Copper to Red (The Dillwyns' Stories) (3 page)

She had gone
to the hairdressers earlier to cheer herself up as she had been thinking of Rob
and her marriage break down all day.  The saloon had just opened and as a
bonus, had given her a make-up lesson too.  She peered closely at her
reflection in the mirror.  Although she wasn’t used to the amount of make-up
around her eyes, they did look quite sultry and smoky.  Willow smiled, the
hairdressers were right, the miniskirt, which showed off her never ending legs,
and her new haircut and make-up gave her a good feeling about herself.  She was
ready to go downstairs, after giving her skirt one last tug.

David nearly
dropped the pint glass he was filling when his daughter came downstairs into
the bar area.  Being an alert Landlord, he also noticed how many male eyes
turned towards her too.  A very uncomfortable feeling came over him; the apple
of his eye was all grown up.  Hell, he knew she had been married, but she had
just sort of flowed into that.  Here and now, it was all too real for her
father.  David cleared his throat and sidled up to her, whispering so only
Willow heard, “Hey, Janet, no bending down in that skirt.  Ask me if you need
me to get
anything
.”

Willow chuckled
at his protectiveness and looked him straight in the eye, a beautiful smile
playing over her uncommonly painted lips, “I love you Daddy.” She kissed his
cheek. “Now, back to work.  Who needs serving?”

“Me!” came
the chorus of replies from the numerous males standing at the bar.

David sighed
and shook his head, while Willow put on a smile for the customers.

~~~~

Time had
flown once again in the busy public house.  It was nearly closing time and her
mother had gone upstairs to count the takings.

“I’m going
to collect the remaining glasses Dad.”

“Okay love. 
I’ll sort the bar out.  Ask the lingering customers to start making their way
home.  Check the snug too, I think I saw some people in there.”

Willow
picked up the cloth, bucket and brush for the tables and ashtrays.  She felt strangely
deflated.  When she had come down into the bar, she had felt top of the world;
the responses she got from the customers had been a boost to her self-esteem. Throughout
her life she had been told by numerous people that she was beautiful, but she
never really believed them.  That childhood teasing had a lot to answer for.  She
exhaled, she was an adult now and knew she had grown out of that, but Robert’s
abandonment had brought up all those negative feelings to the surface again.  She
had only truly felt beautiful when he was around to love her, but now he loved
someone else.  Willow chastised herself, she knew she was the one who had to
build her confidence, it had to come from her first, not from someone else. 
She had slowly learned that, but it was a nice boost when someone else
commented on how good she looked.  She picked up the full ashtray to empty, one
of her least favourite jobs, having never smoked herself.  During the menial
task she tried to work out her perplexed feelings.  She knew she looked good
tonight, she had enough confidence to know that, but Willow wondered why she
felt deflated when everyone had been so complementary?

She nearly
dropped the ashtray she was cleaning, when realisation hit her.  To her
amazement, she was disappointed that Tom Dillwyn wasn’t in to see her all done
up!  Realising that she had spent most of the night wondering where he was, why
he wasn’t with his friends, she cursed her stupidity.  Why on earth was she
thinking about Tom Dillwyn?  He was one of the worst men she knew for being
with different women.  He was dark, handsome and dangerous looking, with a fit
body from working in the markets and he was tall, so much taller than most.  He
also always knew when to flash his pearly whites and he knew the right lines to
use on women.   She shook her head to try to shake away the confusion. 
Logically she knew her body responded to him, which was easy to deal with, as
she knew they would never have the opportunity to act on it.  Never in a
million years could she trust him, which was fine too, but it didn’t explain
why she was disappointed not to see him.  Willow bent and continued to wipe the
drink rings off the table.  Perhaps he was someone that she
wanted
to make
an impression on, but
only
to boost her own ego.  It would be marvellous,
if someone who dated lots of women, would notice her.  She smiled in triumph. 
Yes, that was it.  She had been badly broken when her one true love had left
her for another, so now she just needed an ego boost.  She brushed the ash into
the bucket.  No, she did not want a
real
relationship with anyone, she
wouldn’t allow her heart to be hurt again and, truthfully, she didn’t think she
could ever love again.  All she wanted to do was to have someone, like Tom who
had never shown the remotest bit of attention other that treating her like one
of the lads, take a little superficial interest in her.   She persuaded herself
that was why she wanted him to see her all made up.  Proper relationships were
not for her, as her broken heart would testify.

Still in a
day dream, she pushed open the snug’s frosted glass door and froze.

~~~~

Tom felt Jane
stiffen and pull away from his embrace.   With a mixture of alcohol, tiredness
and contentment, he opened his eyes slowly.  Relaxed. 

He wasn’t
prepared for what he saw.  His eyes began at a sexy pair of low slung heels,
travelled up never-ending, shapely legs, moved over the tiniest skirt, up a
tight fitting t-shirt and ended up looking into a pair of smouldering eyes the
colour of malt whiskey. 

Tom could of
sworn his tongue was on the floor when he croaked out, “Willow?”  Jane was long
forgotten. 

He caught a
look of annoyance flick through Willow’s eyes as she took in the scene.  “Sorry,
I didn’t realise the snug had turned into a brothel.”

“What?”
spluttered Jane as she managed to get the top button of her shift dress done
up.   Jane hit Tom, wanting him to say something in her defence, annoyed that
he was silent.

“What?” the
jar to his ribs had made some of the fog clouding his brain clear. “Sorry.”  He
smiled weakly, looking at Willow.

Jane huffed,
“That’s not what I meant!  She insulted me and you are just sitting there
letting her!”

Tom turned
his glazed green eyes away from Willow and looked towards Jane, “Well, your
dress was undone.”

Jane slid
him a chilling look.  A smack with her handbag made him realise that perhaps
his reply wasn’t the smartest move his alcohol addled brain could have come up
with.   He watched her pick up her umbrella and storm out of the snug, shoving
Willow as she passed. She threw over her shoulder, “We’re finished Tom Dillwyn.
Forever!”

He shrugged
his shoulders at Willow, who slammed the snug door shut, after scowling at him
for a while.

Tom sighed, what
was it with the women tonight?  He needed to get home, he must have drunk too
much.

Tom rolled
over in bed, pulling the pillow with him.  His head was pounding.  It felt like
a jackhammer was going off.  He squeezed his eyes shut, he couldn’t remember
drinking the amount that would make him feel this bad. 

He tried to
recall the night, which was still fuzzy in his hung over brain.  Some of the it
came back to him, he cringed and stuck the pillow over his head.  He remembered
meeting Jane in the snug.  They had started drinking vodka and Cherry Bs, not
his usual drinks, which explained the thumping hangover.  He recalled, after
all her friends had left,
she
had got a little amorous.  Christ, that
woman had arms like an octopus!  She had been rubbing her hand up and down his
thigh all night, under the table, so her friends couldn’t see, but he could
certainly feel it.  She practically sat on his lap as soon as they were alone
in the snug.  There were only so much of her obvious come-ons that he could
successfully ignore in his inebriated state, eventually starting to kiss her
back.  What he didn’t know, being drunk, was that she had started to open the
dress that she was wearing.  If he had been sober enough to be aware of what
she was doing, he would have stopped her.  He cursed, and then cursed again
when his head pounded, he was twenty eight years old for goodness sake, not a
youth that would try and undress a woman in a public place. 

Then he
remembered Willow had come in!  He cringed, perhaps if he was sober, he would
have cringed then as well, instead of sitting there looking dumbstruck.  But
Christ, those legs on Willow, they had stopped him in his tracks!  And she had
done something with her hair and face, she looked stunning.  Well, she looked
stunned as well as stunning, coming to think of it!  He remembered the anger
flickering in her eyes.  Tom let out a shallow moan realising he had been
spending more and more time thinking about Willow.  The way his body was
responding right now, she was obviously more than a fleeting thought.

Anne
interrupted his thoughts with a shout up the stairs.  “Get up Tom!  Ria has
just arrived!”

~~~~

Johnny burst
through the front door, running as fast as his five year old legs could carry
him.  He jumped straight into Evan’s open arms and was swung in the air by his
grandfather.  His young laughter filled the crowded room.  

“Faster,
Taid!” he squealed in pure delight.

While
pulling her coat off and carefully hanging it up, Ria looked towards her father
and son.  She attempted to put a stern face on, but was secretly smiling
inside, “Dad, you’ll have his breakfast up all over his Sunday school clothes.”
 

Her Dad
looked towards her, a huge smile on his face, it was so obvious he loved being
a grandfather.   They had chosen to call her parents Taid and Nain, the North
Wales words for grandparents.  Ria had been a little unsure at first as she
remembered getting frustrated in primary school when her teachers didn’t know
how to spell Taid and Nain; they always wrote tide and nine. Ria knew they had
spelt them incorrectly, they just sounded the same.  Frustrated with her
teachers she would say
I want the Welsh for Grandfather and Grandmother,
but
they used to give her the South Wales versions, Tad-cu and Mam-cu.   Now
as an adult and being proud of her Celtic heritage, Ria had decided she did
want to use Welsh names, so they would have to deal with any problems, if they
came up.  They had chosen the South Wales versions for Morgan’s parents.  The
children had no trouble at the moment, Johnny being really cute when he shouted
Tadkeeeyyy
and
Mamkeeeyy
to get Morgan’s parents attention. 

Ria turned
as the door opened and Morgan walked in.  He was a while behind Ria, having
emptied the car of everything they needed.  Rose, his daughter, was balancing in
the crook of his left arm.  Her red curly hair was already coming loose from
the pony tail she had struggled to keep still for.  “Kiss for Nain and Taid,
kiss for Nain and Taid.”  Her little podgy arms sought out her grandmother,
leaning away from her Morgan, who was having difficulty holding her. 

“Hey, wait a
minute darling, you will fall before Nain can catch you!”  Morgan adjusted the
hold on his wiggling daughter and passed her over to Megan. 

Meg started
showering kisses over Rose’s face, her squeals of delight mixing with her
brother, who was still being swung around by Evan.  Meg loved being a
grandmother, her children had grown up and she missed having young ones
around.  The noise, the arguments, the laughter and even the mess was something
she missed greatly; life seemed to have gone so fast.   While she still had
four of her children at home, they were all pretty much independent of her.  She
sat down on the chair and started to bop Rose up and down singing
Horsey,
Horsey don’t you stop.

A knock on
the door was followed by Doris’s head peeping around it.  Doris was a neighbour
and good friend of Megan.  Doris’s husband had died in a mining accident years
before and, as she didn’t have children, she treated Ria’s like her own
grandchildren.  “Is there anyone in here that likes chocolate?”

Rose rapidly
lost interest in the bouncing game, chocolate seeming the better option, as she
scrabbled out of Megan’s lap.  “Me, me!” Johnny and Rose shouted out in unison,
jumping up and down in front of Doris.

“Well, what
do I have here?”  Doris brought her hands from behind her back, complete with a
couple of Kit Kats. 

Ria smiled,
it was no good telling Doris not to spoil the children with treats, it gave her
too much pleasure.  She had told Ria years ago that her disappointment in life
was the lack of children.  But being religious, Doris had just said it wasn’t
what God had planned for her, so she would be lucky enough to enjoy and spoil
other peoples. 

“Got one for
me too?” Morgan piped up from the sitting room, where he was having five
minutes peace reading the newspaper.

Doris
grinned, “You’re too big for chocolate, isn’t he?” she conspired with the children;
both Johnny and Rose nodded, willing to agree to anything to get the Kit Kats
in their hands.

“Don’t
forget to say thank you to Aunty Doris.”  Megan pointed out their manners
before turning to her neighbour.  “Fancy a cuppa before Church, Doris?” Megan
was already pouring a cup as she knew her friend would never turn down a cup of
tea.  While refilling the teapot with hot water, Meg looked towards Ria who was
unwrapping a KitKat.  “Sorry Ria, I have run out of instant coffee.”  She
turned and shouted towards the sitting room, “Sam, grab 2/3d out of my purse
and go and get two ounces of Nescafe from the corner shop, would you?”