Amber by Heather Burnside (great novels of all time .TXT) 📗

the best ‘uncle’ she’d ever had. Gifts were never in short supply when Dale was around.

Dale had even won Nathan round and he was now much more willing to chat with him instead of ignoring him while he watched the TV. But Amy knew she was his favourite. He always seemed to know just what sort of things she liked because he took the trouble to ask. He seemed to take an interest in everything she and Nathan did, and had endless patience.

When the doorbell rang, Amy and Nathan could hardly contain their exhilaration. Nathan even broke away from the TV screen while he raced Amy to the front door. But Loretta stopped them before they reached the hallway.

‘No you don’t! We don’t want Dale thinking I’ve raised a couple of wild animals. Go and sit down quietly and give him a chance to get in the house. He’s travelled a long way and will probably want to settle with a nice cup of tea rather than have you two pestering him.’

They did as they were told and Amy waited patiently with one eye on the living room door, watching for Dale. Her mother seemed to take an age to answer the door and Amy could picture her checking her appearance in the hallway mirror first.

Eventually Dale appeared at the living room door. ‘Well, aren’t I getting a hug from my best girl?’ he asked.

Amy looked at her mother for approval and when she smiled half-heartedly Amy jumped up off her seat and ran across the room, flinging her arms around him.

‘What about you, Nathan?’ asked Dale and within seconds both children were hugging Dale tightly.

‘OK,’ said Loretta. ‘Let Dale sit down now. I’ll go and put the kettle on.’

‘Not until I tell you all that I’ve got in store for you,’ said Dale. Amy and Nathan released their hold and looked up at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. ‘Well, I know you were disappointed because I was a day late so, as a special treat, I’ve decided to take you all for a day out. We’ll go to the science museum in Manchester. I believe it’s very good.’

‘Yay!’ shouted Nathan and Dale ruffled his hair.

‘Isn’t that for boys?’ asked Amy.

‘Not at all. There’s plenty of things there for us all to enjoy, apparently. And there’s a restaurant there too so, as an even bigger treat, we’ll have our lunch with cake afterwards. Oh, and here’s something else you might like.’

He handed Amy and Nathan a carrier bag each and they both grasped excitedly at the gifts inside.

‘Brilliant! Thanks,’ yelled Nathan, examining the toy car that he was clutching.

But Amy was more interested in her own present. It was a set of hair accessories, all sparkly bows, hair slides and scrunchies, and she was overjoyed.

‘Thank you, Uncle Dale,’ she said, smiling at him.

Then she rushed to open the packaging and try out some of the hair slides in the hallway mirror. Yet again, Dale had walked into their home, bringing with him the joy that always accompanied his visits. Not only did he cheer her and Nathan up, but her mother was also happier when he was around. In fact, she behaved more like her old self instead of going out drinking and leaving them alone in the house.

*

January 1999

It was more than a year since Loretta had met Dale, and he was still a fixture in their lives and the whole family were much happier because of it. Loretta often went around the house singing, giving Amy and Nathan impromptu hugs and telling them how special they were.

Amy’s eleventh birthday had come and gone several weeks prior complete with lavish presents and her own party at a local social club. Birthday parties were something her mother hadn’t been able to afford for many years and Amy knew it made her mother happy now that she could.

This particular evening, Dale hadn’t been to the house for three weeks, because, according to Amy’s mother, he had been too busy with work. Loretta told Amy and Nathan that she was preparing a lovely meal for him and she served their dinner separately beforehand. Then she busied herself at the oven and, once Amy had helped her set the table, she adorned it with candles in fancy holders and bottled wine on trivets.

Amy sensed that he was late. She didn’t like to ask her mother about it, but she noticed how long the table had been set as well as the number of times Loretta had checked her watch. She also knew there had been two opened bottles of wine on the table earlier but now there was only one, and her mother was slurring her words.

Loretta was becoming irritable with her as well. Where she had been happy for Amy to help in the kitchen earlier, now she just wanted her out of the way.

‘For God’s sake, Amy, why don’t you go into the living room and watch some TV with your brother?’ she pleaded when Amy had tried to strike up conversation with her at the dining table.

She looked across at her mother who was sitting at the table with her chin cupped between her hands. Amy noticed the way this made the flesh scrunch up around Loretta’s mouth and caused tiny lines to form at the sides of her eyes. This, together with Loretta’s downturned eyebrows made her appear older and dowdy despite the abundance of makeup.

Amy did as she was told, and she hadn’t been in the living room long when the phone rang. She got up to answer it but, as she did so, she heard her mother shout, ‘Leave it, I’ll get it.’ Then she saw her dash past the living room entrance, making her way to the phone that sat on a small table in the hallway.

It was noticeable to Amy how quickly her mother had rushed to answer the phone. Amy strained to listen to the conversation, but she couldn’t