Sinners and Shadows (28 page)

‘Plain food. No smoked salmon or little fancy iced cakes and absolutely no caviar.'

‘Sausage and mashed potato,' she joked.

He finished his last bacon roll, dabbed his mouth with his napkin and kissed her. ‘That, my sweet, sounds absolutely perfect.'

Joey sat in his office, staring at the calendar. It was eleven o'clock in the morning on Wednesday, 29 July, two weeks to the day since Rhian had run out of the store and disappeared, and three days to the hour, to the wedding he and Rhian had planned. A wedding that, against his father and brothers' advice, he had categorically refused to cancel.

‘Joey? Joey!' Sali called his name twice before he saw her standing in his office.

‘Sorry, I was miles away.'

‘I saw.'

He left his chair and pulled the visitor's chair into the centre of the room. ‘What brings you to Tonypandy?'

‘Your father is worried about you,' she said. ‘As are your brothers and Megan.'

‘While you, of course, are not?'

‘I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. We drew straws to see who should talk to you. I lost. That, in case you didn't realize, is a joke. But you don't have to smile.'

He reached for the cigarette case on his desk and took one. ‘I feel as though I've slipped into another country. It's similar to the one I was living in and most things are recognizable. I meet people I know and I visit familiar shops to buy my tobacco and newspapers. I go home, my father is there and the furniture is where it's always been. People speak to me in a language I hear but don't quite understand because nothing makes sense. Not without Rhian. I find myself storing up things to tell her on her day off. I write to her at the end of every day, just as I've done since we started to go out with one another in January.'

‘But she hasn't written back?'

‘No, and Mr Larch said there was no point in forwarding any more of my letters to her after I gave him the third. He pointed out that if she wants to get in touch with me she knows where I am.'

‘Joey, about the wedding –'

‘I won't cancel it!'

He was so vehement she didn't dare broach the subject again. ‘You do know that you can take as much time off work as you want.'

‘I have a two-week holiday starting on Monday.' He gave her a cold smile that didn't reach his eyes. ‘My honeymoon, remember?'

Sali plucked up courage to ask the question uppermost in all the family's minds. ‘Joey, what are you going to do if she doesn't turn up?'

‘Keep waiting. What else can I do?' He lit his cigarette. ‘If you have another suggestion I'm willing to hear it.'

‘I only wish that I did have one to give you.'

‘Are Lloyd and the children all right?'

There was real concern in his voice and she was touched that he could think of them given his present wretched state. ‘Edyth is teething but otherwise they're all fine. Harry's been asking after you.'

‘Tell him I'll come and see him as soon as I have time.'

‘I will.' She picked up her bag and left the office. She wished she could say something to comfort him, but if there were words that would help, she simply didn't know what they were.

Edward waited until he and Rhian were drinking their after-lunch coffee to broach the subject that was never far from his thoughts. ‘Mr Evans called into my office again this morning.'

‘You said he calls in every day.'

‘Twice a day most days, and he watches the front door of my office from the store in between.'

‘I will see him soon,' she promised.

Edward almost asked, ‘Will you?' but the words remained unspoken. The last thing he wanted to do was question his good fortune, but the insecurity that had plagued him since he had lost Amelia suddenly and without any warning made him do exactly that. Before Rhian had moved in, the rooms had been a retreat, but she had transformed them into a home that he missed the minute he walked away from it.

He often thought of her during his working day. He liked to imagine her sitting in the living room, reading, or cooking in the kitchen, waiting for him to join her and, as a result, he had taken to calling in on her unexpectedly whenever he had a few free minutes.

He adored seeing the expression on her face when he brought her flowers, chocolates, or expensive silk lingerie that he suspected gave him more pleasure than her. He looked forward to meals as he hadn't done in over a year. But no matter how often Rhian reassured him that she wouldn't leave him, he couldn't quite believe that his new and blissful domesticity wasn't going to disappear just as abruptly as it had done once before. And the main cause of his misgivings was Rhian's continued avoidance of the world outside of the building.

The weather was hot even for July, the rooms stifling, no matter how wide they opened the windows, but Rhian made no attempt to go outdoors, not even as far as the backyard. Joseph Evans was persistent and very obviously deeply in love. Edward recognized his devotion because he had felt the same way about Amelia before they'd married, and he simply couldn't bear the thought of Joseph snatching Rhian back just after he'd found, if not happiness exactly, the peace and contentment that had eluded him for so long.

Almost as if she sensed his thoughts, Rhian moved closer to him on the sofa. ‘I saw Mrs Ball today; she said the shop is ready to open.'

‘It is. I've been meaning to talk to you about it. I could get it stocked and ready for customers in two days.'

‘Why don't you?'

‘You haven't stepped out of these rooms in two weeks. I didn't want to rush you into something you weren't ready for. Managing the shop means meeting people and having to talk to them. If you've had second thoughts, I could find someone else to run it.'

‘I haven't had any second thoughts.' She finished her coffee and set her cup aside. She knew that Edward was aware that Saturday was to have been her wedding day. ‘If I give you a letter for Joey, will you see that he gets it?'

‘Of course. But aren't you going to see him?'

‘Yes, I'll write to ask him to meet me somewhere public but quiet.'

‘The tea shop might be a good place.'

‘It might,' she replied.

‘If you prefer privacy with people within earshot, you couldn't do better than his office. He's there when I unlock the office door at eight and he's still there when I lock up in the evening. I warn you now, he looks dreadful.'

‘You think I'll go back to him, don't you?'

‘I'd hate to lose you, but should you decide to go ahead with your wedding to him after all –'

‘I won't,' she interrupted vigorously.

‘But if you should,' he repeated, ‘I don't want you to feel that you owe me anything.'

‘We've talked about this, and I've made up my mind.'

‘Then go and see him tomorrow. I'll take a letter if you want me to.'

‘I do. He might have meetings booked with suppliers or someone else. It would be embarrassing for both of us if I had to sit around waiting for him to finish. I'll suggest I visit the store at lunchtime. I hope he's free, because only half the staff are on duty then, so it should take twice as long for any gossip about my reappearance to circulate around the town,' she added dryly.

‘About the shop.'

‘Yes, please, let's talk about the shop.' She snuggled her head down on his shoulder.

‘I thought I might postpone the opening until the end of the miners' fortnight holiday, which will take us to Monday, the tenth of August. That will give us a week's grace. If you're agreeable we could go away. The seaside is glorious when the weather is like this.'

‘Go on holiday, with you?' Her eyes rounded incredulously.

‘Yes, with me. The Lord only knows you need a break. You've been cooped up for so long in this house I think you've forgotten what fresh air is like. I thought we'd go to a hotel.'

‘A hotel? You'd take me to a hotel?'

‘Somewhere where no one who knows us is likely to go. Brighton or the Isle of Wight, perhaps. I'll book us in as Mr and Mrs Edward Larch.'

‘And your wife?' she asked in amazement.

Edward had only visited Llan House twice in the last two weeks, but Rhian could imagine Mrs Larch's fury if she discovered that her husband had taken her former maid to a hotel.

‘It's a matter of the greatest indifference to me whether she finds out or not but it's important we keep up appearances as long as we can for the sake of my practice. Mrs Ball can hire a brake to take you and your luggage to the station. You'll have to change trains at Cardiff, and I'll meet you there. I'll book seats for us when I book the hotel. We'll have a week with nothing more onerous to do than go for walks on the sands, eat cream teas, breathe in fresh air and do some shopping for you. You're in desperate need of new clothes.'

Rhian thought of the trousseau she and Sali had chosen with such care, which was still in Gwilym James in Pontypridd. ‘Me, in a hotel! Being waited on hand and foot!' She was stunned by the thought.

‘You in a hotel.' He smiled at her astonishment. ‘But first, promise me that you'll see Joseph Evans.'

It was then that she realized the trip was to be a reward for breaking the final, tenuous ties that bound her to Joey. Despite everything she'd said to the contrary, Edward was still worried that she'd leave him, and he wouldn't be certain she'd stay until she had seen Joey again – and returned to him.

‘A letter has just come for you, Mr Evans.' Miss Robertson knocked Joey's open door.

Joey's heart beat a tattoo. He jumped up and took it from her. ‘Who delivered it?'

‘The doorman gave it to me.'

Recognizing Rhian's writing, Joey tore the envelope open. ‘Send him in, Miss Robertson.' He had to rub his eyes to stop the letters dancing on the page.

Mr Larch has told me that you call in the office every day to ask about me. If you want to see me, send a message to Mr Larch's office, saying when and where, but it has to be a public place and
I warn you, no matter what you say, it will be for the last time.

Rhian

‘Not even Dear Joey …'

‘Miss Robertson said you wanted me, Mr Evans,' the doorman muttered diffidently.

‘Yes. Who brought this?' He held up the envelope.

‘Mr Larch's messenger boy five minutes ago, Mr Evans.' He waited. When Joey didn't say anything else, he asked, ‘Will that be all, Mr Evans?'

‘Yes.' Joey sat at his desk, picked up his pen and dipped it in his inkwell.

Dear Rhian

The sooner the better. Is my office public enough?
I will leave the door open and I will be here for as long as the store is open.

All my love, as always,

Joey

Thursday mornings were the quietest in Dunraven Street. Thursday evenings were bedlam because they were pay nights and the miners and their families swarmed into town to do their weekly shopping and payoff their ‘slates' in the provision shops.

The first Thursday morning of the miners' fortnight holiday was the quietest of all. Unless they had several boys of working age, most miners' families lived from hand to mouth. But the majority still managed to scrape together enough money to pay the train fare to a relatives' house for one week, if not two. Some worked on farms for their keep, regarding two weeks in the open air as holiday enough, and even the poorest of the poor were taken on chapel-and-church-sponsored day trips to Pontypridd Park, Barry Island or Porthcawl.

Joey's reply to Rhian's note had been delivered to Edward Larch's office less than ten minutes after Edward had sent out the messenger boy. He took it into Rhian and told her he was lunching with a client so she wouldn't have any excuse not to see Joey right away. At ten minutes to twelve, she went into the bedroom and opened the wardrobe door. She had sent her uniform dress back to Llan House via Mrs Ball and Harris, Edward's coachman. Since then she had worn a blue cotton skirt and white blouse, and when they were in the wash, a grey cotton skirt and cream cotton blouse, which were the sum total of her summer wardrobe apart from her ‘best outfit', a plain cream linen skirt and the silk blouse Sali had given her.

She put them on, wound her curls into a bun at the nape of her neck, pinned on a straw hat and after glancing in the mirror to check that her face was clean and there were no marks on her clothes, left Edward's rooms for the first time since he had carried her up the stairs. She knocked on Mrs Ball's door on her way down.

‘Rhian, you look pretty,' Mrs Ball exclaimed in surprise.

Rhian thought she detected a note of condemnation in the widow's voice, and wondered if she were being over sensitive. Mrs Ball had confided that she had been one day away from the workhouse when Mr Larch had offered her a job, so she was hardly likely to risk her home and livelihood by passing judgement.

‘I'm going out, but I won't be long. Mr Larch has given me the front door key.'

‘I'll put the groceries in your kitchen when they come, shall I?'

‘Please.' Rhian ran down the remaining stairs and stepped out. She felt odd, almost as though she had been ill and this was her first outing after being incarcerated in a sickroom. Only she hadn't been sick – unless heartsick counted, she thought bleakly.

She faced the road. The street seemed bigger than the last time she had been in it, the trams, carriages, bikes and carts, noisier. Pungent scents wafted from the shops and the road and she breathed in the smell of raw and smoked meats, shoe leather, lamp oil, freshly baked bread, overripe cheeses and horse manure. A van rattled past with an unsteady load and she jumped, startled by the noise.

She faced Gwilym James. Pretending not to hear the whispers of her fellow pedestrians or notice the stares of the doorman and staff in the store, she headed straight for it and didn't stop walking until she reached Joey's office.