Winners and Losers (26 page)

‘You must be finding it hard to feed the dogs these days.'

‘Like us they're on half rations.' Victor opened a second tin that held boiled slaughterhouse scraps. After mixing them together with the bread in two bowls he opened the back door. ‘You don't have to come, it's cold out here.'

‘I'd like some fresh air. It was stuffy upstairs.' She followed him. Most of the chickens were already in the coop. While Victor fed the dogs, she went into their run and coaxed the remaining two inside before latching the door.

‘We haven't had any trouble with foxes for a while, but I still like to secure them at night.' Victor wrapped his arm around her waist. ‘It's a lovely night.'

‘With a new moon and thousands of stars to look down and bless your brother's wedding night.'

‘That sounds more pagan than chapel.'

‘It probably is.'

He kissed her. ‘Do you want to go back upstairs?'

She shook her head. ‘No. Today's been marvellous but -'

‘We haven't had a minute to ourselves,' he finished for her.

‘Is that selfish of me?'

‘If it is, it's selfish of me too.'

‘It will be even colder up the mountain but we could go for a walk.'

He reached into the pocket of his jacket and fished out a key.

‘What's that?'

‘The key to our first home, if you want it to be. Lloyd has agreed to give us next door in exchange for one of the houses our father bought. I realize you know the place inside out, and some windows and the front door are boarded because we used them to repair the damage the police did to our house, but I thought we could look it over. If you want to live in it when we're married I could start doing a few things. I have time to spare at the moment and two years will soon pass -'

‘I'd love to look it over with you, Victor,' she said quietly, thinking of all the Saturday afternoons they could work on it together –and the furnished bedrooms where they wouldn't be disturbed.

‘Now?' He gave her a searching look.

‘Yes, please.'

‘I'll go back and fetch the candle.'

‘Hello, Joey, how are you keeping?' Jane Edwards asked loudly as she joined him at the sink, where he was stacking plates.

‘I'm fine, thank you, Jane. And you?' he answered equally loudly, giving her a warning glance.

‘That's a nasty cut you've got under your eye. How did you get it?'

‘I had an encounter with a vicious dog, no, come to think of it now, it was a bitch.' His father had carried a pile of coats in from the parlour and Connie, Annie, Antonia and Rhian were dressing to leave. ‘If you'll excuse me, Jane, I have to say goodbye to our guests.' He turned away, pretending that he hadn't seen her mouthing, ‘I'm sorry, come round later.'

‘Joey, as I'm more than twice your age and your cousin, you may give me a goodbye kiss,' Connie offered him her cheek. ‘But as Annie, Tonia and Rhian are single and have reputations to think of, you'd best keep your distance.'

‘That joke has worn thin. I was about to offer to walk you home.'

‘All of us?' Connie asked suspiciously.

‘Yes,' he answered in exasperation.

‘In that case, we'll walk you back to Llan House first, Rhian, then Joey can walk us home,' Connie said decisively. ‘But you take my arm there and back, Joey.'

‘I wouldn't have it any other way,' Joey said gloomily. He helped Rhian and Tonia on with their coats, then went to fetch his own.

His father followed him into the hall. ‘You really are serious about turning over a new leaf?'

‘I said I was last night.'

‘In my experience, saying and doing have been two very different things with you in the past.' Billy kissed Connie, Antonia, Annie and Rhian as they passed him in the passage. ‘Goodnight, ladies, see you all tomorrow.'

‘Don't worry about Joey, Mr Evans,' Annie called back, ‘we'll keep him in order.'

‘When I left this house, I thought I'd never want to come back because it would spoil my happy memories to see it empty and neglected. It's funny to think that in less than two years we could be living here and making a whole lot of new –and even happier memories.' Megan ran her hand over the dusty surface of the Welsh dresser in the cold, abandoned kitchen.

‘Nice funny, I hope,' Victor said. ‘If you like, I could build cupboards in the alcoves next to the fireplace as I've done in our house, and we'll need new kitchen chairs. The one your uncle used is fine, but I'd like to replace the benches. They're not very comfortable for visitors.'

‘The children used to complain about them.'

‘And the garden's not as big as my father's.'

‘Would you want to move the dogs and the chickens from your father's house?' she asked.

‘I haven't given it much thought, but I suppose I could keep chickens in both gardens. We could certainly use the eggs. And unless Lloyd wants to take over our garden, I could grow vegetables in both. I've no money now, but as soon as the strike is settled we can start thinking about wallpaper and paint. Lloyd, Joey and my father will give me a hand to redecorate the place and there's bound to be other furniture that you want. I could knock a few things together until we've saved enough to buy new. And then there are the bedrooms. Grown-up bedroom suites aren't suitable for children,' he said mischievously.

She bit her lip and turned aside.

‘What's the matter?'

‘I don't know.' She hated lying to Victor, but she'd had a premonition. And although she couldn't have quantified how she knew, she felt they would never live in the house.

‘Why won't you tell me?'

She turned back to him and tried to smile. ‘It's silly superstition but I don't want to make too many plans or look too far ahead.'

‘Because of your father?'

‘Probably.'

‘He can't stop us marrying when you are of age.'

‘I know.' She wrapped her arms around him. ‘Kiss me?'

He sensed that she was afraid. Bending his head to hers, he kissed her, then opened his watch and held it to the candle. ‘Half past ten. Time I walked you back to Mrs Palmer's.'

‘It's been a lovely day, Victor. Thank you.' She followed him down the basement stairs and out through the door with a heavy heart. She knew she'd hurt him by refusing to discuss the changes he wanted to make to the place. But she had never been so certain of anything as she was that all his plans would come to nothing. There was no point in them even talking about the house. Not when they would never live in it or taste the happiness it promised.

‘I'll walk Megan to the lodging house, then I'll come back and put Harry to bed,' Victor said to his father when they returned to the kitchen to find him sitting reading the paper at the table, and Harry curled up, fast asleep on one of the easy chairs.

Billy looked at them over the top of the paper. ‘There's no need to rush back. I'll take him up.'

‘Don't you want to call in the County Club?' Victor asked.

‘There's plenty of time. It never closes before twelve and Joey will be back long before then.'

‘Unless he persuades one of the girls to take a detour with him.'

‘There's no chance of that happening with Connie in charge, or either of the girls agreeing to go anywhere with him after the way they spoke to him tonight.'

‘Goodnight, Mr Evans.' Megan kissed his cheek.

‘Goodnight, Megan, don't go working too hard in that lodging house. We'll see you tomorrow evening?'

‘Yes.' Megan blew a kiss in Harry's direction and followed Victor into the street. Betty Morgan was on her doorstep shaking her doormat.

‘You two sneaked off early.'

‘We have to do our courting some time, Mrs Morgan,' Victor answered.

‘You cheeky blighter, Victor Evans.'

‘At least she's acknowledging us now,' Victor laughed, as they headed up the street.

‘I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies.'

He walked Megan down the hill and to the back door. ‘Pick you up at five tomorrow.'

‘Don't you want to come in for tea?'

He shook his head. ‘Despite what my father said, he can't wait to get to the County Club and someone has to stay in the house with Harry.'

‘Then I'll see you tomorrow,' she smiled, trying to hide her disappointment.

Instead of walking back up the hill, Victor headed into Pandy Square. He found Luke Thomas and half a dozen of his cronies drinking dark pints of mild beer in the back bar of the Pandy.

‘Our man won today, so it's drinks all round.' Luke held up a full glass to show Victor. ‘You been thinking about what I said?'

‘Yes.'

‘Have you heard what happened to Tom and Dai, Victor?' Luke's friend Guto Price joined them.

‘I should think everyone in Pandy has by now,' Victor replied.

‘Reckon you, and Luke here, could be fined double what they got and if you can't pay, you could go down for three or four months.'

‘Proper bloody Job's comforter, aren't you, Guto?' Luke took Victor by the elbow. ‘So what's it to be?'

‘When's the next bout?'

‘Wednesday afternoon. Dai will be glad to hear that you're stepping in.'

‘Dai Hopkins?'

‘Aye, the Dai you saw lose.'

‘Getting beaten half to death more like.' Victor recalled Dai's bloody face and the way he'd fallen to his knees. But then he was taller, stronger and more experienced. And when he thought of the court case coming up, the fines he and Joey would undoubtedly get and all the things he and Megan would need for their new home, he felt he didn't have any other choice. Not while the strike lasted.

Jane Edwards stood behind the lace curtains in her freezing, dark front parlour and watched the street intently. She was so cold her nose was stiff when she tried to twitch it. It had been an hour and a half since Joey had left to walk Rhian Bull and Antonia Rodney home. The two older women might have gone with them, but she knew Joey Evans. Oh, how she knew him! He was after one of the young girls. The question was, which one? Not that it would make any difference to her. He'd used her and tossed her aside with no more thought than he gave to a worn-out pair of socks. She seethed in anger every time she recalled what he had said to her.

‘I had an encounter with a vicious dog, no, come to think of it now, it was a bitch.'

She had told Joey she loved him, had asked him to move in with her, further humiliated herself by offering to throw her husband out of their home and he had rejected her. All she had left to look forward to was the return of her husband from gaol. An old man who disgusted her ...

She saw movement in the street. Joey was walking up the road with Victor, both of them talking animatedly. About her? The Evanses were polite enough to her face but she was astute enough to realize that Joey's brothers and father didn't like her. She wouldn't make a suitable wife for an Evans. They wanted Joey to settle down with a nice, unmarried girl with an unsullied reputation like that milk-faced maid from Llan House, Rhian, or a rich cousin like Antonia who'd inherit Rodney's stores one day. And there was nothing she could do about it – or was there?

Her hands closed over her stomach and she remembered what Joey had said about the insurance man and the milkman. Had he lied to her or had he really talked to them? She ducked back into the shadows as they drew closer lest they see her at the window.

‘You can look out, Joey Evans, you're for it.' Searching for a way to hurt him as he had hurt her, she ran upstairs to her cold bedroom and threw herself headlong on to the bed.

‘The pews in the chapels must be empty tonight.' Lloyd pressed his back against the wall to make room for Betty, who was trying to offer food to everyone who'd turned up to congratulate him and Sali.

‘The minister will be taking us all to task from the pulpit next week and it will be your and Sali's fault. Piece of cake? I made it special.' Betty pushed a plate of sponge slices sandwiched with her homemade blackberry jam under Lloyd's nose.

‘They look delicious, Betty, thank you.' Lloyd felt that he couldn't eat another morsel, but wary of upsetting her, he took the smallest piece.

‘Look what Rhian has made for us, Lloyd.' Sali held up a set of embroidered cutwork dressing-table mats.

‘They're beautiful,' he complimented. ‘And you made them yourself, Rhian?'

‘Mrs Williams, the housekeeper up at Llan House, has been giving all us maids embroidery lessons. I hope she doesn't find out that I'm not at chapel tonight.'

‘Are you a quick learner at everything?' Joey enquired suggestively, admiring the mats.

‘I
always
listen to Mrs Williams and follow her advice,' Rhian replied.

‘Except when you sneak off to come here instead of going to chapel.'

‘Lloyd and Sali's wedding is a once in a lifetime occasion.'

‘What can I do to convince you that I'm a changed boy and serious about wanting to take you out?' Joey whispered in her ear.

‘Attract no scandal or gossip for the next ten years.'

‘Ten years!'

‘Then, if you've been very good, you can come calling on me at Llan House and I may re-consider your offer,' she said seriously. ‘But I warn you that is only a “may”.'

‘I can't help it if people talk about me.'

‘They only talk about you because you give them plenty to say,' she informed him tartly.

‘So beautiful and so hard-hearted. How about I take you and Tonia to the free concert Father Kelly's organizing in the Catholic Hall next Saturday night?'

‘I'm working next Saturday.'

‘When are you free?' he pressed refusing to give up.

‘Wouldn't you like to know?' She turned her back on him.