‘No.’ Connie gave her daughter, who was on the verge of tears, a warning look. ‘But we would like to talk to you.’
‘I said all I had to say to you yesterday morning.’
‘You mentioned that Mr Larch offered to give Rhian a letter from you. If he can deliver one, I thought he might be able to deliver another.’ Connie handed him an open envelope. ‘Tonia’s written to her to explain what happened in your office.’
Joey pulled a kitchen chair out from under the table and sat down. ‘Is this explanation anywhere close to the truth?’
‘Tonia!’ Connie prompted brusquely. ‘Answer Joey’s question.’
‘I’m sorry I said what I did to Rhian, Joey,’ Tonia mumbled. ‘I didn’t want everyone pitying me because Geraint had run off with Julia Larch.’
‘I was the only one who knew about you two,’ he reminded her bitterly.
‘I thought if I had a husband it would prove to Geraint that even if he didn’t love me, someone did.’ Her eyes welled, but a glare from Connie stayed her tears.
‘And any husband would do,’ Joey observed acidly. ‘What have I ever done to you, to deserve what you tried to do to me?’
‘Nothing,’ Tonia whispered.
‘And Rhian? Didn’t you spare a thought for her? We’re engaged and just about to get married and you tell her that you’re having my baby! For God’s sake, Tonia, the most I’ve ever done is kiss you on the cheek in front of people!’ Joey clenched his fists in an effort to contain his anger. ‘When I think that you would have palmed Geraint Watkin Jones’s baby off as mine –’
‘I took Tonia to the doctor’s this morning. There is no baby,’ Connie broke in. ‘But given what happened in Gwilym James on Wednesday afternoon, Tonia’s reputation is in tatters.’
‘As is mine,’ Joey pointed out coldly.
Connie couldn’t resist the jibe. ‘You didn’t have one to begin with.’
Joey left the chair and turned his back on her.
‘Joey, please, what I meant to say is that there’s no point in trying to salvage Tonia’s reputation. And she wants to make amends for the trouble she’s caused.’
Joey turned around and held up the envelope. ‘Can I read this?’
‘That’s why we left it open.’
‘Did you or Tonia write it, Connie?’ Joey asked.
‘Tonia, but I helped phrase it.’
Joey extracted the single sheet of paper. Tonia must have been crying when she had written it; the paper was crinkled and blotched with stains that had made the ink run, but he could decipher the words.
Dear Rhian,
I am sorry for what I did to you and Joey. Joey saw Geraint Watkin Jones and me making love in the stockroom in Gwilym James and I made him promise that he wouldn’t tell anyone. When I heard that Geraint had eloped with Julia Larch I didn’t want anyone pitying me because I’d been jilted so I went to Joey’s office to try to trick him into marrying me. I picked Joey, because of his reputation. I thought no one would believe him if he tried to tell the truth. I unbuttoned his trousers when he was trying to stop me crying. He didn’t even notice what I was doing. I thought … I didn’t think. You don’t have to forgive Joey, Rhian, because there’s nothing to forgive him for. He’s never even tried to hold hands with me, or kiss me properly. That’s the truth. I’ll swear it on the Bible if you want me to,
Tonia
Joey had never backed down from a confrontation when he was growing up, despite the best efforts of his father and brothers to teach him to control his rage. But his fights had always been with boys and men his own age or older. He had never felt angry enough to want to harm a woman – until Tonia had told Rhian that they were lovers. And then, he’d been too concerned with running after Rhian to think of his cousin. Now Tonia looked so cowed and miserable he almost pitied her.
Connie was as tough in her private life as she was in business and, given the uncompromising tone of the letter and Tonia’s dejected state, he suspected that she had meted out as much, if not more, punishment than her daughter could take. He folded the sheet of paper back into the envelope.
‘Where are you going?’ ‘Billy asked when he replaced the chair beneath the table.
‘To deliver this to Edward Larch’s office.’
‘You must be hungry, boy.’
Joey shook his head.
‘You look as though you haven’t eaten or slept in a week,’ Connie said solicitously.
‘That’s hardly surprising given the circumstances, Connie. Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll be straight back.’
Tonia burst into tears when they heard the front door close.
Connie growled, ‘Shut up!’
Tonia covered her face with her hands and fell silent.
‘I hope Rhian gets that letter and reads it.’ Connie picked up her handbag and adjusted her hat.
‘So do I,’ Billy said feelingly.
‘Uncle Billy –’
‘There’s no point in talking what’s happened to death, Connie,’ Billy said wearily. ‘What’s done is done. All we can do now is see what tomorrow brings.’
‘Don’t move, Uncle Billy, we’ll see ourselves out. Tonia!’ Connie called her daughter to heel like a dog. Head down, hands folded in front of her like a novice nun, Tonia followed her mother out of the room.
Rhian stared at the words. Scarcely daring to believe what they said, she read them a second and a third time.
You don’t have to forgive Joey, Rhian, because there’s nothing to forgive him for. He’s never even tried to hold hands with me, or kiss me properly. That’s the truth. I’ll swear it on the Bible if you want me to …
‘There’s no stamp. It must have been delivered by hand last night after the office closed.’ Edward picked up one of the fresh bread rolls he had bought from the baker’s that morning and buttered it.
‘It’s from Joey’s cousin, Tonia.’ Rhian volunteered the information because she sensed that although Edward was curious, he wouldn’t ask her for it. She folded the letter, lifted the teatowel she had pinned around her waist because she didn’t have an apron and pushed it into her skirt pocket.
‘The girl in his office? The one he was having an affair with?’
‘According to this, they weren’t having an affair. She tricked him,’ she divulged.
‘Why on earth would she do that?’
‘Because she’d been jilted by another man, and wanted a husband to prove to him and herself that she could get one. I know it doesn’t make sense, but when a woman thinks she’s in love, she tends not to think straight.’
‘I won’t argue with you. Not after the way Julia’s behaved.’
Edward had told her how unhappy he was at his daughter’s choice of husband. The last thing Rhian wanted was to make him even more miserable by revealing that Geraint Watkin Jones had been having an affair with another girl right up until the day he had eloped with Julia. She forked four pieces of bacon on to Edward’s plate.
He frowned at her. ‘This letter changes everything.’
‘It changes nothing,’ she contradicted.
‘Yes, it does. You still love Joey Evans.’
‘And for a thousand and one reasons, most of which have nothing to do with this girl,’ she brushed her hand against the letter in her pocket, ‘I won’t marry him. And that is why I said yes when you asked me to become your mistress.’
‘I should never have propositioned you. I feel as though I’ve ruined your life.’
‘You’ve probably saved me from a disastrous marriage.’
‘Rhian –’
‘Please, I don’t want to talk about it. Unless that is, you’re unhappy with my being here and want me to leave.’ After an afternoon and a night spent in his bed she was confident of his reply.
He laid his hand around her waist and pulled her to him. ‘I haven’t been happier in over a year.’
She poured the tea and sat at the table. After only three meals together, they had earmarked two of the four
chairs as ‘theirs’, his on the right nearest the door, hers on the left in front of the fireplace.
‘Are you going out today?’ He deliberately changed the subject.
‘No.’
‘You can’t stay here cooped up for ever.’
‘I know, but I can stay here for a little while longer. I have some serious thinking to do. I need to sort out what I’m going to say to Joey when I do eventually face him.’
‘I only want your happiness, and for us to always be honest with one another,’ he said earnestly. ‘Promise me that when you do meet Joseph Evans, whatever decisions you make will be for yourself alone without any consideration for me. I may not want to, but I will survive without you if I have to.’
‘Thank you …’ She hesitated, still finding it difficult to call him anything other than ‘Mr Larch’ or ‘sir’. ‘I would be lying if I told you that I was happy right now. But I will try to be once I’ve talked to Joey and settled things between us.’
‘You won’t be bored while I work?’ he asked.
‘How could anyone be bored in this room?’ Her eyes were suspiciously bright and he couldn’t bear to look into them, knowing he’d caused her another problem. ‘When I’ve finished my thinking, there are some marvellous books on those shelves that I’ve never read.’
‘If you make a list of the things you need, I’ll get them delivered. Mrs Ball can take them in so you don’t have to see the errand boys.’
‘Groceries?’
‘Anything, clothes, groceries, whatever,’ he offered generously.
‘Will you be eating your meals here?’
‘All of them,’ he smiled. ‘Unless you object. And if you don’t feel like cooking, Mrs Ball will have them sent in from the White Hart.’
‘I like cooking.’ She returned his smile. ‘After we’ve finished breakfast I’ll plan some menus.’
‘Plain food. No smoked salmon or little fancy iced cakes and absolutely no caviar.’
‘Sausage and mashed potato,’ she joked.
He finished his last bacon roll, dabbed his mouth with his napkin and kissed her. ‘That, my sweet, sounds absolutely perfect.’
Joey sat in his office, staring at the calendar. It was eleven o’clock in the morning on Wednesday, 29 July, two weeks to the day since Rhian had run out of the store and disappeared, and three days to the hour, to the wedding he and Rhian had planned. A wedding that, against his father and brothers’ advice, he had categorically refused to cancel.
‘Joey? Joey!’ Sali called his name twice before he saw her standing in his office.
‘Sorry, I was miles away.’
‘I saw.’
He left his chair and pulled the visitor’s chair into the centre of the room. ‘What brings you to Tonypandy?’
‘Your father is worried about you,’ she said. ‘As are your brothers and Megan.’
‘While you, of course, are not?’
‘I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t. We drew straws to see who should talk to you. I lost. That, in case you didn’t realize, is a joke. But you don’t have to smile.’
He reached for the cigarette case on his desk and took one. ‘I feel as though I’ve slipped into another country. It’s similar to the one I was living in and most things are recognizable. I meet people I know and I visit familiar shops to buy my tobacco and newspapers. I go home, my father is there and the furniture is where it’s always been. People speak to me in a language I hear but don’t quite understand because nothing makes sense. Not without Rhian. I find myself storing up things to tell her on her day off. I write to her at the end of every day, just as I’ve done since we started to go out with one another in January.’
‘But she hasn’t written back?’
‘No, and Mr Larch said there was no point in forwarding any more of my letters to her after I gave him the third. He pointed out that if she wants to get in touch with me she knows where I am.’
‘Joey, about the wedding –’
‘I won’t cancel it!’
He was so vehement she didn’t dare broach the subject again. ‘You do know that you can take as much time off work as you want.’
‘I have a two-week holiday starting on Monday.’ He gave her a cold smile that didn’t reach his eyes. ‘My honeymoon, remember?’
Sali plucked up courage to ask the question uppermost in all the family’s minds. ‘Joey, what are you going to do if she doesn’t turn up?’
‘Keep waiting. What else can I do?’ He lit his cigarette. ‘If you have another suggestion I’m willing to hear it.’
‘I only wish that I did have one to give you.’
‘Are Lloyd and the children all right?’
There was real concern in his voice and she was touched that he could think of them given his present wretched state. ‘Edyth is teething but otherwise they’re all fine. Harry’s been asking after you.’
‘Tell him I’ll come and see him as soon as I have time.’
‘I will.’ She picked up her bag and left the office. She wished she could say something to comfort him, but if there were words that would help, she simply didn’t know what they were.
Edward waited until he and Rhian were drinking their after-lunch coffee to broach the subject that was never far from his thoughts. ‘Mr Evans called into my office again this morning.’
‘You said he calls in every day.’
‘Twice a day most days, and he watches the front door of my office from the store in between.’
‘I will see him soon,’ she promised.
Edward almost asked, ‘Will you?’ but the words remained unspoken. The last thing he wanted to do was question his good fortune, but the insecurity that had plagued him since he had lost Amelia suddenly and without any warning made him do exactly that. Before Rhian had moved in, the rooms had been a retreat, but she had transformed them into a home that he missed the minute he walked away from it.
He often thought of her during his working day. He liked to imagine her sitting in the living room, reading, or cooking in the kitchen, waiting for him to join her and, as a result, he had taken to calling in on her unexpectedly whenever he had a few free minutes.
He adored seeing the expression on her face when he brought her flowers, chocolates, or expensive silk lingerie that he suspected gave him more pleasure than her. He looked forward to meals as he hadn’t done in over a year. But no matter how often Rhian reassured him that she wouldn’t leave him, he couldn’t quite believe that his new and blissful domesticity wasn’t going to disappear just as abruptly as it had done once before. And the main cause of his misgivings was Rhian’s continued avoidance of the world outside of the building.
The weather was hot even for July, the rooms stifling, no matter how wide they opened the windows, but Rhian made no attempt to go outdoors, not even as far as the backyard. Joseph Evans was persistent and very obviously deeply in love. Edward recognized his devotion because he had felt the same way about Amelia before they’d married, and he simply couldn’t bear the thought of Joseph snatching Rhian back just after he’d found, if not happiness exactly, the peace and contentment that had eluded him for so long.
Almost as if she sensed his thoughts, Rhian moved closer to him on the sofa. ‘I saw Mrs Ball today; she said the shop is ready to open.’
‘It is. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it. I could get it stocked and ready for customers in two days.’
‘Why don’t you?’
‘You haven’t stepped out of these rooms in two weeks. I didn’t want to rush you into something you weren’t ready for. Managing the shop means meeting people and having to talk to them. If you’ve had second thoughts, I could find someone else to run it.’
‘I haven’t had any second thoughts.’ She finished her coffee and set her cup aside. She knew that Edward was aware that Saturday was to have been her wedding day. ‘If I give you a letter for Joey, will you see that he gets it?’
‘Of course. But aren’t you going to see him?’<
br />
‘Yes, I’ll write to ask him to meet me somewhere public but quiet.’
‘The tea shop might be a good place.’
‘It might,’ she replied.
‘If you prefer privacy with people within earshot, you couldn’t do better than his office. He’s there when I unlock the office door at eight and he’s still there when I lock up in the evening. I warn you now, he looks dreadful.’
‘You think I’ll go back to him, don’t you?’
‘I’d hate to lose you, but should you decide to go ahead with your wedding to him after all –’
‘I won’t,’ she interrupted vigorously.
‘But if you should,’ he repeated, ‘I don’t want you to feel that you owe me anything.’
‘We’ve talked about this, and I’ve made up my mind.’
‘Then go and see him tomorrow. I’ll take a letter if you want me to.’
‘I do. He might have meetings booked with suppliers or someone else. It would be embarrassing for both of us if I had to sit around waiting for him to finish. I’ll suggest I visit the store at lunchtime. I hope he’s free, because only half the staff are on duty then, so it should take twice as long for any gossip about my reappearance to circulate around the town,’ she added dryly.
‘About the shop.’
‘Yes, please, let’s talk about the shop.’ She snuggled her head down on his shoulder.
‘I thought I might postpone the opening until the end of the miners’ fortnight holiday, which will take us to Monday, the tenth of August. That will give us a week’s grace. If you’re agreeable we could go away. The seaside is glorious when the weather is like this.’
‘Go on holiday, with you?’ Her eyes rounded incredulously.
‘Yes, with me. The Lord only knows you need a break. You’ve been cooped up for so long in this house I think you’ve forgotten what fresh air is like. I thought we’d go to a hotel.’
‘A hotel? You’d take me to a hotel?’
‘Somewhere where no one who knows us is likely to go. Brighton or the Isle of Wight, perhaps. I’ll book us in as Mr and Mrs Edward Larch.’
‘And your wife?’ she asked in amazement.
Edward had only visited Llan House twice in the last two weeks, but Rhian could imagine Mrs Larch’s fury if she discovered that her husband had taken her former maid to a hotel.
Sinners and Shadows Page 26
