Jean looks at him. There is silence for a few long seconds. “Are you asking me for my permission?” she asks.
“No. Well, yes, in a way. The McLaughlins are like family to you. I don’t want to do anything that will impact on that.”
“You’re my family Idris. If you need to resign, then you must do so. Just please promise me you won’t actually join the union or get actively involved in the strike. I couldn’t bear it if you were agitating against the Colonel and Miss Adelaide.”
“The strike’s not against them personally, but against General Motors.”
“They’re one and the same thing as far as I and the whole of Oshawa is concerned.”
“You’ve no need to worry Jean, it’s resigning I wish to do, not become a union leader.”
“And find another job, something very different to automobiles, so you can hand in your resignation on the premise you have something else you wish to do. Colonel Sam will find that easier to accept.”
“I’ll start looking tomorrow morning.”
“Even though you don’t want to work for the McLaughlins, do you mind if I do? I’ve been thinking about it for a little while and you’ve helped me make my mind up. I’d like to go back to work for Mr Wragg if he has a vacancy and he usually does. I was happy to give up working to be a mother. Now I’m no longer one, I would like to work at Parkwood again.”
“You’ll always be a mother,” Idris says, quietly. “Elizabeth having left this world isn’t the same as her having never come into it at all.”
*
Idris applies for the first job he finds advertised, with the Oshawa Parks Commission, maintaining the gardens at Lakeview Park. He gets it. His explanation of needing a change of career is readily accepted by General Motors and by the McLaughlins who are as sorry to see him leave as they are happy to have Jean back.
“Always said you’d make a good gardener,” Mr Wragg says, drily, the next time Idris calls into Parkwood to walk Jean home from work.
Being back at work soothes Jean. It keeps her busy and her thoughts occupied by something other than the loss of her daughter. There is comfort in the roll of the seasons and the death and birth cycle of plants and trees. When she sees fresh green shoots push through the earth in spring, it feels to Jean like there is still hope.
When Adelaide McLaughlin becomes ill and Sam requests that a restful white garden be planted at Parkwood, very close to the house so that Adelaide is able to walk there, Jean undertakes most of the design and planting work. Whenever Adelaide feels well enough, Jean drops whatever else she may be doing and walks with the mistress of the house through the gardens, naming the flowers and shrubs she has planted and how she expects them to grow and mature. In this process they both grow stronger. Adelaide makes a full recovery, resuming golf at which she is fiercely competitive and her relentless fundraising for good causes.
The family are very grateful to Jean for her support of Miss Adelaide and present her with a painting by their middle daughter Miss Isabel McLaughlin. It is of the white gardens that Jean created and which the family appreciate so much. Jean loves it and insists Idris hangs it in pride of place in their living room.
Sam tries to persuade Idris to come back to General Motors on more than one occasion, and with particular force in 1939. The company has been commissioned to produce more cars for the Royal Family, this time two McLaughlin-Buicks for the Royal Tour, in May, of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
“These two convertibles are going to be maroon, and built specially tall so the King and Queen can fit their ceremonial headgear in. It’s the first time a reigning monarch has visited Canada and they’re going to visit every province in the country. I could really do with you looking after the production of these two cars, Idris, and it looks almost certain there will be war in Europe very soon. Who knows if this sort of tour will ever happen again.”
Sam’s powers of persuasion fail.
“No thanks, Sir, I appreciate the offer, I really do, but working for the Parks Commission is what I want to do in life. Look at it like this – I may not be taking care of the cars you are building for the British Royals but I am taking care of the park your family gave to the people of Oshawa.”
“Then I must content myself with that,” Sam replies, good-naturedly.
Idris doesn’t want to work in a car plant ever again. He watches with satisfaction as the Canadian region of the United Automobile Workers becomes the Canadian Auto Workers following the strike at General Motors and secures higher wages and pension rights for its members but otherwise he keeps out of politics. He likes working in the park and being outside in the fresh air whatever the season. He goes to the lakeshore most days to eat his sandwiches. He takes off his socks and shoes and digs his toes into the gritty sand of the lakeshore and turns his face to the sun. He is usually very successful at not thinking about his family. Keeping them locked out of his mind also helps lock out homesickness and guilt. But when he eats his lunch in the sunshine, sometimes the image of his brother going underground to the darkness every working day of his life manages to push through his defences and he feels sorry for Tommy.
For some months after Elizabeth’s death, he and Jean can do no more than hold each other in bed. Over time, this part of their life also returns and they find comfort here too. Jean says she does not expect to fall pregnant again but Idris continues to hope for a few years, until he too finally accepts they will have no more children.
*
As anticipated by many, Britain and France declare war on the Third Reich on 3 September 1939. A week later, Canada also declares war against Germany. The affection for the British Monarchy stirred up by the visit of King George and Queen Elizabeth to Canada a few months earlier helps secure early support.
Idris has no intention of volunteering for service. Jean needs him at home with her. In any event, Canada is not yet sending troops overseas and its major contribution to the defeat of Germany proves to be the air crew training of thousands of British pilots, navigators, flight engineers, wireless operators and gunners for combat in Europe.
Idris hopes that his family in the Rhondda will be spared by the war. His father is too old to be called up and Davey too young. His brother Tommy works in a reserved industry so will not be conscripted. There is every chance that Idris’ entire family will be unaffected.
On 29 April 1941, the small village of Cwmparc in the Rhondda valley is hit by a devastating bomb attack from the Luftwaffe. Afterwards, it is reported that it was probably a get away raid and that the bombers’ target was more likely steel producing Port Talbot or the port of Swansea. Harried by anti-aircraft fire, the German bombers likely dumped their bombs so as to lighten their load and make for a speedier escape.
The high explosive bombs tear into the village, devastating a number of houses in Treharne Street and Parc Street.
In total 27 people are killed, including three evacuee children from the same family that had come to the Rhondda from East Ham in London for safety and Tommy’s wife, Maggie, who happened to be in Cwmparc that day, visiting an aunt living in Parc Street.
The rescuers manage to free Maggie from some of the rubble until they realise the extent of her internal injuries and appreciate that releasing her completely will only hasten her death.
She remains alive long enough for Tommy and Gwen to get to her. Delirious with pain, she is in a world of her own when they arrive. She isn’t making much sense at all.
Tommy lies down on the pile of rubble next to her and takes her hand and puts his face next to hers.
“I’m here Maggie, my lovely girl, I’m right here,” he whispers.
“I knew you’d come, Idris,” she says, weakly. Her face and lips are covered with dust. Someone has tried to wipe it away for her but there is dust everywhere in the air and a new layer has already fallen.
“It’s me love, Tommy, not Idris,” Tommy says, wiping her lips with his fingers.
“Where’s Idris then? He will ge
t here soon, won’t he?”
Tommy looks up at his mother, not knowing what to do. She nods at Tommy and makes a shuffling motion with her fingers that means your wife has not got much time left, you should try to keep her happy.
“Yes of course he will Maggie, he’ll be here any minute.”
Maggie is weak but she suddenly becomes lucid and animated. “Good. I need to see him. I want to tell him how difficult it was to make the decision between you and him but how I made the right decision choosing you.”
“And I’m so glad you chose me Maggie, we’ve been very happy together.”
“And I need to tell him what a good boy Davey is and how glad we are of him, how much we love him.”
“Davey loves you too Maggie, very much, and so do I.”
“I love you too.”
Maggie’s eye lids are drooping now, like she is about to fall asleep, and her breathing grows shallower. Tommy holds her hand and strokes her hair, tears rolling down his cheeks. Gwen stands close by, ready to be there for her son.
Maggie opens her eyes wide. “Will you forgive me?” she whispers.
“There’s nothing to forgive, my love.”
Her breathing is laboured. “I should have come with you. To Canada. Left Tommy behind and brought up your son with you. Had more babies.”
“Just leave her now Tommy,” Gwen says, briskly. “She’s pretty much gone. No point torturing yourself like this.”
“Go away, Mam,” Tommy shouts. “You know I won’t ever leave her.”
“She’s talking nonsense son, it’s the pain.”
“She’s just telling the truth, Mam.”
“Don’t talk soft, she doesn’t know what she’s saying.”
“She’s not saying anything I didn’t already know. Not deep down anyway.” He kisses Maggie lightly on the cheek.
“I love you Maggie,” he says. She closes her eyes and smiles a little and then stops breathing.
When Gwen writes to Idris to tell him of the tragic death of Maggie, she also tells Idris that it is the last letter she will write to him. There should be no further contact from him with any of them.
Maggie said things before she died. Things she should not have said about you and her. I’ve discussed it with your father and we have decided it’s better for Davey and Tommy that we don’t have contact with you anymore. Good-bye, son.
Idris adds more layers of grief onto the loss of Elizabeth. He mourns Maggie whose beautiful face reappears in his dreams again after so many years of being absent. Now that his parents know the truth, he finds he is relieved that there will be no more letters to remind him of what he is missing or to sharpen his guilt.
Jean is practical. “You’ve said for a while you were never going back to Wales, haven’t you?” she asks.
And when Idris nods, she adds: “Well, there you go then, you were never going to see them again, anyway. You and me are a small family Idris, but we’re family just the same.”
The war continues. Life goes on, as it must.
*
Miss Bille’s husband, now Brigadier General Churchill Mann, plays an instrumental part in the invasion of Normandy and the great Canadian night attack down the Caen-Falaise Road. Less than 48 hours before the attack, the use of bombers to provide fire support is forbidden because of the danger of hitting friendly troops. Miss Billie’s husband suggests an artificial bomb line of coloured smoke shells, which he is convinced can be seen from the air at night. The brilliantly successful attack goes ahead.
Finally the war comes to a close. Churchill Mann returns safely, the hero of all who work at Parkwood. He and Miss Billie have two children of their own and later adopt another three. There are always grandchildren visiting Parkwood.
Idris and Jean work and garden and attend Mrs Meikle’s church from time to time, although not as often as Mrs Meikle would like. The street where they live and the other streets around it of mostly self-built homes become a community. The people who lent each other a hand when building houses nearby grow to be close friends. Many of them are of Scottish descent like Jean, drawn to seek work in the Manchester of Canada, as Oshawa is sometimes known. Working hard is a given and all the houses and gardens are well maintained. Over the years, they pitch in with each other again to add improvements to their homes, wrap around porches and conservatories.
Idris and Jean attend supper parties at their friends’ houses where they play bridge or scrabble. In the summer they are invited to barbecues and family softball games.
Janet marries and settles in Brockville. She stays in contact but is not blessed with children either and although they do not see each other that often, the sisters console each other for their lack of offspring by letter and later by telephone. Idris and Jean’s lives are not completely without children. Most of their friends have them and Idris and Jean enjoy helping out from time to time with babysitting, being rewarded with the honorary title of Aunt and Uncle. They watch their friends’ children grow and this is a comfort and a joy to them both.
There are picnics at the park and chrysanthemum teas at Parkwood. Later on, there are trips and holidays to other parts of Canada. Idris gets to tick off the names of some of those places inscribed high up in the walls of Union Station.
As she approaches her 45th birthday, Jean thinks her change of life is happening. Her monthlies stop and she gets tired easily. She fears she might perhaps be ill but tries to push this from her mind. She never even considers it might be something else, at her time of life. She grows thicker around the middle and Idris teases her that she needs to cut down on all the teatime cake on offer at Parkwood. And then, one evening, she feels the baby kick.
At first she thinks she must be mistaken. She can’t have felt what she thinks she felt. But a trip to the doctor confirms the miraculous news.
The doctors are surprised that a pregnancy so late in life should be complication free. Jean also has an easy birth. After just a few hours of labour, she delivers another girl, healthy and strong and as blonde and blue eyed as her first daughter was.
Idris, who at 51 had been feeling the aches and pains of a lifetime of physical work, stops complaining. They are the age of grandparents not parents but their daughter brings with her a whole new lease of life. They decide to call her Beverley Elizabeth.
When they go to register the birth, Jean has an idea.
“I’d like her to have my maiden name as a middle name. I’ve got your name now and Janet’s got her new family’s. I’d like my dad’s name to live on in her.”
Idris nods.
They both smile proudly as the Registrar writes their daughter’s name on her birth certificate in beautiful cursive script before handing it to them.
Beverley Elizabeth Allen Maddox.
Chapter 29
Having managed to disconnect Rachel’s call, Gareth is drenched with sweat and wide-awake. He hurriedly switches his phone off and then a minute or so later switches it back on.
He tries to reassure himself.
That was just a mistake, one of the kids playing Crossy Road on Rachel’s phone, it was just a voice call, she didn’t see anything, everything will be fine.
He switches his phone back on. He goes into recent calls and sees that it was not a voice call but, as he feared, a Facetime call which connected for 12 seconds.
Then he sees Rachel is ringing again. He ignores it and lets it go to voicemail. She doesn’t leave a message and for a split second he thinks maybe he has it wrong and that there is nothing to worry about after all. And then a text comes through from Rachel.
Answer your phone, you cheating shit.
He pats Cassandra on the shoulder.
“Cassie, wake up, we need to talk.”
She is instantly alert.
“What’s up?”
“Rachel knows about us.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. How could she?”
Gareth explains about the Facetime call he answered by mistake.
“Why the
hell did you answer it?”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“She wasn’t meant to find out. That’s not part of the plan.” She sounds scared.
Gareth looks at her. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t think either of us had a plan.”
“You might not have, but we did, Beverley and I. Most of it anyway. This last bit – the sex between you and me – that bit wasn’t planned. Oh fuck!” She drops her head in her hands and starts crying.
Gareth gets up, finds a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and pulls them on. It feels wrong, trying to cope with the disaster exploding into his life while stark naked and stinking of sex. He sits in the armchair in the corner of the hotel room. He’s never really understood why this chair, the round table next to it, were ever necessary in hotel rooms other than somewhere to throw your clothes. Now he understands.
“Cassandra,” he says, coldly, “stop snivelling and tell me what on earth you mean.”
“You and I didn’t meet by chance,” she says.
“Go on.”
“Beverley sent me to find you.”
“Beverley sent you to find me? I don’t understand. Why did Beverley need to find me? D’you mean to work for Perfect? You’re the one I’ve been sleeping with.”
“But it was never about me. It was about Beverley. Beverley is related to you. She’s the daughter of Idris Maddox and his wife, Jean. She’s your great aunt.”
Gareth remembers the photos Grandpa Davey showed him just recently, of two identical dark haired young men and a dark haired woman stood between them and the later photograph, taken in a garden, of one of those handsome dark haired men grown older and wearing a hat, a blonde woman with a baby in her arms stood by his side. Of the story Davey told of his father’s twin brother Idris leaving the Rhondda in a huff before Davey was born and never coming back. He thinks about the night that Rachel wondered about the possibility of another Maddox family somewhere in Canada.
“That’s impossible. My grandfather is 88, his father Tommy has been dead for years. Unless Beverley is some sort of vampire, she can’t possibly be my great-aunt. She’s not old enough.”
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