The Runaway (29 page)

Joy ran up the ladder on trembling legs and stood over the slowly recovering Gwenllian, holding a length of wood over her, as though it were a bat in the hands of a very determined cricketer.

When the police arrived Gwenllian was held with some of the rope she had used in her attempt to drop the statue on the woman below. When she had been told she had almost killed Joy, not Faith, all the fight had gone out of her.

‘There’s someone else in there.’ Joy pointed at the workshop. ‘I heard strange muffled sounds.’

Cautiously, one of the policemen went into the dark area and moments later carried out Matt’s terrified mother. She was tied with parcel-tape and a rag had been placed inexpertly over her mouth, fastened with more of the same tape. Carol had managed to move it slightly by rubbing her face along the ground.

‘It was a miracle she didn’t suffocate,’ one of the policemen told them as they comforted the terrified woman.

‘Gwenllian Hughes?’ Joy asked. ‘Who is she and why did she want to kill me?’

‘She didn’t, she thought you were Faith.’

‘Why did she want to kill Faith, then?’

‘Because she believes I’m the cause of everything that is wrong in her life.’ Faith said.

‘I’m certain now that the wrecked garden and the ruin of my Christmas were down to Matt’s mother, and Gwenllian felt it
necessary
to do something even worse, to show her support for Matt and convince Carol she had been right to do those terrible things. Only her ideas for revenge went too far.’

When Matt arrived home he ran to his distressed mother and demanded an explanation, glaring at Faith, obviously convinced she was responsible. He was horrified when he learned the truth.

‘He’s been to talk to the doctor and he’s going to get help to control his temper,’ Carol said tearfully, as the police led a subdued and frightened Gwenllian away.

‘Something I should have done years ago, after I forced myself on Ethel Holland,’ he said, admitting it for the first time.

Faith sobbed with relief. Walking away from the baby had been the right thing to do. Almost every night she dreamed of holding baby Dorothy in her arms even though that could never happen. She had given her away. And nothing could change that. Her daughter called someone else ‘Mummy’. That was her punishment and it would last for the rest of her life.

Her thoughts then turned to Winnie’s children, without their mother. She gasped. ‘Ian! I have to tell Paul, he’ll be expecting Gwenllian to meet the children from school!’

‘I’ll come with you.’ Ian took her hand.

‘I’ll have to tell Gregory of Verity’s part in all this,’ Joy said quietly. ‘Better than him hearing stories about his wife from the police.’

Carol was crying and being comforted by Matt. Looking around Faith likened it to a strange battleground; there was no blood, the wounds were invisible but they were life-threatening in their way.

Faith ran with Ian to the car; her thoughts were on the children, everything else was secondary. They met the children and took them home, where Paul was waiting. At first he thought it was some
made-up
story to discredit Gwenllian but when a policeman came and he realized they were telling the truth he collapsed into a chair.

Faith went next door to ask a neighbour to take the children for an hour and the kind lady promised to look after them until Paul had
found someone suitable to take over their care. ‘My children are grown up and it will be lovely to share someone else’s little ones,’ she told Faith.

Paul looked like a broken doll with the stuffing half-removed. Faith was aching with the need to help but she left him in the hands of the neighbour and the constable and walked away. This was for Paul to cope with. Much as she loved the children and wanted to help Winnie’s family, it was better to give Paul the firm understanding that it was his problem and he must deal with it in his way.

Much later the friends were sitting in the garden of No 3, a bonfire burning, potatoes tucked into the edges. Ian and Mr Gretorex were taking turns to add fuel to the burning pile. Joy and Faith were sitting close together, aware of how easily the day could have ended in tragedy. Vivienne was making yet more tea in the kitchen and searching in the bags she had brought for more cakes.

‘Before this awful day ends, I have to apologize, Faith,’ Ian said. Joy got up and went to help Vivienne in the kitchen. ‘I should have believed you. I realized today that I’ve been unable to let go of the years with Tessa. Afraid to admit to how much I feel for you. She walked away from me when I believed everything was perfect and I was afraid of it happening again, with you. Can you forgive me?’

‘I have to admit I was seriously thinking of running away again, but Joy helped me to realize that would have been a mistake. It’s here in Barry Town where I’ve been happiest, but I didn’t think I could stay if it meant seeing you and Tessa happily together again.’

‘Please, Faith, never run away again,’ he pleaded.

‘I will move, though. I want a house where I can open a nursery. I won’t be moving very far, just to a house large enough for my plans.’ She looked serious and went on. ‘When I do I want to ask Ethel Holland to help. Like me she has had a sad life since the tragedy she suffered when she was little more than a child. People still blame the
woman
in these cases and she’s had to live with that shame and
guilt
for so long. I want to help her realize her worth, give her confidence.’

‘That’s a wonderful idea. But don’t think about moving away. What about my house? Didn’t you say it would be a perfect place for a nursery school?’

She hesitated, not sure what he was offering. He put his arms around her and said:

‘The house is large enough for lots of children, including ours.’

At once a picture of her tiny baby, a child she had abandoned, filled her heart with pain. ‘I don’t deserve to be happy,’ she said shaking her head.

‘Marry me, Faith. Our children will never make us forget your first-born,’ he whispered. ‘I’ll make you so happy you’ll never think of running, ever again.’

‘I’m sorry, Ian, but it’s too late. The time for loving is gone,
swallowed
up by your unhappiness and mine.’

‘I know we’ll be happy.’

‘Too much has happened.’

‘You could have the nursery school you dream of. A mother-in-law who’d be your friend. I love you, Faith.’

‘Surely love shouldn’t be so prosaic. It’s all too convenient.’

They were all exhausted by the events of the past hours and he kissed her gently and left.

‘’Ere, what’s been happening that I don’t know about?’ a voice called and Olive appeared, being dragged by the now enormous hound, Doris. ‘I’ve just been to see Kitty and Gareth and that lovely baby of theirs, surrounded by unpacked boxes they are, but as happy as you’d wish for them. Then,’ she went on, ‘then, I met someone who knew someone, whose auntie knows a man whose son is a policeman. Tell me, what have I missed?’ She listened to the story, punctuating it with lots of ‘Well I never’, and ‘Who’d have believed that?’ When it had all been explained she declared herself exhausted.

Faith didn’t hear from Ian for several days and she told herself she had been right to refuse his proposal. He hadn’t been sincere, it was a result of many things but not a passionate, undeniable love. The belief that she had been right to refuse him didn’t make her happy. She knew that for herself, being married to Ian would have been the start of a wonderful life, but the love she felt for him was
all-consuming
, deep and unselfish and she wouldn’t risk his unhappiness by accepting him while she doubted that it was best for him. If he still loved Tessa she wouldn’t prevent them being together. Marrying Ian would have been so right for her but she was afraid Ian was proposing for all the wrong reasons. She was certain he still loved Tessa.

Her unhappy childhood, with her lonely search for her family and
someone who cared, had damaged her emotionally. It was Ian who had taught her to love but how could she spend her life as second best to a memory of his first love?

He came to the house on the following Wednesday afternoon to find her forcing her fork into the hard ground in an attempt to plant some forgotten spring bulbs. There were dried leaves in her hair which had fallen from its clips after she had reached into a hedge to clear some dead grasses. There was dried earth on her cheek and mud on her hands. He handed her an envelope and he was smiling. Something had changed, the look in his eyes was positive and filled with love, and with a rush of hope, she smiled back.

‘Plans for turning the ground floor into a nursery,’ he explained. ‘I had an architect draw them up but they are only a starting point. You and he can discuss them and he’ll make any changes you want.’

She opened them out on top of a wheelbarrow cautiously with the tips of grubby fingers and studied them, aware of him standing beside her, watching her and waiting for her reaction. ‘Any conditions?’ she asked, trying to stay calm. This was business, not a proposal.

‘Two. First, that you buy all your equipment from me. Second, that you marry me.’

She turned towards him and as she began to ask about Tessa, he took her in his arms, mud and all.

Much later, with the house filled with its usual visitors and guests, Faith looked around her at the smiling faces, all enjoying sharing their happiness. Paul and the children were there, having called to tell them the neighbour was taking on the children full time, or at least for the hours during which Paul needed to work. Olive was chatting to Mr and Mrs Gretorex, whose bungalow, when completed, would mean they would be her near neighbours.

‘We’re so happy in our caravan home, aren’t we, Doris?’ Olive said, and the huge dog gave a growling reply, which Olive insisted meant, Yes.

They had all needed her for a while, Faith mused, but now their lives were settled and it was right for her to move on. Not to run away, she thought happily, but to move on, to a new and wonderful life.

Time to Move On