The conversation was general, Peter asking about their families and congratulating Eirlys on her imminent wedding.
‘And you, Bethan?’ he asked. ‘Are you and Freddy Clements still getting engaged on your birthday?’
‘Fancy you remembering that!’ Beth laughed.
Eirlys looked at Peter’s expression as he gazed at Beth and thought it wasn’t surprising at all.
* * *
Peter called for Beth the following day and invited her and Freddy to visit his father.
‘There’s a chicken cooking in honour of my return and we’d love you to share it.’
‘Thanks, Peter; I’m sure Freddy will be as pleased as I am.’
‘What about Eirlys, could she come too? I feel the need for a party. Father’s chicken will be the equivalent of the fatted calf. Your cousin Johnny wouldn’t refuse a meal I’m sure.’
So it was arranged, and six people sat down in the living room of Mr Gregory’s cottage that evening and enjoyed a delicious meal cooked in the oven next to the fire.
Peter asked a lot of questions, obviously anxious to hear the local gossip, but Eirlys noticed he rarely answered a question about his own life. Mr Gregory had told them he was unable to discuss his business and they accepted it.
Eirlys also noticed that Peter looked at Beth quite often and there was more than friendship on his mind. She suspected that the ‘party’ was an excuse for him to see her. She wondered if Beth was aware of his interest but, seeing the way she clung to Freddy, she thought not. Interesting though. Attractions weren’t always conveniently mutual.
* * *
Between working at the hardware store and helping his father at the chip shop, Johnny was kept busy, but he went to Mrs Hibbert’s house when he had any spare time. He had finished decorating their future home, with the help of his father and Taff. The furniture was more or less in place, much of it given by family and friends.
Everyone was involved and it was only Evelyn who still treated Eirlys like the enemy. One day, several of her comments melded together and began to puzzle Eirlys rather than irritate her as in the past.
Evelyn’s comment about the caravan for her honeymoon had been more than cattiness. She had been looking at her father when she had said it, as though the reference to a caravan meant something to him, and he had left so suddenly after that too. Angry? Upset? Embarrassed? She wasn’t sure he had shown any of those emotions now, after so much time had passed. At the time she remembered thinking it was her father’s concern for her that had made him leave so suddenly, getting her away from the frustration of Granny Moll’s organising and from Evelyn’s obvious dislike. Now she wondered if there was something more. She remembered the day she thought she had seen her father walking near where the caravan was parked not far from the old stone barn. Could there be a connection?
The thought drifted into her mind but didn’t solidify into something on which she could act. It was curious, that was all. She did nothing about it, because she couldn’t think of any way of solving the mystery. She didn’t have sufficient facts. The main one was that Evelyn disliked her, and she seemed to dislike her father too.
* * *
While Peter Gregory was home he managed to see quite a lot of Beth Castle – sometimes with her soon-to-be fiancé, Freddy Clements, who worked in a gent’s outfitters in the town, and sometimes on her own.
Wednesday was early closing and the afternoon was when Beth was free from the icy-cold shop selling vegetables. Peter was there when she pulled down the shutters and swept up the debris from the pavement.
‘Are you and Freddy doing anything this afternoon?’ he asked in his polite way.
‘Not really, Peter. Freddy is going into town and I planned to do nothing except get warm,’ she told him with a demonstrative shiver.
‘Come with me and groom the donkeys,’ he said. ‘Hardly an exciting invitation but they’re very warm and, apart from Charlie, very friendly.’
Mr Gregory greeted them and made them a pot of tea then left them to attend to other things. They went to the field in which the stables were situated and talked, using the excuse of grooming the donkeys for being there.
Peter made her laugh, telling her of the people he met and some of the things he had done. She was surprisingly happy. Then, when they were walking back home in the fading light, he stopped to help her over a stile and as her feet touched the ground he held her and kissed her.
‘Peter!’ she gasped, utterly surprised.
‘Sorry, Bethan, but I’ve been wanting to do that all day.’
‘But we’ve never been more than friends,’ she said, still puzzled.
‘Can’t a friend kiss a friend?’
‘I suppose not, it’s just that Freddy and I—’
‘Put it down to my long absence and the situation in which I’ve been working,’ he smiled. ‘I promise not to do it again. That is, unless you want me to.’
Beth was unsure how to deal with this, but Peter returned to his previous manner and she was soon laughing, and answering him as easily as before. Nevertheless, a part of her felt a guilty wriggle of excitement.
* * *
Hannah walked into the house after taking her two children to school and nursery one morning, and a shout from her mother made her heart race. What misdemeanour was she accused of now?
‘Your father’s had an accident,’ her mother said. ‘He’s in bed and can’t be moved. You’ll have to miss work this evening and tomorrow morning and help me look after him.’
When the facts were explained, and Hannah learned that her father had fallen while riding a bicycle and was badly bruised, she carefully explained that it wasn’t really serious enough for her to miss work.
‘I’ll help when I can, but I can’t not go to work and I can’t not finish the skirt I’ve promised Mrs Beynon for next Saturday,’ she explained. She spoke politely and quietly but the tirade she hoped to avoid came at once. Words like ‘selfish’ and ‘ungrateful’ and plenty more were thrown at her and when Johnny passed in the firm’s van an hour later, she was standing in the shadows near the park gates crying.
He parked the van and ran to see what had happened. Hannah’s mother saw them on her way back from the chemist.
‘Are you all right? Are the girls all right?’ Johnny asked, taking her in his arms.
‘Don’t, Johnny; I’m in enough trouble as it is,’ she sighed, trying to control her sobs.
She explained what had happened and he led her to the van and insisted she got in. He drove to a place where they could have coffee and cakes, and found them a corner seat where they could talk. Tight-lipped, Mrs Wilcox watched them go.
‘We’ll have to see if we can’t get you a better place to live, Hannah, love. I know you should be grateful to your parents, but they’re very misguided in the way they expect you to behave.’ He was careful not to criticise them, afraid she might turn away from him when he wanted only to help her.
‘I can’t go away. Where would I go? Living in rooms with strangers could be much worse. At least I know what to expect from Mam and Dad – nothing!’ she said bitterly.
He coaxed her to sip the coffee and gradually she calmed down. ‘I’m going to be strong over this,’ she told him, forcing a smile that wrenched at his heart. ‘If I miss work, it’s Josie and Marie who will suffer and they are more important than my parents.’
When she walked back into the house, her mother said, ‘There are to be no more men in this house.’
Hannah didn’t understand quite what she meant until a man called to collect a blouse and skirt she had been altering for his wife, and Hannah was not allowed to give them to him.
When Johnny finished his deliveries and went back to the hardware shop, he was told someone had reported him for using the firm’s van to give a lift to a young woman, and he was sacked.
* * *
Eirlys was very busy. At work there were so many extra arrangements to be made. Men had left without giving anyone a chance to train othe
rs to take their place. Eirlys and her assistants dealt with everything, including the deliveries of air raid shelters to those who requested them, arrangements for people unable to erect their shelters without help, and special protection for the elderly and infirm. There were pages and pages of information to distribute to grocers and butchers on dealing with ration-book registration, and dozens of complaints from irate customers who suspected the retailers of being unfair. The variety of her various activities seemed endless, and she loved it.
Permission had to be acquired from owners to enter buildings so that fire-watchers could stand guard, and their equipment had to be distributed. There were payments to be given, and in most cases later cancelled, for housing the evacuees. She and her staff worked many extra hours to deal with the increasing preparations of the country now at war.
When she reached home each evening, Johnny was usually there. He had been kept busy dealing with extra work too, packing and delivering goods which were already slower to restock, as people with sufficient money gathered as much as they could to prepare for the shortages that would surely come.
When he told her he had been sacked for giving Hannah a lift and buying her coffee because she was upset, she showed concern for Hannah. After she had heard the whole story she smiled and said, ‘Their loss, Johnny. I’m sure it won’t take you long to find another job.’
When they spent time with Johnny’s Uncle Huw and Auntie Marged, Granny Moll, who lived a few doors away, usually appeared and Eirlys dreaded the detailed discussion of her wedding. It was becoming less hers and Johnny’s as the days passed. She was relieved when the discussion changed from their wedding to the repainting of Piper’s Café ready for the opening in May.
With the six-month summer season taking all the family’s time, repairs and redecoration had to be done during the winter months. Much of the painting was done in the weeks running up to opening, but this year they were going to start on the café earlier so it would be looking its best for the wedding at the end of March.
Eirlys sat and thought about what awaited her at the office next day, or the rugs she was working on, and let the conversation drift over her. She knew she should be more involved, more excited, but the truth was, she couldn’t rouse enough interest to make a single suggestion. ‘Partly because Moll always has the last word – and frequently the first as well,’ she told Annie and Morgan later.
‘You are sure about this marriage, are you?’ Morgan asked.
Eirlys stared at her father as though the question had never entered her mind. ‘Sure about it?’
‘If you aren’t absolutely certain you have to say, love.’
‘Of course I’m sure.’
‘You aren’t thinking about Ken Ward?’
‘Ken and I finished a long time ago.’
‘And it’s really over and done with?’ Morgan insisted.
‘Over and done with,’ she echoed. ‘I’m fond of Ken but I love Johnny like never before.’
The conversation disturbed her. It roused in her questions she had pushed aside, tried to ignore. Bringing them out and facing them when she lay in bed that night, she knew she had lied. She wasn’t sure about becoming Mrs Johnny Castle. She loved Johnny, wanted nothing more than to be his wife, but she was more and more afraid that she wouldn’t be able to cope with his family. The large family, the closeness she had wanted so much, was threatening to destroy her love for him.
She had a brief and foolish impulse to pack a suitcase and go away. It was ironic that less than a year ago she had said goodbye to Ken Ward because she had refused to do just that.
As she drifted into a restless sleep, she heard in her mind the sound of Ken, singing silly songs to the children at the last concert he had given before going back to London and applying to entertain the troops. She saw again the smiling faces of his young audience as they joined in lustily with the choruses. She was smiling with them as she slept.
The following morning there was a letter from Ken, the usual friendly note telling her of the various interviews and auditions and rehearsals that were gradually taking him towards entertaining the troops.
She was, as always, cheered by his letter and she settled to reply. As she wrote, her cheerfulness faded and she began to tell him about their worries for Stanley, Harold and Percival Love in the sad little room in London.
She usually heard within a week or so but this letter had a prompt reply. Ken offered to go and visit the Love family to find out how they all were.
* * *
With the work on the cafés and stalls looming, and the busy summer season not far off, Bleddyn was busy repapering his house. He felt the need to start a fresh phase of his life now Irene was gone. Starting in the bedroom they had shared, he chose a cheerful pattern and was given one of Eirlys’s rugs to complete the transformation.
The living room was next and, unable to stop, he went on to do the hall and stairs, helped by Johnny who, as he frequently did, complained about his lack of height. Only Bleddyn in the Castle family was above average height and it was he who was called on to deal with any job that needed extra reach.
Between them he and Johnny completed the task very quickly. Johnny didn’t think the work was needed but understood his father’s need for changes.
‘Just in time for the wedding,’ Johnny smiled. ‘Thanks, Dad.’
Although the wedding was not taking place in Brook Lane, Johnny knew a lot of friends would be calling. He also hoped the redecoration was really a sign that his father was recovering from the shock of his mother’s death.
One Sunday afternoon, when the sun shone weakly but with a promise of warmth to come, Johnny and Eirlys went over to the beach. There were other couples enjoying the pleasant hint of approaching spring, walking beside the waves, stopping occasionally to collect a shell or a particularly beautiful piece of rock. They recognised some friends but didn’t join them, going instead to Piper’s Café high above the sand.
They had been asked to measure the shelves so Marged could buy shelf paper to cover them. Johnny used the tape measure and Eirlys jotted down his instructions on a note pad.
They worked busily for a while, then Johnny took a bar of chocolate from his pocket and they sat to enjoy it. Eirlys said very little. He sensed her confusion, and apologised for Granny Moll.
‘Sorry about Granny Moll’s enthusiasm. She’s always been in charge of us all and we just accept it. She’s Uncle Huw’s mother-in-law, besides being his boss, and he can expect her to make the decisions, but as for Dad, I don’t know why he suffers it. He’s worked for her since he was about twelve, and he’s never known any other way, I suppose.’
‘She isn’t even your gran,’ Eirlys protested, glad to be able to talk to him honestly about how she felt. ‘She certainly isn’t mine! So why does she insist on arranging our wedding? I feel as though it’s nothing to do with you and me, it’s a Piper family affair. It’s more an initiation ceremony, accepting me into the clan, than you and I starting a life together.’ She laughed to disguise her frustration and he hugged her, kissed away her frowns.
‘Dad called her Granny Moll long before Taff and I were born. She needs to believe we are all one family. And you will be a part of it too. Aren’t you happy about that?’
‘I love you, Johnny. I want to belong to you – and perhaps one day I might even help on the beach,’ she added doubtfully.
‘You don’t have to work on the sands. Mam never did.’
‘Poor lady. If your father hadn’t been so understanding, she would always have felt like an outsider.’
‘Perhaps that was why she was so unhappy. Taff and I loved the life so much, we should have understood that she didn’t and tried harder to help her.’ He imagined her body lying in the cold, still water of that dock. ‘God, Eirlys, she must have been so unhappy to do what she did.’
‘Don’t blame yourself or anyone else for her sad and lonely death. She wasn’t deprived of happiness. I don’t think she looked for it, she didn�
��t think there was any.’
‘I sometimes think she must have been looking for something better than us. Where did she go on her long walks? Perhaps during her wanderings she found someone else, someone who understood and who made her feel better.’
‘You don’t really think there was someone else?’ Eirlys looked suitably horrified.
‘I found a note once and it made me wonder. I’ve never told a soul so keep it to yourself, love. It was on the floor of her bedroom, as though it had fallen out of her drawer with some handkerchieves. It was addressed to “My Love” and signed “Your adoring slave”. I threw it away before Dad saw it and I didn’t think much about it. But since her death, I have wondered.’
‘Johnny!’ she laughed. ‘You’re crazy if you think that was to your mother from a secret lover! That’s definitely schoolgirl stuff! She probably picked it up intending to show you and make you laugh. She would never have looked at another man! Don’t even think it.’
‘Her wedding ring was never found, or her watch. If we find them, we might learn more of what really happened that day. And a pair of wellingtons she used on her walks went missing too.’
‘She was probably carrying them home, put them down somewhere and forgot to pick them up. They probably ended up on a scarecrow in a farmer’s field, or in someone’s dustbin. You’re letting your imagination go wild, Johnny. “Adoring slave”! Who would talk like that, for heaven’s sake! Don’t think badly of her. She’s your mam and now she’s gone. Think only nice thoughts.’
They spent an affectionate hour together in the privacy of Piper’s Café, sitting at one of the tables looking down at the beach, the sun spreading its warmth around them. They sat close together, kissing, hugging and promising each other that they would talk over any problems and deal with them before they became large enough to threaten their happiness. That night she tried to remember their conversation. Something was niggling at her memory and she couldn’t bring it to mind.
Holidays at Home Omnibus Page 25