Children in Her Shadow (30 page)

Once Ruth was satisfied that Huw was settled she slipped downstairs to the office which by now was empty and dialled the telephone number for Dai. The phone was immediately answered by Dai who was delighted to hear Ruth on the other end of the call. He immediately deluged Ruth with questions about her health, had she had the baby and when would they be able to meet up. Ruth’s tone was warm but worrying to Dai as he listened to her explain the events of the past week, the joy of her child and the fear that Edward might very soon try to find her.

Calmly Dai absorbed the information and when Ruth had finished he said, “You need to get away from there as soon as possible and what you should do is to take up my mother’s offer to go and stay with her in Senghenydd for a while.” Ruth saw the sense in what Dai was saying and with that agreed the immediate plan was for him to telephone the post office in Senghenydd the following morning to arrange to speak to his mother. Once this was accomplished, he would telephone Ruth with plans to drive to Wythenshawe and take her to Senghenydd.

Ruth met with Victor at eight thirty the following morning and explained that she needed to leave very soon to take her baby to south Wales. She gave no more detail but made it clear that whilst she would be eternally grateful for the job, the flat and the friendship she had received from Victor and the staff, her immediate priority was to return, as she put it, “To the valley of my birth and to the family that will love me unconditionally.”

Victor was resigned to the implications of Ruth’s decision and reluctantly agreed that she could move on as soon as she had finalised her arrangements. Ruth went on to spend the rest of the day in her room resting and waiting for Dai’s telephone call which came at precisely one minute past six in the evening.

Dai was so excited that it was some time before Ruth was able to piece together all the facts that poured out and which mingled into a jumble of excited and emotional feelings coupled with crisply articulated immediate plans. These plans were built upon an enthusiastic agreement from Lott that Ruth, and Huw should move into her home ‘immediately if not sooner!’ The second part of the plan was that Dai would arrive the following day at about midday to collect Ruth and Huw and drive them to Senghenydd a journey that Dai estimated would take about eight hours.

The following morning Ruth spoke again to Victor who pre-empted their meeting by arranging to make up her wages and by preparing a letter of reference for her. Ruth thanked him for both and explained that her friend would pick her up at about midday to drive her to south Wales.

Dai arrived at about eleven o’clock, enthusiastically anticipating the opportunity to spend time with Ruth. As he went into the flat, Ruth picked up Huw and showed him to Dai. His reaction was to immediately take Huw from her and to expertly cradle him in his arms.

Dai spent some time looking at Huw before turning to Ruth and saying, “He is beautiful and looks so much like you.” Ruth walked over to Dai and put her arms around him and Huw. She placed a small kiss on the forehead of Huw before kissing Dai warmly on the cheek. “Let’s take things slowly” she said.

Ruth sat Dai down and explained that she did have strong feelings for him and that she, like him could see the day in the future when they could get together. But she also pointed out that both of their lives were sufficiently complicated right now that they should not make them worse by entering into a relationship right away. Ruth was clear that Dai should face up to his commitments to his wife and children first, before embarking upon a relationship with her. Ruth surprised herself as she explained that they must both show restraint and patience until such time as the complications in their separate lives was resolved or at least more stable.

Dai acknowledged the voice of reason and explained that his own children would be out of school and off his hands very soon and perhaps that would be the point in the future that they could explore getting together.

They rapidly packed Ruth’s few belongings and whilst Dai sat in his car with Huw, Ruth slipped back into the office to say goodbye to her work colleagues and Victor. Victor held her in his arms and said quietly, “Should you ever need to come back there will always be a job and a home for you.” Ruth cried as she turned to leave Victor and a place where she had been so very happy.

During that same morning, Aunt Dorothy had made her way from Wythenshawe on an unannounced visit to Eastbrook Farm. She had resisted the temptation to telephone Edward, deciding instead to speak with him about her meeting with Ruth and his fourth child.

She arrived just as Edward was about to leave and he was clearly taken aback by her unannounced presence. As he walked towards Aunt Dorothy to greet her he was struck by her obvious anger. Firstly, she snapped at her taxi driver to wait and then she proceeded to take Edward by the arm, as a mother would do with a naughty child and march him back into the house.

As they went into the kitchen, Sam was sitting at the table oblivious to Aunt Dorothy’s arrival and was startled when he heard her voice. Aunt Dorothy walked over to Sam who was still coming to terms with the loss of Ellen and gave him a swift peck on the cheek. She then turned to Edward who was looking somewhat sheepishly at the angry Aunt Dorothy trying to understand her mood.

Edward was soon to discover why she was so obviously angry: “Whilst this family has been bending rules and trying to mitigate your stupid attraction to that woman Ruth so that you can marry Sarah, what have you been up to?”, she snapped at Edward. He looked at Sam who was by now engaged with the conversation and then turned to Aunt Dorothy and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Aunt Dorothy was enraged as she sat Edward down next to his father and explained who she had seen in her hospital in Wythenshawe.

She finished by saying, “I looked into the face of that child and I know it’s yours so don’t insult my intelligence by trying to deny it.” Edward was speechless and it was his father who was able to absorb the information first. He slowly turned to Edward and said, “I will take your silence to mean that what Dorothy has said is true. I share Aunt Dorothy’s anger and disgust that you have misled this family, the church, and your lawyers not to mention Sarah, into believing that you were done with that woman.” He continued to berate Edward, “I take it that whilst your mother was caring for your children, you were cavorting around with Ruth?”

Edward eventually found his voice and said, “Please, please don’t tell Sarah, I know I have been foolish but Ruth is behind me now and all I want to do is to marry Sarah and get the children out of care.” Dorothy was unimpressed as was Sam. Edward left the room with his head down appearing to be contrite.

Sam and Dorothy talked for some time before Sam went outside to fetch Edward back into the room. Once again, Edward stood there like a naughty child, his head down and his whole demeanour confirming the parlous position he now found himself in.

It was Sam who spoke first as he explained to Edward that they were both shocked and disappointed in him that he could cheat on Sarah and that he could lie to the family by suggesting that he had not seen Ruth. He asked Edward what he felt Ruth’s plans would be now and whether he felt that Ruth would make any claims upon Edward, or whether she might turn up with the child.

Edward explained that he had made it clear to Ruth when she told him that she was pregnant, that if she kept out of his way he would be happy for her to keep his child. Dorothy and Sam looked to each other both raising their eyebrows at the coldness of his action then.

Sam shook his head and after a moment of silence he went on to explain that Dorothy and he were prepared to keep secret what they knew but Edward would need to promise that he would never see Ruth again. Edward lifted his head and simply said, “Thank you both and I promise that I will never see her again.”

Dorothy left the house without speaking to Edward and as she was driven away, Sam turned to Edward and said, “I plan to give up the farm as soon as I can get rid of the lease, when I have done this you should find yourself a place of your own and get your life back in order.” He went on, “I will not tell a living soul about this but it will be a matter of conscious to you whether you plan to ultimately tell Sarah”.

Ruth, Dai and Huw left Wythenshawe at a little after midday on this late September day in brilliant sunshine and with a sense of adventure in their minds. They talked nonstop as they travelled south through the beautiful towns of Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Leominster and Hereford before passing into Wales. The journey was long and tiring but they stopped along the way to eat sandwiches that Ruth had prepared and to make hot tea using a small primus stove that Dai kept in his car. Huw slept for much of the journey and rested comfortably in Ruth’s arms as the miles clicked away.

Their journey took them onto the Heads of the Valley road signalling that they were now not far from home. When they reached Quakers Yard a matter of a few miles from Senghenydd, Dai stopped the car and turned to Ruth. He slipped his arm around her and said, “Ruth you know that I love you and you know that I am now there for you for the rest of my life if that’s what you want.” He kissed her gently on the cheek and said, “We will go at your pace Cariad.” Whilst Ruth knew little Welsh she knew the tender meaning of the word Cariad which is a Welsh term of endearment for darling. Ruth drew Dai close to her and with a tear in her eye said, “Always call me Cariad, Dai and I will always be happy.”

They drove the final few miles to Lott’s home arriving at eight o’clock weary but palpably happy as they were greeted by Lott on the doorstep of her house. They were whisked into the kitchen which was wonderfully warm with a kettle merrily whistling on top of the black range. Lott put the kettle to one side and turned to Ruth and said, “Give little Huw to me for a cwtch whilst you two settle in.”

Dai brought Ruth’s few belongings into the house and took them upstairs. Ruth was already in Dai’s bedroom in which Lott had put a small cot, some soft toys and her rocking chair which Dai pointed out had been the one his mother had used to nurse him when he was a child. Ruth turned and looked at the bed that had clearly been Dai’s for many years. Dai caught Ruth’s eye and immediately reassured her that he would be sleeping down stairs.

Dai stayed at the house for only the one night, anxious to get back to London to his businesses. On the morning he was leaving, he witnessed a stream of neighbours entering the house anxious to get a glimpse of Ruth and her baby and to see if they could piece any more of the jigsaw of gossip together that was sweeping through the village since their arrival.

But they were no match for Lott who was by now very much the matriarch of the village, highly respected and certainly not to be crossed. To each she said the same thing, “Ruth will be staying in my house with her baby for as long as she likes and that makes me a very happy old woman and I will hear nothing of the tittle-tattle that this village is so famous for.”

For Ruth, there was nothing but happiness in being back in south Wales. She had been a popular child and young woman in the village and the stories of her heroics in the Cardiff bombings continued to circulate in the village making her something of a local hero. In so far as little Huw was concerned, whilst there would be gossip and some more robust questioning by the more direct neighbours he would be seen as a son of the valley and was therefore one of their own.

As the last of the visitors were leaving, Dai called upstairs, “Cariad I’m leaving now” and in a public act of affection he firstly kissed his mother, who then took Huw from Ruth as Dai warmly embraced Ruth and kissed her goodbye. This would have done little to stop the gossip but at least it served to demonstrate that Ruth and Dai would be a talking point for some time to come.

Ruth and Lott quickly settled back to the friendship they had enjoyed during the years when she lived in Senghenydd. Lott was old and tired easily but took great comfort in nursing Huw to sleep and doing the same herself. Ruth was able to cook for Lott and do some of the house work that Lott found increasingly difficult and this pleased her. Ruth was grateful that Lott didn’t pry into the past but the past suddenly and without warning came back in the person of Edward.

It was only a week after Ruth had moved back to Senghenydd that she was disturbed by a knocking at the door at about three o’clock in the afternoon when Lott and Huw were sleeping upstairs. Ruth answered the door to be confronted by Edward who looked angry and intimidating. He pushed past Ruth into the house and when he reached the empty kitchen he said, “Are we alone?” Ruth had the presence of mind to say that Lott and Huw were upstairs and she asked him to lower his voice as she took him into the front room so as not to disturb Lott whose room was at the rear of the house.

Edward had difficulty in keeping his voice down as he explained that Aunt Dorothy had confronted him with the news that she had seen Ruth and her baby. Edward spent no more than about ten minutes in the house but in that time he managed to make it abundantly clear that if Ruth was ever to try to make contact with him, or if she were to make it known to anyone that the child was his, he would return as he had threatened before and he would take the child from her.