Swansea Summer (23 page)

‘I warn you.’ He gave her his most gallant smile. ‘I’m used to getting my own way.’

‘So am I, Sam.’

His smile turned to a scowl as he closed the door behind him.

Chapter Thirteen

‘That was good.’

‘There’s more sausage and potato, if you want it,’ Lily offered.

‘No thanks, love, I’ve eaten too much for comfort as it is.’ Roy loosened his belt and sat back in his chair as Lily cleared his plate. ‘This afternoon shift is a killer. I feel as though it’s six, not eleven o’clock. But you don’t have to sit up with me. You have work in the morning.’

‘I told Jack to ask Martin to call up when he comes in. He’s gone to a leaving do for one of his workmates.’

‘Problem?’ He frowned.

‘No.’ She carried his plate and cutlery into the kitchen and stacked them neatly next to the frying pans. As it wasn’t worth running a sink full of hot water for so few dishes she decided to leave them until the morning and wash them then along with the breakfast things.

‘I’ve been meaning to ask, is it serious between you two,’ he asked, as she returned to the dining room.

‘No, it’s just that my boss wants me to book my summer holidays and I hoped that Martin and I could take some time off together.’

‘In my day it was the boy who did the chasing.’

‘You think I’m chasing Martin?’ she asked hesitantly.

‘Aren’t you?’ He crossed his long legs in front of him as he leaned back in his chair and reached for his pipe.

‘Martin asked me out, not the other way round.’

‘That was weeks ago, love. Things change.’

‘And you think he doesn’t want to go out with me any more?’

‘That’s an odd question, considering you wanted to spend your holidays with him a moment ago.’ Taking out his tobacco pouch, he began to pack the bowl of his pipe.

She sat in one of the easy chairs next to the fire and looked into the flames. ‘I’m not sure what he thinks of me.’

‘A lot, judging by the amount of time he spends here.’

‘I’m not so sure.’

‘I know you, love. Something is wrong. Tell me to mind my own business if you like, but if it’s anything I can help with, all you have to do is ask.’ Leaving the table, he sat in the chair opposite hers.

‘It’s nothing I can put my finger on, Uncle Roy. I just can’t make Martin out. One minute he’s telling me he can’t support a wife and the thought of marriage scares him to death, the next he’s inviting me out for a walk. Then, just when I think we’re getting really close, he starts ignoring me.’

‘You asked him to marry you?’

She laughed at the shocked expression on his face. ‘No. The last thing I want to do at the moment is get married and I told him so.’

‘So he brought up the subject.’

‘Out of the blue, right in the middle of the dance at the Pier.’

‘Before or after Jack got married?’

‘The same day,’ she murmured thoughtfully.

‘Perhaps Jack getting married put the thought in his head and he’s angry because he can’t afford to support a wife like his little brother,’ he diagnosed cautiously.

‘If you’re right, then the last thing I should do is suggest we take our holidays together.’

‘It might be better to let things run their course in their own time, love.’ Finally satisfied with his pipe, he flicked his lighter and lit it. ‘At the risk of sounding like the ancient mariner, you’re both very young.’

‘Helen’s my age, and Jack is three years younger than Martin.’

‘I don’t think you can consider them a good example.’ As he puffed away, clouds of blue smoke wreathed around his head. ‘I wish Norah were here. She’d know exactly what to say and how to say it. I’ve a tendency to speak my mind and think about what I’ve said afterwards.’

She sat back and looked him in the eye. ‘What do you really think about Martin and me going out together?’

‘I think it’s fine as long as you enjoy one another’s company and have a good time.’

‘You don’t think it will last.’

‘A moment ago you said you didn’t want to get married.’

‘I don’t – yet. But who knows, maybe in the future I’ll change my mind.’

‘And who’s going to change it for you, Martin or Joe?’ he asked perceptively.

‘Not Joe.’

‘That sounds very definite for a girl who almost got engaged to him.’

‘I didn’t know him then.’

‘And you do now.’

‘Enough to realise we’re poles apart. Oh, he’s nice enough, but he’s a dreamer.’ She gazed back at the fire, recalling nights when she and Joe had sat before the fire in this same room, studying the flames and imagining shapes in them – fairy-tale castles, wicked witches, glowing caverns of rubies populated by goblins, nothing was too wild or fanciful for Joe.

‘And you’re too old for dreams now, I suppose.’ Without waiting for her to answer he continued, ‘I’ve had a soft spot for Martin and Jack ever since they were nippers. Who wouldn’t, after seeing the way Ernie treated them, but having a father like that creates problems. You must have noticed the way both of them and Katie – keep their distance. Live more within themselves, as it were, than most people.’

‘Katie I’d agree with, but Jack loves Helen.’

‘Yes, he does. I only hope he has the sense not to smother her with it.’

‘You think it’s difficult for Jack, Martin and Katie to relate to other people,’ she said slowly, trying to consider the implications for her and Martin if her uncle was right.

‘I think they haven’t seen much of what you and I would call a normal life, love. In my opinion – and it is only an opinion and I could be wrong – you should take things very slowly with Martin. Let him set the pace.’

‘And not try to push him into spending his holidays with me.’

‘Not unless he suggests it first, love. That doesn’t create a problem for you, does it?’

‘No.’

‘I could take some time off and we could go somewhere …’

‘No, Uncle Roy.’ His unselfishness was so generous and characteristic that she left her seat and kissed the top of his bald head before curling at his feet and resting her head against his knee. ‘You have your wedding and honeymoon to arrange. Judy said if her mother can organise cover for the Mumbles shop she intends to take a couple of weeks off early in July. I’ll take the same fortnight off as her. If Katie can do that too and Helen’s well enough to join us it will almost be like old times. We’ll be able to spend all day together, gossiping, visiting the beach, shopping …’

The doorbell rang.

‘That will be your young man.’ He smiled at her as she rose to her feet. ‘Don’t talk too long. You look tired.’

‘I am. Goodnight.’ She kissed his cheek.

He patted her hand. ‘Sleep tight. We must have a talk soon – about the wedding.’

‘We must.’ She hesitated as the doorbell rang a second time. ‘Nothing urgent, is there?’

‘Nothing that can’t wait, love.’

Martin was walking away when Lily opened the door. He turned back to see her framed in the doorway, the light shining like a halo round her dark hair. The breath caught in his throat. Jack and Sam had joked that Lily couldn’t live without him for five minutes but he knew different after seeing her in the Kardomah with Joe and again tonight. It was obvious Joe had walked her home from work and he was certain she only wanted to see him to tell him she was taking back his ring.

‘I’m sorry, Marty, I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.’

‘Jack said you wanted to see me.’

‘Yes.’ She opened the door wider. ‘Come in.’

‘It’s late.’

‘My uncle’s here and you’ll be just as quick walking down the inside staircase.’ Relenting, he stepped inside.

‘I feel a bit of a fool, I did want to see you but …’ She gave him a nervous smile. ‘It’s not important. Not any more.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yes,’ she answered awkwardly.

‘You must have thought it was important at the time.’ He braced himself for her rejection.

‘It was just a small thing. My uncle helped me to think it through. See you tomorrow.’

‘If you want to,’ he answered carelessly, deliberately affecting an offhand manner in response to her refusal to tell him about Joe.

‘If you’re busy …’

‘I’ve been offered overtime.’

‘Some other time, then. Sorry to disturb you.’

‘Goodnight, Lily.’ Utterly miserable, he watched her run up the stairs.

‘Someone’s going to look smart tomorrow.’ Lily returned from the bathroom to see one of Katie’s favourite costumes hooked outside the wardrobe door. Pale-grey, trimmed with black, it was one of the few outfits Katie possessed with a straight skirt. Beneath it, she had set out a pair of plain black leather court shoes trimmed with grey buckles, black gloves and handbag, and a tiny black hat, cut at the back to accommodate a chignon.

‘I hope so.’ Katie sat in front of the dressing table and pushed her hair back with a band before smearing her face with Pond’s skin cream.

‘Special day?’

‘Promise you won’t tell anyone.’

‘Promise.’

‘I’ve an interview.’

‘For a job?’ Lily couldn’t have been more astounded. ‘I thought you were happy at the warehouse.’

‘I am – was.’ Katie curled her feet on the stool, rested her head on her knees and hooked the hem of her nightdress round her toes.

‘But not any more.’

Katie shook her head.

‘Want to talk about it?’

Katie hesitated. She hadn’t told a soul about her affair with John Griffiths except Martin and he had point-blank refused to discuss it. But Martin’s refusal hadn’t prevented her from sensing his disapproval. She hadn’t even told him of John’s decision not to see her in private again because she knew he’d not only be relieved but would also try to persuade her to spend time with boys her own age – like Sam. But she couldn’t go on bottling everything up and Lily had never divulged a secret she had entrusted to her, not even when they had been children.

‘I can’t work with John any more.’

‘You mean Mr Griffiths?’

‘Yes.’ Tears ran cold and wet down Katie’s face. She brushed them away with her fingers but not before Lily saw them.

‘I don’t understand. I thought you got on well with him. He tells everyone you’re the best secretary he’s ever had …’

‘I love him.’

Lily dropped the dressing gown she was about to hang on a hook at the back of the door.

‘I couldn’t help it. He’s a wonderful, kind, gentle, thoughtful man. I’ve never met anyone like him. And it is love, not a childish crush.’ She almost dared Lily to say otherwise.

Lily sank down on the bed. ‘Have you told him?’

‘Yes. And the awful thing is, although he says he loves me, because he’s married he won’t see me outside office hours any more and I simply can’t bear to carry on working for him. You’ve no idea what it’s like to be with him every day and pretend he means no more to me than any other boss would.’ She looked across at Lily. ‘Please say something, even if it’s only that you’re horrified.’

‘I’m not horrified but I am surprised.’ Realising she was cold, Lily climbed into bed and pulled the sheet and blankets to her chin. Suddenly everything made sense: Katie’s refusal to continue to see Adam after only a few dates; her insistence on going out as part of a crowd never one of a couple; her long silences and secretiveness. ‘Have you told anyone else how you feel?’

‘Martin knows. John told him he loved me and wanted to marry me when his divorce was finalised the night my father died.’

‘What did Martin say?’

‘He wasn’t pleased. There’s the age difference for a start. And although John and Mrs Griffiths are divorcing they are still legally married, so Martin was upset about that. And because I work for John, Martin accused him of taking advantage of me. Trying to buy me by giving me a job when no one else would, driving me back and to work, allowing me to open a clothing account in the warehouse.’

‘I can see how Martin would think that.’

‘But it wasn’t like that between us, Lily,’ Katie protested. ‘I was the one who told John I loved him, not the other way round. I was the one to kiss him first. If it was seduction it was me who seduced him.’

Before that moment the idea of Katie as a seductress would have brought a smile to Lily’s face, but not now, when she faced the full intensity of Katie’s passion. Whether Katie loved John Griffiths or not, one thing was crystal clear, she believed she did and Lily knew exactly what it felt like to fall in love with someone who didn’t love you back.

‘And now, somehow Mrs Griffiths has found out about us …’

‘She said something?’

‘To John at Helen’s wedding. And because he’s afraid she’ll spread gossip that will hurt Helen and Joe as well as bring up my name in court, he won’t see me alone any more.’

Lily opened her arms as Katie climbed into bed beside her. Hugging her, she wondered why life wasn’t the way they had imagined it would be when they were growing up. Then it had seemed so simple. All a girl had to do was meet the right man – preferably in a ballroom – fall in love and, after an idyllic courtship, marry him and make a perfect home for him to come home to every night. Eventually they’d have one or two children and live happily ever after. She was certain it had never crossed any of their minds that the man might already have a wife and be twenty years older. Or that one of them would have a miscarriage and be separated from her husband by National Service, or the man could live too far away to iron out any misunderstandings.

And her? Should she settle for Joe because he loved her, even if she could never love him back the way she loved Martin, who didn’t seem to want her the way she did him? Was it possible to grow to love someone after marriage? Or perhaps more important, forget someone else?

‘So what did your lady love have to say?’

‘Nothing.’ Undoing the top buttons on his shirt, Martin pulled it over his head and tossed it on to a chair.

‘That I find difficult to believe.’ Jack plumped up his pillow, rested on one elbow and looked at his brother.

‘It’s the truth.’

‘There’s no need to snap my head off.’ Jack softened his tone. ‘Things not going so well between you and Lily?’

‘There’s nothing going on between me and Lily.’ Unbuckling and unzipping his trousers, Martin stepped out of them and dropped them on top of his shirt.

‘You two are finished?’ Jack asked in surprise.

‘We never got bloody started.’ Martin pulled his pyjamas from beneath his pillow. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, it’s late and I have to get up early in the morning.’