Tiger Bay Blues (33 page)

‘Yes, but we were having lunch with the Bishop and Reverend Price. Edyth, you’re not unhappy, you’re angry.’

‘Yes, I am.’ She stopped and looked at him. ‘I am angry that you didn’t consult me.’

‘Mother’s frail. You’ve met Aunt Alice, heard the way she talks. She likes company and an active social life. Mother is more refined; she prefers to spend her time contemplating, reading and meditating. You won’t even know she’s in the house, I promise you. And don’t forget, we’ll both be busy with parish business. Mother can keep an eye on Mrs Mack and see that the house is run properly.’ He tossed off the last remark as an afterthought.

‘Knowing that Mrs Mack is a poor cook and, from the state of the house when I saw it, a dismal housekeeper, you told her that we would keep her on?’ she asked incredulously.

‘Yes.’

‘I was only there for a short time but the vicarage was dirty, Peter. There was dust everywhere and the tiles in the passage looked as though they hadn’t been washed in months.’

‘She was busy looking after Reverend Richards. I could hardly throw her out, Edyth. She’s been at the vicarage for forty years. And –’

‘And?’ she pressed, furious that he had not only arranged for his mother to move in with them but also engaged an incompetent housekeeper.

‘… And she’s a friend of the Bishop’s wife’s cousin,’ he finished lamely. Large, fat raindrops fell heavily from the sky. He opened his umbrella and held it over her. ‘We can stop in the Mermaid Hotel for tea, if you like.’

She thought of the last time she had been in the Mermaid Hotel with her parents. ‘No, thank you,’ she said abruptly.

Offering her an olive branch, he said, ‘We can go anywhere you like, Edyth, I’m sorry. I should have been more open with you.’

‘Yes, you should have.’ She pulled her hat down as far as it would go to protect her hair. ‘Did you think that I’d refuse to allow your mother to live with us?’

‘I hoped you wouldn’t.’

Forced to accept that Mrs Slater had outmanoeuvred her, she resolved to make the best of the situation. ‘Peter, she’s your mother. Of course we can offer her a home as she has none.’ She took his arm. ‘Let’s go to the George Hotel. And, if this rain doesn’t let up, we can get a taxi from there back to the Caswell Bay.’

‘Thank you.’ He kissed her cheek.

‘Just one thing, Peter,’ she clung to his arm as he headed for a belt of trees that offered a little shelter as the downpour escalated into a cloudburst, ‘from this moment on, we discuss everything that affects our married life.’

‘I promise, Edyth.’ He clutched her gloved hand. ‘I’m sorry. I know it’s not much of an excuse, but I’ve been a bachelor for so long, I’m not used to considering the wishes of others. Have a little patience with me?’

She quickened her pace to match his. They had what was left of this week and one whole week to put the vicarage in order before his mother descended on them. And if she took the opposite tack to Aunt Alice and went out of her way
not
to annoy Florence Slater, perhaps she could make a friend of her, after all.

Even as she formulated the thought, she suspected that putting her idea into practice was going to be difficult, especially as she doubted that Peter’s mother would make any concessions to her position as Peter’s wife and mistress of the vicarage.

The clerk left his reception desk and met Edyth and Peter at the door of the hotel. ‘Reverend Slater, Mrs Slater, two gentlemen have called to see you; they insisted on waiting. I showed them into the Residents’ Lounge.’

‘Did they say what they wanted?’

Edyth didn’t wait for the clerk to answer Peter. She ran into the lounge, tripped in the doorway and, to her astonishment, saw her father and Uncle Joey sitting at a table with pints of beer in front of them.

‘Falling over as usual, I see, Edyth.’ Joey left his seat and kissed her cheek. ‘Hello, Peter.’ He shook Peter’s hand when he joined them.

‘Dad? Uncle Joey? What on earth are you doing here?’ Edyth looked at her father.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Sit down, Edie. You too, Peter.’ Lloyd closed the door and told them in as few words as possible what had happened to David.

Peter sat, outwardly at least, unperturbed, but Edyth clutched her handkerchief to her mouth as her eyes rounded in horror.

‘You really think David tried to kill himself because I married Peter?’ she asked her father.

‘No,’ Lloyd assured her. ‘It’s as Harry said. David’s spent practically all his life on the farm. He doesn’t know many people and, as a result, he put far more store by the friendship you offered him than you did, that is all.’

‘How is Mary taking it?’ Peter asked.

Lloyd turned to his son-in-law. ‘As you’d expect, Peter, badly. She and David are very close. But we have to concentrate on the good news. David spoke and recognised Harry when we went to see him this morning. He’s in excellent hands and everything that can be, is being done for him.’

‘We came because we didn’t want you reading about it in the newspapers or hearing it from someone else,’ Joey explained. ‘People from Pontypridd visit Swansea all the time, commercial travellers and the like. You know how people gossip.’

‘I do, and I’m glad you came to tell me.’ Edyth clasped her father’s hand.

‘Are you staying the night? Because if you are, I’ll get you a room.’ Peter left his chair.

‘No, we both have to work in the morning.’ Lloyd glanced at his wristwatch. ‘The trains leave Swansea for Cardiff on the half-hour.’

Edyth glanced at the grandmother clock in the corner of the room. The hands pointed to five o’clock. ‘Give me half an hour to pack and I’ll come with you, Dad.’

‘Don’t be silly; Edyth, this is your honeymoon,’ Lloyd emphasised. ‘I would never have come here if I thought you’d interrupt it.’

‘No, Mr Evans, Edyth is right,’ Peter said to Lloyd and Joey’s surprise. ‘Edyth’s place is with her family at a time like this. I know her. She won’t rest a moment until she sees Harry and Mary. And David, if that’s possible. And, as her husband, my place is at her side. I’ll go and book out of the hotel and telephone my mother and my aunt to let them know we’re leaving. I’ll just say that a member of your family has been taken ill, Edyth.’ He clasped her shoulder.

She laid her hand over his. ‘Thank you,’ she said gratefully.

‘You certainly won’t be able to see David for a while, Edie,’ Lloyd warned, recalling the ward sister’s attitude.

‘But I will be able to see Mary and Harry, Dad, and I need to. If you won’t wait for us, I’ll only catch a later train.’

‘I don’t doubt you will, Edie,’ Lloyd agreed wryly. He looked from Peter to Edyth, and recognised the tell-tale signs of obstinacy on his daughter’s face. ‘Very well. Both of you go and pack, and tell the hotel and Peter’s mother that you’re leaving. In the meantime I’ll order some sandwiches.’

‘We had a very good lunch, Dad.’ Edyth went to the door.

‘You might have, miss,’ Joey said, ‘but we certainly didn’t.’

Chapter Seventeen

Bella carried a clean nightdress, vest and nappy into Harry and Mary’s room. Believing herself to be alone, she lifted them to her nose and sniffed them before laying them on the end of the bed.

‘Let me guess, they’re warm from the airing cupboard and scented with lavender water.’

Bella turned and saw Edyth curled on the window seat. ‘I didn’t see you there. Five years ago you would have jumped out and shouted boo to scare the living daylights out of me.’

‘Ah, but now I’m all grown up.’

‘And married,’ Bella reminded.

‘Do they smell of lavender water?’

‘Of course.’ Bella straightened the sleeve of the long cotton and lace nightdress.

‘The smell of our clean nighties when we were little is one of my happiest memories. Bedtime, cocoa, cheese sandwiches and stories read by Mam or Dad.’

‘More often by Mam than Dad. I must ask Mari exactly how much lavender water she sprinkles over the laundry so I can get ours to smell the same way.’ Bella sat in the nursing chair Harry had carried up from their mother’s study. ‘You all packed?’

‘Just about.’

‘Some honeymoon you and Peter have had,’ Bella sympathised.

‘I would have had a wretched time if I’d stayed in Swansea. I’d have worried about what was happening here the whole time,’ Edyth answered. ‘And, as Peter said, we can honeymoon any time. It was more important that I spend this week with Mary and Harry. I feel awful –’

‘Don’t, and stop it,’ Bella broke in. ‘We’ve talked David’s stupidity over until I’m sick of it. I agree with Harry, he must have been drunk to do what he did. And you heard Dad and Harry when they came back from the Infirmary on Wednesday. David is going to recover.’

‘Yes, but it’s going to take months and he may never walk the same –’

‘But thanks to Uncle Huw, he won’t be going to gaol,’ Bella said strongly.

‘I suppose that’s something,’ Edyth allowed grudgingly, although she was amazed that anyone, let alone Huw’s superiors in the police force, had believed that David had jumped off the old bridge to rescue a dog. If he really had seen one struggling in the water – which she doubted – it would have made more sense to run down the bank and wade in, not jump off a high bridge.

‘And here’s our gorgeous little man.’ Bella gave Edyth a warning glance to drop the subject, before swooping down on Harry as he carried in Will, who was damp and wrapped in a towel.

Harry set the baby on the bed and tickled him under the chin. I’ll leave you two to adore my son. Just make sure Mary doesn’t do too much.’ He looked sternly at his wife who walked in with Ruth. ‘I still don’t think that you should be out of bed, let alone bathing Will and playing with Ruth.’

Mary’s response was to laugh and kiss him. ‘Go on, off to work in the store.’

‘You will be back for lunch?’ Edyth asked Harry.

‘I wouldn’t miss your farewell lunch for the world, sis. Ruthie darling,’ Harry lifted his daughter into his arms, kissed her and deposited her on the bed next to Will, ‘look after your brother and Mam for me while I’ve gone, will you?’

She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him.

‘You’ve soaked my waistcoat, little miss. I think you bathed yourself as well as Will,’ he complained.

‘I’ll change her. Come to Auntie Bella, Ruthie.’

‘And I’ll take these soggy clothes down to Mari to wash.’ Edyth took the frock and vest Bella peeled off Ruth.

‘She’s only had them on five minutes.’ Mary rubbed a stain on the front of the bodice, smearing it. She sniffed it. ‘Chocolate?’ She looked from Harry to Ruth. ‘And who gave you chocolate?’

Ruth huddled close to Bella, stuck her thumb in her mouth and muttered, Can’t ’member.’

‘Can’t ’member indeed,’ Mary smiled. ‘It was Daddy, wasn’t it?’

Ruth giggled.

‘I’m innocent,’ Harry protested. ‘Try Glyn.’

‘Off with you.’ Mary pushed him to the door. ‘You’re cluttering up the place.’

‘See you at lunchtime, darling.’ Harry wrapped his arms around Mary, lifted her off her feet and kissed her long and lovingly.

‘What a sight, and before lunch, too,’ Bella teased.

‘Retaliation for the displays you and Toby subject us to. Mary and I may have been married for four years but we’re not past it – yet.’

Bella set Ruth on the bed. ‘Two minutes and I’ll be back with a clean frock, poppet.’

‘Pink one?’ Ruth asked hopefully.

‘If there’s one clean.’

Mary saw Harry to the door. Edyth waited with Ruth and Will until Mary returned, then she went out on the landing. Bella hadn’t got as far as Maggie’s room where Ruth’s cot had been placed the day Will had been born. She was standing in the doorway on tip-toe, her arms wrapped around Toby’s neck, her lips glued to his.

Edyth tried to creep past but Toby saw her. He lifted an eyebrow but made no attempt to release Bella, although he did stop kissing her.

‘Sorry, we’re behaving as if Bella and I are the honeymooners, not you and Peter, Edyth. Just so you know, we’re not trying to steal your thunder.’

‘You’re not,’ Edyth muttered in embarrassment.

‘You’ll be back for Edyth and Peter’s goodbye lunch?’ Bella asked Toby.

‘I will, Bopsy. But much as I’d like to stay and keep you company this morning, I have to go and work on the portrait of Mr Moore’s dog.’

Bella frowned. ‘I thought you were painting his granddaughter.’

‘I am,’ he grinned.

‘Just be careful someone other than Edyth doesn’t hear you calling her that. If they do, it might be the last commission you get from the Moores.’ The goodbye kiss she gave him escalated into another full embrace.

Edyth ran down the stairs and saw her father at the front door showing out Huw Davies.

‘Hello, Uncle Huw. I didn’t know you were here.’

‘And hello and goodbye, Edyth.’ He shook Lloyd’s hand. ‘You’ll remember what I said, Lloyd. There’s no truth in the rumour.’

‘I’ll remember, Huw.’

‘What rumour?’ Edyth asked her father as they watched Huw walk down the drive.

‘That his superiors told him he’d never be promoted for sticking to his story that David jumped into the river after a dog.’ He closed the door.

‘It’s not true?’ she asked.

‘I’m afraid it is, my sweet,’ Lloyd said thoughtfully. ‘Huw Davies has sacrificed a great deal for this family.’

‘For his principles.’ Sali came out of the sitting room and took Lloyd’s arm. ‘Ruth’s clothes?’ she asked Edyth, looking at the bundle in her hand.

‘She helped Harry and Mary bath Will. I’m taking them to Mari.’ Edyth glanced back down the passage when she reached the kitchen door. Her father’s arms were locked around her mother’s waist and they were kissing just the way Bella and Toby had been.

Wondering if every man in the world was a romantic except for her husband, she flung the kitchen door open only to hit Peter, who was coming out, on the nose.

He grimaced in pain and wiped his nose with his handkerchief to check it wasn’t bleeding. ‘Is there a fire, Edyth?’

Edyth! He never called her anything except Edyth – not ‘sweetheart’ as her father did her mother, or ‘darling’ as Harry usually addressed Mary, or ‘Bopsy’ as Toby had nicknamed Bella – not that she would have particularly wanted to be called Bopsy, which reminded her of the dolls she and Belle had christened.

‘No, there isn’t. Sorry, I didn’t know you were behind the door.’ Feeling her temper rising for no good reason, she handed Ruth’s clothes to Mari. ‘Ruth helped to bath Will.’

‘So I see.’ Mari shook out the frock. ‘And she managed to spread that chocolate Harry gave her all over herself.’

‘Harry blamed Glyn.’

‘He gave it to both of them.’ Mari ran a sink full of cold water and plunged the clothes in it. ‘The parents make more work than the children in this house,’ she grumbled good-naturedly.

Peter held up a tin. ‘I’m taking one of the fruit cakes you made yesterday down to Reverend and Mrs Price.’

‘Good idea. A goodbye present and a thank you for their dinner last night, all in one.’ Edyth hadn’t eaten much of the dinner but Peter had out of politeness, and suffered for it afterwards with a severe case of indigestion.

He pecked her cheek. ‘See you at lunch, Edyth. I’ve finished my packing and locked my case.’

‘Wonders will never cease; a man who can fold his own shirts,’ Mari mused.

‘I’ve been a bachelor for so long, Mari, it’s nice to have a woman fussing over me.’ Peter winked at the elderly housekeeper, and Edyth felt suddenly, unaccountably, and ludicrously jealous. ‘You’ll remember to finish your packing, Edyth?’

‘I will, and I’ll be ready to catch the two-thirty train, Peter.’

‘Good, see you at lunch.’ He opened the door warily and walked down the passage.

‘You and Belle up in Mary’s room?’ Mari asked.

‘Yes.’

‘I’ll bring up tea and some of my spice biscuits.’

‘That would be nice.’

‘What would be nice, Edie?’ Sali walked in.

‘Elevenses in Mary’s room,’ Edyth explained.

Sali slipped her arm around Edyth’s waist. ‘I was just saying to your father that I’m going to miss you girls when you go to Cardiff and Mary and Harry go back to the farm.’

‘Surely Harry and Mary won’t be leaving for a while? Will is only just a week old and David’s in hospital.’

‘Harry said they’ll stay for at least another week but it will soon pass. Lunch under control, Mari, as if I need to ask?’

‘All under control, Miss Sali, you can go to the shop with Harry with a clear conscience. It will be on the table at one sharp so the newlyweds can leave shortly after two.’

‘See you then, darling.’ Sali kissed Edyth and received a hug from her daughter in return. Sali frowned. Was it her imagination or was Edyth’s embrace more intense than usual?

Edyth saw her mother and Harry out then walked back upstairs. Ruth was giggling and pretending to run away from Bella, who was having no success in dressing her.

‘Mari is bringing up elevenses and spice biscuits,’ she announced, ‘but only for little girls who are dressed.’

Ruth ran to Bella and obediently held her arms up straight. As Mary was busy with the baby, Edyth returned to the window seat. As soon as Ruth was dressed she left Bella and climbed on Edyth’s lap.

‘There’s no use looking in my pocket,’ Edyth said to her niece, ‘I haven’t any hidden chocolate like your father.’

‘I knew Harry had given it to her.’ Mary tucked the nightdress around Will’s legs.

‘And Glyn apparently, but Mari said Harry waited until after breakfast.’

Bella sat in the nursing chair. ‘As Will’s fed and bathed, can I nurse him to sleep?’ she asked Mary.

‘Practising?’ Mary handed him over.

‘I hope, although there’s no sign of any babies as yet.’

‘You’ve only been married two months.’ Edyth watched the raindrops beating down on the window pane. It was a grey, overcast, miserable day, and she couldn’t help thinking that it matched her mood.

‘Just as long as you don’t beat me to it, Edyth.’ Bella glanced across at her sister.

Edyth buried her face in Ruth’s hair so Mary and Bella wouldn’t see the expression on her face. Peter had behaved no differently in her parents’ house than he had in the hotel, insisting that he wanted to leave the beginning of their married life until they were in their own home. She was beginning to find his behaviour not only frustrating but infuriating.

‘You look very pensive for a bride, Edyth,’ Mary commented.

‘She’s thinking that as of today she’s going to be a vicar’s wife and she’s dreading it,’ Bella suggested.

‘Are you dreading it?’ Mary asked in concern.

‘Not at all,’ Edyth refuted. ‘From what Peter told me, the parishioners are all lovely people.’

‘There’s bound to be at least one old bat, like Mrs Hopkins, intent on making the new vicar’s wife hell just because she’s young.’ Bella stroked the baby’s cheek with her little finger. ‘But if you have any trouble, just let us know and Toby and I will come down and sort them out for you.’

‘And how would you do that?’ Edyth laughed.

‘You’d be surprised,’ Bella said darkly.

‘I think I would.’

‘Want to see Mari.’ Ruth climbed off Edyth’s lap and peered at her brother, who was already sleeping soundly in Bella’s arms, before going to the door.

‘No more chocolate, Ruthie,’ Mary warned.

Ruth shook her head.

‘Or more than one biscuit or you won’t eat your lunch.’

Ruth nodded solemnly; Edyth opened the door and let her out of the room.

‘Here, Edie, I’m being selfish.’ Bella left the chair and handed her the sleeping baby. ‘You can have a last cuddle. I’ll be able to nurse him tomorrow and the day after.’

‘Thank you.’ Edyth took the chair Bella had vacated.

‘So how is married life, Edyth?’ Bella took Edyth’s place on the window seat.

‘Don’t embarrass the poor girl.’ Mary was disconcerted at the way Harry’s sisters discussed the most personal and intimate aspects of their lives. ‘We all know what married life is like.’

‘Yes, we do,’ Bella smiled broadly. ‘I knew it was going to be good, but not this good. Sex on tap any time of the day or night – I’m sorry, Edie, I didn’t think. I can wander into Toby’s studio and interrupt him any time, but you can hardly do that if Peter is talking to his parishioners. Not unless you want to give them an eyeful, that is.’

‘I’m not sure what our life in the vicarage is going to be like – yet,’ Edyth murmured. The tone of her voice prompted Bella to change the subject.

‘Another month and we’ll be in our own house. Harry can have his back – that’s if you and he want to move in there. I’m sorry, Mary, that was tactless of me but I thought you might want to be near to David, that’s if they keep him in the Infirmary that long.’

‘I do want to be near him.’ Mary’s face fell. ‘I can’t wait to see him but the doctor won’t allow me to visit while I’m nursing Will for fear of picking up an infection in the ward, and, as there’s little likelihood of David coming out for a month, I suppose I’ll have to content myself with writing letters and sending messages via Harry.’

Realising she’d upset Mary, Bella changed the topic of conversation again. ‘So, Edyth, tell us: which side of the bed does Peter sleep on?’