Amber by Heather Burnside (fb2 epub reader .txt) 📕

had noticed how hers always seemed better than Nathan’s and more grown up. Last time he had given her a toiletry set and she’d been overjoyed. But it had been difficult showing her gratitude to a man who she really wanted to distance herself from.

Now, as she watched TV, she could feel him examining her, making her cheeks flush and her heartbeat speed up. She tried to ignore him and keep her eyes fixed on the screen. But when he spoke to her, she turned around.

‘What have you been up to at school, Amy?’

She shrugged. ‘Nowt special.’ Then she turned back and focused on the TV screen once more.

‘You’re turning into a fine-looking girl. I bet you have all the lads after you, don’t you?’

Turning her head once more, she glared at him. ‘No, I don’t!’ she raged.

‘Come on, don’t tell fibs, lovely-looking girl like you.’ Then he reached inside his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He took a five-pound note from it and handed it to her. ‘I’ve not treated you today, have I?’ he asked, walking over to her. ‘Here, have this.’

He held out his hand, so she stood up and reached for the money. As soon as her fingers touched it, he covered her hand with his other one. ‘You deserve it,’ he said. ‘You’re a good girl.’

His hand lingered and Amy was becoming uncomfortable and wary about what he was going to do next. She stood there awkwardly for several seconds, relieved when she heard her mother coming back into the room.

‘Well, what’s going on here then?’ she asked.

Cliff laughed. ‘Not what you think, you dirty-minded mare. I was just treating Amy, that’s all.’

‘Oh, Cliff, I’ve told you, you don’t have to give them money and presents every time you come here.’

‘I know. I do it because I want to. Amy’s a good girl and she deserves treats. Isn’t that right, Amy?’

Amy blushed and nodded, perturbed on realising that he was deliberately trying to embarrass her.

Cliff’s attention switched to the bottle of wine Loretta had brought into the room and the two glasses she was clutching. ‘Lovely,’ he said, taking the wine from her. ‘I’ll pour.’

Loretta laid the two glasses down on the coffee table and took up a seat next to Cliff on the sofa while Amy was seated on the armchair across from them. ‘There,’ he said, lifting both glasses and handing one to Loretta. Then he chinked his glass next to hers. ‘Here’s to us. Let’s make it a good night, eh?

*

September 1999

Later Amy had gone to bed. She would have liked to have watched some more TV, but it had become embarrassing sharing the same room as her mother and Cliff. As they downed the bottle of wine and started on the next one their conversation had become increasingly risqué and Cliff was slobbering over her mother.

He had started by putting his arm around her then graduated to patting her on the leg. That would have been bad enough in itself but Amy could sense Cliff watching her as though he was waiting for a reaction each time he touched her mother.

It was three hours later when she was awoken by the sound of them on the upstairs landing. Cliff was saying something with a note of amusement in his voice and her mother was giggling. Eventually her giggling ceased. ‘Shush,’ she said. It sounded like she was trying to whisper but was failing miserably. ‘You’ll wake the children up.’

Cliff said something else and her mother giggled again but quieter this time. For a few minutes Amy heard the running of taps, the flushing of the toilet and the closing of doors until the noise died down and all she could hear was faint chatter coming from her mother’s room.

Their chatter didn’t last long, and Amy presumed they must have fallen asleep. Thank God! Now perhaps she could get some sleep too. She turned over in bed, her face to the wall, and snuggled down into her duvet, pulling it over her ears in case the noise started again.

She was tempted to grab one of the soft toys that sat at the foot of her bed, knowing it would enable her to get back to sleep more easily. But she resisted. Nowadays she kept them for display, feeling too grown up to have them inside her bed, especially after Nathan had teased her. She’d had them since she was a toddler and was reluctant to part with them, especially Barney, a large brown cuddly bear with shaggy fur and one eye missing. He was the oldest and her most treasured.

It took her a while to get back to sleep and she was just nodding off when she woke up, startled, sensing a presence in the room. She turned and saw Cliff in his underwear hovering next to her bed. The sight of him without his clothing alarmed her and she shot up in the bed ready to shout for her mother. But Cliff reached down and clamped his hand over her mouth.

‘Quiet!’ he warned. ‘You don’t want to wake your mother up, do you?’

Amy stared at him, her eyes wide with terror, but it was impossible to speak with his heavy hand covering her mouth.

He seemed to take her silence as a sign of acquiescence and he climbed into the bed beside her, pulling her towards him with his free hand and wrapping the duvet around them both.

Then he whispered to her. ‘I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. I just want to snuggle up next to you. You’re not going to stop Uncle Cliff cuddling up with his favourite girl, are you? Isn’t that what all uncles and dads do?’

Then he removed his hand from her mouth but before Amy had a chance to speak, he threatened her. ‘Don’t you dare say anything to anyone, especially your mum, because if you do, I’ll have to stop coming round! And you know what’ll happen if I stop coming round,