The Oyster Catchers (13 page)

Nina sighed and rose to her feet; perhaps she should try to eat a little breakfast now, keep up her strength for she felt fit for nothing and her with all the washing to do before supper time.

Nina managed to eat some thin porridge and, after she had cleared away, she dragged the bath out into the yard. It was an effort to lift it on to the bricks that Tom had placed strategically near the wall but at least when it was in place, she would not have to bend so far to do the washing.

Her thoughts wandered as Nina filled and refilled the kettle and the big potato pot, boiling up the water on the fire and carrying it to the yard, hearing it drum against the ridged bottom of the bath and feeling the steam cloud her vision. Or could the moisture be tears? But that was absurd, she was Nina Parks, Widow Parks, always willing and able to fight her own battles and she would not be defeated now. She would find a way out of this mess, she would, if it was the last thing she did.

It was much later that Nina sank exhausted into her chair near the fire. Her back ached and her arms felt as though they were being torn from their sockets, but it was satisfying to see the line of clean sheets flapping on the line, billowing like the sails of a ship as the wind caught them.

The door opened and Gwyneth came into the kitchen, her face wreathed in smiles.

‘What’s up with you?’ Nina asked. ‘Found a gold sovereign have you?’

‘No,’ Gwyneth said, ‘but I’m going to have a bit more money at the end of the week.’ She rubbed her hands together gleefully. ‘Mr Davies is putting me in charge of the boot and shoe store when he goes into Swansea tomorrow. He’s a fine handsome man, mind.’ Her eyes were alight.

‘Don’t you go getting no fancy ideas about that Mr Davies now,’ Nina said sharply. ‘I know these gents, they have one thing in mind and that’s to have their way with you.’

‘Don’t be daft, Mam,’ Gwyneth said scathingly, ‘don’t you think I know that?’ She laughed as she pushed the
kettle on to the fire. ‘I might let him have his way, too, but only if he offers me a gold ring.’

‘Aye, go on you, girl, be clever, but Mother Nature got a way of making you want a man, don’t make no mistake about it, that’s how babbis gets born.’

‘Well, you should know, Mam,’ Gwyneth said cheekily. ‘What’s for supper?’

‘I made a pot of stew yesterday, we’ll have to make do with that. I been washing all day, mind, up to my elbows in sheets and bolster cases. ’Bout time you did your own things now, Gwyneth, you’re not a child any more.’

‘Aw, but Mam, I’m working all day on my feet in the shop.’ Gwyneth slipped off her boots and began to rub her ankles. ‘You don’t realize how hard it is.’

‘Huh! And I suppose I’ve been doing nothing all day, just sitting about enjoying myself, is it?’

‘What time is our Fon coming in from the beds?’ Gwyneth said adroitly changing the subject. She leaned back in her chair still rubbing at her feet. ‘Funny, a few weeks ago we were all working the oysters and now it’s only Fon left on them.’

‘Well,’ Nina said, ‘Sal wanted to go into service because of that nice boy she got an eye for and I don’t see any harm in it, at least she has her keep and a nice room to herself and so long as she stays respectable, the work is steady all the year around.’

‘And me,’ Gwyneth said smiling, ‘I wanted something better than Joe’s charity and the cold days of winter spent freezing to death on the beach seeing to those damn oysters. Ruining my life they was.’ She looked archly at her mother.

‘Now I got the company of a real gent, he’s showing me ropes, like, how to keep the shop nice and how to speak to the posh customers who come in.’ She sighed. ‘Not that we get many of those, mind, it’s mostly folks like that fat Carys Morgan who wants barges to put her
big feet into. God! You’d think she was the only one having a baby in this village. But she’s not, is she, Mam?’

Gwyneth’s smile had vanished and she looked anxiously at her mother. Nina felt her colour rising.

‘Look girl, I’ve never hidden nothing from you. I had Joe to my bed it’s true, I couldn’t help it, like I told you, nature got a way of making you want a man.’ She smiled ruefully. ‘I’ve always been Joe Harries’s woman at heart, see?’

She paused, giving herself time to think. ‘I suppose I might as well tell you, I’ve missed my courses for three months now and I get sick of a morning.’ Nina shrugged. ‘There’s no doubt about it really.’

‘Well, I think you were a bit quick taunting Eline with the good news,’ Gwyneth said drily. ‘Now all the village is talking about you.’

Nina lifted her head defiantly. ‘So? What’s different about that? Haven’t they always had a good go at Nina Parks then? Why should I care about the villagers, they don’t keep me in bread, do they?’

‘All right, Mam, only saying.’ Gwyneth rose and fetched the pot of cold stew from the pantry, pushing the heavy black pot on to the fire. ‘Sit by there, you, I’ll see to the supper.’

Nina felt tears sting her eyes, it wasn’t often any of her children showed her such consideration. Spoiled them she had, trying to make up for being both Mam and Dad to them, she supposed.

‘I’m going out after,’ Gwyneth said as later, mother and daughter sat together at the table. ‘Mr Davies has asked me to help him take stock of the boots and shoes.’ She smiled impishly. ‘And don’t worry, I’m not going to give him so much as an inch, I’m not going to make the same mistakes as you, Mam.’

Nina flinched, her daughter sometimes could be too outspoken for her own good. She was about to remonstrate with her when the door opened and Fon came
into the room, her white apron smeared with sand, her curly hair falling from its ribbons.

‘
Duw
, there’s a lovely smell.’ She sank down at the table and pulled off her heavy, sand-encrusted boots.

‘Get a bowl,
cariad
,’ Nina said, ‘and help yourself from the pot. There’s plenty of bread cut and there’s a bottle of dandelion beer in the pantry on the floor.’

Fon smiled, her tawny eyes full of warmth. ‘Thanks, Mam, I’m that starving I could eat a whole loaf by myself.’

Gwyneth pushed away her bowl and rose to her feet. ‘I’m going to have a quick wash and then I’ll be off back to the shop, Mam,’ she said. ‘Fon, don’t you go leaving all the washing up to Mam, now, and fetch the sheets in from the line for her before it gets dark.’

‘Been washing today have you, Mam? No wonder you look tired out.’ Fon fetched her soup and returned to the table and began eating daintily.

Nina, watching her, wondered as she often did if this, her youngest daughter, was a changeling; she was so different to the other girls, so small and dainty, with a bush of chestnut hair and fine, expressive eyes. And she was so good-natured and kind while Gwyneth and Sal both were sharp-tongued enough to cut through the toughest leather.

‘Why are you going back to work, Gwyn?’ Fon asked, her large amber eyes resting on her sister with curiosity. It wasn’t like Gwyneth to be over enthusiastic about work.

‘Like I was telling Mam, I’m going to help with the stock taking,’ Gwyneth said importantly. ‘I mean to make myself so useful to Mr Davies that he won’t be able to do without me.’ She smiled wickedly and watching her, Nina thought how like herself was this, her daughter.

Gwyneth had a sort of earthy quality about her; she was dimpled and rounded, her thick hair dark like Nina’s
own, her eyes green as the sea on a stormy day. Nina feared for her, for if Gwyneth were to fall in love with this Mr Davies, then she would be lost for she had the same senuous nature as her mother, whatever claims she might make to having too much common sense to stray.

Nina wanted to say something, to warn Gwyneth, but the girl was on her way out through the door. In any event, she wouldn’t have listened; like all young people she was so certain of herself, so sure that she could handle her emotions under any circumstances.

‘Well now then, Fon, tell me, how did you get on today on the perches?’ Nina rested her chin in her hands and looked at her youngest daughter.

‘Took up a few sackfuls for Joe,’ she said, ‘he’s delivering them tonight, oh and Mam, he said he’d call over and see you, wanted to talk to you about something or other.’ She paused. ‘Isn’t our Tom’s ship due in dock later tonight?’

Nina’s heart dipped in fear; had Fon put two and two together at last? Did her youngest one know that Joe had become Nina’s lover once more and had filled her with child? But the look in her eyes was free of all guile.

‘Perhaps,’ Nina answered, shakily, ‘but you never know with Tom, he’s like will-o’-the-wisp.’

She attempted to speak casually. ‘Did Joe say what he wanted to see me about?’ In spite of herself, Nina’s voice cracked with anxiety and Fon looked at her thoughtfully.

‘No, Mam, but then he wouldn’t tell me anything, would he?’ She smiled. ‘I saw him and Eline together, sitting on the rocks they were, so close together, kissing they were. They looked so lovely, mind.’

She had no idea how much her words were hurting her mother, but then why should she? Fon never listened to gossip, her head was always too full of the lovely music she made up and played on her old accordion.

Anyway, because she was so young, the women usually
watched their tongues where Fon was concerned. She was a little ethereal, always lifting her eyes to the heavens, touching the silver cross around her neck and looking so saintly that it would be a shame to make her aware of worldly matters.

What Fon would make of the fact that her mother was going to have an illegitimate child, Nina dreaded to think, but she would have to be told sooner or later.

Fon washed up after supper and then went out into the back yard and brought the washing in from the line.

‘The sheets are bone dry, Mam,’ she said. ‘Come on I’ll help you to fold them.’

Nina loved the fresh scent of linen that had dried in the sun and, as she flapped the sheets into neat folds, she smiled at her youngest daughter.

‘There’s a good girl you are, Fon, I don’t know what I’d do without you.’ She paused a moment. ‘But do me a favour, when Joe comes over, leave us alone to talk private like, will you?’

Fon nodded agreeably, suspecting nothing. ‘That’s all right, Mam, I’m going over to the church for their choir practice after anyway.’

Nina sank into a chair and brushed a hand across her forehead. She felt hot and weary and not a little apprehensive about Joe’s visit. What was he going to say to her? Would he want to take her to bed again, to hold her in his arms? She hoped so if only to give herself some comfort in the knowledge that she was not alone with her worry.

When Fon had left the house, Nina washed herself over with some hot water from the kettle and a good flannel cloth and then changed into fresh clothes. She wanted to look her best for Joe, but when she stared at her reflection in the mirror, she saw a woman with fading hair and a tired expression around her eyes.

‘Nina Parks, you are too old to be a mistress, you need to be a wife to some man who’ll take care of you.’

The words fell into a hollow silence and Nina felt tears burn her eyes; there would be no kindly man like her first husband to come along and save her from shame a second time.

When Joe knocked on the door, Nina opened it with a smile. ‘Come inside, Joe, my lovely,’ she said, ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’

He sank into the chair and removed his cap, pushing back his thick curls.

‘Leave the door open a bit, love,’ he said, ‘I could do with a breath of fresh air.’

Nina sat near the table, her hands twisting nervously in her lap. Joe didn’t look like a man best pleased with his lot. His long silence was ominous especially after what Fon had said about him sitting on the rocks with Eline.

‘What is it, Joe?’ Nina said softly. ‘What have you come to tell me?’

‘Just that I feel bad about what happened.’ Joe sighed heavily. ‘How is it that I make you with child whenever we come together?’

‘I don’t know, love,’ Nina said, ‘I suppose it’s nature, the signs must be right for us making children, I expect.’

‘I’ll support you,’ Joe said and Nina knew then she’d lost, there would be no getting Joe to come away with her to make a new life together.

‘Must I face the shame of having a babbi alone then?’ Her voice rose more in fear than anger. ‘Joe, how could you desert me a second time, leaving me like this?’

Nina was so overcome that she didn’t hear a sound at the door or see the figure standing against the light.

‘Joe, for God’s sake, what can I do? I can’t have this babbi by myself, I just can’t.’

The door was flung open with a resounding crash and Tom strode into the kitchen, his face red with anger.

‘Mam,’ he said in a strangled voice, ‘have you let this bastard bed you again and get you with child?’

Tom looked at Joe as if he hated him and Nina rose to her feet, her breath catching in her throat.

‘Get out of this house!’ Tom directed his anger towards Joe. ‘I don’t want you or your lousy hand-outs, do you hear?’

Nina found her breath. ‘Tom, don’t you speak to Joe like that,’ she said quickly. ‘Please, try to understand how things are between Joe and me.’

‘Oh, I understand all right,’ Tom said, ‘you are his part-time whore whenever he wants a change from his little wife.’

Nina reached out and her hand connected with her son’s cheek so hard that the imprint of her fingers showed up redly on his face. ‘How dare you!’ she said quietly. ‘I am no whore, but I am a woman with flesh and blood feelings all the same.’

‘Right then,’ Tom said, ‘go with him, get out of my sight before I kill you.’ He raised his fist and smashed it against the mirror which shattered into pieces so that for a moment Nina had a crazy image of her son’s maddened eyes and her own fear.

‘Come with me.’ Joe caught her arm and took her out of the house. ‘We can talk to the boy when he has cooled down.’

Nina fought to suppress her tears as she saw the curtains twitch as she walked along the road beside Joe. No doubt her neighbours had heard everything and she would once again be the talk of the village.

But she had more to worry about than that now. She swayed a little and Joe put his arm around her.