Hidden Currents

by Rowena Summers

  ‘I know I did wrong, Mrs Stuckey,’ she wailed at last. ‘I’ve been wicked and now I’m paying for it. But I didn’t mean to make your Carrie and her John pay as well, and I’m fair ashamed of it all.’

  May didn’t say anything for a few minutes, and then she spoke briskly. ‘Well, you ain’t the first girl to pay for being too free with her favours, and I daresay you won’t be the last. And once that lusty young Welsh feller’s brought home to roost and does right by you, you can put all this behind you. That there lawyer fellow will sort John’s problems out, since it’s what they’re trained to do, so there’s no use fretting over it tonight. And I’m sure our Carrie won’t bear a grudge for blaming her young man, however unintentionally.’

  But had she known it, Carrie was beset by all kinds of doubts now. She didn’t believe for a moment that John had ever been dallying with Elsie. But uglier thoughts had been put inside her head now, and they wouldn’t go away.

  For all those early months of the year, John had been travelling around the western counties, cheered and adored by all the female admirers who flocked to see the bare-knuckle fighting and thought the participants so glamorous … and how was she to know whether or not he had been tempted …?

  It was all to do with something called trust, a small voice inside her head insisted. And so it was. And she did trust him … she did … but still the thought festered and nagged at her, and in her heart she wished Elsie to Kingdom Come for unwittingly putting the doubts in her mind.

  She caught sight of the girl’s tear-stained face, and put the devilish thoughts away. Elsie had crumpled like a deflated paper bag, and needed all her compassion now. And she was being a selfish pig for letting Ma in for this and seeming to stand by so stiff and awkward …

  ‘You’re to stay here for a day or two,’ Ma was saying firmly now.

  ‘I can’t! What will Mr Stuckey — and Wilf — have to say to me!’ For about the first time ever, Elsie had the grace to look ashamed and embarrassed at the thought of seeing the Stuckey menfolk. Billy was in the habit of calling in on his Pa at the coffin-maker’s workshop every afternoon now, and they came home together. Billy would be another hurdle to face.

  Henry began bawling for his tea, and Ma picked him calmly out of the carriage in the corner and dumped him on Elsie’s lap.

  ‘Here. You may as well get used to bouncing a babby while I make us all a hot cup of tea. And don’t give me no more nonsense about not staying. You look fair done in, girl. You’ll stay in our Carrie’s room for a coupla days, and there’s an end to it.’

  ‘Yes, missus,’ Elsie said meekly, and stared down into the encouraging blue eyes of young Henry Stuckey.

  * * *

  The men took it all surprisingly well. Billy was hushed up when he began asking too many questions. And as for Wilf …

  ‘So your man hit out at a bobby, did he?’ he grinned at Carrie. She was about to rise indignantly to his defence, when she realised Wilf wasn’t exactly censuring the act. ‘Many’s the time I’ve itched to do likewise, but never had the opportunity — nor the nerve for it.’

  ‘’Tain’t nothing so clever if he’s going to be banged up in the cells for a month, though,’ Sam grunted.

  Carrie felt her heart turn over. ‘They couldn’t do that, Pa! The wedding’s in less than four weeks now.’

  ‘You’ll just have to leave all that to the lawyer, girl, and there’s no use fretting over it until you know what’s what,’ Sam told her.

  ‘I hope he let Uncle Oswald and Aunt Vi know,’ she went on. ‘They’ll be so upset. I should have gone myself.’

  ‘I’ll take you there later if you like,’ Wilf said suddenly. ‘You won’t stop worrying over it until you see ’em for yourself, if I know you.’

  It was the first time he’d put himself out on John’s behalf, however obliquely, and also the first time he’d ever taken any interest in going to the house on Bedminster Hill. Carrie was startled and touched.

  ‘Oh, would you, Wilf? I’d consider it a great kindness.’

  ‘Ah well, don’t get carried away. I’m as anxious to see he gets out of the Bridewell as you, I suppose. I’ve no more wish to have a jailbird for a brother-in-law than the next man,’ he said dryly.

  But she knew by the softness in his eyes that he was mellowing towards John and the unfortunate circumstances that had sent him to the cells. How extraordinary, she couldn’t help thinking. It was fighting that had made them so hostile to one another, and it was fighting that might just be bringing them together. But she wasn’t going to count her chickens too fast, and she still had the elderly Travises to face tonight. She prayed the shock wasn’t going to be too much for them.

  * * *

  She discovered they were more resilient than she thought. By the time she and Wilf had toiled up the hill to the house, Venn, the lawyer, had been and gone, and they were already acquainted with the happenings of the afternoon.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Uncle Oswald,’ Carrie said awkwardly.

  ‘It weren’t your fault, my lamb,’ he said, ‘so there’s no cause for you to feel guilty.’

  ‘But if I hadn’t got into an argument with my friend, and caused such a rumpus at the market, none of this would have happened, and John wouldn’t be in the cells now.’

  ‘What did Mr Venn have to say about his chances?’ Wilf asked practically.

  Aunt Vi came into the parlour at that moment, with her pot of tea to soothe all ills. Just like Ma, Carrie thought fleetingly. At this rate, she would be awash with tea.

  ‘He thinks he can smooth things over without it ever going to court,’ she said. ‘The only thing is —’

  ‘The only thing is, he’ll have to pay up to get his freedom,’ Oswald finished for her.

  ‘But that’s not right!’ Carrie said.

  Oswald gave a shrug. ‘The lawyer never went into the rights and wrongs of it, love. If John’s able to pay a fine straight to the Bridewell, and settle things to everybody’s satisfaction, I reckon they’ll let him go in a day or so.’

  She felt close to tears now. She had no idea how much of a fine it was likely to be, and somehow she couldn’t ask. It all sounded like devious undercover dealings to her, but maybe that was the way of lawyers and officials. But all she could see was that John’s precious savings would be dwindling away because of that stupid fight, and the brand new boat would sit for ever on that cradle in the boatyard.

  ‘It’s all Elsie’s fault,’ she muttered bitterly. ‘Why did she have to go and get herself —’

  She bit her lip, embarrassed to be discussing such things with these good people. And what must they think of her and her family and friends now, when they had been the cause of John being locked away? She smothered a sob.

  ‘Now, you just listen to me, Carrie,’ she heard Aunt Vi say. ‘These things happen, and your friend needs a bit of sympathy, I reckon, until that young Welsh fellow of hers is found. You’ve a big heart, Carrie, so don’t let her down now.’

  ‘Don’t you blame me too?’ she said huskily. ‘Don’t you hate me, for being a part of all this?’

  ‘Of course we don’t hate you,’ Uncle Oswald said. ‘You’re still our sweet Carrie, same as you always were, so don’t go letting such nonsense enter your head and spoil things for you and John, do you hear?’

  She nodded, and took a sip of Vi’s strong sweet brew. When she had drained the cup, she said they had better go. Lord knew how Elsie was getting on at home with her family and she needed to be a buffer, just in case … she smiled faintly. Already she was being protective of Elsie again … perhaps true friendship never really died, no matter how many hurdles life threw at you.

  ‘I’ll call at the Bridewell tomorrow, and Carrie and I will come and see you again tomorrow evening to let you know what’s happening,’ Wilf said. The others looked at him gratefully, and none more so than Carrie. As they went back home again, she tried to thank him properly.

  ‘I want no thanks,’ he said roughly. ‘I wan
t to see you happy though, and if John’s the one for you, it’s right by me. I may have been a bit slow to see it, that’s all.’

  Yes, it was a funny old world all right, Carrie thought, too full of emotion to answer. And with Elsie installed in the house for a couple of days as well, it was almost like old times … almost.

  * * *

  As it happened, Elsie was installed in Jacob’s Wells Road for a bit longer than that. During the night, she became ill with stomach pains and the doctor had to be called out. After a brief examination, he looked at her shrewdly.

  ‘Unless you rest up for at least a week with your feet higher than your head, you’re in danger of losing this baby, young woman. You’ve had my advice, now it’s up to you what you do with it.’

  Elsie looked at Carrie after the doctor had gone off into the night again, and Carrie knew she was thinking about the choices. It would be so easy not to rest, to rush about until the inevitable happened, and she was rid of this baby for ever, and for life to go on as it was before.

  ‘I want this babby, Carrie,’ Elsie whispered, a note of wonderment in her voice, as if she’d never even considered it before. ‘It’s summat of Dewi, and if he never comes back, at least I’ll have that much of him.’

  ‘Then you must really love him,’ Carrie said slowly.

  Elsie gave a cracked laugh, and the ghost of the old Elsie was in her impatient voice. ‘Ain’t I been telling you that all this time, ninny? ‘Course I love ’im, and I love this babby too, and nobody’s taking it away from me!’

  ‘Shut up and go to sleep, you young girls!’ came Sam Stuckey’s roaring voice through the wall.

  Carrie snuggled down beneath the coverlet with a wry smile. Some things never changed, no matter what. It was an oddly comforting thought in this turbulent day.

  Chapter 23

  Dewi Griffiths opened the door of his Mam’s cottage and stared in surprise at the older man standing there. He recognised Ivor Jones at once, though he’d never been more than one of the casual acquaintances he met on the market at Bristol’s Welsh Back. He’d never expected to see him here in Cardiff, seeming to recall that he lived over Newport way.

  ‘Can I come in then, Dewi?’ Ivor said, when the boy seemed too bemused to speak.

  ‘Oh aye, come in, of course, Ivor. Forgetting my manners now, I am,’ Dewi said, flustered. ‘Things have a got a bit like that round ‘ere lately, what with one thing and another.’

  ‘Have you got troubles, then, boy?’ Ivor said at once. He eyed the spick and span cottage with approval, but thinking that the boy would have a few more troubles by the time he told him his news.

  Dewi spoke tersely. ‘I have that. My Mam took sick a few months back, and there was nobody else to look after her, see? So I stayed home here most of the time, just working the local markets when she seemed well enough to leave for a few hours at a stretch. She died a few weeks back, and I’m not rightly over it yet, see?’

  ‘There’s sorry I am to hear that, boy,’ Ivor said, taken aback by this sorry tale, and knowing he should tread carefully in view of the boy’s bereavement. ‘We was all wondering what had happened to you, see? It seems quite a while now since you was on the trows going over to Bristol.’

  ‘Aye, and I missed going there, man, but there was no help for it while Mam was so bad. Now, o’ course, things are different again.’

  ‘So you’ll be thinking of coming back to Bristol some time, will you?’

  Dewi gave a small shrug. ‘Well, I know it’s no use dwelling on things that can’t be changed. Mam’s gone now, and I daresay I’ll have to be thinking of what to do about the cottage. It’s my home, and I don’t want to leave it, but it’s not the same without a woman in it.’

  ‘You keep it tidy enough though, boy,’ Ivor said, knowing he must find the words to tell him about the girl’s trouble, and reluctant to add to Dewi’s already heavy load.

  ‘There’s not much tidying to do for one,’ he replied, and then gave a sigh. ‘But I’m glad to see you, Ivor bach, for you’ve reminded me there’s still work to be done, and I should be getting over to Bristol soon, anyway. There’s somebody I’ve got to see, or she’ll be thinking I’ve deserted her.’

  Ivor breathed a small sigh of relief. ‘It’s her that I’ve come about, Dewi,’ he said carefully, thankful to him for giving him the lead.

  * * *

  A week later, Elsie was languishing on the bed in Carrie’s room, thinking that if this was the life of a lady, then they could keep it. It was boring and dull, just lying still, but the doctor said she could get up this afternoon, and that the danger to the babby seemed to be over at last.

  Until she was in danger of losing it, Elsie hadn’t realised how much she wanted it. It had staggered her to know how much she wanted the child, since she’d never been maternal in the slightest way. But even if she never saw Dewi again, this babby would always be a part of him and of the glorious times they had shared.

  She wasn’t the romantic sort either, but she could still feel the thrill of it. And she did love him, she thought, with a catch in her throat. That much hadn’t been play-acting, whatever Carrie might have thought about it all in the beginning.

  She wished Carrie was here to chat with her. But Carrie had plenty to think about. Her wedding-day was only three weeks away, and Elsie felt a real pang of envy, thinking how lovely her friend was going to look in that creamy dress hanging up against the wall closet. Ma Stuckey had finished sewing it now, and Carrie was going to look a real picture.

  Elsie’s belly was starting to bulge, and she didn’t even dare try it on to preen herself in it in secret, she thought with a grin. Her chest was expanding rapidly too, and starting to feel tight against her old working dress, though she knew Dewi wouldn’t have objected to that …

  She felt the weak tears start to her eyes again, and switched her thoughts hurriedly away from the images of herself and Dewi, locked in their wild and wanton embraces. And she reminded herself fiercely that she never cried except in times of dire emergency.

  Thank God that fancy lawyer had managed to get John Travis off, she thought instead. God knows what she would have done if she’d ruined Carrie’s wedding by her antics at the market.

  Guiltily, she knew very well there had been a price to pay for his liberty, but nobody was letting on how much of John’s savings it had been. Carrie had merely said that if the boat wasn’t ready for the bulk of the summer trippers, they’d just have to wait a little longer for it.

  Anyway, there was obviously enough for her and John to go shopping for some present or other they were buying for the Travis old folk, as a kind of house-warming present. They had gone into the city that afternoon to look for something suitable, while Elsie lay here, feeling fat and frustrated, and gloomily contemplating that the boyos from Wales would be over on their trows today, and wondering if she would ever see Dewi Griffiths again.

  She didn’t even bother to turn her head when she heard voices downstairs. It would probably be one of the maids from the posh Clifton houses, bringing Mrs Stuckey some more fine laundry work to do. Having scratched out her own living all her life, it didn’t seem odd to Elsie that May still wanted to keep her hands busy. It was odder to be lying here, bored out of her mind with nothing to do.

  She heard the creak of the wooden stairs, and noted that the footsteps accompanying Mrs Stuckey’s were heavier than a woman’s. She groaned, wondering if it was the doctor, coming to check up on her. He’d instructed that she was to stay put until late in the afternoon, and that she was not to get out of that bed one minute sooner.

  ‘Elsie, there’s someone here to see you,’ May said. ‘In the circumstances, I’m allowing him to come upstairs and into the bedroom, but I shall be leaving the door open, and if you need me, you’re to call out at once. I shall be just below in the parlour.’

  As if she was going to get up to anything with the elderly doctor or even the dashing Prince Albert himself! Elsie thought fleetingly … and th
en all such daft thoughts flew out of her head. She gave a little cry of joy and disbelief as Dewi Griffiths came into the room and was across the bedroom and at her side in seconds.

  ‘Oh, Dewi,’ was all she could manage to croak at that moment. But he was hugging her so tightly, she hardly had breath for anything else. He smelled of the river and the trows, but it was an old and familiar smell, and as sweet and dear to her as Dewi himself.

  ‘Duw, but I’ve missed you so much, cariad, and there’s so much I’ve got to tell you, but first of all I want you to know that I’m never going to leave you again. That is, if you want me to stay!’

  Hovering outside on the stairs, May Stuckey heard his voice, hoarse and sincere and full of Welsh passion. It was an intrusion to be listening to such passion, and she turned abruptly, clattering down the stairs to the parlour. And praying that this time, Elsie had found her right road in life at last.

  * * *

  Carrie and John took a breather as they walked up Christmas Steps, having looked in more than a dozen little antique and curio shops for something suitable for Vi and Oswald as a house-warming gift. There were many shops of a similar type in the area, and they had exhausted most of them by the time they had reached this particular one.

  They wanted to buy something the old couple would always remember them by, though John was well aware that something even moderately good was going to make a hole in their finances now.

  The lawyer had got him out of the cells all right, but they’d had to pay a fine, which Venn had privately considered little more than a bribe — and they’d had to pay the lawyer’s fees as well. It had all come to a pretty penny, and having a large debt still to pay on the new boat was no way to begin married life, John thought grimly.

  But one thing he was sure about. That last encounter with the constable, and all its repercussions, had decided him once and for all that fighting was best confined to the ring for those who wanted to make it a profession. He knew he wasn’t one of them. It had been no more than a fairly lucrative sideline, and a means to an end. It was just unfortunate that the means had come to such a sorry end in his bank account.