Winners and Losers (35 page)

‘Selfish!' he exclaimed.

‘Absolutely. What would I do on my afternoons off if you weren't around?' Megan said tartly.

Sali suppressed a smile but Lloyd burst out laughing. ‘Answer that one if you can, Victor.'

‘What I'd like to know is who made those anonymous statements about us that Sergeant Lamb submitted to the magistrates,' Joey said darkly.

‘The troubles caused by the strike are being used to settle a lot of scores.' Lloyd turned away from the sight of Luke Thomas being marched to the police station in handcuffs. Knowing he had no chance of paying his fine, Luke had opted to go to gaol at once. ‘Much as I hate to say it, little brother, given your behaviour over the last couple of years, there are a lot of husbands, fathers and brothers who've good reason to get back at you. We all warned -'

‘You're not Dad, so spare me the bloody lecture!' Joey thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his overcoat and stormed off.

‘Where are you going?' Victor shouted after him.

‘For a walk!'

‘Not into more trouble, I hope,' Lloyd said.

‘I'd have a job to get into any more than I am now,' Joey bit back before turning the corner and walking out of sight.

‘Happy days,' Lloyd muttered. ‘Joey's never been easy to handle, but I swear he's been ten times worse since Mam died.'

‘Dad being in hospital hasn't helped.' The tram arrived and Victor helped Megan on to it.

Sali and Lloyd sat in the double seat behind them. ‘We'll leave you in Dunraven Street, Megan,' Sali said. ‘Lloyd and I have to go to Connie's to pick up Harry and from there we're going on to Pontypridd.'

‘And we won't be back until eight o'clock at the earliest.' Lloyd said meaningfully. He took a shilling from his pocket and handed it to the conductor. ‘Four, please.'

‘I can pay my own fare.' Megan opened her purse.

‘Give the penny to Victor. Since the strike started we have so little money we've made it communal, not that it goes any further.' Lloyd pocketed the tickets and the eight pence change.

‘You have a meeting, Sali?' Victor asked.

‘With Mr Richards in Ynysangharad House,' she answered.

‘While Sali talks business, Harry and I intend to investigate the books and toys in the nursery again. We've already read all the ones we brought back last time we were there. If you're not in a hurry to return to Mrs Palmer's, Megan, we'll see you when we get back.' Lloyd pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and sneezed.

‘As I don't have to do anything in the lodging house until tomorrow morning, Mrs Palmer's not expecting me until late this evening.' Megan glanced self-consciously at Victor. He removed his watch from his waistcoat, opened it and showed it to her. It was only four o'clock.

The tram stopped and Sali and Lloyd stepped off it first.

‘If we see Joey on our way down to the railway station we'll warn him to keep away,' Lloyd said before Megan and Victor turned up the hill.

‘There's no need,' Megan blushed.

‘See you later.' Victor gave Lloyd a stern look of disapproval.

‘When are you going to stop teasing those two?' Sali asked. ‘And don't say what's the point in having a brother if you can't rag him.'

‘All right, if you ask me nicely, I'll stop.'

‘I'm asking nicely.' Sali took Lloyd's arm and they headed for Rodney's. ‘Can I have a word with you before we pick up Harry?'

‘That sounds ominous.'

‘I don't just want to see Mr Richards to sign my will and sort out the adoption papers for Harry.' She braced herself for an outburst. ‘I'm going to ask him to sell the ring Mansel gave me.'

‘I won't hear of it,' Lloyd said flatly.

‘Mansel gave it to me as an engagement ring. I'm hardly going to wear it now I'm married to you. It is worth two thousand pounds ...'

‘If you really want to sell it, and I don't think you should, any money you make is yours and Harry's. I point blank refuse to touch it, and so will my family.'

‘Harry will have more than enough money. When Mr Goldman, the pawnbroker, valued it for me, he said that I shouldn't take less than eighteen hundred pounds for it.'

‘Money you want to use to keep my family until the pits reopen?' he enquired angrily.

‘No.' She gripped his arm hard, forcing him to slow his pace. ‘I want to buy property as an investment for Harry's brother or sister.'

He stopped, turned and stared at her. ‘You're -'

‘Yes, I am. And, as you've so often said, the family shouldn't be dependent on Harry and that goes for future as well as present members. Mr Richards and the trustees told me that the price of property has never been as low in the Rhondda as it is now so I thought I'd ask Mr Richards to take a look around and see if he can find a sound investment. You're not going to argue with me about that, I hope?'

He shook his head dumbly.

They moved closer to Connie's window, away from the crowds who weren't shopping so much as escaping their bleak, unheated houses.

‘I'm sorry. Now is hardly the time or place to break the news to you, but we've never had any secrets between us and I thought you should know that I intend to sell the ring before I finalize the arrangements with Mr Richards.'

‘When –when will the baby be born?' His voice was rough with emotion.

‘About the middle of October.'

‘You've seen the doctor?'

‘No, but I had a chat with Nurse Roberts when I bumped into her on my way to the soup kitchen the other day: You are pleased?' She looked at him through anxious eyes.

He continued to stare at her for a moment then hugged her, much to the amusement of the passers-by.

‘Can we keep it to ourselves –just for the moment?' she pleaded when she released him. ‘Joey and Victor have enough to worry about between their fines, the strike and your father.'

‘We can keep it from everyone for now, sweetheart, except my father,' he said decisively. ‘A granddaughter might be just what he needs to spur on his recovery.'

Chapter Eighteen

‘Lloyd didn't mean anything when he said he'd tell Joey to stay away from the house, Megs. He's only trying to get back at me for the way Joey and I teased him when we first realized that he was carrying on with Sali.' Victor closed the front door and followed Megan into the kitchen. He glanced at the stove. Lloyd had laid the fire before they'd left for the court. He picked up a box of matches from the mantelpiece. ‘We could put a match to that and sit down here, or ...' Turning round, he swept her off her feet.

‘Don't!' she protested, as he pulled her hat from her head and the pins from her hair. ‘Mrs Hopkins was standing at her window when we walked up the street. You know what she's like. She could call in just to check what we're doing.'

‘She wouldn't dare.'

Megan tried to wriggle free but it was hopeless. The more she struggled the more Victor tightened his grip. ‘Victor ...' She dissolved into laughter when he tickled her.

‘Shall I make another bed down here?'

‘Absolutely not.'

‘Then it will have to be my bedroom, that is, unless you don't want to?'

Blood flowed, hot, burning, into her cheeks, but she forced herself to look into his grey eyes. They were tender and so very loving. ‘I ... I want to,' she said softly. ‘Does that make me shameless?'

‘Definitely.' He shifted her weight in his arms so he could open the door. ‘But then, I've discovered that I love my woman shameless.'

Joey wandered aimlessly along Dunraven Street. The light was fading and as the cold spring sun sank over the hills it took what little warmth it had brought to the valley with it. The temperature dropped, but he was scarcely aware of it as he lingered in front of shop windows that had been reduced to displaying the absolute essentials. He stared at a barrel of lamp oil, incensed at the choice he had to make. Either he took Victor's money or went to prison. Much as he hated the thought of being beholden to Victor, he balked at the prospect of prison more.

‘Joey?'

He glanced across the road and saw Rhian with two other maids from Llan House, Meriel and Bronwen. They were standing, obviously waiting for him to join them. Keeping his hands in his pocket, he sauntered towards them.

‘I heard about what happened in court today, Joey, I'm sorry,' Rhian sympathized, when he was within earshot.

‘I'm surprised you're prepared to be seen in public with me, after what you said the last time I asked you out,' he growled, irritated by what he took to be her pity.

‘Rhian, Bronwen and I are more than a match for you, Joey Evans,' Meriel simpered. Joey wondered why attractive girls often had incredibly plain best friends. Meriel was so overweight her fat rippled when she moved, her mousy hair was greasy and her face was covered with angry red spots.

Sensitive to the moods of those around her, Rhian realized Joey was depressed. ‘Meriel, Bronwen and I were just going to the teashop. Why don't you join us?'

‘You're not afraid to be seen with me?' He knew he sounded bitter, but he couldn't help himself.

‘You're outnumbered three to one, it is still daylight and we're going into a teashop. I think our reputations will survive.' Rhian's blue eyes sparkled and her whole face lit up when she smiled. Joey recalled something Betty Morgan had said to him last November, only five months ago yet it seemed a lifetime.

‘Go find yourself a good, clean-living girl. Preferably one who knows how to handle a boy with your wandering ways.'

For the first time, he realized what the old woman had meant. To have a girl like Rhian smile exclusively at him made him feel special. He felt in his pocket. He had the shilling he kept back from his strike pay, and a cup of tea was only a penny. Given that he'd never get together enough money to pay his fine in a week, he may as well treat them and it might go some small way to rehabilitating his reputation. He'd heard the gossips were speculating that Jane Edwards' sudden departure from Tonypandy had something to do with her visit to his house the night before.

Either way, it certainly wouldn't do any harm for him to be seen in a teashop with three respectable housemaids who were in the care of the formidable Mrs Williams, renowned throughout the Rhondda for keeping her girls ‘decent'.

‘If you're going to the teashop anyway, can I buy you girls a cup of tea?'

‘Only if you let us buy you a penny bun.' Meriel linked her arm into his. ‘No girl can afford to be indebted to Joey Evans and that's if only half of the rumours flying around town about you are true.'

‘Probably all of them are –and more we don't know about.' Despite her condemnation, Rhian took Joey's free arm. ‘A cup of tea it is, and if you're very good and don't make a single suggestive remark, we'll even allow you to walk the three of us home.'

‘Mr Evans, could I have a word with you in the library about your investments?' Mr Richards drew Lloyd aside after Mari and Sali went into the drawing room.

Lloyd had long since sold all the investments Mr Richards had been handling for him to buy property, but he recalled the hurried conversation they'd had about Geraint and Mr Jenkins a few weeks earlier. ‘You run on ahead,' he said to Harry, who was hanging back waiting for him. ‘I'll join you and Mam in a moment.'

The fire that blazed in the library hearth was as cheerful as the one in the hall. Lloyd knew there'd be others in the dining and drawing rooms as well as the nursery, bedrooms and servants' quarters.

‘The coal that's burned in this house in a day would keep our entire street supplied for a week,' he commented.

‘This fire isn't lit until late afternoon. Mr Geraint prefers to sit here in the evening than in the drawing room,' Mr Richards explained.

‘While his sister freezes in the house of strikers,' Lloyd said disparagingly. ‘I take it you want to speak to me about Sali's brother and Mr Jenkins?'

‘Yes, but first please allow me to extend my sincere sympathy to you and your father. The accident was dreadful. And I was so sorry to hear of your father's injuries. I trust he is making a recovery.'

‘A slow one, Mr Richards, but the doctors have told us that he will be able to leave hospital next month.'

‘I am glad to hear it. If there is anything that I can do ...'

‘As my father was on Union business, the miners' welfare fund is paying his doctors' and hospital bills, temporarily, until compensation can be sorted out with the railway company.'

‘You will convey my good wishes to him for a speedy recovery.'

‘I will, Mr Richards. About Geraint,' Lloyd continued impatiently, ‘you've spoken to him?'

‘No, but Mr Jenkins made an appointment to see me. He was concerned about some of the things Mr Geraint had been saying to him and he wanted to know if Mr Geraint had grounds to challenge Mrs James' will.'

‘Has he?'

‘None whatsoever. The will was properly drawn up by myself, and signed and witnessed by Mrs James' doctor and Doctor Green, the headmaster of Cardiff Grammar School. He was a close friend of the late Mr James as well as Mrs James and happened to call to enquire after her health on the day the will was ready for signing.'

‘So what happens now?'

‘That rather depends on you and Mrs Evans, Mr Evans. I have not spoken to Mr Geraint about the matter and apart from refusing to sign the document Mr Geraint wished him to, neither has Mr Jenkins. As Mr Geraint appears to have dropped the matter, I thought it might be prudent if we did the same.'

‘If he knows we are aware that he tried to challenge Mrs James' will, and had no grounds for doing so, he might make life easier for Sali. Particularly at the trustees' meetings.'

‘He might,' Mr Richards agreed. ‘But if I might caution you, he might not, so don't be too hasty in anything you say or do. Mr Geraint's place on the board of trustees is assured while he remains one of the three senior members of the staff of Gwilym James. And while he sits on the board, he can make life extremely awkward for Mrs Evans.'

‘Not for much longer if I can help it,' Lloyd muttered as he opened the door to the hall.

‘Mr Evans?'

‘Just talking to myself, Mr Richards. Shall we join the others?'

Victor settled his head comfortably on his pillow, lifted his arm and folded it around Megan's shoulders. ‘I knew it would be good between us but I never thought it would be this good.' He ran his fingers through her long red curls, winding them around his fingers before laying them over his chest. ‘Couldn't you write to your father again to try to persuade him to let us marry?'

‘It wouldn't do any good, Victor,' she said sadly. ‘As it is I can't understand why he hasn't come back to drag me home, or as he threatened, to Brecon to work on a farm.'

‘I know why he hasn't, and so do you.'

‘You think it's just the money?' Her green eyes glittered up at him in the shadowy light of the candle.

He realized she was looking for an assurance that her father loved her for more than the weekly postal orders she sent, but he'd never lied to her before and he wasn't about to start. ‘In a word, yes.'

‘My parents must really need the money to leave me here after the minister wrote and told them that you came to the chapel with me.' It wasn't much of an excuse for her family's attitude, but it was the only one Megan could think of.

‘Which is why I think that if I keep paying your father fifteen shillings a week until your twenty-first birthday, he would let us marry.'

‘My father will never give us his permission.'

‘Why does he hate Catholics so much?' Victor asked.

‘I don't know. Perhaps the chapel has something to do with it. The minister back home was always preaching against the popish doctrine but he never explained why. I remember that when I was small I used to wonder what “popish” meant.'

‘Does your father know any Catholics?'

‘I don't think so. But I'm glad I do.' She curled up close to him and kissed his chest. ‘This is wonderful, Victor, and I'd like to stay here for ever, but it's getting late. I know Lloyd and Sali won't be back for hours, but we should get up and dress in case Joey comes back.'

‘Joey's in one of his moods. He's so angry with himself, all of us and the world in general, he'll be out late.'

‘You don't know that.'

‘What I do know is that I locked the bedroom door, so he can't walk in.' He lifted his head from the pillow, looked down and gave her a crooked smile. ‘Just another five minutes.'

‘That's what got us into trouble last time.'

He glanced at the clock. ‘It's half past five now. Supposing I set the alarm for six in case we go to sleep?'

‘I'd be a lot happier if I got up and dressed right now.'

‘Really?' He ran his fingers lightly, teasingly down her naked body beneath the blankets.

‘Victor ...' Her protest turned to a sigh when he slipped his hand between her thighs. ‘You know what that does to me.'

‘Yes.'

‘I ...' He silenced her with a kiss that became another and another, and moments later, nothing existed for either of them, outside of the passion that consumed them both.

Lloyd heard the sound of a carriage pulling up outside Ynysangharad House when he crossed the hall on his way from the drawing room to join Harry upstairs in the nursery. A key turned in the lock, the front and porch doors opened and Geraint walked in. He stared at Lloyd. Knowing it was useless to wait for his brother-in-law to acknowledge him, Lloyd went up to him and extended his hand.

‘Good evening, Geraint.'

Geraint hesitated and looked at Lloyd's hand before briefly touching his fingers. ‘Lloyd.'

Lloyd debated whether to offer an explanation for his presence and decided against it. He had made the first move; it was up to Geraint to make the second.

Geraint rang the bell and a footman appeared. ‘Mr Jenkins not on duty, Aled?'

‘It's his day off, sir,' the footman replied.

‘I forgot.' Geraint handed the boy his hat and coat.

‘I've heard about your brothers' convictions and sentences,' he said to Lloyd after the servant had left.

‘I didn't realize that news travelled so fast between Porth magistrates' court and Gwilym James' in Pontypridd.'

‘I made enquiries. I thought it my place to do so for my nephew's sake.'

‘You nephew is upstairs in the nursery, if you would like to see him.' Lloyd tensed his fists and spoke softly. Sali would have known that he was struggling to control his temper. But Geraint remained oblivious to his mounting anger.

‘I may look in on the boy later.'

‘You're a hypocrite, Geraint.'

‘I beg your pardon?'

‘Why won't you admit that you couldn't give a damn about Harry or your sister?' Lloyd said flatly. ‘All you care about is yourself, and that you continue to live in this house, rent and expense free.'

‘That is just the sort of vicious lie I'd expect to hear from a man who deliberately seduced a vulnerable woman out of his class. But then,' Geraint's lip curled, ‘Sali and Harry's allowances must be useful in a houseful of men who'd rather strike than work.'

The taunt was one too many. Forgetting Mr Richards' advice, Lloyd said, ‘No one in my family, including myself, has touched a penny of Harry's money. Unlike you, your mother, brother and sister, who are happy to live at his expense. But you're not even satisfied with that, are you, Geraint? You want the lot, which is why you tried to persuade Mr Jenkins to sign a document stating that Mrs James wasn't
compos mentis
when she made her will.'

‘How do you ...' Realizing he'd confirmed his guilt, Geraint fell silent.

‘Know?' Lloyd finished for him. ‘Does it matter?'