Sinners and Shadows (32 page)

‘I know,' Sali murmured feelingly, thinking of all the times that she had lectured Joey on his behaviour.

…
and I was afraid that if I did marry him I'd turn into a nagging, jealous wife who wouldn't allow her husband out of her sight. That I'd end up spending as much time in the store as him, watching his every move and suspicious about every woman he spoke to.

Holding the letter, Sali walked to the window. She understood exactly how Rhian felt. When Lloyd had been given the post of colliery manager, his father had told him that he'd inherited all the brains in the family. Lloyd had replied that if that was right, then Victor had been given all the strength and practical ability, and Joey enough charisma and looks not to need anything else. Everyone had laughed at the time; now it didn't seem so amusing.

She picked up the letter again.

When
I ran away from Joey's office I hid behind Mr Larch's office. He found me and I have become his mistress. I don't love him and he doesn't love me, but he is kind. I am going to manage a shop for him. It is a sort of business arrangement. I made it when I thought that Tonia was having Joey's baby and I didn't really know what I was doing but that is not Mr Larch's fault, it's mine.

I tried to explain my reasons for the decisions I've made to Joey. He thinks Mr Larch took advantage of me. But he didn't, Sali. I promise you, he didn't. What happened is, if anything, more my fault than his.

Thank you for everything you have done for me.
I will always love and be grateful to you. Kiss the children for me and tell them whatever you think best. I won't try to see any of you again. Please tell Lloyd, Victor, Megan and Joey's dad as much of this as you think they should know and please, please, be kind to Joey. He needs all the love and support that you can give him.

Thank you for being such a good friend. Love and kisses to you and the children,

Rhian

Sali stared out into the rose garden but all she could see was Rhian's face, pale and serious, as she must have looked when she'd penned the letter, which was as selfless and caring as she.

‘Rhian,' she murmured softly. ‘What have you done?'

‘Your cab is waiting, sir.'

Geraint nodded to the doorman of the New Inn Hotel in Pontypridd, stepped down on to the pavement and spoke to the driver who was holding the cab door.

‘The Drill Hall on Broadway.'

‘Yes, sir.' The driver closed the door, slipped the car into gear and pulled away.

They drove slowly down the main road that led from Pontypridd to Cardiff but long before they reached the Drill Hall they passed an enormous queue of men that snaked along the pavement facing the direction of the hall. They were all waiting, some more patiently than others. Geraint was amazed to see boys who couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen years of age standing next to grizzled pensioners who looked well past the enlistment ceiling of forty-four.

He left the cab, told the driver to wait and after a brief, ‘Excuse me,' to no one in particular, pushed past the line of men to the door of the hall.

A non-commissioned officer stepped smartly in front of him. ‘You will have to join the queue, sir.'

Geraint gave the recruiting sergeant a withering look. ‘Major Smythe-Davies is expecting me.'

‘Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.' The sergeant saluted. ‘Inside, sir, second door on the left.'

Geraint went ahead and tapped the open door. He'd never met Paul Smythe-Davies but he had been at school with his brother John, and a chance meeting in the ‘Gentlemen's Only' bar in the New Inn with John the night before had resulted in this interview.

A thin man looked up from a desk smothered with papers. ‘Yes?' he barked impatiently.

‘Watkin Jones, your brother's school chum.'

‘Oh yes, he mentioned you to me this morning. I told my orderly to give you a bell in the New Inn. Glad to see you could make it.'

‘It's good of you to see me at such short notice, Major Smythe-Davies.'

‘Not at all.' The major left his office and looked down the corridor to the rooms where the recruiting officers were sifting through and swearing in the new recruits. ‘What price this?' He pointed with his pen at the men queuing out of the door. ‘Kitchener will soon have his hundred thousand volunteers. But between you and me, I think he's going to need a lot more. I spoke to my CO about you this morning on the blower. You can have a commission, as a second lieutenant, effective immediately.'

‘I can't thank you enough,' Geraint said sincerely.

‘You won't be thanking me when you're doing your basic training. Those sergeants can be swines, and they like nothing better than giving officers stick while they have the chance.'

‘So when do I leave?'

‘Eight o'clock train tomorrow morning, start training the day after.' The major opened a drawer in his desk and extracted an envelope. ‘Travel orders. You'll need a uniform and other things. I've put my tailor's card in there. He's a good chap and as reasonable as any of them. But he doesn't press his bills as hard as some,' he added in a whisper.

‘That was thoughtful, thank you again.'

‘Please stop thanking me, old boy; we need all the good chaps we can get in the regiment. Rumour has it we'll be in France next month. You'll be joining us there as soon as you're ready.'

‘I'll look forward to it.' After weeks of travelling with Julia, Geraint was hungry for masculine company. ‘If you can get away, I'd like to buy you lunch.'

‘No chance, old man, up to my eyes in it. Next time perhaps.' The major slapped Geraint's shoulder and they stepped outside his office. Geraint started and retreated. Joey Evans stood in the corridor in front of a desk, the pen in his hand poised above a sheaf of papers.

‘Geraint.' Joey looked him coolly in the eye. ‘You're the last person I expected to enlist.'

Drawing confidence from the major standing next to him, Geraint said, ‘I've just been commissioned.'

Joey looked up at the recruiting sergeant who was swearing him in. ‘Whatever regiment he's in,' he indicated Geraint, ‘make sure I'm put in a different one. If I'm not, another war will break out in our ranks. And there'll be blood.'

‘You threatening me, Evans?' Geraint blustered.

‘Just a joke, Geraint.' Joey looked from the sergeant to the major. ‘We're related. Sort of brothers-in-law.'

‘Sort of,' Geraint concurred warily.

‘I see.' The major looked doubtful. ‘Then you'll want to be in the same regiment after all.'

‘No,' Joey broke in. ‘If we're in different ones, we'll have each other's letters to look forward to. Don't forget to give Sali your address, Geraint. I'll send you a card as soon as I'm settled into my cosy barracks.'

*……*……*

‘Joey, what a lovely surprise.' Sali ran down the stairs after settling Bella and Edyth in the nursery for their afternoon naps. She hugged him. ‘Harry will be mad, Robert's just taken him off for a riding lesson but he'll be back in an hour. We've all been so worried about you. And you're here safe and sound. Your father and brothers will be pleased. Leave your case in the hall, come into the drawing room. Are you hungry? But what a stupid question, you must be. I'll ring for Mari.'

‘Tea and sandwiches would be great, I haven't eaten since breakfast.' Joey followed Sali into the drawing room. ‘Where's Lloyd?'

‘At a meeting between colliery management and naval representatives in the New Inn. They've been ordered to step up production to meet the military's increased demand for coal.'

‘If I know my communist pacifist brother, he won't be happy working for the war effort,' Joey commented.

‘He's not.' Sali sat on the sofa and patted the cushion beside her. ‘But what have you been doing with yourself this last week?'

‘Enjoying a holiday in Mumbles.'

‘By yourself?' she probed tactfully.

‘I met some people.'

‘You had a reasonable time?'

‘As reasonable as I could without Rhian and I don't want to talk about her or the wedding that wasn't, Sali.'

Sali had been about to mention the letter she'd received from Rhian that morning, but instead she said, ‘I can understand that.'

‘Thank you.'

‘Mari, look who's here,' Sali said to the housekeeper who had answered her ring. ‘Do you think you could get some food for Joey, please?'

‘Enough to tide him over until tea,' Mari said flatly. ‘Have you any special requests, Joey?'

Joey wondered if it was his imagination, or if Mari really was cooler towards him than she had been the last time she'd seen him, when he and Rhian had still been engaged. ‘Tea, a sandwich or a piece of cake would be great, please, Mari. But don't put yourself or anyone else to trouble on my account.'

‘Seeing as I have to galvanize someone to make an effort, you may as well choose what you want to eat. Ham or chicken sandwich?' Mari barked.

‘One of each?' Joey ventured.

‘That's you; always want one of every sort that's going.'

‘Mari!' Sali reprimanded.

‘Sorry if I spoke out of turn, Miss Sali, but I'm very fond of Rhian.' She glared at Joey. ‘My sister and I warned her about this one, but would she listen? Oh no! And it ended in tears, just as we said it would.'

‘Not only Rhian's tears, Mari,' Joey said quietly.

‘Yes, well, as my sister is so fond of saying, handsome is as handsome does and you've never been very good at doing handsome, only being it.'

‘That's enough, Mari,' Sali interposed sharply. ‘Whatever happened, happened between Joey and Rhian and is their, and no one else's, business.'

Mari was fond of Rhian but she was fonder still of Sali. ‘I'll see what food I can come up with,' she said in a marginally softer tone. ‘Would you like anything, Miss Sali?'

‘Just a cup of tea to keep Joey company, please, Mari. And if that is Lloyd,' she added as the front door opened, ‘you'd better bring three cups.'

‘I may as well bring a full tea in early and make fresh for Master Harry when he comes in from his riding lesson.'

Lloyd walked in still wearing his hat, his face grim, his dark eyes glittering with anger.

‘Lloyd, whatever's happened? Is it Harry?' Sali leaped to her feet.

‘He's fine,' he reassured her quickly. ‘I saw him and Robert in the field down by the river when I drove in.'

‘Then the meeting –'

‘The meeting went as well as any meeting between representatives of His Majesty's Services and their despised suppliers could. After it, I was enjoying a quiet drink in the bar with two of our engineers when I saw Geraint.' He turned to his brother.

‘Geraint's back?' Sali asked.

‘Back, married and staying in a suite in the New Inn with his wife until tomorrow morning, when he's catching a train to an army camp to begin his basic training. He even unbent enough to speak to me long enough to tell me that he's been commissioned as a second lieutenant and his regiment is being posted to France next month.'

‘So soon.' Sali paled. With Gareth in Sandhurst she'd been forced to come to terms with the idea of having one brother drafted into the war, and, despite her differences with Geraint, she couldn't bear the thought of both of them being sent to the Front.

‘After the brainwashing of patriotism, King and country Geraint was subjected to at public school, he sees it as his duty to serve. From the way he was talking, you'd think he was off on a jaunt not a killing field.' Lloyd took off his hat and dropped it on a chair. ‘You'd better remind me to have a few quiet words with Harry before he reaches military age.'

‘It will be over by the time Harry comes of age, won't it?' Sali asked anxiously.

‘I hope so, sweetheart. However, given the size of the Kaiser's standing army, I wouldn't bet on it. But then, Geraint's not the only one who has enlisted. Is he, Joey?'

When Joey didn't answer him, he added, ‘There's no use denying it. Geraint told me that he'd seen you in the Drill Hall.'

Sali looked from her husband to his brother and sank slowly back down on the sofa.

‘Joey, how could you?' Lloyd railed. ‘You know how our father feels about the war. This will kill him and almost certainly you. Of all the stupid, hare-brained, idiotic things you've done in your life, this has to be the worst.'

‘When do you leave?' Sali asked Joey in a small voice.

‘The eight o'clock train tomorrow morning.'

‘You've seen the newsreels of the Kaiser's army. It's better equipped than ours and it's huge. Fritz is going to make mincemeat out of Jacques and Tommy. It's not going to be a war, it's going to be a bloodbath and you couldn't wait to jump into it.' Lloyd turned away from his brother in disgust. When he spoke again his voice was terse, and Sali knew he was having a problem controlling his temper. ‘Give me one reason, just one reason why you signed your life away? And it had better be a good one.'

‘Because the army promised to make a man of me.' Joey's stupid quip fell leadenly into the heavy atmosphere.

‘None of your idiotic jokes, not now.'

Seeking support, Joey sat on the sofa besides Sali. She reached for his hand and held it. He looked at her then at his brother. ‘I think you know why I joined up, Lloyd.'

‘You've thrown your life away over a' – Lloyd remembered that he was talking about Rhian and curbed his language – ‘a girl. Joey …'

‘A special girl, Lloyd. Rhian meant – means – as much to me as Sali means to you or Megan means to Victor.'

‘And now it's over between you two you've decided to commit suicide?' Lloyd stated acidly.

‘Not all soldiers get killed in battle. I came here before going home because I hoped that you two would understand why I enlisted, and travel up to Tonypandy with me. I want to explain why I did it to Dad, and say goodbye to him, Megan and Victor.'