she taught me all
she knew about performing. She died when I was a teenager and that
was when I entered the music halls. When I was nineteen I met a
bounder who called himself Robert Fairfax. He had dreams of going
to America and starting a new life as a property magnate. He stole
a ring from the family he claimed to be from and planned to sell it
in America. I was pregnant and he promised to marry me as soon as
we got to New York. But when he got us tickets for The Titanic, he
got me to pose as his sister, Lady Alice Fairfax as that was who
the ring belonged to. The day we sailed I gave birth to a little
boy.’ She gave a painful sounding gasp, and Annie rubbed her
shoulder.

‘
You don't have to go on if you don't want to,’ she said
softly.

‘
No I want to. I've kept this secret from you and Kenneth all
your lives. You deserve to know. When the ship was sinking, I
couldn't find Robert anywhere, so I waited for a lifeboat to come.
There was room for one person on the lifeboat and the woman in
front of me offered to take my baby on for me. Her name was Nesta
Villiers.’

‘
Nesta!’ gasped Annie. ‘Aunt Nesta?’

Alice
nodded.

‘
She took Bobby, my baby, and said she'd bring him back to me
when we were rescued. I watched her take him and then in the mayhem
I was knocked unconscious and injured my head quite badly. Then
when I came round, I'd been rescued by Richard Bloomberg and you
pretty much know the rest.’

‘
But I’ve never known Aunt Nesta with a son called Bobby. Her
son David died in the war.’

‘
David
was
Bobby. Nesta kept him for herself and pretended that she was
his mother. I met James by chance, and when I realised who his
sister was, I made it my mission to infiltrate the family and get
Bobby back. But I never did. David didn't find out who I was until
he was a grown man and it was too late. Anyway, it all happened a
long time ago.’ She composed herself and looked at Norma. ‘So
you’re my niece,’ she smiled. She then looked at Iris. ‘And you're
my great niece.’

‘
So is Annie,’ said Norma. ‘And Kenneth’s your great
nephew.’

‘
This is pointless,’ Annie said. ‘You can’t be my mother. I can
remember my mother.’

‘
She’s telling the truth,’ Kenneth suddenly piped
up.

Annie
looked at him.

‘
What?’

‘
All my life I had vague memories of someone else other than
Mum. I can remember being with a young girl with long blonde hair.
Our mother - who we remember - had dark hair. But the girl went
away when I was tiny and I’ve always thought I dreamt
it.’

‘
Why did you never tell me?’

‘
Because I thought I was imagining it.’

‘
Annie you were born on the second of January 1934 in number
seventeen Silver Street in Battersea,’ Norma said. ‘You were the
most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen. Black hair and big dark eyes.
Most babies are born with blue eyes but yours were black like
coal.’

‘
Okay,’ Annie said, still refusing to believe it. ‘What is my
birthmark like and where is it?’

‘
It’s shaped like a strawberry and it’s at the base of your
spine.’ Norma laughed and looked at Alice. ‘She was conceived when
we went strawberry picking in Kent and I was always convinced that
was why she had that birthmark.’

Alice
chuckled, but Annie wanted to scream. She couldn’t take this all
in. In her mind she ran over all the people who’d seen her naked.
Who could have told Norma this?

‘
Did Patrick tell you that?’ she asked. ‘Or Eddie?’ She looked
at Kenneth. ‘Did you tell her?’

‘
I’d forgotten all about your birthmark,’ he said arrogantly.
‘Besides, this is the first time I’ve ever met Norma.’

Annie
was speechless. All these years she’d thought she and Kenneth were
orphans. They had no idea where their father had gone and she
thought her mother – Zena Brady, was dead.

‘
Who was Zena?’ she asked.

‘
Some woman your father took up with after he kicked me out,’
Norma said. ‘I found out that he then walked out on her too.
Leaving her with you two.’

‘
But you must have been so young,’ Annie said. ‘Kenneth’s
twenty-seven and you must be about forty.’

‘
Forty Four. I was sixteen when I married Sam
Brady.’

‘
Why did you leave us?’

‘
Sam kicked me out. You’ve got to understand Annie, your father
was a brutal man. He hit me and hardly ever gave me any money to
feed and clothe the pair of you. There was a local money lender,
Ernie Boots. He had a henchman called Manny Eckstein, who used to
come round and collect the money I’d borrowed off Ernie, and he was
always nice to me. I was nineteen years old and lonely and upset,
and one thing led to another. Sam came home one day and found us in
bed together. He beat me up and kicked me out. I was too ashamed to
go home to my parents, so I told them I’d got a job in a theatre in
Hammersmith. In reality I moved into a bedsit and went on the
game.’

‘
You were a prostitute…?’ uttered Alice. ‘I was living the life
of luxury in London, and my own niece was a prostitute.’

‘
Oh don’t feel sorry for her,’ snarled Iris. ‘She did pretty
well from it. And guess who was the one who had to suffer because
of it. Not Lord Kenneth and Lady Annie. No, it was me. I was the
one acting as her look out. Or nursing her wounds when some punter
beat her up. I was the one she abandoned at thirteen.’

‘
And I’m sorry,’ Norma stressed. ‘I was frightened of Maurice,
and Lila said she would take care of you.’

‘
Who’s Lila?’ Annie asked.

‘
My best friend,’ replied Norma. ‘She promised me she’d take
care of Iris. Little did I realise that the night I left, she was
arrested and ended up in prison. By the time I came back to look
for Iris, she’d gone. I hoped that the social workers had got her
and put her in care. I didn’t realise she’d become a prostitute as
well.’

Kenneth
gasped and looked at his sister, and Annie couldn’t help but revel
in the expression of horror on his face. He usually thought so
highly of Iris.

‘
You were a prostitute?!’ he cried.

‘
I had no choice,’ she replied. ‘You’ve got to
understand.’