The Nightingale Girls - By Donna Douglas Page 0,161
her eyes fixed on a fat brown duck, bobbing under the water for fish, as her sister talked. Dora could hear the fear in her voice as she falteringly told how Alf started sneaking into her room at night, how she’d tried to fight him off but he was too strong for her. How she was too consumed with terror and shame to tell her mother what had happened.
It was all so depressingly familiar. And yet it was so much worse that it had happened to Josie. Dora could almost forgive Alf doing it to her, she was nothing special after all. But not Josie . . .
‘He made it seem as if it was my fault, as if I’d made him do it. As if I’d w-wanted it to happen . . .’ Josie turned anguished eyes to Dora. ‘But I didn’t want it to happen. It was so horrible . . .’
‘I know, love.’ Dora let go of her sister’s hand and slid her arm along the back of the bench to hug her narrow shoulders. ‘And that’s why you ran away?’
Josie nodded. ‘I just wanted it to stop,’ she said. ‘And then when he went into hospital . . . I know this sounds wicked, but I prayed for him to die.’
‘You’re not the only one,’ Dora said grimly.
‘It was better after he came home. For a while, anyway,’ Josie said, gulping back her tears. ‘I thought it was all going to be all right again. But then a couple of weeks ago, he started coming back into my room . . .’
She looked around at Dora. ‘I don’t know what else to do. I feel like it’s my fault.’
That’s what he relies on, Dora thought. ‘It wasn’t you, Josie. It was him.’
She picked up a stone and aimed it into the lake. She’d thought she hated Alf before, but it was nothing like the white hot hatred she felt for him now. Touching her was one thing, but laying his dirty hands on Josie was something far, far worse.
And after she’d warned him, too.
‘You don’t have to worry about this any more,’ she said. ‘I’ll make it stop. For good, this time.’
‘How?’ Josie whipped round to face her, panic in her eyes. ‘You won’t tell Mum, will you? Please don’t tell her, Dor. I couldn’t stand it if anyone else knew . . .’
‘It’s all right, Jose.’ Dora hugged her close. ‘Don’t you fret. I told you I’ll look after you, didn’t I? And I will.’
‘How?’ Josie said. ‘How will you make everything all right?’
Dora threw another stone into the surface of the lake, shattering the stillness like glass.
I’ll kill him if I have to, she thought.
Chapter Fifty-Three
DORA MADE SURE she called round to Griffin Street in the middle of the day, when she knew her mother would be out delivering mending back to the laundry, and Nanna Winnie had taken the kids to the market. She also knew Alf was working the late shift, so he was bound to be home.
He came stomping down the stairs as she let herself in, dressed in his vest and doing up the buckle on his belt.
‘Oh, it’s you.’ He shouldered past her to sit himself down in his favourite armchair. ‘You might as well stick the kettle on, seeing as you’re here,’ he said, picking up the newspaper to peruse the racing results.
Dora bit back the retort that sprang to her lips and went into the scullery without a word. She had to bide her time.
She stood in the scullery, trying to calm herself down. Through the net curtains, she could see Danny Riley perched on top of the coal cellar as usual. She waved distractedly to him as she warmed the pot and made the tea.
‘To what do we owe this pleasure, anyway?’ Alf asked sarcastically as she plonked his mug of tea down in front of him.
‘You know very well.’ She stood over him. ‘I warned you, didn’t I? I told you to leave Josie alone.’
He shot her a quick, guarded look. Then slowly, a sneer spread across his face. ‘And what are you going to do about it?’ he mocked. ‘Cut my throat with a razor blade again?’ He shook his head pityingly. ‘Sorry, love, you should have done it while you had the chance. ’Cos your little tricks won’t work in this house. You might have had the upper hand in that hospital of yours, but out here what I say goes.’