‘Drifting. Trying to make up my mind what I want to do. I’ve got a job of sorts but only while I decide what to do with myself.’
‘The gent’s outfitters? What happened to that idea?’
He opened the van door. ‘Come and sit down a while, please. Then I’ll drive you home.’
She sat in the passenger seat with the delicious smell of fresh bread around her. She knew this would be goodbye and also knew that the memory of this moment would return every time she entered a bakery, for years to come.
She was on the defensive, unwilling to sit there while he told her why he had stayed away, hear his excuses. She couldn’t listen to him telling her goodbye: pride insisted she told him first.
‘My career is expanding, new openings appearing, offers of work by every post. I haven’t any time for much else. No marriage in the foreseeable future, that would be impossible. I wouldn’t be able to give the commitment to a loving relationship.’
‘That’s what I thought. I’m so proud of you, Shirley. The way you coped with that accident and everything. I wish you every success.’
It wasn’t what she wanted to hear but she thanked him and asked about his war. ‘Tell me the parts you didn’t put in your letters,’ she asked.
They were sitting without touching, both staring through the windscreen.
‘Remember how fastidious I was before the war, Shirley’? How I had to have clothes just right, how Mam fussed to get the collar sitting flat and the shirt front smooth and white as white?’
‘I remember. All your money went on clothes in those days.’
‘That was the hardest part for me, the clothes. Did you know we had to take used underwear, socks, shirts and the rest to the ablutions shed and exchange them for clean ones? Not your own clean ones. Anyone could have worn them last. They’d been used by dozens of strangers. Someone else’s clothes and filthy boots. I hated that more than the bullets and bombs and the food.’
They sat for a long time, each talking about themselves more than questioning the other. The talk of strangers, unfamiliar people meeting by accident and sharing a few moments in polite chatter.
When he drove her home, she stepped out of the van, called ‘Goodbye,’ and didn’t look back.
Eleven
The search for a house, having decided to look for something larger, meant a lot of wandering around for Alice and Eynon. Every spare moment was spent looking at properties. Aware of the importance of good access to the beaches, parks and the shops, they were carefully assessing position as well as size. They had plenty of choice and the prices were comparatively low.
Few women were willing to work for low wages as cleaners and servants now they had learned their true value, and many households no longer having a man at its head after the war had taken its toll. Shortages of materials was another factor and, combined with other considerations, meant that properties were showing neglect. Most owners of large houses were deciding the sensible thing to do was leave their large properties and buy something more manageable.
Alice and Eynon had the support of Eynon’s parents and Blethyn and Hetty. When they could, Audrey and Keith also went with them to view one or two properties. Keith was a builder and he added his expertise as each house was considered. They finally chose one about ten minutes’ walk away from the beach, near a small park, which they all declared perfect.
Eirlys introduced them to people who helped them examine the viability of their plan, although Alice had already made preliminary enquiries and satisfied herself that the idea was sound. There would be planning approval and fire regulations and a dozen other things, but with careful planning they would have enough money to see them through – just.
Once a decision had been made and the processes of the purchase were underway, there was great activity. The legalities were dealt with rapidly as the owner was anxious to sell, and within three weeks the place was theirs. It was in a row of houses called Rosebay Place and apart from needing cleaning and some redecorating, it was in good condition. This was where the Castle family showed their support for each other.
Huw spent several days stripping wallpaper and, with Bleddyn, painted and papered three rooms. Eynon worked with them and learned. Following their advice he painted the outside of the property. Marged scrubbed floors and repolished the linoleum left by the previous tenant. Even Reggie and Bernard Gregory helped by clearing the garden and promising to set out the borders in the spring. Alice had taken a couple of weeks off from helping in Cassie’s second shop and to everyone’s surprise, Lilly had accepted the invitation to take her place.
‘You’ll work in the Davieses’ shop?’ Alice asked in surprise.
‘Yes. Why not? Even I can do something to help you and Eynon,’ Lilly pouted.
She didn’t explain that her unexpected offer was due to Hannah, who had called to leave some newly hemmed towels for Marged and found her crying.
‘Why are you crying?’ Hannah had asked, and Lilly showed her a dress which she had been trying to alter to fit. Hannah saw at once that it was too small.
‘Can I help?’
‘What’s the point? I never go anywhere or do anything.’
‘Nonsense, it’s nearly Christmas and there’ll be parties and dances and Beth and Eirlys will invite you. Maude and Myrtle too. They love dancing.’
‘They never invite me. They all hate me.’
‘Perhaps if you did something really nice, like help Alice and Eynon with their house? Or offer to help Auntie Audrey in the café so Myrtle can go out one evening? They don’t hate you, Lilly, but you’re a difficult person to like sometimes, aren’t you?’ She held out the dress and added. ‘You’ll look very nice in this, Lilly. Come on, let’s see what we can do.’
Lilly had called to see Cassie and, forcing a smile, offered to take Alice’s place while she was preparing to move. ‘You’ll have to write everything down, mind,’ she warned.
Cassie made a list of all the prices and the number of coupons needed for each transaction. She carefully explained the system of the shop, but Lilly looked bored and Cassie wondered if she had heard a word she had spoken. Whenever she looked in after Lilly had started work, it was to see Lilly reading a magazine or just staring idly into space.
‘I hope she manages to stay awake,’ she said to Alice. ‘I’m afraid I might go there and find her asleep and all the stock stolen, she’s that idle.’
Alice hadn’t mentioned finding the cache of clothing coupon books to Cassie but, aware that Lilly was likely to go snooping, she told her then. Cassie looked at them, gathered them into a carrier bag and without a word, took them home. They were valuable and although she had no idea whose they were or how they got there, she decided they would be safer at home with her. Without fully understanding why, she declined to mention them to Joseph.
* * *
The three-storey house in Rosebay Place was quickly cleaned. Floorboards were scrubbed and, in the absence of linoleum, were stained and varnished.
‘With what money we have left, I think we should buy ourselves some new furniture,’ Eynon suggested. It’ll be secondhand for the most part, but something special for us. It’s our home, as well as a business, isn’t it?’ Alice happily agreed.
The property had been a guest house, so few changes were necessary. The owner explained the reason for selling, which upset Alice and filled her with superstitious guilt. The woman’s husband and two sons had all been killed during the war. She grieved for the sadness the woman had suffered and gave thanks for her own good fortune.
Alice and Eynon discussed their finances and the allowance of their furniture dockets and spent pleasant hours drooling over possibilities before deciding on their purchases. They bought a bed, a small wardrobe and dressing table having chosen to furnish their bedroom with new, utility furniture, and buy second-hand for the rest of the house. The family and friends contributed and the place soon looked welcoming and comfortable.
Hannah made curtains by adjusting some Alice ha
d been given; Eirlys presented them with two beautiful handmade rugs. A brass fender rescued from a shed was polished by Bleddyn to add light to their living room. Alice knew she ought to be happy but she was not. There was a shadow hovering over her that wouldn’t go away. Every day brought the fear that Netta Mills would appear, face Eynon with her accusation and ruin everything.
‘It’s like standing on the edge of a precipice,’ she told Marged. ‘Just waiting for the touch that will push me over.’
‘It’s a pity we can’t find out where she lives,’ Marged replied. ‘Huw and Bleddyn would like to have a word with her. Wicked she is, unsettling people with her lies.’
‘Is everything all right, lovely girl?’ Eynon asked a few days before they were to move in. ‘Sorry about the family taking over. Perhaps you’d have preferred to wait and do it ourselves?’ he queried.
‘They are wonderful. There can’t be a happier or luckier girl in the whole town than me.’
‘But?’ he asked anxiously.
‘No “buts”. Honestly, I can’t wait for us to move into our lovely home and I’ll never be able to thank your family enough for what they’ve done.’
‘Be happy, that’s all the thanks they’ll want.’ He kissed her and she responded as affectionately as he could ask, but he was still uneasy. Something was wrong.
Later that day, as he washed and prepared himself for bed, he looked in the mirror and wondered whether his return had been disappointing. With the scar over his left eye, and the thinness of his body he was hardly the handsome, conquering hero. Although the scar had been there when he’d first met Alice and he’d never been anything but small and skinny. Perhaps he was a disappointing lover? He remembered some of the stories told by men with whom he had served. Had Alice listened to stories too? Had she expected more?
‘Vain you are, Eynon Castle. You’ve been standing there for ages, admiring your handsome self.’ Alice came to stand beside him and kissed his wet face.
‘Handsome? Me?’
‘Handsome, yes. I can’t believe how lucky I am, knowing I’ll wake up every morning and see your face beside mine.’
‘You aren’t disappointed?’
Alice looked shocked. ‘Do I give you that impression? Eynon, how could you disappoint me? I love you and I’m so proud to be your wife. We’re for ever, you and me. Whatever happens, nothing will separate us. Nothing.’ She held him so close that instead of reassurance Eynon felt more uneasy. ‘What could separate us?’ he asked, pressing her face into his neck, loving the warmth of her, the scent of her.
‘Nothing and no one.’ Her adamant vow only added to his feeling of unease.
Alice had heard nothing of Netta since the day she had seen her talking to Eynon while he had admired her little girl. Was Dolly really Eynon’s daughter? Or was the story just Netta’s distorted idea of fun? Either way Netta seemed to have given up on any attempt to face Eynon with the story, so Alice decided to put it aside and enjoy this exciting time of her life.
It was sad leaving the two rooms where she had waited for Eynon to come home and, as they packed the last of their belongings into boxes for Huw to take to Rosebay Place, Eynon saw her expression and thought he now understood her slight unhappiness.
‘Perfect homecoming it was, coming back to you here, but now we’re going to a new home and a new business and everything will be better than before. Don’t be sad leaving this behind, lovely girl.’
She hugged him and they stood for a while looking around the now empty hollow-sounding room. A weak winter sun shone and touched Eynon’s shoulder and she reached out and put her fingers through the beam. Would their memories of this place fade and would their parting and wonderful reunion be a memory as short lived as the dust motes showing in the slant of sunshine coming through the bare window?
Eirlys continued to help, suggesting the best places to advertise and how to obtain allocations of food. Peter found them a girl willing to help with the cleaning when required. When they moved in, the whole Castle clan helped, then drifted away as though by some prearranged signal, leaving them alone. They slept comfortably in their new bed and awoke with a feeling of excitement. There was only the ongoing fear of Netta’s appearance to spoil it, something of which Eynon was blissfully unaware. Dare she hope that the danger was past? If Netta intended to tell Eynon about his daughter, wouldn’t she have done so by now?
* * *
For Johnny, everything seemed perfect. He had stepped back into his life with his darling Hannah. ‘And,’ he told his father and stepmother, ‘my stepdaughters are a joy.’
‘Hannah works too hard, mind,’ Bleddyn said.
‘She always has, and I hope to take some of the burden of earning money from her now I’m home.’
Johnny had found work in a timber yard, cutting lengths of wood, collecting and delivering orders that, like everything else, were restricted if not actually rationed.
‘Not for long, mind,’ he told Keith one morning when he called to buy wood. ‘As soon as the season starts I’ll be on that beach before dawn, shouting for people to ride the swingboats and wearing a funny hat!’
‘Audrey tells me you’ve been enjoying it since before you could walk,’ Keith said. ‘Lucky the man who earns his money with such enjoyment.’
‘Mam used to say my first words were “swingboats”, and “helter-skelter”,’ Johnny joked. ‘And the next were “twopence to ride”.’
Hannah continued to work at the gift shop and demand for her talent as dress-maker kept her very busy. A second-hand clothing shop in the town was a regular haunt and when some pre-war dance dress came in made from beautiful material, the shop owner would put it on one side for her favourite customer and Hannah would bear it home, planning the garments she would make from its generous skirt.
With Christmas approaching and knowing that, for most young people that meant parties, for a surprise Hannah made Lilly a new dress. She had measured one of Lilly’s dresses with the assistance of Marged, planning to give it as a surprise early in December. It hung in her and Johnny’s room until then – a pretty diamante design at the waist sparkling at her every time she opened the wardrobe door. She smiled as she imagined the look on Lilly’s rather sulky face when it was given to her. Lilly was a difficult person – lazy, unwilling to do anything to help anyone but herself – but Hannah had a soft spot for her. Lilly was not a happy person, and in her own joy at having Johnny safely home, Hannah loved everybody.
* * *
When Alice returned to the shop after Lilly’s two weeks, it was to find everything in a muddle: piles of towels and pillowcases pulled out of place and left in crumpled heaps. The till roll on which each transaction should have been written was a mass of unreadable scribbles. ‘Typical Lilly,’ she sighed as she began to sort out the chaos of her two weeks’ absence.
She was making progress but the shop was still in a mess when Cassie came at twelve o’clock.
‘Do you have to go home for lunch, Alice?’ she asked, and Alice saw that Cassie was upset.
‘I can pop off a bit early and leave a sandwich for Eynon with a note, if it’s urgent?’
‘I’d appreciate it, dear.’
It still gave Alice a thrill to open the door of their own home and she went in carrying a pasty still warm from the baker’s and quickly made a sandwich to add to it, covered them with muslin and wrote Eynon a loving note explaining her absence. Then she locked up and hurried back to the shop.
At the end of the road Netta watched.
Cassie had made tea and brought food and while they ate, she said nothing important, she just thanked Alice for sorting out the mess left by Eynon’s sister and making suggestions about rearranging various displays. When they had eaten, Cassie said, ‘Read this,’ and handed Alice a letter.
It was private and after getting the gist of it she was afraid she had misunderstood. She had difficulty concentrating on the words, as though she were reading something she had no right to see. It was brief
and she read it a second time then a third. ‘He’s leaving you?’ she said at last. ‘For this, Joanna Lee-Jones?’
Cassie nodded, her face suddenly much older, lined and grey with shock and misery.
‘But he can’t do that. He’s telling you to go, leave the shops and go! If he’s going off with this woman, it’s he who should leave, not you.’
‘He doesn’t want me, just the business.’
‘Can he do this? Surely as his wife you have some rights to the business you’ve run all these years?’
‘That’s the trouble, Alice, dear. I’m not his wife. We’ve always intended to marry one day, but somehow we’ve never got around to it.’
‘Oh Cassie,’ Alice said sadly. ‘He can’t do this, he’ll change his mind, surely?’
‘I had the letter ages ago; I didn’t want to talk about it.’
‘Ignore it and it’ll go away?’
‘No, dear. I didn’t think like that. No. I didn’t ignore it, not at all.’
* * *
Netta waited at the end of Roseby Place until Eynon appeared, running, whistling cheerfully as he let himself into the house. ‘Come on, Dolly, let’s go and meet your father.’ She walked purposefully to the recently closed door but once there she stopped. She couldn’t knock on the door and blurt out her rehearsed speech. Not today. What she was planning took a lot of nerve and she wasn’t quite ready. She turned and walked back the way she had come. ‘Tomorrow,’ she said to the little girl. ‘Tomorrow we’ll call and see him. Now I have to get you back home.’
* * *
Freddy stayed on at the hotel, still unable to decide what he would do. When Keith Kent walked in with Audrey to book a meal for the weekend to celebrate Audrey’s birthday, he recognized them and asked if they had news of Shirley.
‘She’s still living at home between concerts – you can’t have lost touch with her?’ Keith said curiously.
Holidays at Home Omnibus Page 169
