Paint on the Smiles (5 page)

‘Spent five years at sea I did,’ he told the young man. ‘But I never tried anything like this. It’s like sitting in a bowl of jelly!’

‘Let her take you, don’t fight her,’ he was advised. ‘Sit tight, relax and you’ll soon get the feel of her.’

‘Sit still? Man, I daren’t move! How do I paddle without going arse over tip?’ But the men had moved off. They were willing to give him a ride but not generous enough to miss the tide which raised and lowered the river so dramatically. He watched them until they disappeared, marvelling at how easy it looked to manage the unstable craft, then hauled himself back to the bank. Although he was a strong man, the struggle with the unwieldy boat had exhausted him. He sat for a while before finding the strength to walk back to the hotel. He was too tired to fish, or to think about Jessie and Cecily. He’d thought of nothing but the boat during the busy and enjoyable hour.

The others were in the garden when he reached the gate. ‘Hello, young Niblo,’ he called to Victor, who came running to greet him.

‘Poo, Uncle Danny, you smell of fish!’ Victor laughed as he was swung in the air. ‘I bet you didn’t catch one though.’

‘Damn me, you should have seen the giant salmon I wrestled with. Never seen a bigger one, not even on the fishmonger’s slab!’

He talked to them for a while then went into the hotel to change. As he was about to open his door, the door next to Annette and Willie’s snapped shut and a gasp made him turn.

‘Jessie!’ he said in disbelief.

It was Jessie who recovered first from the appearance of her ex-husband. ‘So, it was you behind all this!’

‘All what? What are you doing here?’ He stepped towards her. ‘Where’s Danielle?’

‘I’ve just put her down to rest. She’s tired after travelling. It was a long journey and tomorrow we’ll have another one! Straight back home! Don’t think you can trick me like this, Danny Preston!’

Her face, usually so calm, was bright with anger and he felt a wave of deep sympathy and affection for her. ‘But, Jessie, what are you doing here? Did you know I’d be here? Is that why you’ve come? Who told you? What d’you want? I’ve tried time and again to talk to you at home and your guardian dragon wouldn’t let me in. Is that why? So we can talk about us and Danielle without interference?’

She didn’t answer any of his questions, just staying quiet until he fell silent, then said, ‘I’m going back home at once. If there was a train to take me I’d leave now but as I have to wait until the morning, I’ll stay in my room until then. Please, Danny, go away.’

He was shocked at the vehemence of her words. ‘It was at my instruction that Mam wouldn’t let you near me or my daughter.’ She turned and fumbled with the key, trying to unlock the door, and Danny took the key and turned it. As she went in, he followed.

‘Please go,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what you hoped to achieve by this trick but it won’t work.’

‘It’s no trick,’ he said. ‘I’m as surprised as you.’ He was alarmed now at the harshness of her expression, the tightness around the once-generous mouth. He had done that. He was responsible for the change in her. He went to the single bed, needing to get away from the reproachful stare in her eyes, away from the inimical accusations showing in their depths. Danielle was sleeping peacefully, unaware of the anger that filled the air in the small room.

Pain showed on his face as he watched the dark-haired sleeping child. His child. ‘Jessie, I don’t want to hurt you any more than I already have. I’ve done enough damage to this little sleeping beauty. I won’t stay or cause a fuss but please explain why you’re here. Don’t tell me this is a coincidence that you arrived at this hotel this particular week.’

Jessie hesitated, her mind grappling with the confusion his appearance had caused. When she had arrived she had hoped her fears of some unexplained and unwelcome reason for the invitation were groundless and she was simply going to enjoy a pleasant week. Then, just as she began to relax in the luxury of the unexpected holiday with Willie and Annette, Danny had appeared, wild, untidy and smelling of the clean, fresh country air, like some demon king shot up onto a stage.

She thought of Annette and guessed the idea had been her attempt to help, a genuine belief that confrontation far from home would give them a chance to sort out their differences. Kindly meant but misguided.

‘I think someone meant to be kind,’ she said at last, in a voice nearer to normal. ‘Kind but misguided,’ she added, repeating her thought.

‘But who?’

‘I don’t know for certain, but I was offered a free holiday. I think whoever did it thought we might be glad to talk privately and far from any interference.’ The harshness was back in her voice as she added, ‘They were wrong, I’m sure you’ll agree.’

Danny had been standing, looking down at the sleeping child. He sank into a chair and stared at her. The curtains were drawn across the window and she stood very still in the shadowy room.

‘I’ll go,’ he muttered. ‘I don’t see why you and little Danielle should be deprived of a holiday. If someone “kind but misguided” arranged it, you shouldn’t turn down the generous offer. I only wish I’d thought of it myself,’ he added quietly.

‘And you didn’t?’

‘No, Jessie, I didn’t.’

Even in the poor light he saw a slight pain cloud her eyes as she asked obliquely, ‘Are you alone?’

‘Yes, and no.’ He smiled for the first time and leaned over to look again at Danielle. ‘I’m with Annette and Willie and little Victor. So, alone and not alone, depending how you mean it.’

‘I – I don’t want to see them. I’ll stay here until the morning, in my room. Will you take a note down for the manager? I’ll ask for a car to take me to the station for the early train. Until then I’ll stay out of sight.’

‘No, Jessie. Don’t do that, please.’ He stood up and looked down at her and a flood of tenderness engulfed him. She was so vulnerable. Small, defiant and surprisingly fierce. ‘Stay, come down and have a cup of tea with us all. I won’t bother you. You have my word on that. Just stay and enjoy the week. Annette is good company and Danielle will have Victor for company.’ He hesitated, watching her face to see if his persuasions had any chance of success. ‘I’ll go if you prefer, but if you allow me to stay I’ll be off fishing most of the time so I won’t embarrass you. Don’t say anything to the others about how you got here, just put it down to one of life’s remarkable coincidences. Please, Jessie,’ he coaxed when he saw she was wavering. ‘Better than going back to your mam, isn’t it?’

‘I do need a break,’ she said, and before she could reconsider Danny went to the door.

‘We’ll go and tell the others. So pleased they’ll be.’

‘Danny,’ she said firmly as the door opened wide, ‘this isn’t a change of mind.’

Danny nodded, lowering his head in case she saw the gleam of hope in his eyes. Jessie and Danielle! Someone of his own. With Cecily far away and with little hope of her ever coming back to him, he’d settle for second best – if he could persuade Jessie to do the same. Lifting the sleepy little girl, they went down to meet the others. Willie greeted Jessie with a surprise that Danny thought was genuine.

For the rest of the day they stayed together, Annette and Jessie formal and rather ill-at-ease, Danny showing nothing but pleasure at the unexpected arrival of his daughter and ex-wife. When the two children began playing together, it seemed the week would be a success.

‘How did you work it?’ Willie asked Danny suspiciously but Danny assured him the idea had not been his.

The following day, Danny went to wander along the river and fish as he had promised Jessie, but he found no pleasure in the solitary activity and returned early to the hotel. There was no sign of the others and he sat in the garden under a tree and waited for them to return.

‘Hello, Danielle, hello, young Victor,’ he called as the children ran through the gate, barefoot, dusty and sun-kissed. ‘Been to the beach, have you?’

‘No, Uncle Danny,’ Victor called, running to hug him. ‘We’ve had a picnic in the woods.’

Danny sat with a child either side of him and listened as they told him of the small brook where they had paddled and splashed, and the birds they had seen, which Jessie had identified for them.

‘Why don’t you come with us tomorrow?’ Victor asked.

‘Yes,’ Annette agreed, ‘it’s good fun watching the antics of these lively characters discovering things we’ve known and half forgotten.’

‘Well, I.…’

‘Yes, Danny. Why don’t you?’ Jessie said, relieving him of his promise.

So he agreed and the rest of the week was one of the happiest times he had known.

On the morning they were leaving, Danny suggested he travelled back with Jessie and Danielle to help with their luggage.

‘No, Danny.’ Jessie’s voice was firm and he saw the cold look was back in her eyes. ‘Nothing has changed. It was a lovely interlude and I’m grateful to whoever arranged it for me, but it’s over and I’m going back to Mam’s.’

‘But Jessie, it’s been so good.’

‘It was a holiday. Today we return to reality with all its problems. Please don’t make a fuss, Danny, you promised.’

Her small hands packed away their days together, closing the lid on their brief reunion with a firm click. His sense of failure drenched him in melancholy. Why couldn’t he make a success of love like Willie?

First there had been Cecily, who loved him but whom he tried to change from the person he’d been attracted to, now Jessie, who he had deliberately driven away in the hope that he and Cecily could begin again. Wrong decision all the way; now this. Someone had given him a week to play happy families and he’d failed again, failed to impress Jessie with his willingness to work at their marriage. His acute unhappiness gave a need for honesty.

‘Jessie,’ he asked as he took the case from the bed and dropped it near the door, ‘tell me the truth. What is wrong with me?’

‘Truthfully?’ She looked up at him, her blue eyes bright, clear and tempting him to bend his head the short distance to look into them while his lips found hers. Sensing the desire, she stepped away. ‘You, Danny, have a love-hate relationship with Cecily Owen. You can’t make up your mind which is the stronger.’

‘But here, this week with you and Danielle, it’s been wonderful and—’

She raised a small hand to interrupt, moving towards the door as if to escape, he thought sadly.

‘If we tried again,’ she said, her face closed against his pleading, ‘Cecily would only have to call for help, or plead for you to come back and I’d be left all over again.’

Since Phil’s imprisonment, and Ada’s return to the shop, Cecily had kept her very busy. She determinedly filled as many hours of the day as possible. Besides the hectic hours when the shop was open, every week they went to the pictures, sometimes twice. They also went to many of the summer entertainments during the two months of the holiday season, when the town was host to thousands of visitors.

On their half day, instead of staying in and dealing with the bookkeeping, they went to the beach or the park when the weather was suitable and Van went with them. Peter, too, when his business allowed.

There were tea dances and at several of these they met Gareth, with their sister-in-law, Rhonwen, and her daughter Marged too. Marged was
now a pretty twenty-year-old, still giggling constantly as Gareth patiently showed her the steps of the popular dances.

They watched as Rhonwen and her daughter tried to master the simplest steps but unlike Cecily and Ada, they had no skill and were content to watch.

On evenings when they didn’t go out, and when Van and Edwin joined them, they often pushed the furniture back in the big room above the shop and danced to records or the wireless. Cecily shared with Ada the dances of sentimental songs like Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Stardust’. Also ‘I Get Along Without You Very Well’, particularly poignant at that time.

They went on picnics too and one day they began as a party of four and ended up with fourteen. Ada had risen early that Sunday morning and had already packed their wicker hamper with food and drinks when Cecily and Van rose.

‘Come on,’ Ada said, smiling, ‘it’s going to be a lovely day and we’re going to the rock pools.’ That was a stretch of beach on the far side of town.

‘Can Edwin come too?’ Van asked.

She didn’t add that if he didn’t she wouldn’t go either, but Ada recognized from the scowl that a confrontation would spoil the day.

‘Of course, lovey, you ring and invite him and we’ll pick him up on the way.’

Van phoned, then ran out. She returned an hour later with Edwin and his parents.

‘I phoned Melanie and Waldo,’ Beryl said. ‘They’re coming too.’

‘Might as well invite Dorothy and Owen,’ Ada said. And then Annette and Willie were brought by Waldo and soon there was a procession of cars containing thirteen people heading for the chosen spot.

‘Damn me, there are thirteen of us,’ Bertie said.

‘I’ll get Danny,’ Willie said at once. ‘There’ll be plenty of food.’

‘Good,’ Bertie agreed. ‘I don’t fancy starting the day with thirteen.’

Amid teasing, he turned the car. Cecily crossed her fingers, hoping he would be out. Danny’s company for the day was something she did not want.

No one had bothered to make sandwiches; they had packed loaves, butter, cheese and jars of fish paste and jam into their baskets. Ada had packed cakes and biscuits and a supply of bottles to fetch water from the tap for the necessary cups of tea. They would make a bonfire from driftwood gathered on the beach. There were two kettles plus teapots and
twists of paper holding sugar, tea and salt. Dorothy had brought a tablecloth and some salad wrapped in a tea towel. Annette had packed extra cups and plates.

It was a breathless, rosy-faced party that eventually clambered down the rocks to their chosen spot with all the paraphernalia of the day out.

Danny – who much to Cecily’s dismay had come with them – and Willie chose a place for the fire. The tide was on its way in and below the place they had chosen to sit. The children helped to gather wood from the irregular line of the tide’s ending. Van and Edwin helped Victor build a sandcastle before the incoming tide drove them back up to the rocky plateau where they would eat.