Maude continued attending to the fire. If Benjamin did win custody of his son, then she, Maude, would be the one to end up being mother to him. She had her own child by Benjamin to consider, and maybe more to come if things turned out how she planned.
‘But it’s not certain they’d award you custody, is it?’ she suggested. ‘I mean, Aurelia could still plead for custody, couldn’t she? I know I would, if I were in her shoes.’
‘She could try, and I daresay she will, but I wouldn’t wager a penny on her getting it.’
‘I think you’re being a bit unkind, Benjamin, if you want the truth. I think it’s heartless of any court to award custody to a father, when that father is out at work all day. I reckon any mother would be only too keen – and better qualified – to look after her own children. And do the courts ever spare a thought for which parent the poor child might prefer to live with?’
‘Whose side are you on, for Christ’s sake?’
‘Yours, Benjamin. Of course I am. I’m just giving you my opinion, for what it’s worth.’
He shrugged again. ‘Well, it might not be my decision in the end. The courts make such decisions.’
‘But you could ask the court to consider awarding custody to Aurelia. That would be an act of kindness, and put you in a very favourable light, don’t you think?’
‘With whom?’
‘With everybody. Including the public. You don’t think such a scandal as your divorce won’t be in all the papers, do you? If you pleaded for Aurelia to have custody you would be seen as somebody compassionate, somebody who cared.’
‘But why should I reward her with custody of my son when you and I both know she’s not fit to bring up a child? And I’d be obligated to pay her alimony for the child as well. No, Benjie should live with me – with us. You would do a much better job of raising him than Aurelia. And he knows you well enough already.’
‘Except that I haven’t seen him for so long. He’ll have forgotten me by now…So how did you get that bruise on your cheek?’
‘Something I said to Stokes about his wife that he didn’t like…The swine assaulted me. I’ve already threatened to report the attack to the police. They take a dim view of assault.’
The kettle was boiling at last and Maude spooned tea leaves into the warm teapot. For the first time that day she laughed, aloud.
‘Maude, what the hell is so funny?’
‘Oh, Benjamin. Don’t you think you deserved it? Sometimes you have no appreciation of other people’s feelings.’
* * *
Benjamin returned home, full of righteous indignation. He hated Aurelia with a passion, the intensity of which surpassed any emotion he had ever experienced before. The love he had felt for her in those early days had been nothing compared to this loathing, this ruthless contempt he now felt. Maude’s suggestions of an alternative scenario he overlooked, ignored, and had already forgotten. Bent on revenge, he was itching to tell Aurelia exactly what he thought of her and her despicable paramour, and hint at the hell to which he was planning to subject them both.
He stormed into the house like a whirlwind, slamming the front door behind him. He took off his gloves and hat and tossed them onto the sideboard that faced the grandfather clock in the hall. Nobody greeted him; not the maid, not Aurelia, not little Benjie. For once he felt as if he were a stranger in his own house. It seemed unwelcoming, even hostile. He felt he was no longer king of his own castle. Maybe it was just his imagination; it had been a peculiar day after all, and likely to become even more so.
He sought Aurelia but found only the maid at her labours in the scullery.
‘Where’s your mistress?’
‘Upstairs, I believe, sir.’ Jane’s eyes seemed focused with insolent curiosity on his bruised cheek and darkening eye.
He took the stairs two at a time and reached the landing. ‘Aurelia!’ he called tersely.
A door clicked open and remained ajar. A blue eye appeared, peering at him through the gap. Aurelia opened it fully, stepped onto the landing and closed it behind her quietly.
‘The children are having their afternoon sleep,’ she whispered. ‘What d’you want?’
‘In here…’ He ushered her into his bedroom, which they used to share, and shut the door behind them.
‘Sit down,’ he nodded, indicating the bed.
‘I prefer to stand,’ she replied, eyeing the same neatly made bed with suspicion, lest he try to take advantage of her upon it. Such an outrage would not be beyond him.
‘I went to see your paramour Algie Stokes today.’ He looked into her eyes searching for a reaction, but all he saw was how utterly beautiful her inscrutable face was. Her physical loveliness had captivated him at the very first glance, but the faults in her character were so obvious now that he wondered why he had never perceived them in the first place. She was prey for men, and easy meat; she couldn’t keep her drawers on. ‘You might as well know, Aurelia, that he admitted everything.’
‘Oh? And what exactly did he admit to, Benjamin? Giving you a black eye?’
‘You know what. Don’t play games with me, I’m in no mood.’
‘Neither am I, to tell you the truth. So was it Algie Stokes who punched you in the face and gave you that lovely bruise?’ She smiled, taunting him. ‘It will turn into a real shiner before the night’s out.’
‘The bruise is neither here nor there. I’m telling you that in view of Stokes admitting everything I’m commencing divorce proceedings, based on your adultery, and I’m citing him as co-respondent.’
‘Well…something to look forward to at last,’ she goaded.
Benjamin ignored her jibe. ‘When I recall how you have deceived me with your disgusting infidelity, and have lied to me about it all this time, I am flabbergasted at your gall. When I ponder how you and that twit Stokes sordidly brought a child into this world and you tried to pass it off as mine, it makes me feel physically sick. Did you really think you could get away with it? Did you really think I was that stupid? Well, you’ll pay the price, Aurelia. God alone knows where or how you will live, because I shan’t keep you. You’ll not get a penny from me. You and Stokes’s bastard can wallow in the gutter for all I care. Maybe the workhouse will take you in, but that’s your concern. Either way, I shan’t envy you.’
‘So what about Maude Atkins and your own bastard, Benjamin?’ Aurelia countered acidly. ‘Will she and her child likewise end up in the workhouse when you’ve had your fill of her? Because I suppose the poor soul is destined to become the new Mrs Sampson and live here, and end up as unloved as I have been in this vile mausoleum, while you gallivant off with some other beguiled and deluded young woman and father your next bastard.’
‘You have a very low opinion of me, Aurelia.’
She rolled her eyes. Such a stupid, stupid man…‘Is it any wonder? Are you so dense that you can’t see why? Do you honestly believe you are such a wonderful catch?’
‘You seemed to think so when I saved you from the follies of your mad-brained father. You were grateful enough for marriage then. I have given you respectability, despite the fact that he shamed himself so—’
‘You hypocrite, Benjamin,’ she interrupted. ‘Can’t you see that you are exactly like my mad-brained father, whom you are so fond of disparaging? Can’t you see that what you’ve done in cavorting with our former nanny, under the same roof you share with your wife, is just as shameful as what he did with my aunt, Marigold’s mother? No, I don’t suppose you can, because you’re too stupid and too blind to see it.