Authors: Catrin Collier
‘You on duty?’ Megan asked.
‘The relief’s on until midnight, but as she’s sitting with Mrs Moore I said I’d cover for emergencies.’ She followed Maisie into the outer hall and cried out in surprise. ‘You’re the last people I expected to see!’
‘We took a taxi up from the station. There was no one in Graig Avenue, but Mrs Richards told us that Dad, Phyllis, Diana and Megan had got into your car …’
‘Nosy old so-and-so.’
‘So here we are.’ Haydn put an arm around a reluctant Jane and ushered her forward.
Bethan opened the door into the main hall. ‘Dad, you’re never going to believe in a hundred years who’s here.’
‘Tony’s written. He’s coming home soon,’ Gina announced as she walked into the Tumble café with Luke. She looked past Ronnie to the kitchen. ‘Tina with the cook?’
‘Gone up to Jenny’s. I hope to get a taxi and pick them up there. My leg isn’t up to walking that far yet.’
‘You’ll be damned lucky to get a wheelbarrow, let alone a taxi. Haven’t you heard petrol’s rationed?’
‘Your language is appalling,’ Ronnie said.
‘You going to stand by and let him talk to your wife like that?’ Gina demanded of Luke.
‘I’d rather get to know your brother before I try coming between the two of you.’
‘Wise man.’ Ronnie couldn’t help thinking that Gina and Luke looked more like a couple of schoolchildren than husband and wife. He reached for the cups. ‘Tea?’
‘Seeing as how you’re serving, yes please. I don’t suppose you’ve got any teacakes left?’ she asked, as she leaned over the counter and poked around the empty glass cake-stands.
‘You suppose right.’
‘I’m starving.’
‘You’ve just eaten a huge tea,’ Luke pointed out mildly.
‘I’m still hungry.’ Lifting the flap on the counter she went foraging.
‘So when is Tony coming?’ Ronnie asked, as he turned the tap on the tea urn.
‘A week tomorrow. Can he stay with you in Laura’s? I’d offer, but one of my evacuees’ husbands is coming down on embarkation leave and her children will have to move out of her bedroom so he can move in. We won’t have a spare bed or room in the house.’
‘He’ll probably appreciate the peace in Graig Street.’
‘Good, I’m glad that’s settled. It’s not that I don’t want to see him, it’s just that our house is bedlam with all the evacuees squashed in.’
‘Does Mama know you’ve taken them in?’ As a concession to Luke’s status as family, Ronnie produced the sugar shaker.
‘She was the one who suggested we put them up. Her landlady in Birmingham has been good to her, and Mama thought it might be a way of putting something back into the system.’ Gina discovered a scraping of margarine in an end of greaseproof paper and spread it on the last slice of bread in the bread box. ‘Looks like you’re going to have plenty of company working in munitions.’
‘I know Jenny Powell’s starting in the factory on Monday.’ He watched Gina carefully to see if the mention of Jenny’s name would spark the same reaction in her as it had in Tina.
‘And not only Jenny. Wyn Rees too.’
‘Queer Wyn?’
‘You’d better not let his wife catch you saying that.’
‘Wyn Rees, married? Come on, not even I’ve been away that long.’
‘And the father of a bouncing baby boy,’ she crowed, delighting in passing on news he hadn’t yet heard.
‘Good God, some woman well and truly caught him.’
‘He and Diana seem very happy.’
‘Diana? Not Diana Powell.’ He stopped polishing the pie steamer and stared at her in disbelief.
‘She’s Rees now.’
‘I thought she worked for him.’
‘She used to before they got married.’
‘But she brought some food up to the house today. She never said a word. I had absolutely no idea she was married. She didn’t write to Maud about it.’
‘She wouldn’t have been able to. It happened after the war broke out and the mail was stopped. Haven’t you got anything else around here that’s edible? I’m never going to last until closing time without eating something, and we haven’t any coupons left for sweets.’
Without thinking what he was doing, Ronnie reached under the counter and handed her a stick of coconut ice Tina had been saving for Bethan’s little girl.
‘Thanks Ronnie, you’re a gem. Hadn’t you better start thinking about getting ready?’
He went into the back and slipped off the khaki jacket that he’d found in one of the kitchen cupboards. He simply couldn’t believe it! Diana Powell married to queer Wyn and the mother of a baby. Why hadn’t she told him? Was she so naive she didn’t know what Wyn was? Had she assumed he’d known about her marriage, or was she so ashamed of her husband she didn’t want to talk about him? She wasn’t that different from Maud, and despite Gina’s assertion he found it difficult to believe that any girl, let alone one like Diana Powell, could be happy married to a man like Wyn Rees.
‘Why is it, that every time we have a family get-together the women end up sitting in one room and the men in another?’ Megan complained as Bethan topped up their glasses.
‘I’ve no idea, but I agree it always happens that way.’ Bethan cuddled a sleepy Rachel, who’d been allowed to stay up for the occasion. The sound of splashes and shrieks of childish laughter echoed down the stairs as Liza and Maisie bathed the younger children and put them to bed.
‘It’s probably something to do with primitive tribal instincts,’ Tina declared authoritatively. ‘Like having to prove how much drink they can take while boasting about their prowess between the sheets.’
‘Tina!’ Jenny pretended to be shocked.
‘It’s true. Haven’t you ever eavesdropped on their conversation? It’s always about who was falling down drunk, and the smile they put on their wife’s face, or if they haven’t got a wife, someone else’s wife. Mind you -’ she dipped the edge of one of Maisie’s vinegar and oatmeal biscuits into her wine then nibbled it – ‘after nine months without William, I’d give a year’s sugar and sweet ration for a chance to have one of those smiles. Look at us.’ She glanced around the table. ‘Eight women and only five men next door, and one of those isn’t attached. So four of us are going to be sleeping in cold, lonely beds tonight.’
‘Only the lucky ones who aren’t working,’ Bethan broke in.
‘And the ones without children,’ Phyllis contended. ‘Brian’s at that irritating age when he sees monsters in the dark, but only in his own room. The last three weeks I’ve woken up beside him to find that Evan has retreated into his bed in the box room.’
‘I hope Billy won’t go through that phase.’
‘He will,’ Megan warned. ‘You don’t know what a disturbed night is yet.’
‘And bang goes any chance of having fun with Wyn in the mornings.’ Tina picked up a Welsh cake.
‘You’re going to be the size of a house if you eat any more,’ Jenny warned.
‘What does it matter when there’s no one to see me naked?’
‘Apart from Phyllis and Diana, we’ll all be in the same boat tomorrow,’ Jane contributed shyly, beginning to understand just why Haydn had insisted on bringing her back to Pontypridd. It was going to be easier to face separation with his family and friends around.
‘I wish I knew how the men managed,’ Tina persisted. ‘Knowing William, I bet he’s found a knocking shop somewhere in Africa that sells Welsh beer.’
‘A knocking shop?’ Jane asked in bewilderment.
‘Station yard,’ Megan supplied. ‘And when I last heard, my son was too busy fighting to look for girls.’
‘Is it true they put something in their tea to dampen the urge?’ Tina mused. ‘I must admit I prefer that idea to belly dancers eager to satisfy their every whim.’
‘Ask Charlie,’ Bethan suggested. ‘He’s a serving soldier, he might know.’
‘I doubt it,’ Alma laughed.
‘Oh, oh, we know what that laugh means, and boy am I jealous. Well if Charlie doesn’t know, perhaps you could write to Andrew and ask him, Beth? He’s a doctor and an officer, so he might have been ordered to solve the problem. After all he’s in the worst position of all. Locked up in a camp full of men. He must be as frustrated as I am.’
‘From what he says in his letters the POWs are too cold and hungry to worry about that kind of frustration. And as there’s a shortage of basic supplies, I doubt they have anything extra to put in their tea.’
‘From what Eddie was like on his last leave, I don’t believe they use anything,’ Jenny said.
‘And I don’t believe I’m hearing this conversation.’
‘Come on, Mam,’ Tina addressed her mother-in-law; ‘I bet this is no different from the way you felt during the last war?’
‘No,’ Megan smiled, ‘it isn’t. Apart from the fact that once my Will went he never came back.’
‘What we need is an army camp somewhere near here.’
‘In Pontypridd? What for, to save us from the Home Guard?’ Bethan lifted Rachel against her shoulder and reached for the bottle to replenish their glasses.
‘Hitler’s henchmen when they get here.’
‘They’ve got to get through an awful lot of other places first, and even if there was one, there’d be no guarantee that William would be stationed here,’ Jenny pointed out.
‘What you need are cold showers, and plenty of exercise,’ Megan joked.
‘Come on, I can’t be the only one who feels this way?’ Tina looked around the table.
‘No you aren’t,’ Jenny agreed.
‘But you are the only one who talks about it all the time.’ Bethan glanced at Diana, who had hardly said a word since Tina had steered the conversation on to sex.
‘I suppose I’ll have to settle for Errol Flynn in the White Palace like all the other abandoned wives. Anyone want to come?’
‘I will,’ Jenny offered. ‘It might be the last time I’ll be able to for a while, now I’m going into munitions.’
‘You’re going to work in a factory?’ Jane asked.
‘I want to do my bit.’
‘It’s good money too,’ Tina chipped in. ‘If I didn’t have the café to run, I’d be with you like a shot.’
‘Are they taking anyone?’
‘Absolutely anyone they can get. They’re desperate. You thinking of applying, Jane?’
‘I have Anne to look after.’
‘I could take care of Anne, if you wanted to work,’ Phyllis offered. ‘Another baby’s neither here nor there when I’ve already got Brian and sometimes Bethan’s two.’
‘Won’t it be rather a lot for you?’ Jane asked.
Phyllis shook her head. ‘I’d like to feel that I’m pulling my weight too. The harder we all work, the sooner this war will be over.’
‘Amen to that.’ Tina finished the wine in her glass.
‘Jane, you look exhausted, are you sure you’re all right?’ Diana asked as Jane’s eyelids flickered.
‘Just tired after the journey.’
Bethan could see tears hovering perilously close to the surface. From what little Haydn had said, Jane had every right to be emotionally drained. Depositing Rachel on Tina’s lap, she slipped out through the door to Andrew’s study. Charlie must have brought a bottle of vodka with him. Andrew’s brandy stood untouched on the desk, while there was a suspiciously bright gleam in the eyes of all the men.
‘I came to see if you wanted anything else to eat, or dare I suggest tea?’
‘As you can see, we’re fine,’ her father grinned sheepishly.
‘So I notice.’ She looked to Haydn who was still shell shocked by the news of Maud. ‘Jane’s tired. I gather you have to leave first thing in the morning. I could run you down the hill if you want some time alone together tonight.’
‘Would you, Beth? That would be great.’
‘What time are you leaving?’ Charlie asked.
‘Six o’clock train.’
‘To London?’
Haydn nodded.
‘I’ll walk down to Graig Avenue in the morning and pick you up; we can travel together.’
‘I’d appreciate some company.’ Haydn rose to his feet.
Wyn followed suit. ‘And if you don’t mind, Diana and I will walk down now. I’d like to make sure Alice has locked up the New Theatre shop properly.’ He held out his hand to Charlie. ‘It’s good to know you approve of our wives’ business partnership.’
‘They need a hobby to occupy themselves,’ Charlie said drily.
‘Do you want to leave with us now, Dad?’ Bethan asked.
‘There won’t be room in the car as it is for Megan, Phyllis and the children as well as Haydn and Jane.’
‘Yes there will, Jane can sit on Haydn’s lap and we’ll squash Brian, Anne and Billy in somehow.’
‘The boot?’ Haydn suggested.
‘I’d be more likely to put you in there.’
‘I’ll stay on and talk to Charlie a while longer. I’ll enjoy the walk down.’
‘I’ll walk down with you,’ Ronnie offered. ‘This leg of mine needs some exercise.’
‘That’s not what I heard from the relief nurse,’ Bethan contradicted. ‘I’ll be back up for you.’
‘I’d prefer to walk, really. Tina will look after me. It’s only as far as Laura’s.’
‘I’ll call in to see you first thing in the morning to check just how well it’s mending.’
‘I’ll give Maisie a hand to bath your babies,’ Alma said as she began to clear the men’s plates.
‘Thanks, Alma. In that case I’ll go straight on to your mother’s after dropping off Megan and Billy. Maisie knows what to do if either of mine wake in the night, although after the day they’ve had today, they should sleep through.’
By the time she returned to the dining room, Jane had already wrapped Anne in a shawl and Phyllis had buttoned on her own and Brian’s coat.
‘Haydn’s old room is all ready for you, Jane. All we have to do is air and make up the bed and carry the cot through from the other room. Bethan uses it when she comes down. It will be perfect for Anne.’
Jane nodded agreement, but she looked so tired, Bethan doubted she’d heard a word Phyllis had said. Diana came in carrying their coats, bumping into Haydn who was showing the after-effects of Charlie’s vodka. He tried to kiss Megan on the cheek, but she pushed him away.
‘I recognise the smell of that stuff of Charlie’s even if no one else does. Come on, if Bethan isn’t in too much of a hurry, I’ll give you a hand to get everything sorted in the house.’
In all the bustle of filling copper warming-pans with hot coals to air the mattress on Haydn’s old bed, emptying wardrobes and carrying cots across the landing, Bethan found herself alone in the kitchen with her brother for a few moments.