Corner of a Small Town

by Corner of a Small Town (retail) (epub)

  This accomplished, he met Nia when she was shopping and offered her a key. He dropped it into her pocket as she shook her head firmly.

  “Lewis, I can’t. I’m married now and I told my husband everything. He has accepted me and in return I promised him he can trust me. I want to give it a chance. Laurence is a good man and I owe it to him.”

  “You what! You owe him, a man you’ve just met? What about my Dora? I put my marriage on the line for you! Yes, and lost it!”

  “Do you think I’ve forgotten that? Your life is a mess, Dora’s life is a shambles, Barry and Rhiannon’s happiness has been destroyed. All because of our selfish love for each other. We’ve done enough, Lewis, enough. I can’t face more disasters because of my love for you. Let me at least have this chance.”

  “We should have made a fresh start years ago.”

  “It’s easy to say that now. I wanted to once, remember? But there were the boys and Rhiannon.” She stared at him hard and added, “And, you couldn’t let go of Dora, could you?”

  “That isn’t true.”

  “Goodbye, Lewis.” She turned away and he watched her walk to where an elderly man stood holding open the door of a gleaming new car.

  “Fell on your feet though, didn’t you!” he yelled.

  It was only seconds before he realised she hadn’t returned the key he had placed in her pocket. Hope surged and he ran back to where his battered jalopy waited for him, with something like his old enthusiasm.

  Eleri spent a lot of time out walking with Basil Griffiths. He wasn’t keen on being indoors and their dates usually meant a walk through the fields or along some sand-dune-edged beach where they could be alone. He never tried to do more than kiss her and with him she felt safe. It was reaching the stage when she couldn’t think of life without him and she wondered if she loved him.

  When Basil was not available, she often walked on her own, following the paths he had shown her, using her freshly-trained eyes to spot the shy wren, the bobbing wagtails, guessing where they nested and making a mental list to tell him when she saw him next.

  She was at the furthest end of town from Sophie Street late one afternoon when rain began and she hurried into the town to get a bus home. The street leading from the fields was where Arfon Weston lived and it was here that she bumped into Megan Fowler-Weston.

  “Come in and shelter. It’s going to thunder any moment and I’m scared,” Megan pleaded.

  “I don’t think your grandparents would like it,” Eleri said. But Megan grabbed her arm and pulled her through the front door as the first flash of lightning made them squeal.

  “There’s no one in. They’ve all gone to see the solicitor for one of his pep-talks. Come on, we’ll go into the kitchen. It’s below ground and I feel safer there.”

  Once the storm had moved away and Megan had found the makings of tea, she talked about Viv.

  “Hot-tempered like his mother,” Eleri said with a chuckle, when Megan explained about his rudeness to her grandfather. “Never one to be subservient, our Viv.” She frowned. “Not like Lewis-boy, who desperately needed to be liked, even if it meant being soft.”

  “I don’t remember him as soft. Kind though, and devoted to you.”

  “How can you say that? Out with Viv, and you and your sister… A nice little foursome. How can you say he was devoted to me? He was just like his father. A flirt, a womaniser. Anything for a bit of fun.”

  “Lewis-boy wasn’t like that.” Megan looked at her in surprise, not knowing about Molly Bondo.

  “What was he doing out with you and Joan, then?”

  “Earning a fiver. For you.” She laughed at Eleri’s startled expression. “Joan and I offered him five pounds to come with us to collect the clothes Grandmother had bought for us without our parents knowing. He said he’d buy Viv a pint and give the rest to you to get something for the new flat.”

  At last, Eleri could cry.

  Chapter Eleven

  After talking to Megan, Eleri walked back through the glistening town, with shop lights shining on pavements still wet with the effect of the thunder storm. There was a cleanness about the air, and a lightness in her heart. The tragedy of Lewis-boy’s death was now a different grief; sadder, but somehow more acceptable.

  She didn’t want to go home, and found her feet taking her towards the Griffithses’ house, where, in spite of the chill of the evening, the door stood open and the windows thrown back on their hinges as if they couldn’t get enough of the newly-washed air.

  Basil was there, preparing his pack for work as night watchman. That he was pleased to see her she was in no doubt. He gestured for her to know that his mother was in the kitchen then hugged her briefly.

  “Where’ve you been? You’re soaked.”

  “I’ve been talking to Megan, of all people. I never thought we’d be able to stay civil for more than a minute, but somehow she got me talking, about Lewis-boy.”

  “Did it help?”

  “The day he died he wasn’t flirting, out on a date with Joseph and the Weston girls. He was being paid a fiver to drive them to collect those fancy clothes.” Tears threatened as she went on, “He told them the money was for me, to buy something nice for the flat. Oh, Basil, I feel ashamed for doubting him.”

  “He tried he did. Tried very hard to be irresistible to women but he lacked your father’s ruthlessness. It’s that touch of the scoundrel they fall for with your father. Nothing but an old softy he was, your Lewis-boy.” He offered up a prayer that she would never find out about Molly Bondo.

  “It sounds crazy, I know that, but I feel happier about it all now. I think my grief was twisted into knots by the belief that he’d cheated, let me down. I’d heard whispers but no proof that he went out with other women, but he seemed the type, and I never felt utterly certain he was faithful.”

  “He pretended mind, pretended to have that something special that had the girls reeling. And he definitely flirted a bit when the opportunity was there, but although he gave girls the come-on, I think he’d have run a mile if one of them had taken just one step towards him. I saw a lot of Lewis-boy, remember. Fond of him I was. He was a good’un.”

  Seeing she was upset, he went on packing his bag ready for work; sandwiches, a flask and some fruit, cartridges in an inside pocket just in case.

  “Pity, mind, but I’ve got to go in a minute. I don’t want to be late.”

  “You’re serious about this job then? I never thought you’d keep it,” she teased, fighting away her tears.

  “Keep it? Of course I’ll keep it, got a good reason to, haven’t I?”

  “And what reason is that? So you can slope off and snare a few rabbits, or shoot a pheasant or two and have an alibi to prove it couldn’t have been you?”

  He grinned and admitted that was certainly part of the attraction. “But it’s really because of you, Eleri.”

  “Me?”

  “If I asked you to marry me, you’d turn me down flat if I couldn’t show I’m prepared to work and keep you.”

  “And are you? Going to ask me?” She stood with her head on one side, her round face glowing with love for him.

  “Will you marry me, Eleri? I know I’m not much of a catch and not smart or handsome like Lewis-boy, but I do love you and I’ll do everything I can to make you happy.”

  Eleri stood for a moment looking at him. In the kitchen, holding her breath, listening from behind the door, Janet stood with fingers so tightly crossed they were almost dislocated.

  “I’d do my best for you too Basil. Of course I’ll marry you.”

  As he took her in his arms they both heard the sudden release of Janet’s breath and Basil called his mother in. “Don’t you know eavesdroppers never hear good of themselves, Mam?” he said, eyes shining and his face a mask of utter joy. “I was just going to tell Eleri what a terrible mother-in-law you’ll make!”

  “Congratulations, son. Welcome to the family, Eleri, love. I’m thrilled with the news. Is it all right to tell
dad and Caroline, and Frank and Ernie?”

  “Of course. I’ll come back later and talk to them, but now, can we go quickly and tell Dora and the others?” Eleri said, pulling him towards the door.

  When Basil and Eleri went to seven Sophie Street and announced their intention to marry, Dora burst into tears.

  “Oh, Eleri, my dear girl, I’m so pleased for you. Don’t stop being my daughter-in-law though, will you? I’d miss you so much.”

  Viv warned her jokingly about Basil’s police record, and Rhiannon smiled and congratulated them but with an unexpected surge of jealousy.

  It didn’t seem fair that Eleri had a second chance of happiness while she had lost the only man she could love because of her father. Yet she couldn’t stay unhappy for long. As soon as Basil had gone to work and Viv had set off to meet his friends, she hugged Eleri and told her she was happy for her, and meant it. They went with Dora to the Griffithses’ and the rest of that evening was spent discussing plans and preparations, and searching magazines for ideas on a suitable dress. Basil went about his night’s work in a dream.

  * * *

  Barry decided to move out of the house where his mother now lived with her new husband. They didn’t suggest it but he thought it was time to get a place of his own. The flat over Temptations seemed a sensible choice. Joseph and Caroline no longer needed it. He went to tell Rhiannon as soon as his mother agreed.

  Knowing he would be there unnerved her. How could she cope with seeing him all the time? Within touching distance but untouchable. Because of a situation Rhiannon considered intolerable, when a new rep started calling and invited her out, she accepted.

  Bottomley’s was a new firm planning to build a business as soon as rationing finished and Jimmy Herbert was full of enthusiasm. He was very persuasive and Rhiannon laughed as he tried to sell her something of every range in his catalogue.

  “All right,” he said, blue eyes flashing in undisguised admiration, “come out with me tonight and I won’t be offended at the smallness of your order!”

  She was about to refuse, but he pleaded and promised her “The pictures, then supper. How’s that?” He winked a saucy blue eye and added, “I just know it’ll be an evening to remember, Rhiannon.” He said the name slowly, his lips pursing in what he hoped was a tempting hint of a kiss.

  Barry’s van drew up outside at that moment and he began bringing in suitcases and armfuls of clothes.

  “All right,” she said, smiling up into Jimmy’s handsome face. “I’ll meet you outside the cinema at seven.”

  “Great!”

  It was the beginning of a series of evenings out and Rhiannon enjoyed being flattered and spoilt and told she was beautiful and wonderful and witty and all the other things she knew she was not. He was handsome in the classical way, tall and slim. Fair curly hair and large blue eyes and a moustache not much larger than her father’s.

  She had the feeling she would never feel completely at ease with him. He would be similar to her father in needing admiration in great slabs, but accepting this, she enjoyed their time together. Jimmy was excellent company, he was amusing and light-hearted; he had turned up at exactly the right time, with Barry popping in and out of the shop disturbing her peace of mind, and Eleri talking about her wedding.

  One evening he suggested meeting the following Sunday. “For a walk, and a chat and tea somewhere.”

  It was as they walked over the grassy headland, with the wind icy in their faces and the sky above a hard, winter blue, that he began to tell her about one of the salesmen in his firm.

  “Talk about dirty old man. He’s been trying to date every one of the secretaries and typists. Caused a row between the manager and his wife, and how he gets away with talking to the lady customers like he does, well, for a man of his age he’s got a nerve. There are always complaints about him, some from the other reps, although he doesn’t affect me. I can hold my own with the likes of him. One said he’d poached three shops away from him by taking out the owner and treating her to a night-out that lasted until morning.”

  He was unaware of Rhiannon’s hands covering her face as she asked, “What’s his name, this disreputable salesman?”

  “Lewis Lewis, would you believe. Fancy a mother naming her son with a name like that! Popular idea in Wales, mind, but I’ve never liked the practice.” He went on and when he realised she wasn’t responding with the expected laughter he looked at her and saw her face was white with shock.

  “Rhiannon? What is it?”

  “That salesman – he’s my father.”

  She ran past his car to where a bus was approaching and went home. She refused to see him again. Because of her father’s continuing inability to behave, she had lost another friend.

  She missed his cheerful company but didn’t tell her mother why they no longer saw each other. “Just as well if you ask me,” Dora said, “I only saw him a couple of times but I could help thinking he was another one like your father.”

  “No,” Rhiannon said bitterly. “There’s only one man like our Dad!”

  * * *

  Lewis’s new flat wasn’t very grand, but he didn’t expect to be in it very much. He ate out and spent his evenings socialising. Some nights too, when he was lucky. He tried hard to pretend he was lucky to be free but the hours that couldn’t be used in eating or at the pub passed painfully slowly.

  He missed the opportunity to just loll about at the weekend, listening to the radio, reading the paper, or pottering in the garden. Things were not the same without the activity of the family bustling around him.

  Filling time was how he spent his weekend and late evenings, instead of using it. He began to feel saddened by the way he had lost the family, the framework of most people’s lives. With Dora and Nia staying away from him there seemed little hope of any meaningful structure ever returning. For a while he had been buoyed up by the hope of seeing Nia, but as weeks passed he gradually accepted that she and her new husband were content.

  So it was a surprise one Sunday afternoon when he opened the door and saw her standing there.

  “Well? Aren’t you going to let me in?” she said. “You haven’t got a ‘house guest’ or anything?”

  “No house guest, Nia love.”

  He couldn’t decide how to behave. He wanted to hug her and kiss her and take her to bed, but she stood there looking so formal. All held in and acting like a stranger. She wore a navy suit and court shoes, a small hat rested on her greying curls and her small hands were encased in leather gloves, which she smoothed nervously, stretching them tighter on her hands.

  “You going to sit down?” he asked.

  “I can’t stay long.”

  “Our time together was never noted for its length, only its intensity,” he smiled.

  “Never easy, yet we succeeded in keeping our secret for all those years.”

  “Pity we hadn’t kept it longer. It’s created more trouble since the secret got out than it ever caused before.”

  “There’s no one left to hurt, now, is there? No need to hide.”

  “Dora is divorcing me. I don’t think she’d worry if we marched down the main street carrying a banner!” Hope began to swell in him. “There’s only the gossip and I don’t think either of us would mind that. And—‚” he stopped a moment before adding, “and there’s your new husband of course. I don’t think you’d like him to find out, if we started seeing each other again.”

  “Oh,” she gave that weary little half sigh and said, “I don’t think he’d mind all that much. He left me yesterday. My marriages don’t last long, do they?”

  With delicious slowness he opened his arms and enfolded her.

  * * *

  Viv hated his new job in the warehouse. It was boring, checking stock and ordering when necessary and never seeing the customers he supplied. The staff came in, collected items off the shelves and went out, and when five o’clock came he went home feeling like someone who’d spent eight hours in a cave.

&nb
sp; So it was with malicious pleasure that he absorbed the news that Weston’s was failing and on the point of closing down.

  “Mam,” he called, bursting through the front door one Friday evening. “Westons are on the slippery slope. Downhill fast they’re going and if I could, I’d give ’em a push to speed them on their way!”

  “Didn’t you know?” Dora asked. “I’d have thought Jack, being your friend, would have hinted that all was not well. I heard it weeks ago.”

  “So did I,” Rhiannon told him.

  “Never hear a thing in that ol’ cave of mine. They come and go, collect what they want, and the only time they speak to me is when the item isn’t exactly where they look for it. I’m the most gossip-free member of the Lewis family, that’s for sure.”

  He looked forward to a visit to The Railwayman’s that evening. He’d make Jack talk about it. They were no longer as close as before the little chest of drawers had given up its secret but he’d surely tell him the situation at the shop. He wanted to know exactly what had happened. The delight at the family’s downfall was still strong, but other ideas filtered into his mind and caused him to smile.

  Basil was there, having taken Eleri to work, and Frank and Ernie Griffiths, but, to his disappointment, Jack didn’t appear.

  * * *

  Jack was worried about his father. Islwyn had become a recluse. Waiting for the trial had made him shun everyone he knew and over a period of a few weeks he had seen fewer and fewer people until he now refused to see anyone apart from his immediate family. Ryan’s daughters, the lively Weston Girls, continued with their lives as before and tried to cheer him but he hardly seemed aware of their presence. Joan refused to go there long before Megan gave up on him.

  Seeing the state of the business, with half-empty shelves and a lethargic staff who drifted through the days doing as little as possible, Jack decided to try once more to make an improvement. Even if the worst happened and his father and grandfather went to prison, they would need something to come out to.