‘I promise.’ A lump rose in his throat. They had lost their child and he was determined they were not going to lose one another. But how would she feel when he told her he was going to have to spend the next two years away from her?
‘Mr Clay.’ The sister loomed in the doorway.
He moved from the bed to the chair. ‘I didn’t hear the bell.’
‘Your wife …’
‘Wants me to stay with her as long as possible.’ He turned back to Helen. ‘And that is exactly what I intend to do.’
A late lecture on Thursday prevented Joe from waiting for Lily outside the bank, but to his delight he saw her turning the corner of Carlton Terrace as he returned from the university. Running to catch up with her he said, ‘Have you heard there’s a good film on in the Plaza?’
‘I dare say.’ Lily didn’t break her stride.
‘You won’t come with me?’
‘No.’
‘And that’s your last word on the subject?’
‘I’m …’
‘I know, going out with Martin,’ he interrupted flatly.
Trying not to think about the last three weeks when she’d scarcely seen him, she murmured, ‘That’s right.’
‘Probably just as well,’ he acknowledged, trying to keep the conversation light. ‘I should do some revision. The finals are only a couple of weeks away.’
‘Then it sounds as if the last thing you should be doing is inviting people to go to the pictures with you.’
‘You’re not people and the cinema’s more fun than revision.’ He walked with her to her gate. ‘Come to think of it, anything’s more fun than revision.’
‘You will get your degree?’ she asked, knowing how important it was to him.
‘So my tutors tell me.’
‘And then you’re going to Cardiff to work for the BBC.’
‘Not until the autumn. I intend to enjoy one last summer of freedom on the Gower.’
‘Lucky you.’ She opened her handbag and rummaged around for her keys. They had an annoying habit of always sinking to the bottom.
‘You have holidays?’
‘Only two weeks.’
‘When?’
She gave him a sharp look.
‘I’m only asking.’
‘Possibly July.’ Her boss had tried to pressurise her into booking her holiday dates earlier that day, but she had refused, wanting to speak to Martin first in the hope he would be able to take some time off that would coincide with hers.
‘Helen should be fit by then. If I borrow a boat we could go sailing together.’
‘That would be nice.’ She showed the first signs of enthusiasm since he had accosted her.
‘She’ll need cheering up if Jack’s away,’ he added, sensing her change of attitude. ‘You have heard.’
‘That he received his call-up papers? Yes, Katie told me.’
‘Jack hasn’t told Helen yet.’ He watched as she pulled her key from her bag. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t persuade you to come to the cinema.’
‘I’m not. I have a mountain of mending and ironing to do.’ She smiled as Martin ran up the steps of his basement. ‘Martin …’ Her smile faded as he charged past her. ‘Can’t I talk to you for a minute?’
‘I’m late.’
‘Then, when you come back?’
‘I’ve no idea when that will be. I’m going to the pub – it’s a leaving do for one of the mechanics.’ His feet pounded over the pavement as he raced round the corner.
‘Perhaps we should both take a leaf out of Martin’s book.’ Joe went to his front door.
‘What do you mean?’ she questioned defensively.
‘Forget duty and go down the pub. See you around, Lily.’
‘Yes, see you around,’ she echoed, as a sick feeling of foreboding stole through her stomach.
Lily was walking towards the kitchen when there was a knock on the door that closed off the internal basement staircase from the rest of the house. She opened it to find Sam, in his police uniform standing on the stairs.
‘I confess I saw you coming in and as Katie’s out …’
‘You’re watching us!’
‘Only from the best of motives. I did debate whether to bring a cup to borrow some sugar, but decided honesty is the best policy. Can we talk?’
‘We are talking.’
‘I’d talk better over a cup of tea.’
‘Men only ever think of their stomachs,’ she grumbled. ‘Next thing you’ll be telling me is you want a sandwich.’
‘No sandwich, as Martin’s out I’ve volunteered to cook for Jack, that’s if I can prise him out of his bedroom.’
‘He’s shut himself into his bedroom?’
‘Seeing as how he heard today that one month’s postponement of his conscription is all he’s going to get on compassionate grounds, I think he’s entitled to sulk.’
‘Poor Jack and poor Helen, nothing seems to be going right for them.’
‘Perhaps they’re getting all the bad luck they’re ever going to get in one go.’ He sat at the kitchen table while Lily set about making the tea. ‘Is Katie likely to be long?’
‘All she said this morning is that she wanted to clear some work because she’s taking tomorrow morning off.’
He glanced at the clock. Katie was rarely home before six thirty and it was that now. He had at least half an hour and ten minutes should be enough to find out what he wanted to know – if Lily would tell him. ‘Has Katie a steady boyfriend?’ he blurted out awkwardly.
‘That’s a bit personal, Sam.’
‘If she’s free I’d like to ask her out.’ He reached for the sugar bowl and sugared the empty cup she’d placed in front of him. ‘But I heard that her and Adam …’
‘That’s been over a long time.’
‘I’m glad. With things the way they are with Adam …’
‘You boys are idiots,’ she declared indignantly.
‘I’ll not argue with that but to go back to Katie. I’ve tried to let her know I’m interested but she hasn’t picked up on my signals.’
‘You could try the old-fashioned approach,’ she suggested.
‘What’s that?’
‘Forget signalling and ask her outright for a date.’
‘I have. She told me she wasn’t interested.’ He pushed his cup towards her so she could fill it.
‘Then you’ve had your answer.’
‘But it’s not just me, is it. It’s all boys.’ He reached for the milk. ‘What happened between her and Adam? Something must have. He’s obviously still miffed with her and she can’t seem to stand the sight of him.’
She set the teapot on its stand and took the chair opposite his. ‘The only thing I know that happened between Katie and Adam is that she told him she wasn’t interested in going out with him any longer after a few dates.’
‘At least he got a few dates in. If she gave me the same chance I wouldn’t blow it.’
‘I’m not sure he did, “blow it” as you put it.’
‘She’s a pretty girl.’
‘And you can’t understand why she isn’t overwhelmed by your attentions.’
‘As I told Martin, they are strictly honourable.’ He passed her the sugar bowl. ‘They could hardly be anything else, seeing as how I’m sharing rooms with her brothers.’
‘You’ve discussed Katie with Martin?’
‘I mentioned that I would like to go out with her.’
‘And what did he say?’
‘That she’s old enough to make her own decisions.’
She sipped her tea. ‘That sounds sensible.’
He sat back and looked at her. ‘I heard her father beat her mother to death.’
‘You shouldn’t listen to gossip.’
‘Then it’s not true?’
‘In a way,’ Lily admitted cautiously. ‘He did beat her and she ended up in hospital where she died.’
‘Is that why Katie doesn’t like men?’
‘You’ll have to ask her tha
t, Sam.’
‘Then you won’t help me.’
‘Katie’s one of my closest friends,’ she said firmly, wanting to discourage him. ‘I feel disloyal just having this conversation with you. If you want to know anything more, you’ll have to talk to her yourself.’
‘Every time I go near her she runs a mile.’
He looked so crestfallen that Lily relented. ‘What were you going to cook for Jack tonight?’
‘Sausage and chips.’
‘As tonight’s Mrs Lannon’s night for visiting her sister I do the cooking and as it happens I bought sausages. Why don’t you bring yours up here and we’ll eat together. But mash, not chips. It’s easier to reheat when my uncle comes in after his shift.’
‘If you weren’t Martin’s girlfriend I’d kiss you.’
As he went haring downstairs to get Jack, Lily filled the sink with water and threw in a couple of pounds of potatoes. She only hoped she hadn’t given Sam any false hope. Katie had always been reticent to talk about herself, even more so since she had broken off with Adam. For all she knew there could be another boy, but if there was she simply couldn’t work out when Katie saw him.
‘You will tell Martin?’
‘That you want to see him, no matter how late he comes in,’ Jack chanted mechanically as he left the dining room. ‘I won’t forget, Lily. Thanks for the meal. All Martin and Sam can cook is chips.’
‘I heard that,’ Sam shouted from the kitchen.
‘You were supposed to,’ Jack called back.
‘You’re cooking tomorrow.’
‘You like my tinned soup and sliced bread that much?’ Jack opened the door to the basement stairs.
‘I have to wait up for Uncle Roy anyway …’
‘I won’t forget to tell him, Lily,’ Jack assured her.
‘And in case I don’t see you …’
‘I’ll give Helen your love on Sunday.’
‘She really is getting better.’
‘She’ll be better still when I get her out of that hospital.’
‘Tell her Katie and I are storing up all the gossip.’
‘I will.’ He gave her a small smile. ‘And thanks again for the meal, even if all this attention does make me feel like a charity case.’
‘None of us thinks of you like that. It’s just that …’
‘You want to do something for Helen, you can’t and I’m the next best thing.’
His candour embarrassed her. ‘Look after yourself, Jack. If not for yourself, then because Helen needs you.’
‘Goodnight.’
Lily waited until he closed the door before returning to the dining room. Straightening the tablecloth, she re-laid the table for her uncle. As she busied herself with clean cutlery and crockery, she could hear Sam and Katie in the kitchen. She made a conscious effort not to listen to what they were saying but she couldn’t help noticing that Sam – not Katie – was doing most of the talking.
‘But you will be going to the Pier next Saturday?’
Katie kept her eyes focused on the sink as she stacked the last plate on the draining board. ‘Possibly, if Lily and Martin go.’
‘And the chances are if Martin goes, I’ll be going with him and as we’ll all be together anyway. I just don’t understand why you won’t let me take you.’
‘Because if you did, it would be like we were going out together.’
‘But we are going out together,’ he persisted stubbornly.
‘Only in a crowd.’ She untied her apron and hung it on the peg behind the door.
‘And that’s how you see me, one of a crowd.’
‘I don’t want a boyfriend, Sam.’
‘Just a friend.’ He couldn’t keep the derision from his voice.
‘Yes, please.’
‘Hellfire and damnation!’ He slammed the plate he’d just dried on top of the stack of clean ones. ‘I can’t even have a good quarrel with you. You’re just so … nice,’ he finished in exasperation. He wanted to reach out and stroke her face, or at the very least hold her hand but he sensed her almost physically recoiling from him. ‘You won’t mind if I keep trying?’ he continued in a gentler tone.
‘If by trying you mean asking me out again, I’d prefer you not to.’
‘So, no matter what, you’ll never go out with me.’
‘It’s not you, Sam. I like you, I really do.’
‘You could have fooled me.’
‘You’re fun to be with.’
‘As a friend.’ He summoned his courage and dared to ask the question he had put to Lily earlier. ‘Is there someone else?’
‘There’s no one,’ she answered, wishing with all her heart there were.
‘Then there’s no reason why I shouldn’t keep trying to change your mind.’
‘I won’t.’
Drying the last dish, he flung the tea towel on to a chair. ‘Will you dance with me on Saturday?’
‘If we’re both down the Pier and you ask.’
‘Katie Clay, I swear I’ll wear you down if it’s the last thing I do.’
‘Find another girl to say things like that to, Sam, please.’
‘I warn you.’ He gave her his most gallant smile. ‘I’m used to getting my own way.’
‘So am I, Sam.’
His smile turned to a scowl as he closed the door behind him.
Chapter Thirteen
‘That was good.’
‘There’s more sausage and potato, if you want it,’ Lily offered.
‘No thanks, love, I’ve eaten too much for comfort as it is.’ Roy loosened his belt and sat back in his chair as Lily cleared his plate. ‘This afternoon shift is a killer. I feel as though it’s six, not eleven o’clock. But you don’t have to sit up with me. You have work in the morning.’
‘I told Jack to ask Martin to call up when he comes in. He’s gone to a leaving do for one of his workmates.’
‘Problem?’ He frowned.
‘No.’ She carried his plate and cutlery into the kitchen and stacked them neatly next to the frying pans. As it wasn’t worth running a sink full of hot water for so few dishes she decided to leave them until the morning and wash them then along with the breakfast things.
‘I’ve been meaning to ask, is it serious between you two,’ he asked, as she returned to the dining room.
‘No, it’s just that my boss wants me to book my summer holidays and I hoped that Martin and I could take some time off together.’
‘In my day it was the boy who did the chasing.’
‘You think I’m chasing Martin?’ she asked hesitantly.
‘Aren’t you?’ He crossed his long legs in front of him as he leaned back in his chair and reached for his pipe.
‘Martin asked me out, not the other way round.’
‘That was weeks ago, love. Things change.’
‘And you think he doesn’t want to go out with me any more?’
‘That’s an odd question, considering you wanted to spend your holidays with him a moment ago.’ Taking out his tobacco pouch, he began to pack the bowl of his pipe.
She sat in one of the easy chairs next to the fire and looked into the flames. ‘I’m not sure what he thinks of me.’
‘A lot, judging by the amount of time he spends here.’
‘I’m not so sure.’
‘I know you, love. Something is wrong. Tell me to mind my own business if you like, but if it’s anything I can help with, all you have to do is ask.’ Leaving the table, he sat in the chair opposite hers.
‘It’s nothing I can put my finger on, Uncle Roy. I just can’t make Martin out. One minute he’s telling me he can’t support a wife and the thought of marriage scares him to death, the next he’s inviting me out for a walk. Then, just when I think we’re getting really close, he starts ignoring me.’
‘You asked him to marry you?’
She laughed at the shocked expression on his face. ‘No. The last thing I want to do at the moment is get married and I told him so.’
‘Out of the blue, right in the middle of the dance at the Pier.’
‘Before or after Jack got married?’
‘The same day,’ she murmured thoughtfully.
‘Perhaps Jack getting married put the thought in his head and he’s angry because he can’t afford to support a wife like his little brother,’ he diagnosed cautiously.
‘If you’re right, then the last thing I should do is suggest we take our holidays together.’
‘It might be better to let things run their course in their own time, love.’ Finally satisfied with his pipe, he flicked his lighter and lit it. ‘At the risk of sounding like the ancient mariner, you’re both very young.’
‘Helen’s my age, and Jack is three years younger than Martin.’
‘I don’t think you can consider them a good example.’ As he puffed away, clouds of blue smoke wreathed around his head. ‘I wish Norah were here. She’d know exactly what to say and how to say it. I’ve a tendency to speak my mind and think about what I’ve said afterwards.’
She sat back and looked him in the eye. ‘What do you really think about Martin and me going out together?’
‘I think it’s fine as long as you enjoy one another’s company and have a good time.’
‘You don’t think it will last.’
‘A moment ago you said you didn’t want to get married.’
‘I don’t – yet. But who knows, maybe in the future I’ll change my mind.’
‘And who’s going to change it for you, Martin or Joe?’ he asked perceptively.
‘Not Joe.’
‘That sounds very definite for a girl who almost got engaged to him.’
‘I didn’t know him then.’
‘And you do now.’
‘Enough to realise we’re poles apart. Oh, he’s nice enough, but he’s a dreamer.’ She gazed back at the fire, recalling nights when she and Joe had sat before the fire in this same room, studying the flames and imagining shapes in them – fairy-tale castles, wicked witches, glowing caverns of rubies populated by goblins, nothing was too wild or fanciful for Joe.
‘And you’re too old for dreams now, I suppose.’ Without waiting for her to answer he continued, ‘I’ve had a soft spot for Martin and Jack ever since they were nippers. Who wouldn’t, after seeing the way Ernie treated them, but having a father like that creates problems. You must have noticed the way both of them and Katie – keep their distance. Live more within themselves, as it were, than most people.’
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