Facing the World

by Grace Thompson

  Valmai and Gwilym would continue to look after Sadie. Again, because of Rhys not an ideal arrangement but there was no alternative and there was no doubt they loved her and gave her the care she needed. Sadie ran to greet her each evening full of what she had done during the day and turned, time and again, to wave to her grandparents and promise to ‘See you tomorrow’ as they left for their new home in School Lane.

  Twice, Matthew Miller called to make sure they were settled with everything they needed, and besides him there was a regular trail of visitors bringing an assortment of gifts, including a load of firewood and plants for the garden. But there was still no sign of David Gorse.

  One day when she and Sadie arrived home, Matthew was digging the garden. ‘Can’t stop,’ he said as she stepped out of her car. ‘I know you’re busy. I’ll just gather my tools and run.’

  ‘Stay and have a cup of tea at least,’ she said, laughing at his pretence at running away.

  ‘Another time,’ he promised. ‘When there’s more time.’ Pulling faces, waving at a laughing Sadie, he jumped into his van and drove away. He came several times after that although he was never there when she reached home. The borders were neat and the plants she had been given were in place.

  She met Mrs Gorse in the butcher’s one day and asked about David.

  ‘Still restless, unable to find suitable work, see.’

  ‘Like Walter Prosser,’ Sally commiserated and Mrs Gorse shook her head.

  ‘No, not like Walter. He’s just plain lazy.’

  What the difference was, Sally didn’t ask!

  The garden was more or less completed and Sally left a note for Matthew Miller, thanking him, but it was still there when she got home. He had obviously finished and wouldn’t be back except for the monthly rent. She found herself looking forward to the end of the month.

  It was late June, and the sun was still warm at the end of the day when she stopped on the way home and picked up a few pies and crisps and cakes, having decided that a picnic was a good way to end the day. Sadie going to bed a bit later than usual wouldn’t matter on such a perfect day. She was smiling as she called to collect her from the nursery. She had finished early and had arranged with Valmai to collect her herself. When Jennifer, the person in charge, opened the door she frowned. ‘Mrs Travis? Is something wrong?’

  ‘No, everything’s fine. I finished early today and I’ve called to collect Sadie myself. I’ve bought a picnic. She loves to eat out and—’ Her voice slowed as Jennifer’s hands flew to her mouth and she stared at her in horror.

  ‘But she’s already been picked up.’

  ‘Oh, it’s all right, Mrs Martin must have forgotten. I’ll go and get her. Don’t worry.’

  ‘It wasn’t Valmai. It was a man who said he was her father. She ran to him, called him Daddy, so I thought it must be all right even though you hadn’t told me. He’s been ill, hasn’t he? He looked very unwell but—’ She saw the look of horror on Sally’s face and stopped. ‘It was all right, wasn’t it? He said he was her father, and I thought….’

  Sally felt a cold chill run through her. ‘I’ll go and see if she’s at the Martins’. If not, I’m calling the police,’ she said as she ran back to the car.

  In shock, Jennifer stared after her then ran inside to hold her other charges as though danger threatened them all. What had she done? She never allowed anyone to collect a child without first having made clear and definite arrangements. But he was her father. It must be all right.

  Sally drove like a maniac to Mill Road and burst in to see Gwilym setting the table and no sign of Rhys. ‘Where is she?’ she demanded. ‘Where’s my daughter?’

  ‘Sadie? I don’t understand. Valmai’s just gone to the shops. She said you were meeting her today. What’s happened?’

  ‘Your son! That’s what happened. He took her from nursery. Where is she?’ She was crying now, fighting the sobs that came from deep in her throat. She stared at Gwilym. ‘Where would he take her? Bristol? To the woman he’s living with and his other child? Happy families for everyone except me?’ Desperately she looked around as though Sadie would magically appear. ‘I’m calling the police,’ she said and as she turned to run through the door Valmai appeared. Explanations were confused by Sally’s distress but Valmai pleaded with her to wait for a while before involving the police.

  ‘No, I can’t! Every moment we wait means she’ll be further away from me.’

  There was the sound of the gate opening and they all held their breath, but it wasn’t Rhys, it was David. ‘I’ve just seen Rhys!’ he said.

  They all spoke at once, demanding to know when and where. ‘On the path leading to the mill. I presumed you knew as he had Sadie with him. He’s probably going to your house on School Lane.’

  ‘If he isn’t there I’m ringing the police!’ Sally said, pushing past him on the way out.

  David didn’t tell her he already had.

  Jimmy was at the gate. ‘Your Sadie’s at the old mill,’ he said. ‘Are you going to get her? Can I come?’

  She opened the car door for him. ‘You better had. You might just stop me killing her father,’ she said. She tried to drive sensibly but when the car skidded to a stop outside her house in School Lane, Jimmy said, ‘Phew, that was fast! Good fun, mind.’ Grabbing his hand, she ran to the mill.

  Rhys was standing holding the handle of a pushchair, offering up Sadie’s coat, obviously pleading with her to go with him. Sadie was sitting on a blanket with food spread out before her, hugging a new toy, a fluffy blue kitten with a gaudy red and yellow ribbon, under one arm. There was jam on her face and a sticky coconut-covered cake in her other hand.

  Seeing Sally, Rhys said, ‘Sorry, love. I just had to see her. I hoped to get her back in time for my mother to collect her but she seems determined to get me into trouble. I just wanted to spend a little time with her.’

  ‘How dare you! D’you know what a fright you gave us? That I was on the point of calling the police?’

  ‘You didn’t, did you?’ Alarm crossed his face in a frown.

  ‘You no longer have the right to “spend a little time” with her,’ Sally said, snatching her daughter. ‘Get away from her.’

  ‘Please, Sally, I’ll soon be able to explain everything.’

  ‘Too late. Now please go. I have to let your parents know she’s safe. They’ll be terrified something awful has happened.’

  ‘I’ll run through the wood and tell them,’ Jimmy said. ‘I’ll be quicker, give you time to calm down. I wouldn’t like Sadie to suffer one of your crazy drives!’ He ran off laughing.

  Slowly, with a very sticky Sadie sitting in the pushchair, chattering about the stories Daddy had told her. Sally walked back to the house.

  Rhys stood for a moment watching her, head bowed, a picture of dejection. He looked seriously unwell, she noted through her panic and anger. Then there was the sound of people rushing through the bushes and Sally turned to see him held by several policemen.

  ‘It’s all right,’ she shouted. ‘It’s all right. Just a mix-up of arrangements, that’s all.’

  Without waiting to see what happened, she hurried into the house and locked all the doors.

  Ten minutes later a knock at the door heralded the arrival of a policewoman.

  ‘Why did you come? I didn’t call you,’ Sally said, still hugging her daughter. She was angry but she couldn’t accuse Rhys of attempted kidnap, could she? She thought too much of Valmai and Gwilym to do that anyway, and he seemed genuinely sorry that his intention to return her to the nursery was thwarted. ‘It was a mix-up, that’s all. Rhys collected her from nursery without telling me.’

  ‘I’m glad she wasn’t harmed. We always act when a child is in danger and are relieved that this time it was a false alarm. But my colleagues are questioning him about that. I came to make sure you and Sadie are all right.’

  ‘All right? I don’t think I’ll ever be all right ever again! I’m thankful I have my daughter safe but it’s
been a very difficult time. Her father, Rhys Martin, has been away, you see, and, well, that’s a long story. Then there was the unfortunate choice of childminder for her when I decided to go back to work, and now this.’

  ‘I’ll go but I’ll come back later to discuss what happened and make sure you and Sadie are all right,’ the WPC said.

  There was a continuous stream of visitors from then on. Valmai came, and Eric. Amy and Rick came when they heard what had happened, then to her surprise, David.

  ‘David. We haven’t seen you for ages. Where have you been?’

  ‘Nowhere, just keeping out of your way. You have so many friends and you didn’t need me.’

  ‘Of course we need you. You’re a friend too.’

  ‘I wanted to be your only friend. The one you turn to whenever things go wrong,’ he said.

  ‘We can’t have too many friends, David.’

  She began to feel uncomfortable, wondering what he was about to say but to her relief, before he could say any more, there was a knock at the door and she smiled, ‘Here’s another. I wonder who this will be?’

  It was the policewoman back and Sally invited her in as David waved goodbye to Sadie, and left.

  ‘There is another matter you might be able to help with,’ the policewoman said after being offered a seat. ‘Can you tell us why Rhys ran away two and a half years ago?’

  ‘He thought he was suspected of a series of robberies and was afraid an investigation might prevent him from studying to become a teacher. It sounds far fetched even as I say it,’ Sally said, making Sadie more comfortable as the little girl relaxed into her arms.

  ‘If he didn’t carry out these robberies, why—’

  ‘He didn’t do them! Someone else did! He was afraid he’d be suspected, and I don’t know why!’ Sally wondered why she was so defensive about the man who had let her down so badly and recently given her such a fright.

  ‘You must know what happened, Sally. Anything you can tell us will help us to find the truth. If he didn’t do it.’

  ‘He didn’t!’

  ‘Then persuade him to help us, tell us all he knows, or just suspects, then we can clear it up and he needn’t be afraid any more.’

  Sally looked down at the child in her arms, deeply asleep, her face still covered with jam and strands of coconut. ‘Rhys is nothing to do with us any more.’ She looked at the policewoman and asked, ‘How am I going to clean her up enough to put her to bed without waking her?’

  The policewoman took Sadie into her arms while Sally gently undressed her and washed her grubby face and hands, then watched as Sally put her into her cot. Both women stood for a few minutes just looking down at the sleeping child, then the policewoman tiptoed out. She had scribbled her name and the telephone number of the station on a scrap of paper and pointed to it as she quietly went out of the door.

  David watched with disappointment as Rhys left the police station and walked towards the railway station. His long strides revealed an anger and he was soon lost to David’s sight. He had called the police anonymously, reporting a child abducted from the nursery school. He gave details but refused to give his name. The call box would be of little help, specially as he had run fast past it, up through the narrow lane close by and had been innocently wandering towards it when the police arrived. They stopped him and asked if he’d seen anyone using the phone box but he assured them he was just on his way back from the local farmer’s barn where he had been looking at a repair job and had only just arrived in sight of it.

  He had always hated Rhys Martin. When they were at school, his friends and Rhys’s friends were never together. Scrumping apples and playing rat-tat ginger, knocking doors and running away, and helping themselves to an occasional pint of milk from a doorstep were the things in which both groups indulged but never together. And the unforgivable thing was, David’s group were often accused, frequently caught, and Rhys’s friends were always believed when they gave their word they were innocent.

  When the doors of a small factory were left open by mistake, both groups went inside to explore. No damage was done and they came out feeling daring, almost heroic at their bravery in going inside the dark building, each carrying a small item as a keepsake. David had picked up a fountain pen which he hid in his school satchel.

  Rhys was questioned as he lived near and he gave the police David’s name together with the rest of the rival group. The pen was found and the five children appeared in the juvenile court. They were given a caution but the incident increased his dislike of Rhys to strong hatred.

  There had been a certain notoriety in the events; other pupils nudged one another when he passed and looked at him with awe when the stories were repeated and exaggerated. David enjoyed it and began to dream of becoming someone to whom people looked up to with respect. He broke into a small shop and stole some cigarettes, which he sold to some of the older boys. This, he had explained to his followers, was because she wouldn’t let him have some sweets off-ration. He was caught and again appeared in court. This time he was told that if he offended again, he would be sent to borstal. He could still picture Rhys’s face as he had laughed.

  When he risked taking a purse from the post office counter, he told the police he had seen Rhys do it but Rhys had an alibi.

  He hadn’t achieved much at school, failing at most subjects except woodwork, at which he was better than average. Rhys excelled at academic subjects and sport so reasons to hate him increased. It was only Eric’s patient teaching at the furniture factory that had changed his life. The rivalry between Rhys and himself had begun so long ago, when they were little more than children, but the feeling of resentment towards him hadn’t faded with time. Now he knew that when the time was right and Rhys felt safe, with what was hidden in his mother’s loft he’d be able to knock him off his pedestal for good.

  Before that, he wanted to find out what Rhys was doing in Bristol and who the mysterious woman and child were. Was he planning to have two families, one with Sally and one with the woman in Bristol? At the moment he seemed to have chosen the Bristol woman, and he wondered if Sadie was the sole reason for his occasional visits and not Sally. Now if Sally could consider himself as a suitable stepfather to his daughter, Sadie, wouldn’t that be a perfect arrow to shoot? It was worth getting a job to see Rhys’s reaction to that!

  Chapter Nine

  SALLY BECAME INVOLVED with the final preparations for Amy and Rick to move into their new home. The wedding had been rearranged and the second issue of invitations had been sent and acknowledged. The house was finished and there was only its contents to be transformed into a home.

  Sally went with Amy on shopping trips to fill the larder and store cupboards. Cleaning materials were chosen, although Amy swore she would have as little to do with them as possible. ‘Rick paid someone to clean the house after the workmen had finished,’ she said airily. ‘I have to admit she did a good job. He couldn’t remember her name – she was recommended by someone I believe. Pity, I’d like her to come each week and clean through for me.’

  Sally smiled and said nothing, remembering the generous payment she had received, which paid for the extras she needed to furnish her own new home. The experience helped her to guide Amy, who seemed vague about what she needed to do.

  ‘Have you arranged deliveries of bread and milk and coal and groceries?’ she asked, and Amy gasped.

  ‘None of those. Oh, thank goodness I’ve got you as a friend. I’ll deal with them today. Won’t Rick be impressed at how well I’ve dealt with it all?’ She grinned. ‘Not that he’ll believe me. He’ll see an expert guiding hand in all of this.’

  ‘Come on, let’s get the bedding sorted and we need to place the small table ready for that television that’s arriving tomorrow. By the window, d’you think?’

  ‘And cushions. We need to throw a few cushions around.’

  The place was beginning to look like a home. ‘All it needs are a couple of full coffee cups on that table and a magazi
ne or two and it’ll look lived in,’ Sally said.

  ‘All right, coffee it is and perhaps a few biscuit crumbs?’ The two friends sat looking out into the formal garden, glancing about them occasionally, and leaning over to tweak a cushion or adjust the tablecloth on what would be the television table. Everything was ready for the second attempt at marrying, ‘Nothing can go wrong this time, can it?’ Amy asked.

  ‘With your mother in charge? Nothing would dare!’

  Amy smiled and said, ‘She might be difficult at times, but she has the money and background to make everything perfect.’ Superstitiously she crossed her fingers.

  The wedding of Amy and Rick eventually took place on Saturday 15th July.

  The weather was doubtful at first but everyone in Mill Road and beyond went to see the couple married. The guests were brought by a variety of cars, most of which were expensive and brought shouts of approval from the young boys who had gathered to enjoy the spectacle. The clothes of the arrivals were discussed in murmurs that were punctuated by the occasional burst of laughter when one of the women guests had trouble with an extra large hat, or tripped when alighting from one of the splendid vehicles.

  Amy’s mother stepped somewhat unsteadily out of an elegant Bentley with someone they later learned was a distant cousin, called Godfrey. The small church was full, with onlookers crowding around the doorway, ‘Like beggars at a feast,’ Amy’s mother declared loudly. ‘It’s so common to stand and satisfy their curiosity.’

  ‘I think they’ve come to wish her well, Dorothy,’ her cousin Godfrey replied.