Nothing is Forever (10 page)

‘Oh! You gave me a fright, Tabs! How long have you been standing there?’

‘I just came to ask if I could make a cup of tea. I haven’t bought my food yet. Martha promised to get me some, but she didn’t and—’

‘Tabs, you can make tea any time you want. But now, you must have breakfast. Will some cereal do you? Or would you like some toast? There’s marmalade, or jam?’

‘No, don’t go to any trouble,’ Tabs said.

‘I’m not! You can make it, I’ve got to go out. I’ve shown you where everything is and tomorrow we’ll sort out a shelf in the pantry for your own things. Right? Unless – what do you think of sharing our shopping? It will be easier, won’t it?’

‘If you’re sure, I’d like that.’

‘Tabs, promise me one thing.’ The shy woman nodded anxiously. ‘Promise me that you’ll believe that if I say something, I mean it. I won’t try to be polite by saying something I don’t mean, and hoping you’ll disagree. Remember that and we’ll get on fine.’

Tabs smiled and reached out for the kettle and pushed it closer to the fire. ‘Just tea, I’ve had breakfast.’ She opened her bag which she carried everywhere with her and showed Ruth. Inside was a bag of biscuits. ‘I brought these so I didn’t have to bother you until I do my shopping and pay you some rent.’ Her eyes were wide as though expecting Ruth to be angry.

Ruth lifted the paper bag out and put them on the table. ‘Put them in the tin with the others. From today we share everything. Right?’ She watched as Tabitha spooned tea into the pot that stood warming on the hearth and reach for the holder before lifting the kettle and pouring the boiling water onto the leaves. ‘I’ll be back in an hour and we’ll have coffee with condensed milk, my favourite,’ she said as she went out.

Mr Burrows was in his late fifties, balding and with the newly scrubbed complexion of the fair skinned. Ruth noticed only his friendly smile as he gestured for her to sit. He was behind an impressive kneehole desk on which there were piles of papers, files and a telephone. ‘Henry tells me you’re looking for work after years spent looking after your brothers,’ he began.

‘Yes, they’re all married now and apart from staying in the house so they still call it home, they don’t need me any more.’

‘Are you excited at the prospect of going out each day and taking home a wage each week?’

‘Yes,’ she lied. ‘It’s time I had a life of my own.’

‘And selling insurance, collecting the weekly payments, it appeals?’

She decided that honesty was the wisest route or she would become entangled in her own lies. ‘I confess I hadn’t thought of a job like this one, Mr Burrows. I hadn’t really thought about what I’d like to do. It all happened very suddenly you see. Two brothers and their wives finding a flat and all moving out at the same time, it left me with nothing to do and I can’t just drift, hoping they’ll come for a meal sometimes because they feel sorry for me.’

‘Is that what you’ve been doing, Miss Thomas?’ he asked softly.

‘Yes,’ she admitted.

‘Then you’re very wise to realize it and decide to do something about it.’ He smiled then and said, ‘If you would like to give it a try, I’ll get one of the other agents to go around your route with you for the first week, and then, if you decide it’s for you, you can start a week from Monday. Will that suit you?’

‘Thank you very much.’

Sick with a mixture of excitement and dread, she went to a telephone box and phoned Henry’s shop to tell him.

‘Ruth, I’m proud of you,’ he said.

‘Don’t be. Not yet. After being shown what I have to do – including book-keeping and making sums add up, I might not be taking the job!’

He just laughed. ‘See you tonight and I’ll bring fish and chips to celebrate.’

‘Better make it for three then, the mouse and I have decided to share everything.’

‘Everything? Does that include me?’

‘She wouldn’t dare!’ They were both smiling as the telephones were replaced.

A few days later, Tabitha had settled into a routine and if she did more than her share of the cleaning, Ruth said nothing, afraid of embarrassing her. Time to sort out a few rules to balance things out later.

Tabs decided that working a few hours for Henry wasn’t enough to pay her way. She didn’t want to stop helping in the shop but needed something more. She so enjoyed talking to Ruth, listening to her stories about her childhood and of the antics of her four brothers. Her own experience of family life hadn’t been anything like the life Ruth described and she knew she would never tire of hearing about childhood in Ty Gwyn. Her nightmare was being told to leave.

For a couple of weeks she did a poorly paid job in a newsagent’s shop, getting up very early and marking the papers and putting them into the bags ready for the boys to deliver them. After they had gone she sometimes earned a little more by doing some housework for the wife. One day, the newsagent hurt his hand and asked if she could possibly fill in the outgoings and income for the week. Her handwriting was neat and the books were updated efficiently. When the newsagent realized how clever she was with figures, he found someone else for the morning tasks and asked her to do the book-keeping instead. Fast and never making a mistake, she was taken on permanently and given a small room at the back of the shop as her office. She loved it.

One of the first things she did was read through the names and addresses of customers and she found two families called Tyler. These she handed to Jack when they next met. To her alarm he kissed her, right there in the street, for anyone to see. Laughing at her confusion, he led her behind a hedge in the park and did it again.

‘Did you find out anything more about where you’re staying?’ he asked.

‘Ruth doesn’t know anything about her grandparents except what Dad’s wife-to-be Martha has told her. But she has a pile of papers to look through, old forms, insurance books, school reports and ancient bills all jumbled up. When she looks through them there might be something helpful.’

‘Thanks. Tabs. I don’t know what I’d do without you and I hope I never find out.’

With feigned reluctance he left her, after kisses that left her breathless, and more flattery. ‘I’ll be away for a while but as soon as I get back I’ll come and find you,’ he said, adding huskily, ‘Tabs, I can’t wait to get back to you.’ He waved until she was out of sight then ran to the railway station. First a train, then a bus, it was time to get back to his other life.

Jack telephoned Abigail, thankful that she had a telephone. ‘Abi, love,’ he said,’ I’m on my way home.’ Abigail gave a sigh of relief when he called to say he was on his way back to her. When he went away to search for his family she never knew how long he would be away. She met him at the bus stop and they walked, arm in arm, stopping for an occasional kiss.

He loved walking beside her, she made him so proud. She was slim, elegantly dressed and never without a matching hat, turning heads of both men and women.

Their reunion was affectionate, and as they ate the meal she had prepared, began exchanging news. She laughed at his stories of surviving without spending any of money, determined to add to their savings. He explained in light-hearted fashion the menial jobs he had done, but told her nothing about his thieving, as he handed her all he had brought to add to their savings.

When they prepared for bed she became serious and said she had something important to tell him.

‘Jack I’m going to have to give up my job.’

‘Why? Been given a better offer?’

She shook her head. ‘I’m going to have a baby. I won’t be able to dress like a mannequin and parade around in beautiful clothes for much longer.’

He hugged her to hide the shock his face must show. ‘Darling Abi, I’m so thrilled. It’s exactly what we need. I’ll give up searching for my inheritance at once and stay here to look after you.’

‘There isn’t enough saved to start a business like we planned. I haven’t been very sensible with money,’ she admitted. ‘I’ve bought so many clothes; there’s the car, the holidays we’ve enjoyed, and everything in the flat is the best I could find – now I wish I’d been practical. When you earn a lot of money as I’ve done, you treat it as normal, convinced that it will go on for ever. You never think there’ll be a time when it isn’t there. This has been a shock and I honestly don’t know how we’ll manage. I have to find a cheaper place, one where Mum will be comfortable. She’s important. I have to consider her before myself.’

‘Me, too. She has to live in a place where she’s truly content. Don’t worry, we’ll find a place easily. Leave it to me. I’m your man and I’ll look after you. You’ll miss working, you love it, but you and our baby come first. How long before you have to give up your job?’

‘A few weeks before clothes start looking as though they were made for someone else. I’ve already given notice on this flat.’ She looked around her. ‘It will be a long time before we can live in a beautiful place like this again.’

‘Not that long. If only I could find the family that owes me my inheritance. We could certainly do with it now.’ He looked at her hesitantly. ‘I might be close to finding them, d’you think I could have a little while longer to try and find them?’

Abigail smiled and agreed. Whatever Jack wanted was fine with her. A week later he went by bus and train back to a cheap bed-sit not far from Ty Gwyn, and asked for his job back in the green-grocery.

At Ty Gwyn, life settled down into a pleasant routine. Collecting insurance was something that Ruth found she enjoyed. Meeting people, discovering mutual acquaintances and even a few people who had known her parents, and remembered her and her brothers as children, made many visits into social occasions that took longer than they should as kindly people insisted on making her tea and it was difficult to get away after writing the transactions into their books.

Once a month a few farms were included on her round and she loved walking into the huge farm kitchens with the tables neatly spread with a white cloth and plates ready for the men to come for their food. She looked forward to the next visits with happy anticipation. Henry came with her once, driving her around and talking to the farmers, listening to their stories about the wildlife they saw and sharing descriptions of favourite walks. One young farmer, Ted Wills, became a friend and he sometimes joined them on walks, inviting them back to the farm for tea. Ruth and Henry had always enjoyed walking in the countryside and were quite knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the area. Ted added a lot more to their knowledge and interest.

Walking back into Ty Gwyn was no longer a fear and there had been no further worries about things being moved or searched. Gradually Megan and Mali came more often to the kitchen and even Tabs relaxed and no longer asked before making tea or a sandwich or helping herself to a cake.

Tabs and Ruth sometimes went to the pictures and Mali and Megan invited Tabs to go with them to a dance, which she quickly refused. The sisters never went together, one of them would always be with Mickie. Ruth offered to look after him so the sisters could go together.

‘No, thanks. Mali and I promised each other that no one else would look after the baby and it’s a promise we’ll keep until he’s old enough to go places on his own,’ Megan said firmly. ‘Besides, I think Mali likes to see a certain trumpeter without my playing gooseberry,’ Megan teased. Ruth learned to her surprise that Mali sang with the local dance band in which the trumpeter Kenny played.

Ruth wondered what would happen when one of the sisters found a serious boyfriend. It hadn’t happened so far. Then, Megan came in with a young man called Sam. To Tabs’s embarrassment, Mali gave her sister detailed warning to, ‘Be careful, Megan, our Mickie might not be ready for a brother or sister just yet.’ Then, after a whispered comment shared by Ruth, they all began to giggle. Tabs didn’t think it funny.

‘We aren’t flippant about having a baby, Tabs; we’re just picturing our Mam’s face if we told her Megan was expecting again!’ Hesitantly, imagining her own father’s reaction, Tabs tried to laugh with them, but failed.

Sam soon faded from the picture, but there was always excitement in Mali’s face when she was brought home from the dance by Kenny, the trumpeter in the band.

Ruth planned to say farewell to her lodgers by inviting her four brothers and their wives for a picnic lunch in the garden, a prospect that frightened Tabs and made her disappear for a whole day trying to think of an excuse not to be there.

Guessing her fears, Ruth told her she could spend the day in her room if she wished, but she hoped she would be there to help serve the food. ‘’Specially as you’ll be helping me to make it!’ she hinted.

Tabs prayed to be struck down with a severe cold that would give her a genuine excuse to stay away from them all. She was used to Megan and Mali now and she loved the little boy, but sharing a day with eight strangers? How could she possibly cope with that? She stared at herself in her small handbag mirror and wondered why she was so stupid. She also wondered if she would ever be any different and thought not.

Ruth invited Aunty Blod too and tried to use that invitation to encourage Tabs to be there. ‘She’s a little unsteady on her feet, see, and I’d appreciate you being there to keep an eye on her and look after her.’

‘All right, I’ll stay for a while, but only to get the food set out, then I think I’ll go for a walk.’

‘Thanks,’ Ruth said, as she thought out ways of making the anxious woman stay, believing that if she did she would enjoy the day and benefit from it.

A few days before the picnic lunch, Tabs came to Ruth and told her she would have to leave.

‘Tabs, why? Have I upset you in some way?’ Tabs seemed unable or unwilling to explain and Ruth said, ‘I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you. I promise you I haven’t meant to.’ Still no explanation. ‘Is it the party? You don’t have to stay, really you don’t.’

‘It’s my father.’

‘I thought he was getting married and wanted the place for himself and his new wife?’

‘Now he wants me back.’

‘Can you tell me why? Is it something we can sort out?’

‘Martha Howard isn’t happy about running the house. He wants me back to look after it all as I did before. Then stay out of their way between meals, I’d imagine,’ she added sorrowfully.