Holidays at Home Omnibus

by Wait Till Summer; Swingboats On the Sand; Waiting for Yesterday; Day Trippers; Unwise Promises; Street Parties (retail) (epub)

  ‘D’you think these rumours about the “Second Front” will mean Peter going abroad again?’ Beth asked her father-in-law anxiously.

  ‘No, my dear. He’ll be somewhere in England training others.’

  Peter’s expertise was in behind-the-lines support for escaped prisoners and assistance for those helping the allies by sabotaging enemy communications. Neither said it, but they knew it was likely that Peter was already in France. Trying not to think of him in enemy-held territory was impossible. With no hope of him receiving letters, they still decided to write as frequently as they could to show him, when he finally got the letters, that he had been constantly in their thoughts. If what they suspected was true, their letters wouldn’t reach him until he was out of danger back in Britain.

  At once, they sat to write long, cheerful letters telling him about the happenings in the town, including the non-marriage of Audrey and Keith, about which they had heard even before the milkman had called with the morning’s delivery. News travelled fast and a story touching on the edge of scandal and concerning such a well known family as the Castles, this one had wings.

  Myrtle had told Stanley who had passed it on to Morgan, who shared it with others at the allotment and in the pub. And to Eirlys and Ken, who had met others, who told others and the story went out like ripples in a pool. There was a lot of sympathy for Audrey and wry amusement too. Jokes about ‘the one who got away’ spread through the town, becoming distorted and soaking up guesses and opinions and transforming them into what passed as the truth.

  Eirlys didn’t go into work that day. She had been awake most of the night sitting beside Anthony who had a cough. She knew Alice and Hannah looked after him as well as she did, but the cough was distressing and she wanted to watch him and make sure he was comfortable and took the medicine the doctor had given him at regular times. Again, she knew she could trust Alice and Hannah, but her need to look after him herself was strong.

  Thank goodness the office was quiet. It was a long time before she needed to think about next summer and the routine tasks were dealt with in her usual efficient way and there was nothing urgent needing her attention. From the phone box outside she telephoned and promised to be there on the following morning. Faced with a clear day and a listless child who didn’t need much entertaining. she settled to making a couple of rag dolls for the shop. Skinny Sarahs, made in patchwork from oddments of material, were popular with little girls and always sold quickly. Taking some curtain remnants, she began with the body.

  Anthony slept most of the day, and when Harold and Percival came in from school she had completed four of them. She was a little concerned about the little boy. It seemed to be more than a cold. The cough was lasting a long time. Perhaps she would go to the doctors tomorrow if he was no better.

  * * *

  The snow made deliveries difficult and Beth wondered if it was worth her making the effort to go in to open her café on that Monday morning. But the thought of the walk through the snow across fields and the beautiful countryside, along lanes where her wellington boots would be the first to mark the smooth, glistening white surface was irresistible. She dressed warmly and pushed her way through the banked up snow against the hedge and walked across fields to the market.

  She didn’t hurry, the childlike enjoyment made every moment a happy one and she stopped occasionally to look around her at the beauty that would be short-lived and would end with a chaos of muddy slush. She relished the loveliness of the trees that were already shedding their white mantle with gentle shushing sounds. Birds flew agitatedly around, their wings fluttering, their calls filling the air, branches creaked occasionally as the weight of the snow caused a shift: a winter symphony.

  The tranquillity and the silence that wasn’t a silence at all calmed her, and she thought of future days like this which she would share with Peter. She was constantly afraid for him, but at that moment she was confident that he would come home to her. She was smiling as she reached the entrance to the market and saw to her surprise that others were too. Laughter surrounded the early shoppers, dressed in ungainly boots and heavy coats, they were treating it as a gift, a pleasant interlude rather than a problem.

  She didn’t expect to see many customers but to her surprise she was kept very busy, although she soon realized that most were there in the hope of gleaning more information about the disastrous wedding of Audrey and Keith.

  She played dumb, even though she had been told by Ronnie on the nearby stall what had really happened. ‘Lovely wedding,’ she told everyone who asked. ‘They looked so happy we all wanted to cry.’

  * * *

  The happy newly-weds, Maldwyn and Delyth, had been given so many presents there were still some waiting at Delyth’s home. Her mother and stepfather, the man she still called Uncle Trev, had invited them to go back for an overnight stay and collect them.

  It was an ordeal for Delyth, who had been very shy about going home and sharing a bed with her new husband in the house where she had lived as a child. They had sat up very late, she ignoring all Maldwyn’s hints about getting to bed. She was too embarrassed and too afraid of the teasing — with which she found it hard to cope — to declare herself ready for bed.

  On the following day, Maldwyn had taken the opportunity to see his stepmother, and it was there they had eaten their midday meal. Back to Delyth’s parents for tea and a quick visit to her friend Madge next door then, thankful it was over, they struggled, loaded with gifts, to the station for the seven o’clock train back to St David’s Well.

  Everything about being married was still a thrill. The congratulations, the kind offers of help, the presents and being called Mr and Mrs. The homecoming on Monday evening was no different.

  ‘Look, Maldwyn, there’s the milk we ordered standing on the doorstep. Isn’t it exciting?’ She struggled with the parcels and bags she carried and picked up the pint bottle.

  ‘Oh, look,’ Maldwyn gasped. ‘A flower arrangement on the table to greet us. That’s the work of Mrs Chapel, bless her.’ On the doormat they found some letters, which again was considered very exciting, addressed as they were to Mr and Mrs Maldwyn Perkins. Some contained cards from well-wishers, one offered the services of a window cleaner, another a belated letter of welcome from the local church.

  Hand in hand they stepped into the kitchen where they found a basket of provisions including a week’s ration from the grocer shop, plus vegetables, a loaf of bread, a home-made cake and a tin of stewed steak, a gift from Marged and Huw.

  ‘With everyone so kind, and wishing us luck, we can’t be anything else but happy,’ Delyth said as she hugged her husband.

  ‘Who wouldn’t be happy surrounded as we are by such wonderful friends, eh?’

  The snow was still falling and when they had taken their luggage inside. Delyth filled the kettle for a cup of tea while Maldwyn went the shed to gather wood and coal to start a fire.

  In the coal shed he found the two hundredweight of coal they had been allotted — and Keith Kent.

  Maldwyn went at once to help the man up, but he couldn’t move him. He was stiff and as cold as marble. He appeared to be dead and apart from wanting to run away, Maldwyn’s first thought was how to tell Delyth. She had been badly frightened the previous summer by a man who had kidnapped her and put her in fear for her life, and this could start her fears overwhelming her again. For it to happen here, in their home, was disastrous. Without knowing why, he took off his thick overcoat and placed it around the man, tucking it in as though comforting a child.

  He went inside, and although he was far from calm, he put his arms around Delyth and told her as gently as he could what he had found.

  ‘Now I want you to come with me and we’ll go and call the police and although I think he is dead, we’ll want an ambulance as well. The poor man was probably lost. And our coal shed his only hope.’

  ‘I think you should stay with him,’ Delyth said shakily. ‘Even if he’s dead it isn’t right that he’s left
alone.’

  ‘I’m so proud of you,’ he said when he saw her on her way. ‘Ask for Charlie Groves. It will be a help if we talk to someone we know.’

  Constable Charlie Groves was engaged to Delyth’s friend, Madge, and the two couples had spent a lot of time together, both having been involved in the wedding, so it was with some relief to them that he was one of the policemen who arrived.

  ‘He isn’t dead, but he’s suffering from severe hypothermia,’ they were told as Keith was lifted on to a stretcher, wrapped in blankets and taken away.

  ‘But I thought…’ Anguished, Maldwyn thought of the time between his finding the man and help being given. ‘He could have died because of my ignorance and stupidity.’

  ‘Stiff and icy cold, it wasn’t surprising you made that mistake’, the ambulance driver comforted. ‘And warming him too fast wouldn’t have been the best thing for him. No, you did the best you could, covering him with your coat and calling us. Just be thankful you found him before tomorrow morning. He certainly wouldn’t have survived the night, at least now there’s a chance he might.’

  ‘What was he doing in our shed? I thought he was getting married last Saturday?’

  It was late, and forgetting about lighting a fire, Maldwyn and Delyth filled hot water bottles to warm the sheets and went to bed, where they held each other tightly until they slept.

  Over the following days Audrey went into the hospital every visiting time and sat beside Keith’s bed. The doctor had explained that he had been warmed slowly, as too much heat too soon could have been fatal. The only humorous moment was when Audrey said, ‘Yes, I believe that when they found someone suffering from exposure, the American Indians used to get into a bed-sack with them, stark naked, as it was the safest way to warm them.’

  ‘Don’t think of doing anything like that in my ward!’ was matron’s hot reaction.

  Audrey and Keith said very little as he grew stronger. She demanded no explanation and he offered none. She would sit there for the allotted time, then after a brief word with one of the nurses, would leave without looking back.

  When she was closing the café a week later, a man in army uniform, aged about thirty, knocked on the door loudly and continued to knock, refusing to accept that the place was closed. When Audrey opened the door to explain, he said. ‘I’m Keith Kent’s son, Alwyn.’ He stepped inside and she quickly adjusted the curtains. Then he held out his identity card for verification, although she didn’t doubt him. He was very like his father. It was nothing but shock after shock, she thought as she invited him inside.

  He followed her up the stairs where he was introduced to Maude and Myrtle who at once announced that they were expected at Marged and Huw’s for supper. They dressed for the dismal weather where melting snow and steady rain were making it unpleasant to be outside, and stood at the door.

  ‘We can’t go yet, can we?’ Maude hissed. ‘We can’t leave her up there with a complete stranger even if he is Keith’s son.’

  ‘The kitchen needs clearing,‘ Myrtle said. They took off their coats and washed the last of the pots and dishes as noisily as they could. They wanted Audrey to know they were there but not think they were listening to what was being said. While Myrtle continued to bang and rattle the dishes and talk as though in conversation, Maude crept up the stairs to the flat and stood for a while until she was reassured that the discussion was amicable.

  Audrey appeared at the top of the stairs a few minutes later and told them they could go out if they wished. ‘Alwyn and I have a few things to discuss.’ She smiled reassuringly and watched as they let themselves out.

  ‘A polite way to tell us to clear off,’ Myrtle muttered, as they hurried through the dismal streets to tell Audrey’s sister of the latest development.

  ‘What exactly happened?’ Alwyn asked Audrey when they were alone. ‘I was told only that Dad is in hospital suffering from exposure and that he was married to you.’ He faced her with a frown. ‘Did you throw him out? Did you know he was living rough? In this weather?’ His voice was soft, the words held no real threat, but Audrey at once hotly denied the implied accusation of neglect.

  ‘He went missing overnight with no word to tell me where he was going, or why. He married me then got drunk and when I thought he was sleeping it off, he left his bed and disappeared. The police were informed and we searched every place we could think of, but it wasn’t until Monday evening that he was found, unconscious, frozen almost to death, in someone else’s coal shed.’

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to accuse you.’

  ‘Yes you did! It’s a strange fact of life that the less people know, the easier they find it to condemn.’

  ‘Mam threw him out, you see,’ he said then. ‘Years ago, when I was five and my brother was three.’

  ‘Can you tell me why?’

  ‘Only what we were told — which wasn’t much — plus what I’ve learned since. He worked as a builder but Mam wanted him to be something better than what she called an odd-job man. She was rather embarrassed by him wandering around the town with a wooden trailer behind his bike. She had dreams of a big business with Dad in an office and others doing the work. She found someone else who offered her something closer to her dream, so she threw Dad out.’ He looked around him at the comfortably furnished room and again Audrey sprang to her own defence.

  ‘I wasn’t ashamed of what he did. He was good at his work and honest too. He helped us here and did much more than we asked of him. Why should I marry him then complain about who he was?’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Alwyn stood to go and he handed Audrey a piece of paper. ‘This is where you can reach me,’ he said. ‘I might not be near enough to visit after the next few days, but this address will find me wherever I am.’ With self-conscious formality he held out his hand and wished her good luck.

  After she had shown him out, she went upstairs and sat in the big chair she had bought for Wilf and wondered how she had reached such a predicament. For the first time for weeks she thought again about the money in Wilf’s account that had been lost. If he hadn’t spent it and left her with just her own small savings, she wouldn’t have opened the café, she wouldn’t have approached Keith to do the alterations she needed and she would still be living in Sidney Street near the rest of her family.

  What could he have spent it on? Most puzzling of all, how could he have spent it? They had hardly been apart, so when had he found the time to get rid of the money left to him by his mother and grandparents? It was more than a thousand pounds.

  She felt let down by the man she had trusted all her life and because of it, sympathy swelled towards Keith. His only fault was shyness. He hadn’t cheated her out of a penny. He hadn’t lied. She had known about his ex-wife and their sons, while Wilf had stolen money that would have made working through her middle and old age unnecessary.

  For the first time, Audrey went that evening and sat beside Keith’s bed with something other than disappointment and anger.

  ‘I’m sorry. Keith. The fault for all of this is mine. I think I rushed you into marriage.’

  ‘Two women.’ he said sadly, ‘and I let you both down. I knew I would.’

  When she had been there a few minutes, Alwyn came and she patted Keith’s shoulder; a reconciliatory gesture, an attempt at showing affection, and left them to talk.

  When he was discharged from hospital, Keith didn’t go to the flat above the café. His son gave him some money and he found a room in a different part of the town. One of the first things he did was to go and see Maldwyn and Delyth to apologize for the fright he had given them and to thank them for their help.

  Over the following weeks, he and Audrey met a few times, always on neutral ground: a café or on the bus that took them into another town where they could wander and talk undisturbed. They would exchange news like polite strangers, then part, to go their separate ways, both hoping that one day they would be able to try again. But that time was a long way in the future, they both understood t
hat. Most of his work was in St David’s Well and sometimes he would see a member of the Castle family and they would wave but never stop to speak to him. They all knew that if he and Audrey were ever to recover from the disaster of the wedding that wasn’t, they needed to stay well clear.

  * * *

  Eirlys was still a little concerned about her son. The following morning she left baby Anthony with Alice and went to the office feeling shaky and unhappy about leaving him. On that morning her emotions wavered between forcing herself to deal with the work demanding her attention at the council offices, and running through the town to rescue Anthony from Alice, who might not understand his needs and cause him unnecessary distress.

  Somehow she managed to stay until lunchtime, when she caught a bus and went to see how he was coping without her. She found him cheerful, clean and obviously unaffected by his hours away from her.

  He cried as she handed him back to Alice after a final cuddle. That afternoon she found it even more difficult to settle down to the work that faced her. Over the next few days, she went to check up on him every lunchtime and during the change over from Alice to Hannah, she even left work in the middle of the morning on the pretext of calling to inspect a hall to be used for a dance parade.

  ‘He’s got a bit of a cough,’ she excused herself as Hannah opened the door to her with Anthony in her arms. ‘I just wanted to be sure he was all right.’

  ‘We know, and if there’s any cause to worry either Alice or I will take him to the doctor, so don’t worry, he’s in safe hands.’

  After a week, Alice and Hannah cautiously suggested she might be better to stay away at lunchtimes so he didn’t become accustomed to her visits, which, they dared to say, were beginning to upset him. Eirlys knew she had to make up her mind quickly whether to give up her job and concentrate on her child, or be sensible and leave him with her friends, where she had to admit he seemed perfectly content.