Post by Lane Kent on Jun 15, 2005 16:14:21 GMT
I cannot stress enough as you read the following parts as you find out who Penny's baby is, all may not be as it seems. Please don't pass judgement until at least parts 13-14 when the final twist in the tale will be unveiled.
Previously on LOVE AND DECEIT - When Mike Met Penny
....It was just too much to bear for Penny. The "real father" did not deserve this he could have brought the child up himself, her baby did not deserve this and neither did Penny!
PART VIII
June 1975 - In the Sykes car, Eve was gushing over the baby, but the baby wasn’t having any of it and was by now crying after all the commotion and now with this pair of strangers.
RAY: Oh shut it up for goodness sake
EVE: It’s a “her” and I’m trying, but I know nothing about babies.
RAY: And another thing we are not calling HER Mary!
EVE: I don’t see why not, it’s as good enough a name as any and if that is what Penny wants then I think we can give her that one little say in her daughter’s life.
RAY: No way. We owe Penny nothing. She owes us? Besides if I’ve got to have her sprog as my child then I don’t want a stuck up religious name like “Mary.”
EVE: And here I thought you were a catholic?
RAY: Don’t start woman. Linda, we will call her Linda that will do.
EVE: After one of your other women I suppose?
Ray threw her a look.
Later that night Little Linda’s life was already being defined. She was left alone in her cot to cry in the seedy bed-sit the Sykes rented. The new parents had already tired of playing happy families and gone to the pub. They later came home drunk as they would do on plenty a future night. So they had very little time for any parenting. Linda’s world would soon consist of violence, neglect and very quickly she would learn the only way in life to survive was to be hard and never show any weakness.
Despite Eve and Ray having little love to give, eleven months later to their great surprise they had a child of their own James (Jimmy), followed in 1978 by a second son and then in 1981 a third boy Ryan arrived before Dean completed the family in 1983. By now the family had moved to a house on the Brick Farm Estate, the roughest housing estate in Weatherfield with burnt out cars and boarded up houses everywhere. The police were even too frightened to ever go there. The crime rate was high and most people were on the bread line. Gladys and George Harris would refuse to visit and none of the Sykes saw them again.
It was always a regret of Ray and Eve’s that they did not have a daughter of their own. However both felt they did a good job of treating Linda as their own and gave her as much love – or should that be as little love – as they gave the other children. Indeed Linda never had cause to be suspicious.
As the years went by Linda would hang out with Karen Phillips on the estate, a girl of a similar age. Together they would drink and smoke and get into all sorts of petty trouble. However Linda’s best friend was Nita Desai who she knew from school. Nita was from a middle-class family who owned their own shops and Linda couldn’t have been more envious if she tried. While Linda had been invited to the Desai's home occasionally, she never returned the favour. Ashamed of her background, Linda felt she could not show Nita how she lived outside school.
Linda’s father Ray was in and out of prison and when she wasn’t in care herself, Linda was being skivvy around the house, particularly when Eve finally had enough of Ray’s rough ways and walked out on the marriage leaving Linda to look after all Eve’s boys.
While Linda’s adoptive brothers seemed quite happy in their world of poverty and crime, she did always feel different from the rest of the family. She felt she was capable of much more than she was given credit for both at home and at school. She even got suspended from school one time after fighting with a teacher to prove her point. On the odd occasion Linda had visited her ‘Aunty Penny’ and Uncle Preston, she had seen a whole new world that was beyond her wildest dreams. Linda strived to end up like her ‘Aunty Penny’ who wanted for nothing. Her brothers and parents didn’t share Linda’s enthusiasm for Penny. They considered her a “stuck up cow with ideas above her station” and warned Linda if she wasn’t careful she would end up the same. Linda did have to agree there was a cold edge to Penny. While Uncle Preston would spoil Linda rotten and she would have conversations with him about the world and business, most of all she liked Preston because he encouraged her dreams. At times she would feel guilty that she wished he was her “Dad.”
Penny on the other hand did always appear to be dismissive of Linda. However Linda didn’t care, she admired Penny, Penny had risen in the world and made a good marriage and that is exactly what Linda wanted from life. Penny was her role model, and like Penny before her, Linda day-dreamed of a better future.
Linda’s first marriage had been everything she planned even if it didn’t turn out as she hoped. At barely 24 years of age she had been plucked off the factory floor by her nearing 60 year old boss and before long she had been running the business along side him – making his underwear empire even more successful than it already was. People always made jokes about the age gap and the differences in their social background, but Linda didn’t care. She had a gold card, a sports car and was living in a luxury flat. Her every whim was her husband’s command. Even if he did see her as a trophy wife, for the first time in hers, Linda had felt safe and secure. Mike Baldwin may well have been a sugar daddy, but, Linda Sykes, in her own little way cared for him. However the old saying of never working with children and animals could also apply to who you marry. Never marry a man with children especially if you are already having sex with your intended’s son before you are even down the aisle. Linda hadn’t intended to hurt her husband in such a manner and if she had met the son first things would have been different. But as things stood Linda had embarked on a relationship with the father before she really knew the true feelings for the son. Events got out of hand and before she knew it, Linda was saying I do! To add to Linda’s sins, she had an insecure and jealous streak because she also felt that her husband didn’t truly love her. She was convinced he was in love with his ex, Alma. Nothing he could do would persuade her otherwise. So it was inevitable really from the start that Linda’s first marriage would fail.
As Linda’s life carried on its merry way and as she planned her second marriage in the summer of 2005 believing this time it was the right choice, she had no inkling of what was awaiting around the corner for her. The current actions of her ex-husband Mike Baldwin and the past actions of her “Aunty Penny” King were on a collision course that would turn not only their lives upside down but also ruin the lives of Linda and her fiancée.
PART 9 SEE BELOW!
Previously on LOVE AND DECEIT - When Mike Met Penny
....It was just too much to bear for Penny. The "real father" did not deserve this he could have brought the child up himself, her baby did not deserve this and neither did Penny!
PART VIII
June 1975 - In the Sykes car, Eve was gushing over the baby, but the baby wasn’t having any of it and was by now crying after all the commotion and now with this pair of strangers.
RAY: Oh shut it up for goodness sake
EVE: It’s a “her” and I’m trying, but I know nothing about babies.
RAY: And another thing we are not calling HER Mary!
EVE: I don’t see why not, it’s as good enough a name as any and if that is what Penny wants then I think we can give her that one little say in her daughter’s life.
RAY: No way. We owe Penny nothing. She owes us? Besides if I’ve got to have her sprog as my child then I don’t want a stuck up religious name like “Mary.”
EVE: And here I thought you were a catholic?
RAY: Don’t start woman. Linda, we will call her Linda that will do.
EVE: After one of your other women I suppose?
Ray threw her a look.
Later that night Little Linda’s life was already being defined. She was left alone in her cot to cry in the seedy bed-sit the Sykes rented. The new parents had already tired of playing happy families and gone to the pub. They later came home drunk as they would do on plenty a future night. So they had very little time for any parenting. Linda’s world would soon consist of violence, neglect and very quickly she would learn the only way in life to survive was to be hard and never show any weakness.
Despite Eve and Ray having little love to give, eleven months later to their great surprise they had a child of their own James (Jimmy), followed in 1978 by a second son and then in 1981 a third boy Ryan arrived before Dean completed the family in 1983. By now the family had moved to a house on the Brick Farm Estate, the roughest housing estate in Weatherfield with burnt out cars and boarded up houses everywhere. The police were even too frightened to ever go there. The crime rate was high and most people were on the bread line. Gladys and George Harris would refuse to visit and none of the Sykes saw them again.
It was always a regret of Ray and Eve’s that they did not have a daughter of their own. However both felt they did a good job of treating Linda as their own and gave her as much love – or should that be as little love – as they gave the other children. Indeed Linda never had cause to be suspicious.
As the years went by Linda would hang out with Karen Phillips on the estate, a girl of a similar age. Together they would drink and smoke and get into all sorts of petty trouble. However Linda’s best friend was Nita Desai who she knew from school. Nita was from a middle-class family who owned their own shops and Linda couldn’t have been more envious if she tried. While Linda had been invited to the Desai's home occasionally, she never returned the favour. Ashamed of her background, Linda felt she could not show Nita how she lived outside school.
Linda’s father Ray was in and out of prison and when she wasn’t in care herself, Linda was being skivvy around the house, particularly when Eve finally had enough of Ray’s rough ways and walked out on the marriage leaving Linda to look after all Eve’s boys.
While Linda’s adoptive brothers seemed quite happy in their world of poverty and crime, she did always feel different from the rest of the family. She felt she was capable of much more than she was given credit for both at home and at school. She even got suspended from school one time after fighting with a teacher to prove her point. On the odd occasion Linda had visited her ‘Aunty Penny’ and Uncle Preston, she had seen a whole new world that was beyond her wildest dreams. Linda strived to end up like her ‘Aunty Penny’ who wanted for nothing. Her brothers and parents didn’t share Linda’s enthusiasm for Penny. They considered her a “stuck up cow with ideas above her station” and warned Linda if she wasn’t careful she would end up the same. Linda did have to agree there was a cold edge to Penny. While Uncle Preston would spoil Linda rotten and she would have conversations with him about the world and business, most of all she liked Preston because he encouraged her dreams. At times she would feel guilty that she wished he was her “Dad.”
Penny on the other hand did always appear to be dismissive of Linda. However Linda didn’t care, she admired Penny, Penny had risen in the world and made a good marriage and that is exactly what Linda wanted from life. Penny was her role model, and like Penny before her, Linda day-dreamed of a better future.
Linda’s first marriage had been everything she planned even if it didn’t turn out as she hoped. At barely 24 years of age she had been plucked off the factory floor by her nearing 60 year old boss and before long she had been running the business along side him – making his underwear empire even more successful than it already was. People always made jokes about the age gap and the differences in their social background, but Linda didn’t care. She had a gold card, a sports car and was living in a luxury flat. Her every whim was her husband’s command. Even if he did see her as a trophy wife, for the first time in hers, Linda had felt safe and secure. Mike Baldwin may well have been a sugar daddy, but, Linda Sykes, in her own little way cared for him. However the old saying of never working with children and animals could also apply to who you marry. Never marry a man with children especially if you are already having sex with your intended’s son before you are even down the aisle. Linda hadn’t intended to hurt her husband in such a manner and if she had met the son first things would have been different. But as things stood Linda had embarked on a relationship with the father before she really knew the true feelings for the son. Events got out of hand and before she knew it, Linda was saying I do! To add to Linda’s sins, she had an insecure and jealous streak because she also felt that her husband didn’t truly love her. She was convinced he was in love with his ex, Alma. Nothing he could do would persuade her otherwise. So it was inevitable really from the start that Linda’s first marriage would fail.
As Linda’s life carried on its merry way and as she planned her second marriage in the summer of 2005 believing this time it was the right choice, she had no inkling of what was awaiting around the corner for her. The current actions of her ex-husband Mike Baldwin and the past actions of her “Aunty Penny” King were on a collision course that would turn not only their lives upside down but also ruin the lives of Linda and her fiancée.
PART 9 SEE BELOW!
