Anthony was with Hannah and Beth at the shop and she finished sewing on a few buttons, sighing at the state of the well-worn garments, and went to fetch him.
‘I’ve been virtually sacked,’ she told her friends, after hugging her small son. ‘So, what shall I do now?’
‘What does Ken think?’ was Hannah’s first question.
‘He’ll be pleased. He hated my involvement. He’d prefer me to do something less time-consuming.’
‘London?’ Beth asked.
‘No. I don’t want to leave St David’s Well.’ There was a stubborn look on her face, as though she had expected the question and had been ready to field it straight back.
‘Have you seen Alice?’ Hannah asked then.
Beth told her about Netta’s accusation and Eirlys laughed. ‘What a nonsense. She’s trying it on, looking for a comfortable family to take her on. There are plenty of girls in her situation, trying to find a gullible man to marry her.’
‘What if it’s true?’ Beth said worriedly. ‘He’d be obligated to do something to help her.’
‘Forget it. She’s a chancer. Alice saw through her straight away. Remember how she told us she was being followed? The girl was picking up clues, ingratiating herself, planning to tell us she’d learned all she knew during passionate moments with Eynon.’
‘How do we prove it?’
‘We can’t and that’s the point. Neither can Netta! Laugh it off. It’s the only way.’
‘We’ll have to convince Alice before Eynon gets home, or their reunion won’t be as perfect as it should be.’
When Alice closed Cassie’s shop and joined them for the lunch hour, they told her what Eirlys had said.
‘I was going to write and tell him, but I changed my mind,’ Alice told them. ‘Perhaps we won’t hear anything more from her. Marged made it clear she didn’t believe her.’
‘That’s right, plan the welcome home, that’s all you need to think about.’ Hannah laughed. ‘That’s all I can think about. Look, I’ve put this zip on the outside!’ She held up a half-finished purse and waggled it in the air. ‘How can I work when Johnny is on his way back to me and the girls? How can you worry about a spiteful girl like Netta, when your Eynon is coming home to you in a matter of days?’
Eirlys jumped up. ‘Come on, let’s forget the shop for an hour and go to the café for a sticky bun. I feel like celebrating with you.’
‘With champagne or stale tea?’
‘Oh, tea. I’m told the bubbles in champagne can make you sneeze!’ The three girls went out, taking Beth’s baby and Anthony with them. All appeared cheerful but all were hiding fears behind the smiling faces: Eirlys wondering how she could earn enough to keep herself and Anthony if she and Ken finally parted, Hannah and Alice fearful that the reunion with their husbands, dreamed of for so long, would be a disaster.
* * *
Lilly came back to her parents’ home and seemed to settle for a life of continuing ease. Sympathy for her lasted a while but, knowing Lilly of old, people soon began to realize this was a situation she was beginning to enjoy. The grieving widow was a role that suited her to perfection.
She saw very little of Sam Junior. Marged made it clear that he was not welcome and her belief that he was as much to blame for Lilly’s lack of a home was something she didn’t keep to herself.
‘How much longer are you planning to sit there like a wet week, our Lilly?’ she asked on several occasions, steeling herself for the wailing and the tears that followed her attempts to persuade her daughter to find herself a job.
Marged didn’t work in the winter, but Huw usually found a job to help finance them through the months when, apart from the fish and chip shop-cum-restaurant, everything closed down.
‘It isn’t good for you to sit there doing nothing day after day,’ Huw grumbled one morning, when Lilly came down, draped in a dressing gown, leading a similarly attired Phyllis, to look for breakfast.
‘And if you want breakfast you can get it yourself and make sure you clear up after yourself. I’m not your slave,’ an angry Marged said. ‘I asked you to get up early and go to the shops for me, remember? Well, I’ve been, its done, you’re safe from being disturbed from your idleness!’
‘Audrey could do with a hand in the café,’ Huw said. ‘I don’t think you’d be her first choice, mind, but you might ask her to give you a week’s trial; see if you can get your head around putting in a day’s work. You owe me money from Sam’s funeral, remember,’ he added sharply.
‘What’s the matter with you two today? Can’t you see I’m broken-hearted?’
‘No, we can’t,’ Marged replied. ‘All we can see is a lazy, useless woman who’s had it easy for too long. Now, we’re giving you two weeks to get yourself sorted, or out you go. Right?’
Lilly turned around and went back to bed.
‘That went well,’ Huw sighed.
‘What did you expect? I gave up expecting miracles where our Lilly’s concerned years ago.’
When the house was empty, Lilly came down, made some toast for herself and Phyllis then went to see Mrs Denver, Phyllis’s grandmother. The house in Queen Street was also where Sam Junior was living.
* * *
By letter, Ken sometimes arranged to telephone Eirlys at the box on the corner. When she spoke to him a few days after losing her job, she told him what had happened.
‘So you’ll come to London?’ he asked.
‘I can’t, Ken. You know how hopeless Dadda is, and I can’t leave the boys.’
‘You’re being ridiculous, Eirlys. If you left, your father would have to manage, wouldn’t he? It isn’t as if we’d be in some far-off country, we could visit every month or so. It’s only about five hours away. Please, Eirlys, I’m missing you. There are hours when I sit on my own wishing I had a home to go to.’
‘You have, Ken. As you say, London isn’t that far away and if we had a telephone installed, you’d be able to keep in touch.’
‘I need to be here.’
‘And I need to be here, can’t you understand that? You’d be the one inconvenienced, I know that, but the alternative is to mess up six lives. Anthony is settled, and has lots of friends. The boys are dug in so deep they consider themselves locals and have the accent to prove it. And I don’t think you’d want them to come with me, would you? And there’s Dadda. He couldn’t cope with having the family split up.’
‘I want you with me, Eirlys. I’m your husband and I love you.’
Hearing his voice, she wanted him home so badly. The irony was cruel. At a time when half the town were either celebrating the return of their men or planning for imminent reunions, like Hannah and Alice, her man had gone away.
The pips went and Ken put in his last coin.
‘I love you, Eirlys,’ he said and her voice broke as she replied, telling him that she thought of him every minute of every day and she and Anthony were counting the days until his next visit.
‘Next visit? It sounds as though one of us is in prison,’ he said. ‘I wonder which one it is?’ The pips went again giving her no chance to reply.
* * *
Cassie had heard nothing more from Joseph since the letter telling her he wanted her to move out. She sat through a sleepless night wondering what she could do, what would become of her. She would have no home, no money and she would be all alone. Gone were the dreams of a retirement to a bungalow in the Vale of Glamorgan. She would have to settle for a small room with only bitter memories for company.
There had never been time for friendships. She was sixty years old and had no one. The chill night seemed endless and at 5 a.m. she was no nearer sorting out her future. At ten minutes to six, after thinking about Lilly’s predicament, the idea came. Over the hours before she opened the shop it was honed to perfection. She would need help and was sure she could rely on Alice. With Alice to help her, everything would work out just as she planned.
* * *
The day both Johnny and Eynon were du
e home began with heavy rain. Alice polished the furniture unnecessarily and put the clean cushion covers and chair backs on the two fireside chairs she had bought. Flowers were expensive but she went to Chapel’s Flowers and bought a bowl of daffodil bulbs that were just peeping through the soil, and two bunches of rather boring, bronze chrysanthemums. Still the room looked uninviting. She sat in a chair and looked around her. So many days had passed since she had come here as a bride and then said goodbye to Eynon. She wasn’t the same person and she hadn’t even left the town.
How different for Eynon, travelling the world, meeting so many people with different backgrounds and knowledge and attitudes. Some of it must have rubbed off on him. He couldn’t be the same man she had seen boarding the train that last time.
What would his first reaction be on seeing her? She knew she would be watching his face, searching for a hint of disappointment. And then there was this accusation from Netta. She was certain Netta would reappear soon after Eynon came home and again, she would be watching Eynon’s face for some recognition. How could the reunion be anything but uneasy with all that had happened?
Straightening the curtains for the fourth time, she saw Shirley walking past and, pumping up the cushions one last time, she called her in.
‘What does it look like?’ she asked, waving an arm inviting her to look around the room. ‘What’s your first impression? Are the curtains all right or would they be better draped? Is the kettle shiny enough or does it need another polish? The tablecloth, what d’you think? Best straight or at an angle?’ Then she realized that Shirley was laughing.
‘Alice, he won’t even notice!’
Smiling ruefully, Alice asked if she would like a cup of tea. ‘Best we go out and buy one,’ Shirley teased. ‘We don’t want you to have to clean the room all over again, do we?’
‘Have you heard from Freddy?’ Alice asked when they sat in a café with tea and toast in front of them. Shirley shook her head.
‘Not one word. He obviously doesn’t want to continue our friendship now his need for letters has ended. But I have some money belonging to him and I need to find him to return it. I don’t know where he’s gone and I’m worried. Just out of the Army, he’ll need it. Remember how vain he was? Always dressed in the smartest suit, his shirt perfectly ironed. He’s probably just the same now and where will he get the money for all that?’
‘Make sure the money’s safe, and wait. He’s bound to contact you soon.’
Shirley had no idea where Freddy could be. Where else but St David’s Well would he go when the Army finished with him? So far as she knew he had no relations. It could only be someone he had met during his service. A woman perhaps, someone he had chosen to stay with. The idea was painful but she was determined not to show it. ‘He’s probably found himself a woman and doesn’t like to tell me. I don’t know why though, we were only friends.’
‘Isn’t there an address for ex-Army personnel?’ Alice asked.
‘I’ve tried that but they can’t, or won’t help. Since he’s been demobbed there’s been no sign of him. Any letters I’ve written have been re-addressed back to me, and I can’t think of anyone likely to know where he might be. I’ve asked Maldwyn and Delyth, who live in his parents’ house, to pass on any information, explaining I have something belonging to him which I want to return, and I asked their neighbour if he had been in touch, but no one’s heard a word.’
‘The Gent’s Outfitters, where he worked?’ Alice suggested.
‘They don’t know his whereabouts, either.’
Shirley sighed. Andy and Freddy, both home and both hiding from her. What was it about her that two such different men couldn’t face her?
She learned from Reggie that his brother had been punished but was now free and working on a farm not far from their parents’ home. Shirley no longer cared. His cheating ways had attracted her for a while, in the same way that, as a child, the romantic highway robber appealed, but that had gone back where it belonged, in with memories of childish fancy.
She was increasingly in demand to perform in places further from home, larger towns, bigger audiences and higher fees. She accepted more readily now her legs were stronger and she felt less vulnerable. Then a letter came from a theatre manager in London inviting her to audition for a part in a West End show.
It was only a small part, singing with a small group, but it excited her. This was a dream come true. If only she could tell Freddy. He’d be so thrilled for her. Thoughts of Freddy took some of the excitement away, leaving her less sure that it was what she wanted to do.
As well as the need to tell Freddy, the thrill of appearing on a London stage was also tempered by remembering some of the lonely hours between performances. She had sat in many guest-house rooms, longing to be home between appearances on a stage in some strange town. It had been easier of late, knowing so many of the other performers, but in London she would be completely alone.
‘I’m a small-town girl at heart,’ she told Hetty and Bleddyn. ‘Perhaps that isn’t such a bad thing.’ It was at night, as she lay unable to sleep, knowing that she wanted to take the part, she wished Janet Copp with whom she had begun her singing career was there to share it with her. Doing it alone was not fun any more.
She went to see Ken when he came home for a few days and he offered to act as her agent and negotiate a better deal for her.
‘I know this sounds weak, Ken, but I don’t think I’m ready yet.’ She couldn’t tell him she needed to stay in St David’s Well in the faint hope of seeing Freddy. Unprofessional bordering on stupid that would sound.
They agreed that, in the New Year of 1946, after which she had only a few more concerts booked, she would go to London and discuss her future with him.
‘I don’t want to sound ungallant, Shirley,’ Ken said, ‘but you can’t leave it too long, there are young singers coming up all the time and you are no longer a little girl.’
‘I’m twenty-two,’ she gasped. ‘That isn’t old!’
‘Don’t delay. Time passes and so do opportunities.’
She went back home feeling less cheerful than when she set out. She declined the invitation to audition and promised that, once her commitments were cleared, she would write to them, via her agent, Ken Ward.
* * *
Beth planned to return to running her market café as soon as Hannah agreed to look after her son. She knew she would have to wait until her cousin Johnny was home. Hannah would want to be free to welcome him and they would need time to settle. She didn’t mind waiting. She too wanted to enjoy the return of her brother and her cousin after the long absences.
Peter had opened an office and started advertising for both prospective employers and those looking for work, hoping to marry the two lists amicably. To help financially while the business was established, Beth would run the café, which was still in the hands of a temporary manageress.
Eirlys offered to help Peter, giving her services free while she considered what she would do. ‘I can work for you in the mornings and then go to the shop in the afternoons,’ she explained to Peter. ‘No wages, I just need to keep busy and Beth is a good friend.’
The arrangement seemed a good idea, and Beth went to the station to see her brother and cousin arrive filled with optimism for the future.
At the station, Hannah and Alice stood watching as the crowded train disgorged its passengers. Many were soldiers and airmen and sailors, still in uniform, carrying hefty bags on their shoulders, their eyes sweeping the crowd searching for loved ones.
Shrieks of delight intermingled with the wails of confused children filled the air, but Alice and Hannah were aware of none of it. They had seen Johnny and Eynon, miraculously jumping from the same carriage. There was no doubt in any mind as the four of them fell into each other’s arms. No thought of anything but love, relief and a happiness so intense it was almost a pain.
Arm in arm the two couples walked along the platform, now almost empty, as they had been wrapped in
loving arms for so long, and there, at the gate where the porter stood to collect tickets, stood Netta, with Walter and little Dolly.
Alice felt panic squeeze her insides. She wanted to turn away, wait until Netta had gone, but Eynon was hurrying forward, catching up with Johnny and Hannah. He won’t know her, Alice told herself. Netta made it up out of malice. She tried not to look at the trio; a smiling Netta and her two children. He won’t know her. She made it up, Alice chanted silently as they approached the gate. He won’t even notice her.
‘Hi there,’ Eynon said to her, patting Dolly’s head as they walked past.
Ten
Johnny’s return was more than Hannah could have wished for. As soon as they were inside Bleddyn and Hetty’s house, he opened his arms and enfolded her and Josie and Marie, who jumped about in delight, talking non-stop, asking if he had liked their letters and the pictures they had drawn for him and had he brought them a camel as they had requested.
‘No, they wouldn’t let him on the plane,’ he told them. ‘Poor Clarence, he was very disappointed. But I did bring you back some sand, just to show you that it isn’t as good as the sand on St David’s Well Bay.’ He opened a small tin that had once contained tobacco and showed them the coarse grains of desert sand he had carried with him for several weeks.
He hugged his father and stepmother and asked about Shirley and the rest of the family, but all the time he couldn’t take his eyes off his quiet, lovely wife.
‘I hope you don’t think us rude, Johnny, my son,’ Bleddyn said, ‘but Hetty and I have to go out. We’re taking the girls to Audrey’s café for some tea, a promised treat and we can’t disappoint them.’
‘We want to stay and talk to Johnny,’ the girls protested, but they were coaxed out with the promise of extra cakes.
There was a shyness between them as they sat and unpacked his bag, and he went upstairs to their bedroom to find some civilian clothes neatly washed and pressed ready for him to put on.
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