The Tangled Web

by The Tangled Web (retail) (epub)

  Again Amanda had no answer. She was committed to Rhys whether he wanted her or not. She could not give Philip the hope she would change. She knew that whatever the future held for her, her love for Rhys was a permanent part of it.

  * * *

  When the knock at the door came, one lunchtime, Amanda ran to answer it, presuming it was Rhys with his arms full. Standing on the doorstep, smiling his charming smile and looking well pleased with himself, was Roy.

  ‘Hello there, Mand. Thought I’d better not wait no longer for an invite; like. So, here I am. And is this the house we were left by some old auntie then?’

  ‘Who is it, Amanda?’ Catrin called. After the initial delight at seeing him, the realisation that he was here and she had to go back to school made Amanda want to close the door and reply, ‘No one’. But Roy’s foot was already on the hall mat and then he was walking through as if he knew the place and shaking hands with Catrin and admiring the furnishings as if he were a regular and important guest.

  ‘Real brammer of a place this is, Mand. There’s bucked you must be livin’ in a place like this.’

  ‘Catrin, this is my brother, Roy. Roy, meet Mrs Catrin Falconbridge.’

  * * *

  ‘So, we meet again,’ Catrin whispered to a startled Roy.

  Alarmed that she should remember him, Roy stared at her, made speechless by the shock. He turned to his sister, wondering what would happen next. Amanda made the introductions, which Catrin coolly accepted as though they were complete strangers.

  There was no time to sort anything out, as Amanda had to return to school. She tried to make him leave, suggesting he came back at the weekend when there was more time but he out-manoeuvred her with ease, saying he would be, ‘Happy to spend a couple of hours chattin’ to this lovely lady, while I wait for you to finish sorting out the kids.’

  ‘Sorry, Roy, but I’ll have to ask you to come back later,’ Catrin apologised. ‘I also have to go out, you see. If I’d known you were coming – but it’s too late now for me to change my afternoon plans.’

  Unperturbed, Roy smiled at her, his warm smile already softening Catrin’s heart. He really is a charmer, Amanda thought, watching him almost flirting with Catrin.

  ‘There’s a pity. Still if it’s only for a couple of hours, I’ll drive around a bit and come back, is it, Mand?’

  She had no choice but to agree.

  Outside he pointed to the Riley and told her proudly it was his. ‘Well known that car is, Mand, so there’s no chance of me misbe’avin’, is there? Not with a vehicle everyone notices.’

  A small boy was sidling around it, his fingers making marks on the polished metal and Roy glared at him and shouted, ‘Get away from there. Cheeky article! Come back again and I’ll give you a real belter, mind!’

  Laughing in spite of herself, Amanda waved goodbye, refusing a lift back to school, and hurried on her way. Whatever sort of villain he was, her brother was irresistibly likeable. Catrin had fallen under his spell within minutes. She was blissfully unaware that Catrin and her brother had met before, that Catrin had threatened Roy with a gun while he was attempting to rob her.

  When she returned home after school she saw with irritation that her car had been moved down the road and Roy’s stood close to the gate. Inside, Catrin had a table set for tea and Roy was ensconced in Catrin’s favourite armchair.

  ‘Come on, Mand, pitch in. We’re starved, waiting for you to dawdle home.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said sarcastically. With a lifted eyebrow she glanced at Catrin, expecting disapproval, but she was chuckling.

  ‘Your brother is looking for a place to live, dear,’ Catrin told her, ‘and I’ve made a few telephone calls and found him a room with a family near the Cwm Gwyn Arms.’

  At once Amanda panicked. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea, Roy,’ she began.

  Open-faced, innocence pouring out of his clear blue eyes, Roy asked, ‘Why?’

  She could hardly tell him she didn’t trust him not to steal from her friends, or that she wanted to live a life of her own without being caught up in his.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, with a cheeky glance at Catrin. ‘Going straight I am. And Catrin knows all about my sordid past.’

  ‘I, better than most,’ was Catrin’s enigmatic rejoiner.

  To Amanda’s relief, Roy didn’t visit Firethorn Cottage very often in the weeks that followed. He found a few casual jobs, gardening mainly, and seemed to be content to share the village but not interfere in her life. The only unpleasant surprise she had was one morning when she saw him bringing Jane James to school.

  ‘What’s happened? Whene’s Heather, and Helen?’ she asked anxiously.

  ‘Helen’s got measles and with Haydn already off somewhere for the day, and Heather having to wait for the doctor, I insisted on helping by bringing Jane to school. She’s already had it, see.’

  ‘And Heather agreed?’ Amanda asked weakly.

  ‘Friends we are and Jane is safe as ’ouses with me, aren’t you, chicken?’

  * * *

  During the next few weeks, Rhys came with more typing but he said nothing about the arrival in the village of her brother, after an initial comment. From his conversations, Amanda knew he had obviously revisited the cave, but she had not been invited. One day after he had shared her and Catrin’s evening meal, he stood up and told them,‘ I’m sorry but I have to eat and run. I want to get to the cave before it’s too dark to see my way there.’

  ‘You’re going to spend the night there?’

  ‘It’s the only way to be ready for when they fly out and in.’

  With a packet of sandwiches and a couple of flasks, Rhys set off as soon as the meal was finished. Amanda and Catrin shivered at the thought of the lonely cave to which he was heading out, discomfort and all, Amanda would willingly have joined him.

  Out for a walk the following day, Amanda saw Heather and Haydn out with Jane. Roy was with them. Jane was holding his hand and was proudly carrying her reading book in the other. Heather was delighted with her daughter’s progress but Amanda hoped she wouldn’t pressure the child to catch up with some of the others.

  ‘Don’t forget to bring it back on Monday,’ she warned and Jane nodded importantly.

  To Amanda’s relief there were no burglaries reported. But, she told herself, Roy wouldn’t be stupid enough to steal on his own doorstep. With trepidation she scanned the papers for reports of robberies in other places within a radius of ten miles, which was how far she thought he could travel on that bicycle he had brought with him.

  Passing the bungalow one morning she heard an expletive and looked down to see Rhys kicking his car tyres angrily.

  ‘Puncture?’ she asked with a grin. ‘Kicking is one way of dealing with it, I suppose, but borrowing my car might be quicker!’ She took her keys from her bag and threw them down to him.

  ‘I have to be in Cardiff by eleven,’ he explained. ‘I won’t be back until late though, are you sure you don’t mind?’

  ‘So long as you promise not to kick it!’

  He thanked her and said, ‘I’ll treat it like a baby.’

  So it was with deep shock that he felt the unbelievably loud scraping on the side of the car. He had been delayed, it was almost two a.m, as he approached the village and he was tired. He wasn’t going fast, but he took a corner rather carelessly and didn’t see the bicycle until he heard the scraping sound of it running along the side of Amanda’s car. Her new car, he reminded himself in those first seconds.

  He got out thinking he had bumped against the corner of a low wall but to his honor saw he had hit a cyclist. He ran at once to where a man was slowly getting up. Thank God he wasn’t hurt. The man turned to face him and he saw he was wearing a balaclava which had been added to, so that the only visible portion of the man’s face was his eyes and nose.

  ‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

  The man grunted and hurried off.

  ‘Shouldn’t you get to a hospi
tal to be checked over?’

  Another grunt before the man heaved up his bicycle and, running with it, disappeared into the night.

  With a torch, Rhys examined the car. The paint was badly scratched and there was a dent in the door. One of the headlights seemed out of line and, shaking with shock and with embarrassment at the thought of explaining the damage to Amanda’s car, her new car, he drove the rest of the way home.

  He didn’t leave the car outside Firethorn but parked it in his drive. He would have to go straight to the garage in the morning and arrange for the damage to be put right.

  * * *

  Roy walked Jane to school the following morning and when she was safely inside, he waved to Amanda through the classroom window and set off for his first job of the day, digging out a pond for a cottage near the shops. He saw Rhys as he was coming out of his drive in Amanda’s car and he waved. Then he saw the damage and gasped.

  ‘What happened? Is Amanda hurt?’

  Rolling down the window, Rhys assured him his sister was safe. ‘My fault and she doesn’t know yet,’ Rhys admitted. ‘I misjudged a corner and hit someone on a bicycle. He ran off so I presume he was unhurt. It gave me a bit of a fright though and I’m very upset about doing this to Amanda’s car.’

  ‘So long as no one’s been harmed,’ Roy said.

  Suspiciously, Rhys watched as the man walked away. Roy had a bicycle and was given to wandering about at night. He didn’t really believe he had given up his criminal ways, even though the police hadn’t been able to prove anything. That bicycle of his could get him quite a distance during the hours of darkness.

  He studied Roy carefully but saw no suspicion of a limp.

  * * *

  That afternoon Rhys was waiting for Amanda outside school and he confessed to damaging her car. Heather and Jane were there, Haydn being home with Helen and her measles. After anger and criticism, and slow forgiveness, Amanda turned to walk home, leaving a very contrite Rhys to hurry off and call at the garage to check on the fate of the car.

  As Amanda stood exchanging a last few words with Heather and Jane, she saw the smile fade from Heather’s face. Turning, she saw the reason. Philip was walking towards them, old Mel Griffiths’ dog at his heels. Jane went at once to talk to the dog but Heather pulled them roughly away, her eyes steely. Jane was obviously not allowed to know her father.

  ‘I must be a little off colour,’ Philip said later. ‘I don’t usually feel the hurt so badly any more. I know it isn’t the girls’ fault, they don’t know who I am. I stayed right away from them until a few months ago when I moved here. But it’s cruel to see your own children and have no part in their upbringing.’

  ‘But you gave them up, surely?’ Amanda said coldly. ‘You had the choice?’

  ‘No, I didn’t. Heather was so ill, playing her damned records all day, refusing to talk except through a solicitor. She wanted me out of their lives completely and, instead of maintaining them financially, I was asked to go away and give up all rights of access. She had rejected little Jane and I had taken her, but then I was told Jane’s place was with her mother, so back she went. Helen was not quite one year old. I might not have been much of a husband, but I loved them enough to do what I was told was best for them.’

  Amanda listened to his story. Had Rhys been wrong when he told her Philip had walked away and left his family without a thought? Was Heather’s story the truth, or Philip’s?

  Rhys was standing at his gate and Philip gave her a deparungh wave and headed away from the bungalow, a lonely figure, walking someone else’s dog. No wonder he spends so much time with Catrin, she thought sadly.

  She ignored the look of disapproval on Rhys’s face, avoided further mention of the accident to her car and asked instead about his most recent filming ofthe bats.

  ‘I don’t know yet, Haydn hasn’t finished processing the film. I might have to try again later.’

  ‘Did you bring the equipment back?’

  ‘No, and now I wish I had. I’ll have to make another trip up there even if this film is satisfactory.’

  ‘Not in my car,’ she couldn’t help saying with a grim expression. ‘Will your cameras and stuff be safe up there?’

  ‘As long as there aren’t any landslides, volcanoes or earthquakes it should be safe enough.’ He stepped out of his gate and asked, ‘D’you think I could invite myself for tea? Or am I firmly in the doghouse?’

  ‘Catrin loves to see you. You know she’d be pleased.’

  ‘But I must start thinking of the cottage as yours,’ he reminded her. ‘It’s the end of April, so in six months’ time Aunt Catrin will have to find herself a new home.’

  ‘Has she discussed her plans?’

  ‘She’s always telling me she’s leaving it to fate!’

  ‘What about the house next door? Philip has only rented it for a year, hasn’t he?’

  ‘I don’t know and I won’t ask.’

  ‘Rhys, why do you hate Philip? You must admit he’s good to Catrin. He’s always fixing something or other. She only has to mention wanting something done and he’s there to attend to it.’

  ‘Philip is kind for only as long as he wants to be. You can’t rely on him. He should have stayed in Cardiff and never have come here.’ Anger quickened his pace.

  ‘Surely you can sympathise with him wanting to see his children?’

  ‘So you know about that.’

  ‘Yes, I know, and I understand how he must feel, seeing Helen and Jane and not being allowed to take part in their lives, or even talk to them.’

  ‘You’ve only heard his version.’

  ‘He does have one!’

  ‘Did he tell you he tried to persuade Heather to have an abortion when Jane was expected? That’s how much he loves his children.’

  ‘The marriage was already in difficulties, wasn’t it? Heather was unable to cope with Philip’s job or the prospect of caring for another child.’

  ‘When the argument is as strong as between Philip and Heather I suppose people believe the story they hear first.’

  ‘I don’t think that!’ Amanda retorted. ‘I always try to listen without preconceived ideas! Unlike some,’ she added with asperity.

  ‘Yet you believe Philip?’

  ‘If I wanted to hear the other side of the story I wouldn’t ask you. You’ve already made up your mind so your attitude would be misleading.’

  ‘It’s all very well for you to come here and decide in the first five minutes who’s right and who’s wrong! But I was there. I saw the way Haydn coped with Heather and saw Philip walking about without a care. He gave up his job so he couldn’t pay for the keep.’

  ‘That’s nonsense. He gave it up with great reluctance, to try and save his marriage, and much good it did him.’

  ‘I was there. He took any casual job, just enough to feed himself.’

  ‘That doesn’t sound like Philip. It’s no good, Rhys, I can’t see him as the villain in all this.’

  ‘One day you might hear the story from Heather and Haydn, perhaps they will make you change your mind.’

  Amanda looked at Rhys’s face and wondered if what he said were true. Remembering Philip’s sadness when he spoke about the end of his marriage made it impossible to believe.

  ‘He’s the loser now,’ she said quietly. ‘He gave up a job he loved to save a marriage that failed anyway. How much more should he suffer because Heather is unable to take the job along with the man? A man’s job is a part of him, take it away and he isn’t the same person. Heather tried to do that and the result was misery all round.’

  ‘What are you doing talking to me?’ Rhys said angrily. ‘You should be running after Philip and consoling him!’ He turned swiftly and hurried back to his bungalow. Shocked at the suddenness of the quarrel, Amanda was shaking when she entered the kitchen.

  Catrin saw at once something was wrong. ‘Are you all right, dear?’ she asked, handing her the ever-ready cup of tea. ‘You look a bit shocked.’

&
nbsp; ‘Rhys and I had a terrible argument,’ she said, sinking into a chair. ‘About Philip.’

  ‘Oh, I see. I’m afraid Rhys will never think anything but the worst of the poor man. Haydn is his friend and he saw the mess Heather was in at that time and he can’t accept there was another side.’

  ‘But you can?’

  ‘They were both to blame and yet neither was guilty. They were different people who couldn’t fulfil the other’s needs. Rhys looks upon Philip as cruel and stubborn, whereas I look upon Heather as a weak woman who couldn’t cope.’ She patted Amanda affectionately. ‘Like I say about Rhys, it would take an angel to marry him and accept his wanderings. Philip thought Heather could, but he was dreadfully wrong.’

  * * *

  Amanda wondered if the tension in them both after the accident to the car had made their quarrel more severe, or whether it was a symptom of the fact they were psychologically unsuited. She wondered when they would meet again and how they would react after such a violent disagreement.

  In fact, they met in the company of Heather and Haydn.

  Amanda had gone to collect some items for the school jumble sale which was to take place the following term.

  ‘If you can take it now,’ Heather said, ‘it would be a great help. I want to start spring-cleaning and there’d be less to move.’

  ‘Spring-cleaning, she calls it,’ Haydn teased. ‘I’m asked to move the furniture and decorate the rooms, she puts up fresh summer curtains and that’s her cleaning done!’

  Amanda listened to their light banter and knew they were happy. Something good came out of the mess of Heather’s marriage to Philip. Why was Rhys still so unforgiving?

  They were having a cup of tea, with biscuits handed around by Jane, when there was a knock at the door. Haydn went to answer it and returned with Rhys.

  Amanda looked at him, her heart racing at the sight of him. Why had things gone so terribly wrong? She waited anxiously to see how he would greet her. The two girls ran to him and he ignored her to talk to them. Moments dragged as she waited for him to speak to her. Heather handed him a cup of tea and everything seemed to be in slow motion. But at last he turned his head towards her and smiled. Her spirits lifted but when he spoke it was to the children.