Swansea Summer (22 page)

‘I’m sorry about the baby,’ she whispered. ‘I know how much you were looking forward to having a son and now …’

Forgetting the sister’s directive, he sank down on the bed beside her again. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘How can you say that? It was our child.’

‘The doctor told me there was no way it could have lived.’ Blotting the tears from her eyes with his handkerchief, he kissed her gently on the lips. ‘Don’t be angry with me for caring about you more than a baby that never lived. I can’t bear to see you like this.’

‘My mother told me I won’t have any more children ever!’

Caressing her shoulders, he held her close to his chest. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘It does. Jack, don’t you understand …’

‘All I understand is that I can’t live without you,’ he interrupted fervently. ‘The only thing that’s important to me now is that you get well.’

‘I should have listened to you on the train. Let them take me to a hospital in Bridgend.’

‘It would have made no difference.’ Slowly, haltingly he told her what the doctor had told him and John. And all the while he was thinking of what Martin had said before the wedding.
Doesn’t it scare you? A wife and in a few months a baby. Your life mapped out for you.

‘I love you.’ He murmured the trite phrase, wishing there were something more he could say that would prove just how important she was to him.

Helen dried her tears but her eyes looked bruised and anguished as she turned to him. ‘My mother said you’d want children.’

‘Not without you. And your mother’s an old witch.’

She smiled in spite of her pain. ‘I can’t believe you still want me. I have an enormous scar.’

‘It will fade.’

‘I’m ill …’

‘You’ll get better.’

‘It could take months.’

‘I don’t care if it takes years. I need you; I’m lost without you. You’re my girl, remember.’

‘Please don’t let my mother come here again.’

‘I’ll talk to the doctors.’

‘Will you?’ She looked at him in wonder.

‘I promise.’ A lump rose in his throat. They had lost their child and he was determined they were not going to lose one another. But how would she feel when he told her he was going to have to spend the next two years away from her?

‘Mr Clay.’ The sister loomed in the doorway.

He moved from the bed to the chair. ‘I didn’t hear the bell.’

‘Your wife …’

‘Wants me to stay with her as long as possible.’ He turned back to Helen. ‘And that is exactly what I intend to do.’

A late lecture on Thursday prevented Joe from waiting for Lily outside the bank, but to his delight he saw her turning the corner of Carlton Terrace as he returned from the university. Running to catch up with her he said, ‘Have you heard there’s a good film on in the Plaza?’

‘I dare say.’ Lily didn’t break her stride.

‘You won’t come with me?’

‘No.’

‘And that’s your last word on the subject?’

‘I’m …’

‘I know, going out with Martin,’ he interrupted flatly.

Trying not to think about the last three weeks when she’d scarcely seen him, she murmured, ‘That’s right.’

‘Probably just as well,’ he acknowledged, trying to keep the conversation light. ‘I should do some revision. The finals are only a couple of weeks away.’

‘Then it sounds as if the last thing you should be doing is inviting people to go to the pictures with you.’

‘You’re not people and the cinema’s more fun than revision.’ He walked with her to her gate. ‘Come to think of it, anything’s more fun than revision.’

‘You will get your degree?’ she asked, knowing how important it was to him.

‘So my tutors tell me.’

‘And then you’re going to Cardiff to work for the BBC.’

‘Not until the autumn. I intend to enjoy one last summer of freedom on the Gower.’

‘Lucky you.’ She opened her handbag and rummaged around for her keys. They had an annoying habit of always sinking to the bottom.

‘You have holidays?’

‘Only two weeks.’

‘When?’

She gave him a sharp look.

‘I’m only asking.’

‘Possibly July.’ Her boss had tried to pressurise her into booking her holiday dates earlier that day, but she had refused, wanting to speak to Martin first in the hope he would be able to take some time off that would coincide with hers.

‘Helen should be fit by then. If I borrow a boat we could go sailing together.’

‘That would be nice.’ She showed the first signs of enthusiasm since he had accosted her.

‘She’ll need cheering up if Jack’s away,’ he added, sensing her change of attitude. ‘You have heard.’

‘That he received his call-up papers? Yes, Katie told me.’

‘Jack hasn’t told Helen yet.’ He watched as she pulled her key from her bag. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t persuade you to come to the cinema.’

‘I’m not. I have a mountain of mending and ironing to do.’ She smiled as Martin ran up the steps of his basement. ‘Martin …’ Her smile faded as he charged past her. ‘Can’t I talk to you for a minute?’

‘I’m late.’

‘Then, when you come back?’

‘I’ve no idea when that will be. I’m going to the pub – it’s a leaving do for one of the mechanics.’ His feet pounded over the pavement as he raced round the corner.

‘Perhaps we should both take a leaf out of Martin’s book.’ Joe went to his front door.

‘What do you mean?’ she questioned defensively.

‘Forget duty and go down the pub. See you around, Lily.’

‘Yes, see you around,’ she echoed, as a sick feeling of foreboding stole through her stomach.

Lily was walking towards the kitchen when there was a knock on the door that closed off the internal basement staircase from the rest of the house. She opened it to find Sam, in his police uniform standing on the stairs.

‘I confess I saw you coming in and as Katie’s out …’

‘You’re watching us!’

‘Only from the best of motives. I did debate whether to bring a cup to borrow some sugar, but decided honesty is the best policy. Can we talk?’

‘We are talking.’

‘I’d talk better over a cup of tea.’

‘Men only ever think of their stomachs,’ she grumbled. ‘Next thing you’ll be telling me is you want a sandwich.’

‘No sandwich, as Martin’s out I’ve volunteered to cook for Jack, that’s if I can prise him out of his bedroom.’

‘He’s shut himself into his bedroom?’

‘Seeing as how he heard today that one month’s postponement of his conscription is all he’s going to get on compassionate grounds, I think he’s entitled to sulk.’

‘Poor Jack and poor Helen, nothing seems to be going right for them.’

‘Perhaps they’re getting all the bad luck they’re ever going to get in one go.’ He sat at the kitchen table while Lily set about making the tea. ‘Is Katie likely to be long?’

‘All she said this morning is that she wanted to clear some work because she’s taking tomorrow morning off.’

He glanced at the clock. Katie was rarely home before six thirty and it was that now. He had at least half an hour and ten minutes should be enough to find out what he wanted to know – if Lily would tell him. ‘Has Katie a steady boyfriend?’ he blurted out awkwardly.

‘That’s a bit personal, Sam.’

‘If she’s free I’d like to ask her out.’ He reached for the sugar bowl and sugared the empty cup she’d placed in front of him. ‘But I heard that her and Adam …’

‘That’s been over a long time.’

‘I’m glad. With things the way they are with Adam …’

‘You boys are idiots,’ she declared indignantly.

‘I’ll not argue with that but to go back to Katie. I’ve tried to let her know I’m interested but she hasn’t picked up on my signals.’

‘You could try the old-fashioned approach,’ she suggested.

‘What’s that?’

‘Forget signalling and ask her outright for a date.’

‘I have. She told me she wasn’t interested.’ He pushed his cup towards her so she could fill it.

‘Then you’ve had your answer.’

‘But it’s not just me, is it. It’s all boys.’ He reached for the milk. ‘What happened between her and Adam? Something must have. He’s obviously still miffed with her and she can’t seem to stand the sight of him.’

She set the teapot on its stand and took the chair opposite his. ‘The only thing I know that happened between Katie and Adam is that she told him she wasn’t interested in going out with him any longer after a few dates.’

‘At least he got a few dates in. If she gave me the same chance I wouldn’t blow it.’

‘I’m not sure he did, “blow it” as you put it.’

‘She’s a pretty girl.’

‘And you can’t understand why she isn’t overwhelmed by your attentions.’

‘As I told Martin, they are strictly honourable.’ He passed her the sugar bowl. ‘They could hardly be anything else, seeing as how I’m sharing rooms with her brothers.’

‘You’ve discussed Katie with Martin?’

‘I mentioned that I would like to go out with her.’

‘And what did he say?’

‘That she’s old enough to make her own decisions.’

She sipped her tea. ‘That sounds sensible.’

He sat back and looked at her. ‘I heard her father beat her mother to death.’

‘You shouldn’t listen to gossip.’

‘Then it’s not true?’

‘In a way,’ Lily admitted cautiously. ‘He did beat her and she ended up in hospital where she died.’

‘Is that why Katie doesn’t like men?’

‘You’ll have to ask her that, Sam.’

‘Then you won’t help me.’

‘Katie’s one of my closest friends,’ she said firmly, wanting to discourage him. ‘I feel disloyal just having this conversation with you. If you want to know anything more, you’ll have to talk to her yourself.’

‘Every time I go near her she runs a mile.’

He looked so crestfallen that Lily relented. ‘What were you going to cook for Jack tonight?’

‘Sausage and chips.’

‘As tonight’s Mrs Lannon’s night for visiting her sister I do the cooking and as it happens I bought sausages. Why don’t you bring yours up here and we’ll eat together. But mash, not chips. It’s easier to reheat when my uncle comes in after his shift.’

‘If you weren’t Martin’s girlfriend I’d kiss you.’

As he went haring downstairs to get Jack, Lily filled the sink with water and threw in a couple of pounds of potatoes. She only hoped she hadn’t given Sam any false hope. Katie had always been reticent to talk about herself, even more so since she had broken off with Adam. For all she knew there could be another boy, but if there was she simply couldn’t work out when Katie saw him.

‘You will tell Martin?’

‘That you want to see him, no matter how late he comes in,’ Jack chanted mechanically as he left the dining room. ‘I won’t forget, Lily. Thanks for the meal. All Martin and Sam can cook is chips.’

‘I heard that,’ Sam shouted from the kitchen.

‘You were supposed to,’ Jack called back.

‘You’re cooking tomorrow.’

‘You like my tinned soup and sliced bread that much?’ Jack opened the door to the basement stairs.

‘I have to wait up for Uncle Roy anyway …’

‘I won’t forget to tell him, Lily,’ Jack assured her.

‘And in case I don’t see you …’

‘I’ll give Helen your love on Sunday.’

‘She really is getting better.’

‘She’ll be better still when I get her out of that hospital.’

‘Tell her Katie and I are storing up all the gossip.’

‘I will.’ He gave her a small smile. ‘And thanks again for the meal, even if all this attention does make me feel like a charity case.’

‘None of us thinks of you like that. It’s just that …’

‘You want to do something for Helen, you can’t and I’m the next best thing.’

His candour embarrassed her. ‘Look after yourself, Jack. If not for yourself, then because Helen needs you.’

‘Goodnight.’

Lily waited until he closed the door before returning to the dining room. Straightening the tablecloth, she re-laid the table for her uncle. As she busied herself with clean cutlery and crockery, she could hear Sam and Katie in the kitchen. She made a conscious effort not to listen to what they were saying but she couldn’t help noticing that Sam – not Katie – was doing most of the talking.

‘But you will be going to the Pier next Saturday?’

Katie kept her eyes focused on the sink as she stacked the last plate on the draining board. ‘Possibly, if Lily and Martin go.’

‘And the chances are if Martin goes, I’ll be going with him and as we’ll all be together anyway. I just don’t understand why you won’t let me take you.’

‘Because if you did, it would be like we were going out together.’

‘But we are going out together,’ he persisted stubbornly.

‘Only in a crowd.’ She untied her apron and hung it on the peg behind the door.

‘And that’s how you see me, one of a crowd.’

‘I don’t want a boyfriend, Sam.’

‘Just a friend.’ He couldn’t keep the derision from his voice.

‘Yes, please.’

‘Hellfire and damnation!’ He slammed the plate he’d just dried on top of the stack of clean ones. ‘I can’t even have a good quarrel with you. You’re just so … nice,’ he finished in exasperation. He wanted to reach out and stroke her face, or at the very least hold her hand but he sensed her almost physically recoiling from him. ‘You won’t mind if I keep trying?’ he continued in a gentler tone.

‘If by trying you mean asking me out again, I’d prefer you not to.’

‘So, no matter what, you’ll never go out with me.’

‘It’s not you, Sam. I like you, I really do.’

‘You could have fooled me.’

‘You’re fun to be with.’

‘As a friend.’ He summoned his courage and dared to ask the question he had put to Lily earlier. ‘Is there someone else?’

‘There’s no one,’ she answered, wishing with all her heart there were.

‘Then there’s no reason why I shouldn’t keep trying to change your mind.’

‘I won’t.’

Drying the last dish, he flung the tea towel on to a chair. ‘Will you dance with me on Saturday?’

‘If we’re both down the Pier and you ask.’

‘Katie Clay, I swear I’ll wear you down if it’s the last thing I do.’

‘Find another girl to say things like that to, Sam, please.’