Devotion and Duty

I couldn't watch you suffer anymore. I went to your house that evening and I gave him an ultimatum. Asked if he wanted to see you dead and your kids orphaned. Threatened as Frank and I were their godparents, we'd make sure he never saw them again. Told James if there was any human decency left in him, he would die so you could live. He had to find the courage before you came out of hospital. I put the carrier bag containing the whiskey on his side table and left.

Next morning, I went to your house before I collected you from hospital, on the pretext of bringing you some fresh clothes. I found James dead in his chair. He'd overdosed on pills and whiskey and choked on his own vomit when unconsciousness. He'd left a note, a few incoherent lines that made little sense and showed not one ounce of remorse. So, I took it. I phoned the police and reported his suicide. Told the two officers James had been depressed for a long time. They put together the clues I'd left. When they said, it looked like he'd been hoarding tablets I had to suppress a smile. I told them I often felt my bag had been disturbed when I visited the house; perhaps he'd taken some from me. They called for the coroner who took James away.

Afterwards, I went to the hospital and told them what had happened to James. Your doctors they agreed to keep you in for another couple of days on some pretext. I went home and Frank and I told your kids what James had done, to spare you that pain of having to deal with it.

Victoria, I'm not in a position to judge anyone given the things I've done, but when I saw the mixture of sorrow and relief on your face when I told you the news about James, I knew I'd done the right thing for everybody. The years after James was dead were some of the happiest times of my life, and I think the same goes for you and Ellie and Nancy. For me, it was all worthwhile.

Although I'm not a religious person, I believe to kill someone is a mortal sin, and the price has to be paid. So, when those little lumps I had ignored for a while turned out to be the start of lymph cancer, I knew that debt was being collected.

I can never thank you and Frank enough for how devoted you were during the time it took me to die. Your care was unstinting. Frank thought he could save me through sheer force of will. "You saved my life when I came home broken, babe." I said this was different and the body was not so easy to fix; but when I went into remission, I had to believe in the power of faith. I got another year, for which I'm very grateful. It was another year to see the compassion and friendship and love between you and Frank flourish.

I will end this letter now, Victoria. I apologise once again for everything that happened between me and James; the fates were not kind to either of us. I hope that one day you will understand that I did the right thing in getting James to go. I truly believe he had to die so you could live. I hope you and Frank do not waste time in doing something about the obvious love you have for each other. Me and James were the broken ones. I wish you two all the luck we did not have.

I love you, my dear sister Victoria.

Goodbye

Jessica x'

Victoria dropped the letter and wept. She cried tears of anger and sorrow, relief and love for her sister. James had put Jessica in an intolerable position, and she sacrificed herself more than once to spare her and Frank. Her candid description of sex with James did not shock her. Victoria always suspected James's appetites were never fulfilled in their marriage bed, and she put up with not knowing how he got his satisfaction. Victoria could see her unwitting collusion and failure to confront him had added to Jessica's pain, and for that she was bitterly sorry. The poor young woman who died in a car was incontrovertible proof of his infidelity. Victoria had believed James's explanation she was a prostitute he picked up and she caused the accident by grabbing his wallet in a squabble over money. But in her heart, Victoria knew that was not true.

"Oh Jessica, if only you could have told me. If only you could have found some way to make me see," Victoria said aloud. But in the early days James had been a charmer with her, just as he had been when he seduced Jessica, and Victoria knew that she would not have believed anything against him.

Victoria recognised the gentle knock at the door becoming louder. She did not know how long Frank had been outside.

"Come in, Frank."

"I've bet you could use a cup of tea now?" He placed a steaming mug on the dressing table and noted the large number of sheets in Jessica's letter to her sister.

They looked at each other and hugged, trying to give mutual support against the whirlwind of emotions their letters had stirred up. Frank cupped Victoria's cheek and brushed away a tear with his thumb.

"You've been crying too," she said, noticing his red eyes. "Jessica didn't mean to hurt us."

"I know Victoria. She didn't give me a lot of details, not even his name. I guess she said more to you."

"Yes, she did, and she left it to me to decide how much to tell you, because she wants us to be happy together."

"Let me tell you something before you say anymore, Victoria. I love you and I've admired you for a long time. Seeing the way you coped with the kids after James's suicide and how you were there with Jessica to the end. I love you for your devotion, just as I loved Jessica for hers. No matter what she did to cope with me at my worst.

It would not have been right to do anything about the way I felt before now, because Jessica was still my wife, whatever happened in the past. But now these things are done and I will take her advice. I will not let this opportunity pass because of some stupid notion of what is right. So whatever else has happened, whatever horrors I have to learn about, tell me this first, do we have a shot, could we be happy?"

Victoria hugged him and then moved back and looked at his smiling face. She kissed him passionately, like she had wanted to do so many times in the past. Her hand toyed in the back of his curly hair. "Yes, we have a shot, Frank. We have a chance, and for you and me and Jessica, I intend to give it everything."

"Oh God, Victoria!" Frank kissed her and their tears mingled. They clung to each other, feeling the warmth of their love restoring them both. After an age they broke their embrace.

"Before we go any further Frank, I've got to read you Jessica's letter, all of it. And you have to forgive her, just as I forgive her."

Frank took her hand, drawing strength from Victoria to face what he knew would be uncomfortable listening. He smiled at her and she smiled back. "Okay, Victoria read me what Jessica wrote."

Don't miss your next bedtime story - A Northern Welcome

Stranded at night in a Yorkshire village when his car runs out of petrol, Brian Wells is grateful when the landlady takes pity and offers him a room even though the pub is closed for a private party.

When he meets birthday girl June and her saucy sister Jackie, events take a turn for the better as the unappreciated pair show Brian a real northern welcome, while their husbands are preoccupied by farming talk and drinking too much.

Brian agrees to help turn the women's business pipe dream into reality and offers them an adventure to escape their rural boredom.

Will June and Jackie seize the opportunity? Will Brian survive their appreciation?

Find out by reading A Northern Welcome.