The Lost Days of Summer (44 page)

‘There ain’t goin’ to be no pastry left over,’ Maggie cut in. She pointed to the large loaf tins, their contents already beginning to puff out. ‘Was you pretendin’ them loaves were young Hywel? You’ve been in a rare bate with him for the past week. But on t’other hand, I heared you and Bryn snarlin’ an’ screechin’ at each other like a couple o’ wild cats last time he called round, too.’

Nell felt her cheeks begin to glow. ‘Don’t be daft,’ she said gruffly. ‘I don’t deny I lost my temper when Bryn started saying rude things about Hywel, but it wasn’t a real fight.’

‘Yeah, maybe, but you’ve not had a good word to say for Hywel yourself lately,’ Maggie pointed out. She turned to the older woman. ‘Ain’t that true, Auntie Kath? You must have noticed that two weeks ago Nell here were on cloud nine, and Hywel were the only thing she talked about. It were Hywel this and Hywel that, and now she’s not got a good word to say for the poor feller.’

Auntie Kath smiled grimly and began to pour her cake mix into a large tin. She addressed her niece, giving Maggie a little nod as she did so. ‘It’s no good your blaming Hywel because he’s been sent to the other side of the country,’ she pointed out. ‘Once a feller’s in the forces, he’s no longer his own master. I’ve heard of young men being dispatched to Scotland one minute and Devonshire the next.’

Nell pouted. ‘But he knew if he was promoted he’d probably leave Valley. I asked him not to go before the board, but he wouldn’t listen.’

Maggie, tipping sliced apples into the pie dish and pressing down the pastry lid, shook an admonitory finger at the younger girl. ‘That was after you decided to fall in love with the feller,’ she reminded her. ‘You were still dilly-dallyin’ betwixt him and Bryn.’ She gave Nell a broad grin. ‘In fact I reckon Hywel probably decided to move away thinkin’ absence might make your heart grow fonder. So it’s all your fault!’

Nell snatched up the utensils she had been using and carried them over to the sink. ‘It’s not my fault that he never even came to tell me he was leaving,’ she said crossly. ‘One miserable postcard, which he posted when he reached Shropshire, is all I’ve had
and
he forgot to give me the telephone number of the airmen’s mess at Tern Hill. He knows very well we’re not on the telephone here and we’re far too busy on the farm for me to go into the village and hang around near the phone box in case he rings.’ She turned away from the sink to fetch the kettle of hot water steaming on the range. ‘I’m so cross with him I could scream.’

‘It’s hard on you, gal, I admit,’ Maggie said, carrying her own utensils over to the sink and dunking them in the hot water. ‘But no need to get a cob on wi’ us. Think of all the other gals what are away from their fellers, some of ’em wi’ no hope of seein’ their chaps for weeks . . . no, months; years, even. Beside them, you’re bleedin’ lucky.’

‘Language,’ Auntie Kath said automatically. She, too, carried her mixing bowl over to the sink and plonked it in the water, then gave her niece’s arm an encouraging pat. ‘If I know Hywel – and I should by now – he’ll be in touch as soon as he’s able. If he manages to get some leave and comes over here, and you meet him with a sour face . . .’

‘He won’t get leave for ages,’ Nell muttered, swishing the water about with one hand. ‘If only the postman would bring a letter . . . oh, Auntie, I’m not just cross because he didn’t let me know he was moving away, I’m worried for him. For all I know—’

‘What you want is something beside work to occupy your mind,’ Aunt Kath interrupted. ‘What say you and Maggie take a few hours off? Finish the milking and the chores and go off on the bikes. You can go to the Swtan if you want to. You never know, the old chap might have heard from the lad—’

‘If he has . . . if he’s written to Toddy and not to me—’ Nell began furiously, but got no further.

‘If he has it will be because his letter to you has gone astray, or the censor has cut so much out of it that there’s nothing left to send,’ Auntie Kath said quickly. ‘For goodness’ sake, Nell, you remind me often enough that there’s a war on; do I have to remind you?’

Nell felt her flush deepen and turned away from the sink. Drying her hands hastily on the nearest tea towel, she rushed over and gave her aunt an impulsive hug. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘It’s only because I love Hywel so much that I truly need to hear from him. Suppose he’s ill, or injured, or—’

‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ Maggie broke in. ‘If any of them things had happened, someone would have let you know. For heaven’s sake, stop imagining disaster.’

There was a thundering knock on the door and it burst open to reveal Ifor the Post. He grinned widely at them and slung half a dozen letters down in front of Auntie Kath. Then he handed a small yellow envelope to Nell. ‘It’s from young Hywel, love,’ he said ingenuously. ‘Wants you to give him a ring. He’s give you the number.’

Nell scanned the telegram eagerly. ‘Thanks, Ifor,’ she said. ‘I’ve been waiting for this.’

‘Oh aye? It come in at nine o’clock, but bein’ as it weren’t important I brung it myself with the rest of the mail.’ He glanced hopefully towards the range. ‘Something smells good; any chance of a paned?’ Without waiting for an invitation, he sat down on the nearest chair and was presently supping tea and eating a buttered scone, whilst Kath flipped through the rest of her post, announcing in a disappointed tone that it was nothing but Ministry forms and a bill for cattle feed.

Naturally, Nell was on fire to contact Hywel, and telephoned that very evening, though the call had, perforce, to be fairly short since as usual there were several people waiting for their turn. Infuriatingly, as soon as she heard Hywel’s voice, Nell burst into tears of relief, and quite half their allotted time was taken up with Nell’s gulps and sobs and Hywel’s comforting words. He had one bit of good news, however, which stopped Nell’s tears more effectively than anything else could have done. He was due some time off the following week and it seemed an ideal opportunity for him and Nell to meet up.

‘Oh, I’d be so happy if they’d let you stay at Valley,’ Nell wailed. ‘Oh, Hywel, I worry about you every minute. It wouldn’t be so bad if Ty Hen was on the phone—’

‘Nell, my love, will you calm down and listen to me?’ Hywel said with more than a hint of impatience. ‘Will your aunt give you the day off, either next Wednesday or Thursday? If so, I’ll catch the milk train and meet you under the clock on Lime Street station, at say lunchtime. We could have a couple of hours together, maybe longer. I daren’t come all the way out to Ty Hen. Troop movements mean train times aren’t reliable.’

‘I’m sure Auntie will let me have a day off,’ Nell said at once. ‘I’ll find out the times of the trains and catch the earliest. I’ll ring you tomorrow night . . .’

‘I’m real glad you know which tellyphone number to ring,’ Maggie observed next day, as they began to clean down the shippon after morning milking. ‘But if you go and meet Hywel, d’you think it will mean we shan’t get that time off together your aunt talked about? I were lookin’ forward to meetin’ this old feller, this Toddy, what you’ve talked about, but will you always be going to this here airfield with the funny name . . . like a seagull, ain’t it?’

‘Tern Hill, you mean,’ Nell said, giggling. ‘Oh, I’m sure Auntie will let us have our day out anyway. I wish she’d come to the Swtan with us, but you know how obstinate she can be, and she’s quite made up her mind never to visit Toddy. Still, it won’t stop you and me going – if she can manage without us, that is. But I want to arrange my meeting with Hywel first, of course.’

That evening, Nell rang the mess at Tern Hill again and spoke almost immediately to Hywel, who must have been, as she told him, practically sitting on the telephone. He was able to tell her that his train should arrive in Lime Street at ten o’clock on Wednesday morning, whilst she herself should be there, trains permitting, a bare twenty minutes later.

‘I mean to tell you all about the work we do,’ he told her. ‘And there’s another, very serious subject we ought to discuss.’

‘What’s that?’ Nell asked at once, but Hywel would only say it was not something he intended to talk about over the phone.

‘Too many listening ears,’ he said. ‘Remember the posters:
Be like Dad, keep Mum
.’

‘Oh yes, and that other one, the awful one with a hand coming out of a black sea and the words
Someone talked
written above it,’ Nell said, shuddering. ‘All right, I’ll save up my curiosity for Wednesday.’ She sighed. ‘I wish I had some exciting news for you, but farm work goes on just as usual, apart from the Ministry forms. Oh, Hywel, they’re awful; Auntie’s terrified of getting them wrong and being in trouble.’

Hywel chuckled. ‘She ought to take them to Toddy; he’s brilliant at figures and filling in forms,’ he told her. ‘He gave me no end of help when I was doing the examinations for my promotion . . . oh, and that reminds me, is there any chance of you popping over to the Swtan and letting Toddy know I’m all right? He doesn’t have my telephone number and anyway I doubt he’d want to walk all the way to the nearest box, so we’ll have to keep in touch by letter. Give him my address, cariad—’

The operator’s voice cut across his words. ‘Caller, your time is up . . .’

‘I’ll do my best. See you Wednesday,’ Nell screamed, then replaced the receiver, pushed open the door of the box and gestured the next person in the queue to go inside.

Maggie had accompanied her into the village, and as they walked back to where they had left their bicycles she put the question which was obviously much on her mind. ‘When will you ask Auntie Kath about our outing to that there Swtan?’

‘I’ll ask her as soon as we get home,’ Nell said at once. She hugged herself, beaming at Maggie. ‘Hywel asked me to let Toddy know that he was all right, and said he – Toddy, I mean – was brilliant at filling in government forms, so we’ve two good reasons for going. I’ll ask Auntie if we can do it tomorrow.’

She was as good as her word, and to Maggie’s freely expressed surprise and pleasure Kath agreed that if they got the milking and most of their chores out of the way before leaving, they might stay out until four or five in the afternoon. After a few April showers it seemed that sunshine was the order of the day for the time being, and even Auntie Kath intimated that she, too, meant to have a bit of a break from her usual tasks.

As the four of them gathered round the breakfast table next day, Nell suggested to her aunt that they might leave old Eifion in charge for a few hours whilst all three of them visited the Swtan.

‘I’m agreeable,’ Eifion said at once. He took a large bite from his bacon sandwich, chewed, swallowed, then supped noisily at his mug of tea before wiping his mouth and enlarging on his remark. ‘Give me a chance to get on with all sorts, so it will, without no chattering women to put me off my stroke.’

Auntie Kath laughed, but shook her head firmly. ‘It’s not that I don’t trust you, Eifion, but as you’ve heard me say more than once, that place holds too many memories for me, and I’ll not cross the threshold, no matter what.’

‘Oh, Auntie, I wish you’d change your mind,’ Nell said. ‘But you’re as obstinate as any mule.’

‘That’s right,’ Auntie Kath said, still smiling. ‘But don’t let it worry you; the old feller probably doesn’t want to meet me any more than I want to meet him.’

‘All right, all right, I won’t try to persuade you,’ Nell said placatingly. ‘But I’ve been meaning to tell you . . . Toddy told me he started to put a bit of money away a while ago, whenever he could afford to do so. He said you wouldn’t accept rent from him, so he thought he would try to save up so that he might buy the Swtan. It would regularise things, don’t you think, Auntie? Once Toddy owns the Swtan, then neither of you has any reason for avoiding the other. Toddy will be just a neighbour, and—’

She stopped speaking abruptly as her aunt got to her feet and banged both fists on the wooden table. ‘The very first thing Owain taught me was that no farmer ever sells so much as an inch of his land,’ she said, and Nell saw that her cheeks were flaming scarlet and her eyes sparkling with indignation. ‘How dare he even suggest such a thing! I’ll have him out of there if it’s the last thing I do!’

Later that same day, when their work was over, Nell and Maggie set off on their trusty bicycles, heading for the Swtan. As soon as they were well clear of Ty Hen, Maggie turned to Nell and blew out her cheeks expressively. ‘Phew! I never thought your aunt could be so angry; she fair frightened the life out o’ me,’ she said. ‘What’s wrong wi’ selling land, anyhow? I thought folk did it all the time. That nasty old woman what I worked for in Brompton Avenue had a brother who owned a big estate on the Wirral, and he were forever buyin’ more land.’

‘Buying’s one thing, selling’s another,’ Nell informed her. ‘That would have been during the Depression, when cheap imports forced many a farmer to sell his land; it’s different now.’ She smiled at her companion. ‘As for being frightened, you should thank your lucky stars you weren’t here when
I
first arrived. Auntie Kath was always telling me off, criticising everything I did, talking Welsh before I’d picked up more than a smattering . . . she was horrid to me, honest to God she was.’

‘She’s usually rare nice to me as a rule, so I guess I shouldn’t be scared of her when she shouts,’ Maggie admitted. ‘But she calmed down pretty quick. What I still don’t understand is why she won’t go near this here Swtan, nor let that feller come up to Ty Hen. I mean, it don’t make sense!’

‘It’s a long story,’ Nell said evasively. She did not much want to go into details about Owain Jones’s grandmother and her attempts to drive the young Kath away from the home she had inherited, so she told Maggie what had happened as briefly and succinctly as possible and was relieved when the land girl nodded her understanding.

‘I see; what you might call a family feud, I reckon,’ she said when Nell had finished. ‘But it does seem a bit silly to keep it going, especially since this feller, this Toddy, didn’t have no part in it. Why can’t she let him either buy the place, if she hates it so much, or pay her rent? When she said she’d have him out of there no matter what, I were shocked, honest to God I were. For a moment her face looked quite different – sharp and spiteful-like.’