Authors: Iris Gower
He began to groan and turned over onto his side, a trickle of blood running from his temple. He lurched to his feet and stared around him, his eyes feverish. ‘I’ll pay you back, bitch, I’ll get even with you if it’s the last thing I do.’
He leaned against the small dresser, heaving against it until the china plates fell to the floor with a crash. Meadows smiled as if the act had given him pleasure and then, systematically, he began to destroy everything in the once-neat kitchen.
Catherine edged away from him, he was drunk beyond reason, there was no knowing what he would do next. She tried to make for the door but he was blundering about like a charging bull. He took up the teapot, hurling it against the wall. Catherine watched in terror as a stain spread outwards on the patterned wallpaper. He turned towards her, his face a mask of hate. ‘Now to deal with you, you dirty whore!’
Catherine screamed, backing against the wall. Suddenly the room seemed full of people. Doreen, white-faced, was pushing through the debris towards Catherine, with her was Liam, with Jerry Danby close behind him.
‘All right, sir, calm down now, this can do no good. Let me take you back to your lodgings so you can sleep it off.’ Jerry Danby moved confidently forward expecting his superior officer to go with him quietly. He was mistaken.
‘Bugger off. Do you think I’d take orders from a green bastard like you?’ Meadows’s voice was slurred but his meaning was clear as he picked up the poker from the hearth and lifted it above his head.
Liam moved sharply, catching Meadows’s hand, twisting it hard. Meadows struggled grimly, clinging to the poker, he was a strong man and maddened by drink, he was dangerous.
A silent battle of will and muscle was taking place and Catherine stood frozen to the spot, too frightened to make a sound. She knew if Liam lost the struggle he would be battered mercilessly with the heavy iron poker.
Meadows’s face was red, streaked with sweat, his eyes bulging as he exerted all his strength. Liam had his back to Catherine, she could see the veins in his hands stand proud as he struggled to take the weapon away from Meadows.
‘For God’s sake, Pete, give up before someone gets killed.’ Doreen’s voice carried to where Meadows was grappling with Liam and momentarily, he was distracted. Liam twisted the man’s arm with such force that a sickening crack reverberated through the kitchen.
Meadows fell to the floor screaming in pain, the poker rattling into the fireplace beside him.
‘You’ve broken my arm, you Irish bastard!’ He stared up at Liam, his mouth contorted, his eyes filled with venom. ‘I’ll get you for this, you see if I don’t.’
He struggled to sit up against the wall, clutching his arm. ‘What are you waiting for, Danby, arrest this man; he’s attacked me, injured a police officer, why don’t you do something?’
Jerry Danby was barely able to conceal his disgust, his face grim, he helped Meadows to his feet. ‘I’d better get you to the hospital, sir,’ he said through his teeth. ‘It seems to me that you had a slight accident here in your wife’s home. Bit of damage done to the place, sir, don’t know who will be liable to pay for that. Perhaps this incident is a case of “least said, soonest mended”, think so, sir?’
Meadows seemed to have sobered up a little with the pain, he glanced around him, seeing the havoc he had wreaked and his lips twisted into a sneer. ‘All right, you load of twicers, you might think you’ve got me beat but Pete Meadows never forgets. You lot better watch your backs when you walk in a dark alley, because I might just be there behind you.’
He followed Jerry to the door and, as a final gesture, kicked it shut behind him.
‘Thank God he’s gone.’ Doreen picked up a chair and sat down on it suddenly as though her legs would not support her.
‘Liam,’ Catherine moved towards him, her eyes anxious, ‘are you hurt?’
He had a bruise above one eye but he was smiling cheerfully. ‘I’m fine, sure enough, takes more than a drunken bully to put one over an Irishman.’
Catherine put her arms around his waist hugging him, filled suddenly with relief. ‘Thank God for that.’ She leaned against his shoulder and he smoothed her hair from her hot face.
‘You all right, colleen, he did not get too near you did he?’
Catherine shook her head. ‘You came just in time,’ she smiled wanly. ‘My knight in shining armour, well, almost.’
‘What do you mean, “almost”?’ He tilted her face up to his and she struggled to smile through the tears that welled, burning behind her eyes. Now that the danger was over, she realized just how frightened she had been.
‘Well, look at you, torn shirt, tangled hair, not exactly Sir Lancelot, are you? Still, you’ll do until something better comes along.’
Doreen spoke suddenly. ‘I don’t think I can stand living here, not after this.’ She was close to tears and Catherine went to her side, hugging her warmly.
‘Don’t worry, love, we’ll get this place tidied up in no time.’
‘It’s not just that,’ Doreen looked around her with dull eyes, ‘it’s him, Meadows, coming here, taking “his rights” as he calls them. I don’t think I can put up with it any more.’
Liam busied himself picking up the dresser and stood it against the wall. He stared around him at the smashed plates and broken furniture. ‘Look, why don’t I take you two back with me to Ireland for a few days? A bit of Irish luck might be just the thing you need.’
‘It’s a fine idea but will Mrs Grenfell give us time off?’ Doreen said doubtfully.
Catherine began picking up pieces of china, stacking them into the coal bucket. ‘It might be the solution to all our problems,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Meadows will have time to calm down and if I’m out of the way perhaps Bethan Hopkins will leave Mrs Grenfell alone.’
‘All right, you’ve convinced me.’ Doreen rose tiredly to her feet. ‘We’ll get this place tidy in the morning, for now, I think I need to get myself a good night’s sleep.’
Liam smiled down at Catherine and winked like a conspirator and Catherine returned his smile, feeling closer to him than she had ever done before.
He reached out and rested his hand on her hair as she crouched over the coal bucket, full now of shards of china. Suddenly, Catherine felt lost, it was all too much for her, all this emotional turmoil, this questioning of herself and her own feelings. She had fought against the memories of Boyo holding her in his arms, making love to her and yet, sometimes, in the stillness of the night, she could not help remembering the happiness she had shared with him.
The fields of Ireland were growing lush with the onset of spring. Flag irises stood queen-like at the edge of the marshlands. The air was clean and fresh.
‘
Duw
, nearly as lovely as Wales, is this country of yours Liam.’ Doreen took in a deep breath and stared around her in wonder. Towards the west, she saw the blue of the sea merging on the horizon with the sky. ‘No wonder they say this is a land of little people and magic and all that sort of thing.’
‘Glad you appreciate it, madam,’ Liam said gravely. ‘We do our best to please our visitors. You know who I mean, those barbarians from across the water.’
‘Oh,
you
!’ Doreen flipped at him with her hand. ‘You can’t believe that Ireland, lovely as it is, is half as good as Wales, you can’t be that dull.’
‘Well, I suppose you do miss the stink from the works, the coal dust, the …’
‘Shut up!’ Doreen sank down onto the grass and glanced back over her shoulder at the tall presence of the convent behind them.
‘Wonder how Cath is getting on in there.’
‘You could have gone in with her,’ Liam said. ‘Not like me, the nuns won’t let a man anywhere near the inner sanctum.’
‘I should think not.’ Doreen looked up as Liam sat beside her. ‘Not many good men about the place, are there? Rotters the lot of you, that’s what I thinks anyway.’
‘Well, isn’t there at least one exception?’ Liam’s voice held a teasing note. ‘Jerry Danby seems a decent enough sort.’
‘Oh him?’ Doreen’s assumed indifference covered the sudden jolting of her heart. What was wrong with her? She was like a young, green girl, in love for the first time. Did she really think she stood a chance of a lasting love affair with such a handsome man? Perhaps, even now, with the width of the Irish Sea between them, Jerry was walking out with some other girl. She bit her lip and Liam touched her arm.
‘What’s wrong, colleen? Why so worried, think he’ll find another woman?’
‘You a mind-reader or what?’ Doreen looked up at him and suddenly she knew this was a good man, a man she could talk to, a man who would not put his tongue to gossip. ‘I love him, Liam, that’s the long and the short of it, damn and blast it, I love the man.’
‘From what I’ve seen, the feeling is mutual.’ Liam spoke softly.
‘If you mean he feels the same, I suppose you are right but will it last? What’s in it for Jerry? I’m married to an evil monster. Meadows would never let me go and if he got wind of anything going on, he’d break Jerry’s neck and mine too.’
‘Take it a bit at a time, move house if you like, don’t tell Meadows where you are going. Enjoy what’s there while you’ve got it. When you are with Jerry, you are happy, make that enough for now.’
‘Aye, that’s good advice, I suppose.’ Suddenly Doreen felt easier in her mind, Liam had the knack of making everything seem so simple.
‘Now you’ve put my life in order, what about yours? Yours and Bath’s?’ Doreen looked up at Liam with a bland expression and he laughed out loud.
‘You are right, who am I to solve other people’s problems when I can’t solve my own?’
‘Won’t she name a day, then?’
Liam shook his head. ‘Can’t pin her down, she’s like a gorgeous butterfly, beautiful and elusive.’
‘She’s a warm, loving girl is Cath but it don’t do to try to force her into anything. Got a mind of her own, has that one. Mind, I wish I was single like her, you wouldn’t see me waiting round, I’d be with Jerry all the hours God made.’
It was the truth. Lying alone in her bed, Doreen had longed to have Jerry sleep beside her for the whole of the night. Just once, she wanted to wake to the dawn with him beside her, his head on the pillow next to hers.
‘Take your own medicine, Irish boy,’ she said with mock severity. ‘The advice you gave me was good enough, enjoy what you have while you have it.’
‘Clever clogs.’
‘She’ll come round, give her time.’ Doreen was serious now, her eyes searching Liam’s face. ‘Cath is a lovely girl, she’s good and honest and she deserves someone like you.’
‘Why does she still hanker for that bastard Hopkins then?’ Liam’s head was on his knees now, so that Doreen could no longer see his expression, but he could not conceal the pain in his voice.
‘Women are daft creatures.’ Doreen felt she must explain, make him feel easier in his mind, the way he had done for her. ‘They sometimes fall in love with the wrong man, look at me with Meadows, what a fool I was for years, hoping he would change. Anyway, it takes a long time to break the mould and make a new pattern, do you know what I mean?’
‘I know exactly what you mean.’ Liam’s voice was muffled.
Doreen put her hand on his arm. ‘Think of this, who is the one she’s with now? Who is the one loving her, holding her in the dark of the night? It’s not Boyo Hopkins, it’s you and I bet the man would give all the money he’s got to change places with you.’
Liam looked up and smiled. ‘You’re good for me, Doreen Meadows, do you know that?’
‘We’re good for each other,’ she said, touched. ‘We’re pals, real pals, aren’t we?’
He took her hand and squeezed it, ‘Sure enough, we’ll pledge a bond of friendship right here before the little people.’ He lifted his head. ‘Now witness all you gnomes and goblins and fairy folk, that Doreen Meadows and Liam Cullen are friends for life.’
He bent forward and kissed her cheek and Doreen smiled, though there was a suspicious moistness gathering in her eyes.
‘She’s been working constantly in the garden, she’s the one with green fingers all right.’ The young Sister Monica led the way along the path towards the allotments, her gown sweeping the dry earth. ‘Our Fon O’Conner is an asset to this order, a wonderful woman with any growing thing, a born woman of the land, she is sure enough.’
Catherine suppressed a smile, if she explained to the young nun that her mother had been born Irfonwy Parks, living on the edge of the oyster-beds, moving only to farming on her marriage, it would break the illusion.
‘I’m so glad that Mam is happier now.’ Catherine ached for the sight of her mother. She had been so wrapped up in her own problems, selfishly putting Fon out of her mind. Now, she wanted to see this new, strong Fon for herself.
She saw her then, bent over the ground, her once-abundant tawny locks greying now, tied up beneath a square of linen.
‘Mammy!’ As Fon looked up from her task, Catherine began to run towards her, stumbling a little over the uneven ground, then they were in each other’s arms.
‘Mam, I love you.’ Fon smelled of the earth, of flowers and new-mown grass. Catherine held her at arms length seeing the brown of her mother’s skin and the light in her eyes with a feeling of joy.
‘My lovely little girl,’ Fon touched her cheek, her hair; ‘so like your father, so like him.’
Sister Monica spoke in soft tones. ‘Sure there’s good to see a girl and her mammy together again. I’ll put some refreshments in the quad, you can sit there together for a while and talk to your hearts’ content.’
Arm in arm, Catherine and Fon followed the sister back towards the great gaunt building. The sound of a bell echoed across the grounds and Fon crossed herself. ‘The sisters are at prayer,’ she whispered.
As they drew nearer to the buildings, Catherine heard the sound of voices rising in song, a sweet haunting melody hung in the still air and Catherine felt moved to tears by the beauty of it.
As she sat with her mother in the open square of green between the high walls of the convent, Catherine felt at peace. It was almost as though the sound of prayerful singing and the tranquillity of the ancient walls and the hollow ringing of a bell on the still air had the power to ease the troubled state of her mind.