‘You are so kind she told her,’ with tears in her eyes. ‘Thank you so much for arranging this.’
Martha blushed in pleasure, ‘you’re very welcome,’ she said.
They spent the rest of the day talking over old times and just enjoying being together again. Betty told Wyn all about the arrangements for her wedding to Ned. They were getting married in the church around the corner from the house and Mrs Davis was doing the food for the wedding breakfast that Mrs Brompton was letting them have. They would then set up home in the flat above the garage and Ned would carry on being the chauffeur although Betty would no longer work in the house. Wyn suddenly gasped and held her stomach.
‘What is it?’ Betty asked,’ is it the baby?’
Wyn nodded staying very calm, ‘go and get Martha,’ she said, ‘I think this baby wants to see you too.’
Betty ran down the hall shouting for Martha.
‘What is it?’ Martha asked.
‘The babys coming,’ Betty told her, ‘what should I do?’
‘Go back to Wyn,’ Martha told her, ‘I’ll run and get the midwife.’
Betty went back to Wyn who was now lying on the floor moaning in pain. She felt a sudden wetness running down her legs. She started to panic a bit, ‘my waters have gone,’ she exclaimed, ‘I hope the midwife comes soon, I think this is going to be too quick.’
Betty sat down next to her, ‘keep calm and hold my hand she told her, it’ll be alright, I’m with you.’
Wyn grabbed hold of Betty’s hand and squeezed very hard as she felt the next contraction. She was holding onto Betty’s hand so tightly that Betty had to bite her lip so she wouldn’t cry out with pain.
‘I wish William was here,’ Wyn cried out when the pain had passed.
Betty nodded, ‘I know but you just have to make do with me.’
Wyn smiled through the pain, ‘I’m so glad you’re here.’ She gasped as she felt another contraction.
‘They’re happening a bit closer together,’ Betty told her, ‘I don’t think it’s going to be much longer. Where’s that midwife.’
‘Betty quick, it’s too late for that,’ Wyn shouted, ‘I can feel the baby coming. Help me take my underclothes off.’
Betty helped her out of her knickers and looked down, ‘I can see the head,’ she cried, ‘push slowly so I can help it slide out.’ Wyn pushed slowly. ‘Stop for a minute,’ Betty told her, ‘I need to turn it, that’s it now push hard.,’ Wyn pushed and the baby slid out. ‘It’s a boy,’ cried Betty, ‘oh he’s lovely Wyn, well done, you did it.’
The midwife rushed through the door and took in the scene. ‘That was quick,’ she exclaimed, ‘let’s have a look at you.’ She cut the cord, picked the baby us and wrapped him in a blanket. ‘He looks fine,’ she said handing him to Betty. ‘Hold him for a minute while I finish things off with Wyn.’ She inspected the afterbirth to make sure nothing had been left behind and then told them that everything was fine. She then took the baby back off Betty, weighed him and had a good look at him. She put him in Wyn’s arms. ‘Put him against your breast,’ she told Wyn. Wyn put his mouth against her nipple and gasped as he took it into his mouth and started sucking. The midwife looked up at Betty, ‘you did a good job, ’she told her.
‘I’m just so glad you were here,’ Wyn told Betty, ‘thank you.’
‘I wouldn’t have missed it,’ Betty told her. ‘I’ve never seen a baby born before, it was amazing.’
‘I hope it hasn’t put you off,’ the midwife said.
‘It didn’t look too bad to me,’ Betty answered.
The midwife just looked at her, smiled but said nothing.
After the midwife had gone and the baby had been fed, dressed and settled in his Moses basket Betty turned to Wyn and asked her if she was sure she still wanted to give him to her sister.
‘I’m sure,’ Wyn told her. ‘I can’t give him the life I want him to have but she can. If William hadn’t died it would have been different but he isn’t so I’ve got to do what’s best for our son.’ A sob escaped as she said this and she wiped some tears away. ‘It’s going to take a few days for Gwyneth to get here so I’ll have the first few days with him. It’s not like I won’t see him again or know what he’s doing.’
‘What are you doing about registering his birth?’ Betty asked her.
‘I’m going to wait until Gwyneth and Bert are here and then they can register him in their names. Gwyneth has been staying away from home looking after an aunt of ours for a couple of months, so when she turns up back home with a baby, it will be a surprise but no-one will question it. She’ll just say she didn’t know until the last minute. He’ll be their baby, I’ll just be his aunt.’
‘It sounds like it could work but it’s going to be hard on you,’ Betty said.
‘It’s the best thing to do for my son,’ Wyn replied,’ so I’m fine about it.’
Betty knew when to shut up so didn’t reply.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
The next day Betty was getting ready to leave. Wyn walked over to her, put her arms around her, ‘I’m really happy you were here to see him born.’ she told her.
‘I’m happy I was here too,’ Betty replied. ‘What are you going to call him? You can’t just keep calling him, the baby or him.’
‘I’m letting Gwyneth choose the name as he is going to be her son,’ Wyn told her.
‘How long before they get here?’ Betty asked.
‘Martha sent the telegraph to her this morning so she and Bert should be here in a couple of days.’
The doorbell rang at that moment, ‘that’ll be Ned,’ Betty said. She looked at Wyn with tears in her eyes, ‘are you sure you’re going to be alright?’ she asked.
‘Yes I will be,’ Wyn replied. ‘It’ll be better once the baby has gone and I start working in the shop.’
Betty kissed her and told her she would see her soon.
‘Maybe I’ll come and see you,’ Wyn replied, ‘it would be nice to see everyone again.’
They kissed again and Betty walked down the steps to the car where Ned was waiting. She waved as she got in and Ned drove off.
Wyn walked back into the house sadly and went up to where the baby was sleeping in his basket. She looked down at him and gently stroked his face. She could see a slight resemblance to William in his face.
‘Your father would have loved you,’ she told him, ‘but your new mum and dad will love you just as much and you’ll have a good life with them. I’ll always be around to help you if you ever need me.’
She wiped away the tears that had started streaming down her face and stood up straight as she heard Martha coming back into the house. She left the room to meet her.
‘I’ve got a telegraph for you,’ Martha told her.
She put it into Wyn’s outstretched hand.
‘It’s a reply from Gwyneth,’ Wyn told her. ‘They’ll be here tomorrow.’
Martha sighed and shook her head.
‘I hope this is what you really want,’ she commented. ‘We’d have managed.’
‘I don’t want to just manage,’ Wyn replied. ‘I want more than that for my son.’
‘I know said,’ Martha, ‘it’s just very sad that’s all.’
She patted Wyn’s hand and walked out of the door.
Wyn looked down at her son, ‘we’d better get your stuff packed,’ she told him, ‘you’re going home tomorrow.’
It was early the next day when a carriage arrived outside the house. Wyn had been watching for it and opened the front door before they had a chance to ring the bell. Gwyneth walked straight up to her and took her into her arms. Wyn sighed and pulled her close.
‘Are you alright?’ Gwyneth asked her.
‘I’m not bad,’ Wyn replied, ‘I’ll be glad to get this over with. You’re looking very well though. You were always very pretty and you look exactly the same.’
‘She certainly does,’ said a voice behind Wyn.
‘Oh Wyn, I don’t know if
you remember Bert, we used to meet him up the hill when we were kids but he left when his granddad died. He came back a few years ago, we bumped into each other in the High Street one day and recognised each other straight away. One thing led to another and we ended up married.’
‘Yes of course I remember, his grandfather used to tell us lots of stories. I didn’t realise it was him you married,’ she turned to Bert, ‘it’s nice to see you again,’ she told him. ‘Come in and meet your new son.’ Wyn showed them up to the bedroom where the baby was lying in his basket.
Gwyneth looked down at him, ‘he’s lovely,’ she said, ‘can I pick him up?’
‘Of course you can, he’s your son,’ replied Wyn.
Gwyneth picked him up and Wyn could see it was love at first sight. Bert walked over to Gwyneth and took the baby off her. Wyn could tell he was also full of emotion. ‘We’ll take good care of him,’ they both told her. ‘We’ll do our best for him.’
‘I know,’ Wyn replied, ‘that’s why I want him to live with you.’
Martha brought them up a pot of tea and as they were drinking, Gwyneth brought Wyn up to date about their family and friends in Penarth. Her other sister Elizabeth was also married and had four children, and her brother Robert was away in the army. Wyn told her the last she had heard about Henry as he had never been heard of again by his family. Her parents had both died without ever knowing what had happened to their eldest son.
‘Not that father ever wanted to know,’ added Gwyneth, ‘but mother would have liked to know even though he was only her step son.’
Bert hadn’t joined in the conversation, he was just staring down into the face of his new son. It made Wyn very sad to watch as it made her think about how it would have been with William and how proud he would have been of his son, but she was comforted knowing how much they already loved him. Martha came back into the room and asked Gwyneth and Bert how long they were staying in London.
‘We thought we might stay tonight and get the train back to Wales tomorrow morning,’ they told her.
‘Would you like to stay here?’ she asked.
Gwyneth looked at Wyn, ‘please do stay,’ Wyn pleaded. ‘You can sleep in my room with the baby, I’ll sleep in the small bedroom down the hall.’
Gwyneth looked at Bert who nodded. ‘That’ll be very kind of you,’ she told them, ‘we’d love to stay here.’
‘The Registry Office is still open,’ Wyn told them, ‘you could register his birth today, it’ll get it out of the way.’
‘That’s a good idea,’ Bert agreed, ‘we’ll be able to get away earlier tomorrow.’
Wyn cleared the huge lump that had formed in her throat and asked Gwyneth, what they were going to call him.
‘We thought Edwin after Bert’s granddad and William after his own father.’
‘Thank you,’ whispered Wyn, ‘his dad would have liked that. Edwin William Hook is a good name.’ When they had finished their tea Gwyneth and Bert took Edwin to have him registered as their son.
The next morning they were ready to leave quite early. Wyn had found it strange to be sleeping in a different room to her son, especially when she could hear him crying. She had been very uncomfortable when her breasts had filled with milk and she hadn’t fed him. He had already been introduced to his new milk in a bottle and was taking to it very well. She knew her milk would dry up soon but at the moment it didn’t feel right not to be feeding him. ‘How was it last night?’ she asked Gwyneth.
‘I loved sitting in the rocking chair feeding him,’ Gwyneth replied, ‘I didn’t think it would be so wonderful.’
Wyn gave a small smile and said ‘I’m glad, I want all of you to be happy.’
‘We will,’ said Bert coming up behind her. He turned to Gwyneth, ‘the carriage is here, it’s time to go if we’re going to get the train,’ Bert took the bags and Moses basket out to the carriage and then came back to get Gwyneth and Edwin. Wyn hugged Gwyneth hard, kissed Edwin on the head and ran back into the house crying.
‘Don’t worry,’ Martha told them, ‘she’ll be alright, I’ll look after her.
Gwyneth climbed into the carriage, Bert handed her Edwin and then climbed in himself. They could see Wyn standing at the window and they both waved as the carriage moved off. Wyn watched until they had disappeared then turned back into the room. She fell into Martha’s waiting arms and sobbed her heart out for a long time.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Over the next few days the discomfort in Wyn’s breasts started to subside and they stopped leaking milk. The pain of losing her baby was still as strong but she knew they had arrived back in Wales and Bob, as he had already become known, was happy and healthy as Gwyneth had written to her. She had started working in the confectionary shop for Tommy and was really enjoying it. She loved the time of day when all the kids would leave school and rush into the shop to choose what sweets they wanted. Sometimes it took them a long time to pick from all the jars on the shelves but she never got impatient and rushed them. All the mothers liked her because she was so patient with their children. There was one child in particular that she developed a soft spot for. His name was Martin and he had a mop of ginger curly hair and a mass of freckles on his face. He was a cheeky, mischievous child who was always getting into trouble but Wyn couldn’t help liking him. The things he did were naughty but never hurt anyone. He never had any money but still came into the shop. He would stand at the counter and look up at her with his big eyes and a cheeky grin on his face. Wyn couldn’t resist. She would just have to give him a bag of sweets.
‘He takes advantage of you,’ Tommy told her but he didn’t try to stop her doing it.
One day she heard shouting coming from outside the shop and went to investigate. She saw Martin sitting on the roof of a shed in the house opposite waiting for people to pass by then throwing jumping jacks onto the road after they had walked by making them jump. A crowd had gathered and they were all shouting at him. Martin was refusing to come down and was just sitting there poking his tongue out at them. Wyn smiled wryly to herself and thought, that boy, he’s going to push people too far one day. She walked over the road and looked up at Martin.
‘Come down and say you’re sorry’ she told him.
‘Why should I?’ he replied. ‘I wasn’t doing nothing.’
‘That’s not how it looked from where I was,’ Wyn told him. ‘I saw what you were doing, now come down otherwise you’re going to be in big trouble.’
Martin looked at her and smiled sweetly. ‘Can I have some sweets if I do?’ he asked.
‘Say you’re sorry and mean it,’ Wyn answered.
‘I’m sorry,’ Martin said in a small voice.
Wyn could see he didn’t mean it but everyone had started leaving so she didn’t say anymore. She felt sorry for him because of the way he had to live. He was quite often hungry and always looked grubby but, although his clothes were threadbare, they were always clean. His parents lived in a very rough area and tried their best but having nine children made things tough for all of them. Wyn always gave the children sweets when she saw them and would love to have been able to help them more but knew there wasn’t much she could do. Tommy couldn’t understand why she could felt so sorry for them although he suspected she was thinking about her own son so he didn’t say anything.
One day Martin came running into the shop.
‘You’ll never guess what,’ he said excitedly.
‘I can’t guess so you’ll have to tell me,’ Wyn answered with a smile.
‘We’re going on holiday,’ Martin told her. ‘We’re going hopping in Kent.’
He seemed to be so excited Wyn couldn’t bring herself to tell him that hopping wasn’t really a holiday but was very hard work.
‘When are you going?’ Wyn asked.
‘Tomorrow,’ he replied.
Wyn felt sad that she wouldn’t see him for a while but thought, maybe it’ll be nicer in the country for him, it’s not exactly fun for him here.
> ‘Come into the shop with me,’ she told him. She took some jars down from the shelf and filled several bags with sweets.
‘Here take these,’ she said. ‘They will keep you all going during the journey.’
She was surprised and moved when Martin reached up and gave her a kiss.
‘Thanks,’ he said as he ran back towards his home. He stopped on the corner and waved to her. That was the last time she saw him. She found out later that his father had been given a farm hands job in Kent. She felt sad that she would never see Martin again but knew it would be a better life for all the family and Martin would be much happier down there. All the children were even going to school.
As the weeks passed Wyn found she was becoming quite happy and content. She still missed her son but liked what was happening in her life. Sometimes she found Tommy looking at her with a huge smile on his face. She knew he was becoming fond of her but didn’t know how she felt about him. She still missed William and her baby but she liked Tommy and knew she had to get on with her life. Her baby weight had gone and she was back to her slim self. She had been saving money for a while as she wanted a new dress for Betty’s wedding which was in three weeks’ time. She and Betty were having dresses made for them and Wyn was going back to Mrs Brompton’s house at the weekend, when Betty had her day off, to see the dressmaker and Wyn was really looking forward to it. She had been looking in the posh magazines they sold in the shop to see what kind of dress she might like but they were all too dressy for her. After all, it was a wedding not a posh ball, she thought to herself.
It was Saturday and Wyn was off to meet Betty after she had finished work. The shop closed at twelve on a Saturday so she would have plenty of time. She was just putting her hat on when Tommy came up behind her.
‘You look very smart,’ he told her taking her hand and putting a wad of pounds notes into it. Wyn looked up at him in shock.
‘What’s this for?’ she asked.
The Passions of Bronwyn Page 18