The Oyster Catchers (7 page)

‘I expect Joe wants the boy to be the master of the
Oyster Sunrise
,’ Carys said slowly and then stared down at her cup as though she’d said too much.

‘The boy? Do you mean Nina Parks’s son, Carys?’ Of course she did and Eline didn’t wait for confirmation. ‘But I thought the Parks boy was out deep-sea fishing; why should he come home to work off shore?’

Carys didn’t reply, but there was a look of acute embarrassment on her honest, open face.

‘And why should Joe want him anyway when there are plenty of good men in Oystermouth just waiting for a chance to skipper a boat like the
Oyster Sunrise
?’

‘Ask your husband.’ Carys folded her lips into a prim line and it was clear she intended to say no more on the subject.

Eline sighed. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be trying to make you gossip about people, Carys, but you must admit that Nina Parks is a bit of a mystery woman.’

Carys drank her tea and placed the cup back in the saucer with a clink of finality. ‘I’d better be getting some work done.’ She rose to her feet. ‘There’s oysters to be washed ready for market and my Sam won’t thank me for sitting about like Lady Muck while he’s out in the bay working.’

Eline followed her to the door. ‘You should be taking things easy,’ she said softly. ‘Perhaps I can help you wash the oysters; what do you think?’

Carys shook her head. ‘No, you stay by here in your house where you belong.’ It was clear that Carys had no wish to be put in a position where she might feel beholden.

Eline watched as Carys moved across the road and down on to the beach. The sun was warming the sea into a soft glints of azure and the sand was shading from palest gold to umber as the waves reached hungrily for the shore.

Soon it would be summer and the oyster season would be over until September.

Eline returned to the table and poured more tea from the pot, sighing heavily. She sank down into a chair and stared ahead of her knowing quite suddenly that she was no longer content to be Joe’s pet, a little tame housewife washing and scrubbing and attending to Joe’s needs. It simply wasn’t enough for her. She must do something positive with her time or stultify.

Eline picked up her basket and moved towards the
door; she would go to the shops, perhaps some fresh air would clear her mind. There must be work for her somewhere, something she could do to make herself useful.

The air was clear and fresh and the salt scents of the sea drifted to where Eline walked along the village street. It was not a long street, it curved from where the oyster boats lay at off-season like a shoal of stranded fish to where the hill turned and rose upwards towards the ruins of the castle.

Taking her time, Eline nevertheless knew that she was making for the newly opened boot and shoe shop. She did not dare to question herself too deeply about her motives and yet the tingle of excitement as she neared the double-fronted building was unmistakable.

She stopped outside looking up at the newly painted sign overhead.
WILLIAM DAVIES BOOT AND SHOE STORE
. The very look of his name in golden paint on a black background made Eline tremble.

She allowed her eyes to rest on the merchandise within the windows; stout, solid boots rested on a bed of sprinkled sand with a starfish and some shells scattered around for effect. Then the handwritten vacancy notice caught her eye and she drew in a sharp breath. Her head seemed to spin, questions raced through her head. Dare she, did she have the courage to apply for the job and even if she did, what would Joe say?

‘Good morning,’ the voice was low and musical, ‘come to apply for the vacancy, have you?’ William stood smiling down at her and in the glow of the morning sunlight, he looked so appealing, so wonderful that, for a moment, Eline couldn’t speak.

‘The job,’ he said softly, ‘it’s yours if you want it.’ He stepped aside. ‘Come indoors and we can discuss it.’

Eline followed him into the shop and, for a moment, the room was a long, dark abyss after the glare of the sunlight. She stumbled and William caught her arm and
held on to her for a moment. Eline, looking up at him, felt a wash of emotion that was so strange that she almost gasped out loud.

‘What would I have to do?’ Eline found her voice. ‘I’ve never worked in a shop, mind, I would probably make a fool of myself.’

‘No, you wouldn’t,’ he said with conviction. ‘I need a lady assistant and all you would have to do is help customers to make up their minds about what kind of footwear they want.’

‘I don’t know,’ Eline said doubtfully, ‘don’t shop assistants have to live in?’

‘In some cases it is appropriate,’ Will agreed, ‘but I want someone who lives locally who would go home at nights because I have no living accommodation on the premises.’

He smiled down at her, his eyes alight, as though he was more intent on drinking in her closeness than in what he was saying.

‘I would be able to pay six shillings a week and, of course, the job would only be for a moderate few hours a day. I wouldn’t expect you to work from dawn till dusk.’

It was so tempting. Eline looked up at William and smiled, resisting the urge to lean against him, to beg him to take her in his arms and ride away with her on a white horse. Such nonsense was not for a respectably married woman.

It was as if a bucketful of cold water had been thrown over her head. Eline gasped. What about Joe? What would he have to say about her mad idea of working in a shop? Then she became calmer. Joe could not keep her locked up like a doll in a case; she must be her own person like the rest of the women in Oystermouth. Not one of her neighbours lived the dull, restricted life she did.

‘I’ll take it,’ she said quickly. ‘Shall I start right away?’

William seemed taken aback by the suddenness of her decision. He thrust his hands into his pockets and looked around him.

‘Yes, I suppose so.’ He seemed to pull himself together. ‘If you could just take off your apron and put away your basket, I’ll show you what I’d like you to do first of all.’

As carefully as if it was of the utmost importance to her, Eline folded her spotless apron, keeping the creases in place as she put the apron away in the empty basket.

Will led the way to the back of the shop. ‘I’d like you to chose some ladies’ shoes, anything you think appropriate, and then later, perhaps you’ll set them out in the small window.’

‘I don’t think I’m clever enough to make up a window display,’ Eline said doubtfully. She watched as William set up some boards, covering them with black silk.

‘Of course you are,’ Will said confidently. ‘What do you think of the window with the boots in, effective, isn’t it?’

‘Very,’ Eline agreed and William paused to look at her, his smile warming his eyes.

‘I did that myself.’ He spoke with an endearing air of boyish pride. ‘I didn’t think I was capable of such imagination but, you see, we all have a little bit of creativity in us.’ His smile widened. ‘And you, I’m sure, have more creativity in your little finger than I have in my entire body.’

He dropped the silk into place and turned to face her. Eline could smell the freshness of his skin and almost touch the streaks of light gleaming in his hair. She stepped back at once, her heart beating swiftly. Her emotions felt raw, she was like a foolish child adoring that which she could not have.

‘Of course,’ he said gently, ‘if there are lady customers in the shop, leave everything and serve them.’

He led her to where the ladies’ boots were stored and
soon Eline forgot herself in her preoccupation with the task in hand. She knew nothing about fashions, she was only too aware of that, but she knew just what footwear would appeal to the women of the village.

For some time Eline worked silently and then, looking up, she became aware that there were customers in the shop, four women gathered together like a flock of birds in their black skirts and white aprons. They were all staring at her, waiting to be served.

Eline moved tentatively forward. ‘Can I help you in any way?’ she asked and the women turned to stare at her in open curiosity.

Eline drew a deep breath as she faced Nina Parks whose eyes were suddenly filled with almost hostile glee.

‘
Duw
, what you doing here then?’ Nina Parks twitched her shawl into place and her three daughters gathered closer as if to watch some sort of contest.

‘I work here,’ Eline said evenly. She knew that Nina didn’t like her, had never liked her and yet she had never reciprocated Nina’s hostility.

‘Do Joe know about this?’ Nina’s voice rose as though in disbelief and Eline, glancing over her shoulder, saw that Will Davies was out of earshot. She took a deep breath.

‘I don’t really see that it’s any of your business,’ she said quietly. ‘Now, can I help you? Would you like to see some of our stock of boots and shoes?’

‘Go on, Mam,’ Gwyneth said, her beautiful dark eyes resting on Eline. ‘Let her serve you, that would be a laugh, wouldn’t it?’

Gwyneth was the eldest of Nina’s three daughters, an attractive girl, but now her lower lip was thrust out as though in scorn. She tossed back her hair and with her chin raised looked at Eline as though daring her to say anything out of place.

‘Make a change from us working for
her
, won’t it?’ she added, her words falling like stones into the silence.
When her mother stood uncertainly to one side, Gwyneth sat on one of the chairs provided for customers and lifted up her slim ankle.

‘I’d like to try on a pair of nice soft pumps,’ Gwyneth said quietly, ‘something costing a lot of money.’

Eline hesitated; it was clear the girl was wasting her time. She moved then to the shelf of pigskin shoes and brought out a pair she judged to be the right size.

‘Perhaps you would like to try these?’ she asked, holding them out.

Gwyneth disregarded the shoes and looked up at her mother. ‘Don’t she talk posh, not like a village girl at all.’ She looked back at Eline. ‘Come on then, unbutton my boots for me.’

Eline was about to bend forward when William appeared at her side. ‘Can I help?’ he smiled warmly at the women and, at once, Gwyneth smiled up at him from under her long lashes. Shaking out her skirts, she still managed to show a little of her neat ankle.

It was Nina who broke the silence. ‘We all want a pair of good boots,’ she said, glancing round angrily at her daughters. ‘Tidy boots, mind, not fancy things that cost the earth and will fall apart as soon as a bit of sand gets in them.’ Her down-to-earth tone seemed to ease the air of tension in the shop and Eline felt herself relaxing.

With William’s help, Eline managed to find the most practical boots in stock. She admired his smooth handling of the women and soon, Nina Parks was deferring to him, fluttering and blushing like a young girl.

When they finally left the shop, all of them were giggling, happily clutching their purchases. Eline watched with a feeling of relief as the Parks women walked along the street away from the shop.

‘Why are they so hostile to you, Eline?’ Willam was standing at her side and Eline felt protected and safe with him so close.

‘I’m not a village girl born and bred,’ she explained, ‘and so I’m different. I’m what they call a “townie” even though I was born on farm.’

‘I see.’ William smiled down at her. ‘Well, once they get used to you, I’m sure it will all sort itself out.’ He paused, head on one side scrutinizing her.

‘Of course I could see at once that you were different from the village women, but then you would stand out in any crowd.’ He moved a fraction closer. ‘Eline,’ he said and she moved away from him quickly.

‘I’d better get on with the window.’ Her cheeks were flushed, her breathing uneven and Eline suddenly doubted the wisdom of being here alone in the shop with William Davies.

Eline worked industriously and in silence, but she was always aware of William’s presence in the shop. After a few false starts, she found that she had a natural aptitude for creating an eye-catching window display and, as she worked the silk into small puffs like dark clouds around the array of ladies’ boots and shoes, she felt a tremendous excitement fill her.

Eline had always liked painting pictures, she had handled paints ever since she was a child and now she found that to make up a window display was very much like composing a picture.

An idea struck her and she searched at the back of the shop for some other materials with which to enhance her display. Eventually, outside in the alleyway behind the shop, Eline found some discarded wooden crates and a length of rope and eagerly she took them back to the shop.

‘Have you got any tools in here?’ she asked William, her eyes avoiding his. ‘Anything that will serve to pull the slats of the boxes apart?’

With a few twists of his strong wrists, William broke the boxes into tiny planks of wood, smiling indulgently as Eline carried them to the window.

Behind the clouds of silk, Eline began to construct a roughly tethered ladder of wood. She worked quickly, so absorbed in her task that she failed to notice that there were customers in the shop and that William was good-naturedly serving them himself.

When the ladder was fixed, Eline arranged some light slippers on the shallow steps, balancing them by the small heels so that the fronts of the shoes were facing the window.

At last, she stood back in satisfaction and admired the simplicity and effectiveness of her work.

She became aware that William was standing on the pavement, head on one side in a way she recognized as being characteristic of him, studying the display. After an agonizingly long wait, Eline saw him return to the shop.

‘Do you like it?’ she asked tentatively and bit her lip in anxiety.

‘Excellent!’ Will smiled down at her. ‘I think even Hari Grenfell would be impressed with what you’ve done with a few bits of wood and a piece of rope. Well done, Eline!’

He raised his hand as though to touch her cheek and then let it fall to his side. Eline felt a thrill run through her; she knew it was absurd but she realized in that instant that she was in love with William Davies.

Something of her feeling must have shown in her eyes because William was about to speak when the door opened and a group of ladies came into the shop on a wave of chattering voices.