Copper to Red (The Dillwyns' Stories) (9 page)

The heat of
Tom’s thumb on her cold face, stopped her laughter dead.  Willow could almost
physically feel the air change around them.  She explored his eyes, swiftly
seeing the laughter in them transmute into desire.  She felt his hand slowly move
to behind her neck and gently pull her towards him. He was giving her time to refuse;
she had no desire to stop him.  His warm, exploring lips tentatively travelled
over hers, while his thumbs circled under her ear lobes as the rest of his warm
hands clasped the back of her head.  Blood started pumping through her body,
pounding in her ears.  Every instinct to stop the kiss was effectively being
quashed by her body’s responses to him.  She sighed into the kiss, losing all
thoughts.

The squeal and
quick footsteps of a young child brought them out of their own world.  Tom
quickly swivelled his head towards the noise, while he moved his arms down around
Willow’s waist.  The toddler stopped short in surprise.  A grin split Tom’s
face when he turned back around towards Willow.  “I think we have been busted.”
He expressed amusement at the toddler’s wide eyed look. 

Willow
looked over Tom’s shoulder at the toddler’s approaching mother and tried to
take a step back.  Tom tightened his grip and shook his head.  “Oh no you
don’t.  It has taken me a long time to get you back into my arms and no little
child is going to spoil our pleasure.”  He placed a kiss on the tip of her
nose, but Willow was still tense, the arrival of more people making her
unsettled to be in his arms.  He released his embrace fractionally and sighed. 
“Okay, perhaps this isn’t the best place for us, especially for what is running
through my mind…”

Willow gave
Tom a pretend slap while she laughed, enjoying the ripples of anticipation
running through her.

“…but…. I
really want to have a chat with you, about us.”  His bright green eyes looked
directly at her, searching for her reactions.  “After the pub closes tonight,
when there are no interruptions, we will to sit down and have a heart-to-heart,
find out what is going on between us.”  He regarded her closely.  “Because,
believe me, I would really like there to be something between us Willow.”  He
tenderly gave her a light kiss on her lips.

Willow was
glad he was still holding her, her legs felt like too weak to support her.  What
a roller coaster of emotions she had experienced in the last couple of hours. 
The nervousness of not knowing his reaction to her, the bolt of attraction she
felt when he opened the door, the laughter, the searing kiss that they had
shared that made her forget that they were in the park, the innocent look of
shock from the child had made her feel embarrassed, it wasn’t acceptable for a
divorced woman to be found kissing someone in the park, especially a kiss like
that one.  She exhaled contentedly, Tom had managed to make her feel better, she
knew she wanted him in her life, whatever form he wanted that to take.

“Come on,”
he grabbed her hand, “Let me walk you home before I go to work, then I will see
you tonight.”

~~~~

Willow
nearly dropped another glass, just catching it in time.  Her nerves were
jittery, made even worse by Tom’s killer smile which he kept flashing at her from
across the pub.  Her body was buzzing with anticipation.  She knew her parents’
were wondering what on earth was going on, they kept sending looks at each
other, raising their eyebrows when they thought she wasn’t looking. 

Tom relaxed
back into the bench, unaware of the hardness of the wood, he was too content to
notice.  He glanced over at Willow again.  She looked beautiful tonight, a rosy
glow seemed permanently on her face, perhaps it was the wind this morning, but
Tom liked to think it was because of him.  He had caught her looking over at
him a number of times and each time he gave her a knowing smile, she looked
away bashfully.  She certainly had his blood pounding.  Time seemed to be going
too slowly, he was definitely counting the minutes down until their talk.  He
felt the sudden rushing of his heart, perhaps there wouldn’t be too much
talking, he couldn’t remember a time that he had wanted someone so badly.  He
shock his unreasonable thoughts out of his head, a talk to straighten things
out was all that was going to happen tonight with her parents around.  He could
look forward to the rest that he wanted to follow in the future.  His feelings
for her had crept up on him, but they certainly had a foot hold now, he knew he
wanted her in his life.  Once he had slept with her, his interest in her had
increased, not decreased.  Her angry reaction to their lovemaking had mystified
him, but he had a feeling, after the kiss in the park, they were going to be
able to work it out.  He wanted to work it out, he felt the physical ache and
enjoyed it.  John brought him back into the conversation with a nudge.

Willow
looked at the clock, only an hour to go.  She was eager to have the chat with
Tom.  All afternoon she had been going over all different scenarios, all ending
up with her in his arms; she felt herself blush at the thought, catching his
knowing look made her colour even further.  It had been such a long time since
she had felt this kind of anticipation; it was making working normally quite
difficult.  She felt the tingle radiate down her spine and she knew before
turning that Tom was at the bar.  “I’ll serve Tom, Dad.”  She noticed her
father raise his eyebrows at her mother again.  “What can I get you?” Willow
hoped her voice wasn’t giving away any of her feelings.

A smile
played at the corners of Tom’s mouth as he leaned closer over the bar and
whispered so only Willow could hear, “I think I would be thrown out by your Dad
if I said what I would like you to get me.”

She giggled
as she straightened quickly back up, taking a quick peek to see if her mother
or father had heard.  “Mild or draught?” she smiled sweetly at him, the
laughter making her eyes sparkle.

He pretended
to look dejected, “Okay, make that five milds and two draughts then please.” 
Tom dug for the money out of his pocket.  “You still all right for a chat
tonight?”

“Yes.”
Willow continued to pull the pints, placing them in a line on the counter.  “It
is my night to lock up as Dad does the accounts, with Mam’s help.  Just stay
behind after the others have left.”  She looked towards his friends.  “Unless
they will think it’s strange that you’re not leaving.”

Tom looked
towards his table. “Not really.  Michael and my Dad aren’t here tonight; they
are working down the mines, so no one will notice.”  He picked up two pints to
take over while Willow poured the rest.  He stopped and turned back around,
“Willow?”  She looked up.  “I am really looking forward to our
chat
tonight.”

“And me.” 
She whispered almost to herself as she watched him turn and walk towards his
friends, pints in his hands.

“Here you
are boys, drink up.  I’ll go and get the rest.”  Tom turned back towards the
bar just as the pub’s door swung open. 

Mr Dai Davies,
the local greengrocer, stood in the door way, red faced, eyes adjusting to the
lights, searching for something.  His eyes zeroed in on Tom as he strode
towards him. 

Tom gave a
perplexed smile when he noticed it was him that Mr Davies was making a bee line
towards. “Hi Mr Davies…” Tom didn’t have enough time for the rest of the
sentence as he was grabbed by the smaller man, his anger and surprise giving
him the distinct advantage.  Pints went flying as tables and people sprang up.

“…why this
is where you are hiding, you worthless son of a bitch!” Dai spat the words out,
as close to Tom’s face that his height would allow. 

Tom grabbed
Dai’s hands which were gripping his clothes.  He certainly didn’t want a punch
off this man, the anger coming off him was making the smaller man shake.  Tom had
no idea what was going on, so he tried to calm the situation down.  From the
corners of his eyes, he saw his friends circle around them and he heard the
shout from Willow’s father, to take it outside.  Tom wanted to sort out any
trouble without fists, he had his fair share of fights when he was younger, but
it wasn’t something he desired now. “Hey now Dai, calm down.  Let’s sit down and
discuss what’s wrong.”

Dai looked
around at all the faces and released his grip slightly, colour bleeding back
into his knuckles that were previously white.  He wasn’t ready to entirely settle
down though.  “Don’t tell me you don’t know what’s wrong!”

Tom was
relieved when the older man released him, but he had the feeling he wasn’t out
of the woods quite yet.  Tom shook his head slowly, frantically searching his
brain, “No…”  He took a step back when Dai lunged for him again.

“My Sarah!” 

Tom felt his
stomach lurch to the floor, he did know Dai’s daughter, he had courted her for nearly
two years.

“My Sarah –
you have got her pregnant!” Dai shouted for all to hear.

Tom glanced
quickly at Willow’s stunned face, as he rolled back on his heels, his world
crashing down around him.

~~~~

Evan’s large
hand came pounding down on the wooden table making everyone around it jump. 
The whole family had been called for a chat, usually when that happened they
all knew there was trouble.  “How could you be so stupid boy!” he boomed, his
voice filling the room with its emotion.  “Haven’t you heard of protection!” 

Anne hid her
mouth under her hand, immaturity and nervousness had her trying to stifle her
giggle.   Her brother, Sam looked white, hoping no attention would be brought
to him, he hadn’t even had his first kiss yet! 

“Of course I
have!” Tom raised his voice too, but then tempered it, getting angry wasn’t
going to change the fact that he had got Sarah Davies pregnant.  “I am
always
careful, something must have gone wrong.”

“You don’t
say,” Evan took a steadying breath.  He was extremely angry at his son.  Evan
had hoped his son would find someone to love and marry, not be forced into it
by an angry father.  He exhaled the breath and shook his head, but if Tom says
he was careful not to get her pregnant, there wasn’t much they could do, he was
nearly thirty after all. 

Meg placed a
pot of tea into the middle of the wooden table, then she placed a gentle hand
on her husband’s arm, upset at the stress on Evan’s face.  Even though she had
been disappointed at the news as, she too, had secretly hoped he would fall in
love and marry, Megan was also wise enough to know that life didn’t always work
out the way you wanted it.  Tom had been seeing Sarah for a while and she was
liked by the family, but it hadn’t lasted.  Like it or not, there was a grandchild
on its way, and Meg knew they would all love it once it arrived.  Now they
needed to work out what they were going to do, as a family.  “Tom, what do
you
want to do?”

He looked at
his mother, defeat in his eyes.  He knew what he
wanted
to do, he
wanted
to make a go at a relationship with Willow.  But he knew what he
needed
to
do, to go and chat to Sarah.  “Mam, Dad, everyone, I need to talk to Sarah and
we will decided
together
what is to be done.”  He got up, his shoulders
stooped slightly, the weight of the world on them.  “I’m not sure when I will
be back.”

~~~~

Tom pulled
the front door closed behind him and finished buttoning up his coat before
heaving a big sigh.  After hours of discussions, heated at times, Sarah’s and
her mother’s tears, everything was now sorted.  He ran his fingers through his
rumpled black hair.  Only one more thing to do and he wasn’t going to like it
one little bit.

~~~~

Willow was
busy wiping the bar down lost in her own thoughts.  She was trying to get a
handle on how she felt about the scene last night.  She hadn’t had chance to
see Tom to ask him if Sarah’s father was right and he hadn’t been in this
evening, which didn’t bode well either.  Continuing her scrubbing, she ignored
her father’s remark about rubbing the varnish off the bar.  Her heart beat
faster in anxiety.  What did it mean to their fledgling relationship if Sarah
was pregnant?  She moved a mat and continued wiping up spills.  But they didn’t
have a relationship did they?  A couple of kisses and a night of passion did
not equal a relationship.  She squeezed her eyes tight as her heart constricted
in her chest.  But she did want a relationship with Tom, she loved him.  She
threw the cloth down in anger, she had done it again, she had gone and let her
heart get trodden on once more.

David had
been quietly observing his daughter all night and he was unsettled about what
he was seeing, she looked pale and in pain even.  He had asked Willow if there
was a problem but she denied any.  He sighed, hating feeling helpless, there
wasn’t much he could do until he knew what was upsetting her. He really wished
that his wife hadn’t chosen this week to go and see her sister as she was needed
to have a word with their daughter.  He was ashamed to say that he didn’t have
a clue what might have upset her, he knew very little of what she did outside
the pub.   Over the years of living with two women, David had learned that it
was sometimes best to leave things lie, they would talk when they needed to. 
He just hoped it was soon.

Tom shook
the raindrops off his coat and pushed open the Red Lion door, glad to see that
most of the customers had already left, due to the late hour.  After last
night, he really didn’t need a scene again - it had already been one very long
day.  As he walked towards the bar, he saw Willow throw down the cloth she was
holding, annoyance dancing in her eyes.  Hesitating a fraction, he wondered whether
this was the right time to talk to her.  He pushed himself forward as he knew
what he had to do.  Eyes straight, he continued walking to the bar, ignoring
all of the nudging and pointing that was going on around him from the people
still left.