‘Good idea, love. I’ll sort through and see what I can find.’
‘I’m working for Granny Moll tomorrow so could you take them over?’ Johnny asked.
‘No I can’t.’ His mother’s voice was sharp. ‘You go tomorrow evening – you’ll be seeing Eirlys, won’t you?’
‘Go on, Mam, they’re so unhappy, a few toys would brighten their day.’
‘No. You go when you can. A few more hours won’t hurt them.’
Johnny frowned. Since he and Eirlys had begun going out together Eirlys’s mother had invited his mother over several times but Irene had always refused. He shrugged. Perhaps the two women didn’t get on, although it was disappointing for his mam to refuse an evening out. She was always complaining of being bored, and blaming his dad for never taking her out.
His brother Taff came in and they all sat down for supper. Twice a week Bleddyn brought fish and chips home; on other evenings they had something on toast, or a bowl of soup. It was Bleddyn’s conviction that they should eat a meal together and talk about their day so they kept in touch with each other and didn’t allow the family to drift apart. Lately, though, Irene had frequently set out the meal and wandered off to bed without joining them.
‘Nice bit of hake for you tonight, Irene,’ Bleddyn said, hoping to persuade her to stay. ‘Saved it special, I did.’
‘I had a slice of cake earlier and I don’t feel hungry. I think I’ll go on up.’
With Johnny and Taff arguing over possession of the fillet of hake, they didn’t see the hurt disappointment on their father’s face.
‘Why don’t you go and meet the evacuees, Mam?’ Johnny asked as Irene went through the door. ‘Fancy that daft Eirlys taking home three boys! What her mam said when they all walked in I daren’t think. She had plenty to say about it tonight. I hopped out as soon as she started on.’ Then he turned to share a smile with his mother and realised he was talking to himself. He began to tell his brother and Bleddyn instead.
Bleddyn knew Irene would be feigning sleep when he went up. She had no time for him lately, couldn’t even spend a few minutes to share the family supper, something they had once both enjoyed and considered important.
He forced a cheerful tone as he began telling Taff and Johnny about some of the customers he had served, encouraging their laughter to cocoon him from his worries. He and Irene were more like strangers these days.
When he went upstairs after dropping the plates into a bowl of water to soak, Irene wasn’t in bed. But when she saw him enter the room she hurriedly covered her semi-naked body with a dressing gown.
‘It’s all right, Irene, it’s only me and you haven’t got anything I haven’t seen before,’ he joked.
‘Don’t be coarse,’ she said.
‘What? Since when have you lost your sense of humour? That remark wouldn’t have upset you a few months ago. What’s happened? Do you find me so repulsive?’
‘Of course not, Bleddyn. I’m tired, that’s all.’
‘You aren’t ill, are you? You don’t seem to be with us these days.’
‘I’m all right, I’m just tired and it’s late, so let’s go to sleep, shall we?’
Bleddyn heard her breathing fast as though angry or upset. He didn’t move when it slowed and became even as she dropped off to sleep. He slept fitfully, worrying about the way Irene was distancing herself from them all. He was awake when the hooter sounded to tell the factory workers it was time for the morning shift.
He was the first to rise that morning, knowing that Irene would probably stay in bed until he and their sons had left for work. With her present attitude he did more of the house chores than usual, hoping that his willingness would help her get over whatever was troubling her.
Irene had never been robust, or even truly happy. There were periods when she drifted through the days, half sleeping, reading magazines and novels, and then went out when she should have been cooking their meals. But between these spells, she had managed the house and cared for him and the boys reasonably well, until the mood came on her and she began hiding away from him again, into this shell she built around her; a situation that usually eased once more after a few weeks. He never learned the reason for the strange periodic indifference and aloofness. When he tried to talk to her she ignored him until he went away or changed the subject to one she was willing to discuss.
This time was more worrying. She had never been so indifferent to them for so long. Bleddyn had always been afraid that a more serious mental state would develop, which was why he was careful to help her and reassure her whenever these moods, euphemistically referred to as ‘nerves’, occurred.
* * *
Johnny called on Eirlys the following evening when he had finished work painting the outside of Granny Moll’s house in Sidney Street. He had gone home first to change out of his working clothes and gather up the toys he had chosen to give to Stanley and Harold and Percival.
Eirlys was just in from work too and she whooped with delight when he staggered in carrying a large cardboard box filled with his abandoned treasures.
Stanley, with assistance from Harold, set up the clockwork train set while a solemn Percival looked on.
Eirlys asked them what they had done that day but they were either too shy or too wrapped up in their new toys to answer her. ‘It’s as though we’re invisible,’ Eirlys whispered to Johnny with a laugh.
‘What say we take them to the pictures tonight?’ Johnny whispered back and was rewarded with the three boys’ full attention.
‘What have you done today?’ Johnny then asked but Stanley shook his head.
‘Nothing. That woman with the posh voice sent someone to collect us and we went to the school hall and listened to the headmaster chatting on about how we have to behave. What do they think we are, strange animals from a zoo?’
‘What happened after the meeting?’ Johnny asked, stifling a grin.
‘Nothing. We just sat here and waited for you to come home. Your ma’ – he addressed Eirlys – ‘said she was too busy and your pa was out.’
‘We’ll make up for it at the weekend,’ Eirlys promised, disappointed that her mother couldn’t spare an hour or two for the lonely and confused children.
‘Too soft you are,’ Johnny smiled when she commented on this later. ‘I was telling our Mam about you coming home with three when you were supposed to have one.’
‘What did she say?’ Eirlys grinned, expecting a humorous comment.
Johnny’s smile faded. He couldn’t tell her his mother had shown no reaction at all. ‘I told her you were daft. But, really, Eirlys, you’re such a sweetheart.’
He kissed her, startling her with his intensity. Until then his kisses had been nothing more than a peck, a greeting such as her father and mother gave. She felt the pleasure of it warming her and the embarrassment of it colouring her cheeks. Perhaps they were becoming more than friends. Shyly she looked at him and he kissed her again.
* * *
Eirlys was an only child without cousins or aunts and uncles. If envy could be said to be part of her character, she was envious of Johnny’s large family. A growing fondness for Johnny was tinged with a longing to become a part of the Castle family’s closeness. A lively throng of relatives all involved with each other’s lives, caring and sharing, had long been yearned for. Johnny’s kiss had given flight to that dream.
A few days after the evacuees had arrived she went to call on Johnny, but found his father, Bleddyn, there with Taff. She was invited in but immediately sensed a tension, as though an argument had taken place. Both men were standing. Bleddyn walked around the room as she entered and words hung in the air, waiting to be said.
At home in the place she visited often, she offered to make tea and went out into the small kitchen to do so. She hummed to herself, aware that things were being said that Bleddyn did not want her to hear. Rattling the china unnecessarily to make sure they knew she was re-entering the room, she was surprised to see Taff’s girlfriend
Evelyn there.
‘Hello Evelyn, I’ll get another cup, shall I?’
‘Thanks,’ Evelyn said, in a low voice. Something was seriously wrong, Eirlys could see that and she wondered whether she should pour the tea and make an excuse to leave. This was clearly not her concern.
When she had filled the cups she reached for the jacket she had abandoned with her handbag and said, ‘Best I go. You’re obviously in the middle of a discussion. Tell Johnny I’ll be home all evening if he wants to call.’
‘No, don’t go,’ Evelyn said. ‘You can be the first to congratulate us.’
She looked at Taff, who forced a smile and went to stand beside her before saying, ‘Evelyn and I are getting married.’
Throwing down her coat again, Eirlys hugged them both and wished them every happiness. ‘This is sudden, isn’t it? I didn’t know you were even engaged!’
‘We are now, from today, and the wedding will be very soon.’
‘Wonderful,’ Eirlys said. But she was curious to know the reason for the rush. Surely Evelyn wasn’t – Her eyes dropped front Evelyn’s face to the region of her waist and quickly back again.
‘No, I’m not expecting,’ Evelyn said. ‘We’ve just decided, that’s all.’
Making her excuses to get away from the strange atmosphere which should have been joyous but was not, Eirlys hurried home. She was at her back gate when she heard Evelyn calling and she waited for her, wondering what to say. More congratulations? Or should she wait for Evelyn to speak first?
‘I’m sorry you walked into that scene,’ Evelyn said.
‘I thought it best to leave.’ Eirlys hesitated. ‘I had the impression that I interrupted something. I’m the one to be sorry.’
‘I don’t want this talked about, mind,’ Evelyn told her, ‘but I want you to know what happened.’
‘Only if you want to tell me. Will you come in? We can go to my bedroom.’
‘No. It isn’t a long story. Taff and I were kissing and, well, it was getting a bit out of control, and well, my mam walked in and thought we’d been – you know. She and our Dad insist that after debasing me – what a way to talk about love, eh? – after “debasing” me in that way, we had to get married before it went too far and I was “ruined”.’
‘Taff’s mother seemed relieved somehow, glad to be getting one of her sons married and off her hands. She was in one of her strange moods, you know, as though she was there in body but not in her head. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s forgotten all about it before tomorrow.’
Eirlys could see that Evelyn was upset. It was a sad way to begin planning a wedding. ‘I am sorry, Evelyn, but you do love Taff, don’t you? You and he have been together for years. It isn’t such a dreadful thing, is it?’
‘I love Taff, yes, of course I do, I think I always have, but I don’t know whether he loves me and now I’ll never know, will I?’
There didn’t seem to be anything to say to comfort her and Eirlys watched as she walked away, head down, dejected. It was not a good way to begin a marriage. She hoped Taff would be kind and loving and convince her that he would have proposed anyway. Evelyn needed to be reassured of his love or her life would be incomplete.
Excited by the story in spite of her concern for her friend, her thoughts flew to the kiss she and Johnny had shared and she wondered if, one day, she and Evelyn would be sisters-in-law and be able to share all their confidences.
To her surprise and pleasure, Evelyn was waiting for her at lunchtime the following day and they went to a café for a snack, for which Evelyn insisted on paying.
‘I need to talk to someone or I’ll burst,’ she explained. ‘You know that Taff and Johnny and their father all work for Granny Molly Piper over on the beach and in the cafés, don’t you?’
‘Yes, of course. They all help during the holiday season.’ Eirlys nodded. ‘It’s a family concern.’
‘That’s the problem. Granny Moll came to see me this morning to welcome me to the family as though she was Taffs grandmother, which she isn’t. She’s related to Bleddyn’s brother Huw, she’s his mother-in-law in fact, but although she acts as though she’s the head of the whole family, she’s no relation to Bleddyn. But as Bleddyn and his brother Huw have worked for Pipers all their lives she has taken it upon herself to become matriarch. And her control includes Bleddyn and Irene, Johnny and Taff.’
The family-hungry Eirlys could see no problem with this.
‘What’s wrong with being accepted into the whole family? They work together, don’t they? I think it’s wonderful that Mrs Piper welcomed you.’
‘Mrs Piper, or Granny Moll as she likes to be called, welcomes me as an extra pair of hands during the summer months. I’ll be expected to give up my job and work on the sands or in the café.’
‘They all give up their winter jobs and work on the beach. They’ve done so for years. You wouldn’t like that?’
‘No, I’d hate it and I’ve no intention of giving up a job I enjoy because Granny Moll Piper tells me I should.’
‘Is that what you were discussing with Taff and Johnny’s father?’
‘They all do what Granny Moll says. I don’t understand it. Taft’s and Johnny’s father, and his brother Huw, started on the sands when they were still at school and Huw married Granny Moll’s daughter. Fine. But that doesn’t give her the right to tell Bleddyn and Irene and their sons what to do, does it?’
‘Bleddyn and Taff and Johnny work on the sands because they love it. Johnny’s mother hates it so she doesn’t, so why do you worry about it? Surely you can choose? I wouldn’t give up my job if I were in your position. I enjoy it too much. But I’d love to help when I could. And if I found it more enjoyable than what I do now, I might be pleased to be involved and be a part of a big family like the Pipers. Why don’t you talk it over and tell them how you feel?’
‘You don’t know Granny Moll! It’s a family business and new members are expected to automatically give up their job and help.’
‘I’d love it,’ Eirlys breathed happily, seeing the dream and not the reality.
‘Then you’d better tell Granny Moll and she’ll make sure Johnny proposes to you!’
Eirlys was startled at how much that thought excited her.
She went inside and told her parents that Johnny’s brother, Taff, was marrying Evelyn.
‘Not before time if what I’ve heard is true. Carrying on they were and in her mam’s house too.’
‘Kissing they were, Mam,’ Eirlys protested. ‘Her parents have made too much of it and now they’re shaming her.’
‘If that’s what’s called kissing in this day and age, then you’d better watch out or you’ll be in a worse position than her, my girl,’ her mother warned.
‘Mam!’ Eirlys ran upstairs in embarrassment.
‘I don’t want no hasty marriage for you,’ her mother called up the stairs. Eirlys covered her ears. She didn’t want to hear any more. Loving someone was being reduced to something sordid, and the love she felt for Johnny was nothing like that. It was calm, and tenderly affectionate. Then she relived his kisses and thought of what Evelyn had said about the way she and Taff had been kissing and she was overcome with the reminder that perhaps love was more exciting than she had yet experienced.
Two
Eirlys and Evelyn did not know each other well, but once the engagement of Evelyn and Johnny’s brother Taff was announced they began to meet more frequently. Neither had a sister or a brother and Evelyn needed someone with whom to discuss the arrangements for her special day. She didn’t want to approach Beth or Lilly, Taff’s cousins. The Castles would take charge of things soon enough.
Eirlys and she went together to look at wedding dress, ‘Although,’ Evelyn explained, ‘my mother will want to be with me when I make the final choice.’
They talked about the Castle family at first, Evelyn having some doubts about belonging to such a possessive group, Eirlys, in her euphoric mood of burgeoning love, convinced it would be heav
en. ‘I love Taff,’ Evelyn said, ‘but I’m uneasy about taking on the Castle family with Granny Molly Piper at its head. She’s kind at first but you soon realise how manipulative she is, persuading you something is your idea when she wants you to do something.’
‘Come on, she isn’t that bad, surely?’
‘Did you know Taff wanted to train as a carpenter? But Granny Moll insisted he was needed on the sands and his father agreed with her.’
‘Taff loves it though, like Johnny does.’
‘Yes,’ Evelyn said cynically, ‘it’s childhood for ever, Moll running their lives.’
‘He’ll stay in the family firm though, won’t he?’
‘Unless something crops up to give him the strength to leave,’ she said thoughtfully.
‘And Johnny?’
‘Oh, Johnny has never wanted anything else… You know, Granny Molly Piper has all but taken over the arrangements for the wedding,’ Evelyn complained as they watched the assistant removing a dress from its layers of tissue paper.
Eirlys sympathised but, surrounded by the magical displays of wedding gowns and all the extras, she imagined that if it were her marrying Johnny Castle, she’d be thrilled to be made so welcome.
As time went on and dress after dress was slipped carefully over and then off Evelyn’s head, the two girls laughed and oohed and aahed and frowned and considered their way through the gown department of the largest shops in the town, and eventually selected two from which Evelyn would finally make her choice.
Saturday afternoon was the only time when they were were free to meet and shop, as both worked office hours five and a half days a week; Eirlys at the council offices and Evelyn in a factory making cables for army vehicles. When they finally settled for two, Evelyn whispered, ‘The truth is, Eirlys, I’m not really thrilled with either. D’you think Hannah Wilcox would be able to make one for me?’
Holidays at Home Omnibus Page 3