Copper to Red (The Dillwyns' Stories) (12 page)

He saw
Sarah’s eyes waver when she looked towards him, full with tears.  Her hands
were fiddling with a lace handkerchief, which he had bought her, and she was
still wearing the simple wedding dress she had chosen.  The situation was
awful.

“I’m so
sorry Tom.  I never meant to hurt you.  That is why I called off the wedding.” 
Her hands fidgeted again, her eyes looked towards him, pleading for
forgiveness.

He felt a
tug in his heart when he saw how distressed she was, but he still needed to get
to the bottom of what had just happened.  Her father hadn’t told him anything -
just to go to his house as Sarah had something to say to him.  While he was
leaving the small church, he overheard Dai Davies’ voice telling everyone to go
home, there would not be a wedding today. 

He leaned
over and put his hands over hers, to stop her fidgeting or for comfort, he
didn’t know.  “Just start at the beginning Sarah.”

~~~~

“So that
just about sums it up.”  Tom looked around the kitchen table at his family, all
still in their wedding clothes, all silent.  Laughter, from the sitting room,
broke the stillness.  Doris had taken the children away, while the family had a
chat.

Ria was the
first to break the hush.  “Unbelievable!  How could she tell you it was your
baby when it wasn’t!”  Ria’s voice grew higher in annoyance. 

Morgan
patted his wife’s arm.  “Darling, it must have been really hard for Sarah, and
she did the right thing in the end, remember.”  Ria glared at Morgan, all her
instincts making her protect her brother.  She knew her husband was right, but she
was allowed to be annoyed that Tom had been hurt.

Meg’s quiet
question seemed to fill the room, “Did she tell you who the father is?  Is she
sure it isn’t yours Tom?”

Tom looked
at his mother, unshed tears in her eyes.  His mother’s unhappiness was harder
to take than his own.  He placed his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze. 
“Yes, it’s Fred’s baby.”

“Fred from
The Swan?” enquired Evan, who had been silent up until now, sitting with his
arm around his wife’s shoulders in support.  He was really angry with the whole
situation, but he knew rage would not help anyone at the moment, so he kept his
wrath to himself, not willing to upset his wife any more than she was already.

“Always knew
he couldn’t be trusted.” Michael muttered, remembering the time that Fred
worked at the Red Lion.  “Do you want me to go around a break his other leg?”
he added sarcastically.

Tom huffed. 
“No, I think I would like to do that myself.”  He looked around the table at
his younger siblings.  Sam, who had spent the whole time looking at some spot
on the floor, was looking uncomfortable.  Anne, on the other hand, looked as
though she was enjoying the scandal.  Tom inwardly sighed, well if either of
them learned a lesson from all this, at least a positive had come out of the
mess.  Tom started the story quietly and unhurriedly, so hopefully all
questions would be answered.  “Sarah started seeing Fred after we broke up. 
She told me she was heartbroken when we split and went out with him on the
rebound.”  Tom watched his mother pour some more tea in the empty cups.  He
smiled ruefully at his mother’s perception that tea, somehow, made things
better.  He continued.  “When she found out she was pregnant, she told him, but
he told her to get rid of it.”

Evan
suddenly sat back in his seat, annoyed, “Scum!”  Michael nodded his head in
agreement.

“Oh dear,
poor Sarah.” Meg couldn’t help sympathise with the situation Sarah had found
herself in.  She had liked Sarah and had hoped her and Tom would eventually
marry when they were courting, but they had split up, she had never asked why.

Anne watched
on wide-eyed while Morgan absent-mindedly rubbed his wife’s shoulder, hoping
that his little Rose would never find herself in the same situation.

“Yes well,
she panicked.  She knew she didn’t want to terminate her pregnancy and she
appreciated that her parents would be disappointed and angry.  So, because we
had courted steadily for a while, I was the obvious choice.”  Tom leaned back
for the chair’s support, suddenly glad it was out in the open.

Meg stood
up, taking the tea pot with her as she needed something to do.  “Well, at least
she told you the truth in the end. It mustn’t have been easy for her to admit. 
Especially with everyone waiting in the church.”

“Much easier
to live a lie and ruin Tom’s life.” Ria mumbled under her breath.

Megan smiled
at Ria, quite proud at her daughter’s family loyalty.  “Now, now Victoria.  She
shouldn’t have lied, but she was afraid, and she hasn’t ruined Tom’s life, she
has told him the truth.   I don’t want this family being too hard on her.”  She
looked at each of them.  “Poor Sarah will have to deal with all the gossips,
which will not be a nice thing to endure.  We need to keep this as quiet as we
can, I’m sure her family will feel the same.  Sam?”  Sam cringed when he heard
his mother call his name.  “…Anne?  It is to go no further than this house that
Fred is the father, is that clear?”  Sam turned red, as Anne rolled her eyes.

“But why did
she wait until we were all in the church?  And why did she want a church
wedding?  Most pregnant bride-to-be do it quickly and quietly!”  Ria’s feathers
were ruffled again by the situation.

“She
couldn’t really answer that question,” responded Tom.  “All she said was she
thought that if she had a church wedding, she would convince herself that the
baby was mine.”  He shrugged his shoulders, not really understanding the
logic.  Tom sighed deeply, his forehead furrowing in concern.  The last thing
he wanted was for Sarah to be hurt, she was a lovely woman, but he knew her
life would be hell.  He growled, how he hated gossips, did they ever think of
the damage they could cause with their loose tongues and impossible standards?  

After his
chat with Sarah, he had still offered to marry her.  He didn’t want to tell his
family that piece of information, Ria was protective enough without her
thinking Sarah voluntarily rejected his hand in marriage.  But she had refused,
so here he was, sitting at the family table, feeling numb. 

~~~~

“That’s it!”  Shirley threw down the cloth she was holding. 
She quickly scanned the pub, “David, hold the fort for a bit please.  Janet, in
the back now.” 

Willow
finished putting away the salted peanuts.  She glanced at her mother, who had a
determined look on her face.  Willow sighed, she knew that look.  It usually
meant that her mother was in no mood for messing around.  Looks like the beans
were about to be spilt.

When they
were both in the room, door closed from interruptions, Shirley offered Willow
some of the ginger ale she was drinking and looked directly at her daughter. 
“So Janet… would you like to tell me what is going on?”

Willow took
the drink off her mother, mainly to wet her dry throat.  There was no getting
out of this conversation and she didn’t really feel comfortable putting it all
onto the table, but she did not really have a choice once her mother had a bee
in her bonnet.

Shirley saw
pain flick over her daughter’s face, the last thing she wanted was to cause
Janet any more pain, just one look on her face was enough.  “Darling…” she
grabbed Willow’s hand, “…you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to;
you are an adult after all.  But your Dad and I are here to help you, we hate
seeing you so upset.”  She saw the tears welling in Willow’s eyes.  “Is it
Robert again?”

“No!” Willow
denied sharply, and then tempered her voice at her mother’s flinch.  “Sorry, no
it has nothing to do with Robert,” she stated calmly.  “It was me this time.  I
decided it wasn’t going to work.  I couldn’t really trust him ever again and I
didn’t want that for the rest of my life.” She rubbed her forehead with her
fingers.  “All of a sudden I realised I certainly didn’t want a family with
someone that I would always wonder if he was going to leave me… leave me alone
with a baby.”  She took another sip of ginger ale, suddenly wishing it was
something stronger to calm her nerves.  She observed her mother, “Which brings
me to Tom Dillwyn.”

Her mother’s
forehead creased with confusion, “Tom Dillwyn?”

“Yes Mam,
Tom Dillwyn. I am in love with him.” 

Confusion
showed all over Shirley’s face.  “But he is getting married to Sarah Davies. 
He got her pregnant too, by all accounts…”  Her fingers started tapping the
table, realisation hitting her.  “Wait a minute… wasn’t Tom the one that helped
you out when Fred broke his leg?”

“Yes.”

“I think you
have some explaining to do. Sit down Janet.” Shirley pointed towards the chair.

~~~~

Tom shook
the rain off his soaked coat.  It always seemed to be raining lately, but Tom
hardly noticed the depressing rain, nothing could make his mood any more
dismal.  His father and brother had finally persuaded him to break his
self-inflicted hibernation and come down to the Red Lion. 

His family
all thought it was only to do with the wedding being called off.  It was partly,
so he didn’t say anything to change their opinions.  He was devastated that the
baby wasn’t his.  At first, thinking that he was to become a father had
frightened him, all that responsibility, he only had to look at his friend,
John and his sister, Ria, to see how much their lives had changed.  After the
idea had settled, he realised that he wanted to become a Dad, he wanted what
his friend and sister seemed to get so much happiness from.  So, part of his
sadness was to do with the loss of the family he was anticipating.  Most of his
unhappiness, however, was entangled with Willow.  He hadn’t seen her since the
wedding fiasco and didn’t think he should.  Rightly or wrongly, he had chosen
Sarah and the baby over her.  In the end, the decision was his, his alone and
he had to learn to deal with the consequences.  Tom knew it would be totally
unreasonable to expect Willow to welcome him with open arms and it killed him
knowing that, as he still wanted her so badly.  That was why he had stayed out
of her way, curtailing any situation that would have him coming face-to-face
with her.  It wounded him to know that he destroyed what they could have had
together, realising that they could never go back, and that had been excruciatingly
painful to deal with.  He took a steadying breath before he entered the bar, fully
aware that he would have to face Willow, he just hoped he could manage it. 

Willow
faltered when she saw Tom enter behind his father and brother.  She cursed silently,
he still affected her like no one else had.  She looked towards her mother, who
was watching her intently and silently mouthed
I’m okay.
 She made
herself look back towards the bar area, determined to look as normal as
possible.  She had, after all, been practising how she would react when she saw
Tom, for a couple of weeks. 

Irritation
swept through her when she suddenly noticed an increase of noise and looks
towards Tom.  No doubt all the gossips judging a situation they knew nothing
about.  Protectiveness surged through her, quickly followed by helplessness. 
She wouldn’t be the one to stand next to him through life’s ups and downs and
like it or not, she wasn’t going to be the one to defend him.  He had made his
feelings completely obvious when he hadn’t come to see her or even try to get
to see her in the weeks following the wedding fiasco.  Willow, like most of the
locals, had only got snippets about what had occurred.   Tom and Sarah’s
families certainly had closed ranks, not admitting or denying anything.  No one
was really any the wiser to why Sarah didn’t turn up to the church, or why they
were not now married.  Of course, the gossips were watching Sarah’s belly to
see if she was really pregnant or not.  Willow gave a heavy sigh, the fact that
Tom hadn’t come to her to explain what had happened, just showed that she was
indeed, just another ‘notch’ on his bedpost. 

As she
looked towards Tom, her heartbeat quickened.  Quickly squashing the feeling she
realised that more time was needed for the healing of her heart to take place. 
The only thing Willow was sure about was that she would encase her heart with
stronger defences, so it didn’t get battered ever again.  She plastered a smile
on her face, which didn’t reach her eyes.  “Evan, Michael, Tom,” she nodded to
each of them in turn.  “What can I get you this evening?”

“Come on
boys, I need your money now to put behind the bar ready for the lock in.  You
know we have to put it behind the bar before closing.”  Jack stood up, starting
to lose patience, waiting for his friends to dig into their pockets.

“Is there a
lock in tonight?  I noticed Mr and Mrs Dawkins aren’t here.”  One of the
regulars on the next table enquired.  

“Yes, Willow
just gave the go ahead.” 

One of the
boys, Will, looked around the crowded bar and took a quick sip of his pint.  He
leaned forward and muttered under his breath as he cast a glance around the
room.  “It sure is busy tonight.  It will be nice when it’s just us locals, not
all these football supporters.”

Tom picked
his own up drink and drew off a long swallow before answering, “Yes well, I’m
sure the pub is glad of the extra money the away supporters bring in.”  He
still felt a little uneasy with all the unfamiliar faces, despite his reply to
the contrary.