Read Online Homecoming by Catrin Collier - Free Book Online Page B

And she wasn’t so stupid that she didn’t realise that some of the things you asked her to do were bizarre. So, you carried on in your own selfish way, never once giving a thought as to how the gossip about the two of you would affect Pops and Mums.’
    â€˜Not to mention you and Julian Pickering Jones,’ he broke in acidly. ‘Your darling boyfriend never shuts up about the money his family entrusted to Ems’s father and lost.’
    â€˜It was more than fifteen thousand pounds.’
    â€˜And I’ve heard about it every day for the last year.’ Reaching for the whisky, he replenished his glass.
    â€˜Forget Julian, me, Pops and Mums, and think about yourself. Have you any idea what people will say about you once this gets out?’
    â€˜I’m not the first boy to get his girlfriend pregnant,’ he muttered defensively.
    â€˜It wouldn’t matter if she was from an acceptable family. You knew everyone was cutting the Murton Davieses. If Emily and Larry had one ounce of sense they would have gone to Bournemouth with their mother and the others. I don’t know of a single girl who’ll go near Lewis Lewis’s or that tailor’s in case either of them is serving. It would be so humiliating.’
    â€˜For Ems and Larry, or your socially acceptable friends?’ Robin enquired cuttingly.
    â€˜Everyone concerned. I just don’t understand why you can’t see it.’ She sipped her brandy. ‘What are you going to do?’
    â€˜I haven’t a clue.’ Robin finished his second shot of whisky and refilled his glass.
    â€˜Getting drunk won’t help.’
    His hand shook as the full impact of his predicament hit him. ‘I know,’ he mumbled miserably.
    â€˜For all our sakes, Robin, break off your engagement tomorrow.’
    â€˜How can I when she’s having my kid?’
    â€˜You can’t be thinking of marrying her?’ She was aghast at the idea.
    â€˜What else can I do, Angie? We’ve been engaged for over a year.’
    â€˜Marry Ems and you’ll be finished at the BBC,’ she predicted callously. ‘A good social life is essential these days and you’ll never have that with her. As it is Pops, Mums and I have been hard-pressed to persuade people to invite you to some of the more vital functions this year because of your engagement. Turn that into marriage and you’ll become a pariah like her.’
    Robin’s hand shook as he finished his third shot. ‘Do you think she really is up the duff?’
    â€˜You’d be better placed to answer that than me. I haven’t seen Ems in ten, eleven months. Not since she moved from Caswell.’
    Setting down his glass, Robin lifted a cue from the rack behind him and sent the billiard balls scattering over the table. ‘But girls do sometimes lie about being pregnant to get a chap to marry them.’
    â€˜If they’re desperate about the boy,’ Angela conceded.
    â€˜Exactly, and Ems is desperate,’ Robin gushed, wanting to believe she’d lied to him. ‘She hates having to work and living in that poky flat in Mumbles after the house in Caswell.’
    â€˜On the other hand, you two were always at it like rabbits. And Ems was always complaining how careless you were.’
    Knowing it was more likely that Emily was pregnant than not, Robin reached for the whisky bottle again. ‘Even if I don’t marry her, she hasn’t a bean so I’ll have to keep her and the kid. And after all the money Pops has laid out on me lately, he’ll go ballistic.’
    â€˜Has Ems threatened to take you to court for maintenance?’
    Robin stood back and studied the table. ‘No, I told you, she expects me to marry her. I don’t suppose you know anyone who can help?’
    â€˜Like who?’ she questioned suspiciously.
    â€˜Like one of those women you read about in the papers. The kind girls visit when