The Quality of Love (7 page)

His smile faded; that wouldn't be fair on Sarah and it certainly wasn't the way he wanted things between them to go. He'd never felt like this about anyone before and, cynical though he was about such things, he was pretty sure he was in love with her. He knew she cared for him, it showed in her eyes and how she hung on to his every word. He could also sense it in the way she responded to his touch.

Her father was so bigoted that it was probably useless talking to him about this; even a waste of time telling him how much he liked his daughter. That didn't mean that he was prepared to let Lloyd Lewis dismiss him as a nonentity or to simply ignore him. He was determined to retaliate in some way and in doing so prove that he was superior to him. Lloyd was the sort of man whose convictions had to be decried and made to realise that his opinions were outdated.

Once her father accepted that Gwyn was a permanent part of Sarah's life then he'd have to accept him and his views. That would be his target from now on, Gwyn decided. He was quite certain that Sarah would be told to have nothing more to do with him, so reassuring her about his feelings for her would be his first concern.

He was confident, though, that Sarah cared for him so much that she wouldn't be able to stay away from him for very long even if her father told her she must, he thought complacently, and, furthermore, he'd do everything possible to make sure she didn't.

Lorna Lewis finished the washing-up and stacked all the best tea-service away carefully. She'd looked forward to entertaining Sarah's friend but it saddened her that because of Lewis's attitude everything had ended on such a sour note.

There were times when she found it difficult to understand her husband. Surely he didn't expect Sarah to study every minute of the day; she needed to have friends and to go out and enjoy herself occasionally. She didn't even see Rita these days so it was natural that she'd start up a friendship with someone she'd met at university, someone who shared similar interests.

This Gwyn seemed such a nice chap. He was good-looking and polite as well as intelligent. He certainly seemed to be very knowledgeable. She would have thought that would have impressed Lloyd, but he'd seemed to have taken a dislike to him the minute he'd walked into the house.

For a fleeting moment she wondered whether the flowers had anything to do with it; surely Lewis couldn't have been jealous. She almost
laughed out loud at the thought; quite sure it couldn't have been that. In fact, the only reason she could see for his outspoken hostility was that he resented or objected to Gwyn's friendship with Sarah. Either he didn't want to recognise the fact that she was growing up and would soon be living a life of her own or else he simply couldn't accept it.

She knew Sarah was very upset so once she'd checked that Lloyd was still engrossed in his newspaper she went upstairs and tapped softly on Sarah's bedroom door.

As she'd expected, Sarah was lying on her bed, her face buried in the pillow, and when she looked up her cheeks were tear stained. Without a word, Lorna sat down on the side of the bed and gathered her daughter in her arms, rocking her backwards and forwards almost as if she was still a small child.

There was no need for words; Lorna sensed that all Sarah wanted was for her to put her arms around her and hold her close; to be comforted and know that her mother understood.

Sarah found she was no longer enjoying university; she was so smitten with Gwyn that she couldn't concentrate and as a result was getting more and more behind with her work.

She knew Gwyn wasn't altogether happy either although he was doing far more work than she was because it was his final year and he was anxious to achieve a good degree. He was very frustrated, though, because they could spend so little time together.

Much as she wanted to see Gwyn she knew that if her father found out that she was flaunting his ruling then it would only result in trouble at home. That would distress her mother and make her unhappy, so it made Sarah reluctant to defy him.

The excuse that she was staying late into the evening because she was attending special lectures was no longer valid now that her father had discovered the truth. This meant that the only times she and Gwyn could be together now was in odd moments they managed to snatch between lectures during the day.

In recent weeks, since their timetables varied so much and he was not prepared to miss out
on any of his tutorials when he was so near his finals, it had meant that she was the one who had to make sacrifices and play truant.

Occasionally she was able to make up the lectures she missed by borrowing someone else's notes but she soon found that doing so was nowhere near as beneficial as actually sitting in on the lecture would have been.

The other thing that troubled her was not only the long summer break that lay ahead but also the fact that Gwyn would be ending his time at university. He would then have to start looking for a job so she would probably see even less of him. This might even mean that she and Gwyn wouldn't see anything at all of each other in the future and she couldn't imagine what life would be like without him.

She also knew her father would expect her to spend most days studying as she'd done between leaving school and starting at university.

She even began to think that perhaps her father was going to get his own way after all and that she and Gwyn would have to stop seeing each other. This might be better than the constant heartache and frustration she was subjected to when they arranged to meet and then one of them found it impossible to do so and had to cancel, she reflected.

When she mentioned this to Gwyn, however, he was so upset that she immediately admitted that it would be impossible and agreed with
him wholeheartedly that they couldn't live without each other.

‘There is only one thing we can do,' Gwyn told her, taking her in his arms and holding her close. ‘We must elope.'

‘Elope!' She pulled away and stared at him wide-eyed. ‘You're not serious, surely?'

‘I've never been more serious in my life,' he told her gravely. ‘It's useless asking your parents if we can be married because your father wants nothing at all to do with me, so he's hardly likely to consider me to be a suitable husband for you.'

‘Once he realises how much I love you . . .'

‘No, cariad, I'm afraid it wouldn't work. I'm surprised you'd even suggest it,' Gwyn told her firmly.

‘How can we elope, though,' Sarah frowned, ‘I'm still too young to be married without my father's consent and as you've just said, that would be out of the question.'

‘Shush!' He pulled her back into his arms and stroked her hair gently. ‘Leave it all to me, I'll find a way. Just be patient and don't mention what I've said to anyone. I'll devise a plan for us to be together.'

Sarah found that being patient wasn't easy, but she was determined to try and devote herself to her studies even though a hundred and one questions about what his intentions were remained unanswered.

It was the very end of term before she had
a chance to talk to him and by then she'd almost given up in despair. She was afraid that he might disappear and she would never see him again.

She was packing up her books and papers in readiness to take them home knowing she would be expected to study during the holidays, when he suddenly appeared in the lecture room. He was smiling and brimming with confidence as he quickly outlined his plan, speaking softly so that no one else could overhear what he was saying.

‘Tell your parents that you have been invited to spend a few days at the home of one of your classmates,' he told her. ‘Make it soon so that we don't have to wait too long to see each other again, perhaps the beginning of August. You can tell them that your friend has invited you to spend the August bank holiday with her—'

‘Dad would never agree to me doing that,' she interrupted quickly. ‘Anyway, he'll be off work on Bank Holiday Monday and he'll expect me to go out with them, it's a sort of family tradition,' she ended lamely.

‘Well,' Gwyn frowned, ‘make it later that week, then, perhaps a few days in the middle of the week or the following weekend. It doesn't really matter which as long as I know the exact dates. Do you understand?'

‘I think so, but what are you planning we should do?' she asked shyly.

‘What do you think I want to do?' He grinned.

‘Has this got anything to do with your idea about us eloping?' Sarah persisted.

‘No!' He shook his head. ‘I simply want us to spend some time alone because we've had so little chance to do so lately.'

‘You mean go away together on our own!' For a moment she looked shocked. ‘Where are we going?'

‘Does it matter as long as we're together?' he teased.

‘I'm not sure they'll let me do that. I've never been away on my own before. Who do I say I am going to stay with? I've never mentioned any particular friend except you.'

‘Well, you can hardly tell them you are going on holiday with me, now can you!' he laughed. ‘Surely you can claim that one of the girls in your year is a special friend. Tell them anything, it doesn't matter. I must know the dates, though, and once you've decided when it is to be then I can go ahead and book somewhere for us to stay and then make all my other arrangements.'

She looked puzzled. ‘What do you mean?'

‘You'll have to wait and see. I haven't time to tell you all about it right now,' he said impatiently.

Sarah felt really excited at the thought of spending time alone with Gwyn and even though she knew that her parents would be shocked and that she should resist such a
temptation she felt she couldn't possibly turn it down.

Even so, she anticipated that there were going to be a great many problems; so many that she wasn't at all confident that it was going to be possible to fall in with his idea. As she'd already told him, she'd never been away on her own before and she wasn't at all sure how her parents would react when she said that was what she wanted to do.

Although it was only a few weeks away from her eighteenth birthday, they'd still probably think she was too young. She might be able to persuade her mother that it would be all right, but her father was so protective that he might object.

‘Stop pondering about whether or not it's possible and simply tell them that it's what you are going to do,' Gwyn told her, slightly irritated by her seeming reluctance. ‘You do want to be with me and for us to go away together, don't you, Sarah?'

‘You know I do,' she said emphatically.

‘Then the rest is up to you. I need firm dates, remember, and I need them later today.'

She looked at him puzzled. ‘I need time to think about how I am going to ask them at home, so why do you need to have an answer right this minute?'

‘Because I go home to Aberdare tonight and after that it's not going to be very easy for us to keep in touch. If I write to you, then your
father will probably censure your letter, if I know anything about him.'

‘I don't know about that because I never get any letters.' She smiled.

‘Exactly; which is all the more reason why he'd be suspicious if you did, especially if he spotted an Aberdare postmark on it.'

‘Yes, you're probably right but—'

‘Look, if you can't manage the bank holiday, then it had better be later that week. What about meeting me on the Thursday, that will be the fourth of August?'

‘Until when?'

‘I don't know! Does it matter? Simply say you've been invited for a few days' holiday and leave it at that.'

‘My dad will probably say that as we've had a day out on the Monday then I should be content with that,' Sarah murmured rather dubiously.

‘It has to be then,' Gwyn told her firmly. ‘I'm starting work the following week.'

‘You've got a job? Why, that's wonderful.' Sarah beamed. ‘Come on, then, tell me all about it,' she enthused.

‘Not much to tell, really, because I'm not sure what it entails and it may not be permanent. It's as a reporter on the
Western Mail
.'

Her face lit up. ‘So does that mean you will be working here in Cardiff?'

‘I think so, initially. I don't really know what the hours or the routine will be until I actually start work.'

‘It sounds terribly exciting. It is a good start for what you want to do, isn't it?'

Gwyn shrugged. ‘I'm not sure. I'll have to see how it goes. I don't intend to be a run-of-the-mill reporter; I want something more challenging than that. I only had the interview yesterday and they said that my future would depend on what sort of degree I get, but they said they'd give me a month's trial.'

‘It sounds promising, though,' Sarah pointed out. ‘I do envy you! I wish I was starting work, earning money and about to become independent like you are.'

‘Then you'd better put your back into your studies and make sure you do better in your exams so that you are so well qualified you land a top job,' Gwyn told her dryly. ‘You also need to learn to stand up for yourself or you'll end up with your dad deciding where you must work.'

‘You're being ridiculous.' Sarah frowned, although she knew that was exactly what would probably happen.

‘Start the way you intend to go on; tell him that you are going away on holiday for a few days and stick to your decision. It's the only chance we have to see each other over the next couple of months. I'll be waiting for you at Cardiff General railway station at ten o'clock in the morning on the fourth of August, so mind you don't let me down.'

‘When did you say you start your new job?'

‘The following Monday, on the eighth.'

‘So I can tell them that I'll be back home on the Sunday?'

‘If you have to; don't be too positive about it, though; you might want to stay another night with me, and we mightn't come back to Cardiff until the Monday morning.'