The Quality of Love (33 page)

‘Rubbish, cariad! You shouldn't be ironing, not on a Sunday. It's enough to make your mam turn in her grave!'

‘You're quite right, Lloyd,' Owen agreed, whisking the blanket away and folding it up. ‘It's a lovely afternoon and I'm going to take your advice and take Sarah for a walk. She looks as though she could do with some fresh air.'

‘Right you are, boyo. I promise that I'll stay right here in my chair and not move a muscle so you needn't worry about me falling over or coming to any harm.'

When they took him at his word and went for a short walk to Roath Park Sarah was on tenterhooks all the time and kept suggesting they should go home.

‘Supposing he tries to go into the kitchen to fetch a glass of water or something and has a fall?' she said worriedly.

‘Now why would he want to do that?' Owen laughed. ‘We left him with a cup of tea on the table beside his chair and a plate of biscuits, so why on earth would he want a glass of water?'

Sarah had to admit that he was right but after Christmas they went out less and less on Sunday afternoon. This was not only because it was often very cold but because by Sunday Sarah found that all she wanted to do in the afternoon was curl up in front of the fire in Owen's arms and sleep.

She was always so tired that Owen became worried about her. He was convinced that trying to do her job and having all the worry of her father was proving to be too much for her. In the end he insisted that she went to see the doctor.

‘What you really need, what we both need, is a holiday. I wonder if we could arrange with Alvia and Marie to take it in turns to sleep here overnight and look after your dad full time while we go away for a few days?' Owen pondered. ‘A late honeymoon,' he added, his eyes twinkling.

‘That's out of the question, they have their own commitments. It would be a waste of money, anyway. Why pay to sleep in a hotel at this time of year when we've got a perfectly
good bed upstairs and all the things we need right here?'

‘Think about it, cariad,' Owen urged. ‘Wouldn't you like to be waited on, have someone bring you your breakfast in bed, and have your meals on the table all ready for you to enjoy without having to worry about shopping for groceries or having to do any cooking?'

‘I'm waited on now most of the time. Alvia and Marie do all the housework, and a good deal of the shopping and cooking, so what more can I ask for?'

‘More time to yourself? More time for me,' he added with a wide grin.

‘Well, that probably would be nice, but Dad does go off to bed pretty early and once we've tucked him in we do have the rest of the evening to ourselves.'

‘Yes, and by then you are usually too tired to do much more than crawl into bed. There must be some occasions when you long for more time to do other things? We never even find time go to the pictures these days.'

‘Are you complaining?' Sarah teased.

‘Far from it; that's the best part of the day as far as I am concerned,' he whispered. Possessively he pulled her into his arms, running his hands down her back and kissing her deeply as they started to make love.

‘I think it's all to do with winter; it's cold and wet and dark in the mornings and dark again the evening. All I need is some warm
weather and sunshine,' she murmured as she relaxed in his arms and gave herself up to his tender caresses.

More to please Owen and put his mind at rest than anything, Sarah finally agreed that she would go along to the doctor's and ask him if he could give her a tonic or something.

‘Mind you, he must get countless people asking him that at this time of the year,' she sighed. ‘It's been a long hard winter for most people and at least we've not been struggling to make ends meet.'

‘All the more reason why you shouldn't be feeling so tired all the time.'

‘Stop worrying about me. I really am quite all right,' she protested smiling.

‘Even so, cariad, promise me you will. Do you want me to come with you?'

‘You mean to make sure I go?' Sarah asked a trifle irritably.

‘Of course not,' he exclaimed, pulling her into his arms and stroking her hair. ‘I'm concerned about you, cariad, that's all.'

‘I've said I will and you needn't worry, I'll keep my word,' she told him pulling away.

A week later when she did go to see the doctor she came home in a daze and when Owen questioned her about what he'd said she merely shook her head. ‘I'll tell you later, when we are on our own,' she said quietly.

The moment they went up to their bedroom that night Owen asked her again what it was that the doctor had said that she didn't want to tell him in front of her father.

‘I think you'd better sit down,' she told him gravely as she sat down herself on the bed and patted the space beside her.

Looking very concerned he did as she asked. When she told him her news he was as startled as she had been.

‘A baby? Are you quite sure about that?' he asked in a bewildered voice. He stared at her in disbelief for a moment then pulled her towards him and crushed her in his arms, holding her close and burying his face in her hair.

‘Yes, I'm quite sure. I should have recognised the symptoms,' she added ruefully.

Owen pulled back, holding her by the arms and looking at her in awe. ‘A baby! Our baby! I can hardly believe it, cariad. Do you know when it is due?'

‘Not precisely, but somewhere around the beginning of July. I wasn't too sure about my
dates but the doctor seemed to be pretty certain that was when it would be.'

‘That's only about five months away! You must stop work at once, you need to rest up and take care of yourself. No wonder you've been so tired lately.'

‘I don't need to stop work for ages yet. We will certainly have to start making some plans, though. There's my job to be considered as well as looking after Dad and—'

‘I wonder what your father is going to say?' Owen interrupted, frowning slightly.

‘I haven't said anything to him yet because I wanted to tell you first but I'm sure he'll be delighted.'

‘It's going to make a tremendous difference to all our lives.' He smiled ruefully. ‘It's come as quite a shock and certainly not something we'd planned.'

‘I know, but you are pleased about it, Owen?' Sarah asked rather dubiously.

‘Pleased? I'm over the moon! It's just such wonderful news that it has winded me.'

‘I know, I felt taken aback, too, when the doctor told me.' She smiled. ‘I must admit it was the last thing I expected to hear. In fact, his face was so grave, and he asked me so many questions when he examined me, that I was afraid he was going to tell me that I had something very seriously wrong with me.'

‘A baby of our own; yours and mine.' Owen
pursed his lips in a silent whistle. ‘I wonder if it will be a boy or a girl?'

‘Which do you want it to be?' Sarah asked smiling at him indulgently.

Owen shook his head. ‘I don't know; in fact, I don't mind. I shall love it whatever it is. I still can't believe this is happening. A family of our own. I'm so happy that I want to shout it to the whole world,' he added with a boyish grin.

‘Well, I think we'd better tell my dad first before you do that,' Sarah teased.

‘Tomorrow! We'll tell him tomorrow, the minute I get in from work. I'll buy a bottle of wine on the way home so that we can drink a toast,' Owen promised.

Lloyd seemed to be as delighted by the news as they were and agreed that it was certainly something to celebrate. ‘It will be wonderful to have a grandchild running around here,' he told them. ‘When I first got married I always hoped that we'd have three or four children, but there was only ever Sarah. Mind you, she's been the joy of my life and she still is,' he added as he reached out and took her hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze.

Sarah blinked back her tears, remembering poor little Cladylliss, the baby she'd had when she'd been only nineteen; the baby her father had never even seen. After that there had also been the baby who'd been stillborn and she felt a sudden fear in case anything went wrong with the baby she was carrying now.

Quickly she pushed such sad thoughts from her mind. This was a time for celebrating, not dwelling on the past, she told herself as she raised her glass and sipped at the wine in response to the toast Owen was making.

Alvia and Marie were equally delighted when Sarah told them the news. Both of them pointed out that from now on she really must take things easy. Alvia even went as far as to say she hoped that Sarah was going to give up work soon so that she could sit and put her feet up for part of the day.

‘I'd grow fat and lazy if I did that,' Sarah laughed. ‘No, I want to go on working for as long as I possibly can.'

Bryn Morgan warmly congratulated them but when he called her into his office afterwards Sarah found that he, too, was concerned about her working too long.

‘You'll have to give up when the baby arrives so why not stop work a couple of months earlier,' he pointed out.

‘I wasn't planning on giving up work,' Sarah told him quietly. ‘We need the money; three of us can't manage on one pay packet, and when the baby arrives that will be four of us.'

‘What does Owen think about you going on working?' Bryn asked frowning and fiddling with the pens on his desk.

‘I haven't said very much to him about it as yet but I'm sure he'll understand.'

Bryn looked worried. ‘I don't think that he will approve for one minute,' he told her bluntly.

Sarah shrugged uneasily. ‘It really depends on you, though, doesn't it? If you say I have to leave then I suppose I'll have no option, but I am hoping you won't do that.'

‘Look, perhaps we can have a compromise of some sort. I don't want to lose your expertise but I don't see that it will be feasible for you to come into the office every day.'

‘Surely I can do a great deal of the work from home?' Sarah said hopefully. ‘I've already proved that it's possible.'

‘Yes, you can do quite a lot of it at home, I agree. There are always those occasions when you have to meet people either here in our office or in theirs and that's something we really do have to take into consideration.'

‘That hasn't proved to be a stumbling block up until now,' Sarah pointed out, sitting bolt upright and squaring her shoulders as if to prove how alert and efficient she was.

‘I know that over the past few months you have managed to do this,' Bryn agreed, fiddling again with the pens on his desk and avoiding her eyes as he added, ‘but I'm sure it has not always been easy.'

‘I can go on doing it, I can make arrangements,' Sarah told him confidently.

There was an ominous silence before Bryn spoke again. He continued rearranging things
on his desk almost as if by doing so it would help him to reach a decision.

‘What about if we take on a young lawyer, one who has just left university, to do the leg work,' he said at length, looking her straight in the eye.

Sarah frowned as if she didn't altogether approve of the idea, but she remained silent.

‘You will still remain in charge of all our legal matters,' Bryn assured her. ‘You can instruct him about what he has to do, but you will only have to come into the office very occasionally at times to suit yourself. In fact, if it makes things easier for you, he can always come and talk matters over with you at your home.'

Although it seemed an admirable arrangement neither Owen nor Lloyd were in full agreement with it.

‘I think that once the baby arrives you'll find that caring for it takes up so much of your time that you won't have time to deal with all that,' Owen pointed out.

‘Anyway, who is going to look after the baby when you do have to go into the office?' Lloyd demanded. ‘You can't leave it with me, much as I'd like you to be able to do so,' he sighed. ‘I blame myself for the obsession you have with work. I pushed you so hard when you were at school; I was always so anxious that you would make something of yourself. And you have. I'm very proud indeed of how you have turned out.'

‘I can either take the baby along with me or I can ask Alvia or Marie to look after it. I'll only be away from the house for a couple of hours at the most.'

The two men looked at each other questioningly. Neither of them said anything and Sarah had an uneasy feeling that it was because they didn't approve of her idea.

‘Perhaps we should wait and see what happens,' she told them. ‘It's still several months off before we have to take any decision and in the meantime we can go on as we are.'

For Sarah, the spring and early summer of 1929 seemed to pass in a flash. There was so much to do both at work and at home that there were days when she felt so stressed out that she wondered if perhaps her father and Owen were right after all. How on earth was she ever going to manage to do her job and look after the baby when it arrived if she was constantly tired as she seemed to be these days, she pondered.

Marie and Alvia were both very helpful and took care of her father so well that she didn't know how she would have managed without them. Even so, with so many people organising everything she sometimes felt like a stranger in her own home.

Her only chance of escape from the gruelling routine was when her father was safely settled for the night and she and Owen could seek the solace of their bedroom.

She often wondered if he ever felt the same way as she did. Although he never mentioned it there were times when she felt sure that he must long for the peace and privacy they would have been able to enjoy if they had a place of their own, like the rooms he'd found for them in Plasnewedd Place and which they would have moved into if her father hadn't had his stroke.

At work, Bryn Morgan was as accommodating as he possibly could be. True to his word he'd hired an assistant to help her; a serious young man who had only recently obtained his law degree.