Facing the World (3 page)

They talked about the people they had known when they had worked at the furniture factory. Some had stayed and found other 
work, some had moved away and news filtered back of their successes and failures.

‘Pity it closed,’ Eric said. ‘If I’d been five years younger I’d have started again.’

‘Not with half a leg missing you wouldn’t!’ Gwilym said bitterly.

‘Ex-servicemen had to adjust to far worse,’ Eric reminded him quietly. ‘Besides, it’s eyes and hands that make a good carpenter – as you were. It’s such a waste of your talent, Gwilym. You were good, and even now after being out of work for so long you’d find it easy to get work if you wanted it.’ He stared at his friend. ‘What are you waiting for?’

Gwilym didn’t reply. How could he when he didn’t know himself? There would be a day when things would change but he couldn’t imagine how. There was this incomplete dream in his head of suddenly walking alongside Valmai, going to the station to greet his son returning from his self-imposed exile, but how could that ever be? The first half of the dream was a blur and he had no idea how he expected it to happen. His dream consisted only of the happy ending.

He knew the change had to begin with himself but something was twisted up inside and he was waiting for something wonderful to happen. His leg wouldn’t miraculously return and he couldn’t imagine learning to walk on a false one, so a change, a wonderful event, would never happen and the sooner Valmai gave up hope, as he had, the better.

Valmai sped up the slight incline towards the Falconers’ house where, in the fading lights, Sally was hanging clothes on the line.

‘Mrs Martin! Lovely to see you.’ Dropping her voice she asked, ‘You haven’t heard anything from Rhys, have you?’

‘No, dear, not a word. Come on, I’ll give a hand with these, you put the kettle on. There are some cakes in my saddle bag.’ She held up a baby dress. ‘Tiddly little clothes they are.’

‘Not so small now. She’ll be two next month.’

‘Two precious years of her childhood Rhys has missed. I wish he’d come home.’

‘Have you heard who’s moving into the Waterstones’ house?’ Sally asked, pretending not to have heard the comment. 

‘Only that it’s a couple. Amy and Rick.’

‘Any children?’

‘They aren’t married yet according to her in the post office. Wedding planned for the autumn, so I’m told. Workmen are there and it looks as though they’re having a lot done before they move in.’

‘Good on ’em. Lucky for some.’

Before she left, after reading a story to Sadie, Valmai slipped a
ten-shilling
note under the sugar basin. ‘A little treat for Sadie, eh? Now, I’m off but I’ll try to come again soon.’

‘Did you see anyone interesting while you were out, love?’ Gwilym asked when Valmai handed him the brake blocks she had found in the shed.

‘Not really, I just went into work to check on what time I’m wanted tomorrow.’

Gwilym smiled. He knew she had visited Sally and slipped her a few shillings as she did every week. Although Sally had denied it, the baby was Rhys’s and one day he’ll come home and they’d be one happy family. If only the police could find out who had really committed those burglaries. Then Rhys would come back.

It was a month before the new owners, Amy Seaton-Jones and Rick Perry, appeared at the Waterstones’ old place and at once they began to annoy the neighbours. While alterations were being done and Rick had started on the garden, Amy complained about the trees overhanging their fence and about neighbours who didn’t brush the pavement outside their houses and the milkman who made too much noise and the postman who sang. So it was with some trepidation that Valmai stopped outside and alighted from her bicycle when she went to deliver an embroidered cushion she had made as a welcoming gift for the new neighbours.

‘You can’t leave that there!’ a voice called, as Valmai propped her bike against the garden wall. She looked around and saw a woman standing in the doorway shaking a yellow duster. She was small, barely five feet tall, and she wore a scarf around her head and an
all-concealing
apron, both in bright pink.

Valmai quickly decided to pretend not to have heard. ‘Mornin’. Welcome to Mill Road,’ she said with her brightest smile. ‘Pleasant 
people around here. I’m sure you’ll be very happy.’ There was no reply; she had obviously confused the woman. ‘I’m Valmai Martin. Gwilym and I live at 42. Come and say hello when you have time.’

‘I don’t think so. You’re the mother of that criminal who ran away from the police.’

Outrage flared but Valmai once again decided to avoid trouble. After all, the woman would be easily avoided. Adjusting the bike to confirm her intention to leave, she waved. ‘No cushion for you,’ she muttered as she stuffed it back into her capacious shopping bag and hung it on the handlebars. ‘There’s plenty who’ll be glad of it.’

‘I’ll kill her!’ she shouted to Gwilym as she practically threw the bicycle down and burst into the house. ‘The Waterstones obviously passed on all the gossip, true or otherwise. As if they hadn’t caused enough damage while they lived here, they’re causing more!’

Gwilym comforted her, soothed away her anger and wiped away her tears. ‘If they start by quarrelling with everyone, there won’t be anyone to listen.’

‘Why doesn’t he come home? They’ll never catch the man who did those burglaries now, and by running away like he did he looked guilty. I doubt whether the police even looked for anyone else. Why doesn’t he come home and face it?’

‘He’s still hoping the real culprit will be caught.’

‘After more than two years? And without any repeat?’ She picked up her embroidery on its frame. Working on pictures soothed her.

The spate of burglaries had taken place late in 1958. There had been very little crime in the area and doors were left open, people went into neighbours’ houses sharing news, swapping recipes, helping with sewing, and there were plenty of opportunities for someone to go in and out and decide on places to rob.

The offences all took place within a couple of weeks, although some items weren’t missed until much later. Rhys was one of the suspects. He was a very outspoken young man and some of his clever remarks were taken literally. No charges were brought but when he saw two policemen coming from his house the morning after the most recent thefts had been discovered, he ran.

Valmai and Eric had searched for him, exploring the fields and the old watermill where Rhys had played as a youngster but there was 
no sign of the place being recently used. Rhys had been turned down for National Service owing to less than perfect sight but Valmai and Gwilym spread the rumour that he was in the army and had been posted abroad. Then later, when he still hadn’t returned, they told everyone that he was working at a theatre, which was the story they still told.

For a while people believed them. A few weeks after his
disappearance
, Sally admitted she was pregnant but denied that Rhys-the-criminal was the father and although questioned by the police, she insisted she had no knowledge of him or his whereabouts. Valmai had guessed that the suspicions were true but she said nothing. Gwilym also knew the truth but to protect Sally and his son, he feigned ignorance too. As he pretended now not to notice the doll Valmai had bought and spent hours dressing, for Sadie’s second birthday.

Sadie’s birthday warmed Sally’s heart as many people arrived with cards and small gifts for the two-year-old. The critics were silenced; even Milly managed to hand her a card without any unpleasant remark. Mrs Falconer had arranged a party with a few of Sally’s friends and their children invited. Music from the gramophone, party games and much laughter: it was a day to remember, made less than perfect only by the absence of Rhys, Sadie’s father, who hadn’t even sent a card.

A few days later, Sally found an extra job and used the money to place Sadie in a day nursery. It was a wrench to leave her small daughter with strangers each morning but Sadie adapted well, quickly recognizing several of the children she had met in the park.

On the second day Sally greeted her chubby little daughter as she ran from nursery, proudly carrying a painting she had done. Chatting happily. they walked back to their home. On the back porch Sally saw something that made her heart leap. A round pebble she had carried home from the beach some time ago was in the centre of the step. Rhys was here!

She played with Sadie until six o’clock then began getting her ready for bed. Thank goodness she went to sleep without complaint after a bath and story. With Rhys’s imminent arrival, Sally’s thoughts sped back to when they had first met, when everything was going to 
be perfect. Rhys was planning to train as a teacher and they would be married as soon as his training was completed. It had all gone so terribly wrong when he had been accused of theft.

On the night of his brush with the police, Rhys had been in the recently closed factory intending to pick up some wood for his parents’ fire, something many people were doing as the building was cleared ready for sale. David Gorse, a man he had known from school and had strongly disliked, called him over.

‘Look at this,’ David hissed into the darkness. ‘D’you think it’s valuable?’

Rhys used his torch to see that David held a beautiful silver bowl. Rhys admired it curiously. ‘Georgian so I’m told. Put it down there,’ David instructed. ‘Here’s something even better.’ He opened a sheet of thick brown paper and showed him an oil painting of a young woman.

‘Where did you get that?’ Rhys asked. ‘It’s beautiful.’ He took it and examined it more closely, running his hands over the features of a young woman dressed in Victorian dress nursing a young kitten and with a small dog sitting nearby. He turned it over and began to read the information on the back.

‘Give it back, we have to get out of here,’ David said. Holding the sheet of brown paper, he wrapped it and took it from Rhys without touching it. He picked up the silver bowl with some tissue and ran off into the darkness.

‘Where did you get it?’ Rhys asked, beginning to follow him.

‘Tell you later,’ was the reply.

The following morning the papers reported a theft from a house in a nearby village and the picture was described in detail. The
valuation
was in five figures and Rhys went to find David, to warn him and demand that he hand it back. ‘You stole it, didn’t you? If you don’t give it back I’ll tell the police that you have it,’ he warned.

‘No, I don’t think you will. Your fingerprints are all over it, see. None of mine, only yours. Explain that to the police, will you? They’ll be on their way to your house any time now. I told them you had it, that you boasted to me about stealing it. Gave them the time of the robbery down to the last minute, I did. Saw you coming out and showing me what you’d taken. Upstanding citizen that I am.’ 

‘You wouldn’t! They wouldn’t believe you!’

‘I would. In fact I did and they believed me without any hesitation.’

‘Why, David? Why would you do something so despicable?’

‘Because I dislike you and now they think you were responsible for all the robberies and the attack on that stupid man who tried to stop me, they won’t be looking for anyone else, will they? I can enjoy the money I’ve made without a worry.’

‘But I can tell them exactly what happened.’

‘You can try but prison is a nasty place to live. Take a chance on it, will you? Better you get right away. See, I haven’t actually told them yet. But I will. Don’t doubt it. But, sport that I am, I’ll give you till tomorrow to get away.’ As Rhys grabbed at him, David ran off. ‘You’ve got till tomorrow, sad loser!’ Rhys heard his laughter echoed back, mocking him.

He didn’t sleep that night but spent the hours thinking, then packing ready to leave before first light. He wrote a letter to his mother and Sally explaining that he had to go away for a while then after delivering Sally’s, he went back home to pick up his belongings and it was then that he saw the police. He turned and ran across the fields towards Cardiff. He thumbed a lift from three different lorries, making his way gradually in an irregular way towards London and eventually Bristol.

His first action was to get a job. Just part-time in a bar. Sally had agreed to finance him and she promised not to change her mind now the police wanted to talk to him. He’d already been offered a place in a college. It was difficult but he eventually found a place to stay and it was his intention to complete his training before going home and hopefully proving his innocence.

He was convinced that further robberies would take place and that would go a long way to convince the police he was innocent. But to his alarm, he learnt that the theft of the picture and the silver bowl had been the last.

Two weeks after Sadie’s second birthday. Sally was filled with
excitement
. Two years had passed and he was coming to tell her it was over and he was coming home. They would marry straight away and she’d be able to hold her head high. She took out a dress she had bought, before Sadie had begun to alter her figure, and held it up. It 
was to have been her wedding dress but she doubted whether it would fit her now. Never mind, she would keep it as a memento. One day she’d make a special dress for Sadie from its generous skirt.

Rhys cut across the fields and, as it was after dark, he entered the back door of the house convinced he hadn’t been seen. David Gorse was walking in the opposite direction on his way to spend an hour at the Farmer’s Arms. He had heard someone approaching and had stayed perfectly still, hidden by the burgeoning bushes of the hedgerow. He almost gasped when he recognized Rhys. So what was he doing in Tre Melin? Not visiting his parents, that’s for sure. Wrong direction completely. Cautiously he followed.

It was hardly a surprise when he saw him entering the house of Mr and Mrs Falconer, the house where Sally lived with her daughter. Rumours had been denied but this confirmed them; Rhys was the father of Sally’s daughter and he was obviously in regular touch.