Winners and Losers (24 page)

‘It's lovely, Lena,' Megan said quietly, not wanting to upset the girl. But she couldn't allow the subject to drop, not after ‘Fred' had touched her breast and whispered,
‘Shipton's right. All you women are the same, begging for a man to give it to you.'
If he talked to her that way, how serious could he possibly be about marrying Lena?

‘Does Mrs Palmer know about you and Constable Wainwright?'

‘Course not. He was angry when you walked in and saw us together the other day. He only calmed down when I reminded him that you'd promised you wouldn't tell anyone about us because you didn't want me to lose my job.'

Megan realized that Lena either hadn't heard the threat Fred Wainwright had made about Victor and his family, or else had conveniently forgotten it. ‘Haven't you ever wondered why he doesn't want anyone else to know that he's courting you, Lena?'

‘He's explained all that.' Lena went to the washstand and poured water into the bowl. ‘It's because the policemen on duty here aren't supposed to get involved with people who live in the town.'

‘But he's not always on duty,' Megan pointed out logically. ‘He has free time and surely he can see anyone he wants to and do what he likes then.'

‘He said all the officers have been warned not to get involved with the local girls because of the strike. It's like there are two sides. He's on one and because I'm from around here, I'm on the other.'

Given the antagonism between the strikers and the police, Megan could understand the warning, but it didn't make her any the less suspicious of the sincerity of Fred Wainwright's ‘courting'. ‘Lena, you do know that if you let him ... do what he wants with you,' she finished tactfully, ‘you could have a baby.'

‘He says I won't, because he's careful.'

‘Then you've been all the way with him!' Despite what she'd seen Fred and Lena doing, Megan was shocked, given the short length of time the police had been in the valley.

‘We went to the White Hart because someone always walks in on us when we try to do anything here.'

‘Then where were you until now? And don't say doing the dishes.'

‘It's Fred's night off and all the men in his room are working, so we were able to sneak in there for a little while. Although I'm surprised he wanted to after the time we had in the White Hart. And I let him do whatever he wants to me because I love him and he loves me. Besides, I like the things he does to me,' Lena added defiantly. She dried her hands and face and undressed and Megan couldn't help but contrast the way Lena stripped naked in front of her with her modest attitude the first night they had shared a room less than a week before.

‘Most girls wait until they get married before making love because they are afraid that their boyfriends will take advantage of them,' Megan advised.

‘Fred's promised to marry me as soon as the strike is over. And like he says, why should we wait? This month, next month, there's no difference. I'll have a ring on my finger soon enough, and when I do he'll take me back to London with him. He said it's a huge city, even bigger than Cardiff. And there's all sorts of things there, parks with lakes that you can rent boats on and row around, restaurants, hotels, theatres, even a zoo with lions and tigers.' Lena jumped into bed, sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees. ‘And he says he'll buy me ...' She fell silent at a knock on the door.

‘You girls should be sleeping not gossiping.'

‘Yes, Mrs Palmer.' Megan slid down in her bed. But even as she blew out the candle she sensed that she wasn't going to get a good night's sleep. Lena was naive, and Fred Wainwright ... she hated to think that he was using Lena, but she found it difficult to believe he was doing anything else. She couldn't deny that he was good-looking but she didn't believe for one minute that he intended to marry Lena or take her back to London with him. Quite aside from the threats he'd made about Victor and the Evanses and the way he'd treated her, there was something cold and calculating about him. Just as there was about Sergeant Martin. And the thought of the sergeant entering her bedroom and watching her sleep made her afraid –and somehow violated.

For the first time since he had moved into Sali's bedroom, Lloyd knocked on the door instead of simply walking in. ‘Victor's just gone down to pick up Megan,' he told Sali through the closed door.

‘We don't have to leave for another half hour, do we?'

‘No, but he couldn't sit still so my father sent him packing.'

‘Lloyd, we've been man and wife in all but name for so long, you don't have to talk to me through the door just because we're getting married today. And considering we'll be travelling down on the same train to Pontypridd, that superstition about the groom not seeing the bride before the ceremony doesn't apply to us anyway.'

Lloyd opened the door and gazed at Sali's reflection in the mirror. She was sitting in front of the dressing table, pinning up her hair. Her suit was plain, just as she'd told him it would be, a deep rich russet that brought out chestnut highlights in her hair. Her blouse was cream silk ornamented with ruffles of lace at the sleeves and throat and she was wearing a cameo brooch he'd given her clipped at the neck. She saw him watching her in the mirror and smiled back at him.

‘You look beautiful,' he complimented. ‘I can't believe you're actually going to be my wife two hours from now.'

‘I couldn't be more of a wife to you two hours from now than I am right this minute, Lloyd.' She turned to face him.

‘No second thoughts.'

‘None. You?' she questioned anxiously.

‘Absolutely not, although I still think this is a very one-sided relationship. You've given me far more than I'll ever be able to give you.'

‘That's nonsense and you know it.' She opened her jewellery casket and lifted out the pair of gold earrings he had given her on her last birthday. ‘I bless the day I came to this house.' She turned aside and a tear fell from her eye.

He knelt in front of her. ‘You shouldn't cry, not today.'

‘I wish ...'

‘What, sweetheart?'

‘That I'd never met Owen Bull, much less married him. But most of all I wish that we hadn't had to wait for him to be hanged before we could marry. It's as though our marriage will be rooted in tragedy. Blighted before it's even begun.'

‘The only tragedy is that you were ever married to him in the first place. Come on, sweetheart, I told you weeks ago that part of your life is over.'

‘It's been over for a long time and I still can't believe my luck in finding you.' She turned back to the mirror and wiped the tears from her eyes with an impractical lace-edged handkerchief she had chosen because it looked bridal. She rose to her feet. ‘How do I look?'

‘Do you need to ask?'

‘More fit for a Saturday shopping trip to Cardiff than a wedding?'

‘You're all the bride I want.'

‘If you two don't hurry up, we're going to hold the wedding without you,' Joey shouted from downstairs.

Lloyd released Sali, straightened his tie and went to the top of the stairs. ‘And who's going to be the bridegroom? You?'

‘The woman isn't born yet who'll catch me.' Joey whistled appreciatively when Sali joined Lloyd on the stairs. ‘On second thoughts ...'

‘Eyes off my wife.'

‘She's not your wife yet, and she could change her mind on the way to the register office.'

‘There's no chance of that happening.' Sali walked down the stairs and saw Harry watching from the kitchen doorway. She held out her arms. ‘You going to give me away, Harry, like we talked about yesterday.'

‘Give you to Uncle Lloyd so he will be my daddy.'

‘You don't really have to give your mam away.' Lloyd swung the small boy on to his shoulders. ‘It's like we said, you get to keep her. It's just a ceremony.'

‘That isn't going to take place if we miss the train and your appointment in the register office,' Billy Evans said gruffly, nervous although he would have suffered torments rather than admit it. ‘Time we were on our way.'

‘You look very smart,' Victor complimented Megan when she opened the kitchen door of the lodging house wearing her green dress and Sunday hat. He handed her a posy of white, hothouse rosebuds and ferns and pointed to his own buttonhole. ‘It wouldn't be a proper wedding without flowers.'

‘Thank you, Victor, they're gorgeous.' She smelled the roses.

‘They're forced, so there is no smell, and don't thank me, they're Lloyd and Sali's only extravagance.'

‘As you see, I'm wearing the same old dress.'

‘I love your green dress.'

‘So do I, but all the same, I wish I'd been able to buy something new.' She fetched her cloak. ‘I'm off now, Mrs Palmer, if that's all right.'

Joyce walked into the kitchen carrying a tray of dirty dishes and Victor lifted his cap to her.

‘Victor, all dressed up, I see.' Joyce looked Megan over. ‘You look pretty, Megan, very bridesmaid-like. Enjoy yourselves. And don't worry about hurrying back tonight, as long as Mr Evans is bringing you home, that is.'

‘Don't worry, Mrs Palmer, I'll be walking her home.' Victor took Megan's cloak and draped it over her shoulders. They walked up the lane into Dunraven Street. Alun Richards was standing, hands in pockets, talking to a dozen men in front of the ironmonger's. He saw them and ducked inside.

‘Ignoring is better than spitting. Give me another month and I'll have him bowing to you.' Victor closed his hand around Megan's. ‘You have any trouble with anyone last week?'

‘No, but then I haven't left the house, or wanted to,' she added in reply to his searching look. ‘By the time we do the cleaning, cooking, serve the meals and sort out the laundry, we're too tired to do anything except sit in the kitchen with a cup of tea, and sometimes making the tea requires too much effort. I take it we're meeting the others at the station?'

‘We are. Have you spoken to Mrs Palmer about Christmas Day?'

‘Yes. I'm sorry, Victor, but I won't be able to have Christmas dinner with you and your family. Mrs Palmer has been ordered to lay on a dinner with all the trimmings for the men. They've had their leave cancelled so they'll be spending it here.'

‘Then the authorities are expecting more trouble,' he mused.

‘You think so?'

‘Just talking to myself.' He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a lace handkerchief. ‘A bridesmaid should have something new. Sorry I couldn't run to anything more. But the only one who has bought anything new is Sali, and then only after Lloyd nagged her into it. The rest of us have made do with our best suits.'

‘The middle of a strike isn't the greatest time to get married.'

‘Middle –I hope it's near the end.'

‘Trying out the outfit you intend to wear in court, Victor? I can't see the judge being impressed by a buttonhole,' Luke Thomas shouted from across the road.

Victor waved an acknowledgement but didn't answer him.

‘You've had the date for your trial?'

‘March.' He gave her a cautionary look. ‘It's not something we want to talk about today.'

‘No, of course not.'

‘There's Sali, Lloyd and the others. Let's go into the station and get the tickets to save time.'

‘Victor,' she laid her hand on his arm and held him back, ‘if you need money for the tickets –or for anything else today, I have some savings.'

‘So do we.' He managed a smile. His father had warned him and Joey that morning that he'd emptied his bank account of what little was left in it, to pay for the train fare and buy a round of drinks after the wedding.

‘The bride and groom.' Mr Richards left his chair and raised his glass to Lloyd and Sali. ‘May they enjoy many happy years together.'

‘The bride and groom.' Mr Evans, Joey, Victor, Megan, Mari and Harry, at Victor's instigation, rose to their feet to echo the toast.

Sali gave Lloyd a self-conscious smile. She had told him so often she didn't expect her brothers and sister to attend their wedding that she had almost begun to believe it. It was only when she had walked into the register office to see Mr Richards sitting next to Mari that she realized she hadn't quite extinguished all hope they'd make the effort.

She hadn't known what to expect of a secular marriage ceremony but the registrar had injected a sense of occasion. And by determinedly ignoring her family's absence and concentrating on Lloyd's family and Mari and Mr Richards, the only two friends she had left from what she had begun to regard as her past life, she managed not to miss Geraint, Gareth and Llinos – too much.

‘That was a wonderful lunch, Mr Richards, thank you,' Lloyd said when everyone sat down after finishing the champagne Mr Richards had insisted on buying to round off the ‘modest' wedding breakfast he had provided.

‘Yes, thank you,' Sali echoed.

‘Thank you, Mr and Mrs Evans, for allowing me to provide it.' Mr Richards slipped his hand into his pocket. ‘I have something else.' He pulled out an envelope. ‘Reservations for dinner and a room here tonight. The dinner can be served in your room, if you prefer.'

‘We couldn't possibly -'

‘Mr Evans, I have no family of my own and I have over the years flattered myself that Mrs Jones ... Mrs Evans,' he corrected himself with a smile, ‘looks on me almost as a relation. Please, make an old man happy.'

‘It's not that we don't want to,' Sali broke in, ‘it's just that we have Harry -'

‘Who would love to spend an evening with his Auntie Megan and me, wouldn't you, Harry?' Victor interrupted. ‘We could play Blow Football.'

‘And draughts,' Megan suggested, knowing that Daisy and Sam had taught him how to play the game before they had left.