by Bladen, Ceri
“Well, what do I have here?” Doris brought her hands from behind her back, complete with a couple of Kit Kats.
Ria smiled, it was no good telling Doris not to spoil the children with treats, it gave her too much pleasure. She had told Ria years ago that her disappointment in life was the lack of children. But being religious, Doris had just said it wasn’t what God had planned for her, so she would be lucky enough to enjoy and spoil other peoples.
“Got one for me too?” Morgan piped up from the sitting room, where he was having five minutes peace reading the newspaper.
Doris grinned, “You’re too big for chocolate, isn’t he?” she conspired with the children; both Johnny and Rose nodded, willing to agree to anything to get the Kit Kats in their hands.
“Don’t forget to say thank you to Aunty Doris.” Megan pointed out their manners before turning to her neighbour. “Fancy a cuppa before Church, Doris?” Megan was already pouring a cup as she knew her friend would never turn down a cup of tea. While refilling the teapot with hot water, Meg looked towards Ria who was unwrapping a KitKat. “Sorry Ria, I have run out of instant coffee.” She turned and shouted towards the sitting room, “Sam, grab 2/3d out of my purse and go and get two ounces of Nescafe from the corner shop, would you?”
Meg heard the grunt of a reply. She lifted her shoulders at Doris, “Teenagers.”
Sam lumbered through the door, even though he was only fifteen, he was already reaching six feet tall. Unfortunately, his body hadn’t filled out yet and he looked lanky.
“I need half a pound of butter too, which is 1/6d. Just take my purse and get yourself some sweets too.”
“Mam, I’m not a child anymore.” Sam replied mainly to himself, too afraid to speak out aloud as he never knew whether his voice would come out low or as a squeak.
Evan stood back up after opening the chocolate bar for Johnny who was already shoving it into his small mouth. “Hey, that’s your Mam you are talking to. You might not be a child, but show her some respect. She asked you to do something for her, something I might add, she doesn’t do often enough.”
“Sorry Dad, Mam.” Sam’s face coloured, aware of all the eyes on him. “I just meant that I don’t need sweets as an incentive to do things anymore. I’m more than willing to go to the corner shop.” Sam replied a little defensively.
Megan noticed Sam stick his chin out slightly in slight defiance or was it embarrassment? Teenagers! She chose not to mention anything, she looked towards Evan, who was putting on his old coat.
“Right love, I’m off to the allotments when you go to Church. Say a prayer for me!” He kissed and hugged his wife, as he did every time he left her. Evan said his good byes to everyone else, the grandchildren getting extra spins before he eventually left.
Ria finished wiping the chocolate off her childrens’ hands, thankful that they didn’t get any on their Sunday School clothes. She watched Rose look around the room, a look of realisation appearing on her chubby face. “Where’s Uncle Tom? I want Uncle Tom!” Her bottom lip came out in a pout as she folded her arms across her chest.
Ria laughed as she scooped her daughter up. “Ah, let’s go and find Uncle Tom before we leave for Church.”
~~~~
“Knock, knock. Any sleeping giants in here?” Ria pretended to whisper, while Rose who was squirming in her arms, giggled. Ria pushed open the bedroom door slowly.
Tom had heard all the laughter from downstairs and knew his sister and her family had arrived. He had been waiting for his headache to subside a little before heading downstairs. When he heard the childlike giggling at the door, he knew, headache or not, his little niece would want to play. He pulled the blankets up over his head, ready to scare his niece when she entered.
“Ssshh!” Ria placed a finger over her lips, Rose who was watching her mother, copied the action. Her large blue eyes then turned to look towards the lump on the bed. Her mother started to tip toe over, clutching her on her hip. Rose could hardly contain her excitement; a little squeal escaped her lips as her legs started pumping against Ria’s hip. As they reached the end of the bed, a big boo came from under the blankets as Tom sat up. Rose jumped in Ria’s arms, a fleeting look of terror flitted over her face for a second, before it split into a huge grin for her Uncle. She pulled herself away from her mother and bounded over the bed to Tom, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.
Ria quietly sat on the end of the bed taking in the scene. Her daughter loved Uncle Tom so much. In fact, all children and women seemed to love him! Even though he was very tall, especially to small children, they never seemed frightened of him; they always wanted him to play with them. Ria inwardly sighed, she wondered if her brother would ever settle down and have a family. Apart from Sarah, he still never seemed to be with anyone more than a couple of months, most of them, the family never even got to meet. Tom was the reason Ria had been so unsure of Morgan’s feeling toward her. She thought that someone as good looking as Morgan would have a long list of women willing to go out with him, like her good looking brother. Luckily, she had been wrong about Morgan. She had been with him for eight years now and she didn’t think she could love him any more. She looked back towards her brother, who was now blowing raspberries on Rose’s belly. She really wished her brother would find someone he wanted to build a family with. Her parents had all but given up on him finding the special one, but Ria being a romantic, would never abandon her hope for her brother.
When Tom lifted his head, the room tilted slightly, all that raspberry blowing had made the hangover worse. He could feel the colour drain out of him. He was hoping that he would have felt better by now, so he could go downstairs to socialise with the family, but he knew now that was unlikely to happen.
Ria had been watching them both intently and noticed the green sheen that came over Tom, a bead of perspiration on his top lip. “Did you go to the Red Lion last night?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, that explains why you now look like a green monster.” She tickled Rose’s ribs as she removed her daughter from Tom’s stomach. She didn’t trust Tom not to throw up if Rose bounced on him any longer. “Let Uncle Tom get some sleep while we go off to Church. Come on, hold my hand when we go down stairs.” She held out her hand and watched Rose cross her arms in defiance.
“I’m big now, I don’t want to!” Rose stomped her foot on the floor.
“No, I need you to hold my hand to help me down the stairs.” Ria rolled her eyes at Tom, familiar now with the little white lies that parents used to get their children to do things.
Through one half-closed eye, Tom watched Rose’s stubborn stance quickly turn to one of self-importance as she grabbed her mother’s hand, a smile gleaming on her face. Christ, it was no wonder he didn’t understand women – they changed their moods like lightening, even when they were three years old!
He closed his eye back up and gave a little weak wave goodbye. “See you when you come back from church, hopefully…” he muttered.
Chapter 6
“Whey, hey, look who has just walked in boys! It’s the ghost of Christmas past!”
“Wow, it’s John Bevan in the flesh!”
“Got lost did you?” Various light-hearted comments came from the chorus of voices in the corner, which was full of John’s friends.
“Ha, ha lads!” John flopped down on bench, then wished he hadn’t sat as heavy, the wooden bench was hard. “You don’t know the half of it! Sally told me to get out from under her feet. She has given me the all clear to ‘wet the baby’s head’.” A cheer went around the group. “That was after the baby chucked all her milk over me first!” John interlocked his fingers over his stomach, lent back and closed his eyes briefly. It felt like his eyes were only ever briefly closed since the arrival of his beautiful daughter, Brenda.
“You love it.” Tom looked at his friend, a contentment seemed to flowing out of John even though his wife had only given birth to their daughter a couple of weeks ago. Tom felt a fleeting pang
of jealousy flit through him, which he was slightly uncomfortable with, as he was really pleased for his friend. He wasn’t ready for a wife and child yet, was he?
“How are Sally and the baby?”
“Great, Sally loves being a mother, even though she is really tired. She is just amazing.” John stated, almost gushing.
“Yes, you have a good one there.” Reflected Tom.
“Hey hands off, she’s mine!” John laughed at his friend, while nudging him with his elbow.
“It’s a good job our sister rejected you then.” Tom elbowed Michael, almost spilling some of his brother’s beer.
John guffawed and held his hands over his heart. “Ouch, a shot to the heart.” He was only clowning around; he was totally in love with his wife, Sally. For years John had pursued Ria, Tom and Michael’s sister, he thought he was in love with her. It was only when Ria had met Morgan Templeton, and he had witnessed the looks and chemistry between them, that he had backed off Ria. He knew he didn’t stand a chance.
He felt low for a while and had started to hang around with Ria’s friends, Karen and Sally. Karen was an amazing laugh and Sally was quieter, like chalk and cheese. Over the months, he started to see Sally’s true personality and slowly grew in love with her. He was totally surprised when she confessed that she had been in love with him since school, but had never told anyone! Never mind, they were together now, where they both belonged. He would never change a thing. Well, perhaps only to add another child after they got over the shock and the tiredness of the first!
Michael leaned across and gently poked John as he had fallen asleep. “Did you get to see Swansea Town verses Preston North End down the Vetch the other day?”
John raised his eyebrows with an as if look on his face.
Michael chuckled. “4-0 to us for a change! There is talk about the manager being sacked now it looks like we are going to be relegated to the Third Division!”
Mumbles of discontent made it around the round table.
“Enough of football, it’s time to celebrate John’s new arrival. Who’s round is it?” Dai, one of the friends enquired.
“I’ll get these.” Tom said as he stood up. To be honest, he had been waiting for his turn to get the drinks. He fancied having a chat with Willow.
~~~~
Friday night, like most weekend nights, was busy in the Red Lion, Willow and her parents literally run off their feet. The only good thing was that no pies were sold, only crisps and snacks, which meant no washing up at the end of the long night, which Willow was pleased about. She looked up as a group of women entered, more customers, she knew it was going to be a long night.
Tom and his friends all turned towards the door, their interest piped by the loud sound of voices. A group of women burst through it, all laughing and pushing each other and made their way over to a corner table, still giggling. “Vodka, Baby Cham or Cherry B’s girls?” one of the group enquired.
Dai rolled his eyes in irritation at the noise. Even though he was relatively young, he was stuck in his ways, not liking a group of women in the bar area. “Great a mothers’ meeting!”
“They’re not mothers!” laughed John. “In fact…” John looked towards the women again, “…I think Tom knows that none of those women are mothers.” He nudged Tom in the ribs, while laughing at his own joke.
Tom cringed and reluctantly looked towards the table of female noise. He immediately got John’s joke, he had dated all of them at one time or another! He slid a look towards the bar, slightly uncomfortable with the thought that Willow had heard the comments that were now flying around about his love life. Luckily she looked too busy pulling pints to notice.
Tom was usually pretty immune to the teasing now he was older, part of it was his own fault anyway. When he was younger, he had encouraged the comments about his plentiful love life, or certainly did not do anything to contradict them. It served his youthful reputation well. His peers looked up to him, which didn’t harm him at all. He shook his head remembering that most of it was made up, he just had chosen not to correct the gossip. Now he was reaching his thirties, it was different; he didn’t want to be labelled a ladies’ man. Any decent woman was scared away by his Lothario reputation and he currently seemed to be picking up the ‘Janes’ of the world. An uneasy feeling flowed through him, his reputation as it stood, would not help him find a wife and family, if that is what he really wanted. He looked into his pint and heaved a sigh, now wasn’t the time to figure things out.
Chapter 7
“Hey Jack, weigh out 2lbs of potatoes for Mrs Jones would you?” Tom threw a paper bag towards Jack and the potatoes, which were piled high. “Mrs Jones, Jack will weigh out the potatoes for you over there, unless you want to pick them yourself?”
“Thanks Tom, I’ll leave that job to Jack.” Mrs Jones’s face crinkled even more around her eyes as she smiled at Tom. She wandered over to Jack, inspecting the carrots as she passed.
While he didn’t have any customers, Tom narrowed his eyes and scouted the market. He was sure he had seen Willow and her mother come through the main door earlier on. Usually they stopped at the store he worked on to get their fruit and vegetables, but they hadn’t yet. He looked at the clock which hung from one of the roof beams, only an hour to go before the market closed and he had promised to pick up some beef from the market’s butcher for his mother. He searched around again, he didn’t want to miss having a chat with Willow, but he wouldn’t risk upsetting his mother either. Perhaps he would wait a couple more minutes.
“Yes love?” Tom plastered the usual charming smile on his face when he served the next customer.
~~~~
Willow stood by her mother, while Shirley chatted to the butcher about his best cuts. Crumbs, shopping today seemed to be taking forever. That was the problem shopping with her mother, she seemed to know everyone. Willow mused, even though Swansea was relatively large, everyone seemed to know everyone, which when you were trying to shop, was not always a good thing.
She looked at her feet, annoyed with herself for wearing heels; they were hurting her now after walking around the shopping centre and market. A nice cup of tea and a rest for her feet, before opening tonight, was sounding better every uncomfortable minute. Willow noticed Tom making his way over towards them, her heart beat initially faltered and then raced. She coughed slightly to halt her reaction; she noticed her reaction to him was getting more noticeable. It didn’t unnerve her too much, she had been married and was aware of how her body naturally reacted to the opposite sex, she just needed to deal with it appropriately and not let it show.
“Hello ladies.” Tom nodded towards Shirley, who smiled back before continuing her conversation with the butcher. “Come for your supplies Willow?”
“Yes, Mam has dragged me around as usual. Now my feet are complaining.” She laughed drawing attention towards her feet and noticed Tom look too. Soon she felt a little hot at the attention he was giving to her legs, she tried to get his attention back up onto her face. “Are you working today?” She watched him drag his eyes towards her, the look of desire in them making her uneasy. A familiar hot feeling pooled in her stomach as she realised that perhaps he wasn’t so immune to her either.
Tom struggled to concentrate, damn her legs were good, it had been an effort to drag his gaze away from them. His interest in her was certainly getting stronger the more he took notice of her. “Yes, I’m just about to get some meat for my Mam before heading home. Are you working tonight?” He suddenly had an overwhelming urge to see her again, he shook off the feeling. He always saw her at the Red Lion now, nothing was new, so nothing should be exciting, but somehow it was.
“Yes, I am tonight. This week, Mam and Dad are going to North Wales to visit my Aunty. Mam seems to think I might starve when they are away, so she is filling up the freezer.” She laughed as she tried to lift her arms which were laden with bags. “We are off to your store next actually, if I can carry any more!” she joked as she placed them dow
n around her feet, trying to fight off the strange atmosphere.
“Just leave your bags behind the store with me. I’ll bring them in tonight if you want.” Tom didn’t like the thought of the two women struggling with all the bags.
“That’s very kind of you Tom...,” she smiled at him, “…but we have just phoned my Dad from the pay phone and he is coming to pick us up….” Tom didn’t really hear any more of Willows reply as his attention focused on looking at her. He noticed a dimple appearing in her cheek, which was still rosy from the chilly wind. As she was talking, her words unheard, his eyes flickered over her full lips which had a hint of lipstick, he had an urge to kiss them. Her dimple kept hiding and reappearing depending on whether she smiled and she kept pushing her hair off her face with the back of her hand. Since the other night, when she had walked in on him and Jane, he had been noticing a lot of new things about Willow, and everything he noticed channelled his interest in her even more. Calm settled through him, like languid hot lava. The realisation that he would like to get a little more ‘personal’ with Willow sat very comfortably. How she would feel, after her experience with her husband, was another thing. But one thing Tom was, when he wanted something, was patient.
“Tom?...Tom?” Willow enquired, her forehead puckered into a frown. She was confused to why he looked a bit distracted. “Are you okay? You seem a little spaced out.” She touched his arm to shake him slightly, only to remove it suddenly, the touch of his hard muscles underneath his shirt making her blood flow a little too quickly. Her cheeks flushed.
His eyes narrowed slightly when he noticed the flush, a dangerous looking smile spread slowly over his lips. “Yes, I’m fine thanks Willow.” He drawled out.
Willow’s heart felt as though it thudded to her throbbing feet, she wriggled slightly as she suddenly felt uncomfortable. Her reaction, she silently cursed for being so predictable, was obviously what happened to women when Tom Dillwyn decided to pile on the charm – their insides turned to jelly! She consciously pushed her hair off her face, the wind had pulled some of the blonde curls out of the braid, using the action to pull herself together slightly. The last thing she needed was for someone like Tom to know he affected her.