Beggars and Choosers (33 page)

‘I am on early shift tomorrow.'

‘I'll ask the driver to wait. The next train leaves in half an hour, that will give you ten minutes with Mrs James, enough time to set her mind at rest.' Mr Richards played his trump card. ‘Mrs Bull is very fond of her aunt. She would not wish to see her worried.'

Lloyd hadn't needed Mr Richards to tell him that. The look on Sali's face whenever she spoke about her aunt was enough.

‘May I help you with these parcels?' Mr Richards picked up the jewellery casket and carried it into the house, where Jenkins relieved him and Lloyd of the shopping.

‘Mrs James is in the drawing room, Mr Richards. Tea has already been served.' Jenkins opened the door and Mr Richards waited for Lloyd to precede him.

Lloyd knew Mrs James by sight, and of her charitable deeds by reputation, as did everyone who had lived or worked in Pontypridd. Sali had told him about her stroke and he had expected her to be frailer. She sat up and smiled as he walked through the door.

‘It is good of you to visit me, Mr Evans. I appreciate that you young men have many calls on your time. Would you like tea?'

‘No, thank you, Mrs James, I cannot stay long.'

‘Won't you at least sit down?' She indicated the sofa and he sat close to her chair. ‘When Mr Richards brought me this earlier,' she held up the photograph of Sali and Harry she had been studying when he had entered the room, ‘and said that you had left it in his office, I had to see you. How is she?'

‘Mrs Bull wrote to you, Mrs James,' he answered guardedly.

‘A letter full of reassuring platitudes designed to set the mind of an old lady at rest. She says she is working, has a good job and earns enough to support her and Harry.'

‘She does.'

‘Are they both happy?'

‘I will tell you what I told Mr Richards, Mrs James. Both she and her son are well, content, safe and looked after.'

‘Not happy?'

‘She was badly injured and very nervous when she entered her present home.'

‘I wanted to help her.' Edyth looked to Mr Richards. ‘We all did, we tried but perhaps not hard enough ...'

‘Sali blames no one for what happened to her, Mrs James.'

‘She has told you about her marriage?'

‘Enough for me to realise that she is afraid of her husband, not only because of what he might do to her and the boy, but also to you and her brothers and sister.'

‘Are you and she –'

‘I am her friend, Mrs James,' he stated firmly. ‘And that is all I am.'

Edyth lifted an envelope from a table beside her chair. ‘I have written her a cheque. It is enough for her to begin a new life well away from Pontypridd and Owen Bull. You look an upright, honest young man and Mr Richards tells me that my nephew, Sali's father, thought well of you. You will see that she gets it.'

‘I promise, but I can't promise you that Sali will take it. She –'

‘She?' Edyth looked expectantly at him as he hesitated.

‘She is very independent and I think she feels safe where she is for the present.'

‘You only
think
she feels safe, Mr Evans?' Edyth said apprehensively.

‘She is safe. You have my word on that.'

‘And her son?'

‘Is learning to play and be happy.' He left his seat and took the letter she handed him. ‘If you'll excuse me, I must leave.'

‘If I want to get in touch with my niece urgently, could I write to her through you and Mr Richards?' Edyth asked.

‘You could, Mrs James, but I'll be honest with you. Sali ... Mrs Bull doesn't confide in me, but when I suggested she accompany me to Pontypridd to visit her family, she was too frightened to take me up on my offer. If in trying to contact her, you compromise her present position, I believe she will take Harry and move on. Now that she has made a new life for herself once, she will have no qualms about doing so again.'

‘I understand what you are saying, Mr Evans.' Edyth held out her hand. ‘But if I can help Sali in any way, or if she needs anything, anything at all ...'

‘If I am ever in a position to advise her in such a situation, Mrs James, I will suggest that she turns to you.'

‘There is one more thing. I have a trunk full of her clothes. I won't ask you where you are going but could you deliver it to her?'

‘I could, Mrs James.'

‘It was supposed to be her trousseau. It is such a pity to waste it.'

‘I believe Mr Evans is only obeying Mrs Bull's wishes, Mrs James,' Mr Richards advised when he returned to her drawing room after seeing Lloyd, his parcels and the trunk into her carriage.

‘Of course he is.' Edyth stared down at the photograph of Sali and Harry. Both stood, smiling in front of a painted backdrop of a mountain. But she could see the scars on Sali's face. Faint, but still there, along her cheekbone and jaw line. Her hair had grown just long enough to pin up. Harry was holding her hand and looking up at her with an expression so like Mansel's she felt that her heart would break. ‘And I can understand why Sali is frightened. If Owen Bull ever got hold of her and the boy again ...' She fell silent for a moment. ‘It is hard to live without them. My children, my husband, Mansel, and now ...'

Mr Richards sat on the sofa and held Mrs James's hand. He felt useless and ineffective, but whenever he doubted Mrs Bull's need to conceal herself, he recalled his visit to Mill Street and Mrs James's description of Mrs Bull's injuries when she had visited her in the infirmary. ‘Times and circumstances change, Mrs James,' he consoled clumsily. ‘Who knows what the future holds? Mrs Bull may be able to return to Pontypridd with the boy one day and perhaps even live here, in this house with you.'

‘Thank you, Mr Richards.' Edyth made a valiant effort to control herself. ‘Now, we can't allow the tea and crumpets go to waste. If you wouldn't mind pouring it.'

‘It will be my pleasure, Mrs James.' But even as Mr Richards poured the tea and used the silver tongs to place a buttered crumpet on a porcelain plate for her, he knew they were both thinking the same thing. Time was the one thing Edyth James might not have. Would circumstances change for Sali Bull before Edyth's frail health gave way and she joined her husband in the burial ground behind Penuel Chapel?

The first thing Lloyd did when he reached home at nine o'clock was to ask the brake driver to help him put the trunk in Sali's bedroom. He hid his parcels in his wardrobe, walked downstairs, hung his overcoat in the hall and removed the letter Mrs James had given him together with the ring from the pocket. He found Sali in the kitchen dipping nuts and small pieces of marzipan into melted chocolate.

‘I thought you'd stop off for a drink,' she said, flustered at being caught out.

‘It looks as though you're determined to have us eating like kings on Christmas Day,' he commented, when he saw the layers of sweets she had placed between sheets of greaseproof paper in eight separate tins.

‘They were meant to be a surprise. I bought the ingredients in Connie's this morning.' She didn't want him to think that she'd put the chocolate, nuts and other expensive ingredients on his father's household account.

‘I promise to look astonished when I open my tin on Christmas morning. There is one for me, I take it?'

‘And your father, brothers and Harry. The other three are for Connie and Megan's families and my sister-in-law Rhian. Homemade presents are all right, aren't they?'

‘Very acceptable.'

‘And you won't tell Joey and Victor? I'd hate them to think that they have to get Harry or me anything.' She scoured a nut in the bowl, picking up the last vestiges of chocolate before putting it on a tray to set.

‘I won't if you allow me to taste one.'

‘That's bribery.' She set three of the sweets she'd made on a plate, handed it to him, then carried the tray into the pantry where she slid it out of sight on the top shelf.

‘These are very good,' he complimented, as she replaced the lids on the tins and cleared the table.

‘Thank you.'

He waited until she had wiped down the oilcloth on the table before setting the ring, the twelve pounds she had given him, and the letter in front of her chair. She paled as she recognised the writing.

‘You told my aunt where I was?' she charged accusingly.

‘I left the things you gave me in Mr Richards's office, but unfortunately, as I was the only client he saw today, he guessed it was me who had abandoned them there. He asked if I'd meet your aunt –'

‘And you went!'

‘I didn't tell her where you were, Sali. She is worried about you and Harry.' He pushed aside the plate she'd given him. ‘Why don't you sit down and check that it is the right ring and read your letter while I make us some tea.'

She opened the box.

‘Is it the right one?'

‘Yes. But you've given me back the money ...'

‘Mr Goodman insisted that he owed your father twelve pounds.'

‘And I'm sure he didn't. This is charity.'

‘When I tried arguing with Mr Goodman, he accused me of calling him a liar. As it was, I practically had to prise the ring away from him. He asked me all kinds of questions.'

‘What questions?' Her voice was shrill with alarm.

‘Where I got the pawn ticket, and how you and your boy were. Like your aunt, he's concerned about you, Sali. And if you hadn't told me about him giving you your coat and valise, I doubt he would have given me the ring. He also told me to tell you that it is worth two thousand pounds and if you ever sell it, not to take a penny less than eighteen hundred.'

‘He said that?'

‘Yes. Now read your letter.'

‘I'll read it later.' She pushed the ring and the letter into her overall pocket. ‘You're not just saying that Mr Goodman wouldn't take the money?'

‘No, Sali,' he said seriously. ‘I wouldn't lie to you about something like that.'

She finally pocketed the roll of banknotes.

‘Mrs James told me that she enclosed a cheque for you. Enough for you and Harry to start a new life.'

‘That was foolish of her. If Owen Bull ever discovers that I have money he'll come after me and take it away, just as he did my dowry.'

‘How would he find out about it, Sali?' he enquired logically as he warmed the teapot with hot water. ‘It is obvious that Mr Goodman hasn't said a word about you pawning your ring to anyone and I can't see your aunt or Mr Richards rushing to your husband to tell him you have money. So why won't you tell them where you are?'

‘Because Owen might follow them if they tried to visit me, or break into my aunt's house to look for letters if he suspects we're in contact with one another.'

‘You are paranoid.'

She went to the window and fiddled with the perfectly draped curtains. ‘You don't know Owen, or what he is capable of doing, not just to me, but Harry, my aunt, even Mr Richards.'

‘What I do know is that you have an irrational fear of him.' He picked up the kettle and poured boiling water into the teapot. ‘You do feel safe, here in my father's house, don't you?'

‘I did, when no one knew where I was,' she qualified.

‘I didn't tell them, Sali.'

‘They might have guessed and Mr Richards has your address. Don't try to tell me he hasn't. He writes to you here. I've seen his letters.'

‘I didn't tell him you were in living in the same house as me, Sali.'

She turned away from the window. ‘I'm going to bed. Please,' she indicated the sweets she'd given him, ‘either eat those or put them away. I don't want the others to see them.'

‘There's one more thing, Sali.'

‘What?'

‘Your aunt gave me a trunk full of clothes for you. She said it's your trousseau. I left it in your room.' The door in the basement banged shut. ‘Do you want to carry on quarrelling with me in front of my brothers?'

‘No.'

‘I promise you, I didn't drop so much as a hint as to where you are living to anyone in Pontypridd.'

She left the room. Lloyd ate the last sweet and lifted down four cups and saucers from the dresser. He simply couldn't understand Sali. She was living in a house full of men well able to protect her, Harry and her aunt, should Mrs James chose to visit her, yet she was still terrified that Owen Bull would track her down. Why couldn't she understand that no one could force her to do anything she didn't want to do?

And there was the cheque that Mrs James had told him she'd enclosed in her letter. She hadn't mentioned an amount but he didn't doubt it was a substantial sum. Together with the money she could raise on the ring, Sali could buy herself a small business far away from Pontypridd, Tonypandy and Wales, and keep herself and Harry in comfort. He knew it was selfish of him, but he hoped she wouldn't use the money to start a new life elsewhere. During the last few months he had become accustomed to having her around.

My Darling Sali,

I am writing this in the hope that you will read it. I love and miss you and Mansel more than I can ever express in a letter and I wish that I had been able to say goodbye to you, Sali. I understand why you had to leave, and I am sorry that I couldn't protect you and the boy from Owen Bull.

I feel myself getting older by the hour. I do not say this to worry you or gain your sympathy, I have enjoyed a long life and for the most part it has been a good one. I was blessed with a loving, caring husband, two children I was privileged to bear and of course you and Mansel. It was hard to lose all of you, but Mari is looking after me better than anyone of my age has the right to demand of a companion and, if I am lonely, it is only for the people I love.

As I have grown older, I have found it easier to face unpleasant facts, especially the imminence of death. Should you discover that I have passed on, please, do not shed any tears for me. I have more to die for than to live for now, and my faith and trust in God tells me that Gwilym, my children, my parents and your father are waiting for me to join them. The only problem I have is how to ensure that you and Mansel, wherever he is, inherit the businesses and my estate.