All That Glitters (35 page)

‘They’re always together these days.’

‘His brother was getting married today. She lives with the family, so they probably invited her.’

‘Then why aren’t they both in church?’ Babs demanded.

‘There’s nothing between them,’ Helen said kindly. ‘Haydn told me Jane has no one. He sees himself as an older brother.’

‘That’s how he might see himself, but I’m not so sure about her.’ Babs looked at Jane’s flat chest and scrawny figure and climbed out of the water. Pushing out her breasts, she posed on the diving rock and shouted. ‘Haydn, coo-ee, over here! Come and join us.’

‘Not today thanks, Babs.’ He led the way on to the opposite bank and round the lake. ‘Cigarette?’ he asked Jane, reaching for the packet in his pocket.

‘I’ve never tried.’

‘Do you want to?’

‘I don’t think so. If I liked it I’d want to buy some.’

‘And you’re saving?’

She nodded, grateful that the girls were now behind them.

‘What for?’

‘Nothing, really. Just putting money by in case I lose my job.’

‘I don’t think the Town Hall’s going to let you go in a hurry.’

‘You never know. Anything could happen.’

‘It’s time you stopped looking over your shoulder. Dad and Phyllis will never put you out, not while they’ve got a roof over their heads. Diana’s fond of you. Brian adores you.’ He sat on the bank that overlooked the stream at the top end of the lake. Jane would have preferred to walk on, out of earshot of the cries of the chorus girls.

‘How much longer has the Variety got to run?’ she asked, eyeing the bank next to him.

‘Another three weeks. Here,’ he took off his jacket and spread it out on the grass.

‘I can’t sit on that, it’s too good.’

‘Of course you can. Pity I haven’t got my coat. The weather’s been so warm lately I’m not even sure where I’ve left it.’

‘What are you going to do when the Variety finishes?’

‘I’ve signed up for a run Chuckles has managed to get an angel to underwrite.’

‘An angel?’

‘A fairy godfather who has more money than sense, and fortunately for us, enough of it to back a show. If we’re lucky it will survive in the provinces and go to the West End. I hope it does. I’d like to do things the right way round for a change, instead of taking up the provincial runs from the West End stars.’

‘I hope it works out the way you want,’ she said, not quite understanding all the ins and outs of Variety.

‘Thank you, kind lady.’ He pushed his hat to the crown of his head and leaned back on his hands. ‘Here,’ he took the carnation Harry Griffiths had clipped to his buttonhole and handed it to her. ‘Sweets to the sweet, as they say,’ he murmured as she took it from him. Their fingers touched. He looked into her eyes and saw something that had eluded him for a long time. A loving intimacy born out of innocence. The kind he had once enjoyed with Jenny before chorus girls with their sophisticated, maneating ways had entered his life. Putting his fingers beneath Jane’s chin he lifted her face to his, and kissed her.

Chapter Twenty

‘I didn’t mean that to happen.’

‘I’m glad it did.’

‘I’m not. You deserve better than a rat like me who can make love to three girls in one week.’

‘Four?’ she looked up at him, mischief glowing in brown eyes streaked gold by the sunlight.

‘Listen Jane, you can’t rely on me, I’m here today, gone tomorrow. Different town, different theatre, different girl every week. I’m not even fit to be around someone decent like you. In a couple of weeks I’ll be moving on, we may never see one another again.’

‘You’ll be here long enough to make some memories.’

‘Memories aren’t what you need, Jane. You need someone steady, who’ll always be there to care for you.’

‘I don’t want caring from someone steady.’ She slipped her hand into his. ‘Just another kiss from you.’

‘Don’t you understand …’

‘I understand. You’re trying to tell me that you’re sorry you kissed me because you won’t be in Pontypridd much longer. Well, I’m not sorry. I liked being kissed by you. If I didn’t I would have thumped you right where it hurts, just as I did the first boy who tried to take liberties with me.’

‘Were there any others who dared to try to “take liberties” after him?’ he asked, smiling at the old-fashioned expression.

‘No.’

He started to laugh.

‘What’s so funny?’

‘You are. The thought of a girl as pint-sized as you thumping anyone is hysterical.’ He glanced at his wristwatch. ‘Come on, if we’re going to change before the first performance it’s time to make a move.’ He rose to his feet and offered his hand to help her up. She took it, and held on to it as they walked away.

‘Then it’s all right?’

‘What’s all right?’

‘You’ll consider kissing me again before you leave?’

‘I mean it, you deserve better.’

‘And if I don’t want better?’

‘It can’t possibly go anywhere.’

‘Who wants it to go any further than this?’ She stopped. Lifting her head and standing on tiptoe she raised her face to his. Wrapping his arms around her, he bent his head and kissed her again. She tasted of spring, of youth laced with the bitter tang of foreboding. He sensed this was one impulse he was going to regret. But none of the presentiments of impending disaster stopped him from doing what they both wanted until the sun beating down reminded him that they had jobs to go to.

Eddie followed the porter who carried their bags upstairs, into the bedroom Andrew John had booked for them. Pushing aside the net at the window, he looked out over Market Square. It was teeming with Saturday shoppers. It felt most peculiar to be here in the middle of the day with no work to go to, and nothing to do until it was time to eat later.

‘Is everything satisfactory, sir, madam?’ The porter hovered in the doorway.

‘Fine, thank you,’ Eddie nodded, then he remembered. Delving into his pocket he pulled out a sixpence.

‘Thank you, sir, madam. We hope your stay with us will be a pleasant one.’ He closed the door behind him, and Eddie walked across the room and locked it.

‘Eddie, no. Not in the middle of the day. Everyone will know what we’re doing.’

‘Would you rather do it with my brother?’ he asked bitterly.

‘No, not ever. And not with you in the middle of the day.’

‘Well you’ve no choice in the matter. You’ve said I do, and that’s it, madam. And while we’re talking about obeying, you can start forgetting all about Haydn, right now. No matter what you did with him once, it’s over, and it’s not going to happen again. Not if you want to remain in one piece.’ He crossed the room, pulled her to him and began to unbutton her jacket.

‘I told you, I’ve never done anything with Haydn. It’s over between us. I’m sorry for what happened at the church. I just lost my head. I wasn’t thinking straight. Eddie …’ She backed away, trembling, afraid of the strange light in his eyes.

‘You’re nothing but a bloody tease …’

Eddie’s outburst was interrupted by voices echoing in the corridor outside. Jenny went to the only chair and sat on it, legs demurely together, hands resting in her lap. The pose of the lady drummed into her by her mother.

‘Over here!’

‘No. Everyone in the hotel has probably guessed we’ve just got married.’

‘So what? There’s a first night for everyone.’

‘Exactly, a night not a day.’

‘Time and place have never stopped you before.’

‘Well they’re stopping me now.’

‘Why? Because we’re married? Is this what it’s going to be like from now on? You’ve caught me, you’ve got the ring on your finger, and now you’re going to kiss my brother behind my back and make me beg every time I feel like having a bit of fun?’ He was so angry he failed to see how close she was to tears. ‘Bloody hell! No wonder the gym’s so full of men getting away from their wives. I thought, really thought, you were different. Prancing around Shoni’s without a stitch on, kissing every inch of me, all that talk about wanting to sleep beside me every night. Then that night you -’

‘There was no one there.’

‘There’s no one here now.’

‘They’re just outside the door.’

‘So what are you saying? That you can only drop your knickers and open your legs in the dark in Shoni’s?’

‘Have you got to be so crude?’

‘You never thought I was crude before.’

‘That’s because you weren’t.’

‘But now you’ve hooked me I’m crude and not good enough for you any more. And Haydn is? Well I’ll tell you one thing Mrs
Eddie
Powell. You haven’t got your father here,’ he rammed his finger into his chest. ‘Your mother may have pushed him out of her bed and relegated him to the box room, but I know my rights. I married you, and that means I can have you, any time anywhere I choose.’ He caught her by the shoulders and threw her on to the bed. Then the tears came, a dam-burst that soaked her cheeks and quenched his rage. Furious with himself for allowing his temper to surface, and with her for provoking him, he turned his back and looked out of the window.

At that moment the irrevocable permanence of what he’d done hit home. Right or wrong, he’d made his choice, tied himself to Jenny and was stuck with her. As the marriage service said ‘till death us do part’. The muffled sounds from the corridor, her ragged breathing interspersed with sobs closed in around him, crushing, unbearable. He wanted to scream and shout. To run from the room and her, as fast as he could. Soft shoes shuffled over the thick carpet outside the door. There was a knock. Grim-faced, he walked from the window to open it. A bellboy stood there holding a silver bucket containing a champagne bottle set in ice, and a tray with two glasses.

‘Compliments of Dr and Mrs John, sir,’ he murmured looking at Jenny’s tear-stained face.

Eddie took the tray from him.

‘Would you like me to open it for you, sir?’

‘No.’ Eddie kicked the door closed. This time, Jenny noted with relief, he didn’t lock it.

‘Aren’t you going to open it?’ she asked timorously, wishing that once, just this once, he’d tell her he loved her.

‘Doesn’t look like we’ve got anything worth celebrating.’ He set the tray down on a side table.

‘Eddie, I’m sorry. But I can’t go to bed with you, not now in the middle of the day. Imagine if we had and that boy had come with the champagne?’

‘We would have asked him to leave it outside the door and he would have. This is a hotel. They’re used to coping with life.’

‘I’m sorry I’m not.’

‘So am I.’

There was a barbed edge to his voice that she didn’t know how to begin to soften. She left the bed, went to the wardrobe and removed a coat-hanger. Opening her case she proceeded to hang up the few things she’d brought. It would only take her a few minutes, but she had to do something to stop the voices in her head from screaming that she had married the wrong man. Before she’d emptied her case she heard the door opening. She whirled around to see Eddie, with his hat and jacket on.

‘You’re not going out?’

‘Why shouldn’t I? There’s nothing to keep me here.’

‘I never knew it could be so warm at this time of night,’ Jane observed as she and Haydn walked up the Graig hill at the end of what seemed like a marathon of three shows.

‘It won’t last.’ Haydn stopped and removed his lightweight jacket. He’d found his coat, and left it where he’d found it, hanging on the back of his dressing-room door. Slinging his jacket over one shoulder he loosened his tie and unfastened the collar on his shirt. ‘Winter’ll soon be here and then we’ll be wanting more of this.’

‘I suppose we will,’ she agreed, remembering last winter and how cold she’d been scrubbing the workhouse yard and steps.

‘If the weather holds tomorrow, we could go to the seaside.’

‘The seaside!’ Even in the subdued lighting of the street her eyes glittered with excitement.

‘Which do you prefer, Barry Island or Porthcawl?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I prefer Barry myself. Most people say the fair is better in Porthcawl, but Barry is the first holiday place I remember going to, so I’ve always liked it best.’

‘Wouldn’t it cost an awful lot?’

‘The train fare isn’t that much. Make it my treat, and we’ll get Di and Will to come with us.’

‘I’ll go only if you let me pay my way.’

‘I said, my treat.’

‘I won’t come otherwise.’

‘All right, be independent.’

‘I will.’

‘We’ll have to take blankets, food, buckets and spades, and bathers.’

‘Bathers?’

‘There’s no point in going to Barry if you don’t go swimming, girl.’

‘What do you mean you haven’t got a pair of bathers?’ Diana looked at Jane in amazement.

‘I’ve never been swimming.’

‘And I’ve only got one pair, unless …’ she opened her wardrobe door and went rummaging in the bottom.

‘What are you looking for?’

‘Trying to see if Maud left a pair behind. I couldn’t swear to it, but I think she was even skinnier than you.’ Diana fussed around throwing out various odd shoes, bits of ribbon and crumpled handkerchiefs. After five minutes she emerged with what looked like a child’s hand-knitted swimsuit. ‘Do you think you could get into this?’ she asked doubtfully.

‘I could try.’ Jane lifted the skirt of the cotton frock she’d put on that morning, kicked off her bloomers and struggled into the suit.

‘Let’s have a look.’

Jane pulled her dress over her head and Diana gazed critically at her.

‘I think you’re just the right side of decent.’

‘I’ve put on weight since I’ve come here,’ Jane said, studying herself in the mirror. She’d filled out a little, although Merv could still quite rightly say that she didn’t have a lot upstairs, she reflected, thinking wistfully of Judy and Mandy’s figures, and wishing that they hadn’t told Merv where she worked. Haydn’s kiss had changed her whole outlook on life. All of a sudden money didn’t seem as important as some other things. She’d burnt Merv’s photographs in the stove in the early hours of the morning, at the same time promising herself that she’d never, never go to his studio again, no matter how much he offered her.

‘Is it comfortable?’

‘Not too bad.’

‘Then I’d wear it and pack your underclothes into a towel. That way you don’t have to change on the beach. You can always dry and dress yourself under the skirt of your dress easier than you can undress. Right, let’s go. Sooner we make a move, the sooner we’ll get there.’

*……*……*

‘Train leaves Barry Sub at half-past nine,’ William announced through a mouth full of toast and dripping.

‘You’re coming, aren’t you Phyllis?’ Diana asked. ‘Because I’ll feel awful if you don’t, seeing as how it’s my day to cook.’

‘Evan and I are coming.’ Phyllis wrapped cheese and pickle sandwiches in brown paper.

‘This is a great idea of Haydn’s.’

‘Where is he, Will?’

‘Clay piping his shoes out the back. He’s dug up a blazer from what looks like the props department of a pierrot show. I’m not sure I want to be seen with him.’ William finished off the last piece of toast in one bite.

‘One bucket and spade.’ Evan walked in from the garden with a battered tin spade and bucket in one hand and Brian in the other.

‘Sandwiches.’ Phyllis thrust them into her shopping bag. ‘But we haven’t any drinks.’

‘Don’t panic. We’ll pick up a couple of bottles of pop and some biscuits in Griffiths’ shop.’

Caught up in the air of excitement, Jane dashed around with the others. Phyllis put a tin of scones on top of the sandwiches, then packed a layer of Diana’s home-made biscuits on top of the scones. William produced an old cricket bag and packed two blankets and the rolls of towels and underclothes into it. Evan pushed the bucket and spade on top. Diana found a couple of balls and made room for them. Checking the strength of the sun by standing in the back-yard, Phyllis ran to get a large floppy brimmed cotton hat for Brian that the boys protested made him look like a girl. Then just as the others were ready to leave, she decided she needed her cold cream as well.

‘If we don’t go now, we’ll miss the train,’ William shouted impatiently.

While Diana strapped Brian into his pushchair, Evan wrote out a note for anyone who might call. Laying it in the centre of the kitchen table he called, ‘Ready?’

Diana picked up the food. William took the cricket bag, Phyllis pushed the pushchair and they went out through the front door. Jane ran on ahead to Griffiths’ shop to save time. She bought bottles of orangeade and lemonade as her contribution to the holiday, then on impulse asked for a box of chocolates.

‘You going out for the day?’ Harry asked.

‘To the seaside.’

‘Then it’ll be boiled sweets or wine gums you’ll be wanting, love, not chocolate. It’ll melt in this heat.’

Settling on a quarter of each, Jane ran out and caught up with the others.

‘We’ve picked a good day,’ William said, looking up at the sky.

‘Always is a good day on workmen’s club outing.’

‘I didn’t know they were going today,’ Haydn took the bottles from Jane.

‘Showing your age,’ Will shook his head. ‘Too old to be taken on the outing and too young to join and drink with the men.’

‘You a member?’