Plans for the wedding of Taff Castle and Evelyn Power were set in motion, most of the arrangements being made by Evelyn’s parents and swiftly changed by Granny Moll. Irene seemed happy about her son’s wedding plans but did little to help. It was Bleddyn and Taff who liaised with the bride’s family and dealt with ordering cars and other tasks allotted them by Evelyn’s parents. The catering was firmly in the hands of Granny Moll Piper.
‘D’you know what Granny Moll did?’ Evelyn confided in Eirlys when they met one day to go and see how the wedding dress, being made by Hannah after all, was progressing. ‘Only went straight to the paper she did, and told them it would be the wedding of the year and for them to be sure to have photographers there. This was before Taff and I had decided on the church! And Mam wanted the reception in the church hall but no, that wasn’t good enough for Granny Molly Piper. It had to be a wedding in Piper’s Café. My wedding, mind!’ She frowned. ‘I wish it was all over, and I think Taff does as well.’
‘You still want to marry him?’ Eirlys asked anxiously.
‘Of course I do, but not with this circus arranged by Granny Molly Piper!’
* * *
Marged and Huw made arrangements to cater for thirty people, which was all Piper’s Café could comfortably hold, for the official wedding breakfast. The rest would wait for the real party at Sidney Street in the evening.
‘Pity it isn’t a summer wedding, we could have spread out across the clifftop and had a wonderful buffet meal-cum-picnic,’ Marged said, smiling as she envisaged the scene.
‘Oh no,’ Mrs Power said in alarm. Whatever would the woman think of next? ‘That wouldn’t do at all. It has to be a proper sit-down, three-course meal.’
‘And it will be,’ Marged assured her. ‘If there’s one thing we Pipers do well, it’s providing food in the right quantities and with the appropriate choices. Piper’s Café was started by my great-grandparents and has maintained a reputation for excellence ever since,’ she reminded them firmly.
Eirlys wanted to be involved, she wanted to be considered a member of the family, but there didn’t appear to be anything needed that she could do. She could hardly offer. She wasn’t sure she would even be invited. Weddings were for family and close friends and she hadn’t known Johnny very long. They had met at the beach a few days after she and Ken Ward had parted. That day she had been glad of the lively crowds to conceal her loneliness and the fear that she had made a mistake by not going to London with Ken. The beach atmosphere and Johnny’s gentle teasing had soothed her and convinced her that her heart and her future was here, in the warm, friendly seaside town of St David’s Well.
Watching Johnny flirting with the customers as he helped them on and off the swingboats, and comforting a child who wailed that he didn’t want to go home, with the promise that it would all be there for him next year, she had felt her unhappiness fade away.
Later, when they had met by accident in the town, and talked and made a date for a visit to the pictures, she had become more convinced that her decision had been the right one. But they hadn’t known each other long enough for her to expect an invitation to his brother’s wedding.
When she received an invitation to the wedding a few days later, she was so excited she ran out and accepted it within minutes of the postman delivering it. She brushed aside the thought that it might have been Evelyn’s idea rather than Johnny’s. She would be attending a Castle wedding with Johnny. It was all going to happen; she and Johnny would be accepted as a courting couple before the year was out.
On the night before the wedding, Johnny and Taff went out for a drink. They had invited a few friends to join them but Taff didn’t want the traditional pre-wedding booze-up. Taff was not an enthusiastic drinker and he didn’t want to face his bride with a hangover.
His cousin Ronnie was there – as Taff’s best man he had arranged it. The choice of Ronnie for best man rather than his brother Johnny had been Moll’s. ‘It’s a chance to show everyone what a united family we are,’ she had said.
To begin with it was a friendly chat around the table they had chosen near the bar-room fire, but, as the evening progressed, they were joined by more and more as news of the occasion spread. Other tables were joined to their own and the talk and singing grew more and more bawdy. The room became full and very warm and noisy and the party was no longer Taff’s as the crowd increased to include people he hardly knew. Slipping away unnoticed, Taff went out into the street to cool off, wishing he’d never agreed to a stag night and wondering how soon he could leave.
Johnny saw him go through the double passageway with its heavy curtains hung to prevent the light spilling out during the hours of darkness, and followed him.
‘You are happy about tomorrow, aren’t you, Taff?’
‘I wish it was over, that’s all. I want to be married to Evelyn but I don’t want to go through all this fuss. Why couldn’t we have just gone and got married and forgotten all this nonsense?’
‘Because the family would kill you, that’s why,’ Johnny said mildly.
‘Evelyn and I wanted a quiet affair.’
‘What, miss the chance of a party? An opportunity for Auntie Marged and Uncle Huw to show off their expertise at catering for a wedding? And Granny Moll to get a piece in the paper? You wouldn’t deprive them of that, would you?’
‘I suppose not.’
Taff didn’t want to discuss it. His wedding was not turning out to be the day he had imagined. Some of Evelyn’s resentment had wriggled into his mind and had grown into discontent.
‘What about you, Johnny?’ he asked, to switch the conversation from himself. ‘Are you and Eirlys thinking of tying the knot? She seems very keen on you.’
‘Me and Eirlys? No fear! I’m too young. I want to have a bit of fun first; I’m only twenty-one.’
‘I just wondered, you know, whether Eirlys is hoping for something more permanent. The way she looks at you, you know, admiring glances and the like.’
‘Never. Just friends we are.’
‘You’ve invited her to the wedding and she’ll be coming as your guest, sitting next to you for all to see and comment on. Serious stuff that. Is it wise, brother mine?’
‘You don’t think that she’ll think – that I think—? No. We’re just friends, that’s all, she won’t see anything more in an invitation shared by three dozen others to come to your wedding and the other three dozen who’ll join us for the party later on.’
‘And you haven’t kissed her or – anything else?’
‘We’ve kissed, yes, but there’s no “anything else”, you cheeky sod, and there won’t be. I want to stay free for a few years yet. No, Taff, Eirlys is great, but she isn’t my one love for life, like your Evelyn is yours.’
It was almost ten o’clock and everyone had reached the maudlin stage when Johnny suddenly sobered up fast. ‘Damn Hitler!’ he said to everyone’s surprise. ‘I forgot to fix the blackout on Piper’s Café!’
Amid shouts of ‘The wedding’s off!’ and ‘Lucky escape!’ Johnny left the pub and hurried to see Eirlys. Inexplicably he had a sudden desire to see her, to find out perhaps whether what he felt for her was the beginnings of love. Talk about weddings often had this effect, he’d read that in a magazine somewhere. He’d better be careful!
* * *
In the boys’ bedroom, Eirlys was reading Swallows and Amazons to them as a bedtime story. It was very late, but she had promised them and didn’t want to let them down by refusing them even the smallest thing.
So far, apart from Stanley, they weren’t impressed and Harold had explained, reasonably politely, that he and Percival preferred comics. She promised to order one for them to be delivered each week. ‘Something to look forward to,’ she explained. ‘In the mean time, we’ll go on with this, right?’
The promise of the weekly comic persuaded them and they settled down to listen. On Stanley’s pillow were the three letters they had so far received from their mother, Teresa Love. Scrappy no
tes written in pencil, the writing large and ill formed. The boys treasured them, reading them again and again. Eirlys knew she would be asked to read them aloud once more as soon as she closed the book.
When they were asleep, the precious letters tucked under Stanley’s pillow, Eirlys stood for a while looking down at them and imagining herself in a few years’ time, her and Johnny happily married and with children of their own.
Working on the beach in her spare time and being a part of the Castles’ large family was a wonderful prospect. The recent kisses which had been more than the traditional peck, the hugging when they met and hearing him call her ‘love’ had changed her expectations in the most exciting way, and she was convinced that they would stay together for always.
Tomorrow she would be going to his brother’s wedding, that was a big step forward in their relationship. It was Johnny’s way of telling everyone they were together. Everyone would see them as a couple after that.
She went to her wardrobe and stared at the suit she had bought specially for the occasion, a light blue-grey two-piece with tan accessories. She was having her naturally curly hair specially set in the morning. She wanted to impress his family, and the suit and the hair-do and the Californian Poppy perfume would be just perfect.
There was a knock at the door and her mother opened it to Johnny.
‘Eirlys, can you and your dad spare an hour or two to help? We’ve just realised the café will need blackout curtains as the wedding isn’t till four and it’s bound to go on a bit. There’ll be no time in the morning.’
‘Where will you get material at this time of night?’
‘Granny Moll bought it ages ago in case something like this happened. It’s in the café ready to be fitted.’
‘Dad’s working but I can help if you like?’ Eirlys offered.
Johnny turned to Annie as Eirlys reached for her coat. ‘I’ll see her safe home, Mrs Price, don’t worry.’
They went on bicycles, Johnny borrowing Morgan’s, packing the saddlebag with a few simple tools and necessary oddments. The roads were quiet, but with their poor lights they were extra careful when vehicles overtook them. Since the blackout began, there had been a large number of accidents.
The blackout ‘curtains’ were in fact paper, forty inches wide and costing ninepence a yard. With a generous supply of drawing pins it took them two hours to complete the job.
Walking up the path to put the bicycles in the shed at one o’clock in the morning, Johnny put an arm around her and kissed her lightly on the cheek. ‘Thank you, Eirlys. I’d never have managed it on my own.’
She turned her face as she smiled at him, hoping that the next kiss would touch her lips, but he hugged her then released her and increased his pace, hurrying off through the silent streets and leaving her with a feeling of dejection.
* * *
Hannah had made the wedding dress, after long discussions, using the skirt of one pattern and the bodice of another, embroidering it with pearls to a design of her own. She had worked long into the nights to get it finished in time as much of it was hand sewn. Her own two girls, Josie who was three and nine months and Marie aged two and a half were to be flower girls in white dresses matching, in a much-simplified style, the bridal gown.
On the day of the wedding, Johnny was up early, waiting on his brother and determined that the day would go smoothly in spite of his mother’s inability to help.
He was the first to arrive at the church after making sure Taff was ready to leave. He stood back as the ushers welcomed the families and directed them to their seats. When Taff came, he would wait with him until their cousin Ronnie, who was best man, arrived to stand with him.
He guessed from the excitement engendered by the crowd that the bridesmaids had arrived and he couldn’t resist going out to look at them. He knew their mother, Hannah, would be with them. He saw Hannah first. Dressed in a simple two-piece in a soft blue he thought she looked lovely. Her face was always rosy, as though she had just stepped away from attending to the fire. Her eyes, dark like his own, and large enough to lose himself in, glanced his way and she smiled shyly, turning his heart in a surprising way.
He went across to help the little girls in their long skirts, holding tightly clutched posies of flowers, out of the car, while Eirlys looked on, smiling happily at the pretty scene. Then Evelyn’s mother came running up and elbowed Johnny out of the way, but he stared at the shy but proud mother and her two small girls for a long time before going with Eirlys into the church.
Ronnie was late. He was cleaning Taff’s old shoes because Taff had insisted the new ones were too tight. He was battling with Taff’s stiff collar, searching for a collar stud that refused to slip into place and repeatedly fell on the floor. He was assuring the over-anxious groom that the borrowed suit was an excellent fit. And that the ring was safely in his pocket.
Johnny returned to sit beside his brother, anxiously glancing from time to time towards the door, until his cousin Ronnie Castle running in late, arrived in the role of best man and took his place, leaving him free to join Eirlys.
Eirlys was smart in her new outfit but she felt uneasy, convinced that Johnny didn’t like it. He had barely looked at her and they had exchanged very few words. She must be embarrassing him in her ill-chosen clothes. She felt the heat of humiliation and longed to run away.
He seemed indifferent to her presence, sitting well away from her and looking around at all the guests, smiling, waving, and ignoring her. She must look a sight, she thought and shrank down in her seat wishing the whole affair was over.
Johnny was uneasy. He knew he should have complimented her on her appearance; she did look rather lovely. But uneasy about how she would behave, not wanting to give the gossips any further fuel, he treated her like a casual acquaintance, and felt mean and unkind. He really would have to make up his mind or slip out of her life completely. Somehow he didn’t want to do that.
‘Where are the boys?’ he asked, more for something to say to break the iciness of their situation than because he wanted to know.
Eirlys gestured with her head to the back corner of the church where three solemn boys sat in silence beside her parents Annie and Morgan, over-awed by the spectacle of so many smartly-dressed people and the whispering silence of the church. Johnny chuckled. ‘I never thought them capable of sitting so still. Or looking so well scrubbed!’
‘I made them bathe at the very last minute. They’ve developed a knack of finding mud and water or anything else that’s smelly or dirty. Thanks to Hannah’s help, we managed to dress them in something that fitted them for a change. None of their own clothes would have been suitable.’
‘Have you known her long?’ Johnny asked.
‘Hannah? We got to know her when she was having trouble with her husband. Her parents refused to support her even though he used to beat her,’ she whispered. ‘Mam and Dadda helped her a lot and we’ve kept in touch with her.’
‘She’s very kind, isn’t she, Hannah?’ Johnny said after a brief pause. ‘I wonder that she had enough time to help so willingly. Dad says she cleans for some shops every morning while the children are at school or being looked after by her friends, and again in the evening after the children are asleep. It must be exhausting to do all that, then settle down to work at her sewing machine for hours.’
‘Shush, the bride is coming!’
Every head turned to catch a first glimpse of Evelyn as she entered the church on her father’s arm. She looked very beautiful, the dress was stunning, and there were many gasps of admiration as the organ music swelled and she came to stand beside her groom, who looked justifiably proud. In the silence that followed, as the congregation waited for the vicar to speak, Harold was heard to say, ‘Is that what we’ve been waiting for? Can we go back with you, now, Uncle Morgan?’
‘Hush up, boy, you’re in church!’ Morgan whispered back.
Eirlys frowned. ‘They did promise to behave,’ she said ruefully.
Ther
e was a brief moment of amusement when Taff was called by his real name of Arthur Brian Castle, and the vicar interrupted the service to remind them of the seriousness of the occasion.
Eirlys glanced at the three boys from time to time and saw her father stride out of the door before the service was half-way through. She gestured to her mother with a philosophical shrug of her shoulders. Morgan Price wasn’t one to sit dressed up in church for long. Always neatly dressed, even in his work clothes, Morgan preferred casual wear and had always hated wearing a suit and stiff collar.
He’d clearly been there on sufferance, tugging at his viciously starched collar and fidgeting worse than the boys. But when the boys stood to go with him he had shaken his head and they settled disconsolately to wait till Annie took them home.
The photography session seemed to go on for ever. Unable to decide whether to go or stay, Eirlys took the three boys for a walk around the beach where most of the photographs were taken, and answered questions about the people they had met.
There was no professional photographer engaged; Huw and Bleddyn took turns at snapping the various groups. Granny Moll insisted on taking one of the whole family, which consisted of her daughter Marged and Huw, their children and daughter-in-law and also Bleddyn, Johnny, Taff and his new bride. Irene wasn’t to be found. With her usual authority, Moll waved for Eirlys to join them and, feeling rather self-conscious, aware it had not been Johnny’s idea, she did.
This was what Evelyn had been trying to explain, she realised. Granny Moll was making it clear that this was a Piper wedding even though the couple getting married were Castles. But she smiled anyway. Today she was Johnny’s guest at a family affair. That was a good sign. His strange mood during the ceremony had faded. It had clearly been nothing more than worries about Ronnie being late.
Arranging everyone so nobody blocked anyone else took some time and there were laughs about the evenness of their height. Apart from Bleddyn who towered above the rest, all the Castle family were average height or below. Eventually some sat on chairs, some formed a line behind the rest by standing on more chairs, so a formal arrangement was achieved.
Holidays at Home Omnibus Page 5