The Marriage - K.L. Slater (story books to read .TXT) 📗

down with Coral to tell Ellis about marrying Tom, he’d barely said a word.

‘How do you feel about what I’ve just told you?’ I’d pressed him for a response, but he had simply shrugged.

‘Your nan has married Tom and that means he’ll be coming to live here.’ Coral had spelled it out to him. ‘When you visit the house, he’ll probably be around.’

‘Nobody is going to force you to spend any time with him,’ I’d added, slightly annoyed that Coral seemed to be painting the worst picture possible to Ellis. ‘But I hope in time you two will find a way to get on.’

Ellis had wriggled in his seat. But I took the fact that he hadn’t had a meltdown or ranted and raved as a positive. Seeing his face now, though, I wondered if I’d been naïve to think that.

‘Hello, Ellis,’ Tom said, again offering his hand.

Ellis instantly sneered at the gesture and turned his whole body away from Tom.

‘Ellis! Shake Tom’s hand,’ I snapped without thinking. Softer then, I added, ‘We talked about this, remember?’

‘It’s fine,’ Tom said. He nodded to the Nintendo Switch in Ellis’s hand. ‘I see you’re a bit of a gamer, Ellis.’

Ellis glared at me. ‘I’m going through to Mum. There’s a funny smell out here.’ He wrinkled his nose at Tom and pushed past, purposely knocking him with his shoulder.

‘Ellis!’ My face burned.

‘Let him go, it’s fine.’ Tom laid a calming hand on my shoulder. ‘It’s no big deal. We just have to give it time.’

I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. ‘When I told him about us, he seemed OK about it.’

‘It’s one thing talking about it, another thing to actually face it,’ Tom said gently. ‘He’s young, Brid, cut him some slack. You can’t expect him to be all jolly, that’s unrealistic.’

‘You’re very wise.’ I rested my head on his shoulder. ‘And kind, too. Coral’s probably been bad-mouthing us for Ellis to openly be such a little shit like this.’

We both looked up sharply at a muffled noise. Ellis hadn’t gone through to the living room after all. Instead, he’d lingered by the door and had heard everything we’d said.

‘I might be a little shit,’ he shouted, his features twisted, his eyes wet, ‘but at least I’m not a murderer like him.’ His head swivelled towards Tom, his eyes burning like lasers. ‘He killed my dad and I HATE HIM!’

‘Ellis, stop. Please … wait!’ I rushed towards him, but he ran into the living room and slammed the door behind him, his yelling still ringing in my ears.

Tom laid his hand on my arm. ‘He’ll soon calm down,’ he said.

Coral appeared a few moments later, her pale mouth set in a tight line.

‘I think it’s best I take Ellis home,’ she said in a tone that smacked of ‘I knew this would happen’.

‘What?’ I said, instantly alarmed. ‘No, you can’t do that! We have to work through this, Coral. It’s important.’

‘He needs time to get his head around this, Bridget. We both do.’ She glanced at Tom’s feet, unable to acknowledge any more of him.

I stared at her, speechless. I’d never seen her take a stance like this before. Not against me, at least. Coral needed me. Everything she had was because of me.

I came to my senses. ‘He’s my grandson and I want him to stay. He needs to get to know who Tom is, see he’s not the monster you’ve probably made him out to be.’

Coral laughed. A hard, hacking sound. ‘I think he’s got a good grasp of that already, without my interference. Tom killed his father, for God’s sake! Don’t you see, it’s cruel to do this to him? Our lives will never be the same because of him.’ She spat out the word, unable to keep the hatred from her eyes. Tom faltered, didn’t know where to look.

‘Coral!’ I grabbed her arm and she instantly shook me off.

‘No, Bridget. This is wrong. What you’ve done, marrying him, it’s wrong and you’re completely blind to it.’ She looked over her shoulder and called, ‘Ellis?’

Ellis slouched in the doorway, his shoulders relaxed. He was looking at the floor, seemingly more contrite now.

‘Come on, let’s get you home,’ Coral said. ‘Say bye to your nan.’

‘Bye, Nan,’ Ellis mumbled, his eyes still firmly trained on the carpet.

I steeled myself. ‘I’m warning you, Coral, you do this and—’

‘And what? What will you do? You can’t hurt us more than you already have, bringing him back into our lives.’ She bustled Ellis to the door and then they were gone and I was left standing in the echoing hallway with Tom.

I looked down at my hands and saw they were shaking. ‘I can’t believe she just spoke to me like that.’

‘Come on, let’s sit you down,’ Tom said, leading me into the living room. ‘This is supposed to be a happy time for us. She had no right to have a go at you like that, especially in front of Ellis.’

‘She wouldn’t have survived without me, do you know that? She was pregnant and had nothing but her benefits and a nasty damp bedsit. I won’t let her take my grandson away from me. He’s all I have left, he’s—’

‘Bridget, calm down. It’s OK. Nobody’s going to take Ellis away.’ He wrapped his arms around me. ‘This is a knee-jerk reaction, Coral will calm down when she gets home and reflects on the things she’s said.’

I didn’t answer for a moment. When I did speak, my voice was devoid of emotion, as if it belonged to someone else.

‘She’d better calm down, because she’s got a whole load of trouble coming if she tries to keep Ellis away from me.’

I forced myself to breathe and wiggled my clenched jaw to release it. When I looked up, I saw Tom watching me with a strange look on his face.

‘What?’ I said, feeling heat in my face.

‘Nothing.’ He laced his fingers and looked down at his hands. ‘I can see how much