Sweet Rosie (39 page)

‘Gawd! Would you just look at this!’ Polly was holding up a newspaper and there, in the centre of the page, was the drawing Lily had done of her. ‘Would you believe it, they’ve got my picture in this week’s issue of the
Swansea Telegraph
.’

Lily and Matthew had been invited to the big house to have supper with Jem and Polly. Matthew, who could scarcely keep his hands and eyes off Lily, chatted to her incessantly over supper. It had been over a week since she had seen him; his old wife had been sick or something and strangely enough she had missed him. Now both men had retired to smoke their cigars.

‘Look then!’ Polly insisted. ‘I’ve kept this as a surprise for you. Aren’t you excited to see your work in the paper?’ She shook the page flat and placed it on the table, pushing aside the plates and cutlery with complete disregard for the fine china and silverware. ‘See, it says you are my friend and a “friend of the Right Honourable Matthew Starky” Ha!’ She laughed. ‘Friend, so that’s what they call it when a married man sets up home with another woman.’

Lily was pleased; the picture of Polly looked even better in the paper than she imagined it would. She stared at it critically. ‘Perhaps next time I draw you I should give it a bit more thought,’ she said. ‘See, the edge of your gown is not quite right.’

‘Stop it!’ Polly ordered. ‘I have more news for you if only you will listen.’ She put down the paper and smiled widely. ‘The editor Mr Granger wants you to do a whole series of these.’

‘What? Pictures of you?’

‘No silly! Not of me but of other people in the town, people like my Jem, Matthew and Eynon Morton-Edwards.’ She paused for effect. ‘Mr Granger is even willing to pay you!’

Lily began to feel more enthusiastic. This could lead somewhere, she might even become famous. That would be one in the eye for the people who had scorned her, people like Llinos Mainwaring and Watt Bevan.

‘Well, what do you feel about it?’ Polly was impatient for a reaction and Lily hesitated.

‘Well, it sounds all right. I’ll do it if Matthew doesn’t object.’ She had to be careful not to jeopardize her situation with Matthew Starky. It was doubtful she would make enough money from her drawings to live on.

‘He’s thrilled to his bootstraps!’ Polly said. ‘He’s so proud of you anyone would think you were his wife.’

That hurt. She was as good as his wife and one day Matthew would regularize their position, Lily was sure of it. She concealed her thoughts from Polly, who simply would not understand. Polly had never cared about belonging, about being respectable. And yet, ironically, it was Polly who had found respectability with Jem Boucher.

‘I’ll talk it over with him all the same,’ Lily said obstinately. ‘Matthew is a good man and I don’t want to upset him.’

‘Please yourself.’ Polly shrugged. ‘Come on, let’s go and make nuisances of ourselves to the men. It’s about time they finished their brandy or port or whatever and paid us some attention.’

In the drawing room, Matthew took a seat beside Lily. She could see by his eyes that he was happy to be with her again. He put his arm around her waist, his fingers searching upwards to her breast. Lily caught Polly’s eye and Polly winked.

‘Someone’s in for a good time tonight,’ she said gleefully. She pinched Jem’s cheek. ‘Hope you’re feeling as randy as I am, my boy!’

Jem shrugged. ‘What can I do with her?’ he appealed to his friend.

Matthew smiled back at him. ‘Go on, Jem, you love every minute of it.’

He was right, Jem was lapping up Polly’s attentions, his eyes gleaming at the thought that she wanted him. Perhaps that was the secret to a man, to play on his lust and praise his ability to please in the bedroom. On an impulse, she slipped her hand through Matthew’s arm.

‘Come on, Matt,’ she said softly, shyly, ‘I want to be alone with you. Please take me home.’ The way his face lit up at her words proved she was right: flatter a man’s vanity and you could get anything you wanted from him.

She sighed softly as she sat in the carriage beside Matthew. She snuggled against him and rested her head on his shoulder. It must be wonderful to fall in love. What was wrong with her, that she had never known the feeling? Still, she had her protector and, now, she had a career, however small, as a contributor to a newspaper; and for the time being that was enough.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

It was the worst time of Llinos’s life. Not even in the dark days when her mother died, when she was left to run the pottery single-handedly, had Llinos felt as alone as she did now.

There had been no word from Joe since he had come storming into the house a week ago, and Llinos had expected none. He had made his views quite plain; he wanted Sho Ka rather than his wife. It was a bitter thought and Llinos could scarcely bear the pain and humiliation of it.

There was one bright spot in all the gloom: there had been an upturn in trading. Shop owners from Swansea and Carmarthen were taking large quantities of china wares and selling the goods faster than the pottery could provide them.

Watt had sorted out matters at the bank and all the bills were paid up to date. Still, Watt felt she should make a move to another bank and she would, just as soon as she regained control of her emotions. It was ironic, she thought, that while her business life continued to improve, her private life was in chaos.

Llinos was startled out of her reverie by the sound of the large doorbell resounding through the house. She saw that the fire was burning low and knelt near the hearth to place coals on the embers. She really should call the maid but Llinos was used to looking after herself and had no compunction about getting her hands dirty.

She was still kneeling, her dusty hands held out, when the door opened and the maid led a visitor into the room.

‘Sho Ka!’ Llinos said. ‘What are you doing here?’ She scrambled to her feet trying to appear composed but her heart was pounding. ‘Take a seat.’ Her voice was cold, formal. ‘I won’t be a minute, I need to wash my hands.’

Why had she allowed herself to be caught at a disadvantage by her husband’s beautiful mistress? And why was Sho Ka here? Her heart was beating swiftly as she rinsed the coal dust from her fingers.

She hurried back to the drawing room, anxious to know the reason for Sho Ka’s visit. The Indian girl was sitting in one of the armchairs, her head high, looking elegant in spite of her pregnancy.

‘Is Joe all right?’ Llinos asked breathlessly. Sho Ka’s dark eyes met hers.

‘No I don’t think he is,’ she said. ‘He is missing his family life here with you.’

‘Why doesn’t he come home then?’ Llinos could not keep the asperity from her voice. ‘It’s his choice that he stays with you, not mine.’

‘You don’t understand our ways,’ Sho Ka said softly. ‘We Mandans can accept other women who might be important to our man, it does not mean that Joe loves you any the less because he has me.’

Llinos stared at her for a long moment and it was Sho Ka who looked away first. ‘It is
not
our way,’ Llinos said. ‘Here, we marry one man for life.’

‘That is not quite true though, is it?’ Sho Ka said softly. ‘Where we live in Neath there is a man, a farmer, who has a wife and a mistress. No-one seems to be upset about that.’

‘Well I am upset about Joe being unfaithful to me,’ Llinos said angrily. ‘I never thought Joe capable of such a betrayal. I put him on a pedestal, I worshipped him, can’t you understand that?’

‘And can’t you understand he never meant to hurt you?’ Sho Ka said. ‘He brought me back here because he was sorry for me.’ She looked up, eyes deep dark pools of tears. ‘I needed someone to help me through my grief. I had lost my husband, I was so unhappy and I felt Joe was the only one in the whole of the world who cared if I lived or died.’

‘And so you invited Joe into your bed and he accepted,’ Llinos said flatly. ‘Well somehow that does not make me feel any better.’

‘Soon, my baby will be born,’ Sho Ka said. ‘Then I will return to the rivers and the hills and bring my child up as a Mandan. That will fulfil the prophecy made by Mint that the offspring of Wha-he-joe-tass-ee-neen will put new blood into the tribe.’

‘How wonderful for you!’ Linos said. ‘A ready-made excuse for adultery.’ She paused to take a calming breath. ‘And am I supposed to welcome Joe back with open arms when you leave?’

Sho Ka shrugged. ‘I don’t know. It’s what he wants, I do know that.’

Llinos walked to the window and looked out, not seeing anything of the kilns or the wall at the end of the garden. Her eyes were blinded; jealousy was a hard stone inside her as she thought of Joe making love to Sho Ka.

‘I can’t forgive him, ever,’ she said. ‘Now, Sho Ka, if that’s all you’ve come to say then I’ll bid you goodnight. I’m very tired.’ Suddenly she was, she was weary to the bone. What was her life worth without Joe to share it? She spun on her heel and faced Sho Ka.

‘Tell my husband that if I didn’t have so many responsibilities I would go into the river and drown myself!’ It was a childishly rebellious thing to say but it was what Llinos felt at that moment.

Sho Ka bowed her head. ‘I’m sorry.’ She got to her feet. ‘I shouldn’t have come here, I see that now. I wanted to explain things to you but I’ve only made you angry.’

Llinos sighed. ‘It’s Joe I’m angry with. How could I blame you for loving a man like him?’

‘Please, think about this: Joe loves you very much indeed but he’s only a man. What man could resist when another woman offers herself unreservedly? I’ll admit I played on his feelings for the Mandan tribe, on his loyalty to his mother. I told him everything would be all right with the Mandan once Joe’s heir was born. One day Joe’s son will be chief of my people, can’t you be generous and forgive him?’

‘Just go away home, it’s almost an hour’s drive to Neath and Joe will be getting worried,’ Llinos said bitterly. ‘And don’t come here again. As far as I’m concerned, you stole Joe from me and he was weak enough to let you. That’s an end to it.’

When Sho Ka had left the house Llinos sank into a chair and took a deep breath, what on earth had the Indian girl hoped to achieve by coming here? Did she think Llinos would ever understand and forgive what Joe had done when he walked out of her life and left her to bring up Lloyd alone.

So he was missing his family was he? Well no-one had made him go away. And nothing altered the fact that he had betrayed his marriage vows. Joe could have married Sho Ka long ago and he had chosen Llinos. Now he hoped to have both of them, well it was a false hope.

Llinos ate little of her supper. She was glad to slip into bed and curl up in the darkness. She missed Joe so much that it was like a physical pain but she would not, could not, share him with another woman.

She wanted to cry but the tears would not come. There was a hard knot of anger in her that would not let her rest. She lay wide-eyed, unable to rid herself of the vision of Sho Ka large with child, Joe’s child. And then the tears came, scalding along her cheeks and running salt into her mouth.

Rosie walked quickly along the roadway leading towards Swansea. She was meeting her mother at the tea rooms near the Slip and she braced herself for the ticking off that was sure to come. Her mother had lectured her before, telling her that her duty was to be at her husband’s side. Well not if her husband did not love her and Watt had practically admitted that love was the last thing on his mind when he married her.

Pearl was waiting for her and she waved a thin hand when she saw her daughter. Rosie hugged her mother, tears of homesickness burning her eyes.

‘You’re looking better, Mam,’ she said. ‘See, you’ve put on a bit of fat now and it suits you.’ She sat down on the spindly chair and faced her mother. It was not true, Pearl was looking anything but well.

‘I hope you’re not going to lecture me again, Mam,’ Rosie said. ‘I know what I’m doing, I’m a grown woman.’

‘Look, love,’ Pearl said, ‘I don’t like to think of you working for that toffee-nosed Alice Sparks and that’s a fact.’ She frowned. ‘Why don’t you come home with me now and talk things over with Watt? Surely anything is better than living the way you are, fetching and carrying for that selfish woman.’

‘No, Mam, that’s where you’re wrong. I understand now that Watt married me because he felt responsible for our family.’ She shrugged. ‘I suppose with Maura gone he had nothing to lose by taking on our problems.’

‘He’s very fond of you, love,’ Pearl said and Rosie shook her head. Fondness was not enough; her mother above all people should know that. She looked up as her mother leaned forward.

‘I’m not happy with you working in the Sparks’s household. I’ve heard talk about Mr high-and-mighty Sparks.’ Pearl glanced over her shoulder to make sure no-one was in earshot. ‘They’re in trouble, money trouble.’ She nodded as Rosie raised her eyebrows. ‘It’s true, I heard Watt warning Llinos to be careful with her money and not leave it in the hands of a crook like Edward Sparks.’

Rosie shook her head. ‘I can’t see it, Mam,’ she said. Alice Sparks, far from seeming short of money, spent it as if she had a money tree growing in the garden. As the time for the birth of the twins drew nearer, Alice seemed to become more and more extravagant. She had recently bought two matching carved wooden cribs draped with fine embroidered linen as well as spending a fortune on decorating the nursery with bright colours and the finest quality furniture money could buy.

‘It’s probably just gossip, Mam,’ she said. ‘In any case, how would Watt know?’ Even speaking his name gave Rosie a sharp pain. It was so hard to be in love with a man who was simply fond of her.

‘Look, love,’ Pearl was reading her expression, ‘just see him, talk to him. Come home with me now and we’ll have a bite to eat and—’

‘No!’ Rosie said, ‘I can’t do that.’

‘Well he’s tried to see you and he’s turned away all the time,’ Pearl was growing impatient. ‘Once you see it’s him you slam the door in his face. What’s a poor man to do?’