Swansea Summer

by Catrin Collier

  ‘Now go back in there and carry on as if nothing’s happened.’

  Setting her face into the wide-mouthed smile she had practised so often in front of the mirror, Angela followed her brother inside.

  ‘Jack and Adam are lucky.’ Roy sat beside Martin and Sam in the waiting room. ‘The manager of the Pier is content with a warning and a ban, which will affect Adam more than Jack, seeing as how Jack will be away for the next couple of years. The sergeant won’t give the go-ahead for a prosecution as the manager is content to let all charges drop in the hope of avoiding adverse publicity, and as Adam isn’t seriously hurt, I’ve succeeded in talking him out of pressing charges against Jack.’

  ‘He tried?’ Martin questioned indignantly.

  ‘He did, but I pointed out that there is such a thing as provocation,’ Roy said grimly.

  ‘What happens now?’ Martin rose to his feet.

  ‘Both of them are free to go. The only question is which one do we release first.’ Roy looked from Sam to Martin.

  ‘Might be as well to let Jack go first,’ Sam suggested. ‘After the way Adam behaved, and the things he said about Helen, Martin and I might be tempted to pick up where Jack left off.’

  ‘I swear to you, Jack, nothing has happened between Helen and Adam …’

  ‘And you’ve been with her every minute of every day since I left.’ A leaner, fitter Jack, with extremely short hair that gave him the appearance of a hard man, crossed his arms over his chest, propped himself against the dresser in the basement kitchen and glared at Martin.

  ‘Of course I haven’t, but I spend as much time as I can with Lily and Helen hardly ever leaves her house.’

  ‘Adam says he’s been up there. He even knew the colour of the bedroom curtains and bedspreads …’

  ‘He would, seeing as how he helped us to move the girls in there,’ Sam interrupted, attempting to support Martin.

  ‘And he’s been sunbathing there alone with Helen.’

  Wishing the police had kept Jack and Adam apart, Martin continued, ‘Lily and I walked in on them. Helen hadn’t even allowed him in the house because she was afraid there might be gossip.’

  ‘She was dancing with him, she kissed him …’

  ‘Not because she wanted to. He forced himself on her.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Because I know Helen and she said so,’ Martin snapped, coming the closest he ever had to losing his temper with his brother.

  ‘I don’t believe her.’

  ‘Look, you’re home …’

  ‘For a week.’

  ‘You have your orders.’ Sam set the kettle on to boil. The last thing he wanted was tea, but he had do something.

  ‘For Cyprus, minimum eighteen-month term.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Jack, but as I was saying, you’re home, you’re sober, here’s the keys to the garage and your bike, and by the way, thank you for lending it to me. You’ve been to Helen’s house?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then you know where it is. Ride out there, talk to her. If you only have a week …’

  Jack glanced at the clock as he hung the keys back on to the board. ‘Anyone want a game of cards?’

  ‘Jack …’

  ‘I don’t want to talk about Helen, Martin. I’ve a bottle of rum in my pack; you, Sam and I can either sit down and have a boys’ night in, or I can leave right now.’

  ‘To go where?’ Martin asked in exasperation.

  ‘Back to camp.’

  ‘You have leave.’

  ‘So do all the boys but not all of them had somewhere to go, so I’ll have plenty of company.’

  ‘You stubborn …’

  ‘No matter what, I am leaving on the first train out of here in the morning.’ Jack picked up his pack. ‘Do we have this last night together or not?’

  Martin looked at Sam; he knew what he was thinking. If they went along with Jack’s night in, there was a chance that they might talk him into staying and possibly even seeing Helen. What Sam didn’t know was that once Jack made up his mind to do something he did it, no matter what it cost him, because he was afraid of being considered weak if he didn’t.

  ‘I promised Lily I’d tell her if they let you go tonight,’ Martin demurred.

  ‘Have they a telephone in the house?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then it will have to wait until morning, won’t it?’ Jack pulled the bottle of rum from his pack and took three glasses from the cupboard. ‘You can go to Limeslade after you’ve seen me off.’

  Hilary put a cup of strong black coffee in front of Joe as he sat slumped over the kitchen table in John’s house. ‘Want to talk about it?’

  Joe shook his head.

  ‘I lied for you tonight, Joe. You do realise that if I hadn’t, you’d be in a psychiatric ward right now.’

  ‘Yes,’ he whispered hoarsely.

  ‘Suicides don’t have brilliant futures,’ she said callously.

  ‘I know,’ he mumbled, ‘and I’m grateful …’

  ‘Keep your gratitude. I don’t want it and I warn you now, I’ve no intention of letting you get off lightly.’ She lit two cigarettes as she sat opposite him and passed him one. ‘Is it money, or a girl?’

  He lifted his head and looked at her. ‘No girl and too much money.’

  ‘I’m listening.’

  Somehow it all came out, his love for Lily, her betrayal, his bastard status, his mother’s marriage to John Griffiths, Richard Thomas, his disgust at Robin’s and Angie’s morals … and all the while he spoke she listened quietly, only leaving the table to make more coffee or empty the ashtray that stood between them.

  When he finally finished she sat back and studied him as she handed him yet another cigarette.

  ‘You think I’m pathetic, don’t you.’ He braced himself for her condemnation.

  ‘I think you’ve behaved like an immature idiot, but you’re hardly pathetic. Have you thought what you’re going to do with yourself now?’

  ‘Not walk under any more buses,’ he replied flippantly.

  ‘You’ve a whole summer ahead of you. You could put it to some use.’

  ‘And do what?’

  She looked him in the eye. ‘I may have just the job for you.’

  ‘Job?’

  ‘Don’t look so horrified at the prospect of doing some real work, Joe. You never know, it might prove the making of you.’

  ‘Joy, I’m sorry for waking you …’

  Joy rubbed the sleep from her eyes and turned on the hall light. ‘Have you any idea of the time, John?’

  ‘Yes, and I wouldn’t have disturbed you unless I had to. I’ve Katie in the car.’

  ‘The girls, Judy …’ She began anxiously.

  ‘They’re fine.’

  ‘Then why is Katie here?’

  ‘Because I’ve had an argument with Helen. I was hoping you could put her up.’

  ‘An argument …’

  ‘I want to marry Katie, Joy. And I won’t be able to until my divorce is final in six weeks. Tonight I told Helen about us, and she – let’s just say she wasn’t sympathetic. In the meantime Katie has to stay somewhere and I was hoping …’

  Joy looked past him to his car. Katie was sitting in the front seat, staring down at her hands. ‘Bring her in.’

  ‘You’ll take her …’

  ‘For tonight. Now is not the time for a deep discussion. We’ll talk again in the morning.’

  ‘Miss Llewellyn.’ John barely recognised Joe’s tutor in her evening dress as he opened his front door and walked into his house. ‘Is Joe all right?’

  ‘He’s just gone up to bed. I’m glad I caught you. I’d like to have a chat.’

  ‘Please go in.’ He opened the door to his living room. ‘Can I get you a drink?’

  ‘After the example your son has just set, I shouldn’t, but I’ll have a small brandy if you have it.’

  ‘Joe was drunk?’ He poured her a drink and handed it to her.

 
‘Very. He … fell under a bus.’ She repeated the version of events she had given Dr Watkin Morgan. ‘But don’t worry, he was extremely lucky. Apart from a couple of scratches he’s fine.’

  ‘Really?’ John looked keenly at her.

  ‘You don’t believe me.’

  ‘I’ve been worried about him for some time,’ John acknowledged, as he poured himself a drink and sat opposite her.

  ‘He’s been working hard for his degree. Young people today see pressure everywhere, even where there isn’t any. But none of it is your fault; you’ve done a superb job of bringing him up, Mr Griffiths. And Joe admires and respects you. In fact, he told me a lot about you tonight.’

  ‘He did?’ John murmured warily.

  ‘We had a long talk. I thought, and Joe agrees with me, that it might be an idea for him to get away this summer. I’m driving down to France tomorrow. I run a summer school there for children who’ve lost one or both parents in the war. I can always do with an extra pair of hands. Joe’s the right age to get on with most of the children. He’s agreed to go with me.’

  ‘It’s good of you …’

  ‘Not at all. I’ll be here about ten o’clock to pick him up.’

  ‘Thank you.’ John offered her his hand as he walked her to the front door.

  ‘Don’t worry, Mr Griffiths,’ she said, as he helped her on with her stole. ‘I’ll look after him.’

  Unable to bear the silence that had fallen between her, Lily and Judy since her father and Katie had left the house, Helen left her chair and paced restlessly to the window. Pulling back the curtains she stared at the empty road.

  ‘This is all my fault,’ Judy murmured wretchedly.

  Helen turned round. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she snapped tensely.

  ‘I knew something about Adam, I should have said and I didn’t …’

  ‘Should have said what?’ Helen demanded.

  ‘Adam’s still angry about that trick the boys played on him on Jack’s stag night. He wanted to get his own back on them – on all of us. He succeeded with me and Brian, and now he’s succeeded with you and Jack. I should have said something and I didn’t …’

  ‘Slow down, Judy, you’re not making much sense,’ Lily warned.

  Judy sat forward on the edge of her chair and stared down at her hands. ‘Remember the night Adam asked me to go to the dinner dance with him?’

  ‘Yes.’ Lily nodded, conscious of Helen listening intently behind her.

  Slowly, hesitantly, Judy began to tell them what had happened between her and Adam. How she’d almost passed out halfway through the evening, how he’d offered her coffee and she’d gone with him into his home expecting to find his parents there, how she fell asleep and woke believing Adam was Brian. How cheap, dirty and degraded she felt when she found herself lying almost naked on his sofa.

  ‘Adam must have got you drunk,’ Lily declared flatly. ‘The boys said he put vodka in Jack’s beer on his stag night; it sounds to me as if he put it in your Babycham the night of the dinner dance.’

  ‘I’ve never felt so awful,’ Judy concurred.

  ‘Everyone gets drunk at least once in their life,’ Helen said, in an attempt to make Judy feel better.

  ‘Not everyone wakes up practically naked next to a man who isn’t even her boyfriend.’

  ‘Had he …’ Helen looked intently at Judy.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You’re sure?’ Helen pressed.

  ‘Yes,’ Judy whispered miserably, ‘Do you want me to go into the sordid details?’

  ‘Don’t!’ Helen felt sick at the thought.

  ‘Are you pregnant?’ Lily asked.

  Judy shook her head. ‘I was worried for a couple of weeks, but I couldn’t tell anyone, not you, not Katie, not my mother. I was so ashamed I couldn’t bear the thought of anyone else knowing what I’d done. But if I had said something, you wouldn’t have danced with Adam tonight, Helen, and Jack …’

  ‘You do realise Adam raped you,’ Lily interrupted, seeing the incident as she knew her Uncle Roy would.

  ‘I tried telling him afterwards that I was a virgin, that I hadn’t wanted to sleep with him and I hadn’t known what I was doing, but he said I hadn’t given him that impression. He pointed out that he hadn’t had to force me, or even undress me because I’d done that myself. And it’s true, I did help him to undress me because I thought he was Brian and you can imagine how that would look if I told the police.’

  ‘Lily’s right, that’s still rape,’ Helen said forcefully. ‘You have to go to the police right away, tell them …’

  ‘Don’t you understand, Helen, it would be my word against Adam’s and he said everyone at the dance saw him trying to peel me off him after I’d had a few drinks. Besides, even if I did go to the police and they believed me, not Adam, everyone would know about it. I’d be pointed out as the girl who was raped …’

  ‘Oh, Judy.’ Lily hugged her.

  ‘My life is ruined. No boy will ever look at me again once they know about this.’

  Helen tried desperately to think of something she could say that would help Judy.

  ‘It could have happened to any girl, anyone of us …’

  ‘Neither of you would have gone to the dinner dance with Adam, let alone allowed him to get you drunk,’ Judy contradicted.

  ‘I might not have got drunk with Adam but I did once with Jack,’ Helen revealed.

  ‘With Jack, when you were alone with him?’ Judy asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘That’s the difference, you love Jack, he loves you and you trust one another. He would never have taken advantage of you the way Adam did me.’

  ‘If you won’t go to the police, then you have to forget it ever happened,’ Helen advised.

  ‘How can I?’ Judy’s eyes were dry but anguished as if her pain went too deep even for tears. ‘I thought – hoped – that Brian and I would get married some day. And now I feel like one of those women who go to bed with men for money. I loved Brian, he’s left me and no one is going to want me ever again …’

  ‘You’ve done nothing,’ Lily insisted adamantly.

  ‘No man wants a girl who’s slept with someone else. I’m dirty … damaged …’

  ‘You can’t believe that about yourself,’ Lily persisted.

  ‘You’re the same person you always were.’ Helen reached for her hand.

  ‘No, I’m not. Adam made me feel like a slut. As if I make a habit of getting drunk and going to bed with men I hardly know. I wanted my first time to be with Brian, to be special. Something we’d both remember.’

  Helen recalled her first time with Jack, how much it had meant to both of them and she burned with anger when she thought of how Judy had been robbed of that by a man who had used and abused her.

  But far worse was the thought that Judy really believed that there was no one else in the world for her except Brian, and how she’d probably never see him again. She knew just how Judy felt. It had been that way between her and Jack – and Jack had seen her kissing Adam but, unlike Brian, he would come back to her. She just had to believe it.

  They all started at a knock on the door. The letter box opened. ‘It’s Roy Williams. One of the patrols said they saw a light on here. Are you girls all right?’

  Lily pulled back the bolts, opened the door and gave him a hug.

  He walked into the living room. ‘It’s after one. Why aren’t you in bed?’

  ‘We’re worried about Jack.’

  ‘Jack and Adam were both released without charges hours ago.’ He saw the forlorn expression on Helen’s face and added, ‘Jack was so exhausted from travelling down here he almost fell asleep at the station. Martin and Sam took him home. I’ve no doubt he’s sleeping now and will be out to see you first thing in the morning, Helen. Not that he’ll find a bright and sparkling wife as she’s still up at this time of night.’ Seeing the girls were exhausted, he stepped back into the hall. ‘As I’m on duty I’d better be off.’

 
; ‘Thanks for stopping by and telling us, Uncle Roy.’ Lily followed him to the door.

  ‘Pull the bolts behind me, love.’ As he opened the door he said, ‘I’m on mornings on Monday. Do you fancy calling in after work?’

  ‘I’ll make you tea.’

  ‘Good, I miss your cooking. Helen looks upset.’

  ‘We’ll look after her.’

  ‘Look after yourself, love. You should have been in bed hours ago.’

  ‘Katie …’ She fell silent as she tried to think how to tell him about Katie and John Griffiths.

  ‘Yes,’ Roy prompted.

  ‘She had an argument with Helen. She left with Mr Griffiths earlier tonight.’ One look at his face told her he already knew about Katie and John Griffiths.

  ‘You don’t have to worry about Katie, love. John will see she’s all right. In fact, knowing John she’s probably asleep at Joy’s right now. You won’t forget to bolt the door behind me.’

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Helen glanced at her watch as she stood in front of the boys’ basement door. It was only just after nine o’clock. Worried sick about Jack, angry at what Adam had tried to do to her and Jack, and succeeded in doing to Judy – furious about her father and Katie – she hadn’t closed her eyes all night. Tired, irritable, she had a foul headache, but rejecting Lily’s and Judy’s advice that she might miss Jack who could be travelling in the opposite direction towards Limeslade, she had insisted on catching the first train out of Mumbles into town. But now she was terrified. What if Jack shouted at her for dancing with Adam – or, even worse, refused to speak to her at all? Steeling herself, she knocked on the door. It opened almost immediately.

  ‘Come in, Helen.’ It was as though Martin was expecting her.

  ‘I’ve come to see Jack.’

  ‘He left on the seven-o’clock train.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’ She looked around the kitchen in bewilderment, half expecting Jack to walk through the door.

  ‘He’s returned to camp, Helen,’ Sam explained.

  ‘When is he coming back?’

  ‘He’s not.’ Martin’s hand shook as he pulled out a chair for her. ‘This was his embarkation leave before leaving for Cyprus. He’s been posted there for at least eighteen months.’