Deceit. [COMPLETED.]

Chapter 42

The sheer scale of what her daughter was saying sent Jane Stamford for another dose of courage only to have her daughter scowl across at her.

'Oh. That's right mother. Go ahead. Go for some more drink. That's all you ever do.'

Mrs Stamford turned; her head suffering from the abuse of alcohol and downed another glass without drawing breath.

'We gave you everything!' she shouted, emphasising the last word.  'And this is how you repay us.'

But her daughter only recoiled in anger.

'You gave me NOTHING!'

Another glass was poured only this time most of the liquid was spilled out onto the bar surface.

With Mr Stamford away on business she had hoped to have used his absence to her advantage but she knew now that it had been stupid to have even thought she could have controlled this conversation and so she merely stood there, her whole body racked with tension as her maternal instincts were savaged by the callousness of what she had just heard.

She took in a deep breath, allowing her chest to expand and more alcohol to flow through her veins and then exhaled slowly, her anger matching that of her daughter.

'We knew we had our hands full,' she growled, 'the moment you threw your first dummy into the fire and climbed out of your bedroom window at only eight years old just because we tried to confine you to your room. You were never satisfied with whatever we tried to do, you always wanted more and heaven knows how your father restrained himself and, as for your brother, you have a nerve to have done what you have done considering all the times he has been there for you.'

But she had grossly underestimated the impact of her last remark and had to move backward as her daughter turned on her.

Jennifer Stamford moved forwards.

'Be there for me! You, mother, have no idea. That fag is more interested in his own self preservation than anyone else and you are so blind to everything that goes on in this family you wouldn't know decency if it came right up and bit you in the arse.'

Jane was regretting having had those brandies. It was hampering her thought, causing her to lose the initiative and she raged back at her daughter without any thought to the consequence.

'You're no angel my girl,' she retorted bravely holding her head up.  'My son may have his faults but by Christ lady he would never have resorted to anything as low as this.'

She closed the distance still further between them, her courage finally paying dividends.

'You are going to pay for what you have done and yes I will go to your father because by Christ my lady you are not going to wriggle out of it this time.'

Jenny Stamford stared at her inebriated mother with the look of pure disgust. '

'Oh please,' she scoffed. 'Do you think that for one minute I give a damn about what you or anyone else in this piss-poor family of ours thinks of me?'

She raised a hand in the air and went to walk away.

'We are finished. Do you know that? I knew the day you came to me six years ago that I no longer had a mother; though when I ever did I couldn't say ...'

But what, Jane thought bitterly, would her daughter ever know about being a mother?  How many nights had she ever spent staying awake while her baby lay by her side racked with fever?  How many pains did she ever have to suffer, going through agony watching her daughter come home from school battered after being in a fight or having to wait way after midnight worried sick for her safe return only to see her daughter to come home through the front door drunk and staggering about.