Spoils of War (3 page)

‘Alma wants.’ Alma laid her free hand on top of her husband’s. ‘Very much indeed.’

Constable Huw Davies helped his blind wife, Myrtle, to Bethan’s table before waylaying Tina. ‘Waitress just told me there’s a stray soldier downstairs …’

‘Will!’ Before Huw could say another word Tina whipped off her apron and ran full pelt down the stairs.

‘William’s back?’ Andrew asked.

‘Tony,’ Huw corrected.

‘Given the Ronconi temper, I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes when Tina sees her brother, not her husband, waiting to greet her.’

‘Tony?’ Tina looked a little uncertainly at the uniformed soldier with dark eyes and black curly hair sitting at the family table in front of the till.

‘I haven’t changed that much, have I?’ he asked, rising from his seat.

‘Of course not.’ She hugged him then called to a waitress. ‘Eileen, tell Mrs Grenville Mr Tony Ronconi’s here.’

‘Mrs Grenville? Mr Tony Ronconi?’ Tony queried. ‘That’s a bit formal, isn’t it?’

‘Not with the staff. You home for good?’

‘I hope so.’

‘There’s a wedding upstairs.’

‘I know, your mother-in-law’s marrying some Yank or other.’

‘Not some Yank. Dino’s nice. He gave me the chocolate and cigarettes I sent to Will, Ronnie and you.’

‘And what did you give him in return?’

‘One more remark like that and I’ll be giving you a punch on the nose.’

‘I meant café favours.’

‘He’s had the odd free coffee.’ Tina examined her brother carefully, wondering if he’d been drinking. ‘Why don’t you come upstairs?’ she suggested, remembering the last time he’d been home on leave. Drunk and offensive, it had taken the combined efforts of William, Ronnie, Diana and herself to calm Tony, and the damage he’d done to his relationship with Ronnie in that one afternoon had never been repaired. ‘Nearly everyone’s there,’ she added persuasively, deciding that if he had hit the bottle he was less likely to create a scene in front of a gathering of their closest friends and family.

‘I don’t want to break in on a party, besides I’ve ordered a meal to be served here.’

‘You can eat upstairs. No one will mind. I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything of Will?’

‘Or Ronnie?’ Gina asked eagerly as she joined them, momentarily forgetting the fight between Tony and Ronnie the last time he’d been home, in the excitement of seeing her brother again.

‘No. Mama wrote that they were in Italy. I’ve come from Celle.’

‘Mrs Powell?’ a kitchen hand called to Tina from behind the counter. ‘They’re asking upstairs if you want them to go round with the coffee pot a second time.’

‘No peace for the wicked. I’ll be back in a minute.’ Tina ran back up the stairs.

‘I take it Celle is in Germany.’ Gina manoeuvred her swollen body into a chair beside Tony, drawing his attention to her advanced state of pregnancy.

‘You and Luke didn’t waste any time.’

‘It’s our first and we’ve been married five years.’

‘In that case you’re slow, and yes, Celle is in Germany.’

‘I hope the bloody Krauts are suffering all the torments of hell,’ Eileen cursed earnestly as she served Tony pie, vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy.

‘They’re suffering.’ Tony appreciated the irony in the waitress’s outburst. He knew Eileen’s family. Her father had remained in a protected job in the council offices for the duration. Her mother’s war work had extended as far as a few voluntary hours for the WVS and her brother had wangled himself a safe position in an army supply office in Scotland. ‘Almost as much as the Italians in the valleys who lost half their families to internment and the other half to exile in Birmingham. Not to mention the ones like my father who were killed being shipped out of the country to prison camps in Australia and Canada.’

‘Well, it’s no more than the Krauts deserve, I’m sure.’ Eileen hesitated uncertainly, wondering why Tony was talking about his family in the same breath as the Germans.

‘You’re sure? All their cities and towns are flattened. Three and a half million of their soldiers have been killed, along with three million civilians, they’ve no food, half of them have lost their homes, their industries are wrecked and to top it all their country’s full of occupying troops telling them what they can and can’t do.’ He sliced through the pie and poked suspiciously at the filling.

‘Serve them bloody well right. If you ask me, Tony –’

‘No one is asking you, Eileen,’ Tina broke in abruptly as she returned to the table. ‘And I’ll have no swearing in here. It’s time you helped upstairs. Just one more thing,’ she added as the girl walked away. ‘It’s Mr Ronconi, to you.’

‘Mr Ronconi!’ Tony made a face at his sister. ‘Not even
Mr Tony Ronconi
as it was earlier. Thank you for the elevation from the ranks, sister. What have I done to deserve it?’

‘Nothing – yet.’

‘Is there room for me at home?’

‘Of course,’ Gina broke in eagerly. ‘The evacuees left months ago, Mama, Alfredo and Roberto came home from Birmingham last March. Maria, Theresa and Stephania stayed there with their husbands, which was hard on Mama but Angelo’s back.’

‘I heard. Where is he?’

‘Running the Tumble café with Alfredo.’

‘Alfredo’s a kid.’

‘Eighteen,’ Tina corrected.

‘You moved out of the rooms above the Tumble café, Tina?’

‘No.’

‘But you will be moving out when Will comes home?’

‘First Gina and Luke, then Angelo, now you. Those rooms are my home and I’m hanging on to them.’

‘Accommodation is a problem in the town,’ Gina revealed.

‘So I gathered from the conversation on the train as I came down.’

‘You’ll be all right at home. There’s a bed in Alfredo and Roberto’s room.’

‘What about the boxroom?’

‘Angelo grabbed it.’

‘Then he can un-grab it. Where are you and Luke living?’

‘We have the parlour and one of the bedrooms. We’ve been looking for our own place but it’s hopeless. He’ll be so glad to see you, Tony. I’ll go upstairs and get him.’

‘What about Laura and Trevor’s house in Graig Street?’ Tony asked, enquiring about their oldest sister’s home as Gina left.

‘Diana’s living there with her children and it’s a tossup who’ll be back first, Laura and Trevor from the hospital he’s been stationed in at Portsmouth, or Ronnie. And there’s no way that place is big enough for two couples and three children.’

‘Well, one thing’s certain. Big brother won’t stand for me moving in with his wife.’

‘Why are you so interested in getting your own place anyway?’ Tina asked irritably. ‘Now that the war’s over, and you’re home for good, you’ve plenty of time to get yourself sorted.’

‘I want to sort myself out now, along with who is getting what part of the business. What’s in this pie? No, don’t tell me, I’ve a feeling I don’t want to know.’

‘Ronnie will decide who’s going to run the cafés when he comes home.’

‘Who made him Chief?’

‘Mama after Papa died. Given there are eleven of us, Tony, there’s no way we can all work in the business. With only three cafés …’

‘I thought Ronnie went into some sort of partnership with Alma and Diana.’

‘Diana went into business with Alma in the shop she inherited from her first husband. That’s her son Billy’s inheritance and nothing to do with us.’

‘They used our High Street café as an extra kitchen.’

‘They’re still using it and they pay us rent, which I sent with what else could be spared to Mama and the younger ones in Birmingham. How else do you think they lived?’

‘So what are you saying, Tina? That now I’m home for good I’m out of the business I ran before the war when Ronnie swanned off to Italy.’

‘Of course not. Ronnie –’

‘Ronnie hates my guts. If it was down to him I’d be put out on the streets without a penny.’

‘Now you’re being melodramatic as well as stupid,’ Tina said uneasily. ‘Tony, you should be upstairs meeting old friends not discussing things that need thrashing out at a family conference.’

‘And if I’m not around for the family conference?’

‘You’re family, you’ll be consulted,’ she bit back crossly.

‘Are you still running things, or has Angelo taken over?’

‘Angelo’s managing the café on the Tumble. I’m running this place. Gina –’

‘Should be out of it, given the state of her.’

‘She helped manage this place until two months ago.’

‘You girls have husbands to keep you.’

‘And because we have husbands you think we should move over and make room for you?’

‘The war’s won. A woman’s place is in the home.’

‘And if the woman doesn’t think so?’

‘I’ll talk to you after Will comes home.’

‘Will’s my husband, not my master.’

‘Tina, don’t you see you won’t be needed? Angelo and I as good as ran the cafés before the war.’

‘Papa was in charge then and you know it. We all helped.’

‘It’s time to break up the inheritance, Tina.’

‘Says who?’

‘Me. The cafés and this restaurant are a family business.’

‘Exactly, and we’re family.’

‘Whose family? You’re a Powell, Laura’s a Lewis, Gina’s a Grenville. You should look to your husbands to keep you as the younger girls in Birmingham have done, and just as my wife will be looking to me.’

‘You’re married?’ Tina stared at him incredulously.

‘I will be as soon as it can be arranged.’

‘Do we know her?’

‘I doubt it.’

He looked his sister squarely in the eye so there could be no mistake. ‘She’s German.’

Chapter Two

Tony laid his knife and fork on his plate, sat back and faced Tina. ‘The look on your face has just destroyed my appetite.’

‘A German girl! Tony, how could you! It will kill Mama.’

‘As Mama raised no objection to your husband or Ronnie’s wife joining the family I don’t see how she can possibly object to mine.’

‘And what’s wrong with Will and Diana?’ As Tina’s voice rose precariously, the attention of all the waitresses and most of the customers within earshot focused on their table.

‘Before you lose your rag, look at Will and Diana from Mama’s point of view. Even forgetting they’re not Catholic –’

‘And this German of yours is, I suppose.’

‘She is. And respectable.’

‘And my Will isn’t?’

‘Tina – Tina …’ he shook his head in mock despair, ‘love is supposed to be blind not stupid. Will and Diana’s mother has been in jail for receiving stolen goods, Diana was married to a queer before Ronnie took up with her, and Will’s played around with half the female population of Pontypridd …’

‘Not since he married me.’

‘Not since he married you because he’s only been home twice in the last six years,’ Tony murmured, deliberately keeping his voice low in contrast to her high-pitched outrage. ‘But I wouldn’t answer for the female population of wherever he’s been stationed. You’ve only got to look at Vera Collins’ son. He bears a closer resemblance to your William than George Collins.’

‘If he is Will’s son, then why did George keep him when he threw Vera out for carrying on with GIs?’

‘I have no idea. All I’m saying is that if Mama can put up with Will and Diana –’

‘First Will, now his sister. Are any of us good enough for you?’ Tina demanded hotly, rising to her feet. ‘If we were anywhere other than here, brother or not, I’d punch you into the middle of next week.’

‘Thanks for the floor show,’ Tony drew her attention to the people staring at them, ‘and the warm welcome,’ he added caustically. Tossing his napkin on to the debris on his plate he left the table.

‘You’re not thinking of going home.’

‘Where else?’

‘Do you intend to tell Mama about this woman?’

‘Her name’s Gabrielle.’

‘Tony, how can you forget it was the Germans who killed Papa and put Angelo in a prison camp for five years?’

‘Gabrielle’s twenty-one. She didn’t kill or imprison anyone.’

‘And I suppose she didn’t even know that her country declared war on the whole world.’

‘Of course she knew,’ he retorted impatiently, ‘but she spent the war studying not fighting. She has a degree, she speaks four languages, she likes needlework and cooking and she’s quiet and gentle. There’s something else, Tina. Her family has suffered just as much as ours. Her two brothers died on the Russian front and her father was killed fleeing from the Russians when they invaded East Prussia. She was lucky to escape with her life.’

‘How can you set our family’s suffering against that of a – a – German!’ Tina’s indignation was superseded by shock as she realised Tony was deadly serious. ‘Papa was drowned …’

‘It was the good people of this country who interned innocent Italian businessmen, in 1940, not the Germans.’

‘It was a German torpedo that sank the
Arandora Star
and killed Papa.’

‘Are you absolutely sure about that, Tina? Because I’ve heard different.’ He walked behind the counter and picked up his kitbag.

‘Tony, you’re not going?’ Gina called as her husband, Luke, helped her down the stairs. ‘Everyone’s asking about you …’ She looked from Tina to her brother. ‘Is anything wrong?’

‘I’ve work to do.’ Brushing past Luke, Tina ran back up the stairs.

‘Tony?’

‘You and Luke will be home later?’

‘We’ll be leaving as soon as we’ve helped Tina clear up here,’ Luke answered, confused by Tina’s hasty departure.

‘Then I’ll see you in Danycoedcae Road.’ Swinging his bag over his shoulder Tony turned his back on them.

‘Tony, come upstairs, just for five minutes,’ Gina pleaded, as the door slammed shut behind him.

‘It can’t be long before Ronnie comes home,’ Bethan reassured Diana as they watched Megan and Dino leave the top table.

‘I hope you’re right. At this rate Catrina will be celebrating her third birthday without seeing her father.’

‘Knowing Ronnie, he’ll make up for it when he does come home.’

‘How did you and Alma cope, Beth, all those years alone? Eddie was, what, four and a half before he saw Andrew, Theo, three and a half when Charlie came home? Do you ever catch up with those missing years?’

‘Truthfully?’ Bethan looked across to where Andrew and Huw Davies were trying to draw Charlie into conversation. ‘Not yet, and perhaps not ever, but don’t forget Ronnie hasn’t been away anywhere near as long.’

‘Two years six months four days and,’ Diana glanced at her wristwatch, ‘five hours and thirty-five minutes.’

‘You two didn’t have that much time together, did you?’

‘I just wish he’d write.’

‘I’m sure you will hear soon.’

‘It’s not just me who misses him, Billy does. He can just about remember what it was like to have a stepfather, but there’s a world of difference between two and a half and five. I only hope Ronnie can live up to his expectations when he does finally make it back.’

‘Time to wave off the bride and groom,’ Andrew interrupted. ‘Angelo’s bringing the car round from the White Hart car park.’

‘I’ve hardly had a minute to say a word to you, love.’ Megan stopped in front of them and kissed Diana.

‘Got one of those for your stepfather, Diana?’ Dino asked.

‘You know something, Dino,’ Diana smiled, ‘that stepfather bit sounds wonderful.’

‘We’ll be back in a week …’

‘Mam,’ Diana shook her head fondly at her mother, ‘nothing is going to happen in a week.’

‘I’m not so sure. That cough of Billy’s …’

‘Is something he puts on whenever you’re around because he likes the taste of that syrup and vinegar medicine you make for him. I know you’ll take care of her, could you try and stop her from worrying as well?’ Diana planted a kiss on Dino’s cheek. ‘But you’d better watch that smile, if it gets any wider your face will crack in two.’

‘Ronnie’ll be home soon to put one just like it on yours.’

‘That’s what I’ve been telling her, Auntie Megan.’ Bethan picked up her handbag. ‘Come on, time to wave you off.’

‘Do you two know where Dino’s taking me?’ Megan pumped, ‘because he refuses to say a word to me.’

‘Probably booked you into a dosshouse by the gas works in Cardiff,’ Diana joked.

‘Angelo disappeared into the car park of the White Hart for two hours first thing this morning,’ Gina confided to Bethan as they followed Megan, Dino, Diana and the rest of the guests down the stairs. ‘He met the colonel there but I couldn’t get a thing out of either of them when they came back into the café, other than they’d been swapping the colonel’s car for a Jeep so the honeymoon couple could travel in comfort. There was also talk of one of the mechanics from Ianto Myles’ garage helping them to get it perfect for the bridal couple, but judging by the amount of schoolboy sniggering, it’s my guess they weren’t checking the engine.’

‘As long as the army doesn’t disapprove.’

‘How will the army find out if David doesn’t tell them?’

Diana peered round the crowd blocking the doorway of the restaurant and started to laugh.

‘Oh my God! David Ford, are you responsible for that?’ Megan demanded.

The colonel’s standard, US Army-issue officer’s car was virtually unrecognisable. Strings of red, white and blue paper flowers that looked suspiciously like the ones that had been made for the VJ celebrations six months before, festooned the bodywork from bumpers to roof.
‘Good Luck’
and
‘Just Married’
messages had been scrawled in bright pink raspberry syrup over all the windows. But the absolute crowning glory were two four-foot boards tied to the roof, decorated with expertly-drawn, comically accurate cartoon images of a coy Dino and seductive Megan bearing the caption,
‘FELLOW MOTORISTS BEWARE, DRIVER’S HANDS OTHERWISE OCCUPIED.’

‘I am not driving anywhere in that.’ Megan glared from Dino to David. ‘And I recognise the artwork, Angelo Ronconi. There isn’t another man in Pontypridd who can draw like that.’

‘Come on, darling,’ Dino coaxed, ‘just as far as our house. I’ll clean it up while you change.’

‘Not one yard.’

‘Come on, Megan, be a sport.’

To Bethan’s amazement, Andrew picked up her aunt, dumping her in Dino’s arms before opening the passenger door.

‘As far as the house and not one yard further,’ Megan relented.

‘Told you I’d tame her,’ Dino crowed.

After making sure Megan’s coat was inside the car, Dino climbed into the driver’s side, and turned the ignition. The car inched forward to the raucous accompaniment of dozens of rattling tins that Angelo and Alfredo had filled with stones and tied to the back bumper. Unable to hear herself think, Bethan stepped back and found herself standing next to Tina.

‘Anything wrong?’ she asked, wondering why Tina wasn’t in the forefront of the hubbub as she usually was.

‘Just tired.’ Tony’s revelation was too new, too devastating for Tina to contemplate sharing it with anyone – even Bethan.

‘Good luck,’ Bethan called as Dino slid the window open and waved. ‘Be happy.’

‘That’s an order, Morelli,’ David shouted from beside her. ‘I’m sorry, Bethan,’ he apologised, ‘I can’t take your husband up on his invitation. Pressure of work. With Dino away for the next week I’ll have to put in twice as many hours. You’ll explain?’

‘Of course.’

Sensing rather than seeing Andrew watching them, he tipped his hat to her, as though she were a stranger. ‘See you around, ma’am.’

*……*……*

‘No – no – no – no – I won’t hear one more word!’ Mrs Ronconi’s dark eyes glittered hard with raw anger as she shook her diminutive fist at Tony. Half the height of her second son, and thinner and frailer than she’d been before the war, Mrs Ronconi still had the power to intimidate her children.

There was something ridiculous in the fierce altercation between mother and son – comic farce bordering on tragedy, worthy of Chaplin or Keaton – but neither Gina nor Luke, the only ones in the family who’d been brave enough to stay in the kitchen once the shouting had started, were laughing.

‘I would rather die than accept a German into this family and that is absolutely my last word.’

‘Mama –’

‘Antonio,’ her voice changed as her anger turned to pleading, ‘isn’t it enough that they killed your father and made a prisoner of Angelo all these years?’

‘Not all Germans are bad, Mama. Gabrielle didn’t hurt anyone.’

‘But she
is
a German and they start wars, force us to fight them, make us suffer and now you want to fra … frat …’

‘Fraternise, Mama,’ Luke supplied helpfully, unable to stand the tension a moment longer.

‘That’s it! Fraternise! And it is forbidden. All the newspapers say it is forbidden.’

‘Not since last July, Mama,’ Tony contradicted.

‘So, because someone tells you it’s all right to go off with enemy women, you do! What was this woman doing when all the other Germans were running around fighting, killing, looting, burning, bombing and drowning innocent people and imprisoning your brother – and Charlie – have you seen Charlie? They put a nice, quiet man like him in one of those horror camps. They made films of them and showed them in the pictures.’

‘I’ve seen the places as well as the films, Mama.’

‘And you still want to marry with the enemy.’

‘The war’s over, Mama. We won.’

‘It’s not over for me – not ever for me.’ Mrs Ronconi’s voice softened slightly as she gazed reverently at the photograph of her husband that dominated the chimneybreast. Rigidly posed in his best black suit, white shirt with wing collar and dark tie, his face adorned with a modest version of the luxuriant moustache he had worn in his later years, he looked younger than even she remembered him ever being. After a few moments during which neither Tony, Gina nor Luke dared speak, she turned from the photograph to confront her son. ‘Antonio, you marry this girl and you will no longer be my son or a member of this family.’

The calm, quiet assertion was absolute and final. If his mother had screamed or ranted, Tony would have continued arguing. As it was he picked up his kitbag and went to the door.

‘Tony.’ Leaving her husband’s side Gina went to her brother. ‘Please, Mama, we need to talk about this.’

‘I’ve said all there is to be said, Gina,’ Mrs Ronconi pronounced firmly.

‘But Tony’s been fighting for six years. He needs to rest – to stay somewhere.’

‘Not in this house.’

‘Mama …’

‘Bye, Gina.’ Tony kissed her cheek and offered Luke his hand.

‘You can’t go like this,’ Gina protested as she followed him down the passage. ‘We’re your family …’

‘Are you?’

‘Tony, don’t be stubborn. Of course we’re your family.’

For the second time that day Tony turned his back on his sister, closed the door behind him and walked away.

*……*……*

‘That’s Theo finally down. Mary wore him out in the park but the little monkey fought off sleeping until he couldn’t keep his eyes open. I had to read him the
Three Little Pigs
four times. You’d think he’d know the story off by heart by now, wouldn’t you?’

‘He does.’

Encouraged by Charlie’s response and feeling that her latest ploy of ending every communication with her husband in a question was beginning to work, Alma ventured a change of subject. ‘It was a good wedding reception, wasn’t it?’

He nodded briefly as he picked up the
Pontypridd Observer.

‘Did Bethan tell you she’s driving us up to see the house in Tyfica Road tomorrow?’

If she hadn’t been looking directly at him she would have missed his second acknowledgement.

‘That’s the door. I wonder who it could be at this time of night. Perhaps Mary’s forgotten her key. I told her she could go to the pictures.’ As she started down the stairs that led to the side door of the shop that was the flat’s entrance she caught a glimpse of a uniformed figure behind the patterned glass. Tentatively opening the door, she smiled in relief when she saw Huw Davies and, standing behind him, Bethan and Andrew.