The Quality of Love
Page 29
‘I feel so much fitter these days, and I am capable of doing so much more that it’s time I had a proper life. It’s all right for you, Sarah; you’ve got a family of your own now. You’ve got Rhoslyn and before long there’ll be another baby. Soon you won’t have time for an old codger like me.’
‘Oh, Dad. I think you’ve had too much excitement today,’ Sarah told him with a little laugh, looking across at Owen to see if he was taking any notice of what her father had just said.
Owen looked at her with raised eyebrows and then shook his head in bewilderment. ‘You seem to know more than I do, Lloyd.’ He smiled.
‘Rhoslyn’s anything but a baby,’ Sarah said quickly. ‘Another year and she’ll be off to school.’
‘I know what I know,’ Lloyd told her sagely. ‘There’ll be a new baby before Easter, you mark my words.’
‘This talk of another baby . . . we’re not planning anything of the sort,’ Owen protested mildly.
‘I think Lloyd is right; you’ve left it too late to change your minds. Isn’t that so, Sarah?’ Celina said with a smile.
‘How on earth did you know?’ Sarah frowned. ‘I’ve not said a word, not even to Owen, because I’m not sure myself yet. It’s far too early to be certain.’
‘Your dad’s heard you being sick in the morning and he drew his own conclusions,’ Celina said beaming.
‘You old rogue,’ Sarah laughed, shaking her head in mock despair at her father, as Owen came over and hugged her, looking down at her, a big grin on his face.
‘It’s impossible to keep any secrets when you’re around, Dad. Even so, you don’t need to move out,’ she protested, pulling herself out of Owen’s embrace and going over to her father’s chair and kneeling down beside it. She took his hand in hers. ‘This is your home, Dad, so we won’t hear of you giving it up.’
‘I’ve already decided,’ he told her, patting her head. ‘I can’t change my mind now, Celina would never forgive me.’
‘But, Dad—
‘Shush! No arguing. Everything has been arranged. I’ve already moved most of my belongings over to Pen-y-lan Road while you were on holiday; we were just waiting for the right time to tell you.’
‘Are you quite sure about this?’ Owen asked as he looked across at Celina.
‘Yes, we are. We’ve been thinking about it for quite some time but ever since we realised that another baby was on the way we decided this was the time to go ahead. Lloyd hasn’t told you the whole story,’ Celina continued. ‘I told you to let me be the one to tell them,’ she scolded, frowning at Lloyd. ‘Now you’ve made a right hash of things.’
Lloyd gave a resigned shrug. ‘Go on, then, tell them everything. I was trying to break it to them gradually, bit by bit, but it’s probably better if they know the whole story and everything that you’ve planned.’
‘Hold it, this sounds like a very important decision so I think we all ought to have a drink or a cup of strong tea,’ Owen stated. ‘Let’s clear up the party first and then sit down and you can start afresh.’
While Sarah tucked a very tired Rhoslyn up in bed, Alvia and Marie cleared away and washed everything up. Tactfully, they declined to stay, saying that it seemed to be a family matter that was going to be discussed and they’d leave Sarah to tell them about it in the morning.
Sarah made some coffee and as the four of them settled down in comfortable chairs Sarah and Owen looked at Celina enquiringly.
‘There is a lot more to it than Lloyd has said so far,’ she told them. ‘We had plenty of time on our own while you were away on your holiday and we realised not only how greatly we enjoyed each other’s company but how much we meant to each other.’
‘Do you mean that Dad is going to move into your place and that you will be living together?’ Sarah asked in astonishment.
‘We will be, yes.’ She held up her hand as Sarah was about to say something. ‘We have reached what we hope you will consider to be a sensible arrangement,’ she added rather primly. She paused and took a sip of her coffee. ‘I want you to hear me out before you say anything,’ she told them as she put her cup and saucer down.
Sarah and Owen looked at each other in bewilderment as they sat back to listen.
At first Celina seemed to be a little hesitant but once she got going she told them in a well-thought-out way exactly what she and Lloyd had in mind.
Halfway through Owen reached out and took Sarah’s hand in his and squeezed it almost as if to signal his approval of what Celina was saying, but Sarah felt too astounded to respond.
‘Are you saying that you and my dad are planning to get married?’ she gasped when Celina had finished.
‘Yes, that’s right, that’s exactly what Celina is saying, cariad.’ Lloyd nodded.
‘Don’t you approve?’ Celina asked, biting down on her lower lip that was trembling so much it looked as though she was going to burst into tears at any moment.
‘And you want us all to move to Pen-y-lan Road and live with you?’
‘Yes,’ Celina said and waited anxiously for a reaction.
‘I can hardly believe my ears, but I certainly approve of you and Dad getting married,’ Sarah assured her warmly. ‘I know that if anyone can make him happy it is you. It’s so comforting to know that he has someone who cares so much about him.’
Pulling herself up out of her chair she went over and kissed them both.
‘What about my other suggestion?’ Celina asked.
‘You mean us moving in with you?’ Sarah said doubtfully. ‘I’m not too sure that is such a good idea. If you are right and I am going to have another baby,’ she said with a teasing smile, ‘think of all the upheaval that would cause.’
‘It wouldn’t really cause any upheaval,’ Celina assured her. ‘My house is over twice the size of this one. There are four large bedrooms so if you should have a little boy this time he can have a room to himself.’
Sarah turned to look at Owen. ‘What do you think?’ she asked. ‘So far you haven’t said a word.’
‘It’s a lot to take in,’ Owen said sombrely. ‘It certainly has some good points,’ he added quickly. ‘I agree with Sarah that I am very happy for you both but it’s this business of us all living together that might prove to be a stumbling block.’
He stood up and placed his cup and saucer on the table. ‘You know what they say, two women in the same kitchen . . .’
Celina didn’t give him a chance to finish. ‘That’s all nonsense,’ she said crisply. ‘For one thing, neither Sarah nor I will be spending very much time in the kitchen because we have a housekeeper to look after all that sort of thing and to do the cooking. That alone will make life so much easier for Sarah and, furthermore, there will always be someone around to keep an eye on Rhoslyn when Sarah is at the office with you, Owen.’
‘Rhoslyn will be off to school in a year’s time,’ Owen murmured.
‘Yes, and by then there will be another baby who has to be looked after,’ Celina told him promptly.
‘You’ll have to give us a while to talk all this over,’ Owen said, stalling for time. ‘It’s all come as rather a shock.’
‘Well, don’t take too long about it. We need to start making plans and getting everything else organised for our wedding. It will be a very quiet affair, of course, but nevertheless there will still be quite a lot to do before the big day.’
There was so much going on in their lives over the next few months that Sarah found the time was flashing past. Fortunately her morning sickness was short-lived and from then on she felt extremely fit.
When she confirmed that the baby was due around Easter, Lloyd and Celina decided on an autumn wedding. Rhoslyn was to be bridesmaid and once they told her this she chattered about nothing else from the time she woke up in the morning until she went to bed at night.
They also told her that there would be a new baby but at the moment all she could envisage was being dressed up in a pretty white dress with a frilled skirt, rosebud trimming aroun
d the neck, and little puff sleeves.
She constantly rehearsed the part she would be playing either following Celina around the house pretending to be holding her train, or standing in front of the cheval mirror pretending to be taking the bouquet from Celina.
Even after she had agreed that they would move to Pen-y-lan Road, Sarah insisted that they went on living at Cyfartha Street until after the wedding. She planned that they would move whatever furniture they decided to keep and all their other possessions in while Lloyd and Celina were away on their honeymoon.
‘When you come back it will be the start of a new life for all of us. It will also give us plenty of time to get settled in before Christmas,’ she said.
It was a beautiful warm, sunny September day when Lloyd and Celina got married. The church was packed with employees from Morgan’s and several of Celina’s own friends who lived nearby. Alvia and Marie were there, both of them wearing outstanding new hats that brought a smile from Owen.
Rhoslyn behaved perfectly and looked like a little angel in her dainty dress and with flowers in her hair. Her only disappointment was that although she’d been practising for ages how she would have to carry Celina’s train she found that there wasn’t one.
‘I thought that a white wedding with all those sorts of things would be out of place at my age,’ Celina said smiling.
Instead, she wore an oyster two-piece with cream shoes and a very ornate cream cloche hat which was tastefully trimmed with oyster-coloured silk roses.
Lloyd looked extremely smart in a new dark suit and a light cream-coloured shirt with a cream silk tie which had thin black stripes on it.
Sarah chose a navy blue loose coat in slubbed silk over a lighter blue dress and a dark blue cloche hat decorated with light blue silk flowers.
After the simple ceremony the family went to a restaurant for a very special meal before Lloyd and Celina set off on a two-week tour of North Wales.
It was somewhere that neither of them had ever visited before. ‘We’re both looking forward to enjoying the scenery; seeing Snowdon and exploring all those great castles,’ Lloyd told Sarah and Owen.
After Christmas, as the days to her confinement drew closer, Sarah sometimes wondered how she had ever managed to do all the mundane domestic jobs that had been her responsibility in the past. Now there was a daily woman to take care of all the scrubbing and general cleaning as well as a cook-housekeeper to make sure that meals were always served on time and there was no clearing away or washing-up to be done afterwards.
Donkey-stoning the steps, washing, mangling and ironing all their clothes and household linen, were no longer her responsibility either and although she still spent several days a week working at the office she felt nowhere near as tired as she’d done in the past.
Celina had made a good many changes in her house to ensure their comfort and welfare. Living together as one big family was proving far more enjoyable than Sarah had ever imagined it would be and so carefree and different from when she had been a child.
Later in the year Rhoslyn would be starting school but she would be under no pressure from any of them to work hard or always be top of the class. Not only was Lloyd far more easygoing these days but he also readily admitted that he’d been wrong to pressurise Sarah so much when she’d been at school.
Lloyd and Celina were both so happy and contented that it was a delight to be in their company. They adored Rhoslyn but they were careful to make it clear to her that her Mummy and Daddy were the ones she was answerable to and they never interfered with any rules Sarah and Owen imposed.
Rhoslyn had also been encouraged to mix with other children. They occasionally played out in the street but more often than not Lloyd and Celina would take her and a little friend along to the park.
SchoSchool seemed to hold no fears for Rhoslyn, but long before that eventful day there would be an even more momentous occasion when the new baby arrived. Sarah knew that Owen was hoping that it would be a boy who perhaps one day would take over the running of the business, but they were now such a happy, united family that the baby would be surrounded by love whether it was a boy or a girl.
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Epub ISBN: 9781409035961
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Copyright © Rosie Harris 2009
Rosie Harris has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
First published in Great Britain in 2009 by
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ISBN 9780099527381