The Quality of Love (38 page)

When she confirmed that the baby was due around Easter, Lloyd and Celina decided on an autumn wedding. Rhoslyn was to be bridesmaid and once they told her this she chattered about nothing else from the time she woke up in the morning until she went to bed at night.

They also told her that there would be a new baby but at the moment all she could envisage was being dressed up in a pretty white dress with a frilled skirt, rosebud trimming around the neck, and little puff sleeves.

She constantly rehearsed the part she would be playing either following Celina around the house pretending to be holding her train, or standing in front of the cheval mirror pretending to be taking the bouquet from Celina.

Even after she had agreed that they would move to Pen-y-lan Road, Sarah insisted that they went on living at Cyfartha Street until after the wedding. She planned that they would move whatever furniture they decided to keep and all their other possessions in while Lloyd and Celina were away on their honeymoon.

‘When you come back it will be the start of
a new life for all of us. It will also give us plenty of time to get settled in before Christmas,' she said.

It was a beautiful warm, sunny September day when Lloyd and Celina got married. The church was packed with employees from Morgan's and several of Celina's own friends who lived nearby. Alvia and Marie were there, both of them wearing outstanding new hats that brought a smile from Owen.

Rhoslyn behaved perfectly and looked like a little angel in her dainty dress and with flowers in her hair. Her only disappointment was that although she'd been practising for ages how she would have to carry Celina's train she found that there wasn't one.

‘I thought that a white wedding with all those sorts of things would be out of place at my age,' Celina said smiling.

Instead, she wore an oyster two-piece with cream shoes and a very ornate cream cloche hat which was tastefully trimmed with oyster-coloured silk roses.

Lloyd looked extremely smart in a new dark suit and a light cream-coloured shirt with a cream silk tie which had thin black stripes on it.

Sarah chose a navy blue loose coat in slubbed silk over a lighter blue dress and a dark blue cloche hat decorated with light blue silk flowers.

After the simple ceremony the family went
to a restaurant for a very special meal before Lloyd and Celina set off on a two-week tour of North Wales.

It was somewhere that neither of them had ever visited before. ‘We're both looking forward to enjoying the scenery; seeing Snowdon and exploring all those great castles,' Lloyd told Sarah and Owen.

After Christmas, as the days to her confinement drew closer, Sarah sometimes wondered how she had ever managed to do all the mundane domestic jobs that had been her responsibility in the past. Now there was a daily woman to take care of all the scrubbing and general cleaning as well as a cook-housekeeper to make sure that meals were always served on time and there was no clearing away or washing-up to be done afterwards.

Donkey-stoning the steps, washing, mangling and ironing all their clothes and household linen, were no longer her responsibility either and although she still spent several days a week working at the office she felt nowhere near as tired as she'd done in the past.

Celina had made a good many changes in her house to ensure their comfort and welfare. Living together as one big family was proving far more enjoyable than Sarah had ever imagined it would be and so carefree and different from when she had been a child.

Later in the year Rhoslyn would be starting
school but she would be under no pressure from any of them to work hard or always be top of the class. Not only was Lloyd far more easygoing these days but he also readily admitted that he'd been wrong to pressurise Sarah so much when she'd been at school.

Lloyd and Celina were both so happy and contented that it was a delight to be in their company. They adored Rhoslyn but they were careful to make it clear to her that her Mummy and Daddy were the ones she was answerable to and they never interfered with any rules Sarah and Owen imposed.

Rhoslyn had also been encouraged to mix with other children. They occasionally played out in the street but more often than not Lloyd and Celina would take her and a little friend along to the park.

SchoSchool seemed to hold no fears for Rhoslyn, but long before that eventful day there would be an even more momentous occasion when the new baby arrived. Sarah knew that Owen was hoping that it would be a boy who perhaps one day would take over the running of the business, but they were now such a happy, united family that the baby would be surrounded by love whether it was a boy or a girl.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Epub ISBN: 9781409035961

Version 1.0

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published by Arrow Books 2009

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Copyright © Rosie Harris 2009

Rosie Harris has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

First published in Great Britain in 2009 by

Arrow Books

Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,

London, SW1V 2SA

Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9780099527381