Sinners and Shadows (10 page)

Tonia ran after him. ‘Promise, Joey, you won't tell anyone what you saw. Promise! You have to promise!' Her voice rose hysterically. She rested her hand on his shoulder. ‘Promise!'

‘I promise, Tonia.' Knowing that if he looked at Geraint again he'd hit him, he didn't turn around.

He heard Tonia run back down the corridor. The stockroom door slammed shut. He heard Geraint knocking at it and calling Tonia's name, but he didn't look back. Devastated by the thought of how Geraint had hurt the girl he'd regarded as his little sister, he stood in front of the lift cage and pressed the button.

‘Did something happen in the store?' Rhian asked. She and Joey had walked back through the town and were heading over the bridge towards Ynysangharad House.

‘What makes you ask?' he answered warily.

‘You've a face like thunder and you've hardly said a word since we left.'

Already regretting his promise to Tonia, because the last thing he wanted was to begin his engagement to Rhian by lying to her, Joey decided a half-truth was better than an outright evasion. ‘I had an argument with Geraint Watkin Jones.' He squeezed her hand lightly. ‘I'm sorry, I'm a fool to let it upset me and spoil what's left of our day.'

Rhian returned the pressure of his fingers. Having suffered from Geraint's arrogance herself, she was aware of the hostility between Sali's brother and Lloyd's family and respected Joey's decision not to burden her with the details.

‘So,' Joey determinedly pushed the scene in the stockroom into the ‘to be thought of later' compartment of his mind, ‘what do you say to a June wedding?'

‘That would be lovely. It will give us over a year to plan everything.'

‘A year! No, no, no, that won't do at all. I was talking about this June.'

‘But it's April already.'

‘Father Kelly will only need three weeks to call the banns so we could make it May.' He chose to deliberately misunderstand her.

‘Joey, I've only just agreed to marry you.'

‘You need time to get used to the idea?' He stopped to open one of the high gates to the drive.

‘Frankly, yes.' She walked through and waited for him to close it.

‘I'd be happy to walk up the aisle with you tomorrow.'

She took his arm again. ‘Then you want Father Kelly to marry us in your Catholic Church?'

‘Not if you want to marry me in your Methodist Chapel,' he answered easily.

‘I'd like to know more about your religion.' Her brother had insisted that she attend chapel with him twice every Sunday until she had run away and left him. Since then she had attended the chapel in Tonypandy with Mrs Williams and the rest of the staff of Llan House, but it was more from habit than any strong religious feelings or commitment on her part.

‘Surely you don't want to convert?' Joey was alarmed at the thought of the time it would take Father Kelly to instruct her, time which would undoubtedly delay their wedding.

‘I don't know enough about Catholicism to answer that.'

‘If you ask Father Kelly to tell you about the Catholic Church, you'll convert,' he predicted dryly. ‘Please, don't feel that you have to. Megan hasn't, and neither has Sali, but then Lloyd's a Communist and atheist like my father so he wouldn't want her to. There's a nice enough service for mixed couples, we'll go for that one.'

‘What on earth are mixed couples?'

‘Mixed religion, but where we marry isn't important. How soon is. Down the pit or in a register office, anywhere, it makes no difference to me, so long as we can live and', his dark eyes glowed mischievously, ‘start loving together.'

Rhian thought of Bronwen's oldest sister Pearl and all the girls she knew who'd left service to rush down the register office because they already had a baby on the way. She couldn't bear the thought of Mrs Williams, or anyone else who knew her, believing that was why she and Joey were marrying. ‘I would like to wait a few months before we set the date.'

‘There's no reason for us to wait,' he said impatiently. ‘I'm earning a good salary. We can move in with my father. And if you don't want to live with him, we'll take one of the other houses he owns as soon as one becomes vacant. Tenants are always coming and going.'

‘I'd love to live with your father.'

‘Good, because I'd rather not leave him on his own. Although Betty Morgan might prove a problem,' he mused. ‘She's used to keeping house for us and needs the money we pay her. But I understand that you won't want another woman interfering in your kitchen –'

‘Joey, if you allow me to get a word in edgewise, can I say that before you make too many plans, I would like to enjoy our engagement.'

‘Enjoy it by all means but don't make a meal of it.' They had reached a part of the drive that couldn't be seen from Bridge Street or the house, and he took advantage of the seclusion to draw her under the oaks that lined the carriageway.

He brushed his lips lightly, gently, over hers. Slowly, tentatively, she began to relax and finally respond to his touch. He slipped the buttons on her coat. Pushing aside her muffler, he slid his hand inside her cardigan and cupped her breast. His fingers burned, searing her skin through the thin silk of her blouse and bust-shaper. She tried and failed to quell the uneasy thought that his skill at lovemaking had been honed during his relationships with so many other women.

‘No!' She pushed him aside.

‘Rhian, we're engaged.'

‘Engaged to be married.' She buttoned her cardigan and coat. ‘And there'll be no more of that until after the wedding.'

He took a deep breath to steady himself. ‘That's fine by me provided you set the date right now.'

‘Not before September.'

‘But that's five months away.'

‘Exactly.'

‘I …' He fell silent as she stared at him.

‘Can't wait that long?' she finished for him.

‘Not without a damned good reason.'

‘There's no need to swear.'

‘Sorry,' he apologized. ‘Not that I'm complaining, but you have a lot to learn about men.'

‘We have a lot to learn about one another.' She held up her hand to silence him when he tried to interrupt. ‘And before you say anything, I realize that we've been acquainted for five years and spent some time together the last three months –'

‘Not some time, your every free moment,' he corrected.

‘All right, all my free time, but I'm terrified of making a mistake that I'll spend a lifetime regretting.'

‘You're that unsure about marrying me?'

‘I just need –'

‘Time to convince yourself that you're making the right decision?' he mocked.

‘I'm wearing your mother's ring.'

‘And you've said that you love me.'

‘I wouldn't have taken the ring if I didn't.'

‘And you know how much I love you, so how can we possibly be making a mistake?' he said seriously.

‘I need time to get to know you properly.'

‘Fat chance of that when you only get one day off a week. If we marry right away we'll have all the time in the world to get to know one another, starting with the honeymoon.' He gave her his most winsome smile.

‘I'd still prefer to wait. And, if you don't mind, I'd rather not tell anyone we're engaged for a while.'

‘That I won't agree to. I'm so happy I could shout the news from the rooftops. Besides,' he entwined his gloved fingers in hers, and pulled her towards him, ‘I can see the ring even through your glove.'

‘Then perhaps I shouldn't wear it just yet.' She removed her glove, slipped the ring from her finger and tried to hand it back to him.

He released her hand and thrust his arms behind his back. ‘Now you've taken it, you can't give it back. Rules of engagement.'

‘I thought rules of engagement only applied to battles, not this kind of engagement.'

‘And how many times have you been engaged before?'

‘None.' She looked up at him. ‘You?'

He realized she was in earnest. ‘This is the first and it will be the only time.' He took the ring from her, slipped it back on to her finger and buttoned on her glove.

‘You do know that I won't forgive you if you walk out with another girl?'

‘Yes,' he answered solemnly.

‘And you're sure that you're ready to forsake all others.'

‘I made you a promise, Rhian, I won't break it.' He grabbed her hand. ‘Come on, let's tell Sali, and Lloyd if he's home, that they're about to acquire another sister-in-law.'

Lloyd's car was parked at the front of Ynysangharad House, the door was open and Lloyd, Sali, Harry and Bella were in the hall putting on their hats and coats. Baby Edyth lay wrapped in a shawl in her pram.

‘We saw you walking up the drive, Uncle Joey.' Harry was hopping from one foot to the other, clearly anxious to be gone.

‘If you're going out just to avoid giving us tea, we promise not to eat much.' Joey smiled at Rhian when she picked up the baby, who was awake and making grizzling noises.

‘Dad telephoned from the White Hart an hour ago.' Lloyd tied Bella's muffler around her neck. ‘He and Betty Morgan are moving in with Victor and Megan for a couple of weeks.'

‘Megan's had the baby?' Rhian broke in eagerly.

‘At two o'clock this afternoon. Harry, calm down, or go and run around the car for two minutes until we're all ready to leave.' Sali took a bunch of freshly cut daffodils and tulips from the hallstand.

‘Boy or girl?' Joey beamed.

‘We waited so you could visit them with us and see for yourselves.' Lloyd checked his pockets for his keys.

‘I can't wait that long to find out if we poor boys have even more females in the family to contend with.' Joey intercepted Harry who was racing back inside and swung him up on to his shoulders.

‘It's boys, Uncle Joey.'

‘You are going to have to learn how to keep secrets if you want a quiet life, Harry,' Lloyd teased his stepson.

‘Boys?' Joey looked from Lloyd to Sali.

‘Twins,' Sali confirmed, ‘and from what the midwife told Dad, Megan was surprised but Victor's in shock.'

Betty Morgan carried a teacup down the farmhouse's narrow staircase and nodded to Sali and Rhian who were hovering in the passage.

‘Go on up. She's looking forward to seeing you both.'

‘Is she all right?' Sali asked in concern.

‘Tired, but better than Victor, who's been in a daze since Billy and I got here. But then I saw to it that Megan had a good rest after the birth. Perhaps I should have put Victor to bed as well.'

Rhian crept up the old wooden staircase behind Sali. The door to Victor and Megan's bedroom was open. Megan was sitting up in the massive oak bed that had been left behind by the previous owner of the farm, a baby cradled in each arm.

‘You clever girl.' Sali set the flowers she had arranged in a vase on the dressing table before kissing her.

‘They are absolutely gorgeous, Megan.' Rhian gazed down at the two tiny, pink-faced babies.

‘Aren't they just?' Megan turned from one to the other. She untied the strings on the babies' bonnets and pulled them off. ‘Victor's pleased. But I can't say I am; look, they both have my red hair.'

‘May I?' Sali held out her hands.

‘Take one each,' Megan offered.

‘Did you have any idea that you were having twins?' Rhian sat in a rocking chair at the side of the bed before taking one of the babies from Megan.

‘Not until after the first one arrived. This is the eldest.' She retied the ribbons on the cap of the baby Rhian was cuddling. ‘Victor wants to call him Jack.'

‘And this one?' Sali looked down at the baby in her arms.

‘Victor wants to name him Tom. Not Thomas, but Tom.' Megan stretched out her arms. ‘It's nice to hand them over to someone else for five minutes.'

‘Good plain names.' Sali pushed her finger into the baby's minute palm.

‘I would have liked to have called them William and Victor but Victor said they would be given nicknames if we used his and his father's names and he couldn't bear the thought of Little Billy, or Young Vic. And he wanted something ordinary because he's never forgiven his father for allowing his mother to call him Sebastian.'

‘I didn't know Victor's name was Sebastian.' Rhian glanced up from the baby, who appeared to be squinting up at her through half-closed eyes.

‘His middle name,' Megan divulged, ‘and he hates it. I'm trying to persuade him to call the boys Jack William Evans and Tom Victor Evans, but I'm not having much success. He says one name is more than enough for any man.'

‘He's probably right,' Sali agreed philosophically. ‘After all, how often do any of us use our middle names?'

‘Well, Jack, what do you think of the name your father wants to give you?' Rhian watched the baby yawn.

‘All three of you must be exhausted,' Sali said.

‘I am tired,' Megan conceded. ‘But according to the midwife, I had an easy time. The pains didn't start until ten o'clock this morning. Victor sent the boy to get the midwife, she arrived at eleven o'clock, Jack was born at two and Tom half an hour later.'

‘You may have had a quick time, but I doubt it was easy, whatever the midwife said. Take a tip from an experienced mother,' Sali advised. ‘Don't get up for a full ten days. It's bad enough trying to look after a baby, a toddler and Harry when he's home. I can't imagine what it will he like to care for two babies who'll want feeding, changing and nursing at the same time.'

‘Victor and I have already decided that they are going to be perfectly behaved.' Megan slid down in the bed.

‘Deciding and being are two different things. Is there anything I can do to help?' Sali asked.