The Quality of Love (10 page)

‘I was coming to look for you, I thought you'd got lost,' Gwyn said worriedly when she returned.

‘The bathroom was occupied and I had to wait,' she explained.

‘Well, I hope it's free now.' He grinned as he picked up the other towel and headed for the door.

Sarah took advantage of being in the room on her own to undress and put on her new pale blue silk nightgown which was trimmed with ecru lace around the neckline, and which her mother had bought specially for her to bring away with her. The minute she had it on she slipped under the bedcovers, pulling them right up to her chin.

She felt too nervous to lie down and was sitting there, ramrod straight, when Gwyn returned. He'd removed his shirt to have a wash and was carrying it in his hand. Tossing it on to a chair he quickly unbuttoned his trousers, let them fall in a heap at his feet, and was in bed beside her before she had chance to draw a breath.

As his arms went round her, the contact with his bare chest sent a shiver of anticipation through her, then she tensed, not sure what was expected of her.

Very gently he pushed her back against the pillows, his lips nuzzling her neck, then moving slowly down towards her breasts, pushing aside the silky material that was covering them.

With a small murmur of surrender she relaxed and felt a flicker of desire spread through her as they clung to each other. His hands started exploring her body tenderly; it was so different to the furtive fumbles she'd experienced before when they'd said goodnight on the corner of Cyfartha Street.

After that, time had no meaning and the only
sound in the room were his whispered words of endearment followed by her small cries of astonishment as he made known what he wanted of her. Once she overcame her shyness she found herself responding to his quick-breathing eagerness as their love-making became ever more passionate and his ardour astounded her.

Finally, completely exhausted, they slept tangled contentedly in each other's arms until she was wakened by the early morning sun and the scream of seagulls.

For a moment Sarah thought it had all been a dream and she wasn't even sure where she was. Then the heaviness of Gwyn's body against her back brought everything rushing into focus.

Her movement wakened him and he pulled her into his arms, kissing her ardently, rekindling her own desire and passion as once again they made love.

They were almost too late for breakfast and Mrs Williams sniffed in annoyance when they took their place in the dining room.

‘There's no porridge left,' she stated, her voice edged with irritation as she brought them a pot of tea. ‘So what is it to be?'

‘We're sorry about being so late,' Gwyn told her with a slightly apologetic smile. ‘Any chance of bacon and eggs and toast and marmalade?' he asked hopefully.

For a moment Sarah thought Mrs Williams
was going to refuse but with a heavy sigh she turned and headed for the kitchen.

‘If we have a really good breakfast then we'll be able to manage with just a sandwich at lunchtime,' he whispered quietly to Sarah. ‘That will give us more time to explore the seafront and perhaps even go as far as Coney Beach.'

‘I think I'll need one of those wonderful ice-creams if we're going to walk that far,' she told him.

‘You can only have one of those as a reward if you behave yourself,' he teased. ‘I think you deserve one after last night, though,' he added with a devilish smile.

The rest of their short stay in Porthcawl was spent in walking and exploring the coastline during the day and in blissful lovemaking at night. The time passed so quickly that in no time at all it was over and they were cramming their things back into their suitcases and heading back to Pyle Railway Station.

They made the journey home in silence, sitting holding hands, happy and contented with their own thoughts. When they reached Cardiff General, though, the realisation that they would soon be parting and that she had no idea at all when she would see Gwyn again was like a physical blow.

She didn't want to return home or to be parted from him. She was almost in tears as they clung together in a farewell embrace.

‘If I'm going to be working in Cardiff, when can I see you?' he asked.

‘I don't think it will be possible until the new term starts. My father has forbidden me to have anything more to do with you and if he found out that I was meeting you, he'd be terribly angry.'

‘So how can we meet, then?' Gwyn probed with a frown.

‘I can always play truant or see you when I haven't any lectures,' she explained. ‘If I say I am going out during the holidays they will want to know where I am going. If I say it's to look around the shops, then my mam will probably say she'll come with me.'

‘Couldn't you say you were going to the Public Library and I could meet you there?'

‘She'd probably come with me.'

‘Surely she wouldn't do that if you said you'd be gone a couple of hours because you wanted to read up about something.'

Sarah shook her head. ‘You don't understand. She'd say she was coming and that she'd spend an hour looking round Howell's or Morgan's while I was in there.'

‘That would be all right, wouldn't it?'

‘She might take it into her head to come into the library looking for me and then if I wasn't there she'd know I was cheating on them and I'd be in trouble.'

Gwyn shook his head in disbelief. ‘If you are old enough to go to university then surely you
are old enough to go out and about on your own when you want to. I'm amazed they let you go away on your own for a few days.'

‘So am I, really. I still dread going home and being cross-questioned about where I've been and what I saw and so on. I didn't even send a postcard like they asked me to, and I've already told so many lies that I can hardly remember what I've said.'

‘Then the best thing you can do is tell them that you and this girl went to Porthcawl. That way you'll be able to talk about what you've seen and done without any fear of being caught out.'

‘Yes,' Sarah brightened, ‘you're probably right. That does sound like a good idea.'

‘Providing you don't tell them about being with me and everything we've been doing, of course,' Gwyn teased as he gave her a final kiss.

‘I certainly won't be doing that!' She smiled.

‘You do love me, though, don't you?' he challenged as he handed her suitcase to her.

The rest of the summer holiday dragged by so slowly that sometimes Sarah thought she would go mad. She buried herself in her studies but, although she appeared to be working hard, her mind was not really on the books in front of her. She studied as a way of making the days pass more quickly and in order to stop herself dwelling on what had happened between her and Gwyn.

What she really wanted was to see him, to find out if he had enjoyed their time together as much as she had. She wanted to feel his warm breath on her face as he whispered sweet endearments to her and to feel his arms around her, holding her close. More than anything else, though, she wanted to feel their bodies entwined and to relive the blissful feeling of contentment she'd experienced after they'd made love.

She tried to hide her yearning so as not to let her mother know how discontented she felt and she made an effort to be enthusiastic when they got dressed up and went shopping together or went on an occasional trip to one of the parks because she knew it was her
mother's way of making sure she took some time off to enjoy herself.

‘I'm beginning to think that all this studying is no good for you; it's turning your head, cariad. You need to take some time off, you know. You seem to be in a dream world half the time.' Her mother sighed as they found a shady spot in Cathays Park and sat there waiting for the band to play. ‘Twice now I've asked you what you think about that colourful bed of asters over there, and you don't even seem to have heard me.'

‘Sorry, Mam. They're lovely. I did hear you, but I was thinking of something else.'

‘Your new term will be starting in less than a week and then you really will be hard at it and worrying about exams again.'

‘Yes,' Sarah smiled brightly, ‘it's not long now and I'm quite looking forward to it.'

‘In spite of what your father says and thinks I don't hold with all this studying – well, not for a girl anyway. Anyone would think you are going to have to be the breadwinner for the rest of your life.'

As the band started to play Sarah was glad she didn't need to enter into any further discussion and she merely smiled and patted her mother's arm.

As the music filled the air she gave herself up to remembering Porthcawl and wishing she was back there. Was Gwyn missing her, she wondered, and feeling the same, or was he so
caught up in his new job on the
Western Mail
that he'd had no time to think about their holiday together? More to the point, when would she be seeing him? He knew the date she would be back at university, so would he be there waiting for her at the end of the first day?

To Sarah's dismay he wasn't. She hung around for as long as she dared, then reluctantly headed for home hoping she'd manage to get there before her father came home from work and started asking awkward questions about why she was so late.

She was on tenterhooks all evening, wondering if she should find some excuse to go out in case Gwyn had been late and missed her. Common sense told her that it would be a waste of time since he wouldn't still be hanging around the university campus.

The next morning she felt far from well and mentally told herself off for letting the previous evening's disappointment get to her so much. Although she would have liked to have stayed in bed and taken the day off sick she forced herself to get up and behave as normal because Gwyn would be there tonight, she told herself.

The feeling wore off during the day and she was glad that she'd made the effort to attend lectures because at the end of the afternoon Gwyn was waiting outside.

With her heart in her mouth she rushed to greet him; he looked so tall and rugged that
she wanted to fling herself into his arms, but she restrained herself because there were so many people about.

He pecked her cheek, squeezed her arm and, taking her bag of books from her, suggested they went to their usual milk bar.

‘Come on, I'm going to spoil you; cake and an ice-cream, although I don't suppose either of them will be half as good as the ones we had at the Fulgoni's restaurant in Porthcawl.

‘I expected you to come and meet me yesterday afternoon; I waited around for ages,' she told him as they discreetly held hands under the table while they waited to be served.

‘I thought you might, but there was no way of letting you know that I wouldn't be able to manage it because I'd been sent to Bristol to cover a story. Are you quite sure that if I wrote to you your father would open the letter even if it was plainly addressed to you?' he asked, frowning.

‘I'm not sure, but he always opens all the letters and if he didn't open mine he would want to know who it was from.'

‘Well, what about if I signed it “Ruth” or “Gwyneth”? Couldn't you say it was from a girlfriend? Shall we try it and find out what does happen?' He chuckled.

There were so many things Sarah wanted to ask Gwyn but she wasn't sure how to start, so she ate her chocolate cake and ice-cream in silence. They were delicious but still not quite
up to the same standard as the ones she'd had in Porthcawl.

While they were eating Gwyn enthused about his new job and at the same time aired his views about how he would do things differently if he was given a free hand.

‘I only go along with the Editor's ideas in order to keep in his good books because I know I am only there on trial,' he told her. ‘Once I'm on the permanent staff and able to use my initiative then I'll soon show them what I can do,'

‘What do you mean?' She frowned. ‘You can't expect promotion right away.'

‘Why ever not? I've got a degree, remember. Most of the others have worked their way up from being the copy boy, who's at everybody's beck and call, to the junior reporter who covers council meetings and flower shows and things like that. With my background I should be allowed to specialise in politics; one of these days I might even be Foreign Correspondent or move to London as Parliamentary Correspondent.'

‘Well, I hope you don't do that, because then I would never see you,' Sarah reminded him.

‘When you get your degree then you could join the paper as one of the legal staff.' He grinned. ‘Think about it; we'd probably be able to see each other every day.'

‘The way things are going I don't think I will be getting my degree,' she confided worriedly. ‘I keep thinking about you when I should be making notes and that always distracts me.'

He pulled a stern face and shook his head disapprovingly. ‘You'd better do well or your father will have something to say about it,' he warned.

‘I know! As a matter of fact, I think I had better be going because if he gets home from work ahead of me then he'll wonder why I'm late.'

‘And the excuse that you've stayed late for a lecture doesn't wash any more as we very well know,' Gwyn said, smiling broadly.

‘No,' she shook her head, ‘I'm afraid it doesn't.'

‘So when am I going to see you again?' he asked as they prepared to leave.

‘I don't know, unless you can meet me the same time tomorrow afternoon.'

‘I don't think that's going to be possible. I have to do some work, you know. It was quite a wangle getting time off today.' He frowned. ‘In fact, in order to do so I have had to agree to do a stint tonight and I won't even have time to walk you home,' he added apologetically as he pushed back his chair and stood up.