Swansea Summer (47 page)

‘Then you won’t be going back there?’ Martin asked.

‘No.’

‘That sounds very definite.’

‘It is, Martin,’ she said brusquely, ‘so don’t try to talk me out of it.’

‘I wasn’t, and remember I’m only the messenger.’

The music stopped and they stood back to applaud the band. ‘Thanks for being a friend to both of us, Marty, but I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention Brian again.’

‘Even if he asks me to give you a message?’

‘Just tell him what I told you. If he wants to contact me, he has my address.’

‘Just as you have his.’

‘Pardon?’

‘If both of you sit back waiting for the other to make the first move, you could be in for a long wait,’ he advised as he walked her back to their table.

John slipped the letter he’d written into his pocket as he went to his car. It had taken him over an hour to write a couple of lines and he wasn’t happy with the result.

Dear Katie,

Perhaps you could call into the office one day on your way home from work. There is something that
I would like to discuss with you.

Yours sincerely,

John Griffiths

It gave no indication of what he felt – or his hopes. But then he didn’t know if there was someone new in her life. And if there was – he tried to consider all the implications objectively as he drove through Mumbles but as he passed the turn to the Pier he imagined Katie sitting there with Helen and the girls, the boys around them … Sam and Adam – he realised that he had no right even to try to contact her again after bringing her so much unhappiness. If the road hadn’t been too narrow to accommodate a three-point turn he might have been tempted to drive back.

Parking at the side of Helen’s house he walked to the front door and knocked. When no one answered he removed the letter from his pocket and looked at it for a moment.

Finally deciding that things were best left as they were, he returned to his car, stopping when he caught sight of a solitary figure walking on the beach. He opened the door and reached for his walking stick.

*……*……*

‘You haven’t asked why I danced with Judy,’ Martin murmured in Lily’s ear, as they danced to a smooch version of ‘Harbour Lights’.

‘If you want me to know, you’ll tell me.’

‘I thought all girls were curious.’

‘Not this one.’

‘Brian wrote and asked me to tell her that he was missing her.’

‘Really?’ She moved her head from his shoulder and looked at him.

‘Do you know what really happened between them after Jack’s wedding?’

‘I haven’t a clue,’ she answered quickly – too quickly.

‘You’re a terrible liar, Lily Sullivan.’

‘Just as well.’ She smiled. ‘You’ll always know when I’m not telling you the truth.’

‘Do you think it’s serious between Lily and Martin?’ Judy asked Helen as they watched them dance.

‘I hope so. It would be nice if one of us were happy.’

‘How about making me happy and having this dance with me, Judy.’ Sam held out his hand as the band played the last chords of ‘Harbour Lights’ and went into another slow dance, this time ‘The Magic Touch’.

‘Helen.’

She hesitated as Adam stood before her.

‘I was hoping you’d give me a chance to make up for the way we parted the other day. It was stupid. After all, we are friends. Jack and me and you,’ he added persuasively.

She took his hand. ‘As long as you remember that I’m married and don’t hold me too close.’

‘Hello, Katie.’

Katie looked up, instinctively checking the beach was deserted before using John’s Christian name. ‘Hello, John.’

‘All alone.’

‘The others have gone down the Pier.’

He fell into step beside her. ‘Why didn’t you go with them?’

She shrugged her thin shoulders.

His heart went out to her. ‘Oh, Katie …’

‘I don’t want your pity,’ she snapped. ‘You don’t want me …’

‘I want you to be happy. I thought that if you found someone younger …’

‘I told you I couldn’t be happy without you.’ Moving away from him, she sat on a rock, clasped her hands round her knees and stared at the sea.

He stood beside her. ‘I came to give you a letter.’ Taking it from his pocket, he handed it to her.

‘What does it say?’ The wind caught her dark hair, whipping it across her face as she looked up at him.

‘That I’d like to talk to you.’ He took a deep breath as he tried to decipher her features in the gathering twilight. ‘My divorce will be final in six weeks. If you’re still prepared to put up with the gossips, the pointed fingers and the people who will call both of us names and not very pleasant ones, we could get married.’

She stared at him as if she couldn’t believe what he’d said.

‘The last few months have been the most miserable of my life.’

‘You want me,’ she whispered.

He met her gaze. ‘Oh yes, Katie. I want you.’

When Sam left Judy to go to the bar, she returned to their table to find it empty. As she sat down a freckle-faced, ginger-haired boy approached her. ‘Hi. You’re Judy, right?’

‘Do I know you?’ Judy eyed him doubtfully.

‘Alun Jones. Don’t you remember, Brian Powell introduced us. I worked with him before he went to London.’

‘You’re a policemen.’

‘Guilty as charged.’

She wondered if she was doomed to be surrounded by police officers for the rest of her life. There were so many other professions. Why didn’t she ever meet a lorry driver or shop assistant?

‘Dance?’

‘Thank you.’ She forced a smile and took the hand he offered.

‘What did you think of the game?’ he asked as they reached the dance floor.

‘What game?’

‘Football, the Swans played Cardiff today.’

‘I didn’t know.’

‘You don’t follow football.’ He stared at her as if she were a Martian.

‘No.’

‘Ah, then you’re a cricket fan.’

‘I can’t stand it.’

‘I’ve never met a girl who couldn’t stand cricket before.’

‘Some girls lie.’

‘About liking cricket?’

‘It has been known,’ she assured him solemnly. Looking over his shoulder, she smiled broadly as she saw Jack in the doorway. Breaking free from her bewildered partner she waved to him. Jack waved back, then his face darkened. She turned, just in time to realise that Adam had seen Jack as well and was kissing Helen full on the lips.

Joe led the way to a table placed well away from the dance floor. He intended to dance as little as possible that evening, even if it meant quarrelling with Angela.

‘Waiter.’ Robin clicked his fingers. ‘Two whiskies and two brandies. No, on second thoughts make it four of each. Start the night as you mean to go on,’ he said to Joe, as the waiter left.

‘Too drunk to stand.’

‘I’m not supposed to tell you but Angie made quite an effort for you tonight. That gold lame dress of hers cost Pops an absolute fortune. It’s a genuine Balmain, whatever that means.’

‘I’m flattered.’

‘No need to be so bloody sarcastic.’

‘I wasn’t,’ Joe protested a little too vehemently.

‘So what changed your mind about the gorgeous Lily?’

‘For Christ’s sake stop calling her that.’

‘I won’t say another word. And here are the two most beautiful women in the world.’ Robin rose unsteadily from his chair and greeted Emily with a kiss. ‘I’ve ordered you two brandies. Each.’

‘That’s my boy.’ Emily sat beside Robin and leaned forward in her low-cut dress, a silver version of Angela’s that displayed her cleavage.

‘I always go weak at the knees whenever I see men in evening dress.’ Angela laid her hand over Joe’s.

‘Where are those drinks,’ Robin muttered impatiently.

‘Here, sir.’ The waiter laid eight coasters on the table.

‘Same again,’ Joe ordered recklessly, after following Robin’s example and downing one of his whiskies in a single swallow.

‘Shouldn’t you two slow down? It’s going to be a long evening.’

‘Why, Angie, this is a celebration, we’ve just finished our exams.’

‘There are other things in life besides alcohol.’

‘But few worth having.’ Robin laughed at his own joke as he tossed a ten-pound note on the waiter’s tray to cover the cost of the drinks.

Martin and Lily were so wrapped up in one another that the dance hall was in uproar before they realised anything was amiss. It was only when Helen screamed and Adam reeled across the room after Jack had punched him that they saw what was happening. Martin ran after Jack as he followed Adam. Sam was already between them, but so were two doormen. One grabbed Jack and pulled his hands high behind his back, while the other helped Adam to his feet.

‘We’ve had trouble with you before,’ the manager barked, staring at Jack.

‘I’m a police officer …’ Sam began.

‘Off duty, aren’t you, son.’ The manager gave Sam a patronising look.

‘Yes, but …’

‘We won’t need you. I’ve already telephoned the station.’

‘Please, can I talk to my husband?’ Helen was pale, but her voice was remarkably steady.

‘One of these is your husband?’ The manager was clearly unconvinced.

‘Yes.’ She looked at Jack, who turned away.

‘Ask the police when they come. Get the two of them into my office, stay with them until the police come and no visitors,’ he ordered the doormen.

‘Just so you and the missus know.’ Adam pushed his face as close to Jack’s as the doorman holding him would allow. ‘I’ve got my own back for that trick you pulled on your stag night. And frankly, mate, I don’t know what you see in her.’

‘I didn’t want to kiss him. He forced me,’ Helen cried, as the doorman dragged Jack, who was still trying to lash out at Adam, away.

‘I’ll go down the police station and see if I can sort something out, Helen,’ Martin consoled clumsily. He caught Sam’s eye and Sam shook his head doubtfully.

‘Jack saw me kissing Adam. I didn’t want to … but you saw Jack, he doesn’t believe me … I should never have danced with Adam …’

Martin drew Lily aside. ‘Get Helen and Judy home, love.’

‘And Jack?’

‘Sam will come with me down the station and if your uncle is on duty he may be able to help us. If we manage to get Jack out tonight, I’ll send him to Helen on his bike.’

She looked at Helen, white-faced, shaking as the shock of what had happened began to sink in. ‘Promise.’

‘I promise.’

‘Go, Joe! Go, Robin! Go, Joe! Go, Robin! Go, Joe …’

The chants of their fellow students resounded in Robin’s and Joe’s ears like medieval battle-cries as they stood opposite one another on high stools and downed mixed pints of whisky, beer and whatever else the boys had poured into the mugs.

Finishing his drink before Robin, Joe swayed precariously, then felt Angela’s hands steadying his legs.

‘And Joe is the winner.’ Thompson lifted him down just as he was about to fall. ‘For Joe’s a jolly good fellow …’

‘You all right?’ Angela asked, as he propped himself up on the bar.

‘Wonderful. You?’

‘Stupid question after what you’ve drunk. Joe, you know I adore you and I’d do anything for you. Will you please do one tiny thing for me?’

‘I’ll consider it.’

‘Stop drinking now,’ she begged. ‘We’ve both had enough. I’ll ask someone here to get us a taxi; we can go home to bed. Mums and Pops won’t mind you sleeping in mine. They adore you as much as I do …’

‘See you in a minute.’ Straightening his suit jacket, Joe brushed a couple of flecks of whisky from his lapel and walked out of the door. He knew he was drunk but he’d never been clearer in his mind in his life. The Watkin Morgans wanted him for a son-in-law and Angela wanted him for a husband because he had a substantial trust fund, a house in Langland, his grandmother’s money and good prospects. If Martin Clay had come knocking on their door after Angela, he would have been given the boot, yet Martin had the one girl in the world whom he loved – ‘had’ in every sense of the word.

To put it in Robin’s crude terms, Martin had taken Lily’s knickers down. The pure, virginal bride he had dreamed of marrying for over a year was soiled, damaged beyond repair. He had offered Lily everything he owned and she had thrown it back in his face for a common mechanic who lived in a rented basement.

And there was his father. He smiled grimly – both fathers; kind, generous John Griffiths who had never quite understood him and the bastard who was prepared to call his mother a whore to get out of the responsibility of having to own him. And his mother, who very probably was a whore …
I’ll ask someone here to get us a taxi; we can
go
home to bed. Mums and Pops won’t mind you sleeping in mine. They adore you as much as I do …
Was that his future – marriage to a girl as shallow, social-climbing and money-grubbing as his mother, with morals to match?

He walked out of the front door of the hotel and looked up and down High Street. A double-decker bus was coming towards him. He read the name on the front:
Morriston.
Only when he was certain the driver had no chance to stop did he step out in front of it.

Chapter Twenty-seven

‘We can really get married in six weeks?’ Katie took John’s arm as they walked slowly along the beach.

‘We have a lot of plans to make.’

‘And people to tell,’ she said thoughtfully, thinking of Jack and Helen and Joe.

He stopped and looked at her. ‘You’re absolutely sure?’

‘Positive.’

‘I don’t even mind you working in Lewis Lewis as long as I can come home to you every night,’ he joked.

‘I could come back to the warehouse.’

‘We have more important decisions to make, like where you want to go on honeymoon and where we’re going to live …’

‘You love the house in Carlton Terrace.’

‘I loved the house in Carlton Terrace,’ he said seriously. ‘I was happy there with my grandparents and miserable with Esme. Perhaps it’s time for a new start.’

‘Where?’

‘Anywhere you want provided it’s in easy travelling distance of Swansea. We could go further down the Gower or to Mumbles …’

‘I’d be happy to live in a shack as long as it’s with you.’

‘I believe you would.’ He stopped at the foot of the cliff path. ‘We could go on a luxury cruise for our honeymoon, to America or the Mediterranean.’

‘Is that what you want?’

‘I want whatever will make you happy.’

‘I don’t want to go anywhere where there’ll be other people.’

‘You want to be alone?’

‘With you,’ she qualified. ‘We could rent a cottage. Oh John.’ Her eyes gleamed in the darkness. ‘We could go to Cornwall. My mother went there once when she was a girl. She said it was beautiful. I know it’s a long way but …’

‘You’d prefer to go to Cornwall rather than America or the Mediterranean?’ He laughed.

‘Yes please.’ She hesitated, ‘But only if you want to.’

‘We’ll go to Cornwall, my love.’ He scarcely dared to believe that someone so beautiful and unspoilt was going to be his wife. He offered her his hand as they began to walk up the path. ‘There’s so much we don’t know about one another. I don’t even know how you feel about children.’

‘You want them?’

‘If you do.’

‘But you have Joe and Helen.’

‘And if I had my way I would have had a lot more. But we have all the time in the world to think about it.’

‘I don’t have to. I’d love to have your children. They’ll be wonderful, just like you.’

‘Hopefully with their mother’s looks.’ Taking her into his arms, he gazed at her. ‘I’m going to find it very difficult to believe that someone as young, beautiful and adorable as you can love a man like me, Katie Clay.’

‘Then I’ll have to spend the rest of my life convincing you.’ Closing her eyes, she kissed him.

‘So that’s why Katie wouldn’t come to the Pier with us.’ Helen stared into the darkness as she, Lily and Judy opened her garden gate and walked up the path to her house. Katie’s silhouette, outlined in the light that spilled out of the hall through the open front door was unmistakable, but the man she was kissing had his back towards them. As they broke free, he turned.

‘You …’ Lost for words, Helen glared contemptuously at her father before storming into the kitchen. Lily followed her and closed the door. ‘Did you see that?’ Helen demanded. ‘My father and Katie …’

‘Keep your voice down, Helen,’ Lily pleaded. ‘Can’t you see that they love one another?’

Helen whirled round. ‘You knew about this?’

‘Only since Katie took the job in Lewis Lewis.’

‘I’m his daughter and you didn’t think to say a word!’

‘Katie asked me not to.’

‘I bet she did,’ Helen retorted viciously. ‘Pretending to be my friend so she can move in on my father … no wonder she threw over Adam Jordan. He hasn’t anything like the money …’

‘It’s not like that between them, Helen,’ Lily interposed swiftly. ‘She told me she fell in love with your father and he with her, just after she started working for him and that’s why she left the warehouse. Your father felt that because he was still married to your mother he couldn’t offer her anything and she couldn’t bear to see him every day …’

‘How many other people know about this?’ Helen asked coldly. ‘My brother, Martin …’

‘Martin knows.’

‘You told him.’

‘No, and he doesn’t know Katie’s confided in me. Katie mentioned that your father told Martin some time ago, but he wasn’t happy about it.’

‘I bet he isn’t. It’s disgusting. He’s nothing but a dirty old man and she’s looking no further than what she can get …’

‘I’m sorry you feel that way, Helen.’ John pushed open the door and walked in, holding hands with Katie.

‘How do you expect me to feel!’ Helen shouted. ‘You divorce my mother so you can go off with my friend …’

‘Your mother and me divorcing had nothing to do with Katie.’

‘So that came later, when Katie realised you’d be free and she could move in and be set up for life.’

‘Remember telling us that you knew Jack was the right one for you and that it was your time?’ Katie’s calm, clear voice silenced Helen where John and Lily had failed. ‘Well, it was like that for me with John. He’s the kindest, gentlest, most generous man I know and I don’t mean about money. I would love him if he had nothing. In fact I’d prefer it because then no one could accuse me of wanting anything from him except his love. And he does love me, Helen, yet he was prepared to give me up because he was afraid of what the gossip would do to you and your brother.’

‘You disgust me. Both of you. Get out of my house …’

‘My divorce will be finalised in six weeks. The day after I intend to marry Katie,’ John said quietly. ‘I’m sorry you feel the way you do about us. If you change your mind, you’ll be welcome at our wedding. And no matter what, I want you to know that I’ll always be there if ever you need me.’

‘I never want to see or speak to either of you again.’

‘If putting my own happiness first has caused you pain, Helen, I apologise.’ He turned to Katie. ‘Are you coming?’

‘To where?’ Helen snapped.

‘Does it matter, Helen?’ he asked. ‘You’ve made it impossible for her to stay here.’

‘Is he …’ Trembling and more sober than anyone had a right to be after what he’d drunk, Robin turned a terrified face to his father.

‘Hardly a scratch on him.’

‘Honestly?’ Angela broke in fearfully, too afraid to look at Joe who was stretched out on the pavement behind them. ‘You’re not just saying that, Pops?’

‘No.’ Dr Watkin Morgan looked sternly at his children. ‘But he deliberately walked in front of that bus. It was pure luck he went down between the wheels. There’s no doubt that he tried to kill himself.’

‘That’s ridiculous. I saw him fall.’ Hilary Llewellyn who’d been kneeling beside Joe rose to her feet and walked towards them. ‘It was an accident.’

‘It didn’t look like it from where I was sitting,’ the driver contradicted, as he huddled under a blanket in the gutter, sipping the hot sweet tea someone had given him for shock.

‘He’d just taken part in a stupid drinking competition.’ Hilary turned to the doctor as an ambulance arrived. ‘Surely he doesn’t need to go to hospital if, as you just said, there’s hardly a scratch on him.’

‘He needs psychiatric evaluation. I’ve arranged admittance to Cefn Coed.’

‘Joe needs to sober up at home, not in a psychiatric hospital.’ Hilary returned to Joe as the ambulance driver leaped from his cab.

Dr Watkin Morgan confronted her. ‘I won’t take responsibility.’

‘Then I will. My car’s parked round the corner. I’ll take him home.’

‘You know where he lives?’

‘Yes.’ She turned to the ambulance driver and his mate. ‘Will you give me a hand to get him into my car, please.’

Angela and Robin stood back and watched while Hilary took charge and loaded Joe into her car.

As she drove away, their father drew them aside. ‘Hilary Llewellyn is a capable woman but I suspect that this time she has bitten off a great deal more than she can chew.’

‘Pops, you don’t really think Joe tried to top himself,’ Robin muttered nervously.

Dr Watkin Morgan looked over to where the bus driver was still arguing with the police. ‘Until this thing is settled one way or another, I strongly advise – no, insist, absolutely insist – that you both stay away from Joseph Griffiths.’

‘But he’s tipped for a First. He has a brilliant future …’

‘Perhaps not any more,’ the doctor broke in harshly. ‘How did he behave before he went outside?’

‘No different from any of the rest of us, we were having a good time.’ Robin was having difficulty in blocking the image of Joe, bent double, a red blanket draped over his shoulders, being helped into the back of Hilary’s car, from his mind.

‘And that is exactly what you’ll tell the police if they question you. I suppose he was sitting at your table.’

‘He was escorting me.’

‘That’s something you need to play down; better still, don’t mention it, Angela. From now on Joseph Griffiths was never more than a boy on the edge of your crowd. You really didn’t know him that well at all. Understand?’

Robin was the first to recover. ‘Yes, Pops.’

‘Now go back in there and carry on as if nothing’s happened.’

Setting her face into the wide-mouthed smile she had practised so often in front of the mirror, Angela followed her brother inside.

‘Jack and Adam are lucky.’ Roy sat beside Martin and Sam in the waiting room. ‘The manager of the Pier is content with a warning and a ban, which will affect Adam more than Jack, seeing as how Jack will be away for the next couple of years. The sergeant won’t give the go-ahead for a prosecution as the manager is content to let all charges drop in the hope of avoiding adverse publicity, and as Adam isn’t seriously hurt, I’ve succeeded in talking him out of pressing charges against Jack.’

‘He tried?’ Martin questioned indignantly.

‘He did, but I pointed out that there is such a thing as provocation,’ Roy said grimly.

‘What happens now?’ Martin rose to his feet.

‘Both of them are free to go. The only question is which one do we release first.’ Roy looked from Sam to Martin.

‘Might be as well to let Jack go first,’ Sam suggested. ‘After the way Adam behaved, and the things he said about Helen, Martin and I might be tempted to pick up where Jack left off.’

‘I swear to you, Jack, nothing has happened between Helen and Adam …’

‘And you’ve been with her every minute of every day since I left.’ A leaner, fitter Jack, with extremely short hair that gave him the appearance of a hard man, crossed his arms over his chest, propped himself against the dresser in the basement kitchen and glared at Martin.

‘Of course I haven’t, but I spend as much time as I can with Lily and Helen hardly ever leaves her house.’

‘Adam says he’s been up there. He even knew the colour of the bedroom curtains and bedspreads …’

‘He would, seeing as how he helped us to move the girls in there,’ Sam interrupted, attempting to support Martin.

‘And he’s been sunbathing there alone with Helen.’

Wishing the police had kept Jack and Adam apart, Martin continued, ‘Lily and I walked in on them. Helen hadn’t even allowed him in the house because she was afraid there might be gossip.’

‘She was dancing with him, she kissed him …’

‘Not because she wanted to. He forced himself on her.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Because I know Helen and she said so,’ Martin snapped, coming the closest he ever had to losing his temper with his brother.

‘I don’t believe her.’

‘Look, you’re home …’

‘For a week.’

‘You have your orders.’ Sam set the kettle on to boil. The last thing he wanted was tea, but he had do something.

‘For Cyprus, minimum eighteen-month term.’

‘I’m sorry, Jack, but as I was saying, you’re home, you’re sober, here’s the keys to the garage and your bike, and by the way, thank you for lending it to me. You’ve been to Helen’s house?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then you know where it is. Ride out there, talk to her. If you only have a week …’

Jack glanced at the clock as he hung the keys back on to the board. ‘Anyone want a game of cards?’

‘Jack …’

‘I don’t want to talk about Helen, Martin. I’ve a bottle of rum in my pack; you, Sam and I can either sit down and have a boys’ night in, or I can leave right now.’

‘To go where?’ Martin asked in exasperation.

‘Back to camp.’

‘You have leave.’

‘So do all the boys but not all of them had somewhere to go, so I’ll have plenty of company.’

‘You stubborn …’

‘No matter what, I am leaving on the first train out of here in the morning.’ Jack picked up his pack. ‘Do we have this last night together or not?’

Martin looked at Sam; he knew what he was thinking. If they went along with Jack’s night in, there was a chance that they might talk him into staying and possibly even seeing Helen. What Sam didn’t know was that once Jack made up his mind to do something he did it, no matter what it cost him, because he was afraid of being considered weak if he didn’t.

‘I promised Lily I’d tell her if they let you go tonight,’ Martin demurred.

‘Have they a telephone in the house?’

‘No.’

‘Then it will have to wait until morning, won’t it?’ Jack pulled the bottle of rum from his pack and took three glasses from the cupboard. ‘You can go to Limeslade after you’ve seen me off.’

Hilary put a cup of strong black coffee in front of Joe as he sat slumped over the kitchen table in John’s house. ‘Want to talk about it?’

Joe shook his head.

‘I lied for you tonight, Joe. You do realise that if I hadn’t, you’d be in a psychiatric ward right now.’

‘Yes,’ he whispered hoarsely.

‘Suicides don’t have brilliant futures,’ she said callously.

‘I know,’ he mumbled, ‘and I’m grateful …’

‘Keep your gratitude. I don’t want it and I warn you now, I’ve no intention of letting you get off lightly.’ She lit two cigarettes as she sat opposite him and passed him one. ‘Is it money, or a girl?’

He lifted his head and looked at her. ‘No girl and too much money.’

‘I’m listening.’

Somehow it all came out, his love for Lily, her betrayal, his bastard status, his mother’s marriage to John Griffiths, Richard Thomas, his disgust at Robin’s and Angie’s morals … and all the while he spoke she listened quietly, only leaving the table to make more coffee or empty the ashtray that stood between them.