One Blue Moon (26 page)

‘Before you rant and rave at me, Laura, just remember that rape is a criminal offence,’ Trevor said in what Laura took to be a pompous tone. ‘Diana is the principal witness to a criminal act, and as a doctor I should report it.’

‘Do you think I don’t know that?’ Laura demanded hotly.

‘If you knew it, why didn’t you call the police?’

‘I’ll tell you why I didn’t call the police,’ Laura rounded on him like a cornered wildcat. ‘I didn’t call them because Ben Springer would deny the whole thing. He’d call Diana a whore. Say she’d wanted him to do all those despicable things that he did to her. That she enjoyed it.’

‘Laura ...’

‘Don’t you Laura me. You know this town as well as I do. You tell me, what chance would a young girl like Diana have against one of the commercial fathers of this town? For God’s sake Trevor, her mother’s in jail, she lives on the Graig, people talk. And what’s the betting that when they do, all that business with Bethan will get dragged up all over again? And for what? For Ben Springer to get off scot-free and Diana to have what little remains of her reputation ruined.’

‘Her uncle’s a policeman –’

‘A nice enough constable who has absolutely no clout when faced with the Ben Springers of this world, and you know it.’

A few months of marriage had accustomed Trevor to being on the receiving end of the rough edge of Laura’s tongue, but this was somehow different. Here was an anger and emotion he hadn’t seen in Laura before.

‘I’m sorry Laura, I suppose I didn’t think it through, and then again I didn’t realise you’d taken this so hard,’ he murmured, leaving the table and reaching out to her.

‘You’d have taken it just as hard if you’d heard her.’ Laura didn’t try to stem the tears that were pouring down her cheeks. ‘He did disgusting, revolting things to her, Trevor. You, thank God, probably aren’t capable of imagining what. And then, when he’d finished, he wrapped her, half-naked, in her coat and put her out on the street. After pushing a five-pound note into her pocket,’ she seethed. ‘Wyn Rees stopped her from tearing it up.’

‘Wyn ...’

‘Yes, queer Wyn,’ Laura said shortly. ‘He found her, and took her home with him. Made her some tea, let her have a bath in his house, and gave her his sister’s clothes to wear home.’

‘Good for Wyn,’ Trevor said in amazement.

‘You will let her stay here a couple of days?’

‘If you think it will help,’ he said resignedly,

‘And you won’t go to the police?’

‘No,’ he murmured. ‘Though pity help me if any of this gets as far as Doctor John’s ears.’

‘It won’t,’ she assured him. ‘Thank you. I do love you, you know. I don’t mean to fly off the handle.’

‘I know.’ Sitting on a chair, he pulled her down on to his lap and kissed her. Diana’s story still fresh in her mind, she shook her head and moved away.

‘Not now, love. I’m still too angry.’

‘With me?’

‘Not you. Never with you. Well not seriously,’ she qualified. ‘Just all the Ben Springers of this world who think that women are there to be used, at their convenience.’

‘Where the hell have you been?’ Tony confronted Ronnie as he walked into the café at six o’clock on Saturday night. ‘We’ve been rushed off our feet all day. Angelo couldn’t manage the cooking. I had to take Gina off the till and put her out back, and that meant I had to cover the till as well as the counter. Tina didn’t have any help with the waitressing, and we got behind ...’

‘If I were you I’d think about taking Maria out of school,’ Ronnie said placidly. ‘She’s not doing anything constructive there, and with the new place opening in a couple of months, the sooner she starts learning the trade the better.’

‘But she’s only thirteen. You know Papa likes us all to stay on in school until we’re fourteen. He says –’

‘Papa more or less yanked me out of school when I was twelve, and I didn’t visit the place very often before that.’

‘That’s not what Papa told me. He said you wouldn’t stay in school even when he sent you.’

‘I wouldn’t go because I knew Papa needed me in the business. You lot ate more than the profits of the High Street place every week,’ Ronnie informed him drily. ‘And don’t go thinking that it’s easier now because we’ve got two places and another one opening soon. The overheads will be higher, as well as the profits, and there’ll still be eleven Ronconi mouths to feed, even with me and Laura gone.’

Tony stared in amazement as, instead of going into the kitchen and changing out of his smart street jacket, Ronnie walked behind the counter, helped himself to a cup, and filled it with coffee. He looked around the café as he picked it up. ‘Despite all your moaning you must have managed to keep everything under control, little brother,’ he commented lightly. ‘The place is still standing, and it seems quiet enough now.’

‘Just when I’m due to finish for the day,’ Tony griped.

‘Shutting up shop early?’ Ronnie enquired airily.

‘Now you’re back, I’m off to the pictures.’

‘I’m not back.’ Ronnie finished his coffee, and poured himself another.

‘But you’re here,’ Tony protested.

‘For the coffee, and to say goodbye. I told you last night, I’ve left the business. By the way, I’ve written out some notes for you on the new place. And I’ve balanced the accounts.’

‘You’re not coming in tomorrow?’ Tony stared at his brother in disbelief.

‘I most definitely am not coming in tomorrow,’ Ronnie smiled. He pulled his watch chain out of his pocket and flicked through the fobs. ‘This is now yours.’ He extracted the key to the cupboard.

‘There you are: official boss badge. You’re in charge now, boy. Supremo! This is what you’ve been waiting for all your life.’

‘Ronnie, I can’t take over,’ Tony remonstrated. ‘I don’t know enough.’

‘If you don’t, you’ve no one to blame but yourself. You’ve been under my feet for eighteen years. Is it my fault that you didn’t keep your eyes and ears open?’

‘But there’s the new restaurant!’

‘I’ve left you a challenge. If I were you I’d try to enlist Laura’s help. For a woman, she’s smart,’ he teased. ‘If you’re pushed, I suggest you put Papa in here with Angelo, and let Tina manage High Street. That’ll leave you free to run the new restaurant.’

‘Ronnie!’ Tony was talking to the counter. His brother had picked up his cup and taken it into the back room where Tina and Gina were clearing tables. Although it was after six o’clock on a Saturday neither of them had even attempted to leave. Tony felt that not only the fabric of his family but the routine of the café was falling apart.

‘Is Alma coming in?’ Tony interrupted Ronnie, as his brother hugged the girls, wrapping his arms around their shoulders.

‘How should I know? It’s up to the man in charge to know what shifts his waitresses are working.’

‘Ronnie, please ...’

Thrusting his fingers into his top pocket, Ronnie pulled out a packet of cigarettes and extended it to Tony. Tony nearly fell over: it was the first time Ronnie had recognised that he smoked, let alone offered him a cigarette.

‘Now look,’ Ronnie smiled patiently, ‘it’s really very simple. Give the customers what they want, keep them happy, treat Alma well, and mind you enter up the takings in the ledger every night. You leave it even one night and you’re in dire trouble. You always think you’ll remember the figures, but you don’t. And that’s the voice of experience talking.’

Tony tried to take in what Ronnie was saying, but he couldn’t. He found it impossible to believe that Ronnie was really leaving. Ronnie who’d always been there when he’d needed him. Whenever there’d been trouble in school, or with friends, it had always been Ronnie who’d sorted it out for him. Ronnie, never Papa or Mama, because unlike their parents, Ronnie understood the Welsh systems and way of life, and he’d been the first Ronconi to cut the path and smooth the way for the others in the family.

‘You’ll remember to do all that?’ Ronnie asked, sensing that Tony’s attention had wandered.

‘I think so,’ Tony mumbled.

‘You do know, don’t you, that Papa doesn’t understand the first thing about book-keeping?’ Only his imminent departure from Wales could have wrested such a disloyal statement from Ronnie. ‘If you get stuck, you could always write to me in Italy, but the Italian post isn’t that reliable, or so Mama’s always said.’

‘Mama said you’re marrying Maud Powell and taking her to Bardi. Is that right?’ Tony finally ventured.

‘That’s right.’ Ronnie winked at Tina and Gina, who were still hovering close. ‘At four o’clock tomorrow afternoon.’

‘On a Sunday? But Father O’Kelly –’

‘We’re marrying in St John’s.’

‘St John’s! Ronnie, that’s Church of Wales!’

‘The Reverend Price did mention it,’ Ronnie said flatly.

‘But why?’ Tony demanded urgently.

‘Because I didn’t want Father O’Kelly to make a lot of fuss.’

‘Not the church,’ Tony dismissed irritably. ‘Why marry Maud Powell and all? Papa said –’

‘Please don’t tell me. I’ve a feeling that the saying “Least said soonest mended” should be applied to Papa and me at the moment. He made his views clear last night, and I don’t blame him for them. If any of you want to come to the wedding, you’ll be very welcome. Just don’t expect any more than a short ceremony, that’s all. And if you don’t turn up, I’ll understand why. And as Maud and I are leaving Ponty at six o’clock on Monday morning, if you’re not coming, I’ll say my goodbyes now.’

‘Ronnie ...’

‘Look, I have to go and see Laura and Trevor. I’m taking my things.’ He left the table and walked towards the staircase. ‘If I were you I’d look at the accounts. Check them. And if you come up with any questions, call in Laura’s on the way home. I’d appreciate a word about some promises I’ve made to Alma.’

Ronnie retrieved his case from the upstairs bedroom and left quickly, hugging his brothers, and kissing his sisters on their cheeks as he backed out through the door. He went to the White Hart car park to get the Trojan. As he pulled the starting handle out from under the seat, he made a mental note to hand the keys over to Tony later. There was so much to do, and so little time left to think of everything.

Chapter Twenty-four

Laura and Trevor were eating tea when Ronnie walked in. Meat and potato pie, bread, cheese, fruit cake, and a very prettily iced sponge cake.

‘Sit down.’ Laura went to the dresser and lifted down another plate and a knife and fork.

Trevor looked at him inquisitively. ‘Everything arranged?’ he asked.

‘We’re marrying in St John’s tomorrow at four, and leaving first thing Monday morning. Half-past seven train from Cardiff.’

‘I’ll take you to Cardiff in the car,’ Trevor offered.

‘I asked Aldo because I thought you’d be working.’

‘Not so you’d notice at that time in the morning. I’ll get the new junior doctor to cover for me.’

‘You don’t have to.’

 ‘I know I don’t have to,’ Trevor said calmly. ‘But you’re going to be changing boats and trains enough with Maud as it is. Take a brotherly hand when it’s offered. If not for your sake, then for Maud’s.’

‘In that case, thank you,’ Ronnie said gratefully. ‘There is one thing I was going to ask you.’

‘Ask away.’ Trevor helped himself to another spoonful of pie.

‘Not you, Laura. You always were good with the café books,’ he complimented his sister.

‘If I remember rightly, I had no choice to be anything but. They drove me mad, particularly when I had to translate your figures into legible numbers. They’re the sole reason I went into nursing,’ she assured Trevor.

‘Please, give Tony a hand with them if he gets stuck. And if you have time, keep an eye on him. It’s not that he isn’t up to taking over, it’s just that he’s going to need all the help he can get.’

‘Even that of a mere woman like me?’ Laura raised her eyebrows.

‘I suggested to Tony that he puts Tina in charge of the High Street café,’ Ronnie went on, ignoring his sister’s sarcasm. ‘That will free Papa to take care of the Tumble and leave Tony to run the new place, but it would be better if everything stayed as it was and you took over the restaurant Laura, at least for a while,’ he qualified, in deference to her status as newly married woman.

‘To what do I owe this praise?’ she demanded. ‘You never told me I was any good when I worked in the cafés. All you ever did was whinge every time I dropped a plate, or burnt an egg.’

‘Big brother’s prerogative,’ he grinned. ‘You were good, but I wanted to make you even better. If you run the restaurant for Tony, there should be enough money left for you to get someone to help you with your housework. You’d let her work outside the house, wouldn’t you?’ he turned to Trevor.

‘Let her?’ Trevor shook his head. ‘The first thing I learned as a married man is that you don’t “let” your wife do, or not do anything. All capacity for choice is taken away the day you walk down the aisle. As you’ll soon find out for yourself.’

‘I’d like you both to be there, but I wouldn’t want you to come if it means a quarrel between you and Papa, Laura. I know how unforgiving he can be.’

‘Just try and stop me,’ she smiled maliciously. ‘I wouldn’t miss the sight of you tying the knot for all the world. I only hope that Maud finds enough gumption to keep that ego of yours well and truly under control.’

‘Thank you so very much, dear sister. Maud told her father that she wants Diana as a bridesmaid ...’

‘I’ll ask her,’ Laura said unthinkingly.

‘Would you? I don’t intend to go back up the Graig tonight. And I’ll need a best man.’ He looked hopefully at Trevor.

‘What about Tony?’ Trevor asked, failing to conceal his pleasure at being asked.

‘I don’t want to make Tony choose between me and Papa,’ Ronnie said.

‘In that case I’d be delighted.’

‘Good, that’s the wedding settled.’

‘Got your tickets?’

‘I went to Thomas Cook’s in Cardiff this afternoon. I booked first-class seats to London. Hopefully, as it’s coming from Wales, the carriage will be empty and Maud will be able to lie down. I’ll get a taxi from Paddington to Tilbury ...’

‘Bethan will be annoyed if you don’t give her a chance to see the blushing bride, and Andrew will be only too happy to drive you across London,’ Trevor interrupted.

‘Do you really think so?’

‘He’ll be your brother-in-law as of tomorrow. I’ll telephone him.’

‘It would be a help to have a car waiting,’ Ronnie agreed. ‘I’ve booked a cabin to Calais, and from there a first-class sleeper to Genoa.’

Trevor let out a long, low whistle. ‘That must have cost a pretty penny for the both of you.’

‘It did,’ Ronnie agreed.

‘And what about tomorrow night?’ Laura asked.

‘As Papa’s thrown me out, and I presume that means the café as well as the house, I was going to ask if I could sleep here for a couple of nights.’ It was more than just his father. Ronnie had developed a sudden aversion to the bedroom in the café. It held too many memories that he’d rather forget.

‘Diana’s in the spare room,’ Trevor blurted out tactlessly.

‘Diana ...’

‘Don’t ask, it’s a long story,’ Laura interrupted. ‘But if you don’t mind sleeping on the parlour couch, we can put you up.’

‘I’d appreciate that very much.’

‘You really are going through with this, aren’t you?’ Laura asked abruptly as Ronnie began to eat.

‘Yes,’ he mumbled, his mouth full. He was hungry. Apart from his usual endless cups of coffee, he’d hardly eaten in two days.

‘I find it difficult to believe. You and Maud Powell!’

‘Are you going to see Mama tonight?’

‘You know I always go to see Mama on a Saturday,’ she said, irritated because he obviously wasn’t going to entertain her by talking about him and Maud.

‘Tell her and the kids the time of the wedding and tell them when I’m leaving. But don’t forget to say that I don’t want them there if it will put anyone in Papa’s bad books.’

‘I’ll explain, and better than you just did,’ Laura retorted.

‘I’ve left the accounts books and the plans for the new place with Tony.’

‘I’ll call in the café on Monday.’

‘Thanks Laura,’ he said sincerely. ‘I’d hate to see all Papa’s and my hard work go down the drain.’

‘Don’t worry, it won’t. You and Papa aren’t the only Ronconis blessed with brains, you know,’ she said harshly, annoyed with the thick feeling that was creeping into her throat.

‘I always knew that, but boy, have the rest of you given me a hard time trying to prove it.’ Ronnie smiled as he reached for another piece of pie.

‘Here she is!’ Diana, who’d been pressganged by Laura into putting on her best face for Maud’s wedding, had gone up to Graig Avenue to help Maud dress. Laura had walked up with her, taking the entire contents of the ‘best’ side of her wardrobe, together with her boxed wedding dress and veil just in case Maud fancied being married in white. Elizabeth had turned out her hatbox and spread the contents on Maud’s bed. Gina and Tina had sneaked away from Danycoedcae Road, and turned up with a small case that nine-year-old Alfredo had smuggled out the back and over the mountain for them. It was crammed with perfumes, powders, lipsticks, and their best dresses wrapped in tissue paper.

‘Look, quick, Trevor’s stopping the car!’ Forgetting her misery for the first time in two days, Diana called the Ronconi girls to the window. Gina and Tina leant heavily on the sash, watching as Trevor opened the door of his car. Evan stepped out of the back, then leant over and picked Maud up from the front seat. Maud protested loud enough to be heard in the bedroom, but all to no avail. Evan carried her up the steps and in through the front door, pushing past Haydn and Eddie, who were observing an uneasy, silent truce in honour of the occasion.

Diana rushed to the landing, just in time to see William plant a kiss on Maud’s cheek. Without pausing for breath, Evan continued to carry Maud straight up the stairs. He deposited her, still protesting that she could walk, on to the bed.

‘And you’re not to walk down the stairs,’ he said firmly. ‘When you’re ready, give me a shout and I’ll carry you down.’

‘She won’t be ready for ages yet, Mr Powell,’ Laura asserted. ‘We’ve got to turn her into a bride.’

Maud smiled at the girls. Her mother, sensing that she wasn’t wanted, muttered something about ‘pressing her black brocade’, and left the room. The first question Maud asked when the door was shut was, ‘Where’s Ronnie?’

‘You told Trevor you didn’t want to see him before the wedding,’ Laura reminded her.

‘I don’t, but I still want to know where he is.’

Gina and Tina laughed, and even Diana managed a smile.

‘You just keep that up Maud Powell, and you’ll be all right,’ Laura said seriously. ‘There isn’t a man born who doesn’t need tabs kept on him.’

Ronnie was dressing in the bedroom that Diana had thoughtfully vacated for his use, when Trevor returned from taking Maud up to Graig Avenue.

‘She’s looking good,’ he reported. ‘Evan Powell insisted on carrying her in and out of the car, but she could have walked.’

‘You really think she’ll be all right?’ Ronnie asked anxiously.

‘For a while,’ Trevor assured him, not daring to voice an opinion as to how long ‘a while’ could be. ‘Here, do you want a hand with that collar stud?’ he asked as Ronnie struggled to fasten a new starched collar to his best boiled shirt.

‘No, I think I’ve got it. There, that’s done.’

‘Brandy?’ Trevor asked. ‘I bought a new bottle.’

‘I think I could manage one.’ Ronnie slipped his arms through his waistcoat sleeves without bothering to do up the buttons. Picking up his tie and jacket he checked around the room to make sure he hadn’t left anything, before following Trevor downstairs.

‘I’ve got a couple of things for you.’ Trevor poured out two glasses of brandy and handed one to Ronnie as they sat either side of the kitchen stove. ‘First, there’s a room booked in the New Inn for you and Maud tonight. You can take her there straight after the ceremony. Everything’s paid for, including dinner,’ he added. ‘I told them you’d want it in your room.’

‘Trevor, I wasn’t expecting anything like this ...’

‘It’s a wedding present from Laura and me,’ Trevor said quickly. ‘And then, you’ll be needing these.’ He handed Ronnie an enormous package wrapped in brown paper. ‘French letters,’ he explained briefly. ‘I don’t know whether you’ll be able to get any in Italy so I scrounged a hundred for you. Write and let me know when you’re running low, but be sure to give me plenty of time to send more. The one thing you can’t afford to risk with Maud is pregnancy. On top of everything else it would kill her,’ he warned bluntly.

‘I have no intention of ... of sleeping with Maud,’ Ronnie stammered. ‘At least not in that sense,’ he asserted, colouring in embarrassment.

‘You might not have any intention of sleeping with her in that sense now,’ Trevor said matter-of-factly, ‘but now is not tonight, and Maud may have other ideas on the subject.’

‘She’s ill,’ Ronnie said quickly.

‘Not that ill. She’s spent the last couple of days in hospital resting, remember. She told me only this morning she was looking forward to married life, and if at the end of the day you don’t take her to bed, she’ll quite rightly wonder why you bothered to go to all this trouble.’

‘Then it’ll be all right for me to sleep with her?’ Remembering Trevor’s medical qualifications, Ronnie finally subdued the qualms he had about discussing such an intimate subject with his brother-in-law.

‘I’ve never heard of it doing anyone in Maud’s condition any harm,’ Trevor smiled broadly. ‘And if the rumours that some of your ex-girlfriends have spread around town are to be believed, it may do her some good.’

‘You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.’ Ronnie took the package from Trevor. ‘I’ll put it in my case.’

‘Oh, and there’s this.’ Trevor held out a couple of bottles. ‘Cough mixture,’ he grinned. ‘I’ve given Maud six bottles. I thought you might need a couple more for the journey. Keep them to hand.’

‘Anything else?’

‘I don’t think so.’ Trevor smiled, the devil in him enjoying Ronnie’s embarrassment. ‘That is, unless you’d like another brandy.’

‘Life is so simple for men,’ Laura grumbled. ‘All they have to do is put on a clean shirt and collar, a tie and their best suits and they look fine, whereas we ...’

‘I had no decisions to make before you brought this lot,’ Maud complained playfully. ‘It would have been my blue satin dress, or my blue satin dress.’

‘You can’t get married in a dance dress,’ Diana protested.

‘You can if that’s all you’ve got,’ Maud contradicted.

‘How about going traditional?’ Laura opened the box she’d brought and pulled out the wedding dress and veil that the best dressmaker on the Graig had made for her wedding.

‘Laura, I couldn’t! Could I?’ Maud asked, her eyes shining in delight at the thought.

‘Yes you could,’ Laura asserted. ‘The only problem is it’s going to be too big for you, which is why I went down the market and bought this off Mrs Jones last night.’ She pulled out yards and yards of wide, gleaming white satin ribbon. ‘I thought we could always tie the dress in at the waist, hiding the gathers under a big bow at the back. I just hope it’s not going to be too uncomfortable.’

‘We got you some new underclothes.’ Tina and Gina thrust a paper carrier bag towards her. ‘It’s from all of us, even the boys,’ Gina said, remembering that as they’d run out of money, Tony and Angelo, not to mention the till, had contributed more to the fund than they had.

They watched Maud open the bag. A fine, white silk petticoat and a beautiful, coffee-coloured, lace-trimmed satin nightdress spilled out.

‘There’s some other things in there too. Another petticoat, bloomers, silk stockings ...’ Gina blushed as she remembered all the silk stockings that Diana’s mother had sold them.

‘And this is for you.’ Not to be outdone, Diana thrust an envelope containing five pounds at Maud. It was the five pounds Ben Springer had given her, but no one had to know that. Every time Diana touched it, she felt dirty, and used. At least Maud wouldn’t know where it had come from.

‘Diana, I can’t take this,’ Maud protested as she looked inside. ‘This is all the money you’ve got.’

‘There’s bound to be things that you want that no one has thought of. Please take it,’ Diana said curtly.