Sinners and Shadows

by Catrin Collier

  ‘Geraint.’ Joey looked him coolly in the eye. ‘You’re the last person I expected to enlist.’

  Drawing confidence from the major standing next to him, Geraint said, ‘I’ve just been commissioned.’

  Joey looked up at the recruiting sergeant who was swearing him in. ‘Whatever regiment he’s in,’ he indicated Geraint, ‘make sure I’m put in a different one. If I’m not, another war will break out in our ranks. And there’ll be blood.’

  ‘You threatening me, Evans?’ Geraint blustered.

  ‘Just a joke, Geraint.’ Joey looked from the sergeant to the major. ‘We’re related. Sort of brothers-in-law.’

  ‘Sort of,’ Geraint concurred warily.

  ‘I see.’ The major looked doubtful. ‘Then you’ll want to be in the same regiment after all.’

  ‘No,’ Joey broke in. ‘If we’re in different ones, we’ll have each other’s letters to look forward to. Don’t forget to give Sali your address, Geraint. I’ll send you a card as soon as I’m settled into my cosy barracks.’

  *……*……*

  ‘Joey, what a lovely surprise.’ Sali ran down the stairs after settling Bella and Edyth in the nursery for their afternoon naps. She hugged him. ‘Harry will be mad, Robert’s just taken him off for a riding lesson but he’ll be back in an hour. We’ve all been so worried about you. And you’re here safe and sound. Your father and brothers will be pleased. Leave your case in the hall, come into the drawing room. Are you hungry? But what a stupid question, you must be. I’ll ring for Mari.’

  ‘Tea and sandwiches would be great, I haven’t eaten since breakfast.’ Joey followed Sali into the drawing room. ‘Where’s Lloyd?’

  ‘At a meeting between colliery management and naval representatives in the New Inn. They’ve been ordered to step up production to meet the military’s increased demand for coal.’

  ‘If I know my communist pacifist brother, he won’t be happy working for the war effort,’ Joey commented.

  ‘He’s not.’ Sali sat on the sofa and patted the cushion beside her. ‘But what have you been doing with yourself this last week?’

  ‘Enjoying a holiday in Mumbles.’

  ‘By yourself?’ she probed tactfully.

  ‘I met some people.’

  ‘You had a reasonable time?’

  ‘As reasonable as I could without Rhian and I don’t want to talk about her or the wedding that wasn’t, Sali.’

  Sali had been about to mention the letter she’d received from Rhian that morning, but instead she said, ‘I can understand that.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Mari, look who’s here,’ Sali said to the housekeeper who had answered her ring. ‘Do you think you could get some food for Joey, please?’

  ‘Enough to tide him over until tea,’ Mari said flatly. ‘Have you any special requests, Joey?’

  Joey wondered if it was his imagination, or if Mari really was cooler towards him than she had been the last time she’d seen him, when he and Rhian had still been engaged. ‘Tea, a sandwich or a piece of cake would be great, please, Mari. But don’t put yourself or anyone else to trouble on my account.’

  ‘Seeing as I have to galvanize someone to make an effort, you may as well choose what you want to eat. Ham or chicken sandwich?’ Mari barked.

  ‘One of each?’ Joey ventured.

  ‘That’s you; always want one of every sort that’s going.’

  ‘Mari!’ Sali reprimanded.

  ‘Sorry if I spoke out of turn, Miss Sali, but I’m very fond of Rhian.’ She glared at Joey. ‘My sister and I warned her about this one, but would she listen? Oh no! And it ended in tears, just as we said it would.’

  ‘Not only Rhian’s tears, Mari,’ Joey said quietly.

  ‘Yes, well, as my sister is so fond of saying, handsome is as handsome does and you’ve never been very good at doing handsome, only being it.’

  ‘That’s enough, Mari,’ Sali interposed sharply. ‘Whatever happened, happened between Joey and Rhian and is their, and no one else’s, business.’

  Mari was fond of Rhian but she was fonder still of Sali. ‘I’ll see what food I can come up with,’ she said in a marginally softer tone. ‘Would you like anything, Miss Sali?’

  ‘Just a cup of tea to keep Joey company, please, Mari. And if that is Lloyd,’ she added as the front door opened, ‘you’d better bring three cups.’

  ‘I may as well bring a full tea in early and make fresh for Master Harry when he comes in from his riding lesson.’

  Lloyd walked in still wearing his hat, his face grim, his dark eyes glittering with anger.

  ‘Lloyd, whatever’s happened? Is it Harry?’ Sali leaped to her feet.

  ‘He’s fine,’ he reassured her quickly. ‘I saw him and Robert in the field down by the river when I drove in.’

  ‘Then the meeting –’

  ‘The meeting went as well as any meeting between representatives of His Majesty’s Services and their despised suppliers could. After it, I was enjoying a quiet drink in the bar with two of our engineers when I saw Geraint.’ He turned to his brother.

  ‘Geraint’s back?’ Sali asked.

  ‘Back, married and staying in a suite in the New Inn with his wife until tomorrow morning, when he’s catching a train to an army camp to begin his basic training. He even unbent enough to speak to me long enough to tell me that he’s been commissioned as a second lieutenant and his regiment is being posted to France next month.’

  ‘So soon.’ Sali paled. With Gareth in Sandhurst she’d been forced to come to terms with the idea of having one brother drafted into the war, and, despite her differences with Geraint, she couldn’t bear the thought of both of them being sent to the Front.

  ‘After the brainwashing of patriotism, King and country Geraint was subjected to at public school, he sees it as his duty to serve. From the way he was talking, you’d think he was off on a jaunt not a killing field.’ Lloyd took off his hat and dropped it on a chair. ‘You’d better remind me to have a few quiet words with Harry before he reaches military age.’

  ‘It will be over by the time Harry comes of age, won’t it?’ Sali asked anxiously.

  ‘I hope so, sweetheart. However, given the size of the Kaiser’s standing army, I wouldn’t bet on it. But then, Geraint’s not the only one who has enlisted. Is he, Joey?’

  When Joey didn’t answer him, he added, ‘There’s no use denying it. Geraint told me that he’d seen you in the Drill Hall.’

  Sali looked from her husband to his brother and sank slowly back down on the sofa.

  ‘Joey, how could you?’ Lloyd railed. ‘You know how our father feels about the war. This will kill him and almost certainly you. Of all the stupid, hare-brained, idiotic things you’ve done in your life, this has to be the worst.’

  ‘When do you leave?’ Sali asked Joey in a small voice.

  ‘The eight o’clock train tomorrow morning.’

  ‘You’ve seen the newsreels of the Kaiser’s army. It’s better equipped than ours and it’s huge. Fritz is going to make mincemeat out of Jacques and Tommy. It’s not going to be a war, it’s going to be a bloodbath and you couldn’t wait to jump into it.’ Lloyd turned away from his brother in disgust. When he spoke again his voice was terse, and Sali knew he was having a problem controlling his temper. ‘Give me one reason, just one reason why you signed your life away? And it had better be a good one.’

  ‘Because the army promised to make a man of me.’ Joey’s stupid quip fell leadenly into the heavy atmosphere.

  ‘None of your idiotic jokes, not now.’

  Seeking support, Joey sat on the sofa besides Sali. She reached for his hand and held it. He looked at her then at his brother. ‘I think you know why I joined up, Lloyd.’

  ‘You’ve thrown your life away over a’ – Lloyd remembered that he was talking about Rhian and curbed his language – ‘a girl. Joey …’

  ‘A special girl, Lloyd. Rhian meant – means – as much to me as Sali means to you or Megan m
eans to Victor.’

  ‘And now it’s over between you two you’ve decided to commit suicide?’ Lloyd stated acidly.

  ‘Not all soldiers get killed in battle. I came here before going home because I hoped that you two would understand why I enlisted, and travel up to Tonypandy with me. I want to explain why I did it to Dad, and say goodbye to him, Megan and Victor.’

  ‘I’ll drive you, and Sali if she wants to come, up to Tonypandy. I’ll even go into Victor’s house with you. But when you tell our father what you’ve done, you’ll be on your own. I won’t stand by you, and I doubt Victor will either.’

  ‘It’s wonderful to see all of you, especially you.’ Megan ran up to Joey as soon as he stepped out of the car. ‘We’ve all been so worried about you, and you look so fit, well and suntanned. Isn’t it a gorgeous day? Betty and I have been picking the last of the French beans in the kitchen garden while the twins have been enjoying the air in the pram you bought for them, Sali. I had no idea you could get one that big.’

  ‘It was a special order but we didn’t have too much trouble tracking it down. We’ll come and help you pick beans.’ Feeling like a coward, Sali turned to Harry. ‘Run ahead and take Bella to see the twins, but be careful not to wake them.’

  ‘They are awake, Harry, so you don’t have to be quiet,’ Megan called after him.

  ‘Where are Dad and Victor?’ Lloyd asked.

  ‘In the milking shed.’ Megan frowned at the expression on Lloyd’s face. ‘Is something the matter?’

  ‘Joey and I’ll go and see Victor and Dad.’

  ‘Sali?’

  ‘Sorry to descend on you without any warning,’ Sali knew she was talking too quickly, but she didn’t want to say anything about Joey in his, or Lloyd’s, earshot. ‘I hoped you’d invite us for supper. I asked Mari for a hamper.’ Sali handed Edyth to Megan and lifted the box Mari had packed from the back of the car.

  ‘You know you don’t have to bring food when you come here, Sali. This is a farm, we have plenty.’

  ‘Mari wanted to give you some of her special preserves, two of her fruit cakes and one of her home-cured hams.’ Sali dumped the basket on the garden table outside Megan’s back door. She watched the men enter the milking shed. ‘Besides, this meal is going to be something in the nature of a last supper. Joey enlisted this morning. He’s leaving tomorrow.’

  ‘Because of Rhian?’ Megan asked.

  ‘I can’t think of any other reason why he’d do something so stupid and drastic.’ Lloyd wasn’t the only one who was having a problem controlling his anger over what Joey had done.

  ‘If I put Edyth in the twin’s indoor cradle, will you help me with the tea, please?’

  ‘Of course,’ Sali agreed. Megan’s approach to Joey’s devastating news was sensible and eminently practical. She only hoped that they could continue to ignore the war, until the day he would come marching home – if he survived.

  ‘Aren’t you going to say anything, Dad?’ Joey had left the milking shed with his father after he had broken the news of his enlistment to him and Victor. They were standing at the entrance to the farmyard, looking over the mountain towards the town.

  ‘What do you want me to say?’ Billy asked flatly.

  Too old for a beating – not that his parents had given him many, and none undeserved when he’d been growing up – Joey had expected his father to curse, shout and swear when he told him he’d enlisted. But he hadn’t been prepared for the awful resignation in his voice.

  He wished Lloyd and Victor would finish in the milking shed and join them. But he sensed that his brothers would hide in there until he and his father joined the women in the house. And he couldn’t blame them. If he were in their shoes he would do exactly the same thing.

  ‘Anything would be better than nothing, Dad.’ Joey felt as though he were tempting the devil. Whatever his father said wasn’t going to be good.

  ‘What is there to say, Joey? You’ve done it. Go back on your word now and they’ll shoot you like a dog. Like they did the strikers in Llanelli.’

  ‘This isn’t a strike, Dad. This is about peace. About building a better world, and a better future, for all of us.’

  ‘You joined up believing their lies.’ Billy’s eyes were cold, dead.

  ‘Yes … No, I joined up because I wanted to get away from Tonypandy – and Rhian.’

  ‘She’s staying in the town?’

  ‘She has another man.’

  ‘That’s a reason for joining up that I can at least understand. The thought of you succumbing to this ridiculous patriotism that’s infected the country is more than I can stomach.’

  ‘I won’t be gone long, Dad.’

  ‘You’ll be gone for years, boy, and I dread to think of the state you’ll be in if you are one of the lucky ones who comes back. That’s my last word on the subject. I’ll not say another. Now I suppose we’d better go in and eat this supper the girls have prepared for you.’ He grasped Joey’s neck and leaned close to him for a moment.

  When he released him Joey’s collar was wet with his father’s tears.

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‘Mrs Watkin Jones has arrived, Miss Sali.’

  ‘Will you show her out here, please, Mari?’ Sali rose from the rug she’d spread out on the grass for Edyth, and dusted off the daisies Bella had strewn over her hair and skirt. When Julia appeared, she held out her hands and embraced her. ‘Julia. I hope I may call you Julia?’

  ‘Of course, and thank you for inviting me to dinner. I hope I’m not too early. You did say five o’clock in your letter.’

  ‘I thought you might like to meet your nieces and nephew before we ate.’ Sali picked up the rattle Edyth had dropped on the rug and returned it to her. ‘Bella,’ she called her eldest daughter who was still picking daisies, ‘Come and meet your new Auntie Julia.’

  Bella obediently started running, her short, chubby legs pumping up and down like engine pistons.

  ‘Have you a kiss for your Auntie Julia?’ Sali prompted.

  Bella lifted her face expectantly and handed Julia the damp bunch of daisies she was holding.

  ‘For me? Thank you, Bella, and I have something for you.’ Julia opened a carrier bag and lifted out two stuffed toy dogs, a dachshund and a Welsh terrier. ‘One for you and one for your sister. If you press the lever under their chins, they bark.’ She demonstrated as she handed them to Bella.

  Bella opened her arms, took the dogs and lisped, ‘Thank you, Auntie Julia.’

  ‘And because you’re the oldest I think you should decide which is the most suitable for Edyth.’

  Bella immediately carried the dogs over to Edyth.

  ‘I wasn’t sure what to get Harry. Geraint told me he’s seven, so I asked the assistant in the toyshop for suggestions. He thought this might be suitable.’ She removed a metal moneybox in the shape of a Humpty Dumpty from the bag.

  ‘I’m sure he’ll love it but you really shouldn’t have bought so many presents,’ Sali protested in embarrassment. ‘The children will think it’s Christmas and Lloyd and I haven’t even bought you and Geraint a wedding present yet.’

  ‘Well, it was hardly a normal wedding.’ Julia took a box of Rowntree’s chocolate almonds from her bag and laid it on the wrought-iron garden table. ‘These are for you and your husband.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Sali smiled conspiratorially. ‘Shall we open them now?’

  Mari emerged from the house with a tray. ‘I thought you two ladies might like a glass of my lemonade.’

  ‘Mari, this is my sister-in-law, Mrs Geraint Watkin Jones. Julia, this is our housekeeper and valued member of our family, Mrs Williams.’ Mari had become increasingly outspoken of late, and Sali hoped that she would keep her opinions on Geraint and his failings to herself.

  ‘You are so like your sister, our Mrs Williams,’ Julia said in surprise.

  ‘She’s told me a lot about you over the years, Mrs Watkin Jones. Congratulations on your marriage,’ Mari said formally.
/>   ‘Thank you.’

  ‘I have brought some lemonade for you, Miss Bella, but I can see that you have new toys.’ Mari went over to admire the dogs.

  Sali touched her glass to Julia’s as they sat at the table. ‘It’s funny when you think of all the times we’ve met at the suffrage meetings. I had no inkling that one day you would be my sister-in-law. I do hope that you and Geraint will be happy.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Julia was finding it increasingly difficult to respond to people’s congratulations on her marriage when it was so obviously one of convenience on both sides.

  ‘Have you seen your father yet?’ Sali asked. ‘He came to see us the day after you eloped. He was very worried about you.’

  ‘I hope he didn’t put you to any trouble.’

  ‘Not at all. He – we were all concerned by the suddenness of your decision. None of us had any idea that you and my brother even knew one another …’ Realizing how this might be misconstrued, Sali fell silent. She had already heard ladies whispering in the corners of the suffrage meetings, discussing possible reasons for Julia and Geraint’s elopement, and none of them had been charitable. Half the ladies thought poverty-stricken Geraint had turned ‘poor plain Julia’s head’ with his good looks. The other half had decided he’d seduced her and there was already a baby on the way.

  ‘I intend to visit my father tomorrow.’ Julia opened her handbag and removed a handkerchief. ‘Given his reaction when I told him that I knew Geraint and was seeing him, it might be as well that Geraint’s enlisted.’

  ‘Your father disapproves of your marrying my brother?’

  ‘He knows that Geraint married me for my money.’

  Sali was so shocked she dropped her glass. It fell on to the grass, spilling the contents, but it didn’t break.

  ‘After losing his inheritance, Geraint was determined to marry into money. I have money and I’m of age, in fact three years older than him, so there are no parental complications. From Geraint’s point of view, it’s a perfect arrangement.’

  ‘For Geraint perhaps, but what about you? What on earth will you get out of the arrangement?’ Sali was finding it difficult to recover from the shock of Julia’s frank appraisal of Geraint’s motives.