The Tangled Web

by The Tangled Web (retail) (epub)

  Amanda was still watching the corner around which the couple had disappeared. She forced a smile and tried to show interest as Philip said, ‘Come on, don’t you want to hear what I’ve discovered?’

  ‘Of course. But let’s go inside, it’s freezing.’

  Once Philip began to talk, Amanda had no difficulty in concentrating.

  ‘Jessica Maybury’s real name is Sian Talbot. Her mother was Gwen Beynon, your Aunt Flora’s sister. Her father was Ryan Talbot. She was born here in Tri-nant and so far as I can learn, she is probably early to middle thirties. What about that then?’ His pleasure in passing on the information for which she had been searching showed in his smile and his sparkling eyes.

  ‘So she must be related to me! But why did she lie?’

  ‘Afraid of giving away her age to Rhys no doubt. Or perhaps she has an unsavoury background she’s trying to run away from. Who knows? I doubt she’ll tell us.’

  ‘She says she’s American and thirty years old.’

  ‘And that’s what Rhys probably believes.’

  They discussed the news for a long time but it seemed to bring Amanda no closer to a solution. In fact they were now further away than ever, if Gwen’s daughter was no longer a possibility as Amanda’s mother.

  ‘There must be a branch of the Beynon family separate from Aunt Flora’s immediate family that we’ve yet to discover,’ Amanda said sadly. ‘But how can we find them? We haven’t got a single name to give us a start.’

  ‘We’ll have to go back further than Sheila and William Beynon, to your great-great-grandparents.’ Catrin said.

  ‘Or what about an illegitimate child, brought up by some one other than Gwen?’ Philip suggested.

  ‘Give up,’ Amanda said. ‘I was made of gingerbread and baked by the fairies.’

  8

  Catrin and Amanda set out on their belated walk and their feet took them past Rhys’s bungalow.

  ‘If the Landrover’s there, shall we call on the way back and tell him what Philip discovered?’

  ‘If you like. But let’s not make a plan, just see how we feel later. We might come back a different way.’ Amanda was determined they should!

  Skirting the school grounds they made their way across a field to join up once more with the stream. The ground dropped away below them and in the distance they could see the silvery gleam of the sea.

  ‘Shall we turn back now?’ Amanda asked, ‘or are you able to walk a bit further?’

  ‘I’d like to walk around and back through the village on the other side. There’s a catkin tree where we might collect a bunch to decorate the hall.’

  ‘If you’re sure it won’t tire you?’ Amanda asked doubtfully, thinking that they would have to pass Rhys’s bungalow after all.

  ‘I feel fine, dear. Don’t worry.’

  Amanda watched her companion as she climbed over the stile and jumped down lightly into the field which led them back to the road. She was amazed at how much Catrin had improved since she had moved in with her. Perhaps she is simply more relaxed, knowing someone is there, Amanda thought. But whatever the reason, she isn’t the same person.

  Rhys was standing at his gate when they reached the bungalow.

  ‘I saw you coming,’ he explained, ‘and I thought you’d appreciate the offer of a cup of reviving tea.’

  Amanda looked anxiously around for a sign of Jessica’s presence as she entered. The room looked much as usual, nothing feminine lying about.

  ‘Jessica isn’t here.’ Rhys seemed to read her thoughts. ‘And,’ he went on, ‘that makes you the favourite for making the tea.’

  ‘I thought there’d be a snag!’ she said, disappearing into the kitchen, ignoring his first remark.

  When she returned with the tray, Rhys and his aunt were looking out of the window.

  ‘It’s amazing how spring-like everything is,’ Catrin was saying. ‘The trees are ready to burst into leaf and the birds are already pairing up.’ She pointed to a pair of bullfinches on the branch of an apple tree waiting to plunder its new shoots.

  ‘I’m already busy with preparations for the Easter Bonnet Parade,’ Amanda told them, glad of a safe subject. ‘So don’t talk to me about spring arriving. In our classroom it already has!’

  ‘So that’s why you’ve been asking for unwanted hats.’

  ‘Most mothers will make one for their own child but there are always a few who won’t bother, so I make a few to save disappointments. I can’t risk a child being missed out of the parade.’

  ‘What about the boys, don’t they have any fun?’ Rhys wanted to know.

  ‘The boys are in charge of refreshments. All the children will help to make cakes and the boys will offer them around.’

  ‘If I’m free I’ll come and take photographs for the school scrap book,’ Rhys offered and Amanda was delighted. He took out his diary. ‘What date will it be?’

  ‘Good Friday is April the sixteenth but we want the Parade on the ninth.’

  ‘I can’t promise, I –’

  ‘I know,’ Amanda tried to sound off-hand, ‘you can’t complicate you life with any commitments!’

  ‘Nonsense, dear, Rhys isn’t afraid of commitment. But he does need friends who understand his work. Not like poor Philip,’ she added with a surreptitious glance at her nephew. ‘His wife couldn’t accept his constant travelling. She loved him without appreciating his need to do the work he enjoyed.’

  Amanda’s heart began to race as she watched Rhys’s face cloud over. ‘Time we were leaving,’ she said firmly. ‘I have work to do and you’ll be glad to get home and change out of those shoes, won’t you, Catrin?’

  Catrin looked surprised at the acerbity in Amanda’s voice, but she rose without another word.

  Amanda decided to stay on at school one evening, to make the extra hats for the Easter Bonnet Parade. She told Catrin not to expect her for tea.

  After seeing the children safely out of school and into the care of a parent, she was about to return to her classroom when she noticed Heather and the two girls waiting for her.

  ‘I’m staying on for a while,’ she explained. ‘I want to work on the hats.’

  ‘Five minutes to hand the girls over to Haydn and I’ll help,’ Heather offered.

  Amanda huddled inside her coat as Heather hurried Helen and Jane to where Haydn was waiting at the turn of the lane. The weather had turned icy and she was glad when Heather reappeared and they could run for the warmth of the classroom.

  Heather was clever with her hands and after being told what was required, she deftly transformed old hats into flower-covered bonnets. Heather and Haydn had already promised help on the day and the two young women chatted happily about the arrangements until the hats were completed.

  Amanda surveyed the colourful collection. ‘I doubt if we’ll need any more than these. Most mothers will supply their own creations. We’ve just made sure none will be forgotten.’

  ‘You’re very thoughtful, Amanda,’ Heather said. ‘And you’ve been wonderful with Jane. She’s so much happier since you came.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Amanda smiled. ‘She’s a delightful little girl.’

  ‘I wonder if Rhys will take pictures? He doesn’t seem to know where he’ll be at any time, does he? I couldn’t live with that, could you?’

  ‘It depends. If I were married to a man whose job took him away but I knew he came home to me as often as he could, because he wanted to be with me, then I think I could cope.’ She was staring into space, thinking of Rhys, and when she looked at Heather she saw the woman was upset.

  ‘It can be very lonely when you’re left for weeks and you imagine your husband having fun without you,’ Heather said quietly.

  ‘There are marriages that survive long separations though.’ Then, to comfort Heather she added, ‘So much depends on how a man treats his wife. If he’s insensitive to her problems, well, I can see how impossible it would be.’

  ‘Rhys will never marry. He seems to have the best o
f both worlds, an aunt to spoil him and the freedom to do as he pleases.’ Heather spoke harshly and Amanda wondered with alarm whether she were in love with Rhys.

  ‘Why do people think of marriage as the end of freedom? Being with someone you love isn’t a prison, is it?’

  ‘It can be!’

  ‘Was it, for you?’ Amanda spoke softly. She knew she was treading dangerous ground and was afraid the question might be considered an impertinence. Yet she sensed the other woman’s need to talk.

  ‘Yes. I was left on my own with a small child and I felt trapped. I’m so lucky to have found someone like Haydn. He’d never leave us.’

  ‘Is it wise to be so dependent on another person?’

  The scared look that had left Heather’s face while she made the hats had returned and Amanda cursed herself for causing it.

  ‘Haydn helped me face up to leaving my husband and he promised to stay with us. Jane isn’t Haydn’s; she was born soon after I’d left my husband you see,’ Heather went on. ‘I think that’s why she’s been so clinging.’

  ‘Her confidence is growing. She’ll be fine. By the way, she’ll be having a reading book soon, but don’t tell her just yet.’

  ‘Haydn will be pleased, he spends a lot of time with her. Helen picks things up quicker than Jane.’

  ‘Children catch worries quicker than the measles,’ Amanda said with a laugh. ‘So try not to show your concern.’ Taking a chance on being rebuffed she asked, ‘What did your husband do, Heather?’

  ‘Oh, let’s not talk about him any more!’ Tension showed in Heather’s thin face and clouded her eyes. ‘Haydn looks after us now.’

  ‘Sorry, I had no right to question you.’ She wondered about Haydn. Had he given up on any plans for a life of his own, so Heather could be secure? What could he have done that was so terrible, this ex-husband she never named?

  When the two women left the school it was raining. Cold icy rain that seemed to burn the skin on their faces and made their foreheads ache.

  With hurriedly shouted goodbyes, they went their separate ways, Heather to the house next door to the Cwm Gwyn Arms, and Amanda to Firethorn and a welcome cup of tea.

  She slowed as she passed the bungalow. The place looked dark and empty. The garage doors were closed and curtains covered the windows. But she no more than glanced in case she were wrong and Jessica was watching from the darkened room. Rhys had been away for a few days and she wondered vaguely when he would be back.

  * * *

  Her question was answered when she reached the cottage.

  ‘I’ve had a call from Rhys, dear,’ Catrin said. ‘He’s coming home tonight and I promised to turn on the heating and put a casserole in the oven.’ She looked at Amanda pleadingly. ‘I don’t feel like going out on a cold evening like this, but I did promise.’

  ‘You are definitely not going,’ Amanda said. ‘It’s freezing cold and raining and you’d be soaked. No, I’ll walk down later.’

  ‘Thank you, dear.’ Catrin smiled sweetly. ‘I hoped you’d say that.’

  For the first time, Amanda felt she had been manoeuvred into something. She looked at the guileless face of Catrin and wondered about her illness before she invited her to come to live at the cottage, and about the stiffness which miraculously cured itself. She shook her head impatiently. She was imagining things. What could Catrin gain out of pretending to be ill?

  ‘The casserole is already cooked so if you could take it down about ten o’clock?’

  ‘I need to go before that. The place will be so cold.’

  ‘For you and me perhaps. But Rhys sleeps in the most uncomfortable places. Tents!’ She shuddered expressively. ‘Ten o’clock will be fine.’

  By that time the rain had stopped and, dressed warmly, she set off for the bungalow. Before she entered, she knocked, half expecting that Jessica would be waiting for Rhys too. The place was dark and empty. She turned the heating on and set the meal to warm in the oven. It was late, but she put a match to the log fire and waited until it was cheerfully burning. Then she prepared to leave; there was nothing else she could do. As she stepped outside, headlights dazzled her and she closed the door instantly. If Rhys was with Jessica she didn’t want to meet them!

  In the darkness of the hall, almost without thinking, she stupidly decided to hide. Once they were inside she could slip out without them knowing she’d been there. I’d never make a criminal, she thought wildly, thinking of her brother in similar circumstances. Her heart was racing with guilt and the fear of being seen, as she slipped into the dining room and watched the hallway through the partly-opened door. Why was I such an idiot? she asked herself. I’m really stuck now I’ve committed myself to hiding in this ridiculous way. It’s too late to show myself.

  A figure was visible outside the door, silhouetted by the glare of an outside light. She made a move as if to go and open the door but again, courage failed her at the thought of seeing Jessica. No, her decision was made. She would have to remain hidden until Rhys was inside and hope to make her escape later.

  Rhys came through the door bringing the cold fresh air with him and dropped a pile of equipment on the floor beside the telephone. He picked up the receiver and dialled, glancing around casually while apparently waiting for his connection and Amanda slowly pushed her door closed.

  ‘Hello,’ Rhys said loudly. ‘Is that the police?

  I want to report a burglar – yes, here, now – the address? It’s –’

  ‘Rhys, it’s me!’ Amanda burst out and snatched the phone from his hand, expecting him to be shocked, angry, in fact any reaction but this. He was laughing.

  ‘How’s that for owns back?’ he said, hugging her. ‘I saw you at the door as I drove in and guessed you were still inside.’

  ‘But the police?’

  ‘My thumb was on the bar, don’t worry. What are you doing here?’

  ‘Catrin asked me to come and put a casserole in the oven. She said you need a hot meal.’

  ‘What I need is this.’ He put a hand behind her head and pulled her towards him. His lips met hers, gently at first then with a deep longing that almost overwhelmed her. She clung to him, wanting to stay close for ever.

  He seemed tense when he released her.

  ‘Come and help unload the car,’ he said gruffly. Amanda knew the remark was a shield to hide his desire for her and the affect of their kiss. ‘Then you can tell me what you’ve been doing while I’ve been away.’ He helped button her coat tightly and tie her scarf, and every touch and gesture was a caress. His eyes held such longing that she wanted to throw herself into his arms, but she pretended unconcern.

  There were several loads to be brought in and the biting wind cut through the coat and made her shiver.

  ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to help in this weather. I didn’t want you to leave,’ he apologised. ‘Come in and warm yourself.’ He led her towards the huge, crackling fire.

  The scene looked tempting. A man for whom she felt a growing love, a cosy fire and an intimate glow from a lamp illuminating the settee. She shook her head. She would soon be out of her depth with this man.

  ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ she said. ‘Catrin will wonder where I am.’

  He began to argue, then picked up his car keys and collected his heavy sheepskin. ‘Very well. But I insist on driving you. It isn’t far but it’s late and I don’t want anything to happen to you.’

  It was only a few silent moments before the car stopped outside Firethorn Cottage. ‘Give Aunt Catrin my love and tell her I’ll see her tomorrow, will you?’ He took her hand as she reached for the door. ‘Amanda, I missed you. I’m so glad you were there to welcome me home.’

  ‘I’m glad you’re back,’ she whispered in a small, tight voice.

  He kissed her lightly and stepped out to open her door.

  She walked to the gate, conscious of a fierce urge to run back to him. This won’t do, she told herself. I’m making an impossible situation for myself if I give
in to this. Denying herself the painful pleasure of looking back, she went into the house. Leaning against the inside of the door she listened with something approaching despair as the car drove away.

  ‘Back so soon, dear?’ Catrin called. ‘I thought you’d have stayed and talked to Rhys for a while.’

  ‘How could you have thought that?’ Amanda asked. ‘You said he wasn’t expected back until much later.’

  ‘Did I say that? Oh, I must be getting muddled.’

  Amanda looked at the innocent face with its halo of white curls. Catrin getting muddled? No chance of that! She had known exactly what she was doing when she sent her to the bungalow at the time Rhys was expected. What is she up to, she wondered? First warning her that Rhys was not a candidate for marriage, then throwing them I together.

  She herself must have made a mistake. Or perhaps Catrin had forgotten what Rhys had told her. But another look at the gleam in her friend’s blue eyes and she was completely confused. There was more to this lady than she had suspected!

  She told Catrin about Rhys frightening her by pretending to call the police.

  ‘But why did you hide, dear?’

  ‘I thought –’ Amanda was about to lie but changed her mind. ‘I was afraid I might embarrass Rhys if there was someone with him.’

  ‘By ‘someone’ you mean Jessica Maybury?’

  ‘Or someone else.’

  ‘Jessica Maybury is no longer in the area. There wasn’t an affair you know. I think Jessica hoped there would be, but Rhys doesn’t like vain women and they don’t come much more vain than Jessica!’

  Amanda’s thoughts kept her awake most of that night. Her relationship with Rhys was growing. His pleasure at seeing her couldn’t be denied. But where would it lead? She thought of Heather’s description of the impossibility of living with a man whose work took him away for long periods and wondered if she would be able to cope, and whether she’d be given the chance to find out.

  * * *

  A week before the Easter Bonnet Parade, Rhys was at the cottage when she returned from school. A tray was set with cakes and tea and he looked as if he had been there for a while. Amanda greeted him with shyness, convinced she had been the subject of conversation. The momentary shyness faded as Rhys offered her the chair closest to the fire, and began talking about his visit to London.