False Friends

by False Friends (retail) (epub)

  ‘I’m sorry, Ken. But until we can do it properly, with everyone important to us wishing us well, it wouldn’t seem like a wedding at all.’

  ‘By “doing it properly” I hope you don’t mean when your father has served his time?’

  She didn’t reply, reeling with the unexpected proposal. Ken sighed and led her towards the doorway where the security guard was waiting. He thanked the man and hurried back up the hill towards the wood, striding fast and ignoring her attempts to keep up. He didn’t speak to her until they were at the edge of the wood. ‘I see. You’re determined to serve your father’s sentence with him, are you?’

  ‘No, of course not.’

  ‘Then you’re letting my parents ruin everything for us?’

  ‘Not that either.’

  ‘Then you obviously don’t love me enough to trust me with your life.’

  She dared not admit that her first thought when he had proposed, was how Dic would take the news. ‘It’s too soon,’ she said. ‘We haven’t known each other long enough,’ she said.

  ‘It’s long enough for me,’ he said. ‘And I thought it was the same for you. I just didn’t realize how badly you’ve allowed your father’s situation to twist your mind.’

  They walked the rest of the way in silence and he muttered a brief goodbye and left.

  ‘Surely it wasn’t a permanent goodbye?’ Lowri asked Marion later that evening. ‘I was asking for time, but I didn’t make that clear.’

  ‘It seems to me you aren’t sure of your feelings for him.’

  ‘I’m not completely sure, no. And I am worried about his parents’ attitude. It would be difficult to live with their continuing disapproval.’

  ‘Forget about his parents and think about how you feel about Ken. Love is a strong emotion, it makes you give up on things you might once have thought important. People do things in the name of love they wouldn’t normally dream of doing. Loving someone, really loving them, is all consuming.’

  She spoke so emotionally that Lowri asked, ‘Is this how you feel about your married man?’

  ‘I’d do absolutely anything for him. But this is about you. Lowri, if you don’t feel like that you were right to say no. But,’ Marion added firmly, ‘that doesn’t mean love won’t grow. Give it time, and see how you feel in a month or so.’

  Lowri knew that unless she could remove Dic from her thoughts, the guilty feeling that she was letting him down and owed him some sort of loyalty, an all consuming love for Ken would never happen. She couldn’t tell Marion that. She couldn’t even understand it herself.

  *

  Stella was blatantly curious to know what happened when Lowri and Ken met. When Lowri told her of Ken’s proposal she began to cheer but stopped when she saw the seriousness of Lowri’s expression. ‘You didn’t say yes? Why not, don’t you love him?’

  ‘I don’t know, Stella. His parents would never agree to meet mine, would they? And his mother made it clear she wouldn’t welcome me into the family. I don’t think I could live with her disapproval.’

  ‘Go on, marry the man, just to spite her, miserable old bat!’

  Lowri laughed. ‘That would teach her to be rude to Lowri Vaughan, wouldn’t it?’ Then more soberly she added, ‘There can’t be a worse reason to marry someone, than that.’

  ‘There’s no hurry, let the weeks pass and see how you feel later. Nice young man he is, mind. And he can afford a brand new bungalow an’ all.’

  ‘He is very nice. He’s kind and caring and all those things, but—’

  ‘Ah, it’s the “but” that counts, isn’t it? Wait till you’re sure, girl. Best to wait till you’re sure.’

  Lowri wrote to her mother and explained what had happened, making light of it, as though it was amusing and not serious. Putting her thoughts down helped, but she was aware of having no one with whom she could talk it through. She missed Dic’s parents and Dic himself, although she could hardly discuss her feelings for another man with him. Dic’s mother, her once loved Auntie Cathy, would have understood and helped her to make sense of her jumbled emotions.

  She left the post office at five thirty and saw a woman standing outside. The woman turned and said softly, ‘Hello Lowri, my dear. How are you?’

  It was Dic’s mother and for a moment it seemed Auntie Cathy had appeared out of Lowri’s longing to see her. She wanted to run to her and be enveloped in a loving hug as she had so many times before. In fact she actually ran a couple of steps, but then she stopped, tightened her mouth that was beginning a smile and replied, ‘I’m well, but no thanks to you and Uncle Jack.’

  ‘Would you spare me a little time? Please, dear. I so much want to talk to you. I have the car and I can either drive you home or we could go somewhere and eat. I remember you were always hungry. Or has that changed with so many other things?’

  Lowri was confused. The confrontation was without warning, but she knew she didn’t want to take this woman into Badgers Brook. The house was only for friends. Auntie Cathy was no longer one of those.

  ‘The café is open until six,’ she said ungraciously.

  ‘That doesn’t give us much time, would you come to a restaurant I know?’

  Lowri nodded, trying to show disapproval in the minute gesture.

  They drove a few miles and Cathy stopped near a restaurant in the village of Cowbridge. They ordered their meal without attempting to start a conversation. Lowri didn’t know what to say to this once loved person, and Cathy was afraid of saying something that would make her guest walk out.

  Finally, as they waited for their meal to be served, Cathy said, ‘Uncle Jack has been going through every book, every piece of paper since your father’s imprisonment, searching for some evidence that points to someone else.’

  ‘So now he’s satisfied he was right and my father robbed him?’ Still on the defensive, she started to rise as the waitress approached with their meal. Cathy put a hand on her arm and gently persuaded her to sit.

  Still holding her arm, stroking it affectionately, she said, ‘Hear me out and then I’ll take you home,’ she promised. She turned Lowri’s arm over and touched the scar on her inner arm. ‘D’you remember when you did this? It was when Dic was teaching you to play cricket and you ran, tripped, and caught it on the garden fence.’

  Lowri said nothing. Remembering Dic’s concern made her unexpectedly weepy: the way he had bathed and bandaged her and given her sweets to make her feel better. Like a big brother, always there to protect her. Life had been so perfect then.

  ‘You were his bridesmaid when he married Rosemary,’ Cathy reminded her. ‘When you were very small and he started going out with his first girlfriend you cried because you wanted to marry him yourself, even though you were only about seven or eight.’

  ‘I loved Rosemary and remember the excitement when Sarah-Jane and then Katie were born. I was broken-hearted when she died. Influenza. It seemed so unreal.’

  Reminiscences followed one after the other and barriers broke down as they talked. Cathy told her that Jack hadn’t given up searching for the truth. ‘At the time of your father’s arrest the evidence was so clear, the police were convinced, and anger made him accept what everyone else believed. When the anger and hurt had cooled he began to think more clearly. He knew your father so well; they had gone through three dangerous years together in the Navy. He knew then Jimmy couldn’t have damaged the business he’d helped to build. They were both so proud of what they’d achieved. Once he decided the evidence was false he began to look through every detail, going back to the beginning.

  ‘Whoever had stolen the money was clever. Leaving evidence pointing to your father gave him a chance to get away. Perhaps that was all he’d intended, to be given enough time to get away. He had us all fooled.’

  ‘You’re talking about Ellis Owen, aren’t you?’

  ‘Maybe, but now we’ll never know.’

  ‘I think he’s still alive. I’ve see him twice.’

  Expecting the usual sym
pathetic mutterings she was startled when Cathy nodded and said, ‘If anyone could defeat the sea Ellis Owen could.’ Hope swelled in Lowri and the months of anger towards this gentle, loving woman drifted away.

  It was such a relief for Lowri to be able to talk to Cathy that hours passed, firstly in the restaurant, then walking around the small, elegant town. They exchanged news, Lowri telling Cathy about the friends she had made since coming to Cwm Derw. She made only a brief mention of Ken Hardy who, Cathy remarked, ‘Sounds nice.’

  They drove back to Cwm Derw and passed the post office as Lowri gave directions to Badgers Brook. Lowri pointed across the road to where a woman was pushing a child in a pushchair. ‘Look! That’s Marion, the girl who shares the house with me. She’s walking very purposefully. I wonder where she’s going? She’s an ideal person to share the house, but very secretive about her family.’

  Cathy looked and frowned. ‘That’s funny, she looks familiar. What did you say her name was?’

  ‘Marion. Marion Davies.’

  ‘What does she do? I’m sure I’ve seen her somewhere. A shop, maybe?’

  ‘She cleans for several people, but no one outside Cwm Derw.’

  ‘I’ve got it! Marion Davies, yes, that’s her. She cleaned for us for a while but your Uncle Jack had to let her go. There was some trouble and she only stayed a week, but I can’t remember what happened. Jack will remember. I’ll ask him – that’s if I remember. With all we’ve talked about this evening, and so many bridges crossed, I doubt I will. It can’t be important anyway. It was years ago.’

  Parking in the lane outside Badgers Brook, Cathy said, ‘There’s one more thing I have to tell you. Our little Katie is not well. She has a touch of tonsillitis and she keeps asking for you. Dic thought it better not to ask you to call.’ She looked at Lowri adding, ‘He explained about you being shut in that old hut your father and your Uncle Jack used and thinking it was him.’

  ‘It was the smell. It was the same as that old jacket of his.’

  ‘Dic loves you, Lowri, you know that, surely? He’s never do anything to hurt you.’

  Loves me? she mused. Love is such an overused word with so many meanings.

  ‘Ellis Owen used the place too, didn’t he?’

  ‘Yes. He was a keen fisherman, in fact he loved all out-of-doors activities. Climbing, walking, camping, boats, swimming. D’you know he wanted to try to swim the Channel? And to sail across the Atlantic to America?’

  ‘Perhaps it was some such grand idea that made him steal from us.’

  ‘If he did, dear. Jack no longer believes in your father’s involvement, but he hasn’t found evidence pointing to anyone else. Even if he suspects Ellis, we have no proof and I doubt we ever will now, despite Jack’s efforts.’

  ‘If Ellis hadn’t died on that stormy day there’d be a chance for Dad. Do you think he could have survived?’

  ‘Possible but unlikely, dear. If he had, you wouldn’t have been the only one to have seen him. He was well known around the hunting, shooting, fishing paternity, wasn’t he?’ She hugged Lowri and said briskly, ‘Now, will you come and see us?’

  ‘If you’re sure Uncle Jack believes Dad is innocent.’

  ‘He’s absolutely certain and like me, he misses you dreadfully. And little Katie?’

  ‘I’ll go to the shop and see her there.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Can we meet again, before I come to see Uncle Jack?’

  ‘Of course. Shall I write to you?’

  ‘Phone me just after the post office closes. It takes me quite a few minutes to get my coat on and get ready to leave.’

  They parted with emotional regrets and promises and Lowri was tearful when she went inside. The place was empty as she expected, having seen Marion with her little sister. So when Marion returned and told her she’d been at the pictures, she was surprised. ‘I saw you less than an hour ago, with Sandra,’ she said.

  ‘Where did you see me?’

  ‘We were passing the post office and you were walking past with Sandra in a pushchair. You were in a hurry. Meeting someone, were you?’

  ‘Who were you with, Ken?’

  ‘No. Oh Marion, so much has happened.’ She told her about the surprising evening and how happy she was at the prospect of having Auntie Cathy and Uncle Jack back in her life.

  ‘And Dic too?’

  ‘I was wrong, you were right. He wouldn’t hurt or frighten me.’ It wasn’t until much later that she remembered Marion’s evasiveness when she asked where she had been and why she had lied.

  At breakfast, Lowri was unable to resist asking who it was Marion had been meeting. ‘Your secret love, was it?’

  ‘Hardly, with a two-year-old in tow.’

  ‘Then who?’ Lowi stood and waited for Marion to explain, her determination to be answered clear on her face. She was increasingly irritated by the fact that she opened up almost completely to Marion, but her friend was reluctant to do the same.

  Marion sat down and looked away from her. In a low voice she asked, ‘If I tell you something will you promise not to repeat it?’

  ‘Of course I promise.’

  ‘Sandra isn’t my mother’s youngest child. She’s mine.’

  ‘Yours? But I don’t understand? Is she the child of this married man who’s supposed to be getting a divorce?’

  ‘Yes. And he is getting a divorce.’

  ‘Come on, Marion. Sandra is two years old. How long are you going on believing that?’

  ‘Typical! The less you know the more you have to say! If you knew more you’d be too busy phoning the… the… his wife, rather than worrying about me!’

  Lowri frowned. ‘For a moment there, I thought you were going to say I’d be phoning the police. Is he in trouble, this secret lover?’

  ‘No, of course not. I was afraid I’d mention his wife’s name, that’s all. Keep out of it, Lowri. You and your overactive imagination! It’s none of your business.’

  ‘Who is he, this ardent lover who is promising you everything and giving nothing?’

  ‘You don’t know him.’

  ‘Why are you protecting him? What can you hope to get out of this? Two, three years or more, and you still believe him? How many more years are you going to waste?’

  ‘Shut up! Just shut up! Stop poking your nose into my affairs. You and I share this house and that’s all. Stay out of the rest of my life, it’s nothing to do with you! Now, I’m going out to meet my future husband. And here’s something to keep that inquisitive mind of yours busy – I’m leaving Badgers Brook at the end of this month and I can’t wait to get away from you.’

  Hiding her dismay at the appalling way the morning had begun, Lowri spoke quietly and calmly, ‘You have to tell Connie and Geoff, they are your landlords, not me. I’m only a friend.’

  ‘Yes, and you’re a fine one to talk about false friends, because that’s what you are, Lowri Vaughan, a false friend!’

  Ten

  Lowri stared at the door through which Marion had just left. She was devastated by the speed at which her curiosity had developed into such an angry scene. Was she expecting too much of a friendship by asking – no – by demanding to know about Marion’s private life? She hadn’t the right. Marion was not a friend of many years, in fact, she hadn’t been a very important part of her life until the trouble with her father had alienated so many people she’d previously considered friends. Marion had supported her when no one else had, and agreed to share the cost of Badgers Brook which she could not have otherwise considered. Now she had ruined it by her unreasonable curiosity.

  It was as she sat there surrounded by the detritus of breakfast that she remembered Dic’s mother recognizing Marion and explaining that she had once worked for them. Another of Marion’s secrets. She thought back over the months they had shared the house, remembering odd things, small and unimportant at the time, but building a picture that was puzzling. It’s no wonder curiosity got the better of me, she thought.


  Marion seemed to know more about Ellis Owen that she should, remarking on his love for boats and climbing and the great outdoors. Where would she have learned that? And why hadn’t she told her that she had once worked for Auntie Cathy and Uncle Jack? She knew Jack Morris had been her father’s partner and the cause of her father’s imprisonment, so why hadn’t she mentioned knowing him? Also, if she had cleaned for them, why hadn’t Dic recognized Marion? Again she was swamped with doubts about Dic. She had revised her doubts after her meeting with his mother, but the suspicions wouldn’t go away. As soon as one puzzle was cleared up another appeared.

  Auntie Cathy had seemed genuinely glad to see her but had said very little about Uncle Jack. Had she been pretending when she said he no longer believed her father had stolen from him? Did he still believe her father was dishonest? She was surrounded by false friends and they all had one thing in common: complicity in the arrest of her father, and that had to include Auntie Cathy.

  Leaving the dishes on the kitchen table, she set off for the bus at the end of the lane, edgy and deeply unhappy. No Ken, certainly no Dic, and after an evening of hope, no Auntie Cathy and Uncle Jack either. There was no one she could trust except her mother, and she had given up, accepted her father’s imprisonment.

  She had to find out who had taken the money her father was accused of stealing. No one else believed in him and although she was completely alone she refused to give up. The hut. It had to be something to do with the hut. Frightening as the thought was, she knew she had to go there again, and this time, dig up the whole floor if necessary to find out why the key had been so important.

  *

  Marion watched from the wood opposite Badgers Brook and listened until the bus arrived and the sound of it had faded as it headed for the main road of Cwm Derw with Lowri on board; then she went back inside the house. It was fifteen minutes to nine o’clock and she had half an hour to kill. She cleared the dishes, brought in a few logs for the fire and filled the coal scuttle; automatic tasks that needed little thought. At fifteen minutes past the hour there was a gentle tap on the door overlooking the garden and she opened it and fell into the man’s arms.