The Fight for Lizzie Flowers (2 page)

‘This ain’t no game, Danny. I’m flesh and blood standing here. Same as you.’

‘But I saw what I saw,’ Danny insisted. ‘It was you—’

‘Floaters are ten a penny in the docks,’ Frank interrupted with a slight shrug. ‘You should have took a closer gander.’

Before Danny could reply, the registrar spoke. ‘Who are you, sir? This is a private ceremony, with invited guests only.’

‘You’d better ask her.’ Frank nodded at Lizzie.

But she was speechless; like Danny she couldn’t believe this was Frank. He was thinner and paler than he used to be, his cheeks sunken under his eyes. But he was still wearing his
trademark stacked-shoulders overcoat and ridiculous two-tone brogues.

‘Mrs Flowers?’ the registrar prompted. But Lizzie could only shake her head as she tried to speak.

‘I . . . I . . . don’t know . . .’ she mumbled at last, her voice a distant echo in her ears. ‘He was – he is—’

‘Alive and kicking,’ Frank said quietly. ‘Last time I saw you, gel, I was on my way out of this world. And no one is more surprised than me to be standing here in one piece.
But this time, you have my word I ain’t here to make trouble.’

‘Your
word
?’ Danny repeated incredulously. ‘Why the hell should anyone take your word? You’re nothing but bad news, Frank. And though you are family and in all
conscience I should be relieved that it wasn’t a brother of mine they fished out of the river, I am truly gutted.’

As the two men faced each other, all Lizzie could think was why in God’s name had she married a man like Frank Flowers? She could still smell his drunken breath on their wedding night.
Feel his hands ripping at her clothes. The dream had turned to a nightmare. She had been blind. Naive. And worst of all, she had lost Danny.

‘Get out of here,’ Danny continued with quiet menace. ‘You ain’t welcome, Frank. This is my and Lizzie’s day. We are going to finish what we came here
for.’

‘Problem is,’ Frank said, slowly raising his eyes, ‘the law thinks different.’

Suddenly Lizzie understood what was truly happening. It didn’t matter where Frank had been or why he was here. The sad truth was there wouldn’t be – couldn’t be –
any marriage today. No blushing bride or wedding kiss after Danny had slipped the ring on her finger, no congratulations and confetti on the registry office steps. No wedding breakfast. Gone was
the planned knees-up, the tinkling of ivories and serious drinking until dawn. Frank had robbed her of happiness once again.

‘Come, come!’ the registrar exclaimed impatiently. ‘Please either leave or be seated, Mr— ?’

‘Flowers,’ Frank provided. ‘This lady here is my wife.’

The silence in the small room was deafening; Lizzie could hear her own heartbeat. No one moved, or drew a breath.

‘It’s true, ain’t it, Lizzie?’ Frank insisted. ‘You and me tied the knot – when was it? Must be all of seven years back.’

‘Wife?’ the little man repeated as he turned to Lizzie. ‘But you have applied as a widow to be married here today.’

Lizzie felt her face flush. She stared at Frank and into his expectant gaze. ‘Y-yes . . . I was,’ she faltered. ‘But there’s been some kind of mistake—’

‘Obviously,’ the official replied, and taking the ledger in front of him, he snapped it closed, pushing it to one side of the desk with an expression of undisguised anger.

A bead of sweat rolled down Lizzie’s back. Her two-piece suit, the perfect shade of green that she loved and only a shade lighter than her deep, sea-green eyes, was
clinging uncomfortably to her skin. Her jaunty, narrow-brimmed hat of the same shade, with a delicate three inches of embroidered veil, felt a mockery now.

She heard Danny breathing hard, watching Frank as he stepped towards her. ‘You’re the one good thing that’s happened to me, Lizzie. And I’d cut off my right arm if I
could change what I did. I’ve seen the error of me ways and I reckon, if we gave it a shot, you and me could make a go of it. It’s never too late to change.’

Lizzie glared in disbelief at the man who had cheated on her from day one of their marriage. Not caring how much he hurt her or how deeply she had been humiliated. Staring into his face, she
felt the breath leave her lungs as she shook her head. ‘Listen to you, Frank! Listen to what you are saying! After all that’s happened do you really believe there could be a future for
us? Look at me, look at Danny, we’re here to begin a new life. A life that, until you walked into this room, we had intended to make together.’

‘But you can’t leave me now, Lizzie,’ Frank pleaded, opening his arms and gazing into her eyes. ‘Not now. Not now I’ve sorted myself out. And I have, honest to God,
I have. On my life, Lizzie, they only just unlocked the door. Can’t you see I’m gen this time?’

Lizzie’s head started to reel. ‘What door?’

‘I’ve been ill, gel. Really bad. But they cured me. They knocked the shit out of me in the hospital and it worked.’

For one moment Lizzie wanted to laugh. She wanted to laugh long and deeply at the irony of such a statement. If only she could laugh! If only she could see the funny side of the ruination of her
wedding day.

‘You have got some nerve,’ Danny burst out, pulling his brother round to face him. ‘You turn up at the very minute we’re about to get wed and give us some sob story about
being in hospital?’

‘It’s true,’ Frank said with a nod. ‘I was in a loony bin. Mad as the proverbial hatter.’

‘What’s new? You’ve never been the full shilling,’ Danny replied, pushing his brother away from Lizzie. ‘It takes a nutter to try and blow up his family and think
he can get away with it.’

‘I swear it’s the truth,’ Frank insisted as he shrank back. ‘That day I set the bomb off in Lizzie’s shop, I was out of me mind. I didn’t know what I was
doing. All I can remember is I heard these voices in my head. Voices saying I had to get rid of you to get my wife back. Then Ferreter turned up and it’s all a blank from there, till I woke
up, ranting and raving, in this hospital. I was out of my mind. I didn’t even know my own moniker. The shrinks put me behind bars with all these crazies. I thought I’d died and landed
up in hell. It’s been the worst six months of my life.’

Danny drew a breath and shook his head fiercely. ‘Pull the other one, Frank. Can’t you think up something more convincing?’

‘It’s the truth, Danny. I swear it.’

‘Enough!’ Danny shouted, pushing his brother’s shoulder again, until he stumbled back and almost fell against a chair. ‘You are nuts, Frank. That’s old news. But
listen to me and listen good. Stay away from us. Stay away from Lizzie. Somehow you’ve managed to cling on to life. But enough is enough. You’ve had all your chances and blown them. If
I ever see you round here again I’ll personally put right what Ferreter failed to do.’

Frank looked at Lizzie. He said quietly, ‘Is that what you want too? Don’t you believe me, gel?’

Lizzie felt the tears very close as she stared at the man whom she had married and promised to love, honour and obey. Whose child she had adopted as her own. It wasn’t enough that Frank
had put her sister in the family way and out of it had come their one blessing in Polly, an innocent child whom Babs and Frank had heartlessly chosen to abandon. Now he was claiming that madness
had driven him to lie and cheat and almost kill his family. She shook her head slowly and whispered, ‘Danny’s right, Frank. You’ve used up all your chances.’

‘One more,’ Frank implored huskily, reaching out. ‘I can do it now. I can look after you and Polly like I should have. And Babs too. I can make things right—’

‘Get out, Frank!’ Danny shouted. ‘Get out before I lose my temper. You are on borrowed time, chum, do you hear me?’

Lizzie saw the understanding slowly settle on Frank’s face. His eyes were moist and suddenly devoid of expression. He swallowed, his breath flowing out of him as he pleadingly searched the
faces turned towards him. No one spoke; Lizzie knew they were all in shock and Frank’s shoulders slumped in resignation. Finally he turned, making his way slowly to the back of the room.

The door ground noisily on its hinges. Lizzie found herself staring at the empty space where a few seconds ago her dead husband had stood, alive and breathing and telling her he wanted her back.
‘The law is very strict about remarriage.’ The registrar’s voice broke into her tangled thoughts. ‘The law also frowns on threats and violence of any sort. This is a most
reprehensible state of affairs.’

Danny ignored him and pulled Lizzie gently into his arms. ‘Looks like we have to think again,’ he said in a choked whisper. ‘I don’t know what to say to you, except,
I’m sorry. Heart sorry he’s back in our lives again.’

‘Can you believe it?’ Lil demanded, finding her voice. ‘It’s the Franks of this world that get away with murder,’ she told the registrar angrily. ‘Including
his own. These two were marrying in good faith today. That toerag was supposed to be dead and none of us gives a rat’s arse about what the law thinks. It’s these two people standing
here that matter. So you can stop looking so po-faced and get on with the service.’

The registrar pulled himself up and tugged at his waistcoat. ‘I’m sorry, madam, there is nothing further I can do. The office is now closed.’

‘He’s right, this changes everything,’ Doug said, taking hold of his wife’s arm. ‘Nothing for it, but to get back to the house and try to sort something
out.’

‘But it just ain’t fair,’ Lil objected again, her eyes filled with angry tears. ‘That cow son is like bloody Lazarus!’

Lizzie felt Danny slip his hand around her waist. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ he said, acknowledging Doug. As if in a dream, Lizzie found herself walking out of the room and into
the cheerless winter’s day.

‘You’re kidding me,’ Ethel protested, after she had listened to what Lil and Lizzie had had to say. ‘Frank is alive?’

‘And twice as ugly,’ said Lil.

Lizzie leaned against the sink in Lil’s kitchen and stared at all the food that Lil had prepared. What would the guests think when they arrived and were told there was no wedding? Would it
all be wasted? But it was Danny who was really worrying her. He’d not said more than a couple of words on their drive from the registry office.

‘Danny’s taking it badly,’ Lizzie admitted. ‘He was so sure it was Frank in the morgue.’

‘Danny did his best,’ Ethel replied. ‘That body had been in the river a long time and must have looked like Frank.’

‘I should have made the identification,’ Lizzie said wearily. ‘But at the time I couldn’t face it.’

‘No wonder, after what you went through,’ Lil replied as she lit up a cigarette.

‘So what else did Frank say?’ Ethel enquired as she poured herself and Lizzie a sherry.

‘He wants me to take him back.’

‘No wonder Danny is gutted.’ Lil jerked her head angrily towards the front room where Danny, Bert and Doug were commiserating over a glass or six of beer. ‘Danny was a breath
away from slipping the ring on your finger. Another ten minutes and Frank couldn’t have done nothing.’

Ethel sipped from her glass thoughtfully. ‘I can’t believe Frank would have the nerve to come to the registry office.’

‘Exactly!’ exclaimed Lil as she threw a gin and lime down her throat. Licking her lips she banged the empty glass down on the draining board. ‘How come he walks in on your
wedding at the very moment you’re to be wed? I mean, that’s one heck of a coincidence, by anyone’s standards. And then all that rubbish he spouted about being in hospital.
He’s lying, of course he is. Porky pies is what your old man does best. You of all people, Lizzie, should know that by now.’

‘Yes, I do. But why make up such an unbelievable story?’

‘I reckon he’s done six months in the nick.’

Ethel removed her apron and pressed her hands over her slim-fitting blue dress. ‘So why not admit it?’ she asked as she slipped a loose strand of honey-coloured hair back into place.
‘You’re not going to take Frank’s nonsense seriously are you, Lizzie?’

‘No, but what does it matter what’s true or not? The fact is, I can’t marry Danny. We’ll have to drop all our plans.’

‘It’s just not fair,’ Lil grumbled. ‘Polly ain’t stopped talking about Christmas and how you was all going to be together.’

Lizzie glanced out of the window to where Polly, her niece, and young Tom, Danny’s adopted son, were mucking around with a ball. Timothy and Rosie, Ethel’s teenage children, were
sitting on the wall, watching them. They all had big smiles on their faces. Those smiles would soon disappear when she broke the news to Tom and Polly.

‘Here, watch out!’ Lil rushed to the window as the ball banged against the glass. She yanked open the kitchen door. ‘Keep that ball away from me window, if you don’t want
your ears boxed. Timmy, you’re the oldest. Give an eye to the youngsters, won’t you?’

All four heads nodded. ‘Sorry, Gran,’ Timothy shouted.

‘That’s all right, love. But breakages don’t come cheap.’

Lizzie smiled as Lil closed the door, a grin on her face. ‘Your Timmy is a card, ain’t he?’ Lil chuckled.

‘Remember, Mum, it’s Timothy now,’ Ethel corrected. ‘Timmy’s a thing of the past.’

‘It’s bit of a mouthful when you’ve known him as Timmy since the day he was born.’ Lil rolled her eyes.

‘Yes, but he’s fifteen now. And just started work.’

Lil scoffed loudly. ‘I’ll bet it was his other gran who made him change his moniker.’

‘No, it wasn’t,’ Ethel said quietly.

Lizzie knew Ethel had a hard time with her mother-in-law. After Mr Ryde had died a few years back, Richard Ryde began to divide his life between his mother’s house in Lewisham and his own
at Blackheath. It was a sore point for Ethel and Lizzie knew that Lil was only too eager to prove it.

‘He’s a looker, your lad,’ Lil said with an affectionate smile as she studied her grandson through the window.

Lizzie nodded. Timothy was tall and lanky like his father, but he had Ethel’s fair skin and blue eyes.

‘Your Rosie will turn out a cracker, too.’ Lil took a sly glance at Ethel. ‘You’ll have to watch out for the boys.’

‘Give us a break, Mum, she’s only just turned fourteen.’