The sheer boredom of ironing always spun Liz Randell into a web of unsolved, nagging problems. On this day, when she got around to Des’ check flannelette shirt, she thumped the iron down and made the most important decision of her life. “He’s got to go. I’ve had enough.”
All these years, her life had just happened, like an out-of-control car heading for a cliff and it was way past time she sorted it out. She was going straight. Definitely straight. Liz was approaching her 70th birthday – mother of six and grandmother of 13 – and thought of herself as just an ordinary woman – decent, kind and competent. Not a good-looker, if truth be told. She caught up with the latest fashions, just to keep her daughters happy, but drew the line at those thin-legged jeans. She didn’t mind being a bit plump, overweight really, because she believed a bit of fat looked better than being scrawny as you aged. She’d dyed her hair for a few years on the girls’ advice but tired of keeping up with the grey stripe so became a silver vixen and loved it. The looming birthday had brought all this worry on … the thought that she could no longer cope with this accidental lifestyle of keeping two men happy at the same time. It wasn’t her fault anyway.
Everything had been great for about five years after she and Bill married when they were both 20. She smiled at the thought … they were really just kids, but so in love.
And back then her subsequent predicament was a scandal, but even that was run-of-the-mill nowadays.
Bill was a truck driver and got more and more ambitious until he was away a lot on interstate jobs. She was left at home looking after their three children, Tracy, Steve and Teddy, but didn’t mind because Bill was making good money and that meant she could stay home and mind the kids. She had plenty of friends and family, so filled her days happily being just a mum, daughter, sister and aunty. She helped at the school, was a scout leader, and spent a day a week at a local charity op shop. It amounted to a full-time job in her opinion and she was proud of her home and everything she and Bill had achieved.
But suddenly it all came crashing down. Bill said he’d been offered a job on a cattle station up in the Territory. Said he couldn’t take the endless driving any more, nights sleeping in the truck, the whole bloody thing. She said she and the kids couldn’t be expected to up sticks and make such a drastic change and why couldn’t he get a job driving a bus and just settle down. The arguments became nasty, things were dragged up that never should have been said. Her mum and dad tried to sort Bill out, but that only made him angrier. So he left.
She sobbed and raged for weeks and no-one could console her. Except, as it turned out, Bill’s friend Des who came around one night to see if he could help her in any way. It so happened that there were several things in the house that needed fixing and she was very grateful for his help. She’d always liked Des and his quiet, gentle ways. Bill thought he was a bit of a wuss because he was slender and short, but did admire the courage he could muster whenever necessary. They’d gone to school together and their friendship had been maintained through an interest in horseracing. Bill thought Des could have been a jockey if he’d had the guts and liked to introduce him as, “This is my jockey mate, Des, except he hasn’t got a horse.” Des admired Bill’s bluster, dark good looks, strength and outrageous tall tales and was grateful to have him as a friend. He’d always admired kindly Liz and had searched for a woman like her, but never found one. He was just happy to be included in their mob of family and friends.
A few months after Bill left, he worked himself up to make a move on Liz. Bill had always been the big guy and Liz loved it. But Des could see a softer side to her – an appreciation of tenderness, so he began by bringing her flowers and chocolates.
Then he tried kissing her one night after the kids had gone to bed. He had been over for tea and to check her car. To his great delight she had responded enthusiastically. She was lonely, she said. That was their first night sleeping together. Well, a bit of sleep. He crept out early the next morning in a state of bliss.
He came over more often for tea, often bringing something to share, or something he’d cooked. They spent more nights together, but Liz didn’t want the kids to know, so Des respected that and always left before they were up. They also worried that someone might tell Bill, who contacted Liz regularly to make sure she was receiving the money he sent. He also came down unannounced a few times a year, saying that he missed them all very much and it wouldn’t be long before he’d come back and look for a job driving a bus.
At first Liz thought Des would cool things after a while, but he didn’t and they slowly slipped into a happy routine.
And then she became pregnant. After Bill left she’d stopped taking the pill. What was the point? And she’d never thought of having children with Des. She tried to hide it but couldn’t keep it a secret forever. Des was in a turmoil of emotions. He loved Liz, always had, and was happy about having a child of his own, but what would people think? How could they cope with the scandal? Liz thought about it a great deal and decided to be open if anyone asked. There was no hope of keeping this a secret. But, on the other hand, she didn’t have to go around telling everyone either. She’d let them come to their own conclusions.
This tactic worked a treat, even with her parents. So little Robert joined the family and Des was at Liz’s place most of the time. However, he decided to keep his own house, left to him by his parents, just in case Bill turned up, when they’d have to explain the new baby.
Tracy, Steve and Teddy loved their new little step-brother and just accepted the situation because their mother calmly moved on as though nothing untoward had happened. She loved them all, they knew, and Bill’s absence was hardly noticed any longer … so happy and busy was the household.
It wasn’t long before another baby was on the way because Liz was just letting nature take care of itself. This time it was a girl, Jackie. Tracy was delighted to have a little sister and treated her like a doll, making little clothes for her and wheeling her around in the pram. The whole area now took it for granted that Des was living with Liz, her kids and their kids and no-one seemed concerned about the situation.
That is, until Bill suddenly turned up again. He was very, very angry at first, but Liz calmed him down by having some plain talk. “What did you think I was going to do here by myself? It was a godsend that Des came around to help me. I was lonely, Bill. And what have you been up to in the Territory anyway? How was it you never came back to your family?”
Bill had no answer because he didn’t want to reveal the truth of his life up there. He was ashamed of most of it and wanted to put it behind him. In her usual way, Liz didn’t press him for answers. She told Des he’d have to disappear for a while until she sorted everything out and he was happy to do that. He didn’t want Bill to turn violent. So Bill took up life with his family again but the kids caused trouble. Robert and Jackie missed Des. In fact, all the kids missed Des and his kindly ways. He seemed to get them to stay on track with their schoolwork and life in general but Bill yelled at them and they started yelling back. Liz was sick of it, so asked Des to come around sometimes when Bill wasn’t there – particularly when he was off drinking with his mates. It wasn’t long before Des was leading Liz off to the bedroom again because they’d missed each other very much.
Even Liz will never know, therefore, who was the father of the next one, little Fern. Bill thought she was his because he didn’t know Des had been around, and Des wasn’t sure about it. It didn’t matter anyway, because Bill couldn’t take it any more. He wanted out again. This time Liz decided they both had to stay out of her house, but they could visit if they let her know when they were coming. Bill found a convenient place where he could lead his own life, but wanted to see Liz and his kids regularly. After all, he was legally married to her and had rights.
Liz loved Bill in his way, but loved Des perhaps a little more. The whole situation was so complicated that she didn’t know whether she was coming or going. By now, the whole street was aware that the Randell household was very unusual, but Liz was so popular with everyone that the general feeling was that it didn’t matter. Liz was a loving, but strict, mother and the children were all polite and good-natured. They played sports, learned musical instruments and joined in all the clubs around the district.
Things settled down after Liz laid down her rules. Bill stayed in the house from Monday to Thursday on his bus-driving days when he had to be strictly sober. Des came from Thursday night to Monday morning. Everyone flourished and time flowed happily by.
In time, the kids grew, prospered, married, had families of their own, and everything was fine until the day Liz made the big decision. She told her daughters first.
“Mum, are you crazy? No-one cares about a situation like this now. You’re living in the past. Dad and Des are going to be really upset,” said Tracy.
“Your father is legally my husband and that’s that,” stated Liz firmly. The girls shrugged. They knew their mother’s stubborn side. Next she told Bill. He was flabbergasted.
“Do you mean I’ve got to stay here all the time? Why should Des get off scot-free?” She hadn’t expected that.
Des almost wept. “Liz, I thought you loved me.”
“I do, Des, but Bill’s legally my husband and I want to go straight. We should be retiring and how can I do that with two blokes. Get real.”
Bill phoned Des and asked if he could come around for a chat. They settled down over a beer and talked over Liz’s ultimatum.
“Mate, it’s not going to work,” said Bill. “You know I’ve got a drinking problem she doesn’t like. I’d never keep her happy and we’d soon be fighting. She deserves better.”
“I’d miss her badly Bill,” said Des. “And what about my kids? How do they divide us up? Why does she want to ruin a good thing? It’s been years now.”
Des hung his head between his hands. He was heartbroken.
“Don’t worry, mate. If we both promise her that we’ll look after her forever, perhaps she’ll come around. I’m happy the way things are.”
Des cheered up a little. He knew that his friendship with Bill was at stake as well as his relationship with Liz. They decided to go have it out with her.
Liz was dumbfounded. For once, she was totally lost for words. She let it slowly sink in that she loved them both and they both loved her.
Then she said, “Okay. Let’s have a great party and take things one day at a time after that. Who cares what anyone else thinks, anyway?”
About the Author
Kate Borchers has been a storyteller since childhood. Her two sisters still laugh at how she frightened them with her spooky stories told in the darkness of their shared bedroom. An avid reader, Kate did a writing course 30 years ago to learn more about the art of writing. She believes we need to hear more positive stories in these troubled times. Kate has been a volunteer English tutor for adult literacy students and migrants, and recently ran a U3A course in her village on how to write biographies. Several of her students successfully completed their life stories for their grandchildren.
