Past Remembering by Catrin Collier Read Free Book Online

deep in sleep, stretched out on his easy chair, his feet resting on the brass log box she used to keep her knitting in. For the first time in her life she found herself actually resenting her mother’s frailty. If Charlie had mentioned how much leave he had been given, she couldn’t recall him telling her. His only free time in over a year and her mother had to be seriously ill.
    The doorbell rang. Was that the sound that had woken her? Straightening her skirt and combing her curls with her fingers she closed the door softly behind her and tiptoed along the passage and down the stairs lest she wake either of the sleepers.
    Bethan John was standing on the doorstep, neat in her district nurse’s uniform, her cousin Diana behind her.
    ‘We heard Charlie’s home.’
    Alma opened the door wider to let them in. ‘He’s asleep upstairs,’ she whispered.
    ‘And you haven’t had a wink all night by the look of you?’ Bethan shook her head at the creased silk blouse and crepe skirt Alma had worn to the restaurant.
    ‘Mam was very restless,’ Alma murmured by way of an apology. ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’
    ‘We’re not here to make work, but to do it,’ Diana announced briskly. ‘I’m taking over the management of the shop and Bethan is going to look after your mother.’
    ‘But …’ Alma looked to Bethan in bewilderment.
    ‘It’s my day off, and after the news about Maud I’d rather be kept busy.’
    ‘What about your children?’
    ‘I’ve left mine with Phyllis, and Megan’s caring for Diana’s baby. It’s half-day in all the shops so Diana will easily cope, especially as Wyn’s offered to run their shops on his own. She’ll sit with your mother now while I take you and Charlie home.’
    ‘Home?’
    ‘To my house,’ Bethan answered.
    ‘I couldn’t leave Mam.’
    ‘You’ve a husband home on leave, or so Ronnie told us last night. I know he’s been away for a long time, but I didn’t think it was long enough to forget Charlie. Go on off with you. Pack a case. You can have a bath and change your clothes at my place. I don’t know how long Charlie’s got, but Liza Clark’s taken all my evacuees down to Phyllis’s for the day. The older ones are going to school from Graig Avenue, and Liza’s organised a picnic for the little ones, so you’ll have the house to yourself until teatime, and Maisie and Liza will see that the children don’t disturb you when they come home. They’ve been ordered to stay out of my bedroom and sitting room. It’s hardly the most romantic place to spend a leave, but it’s the best we can come up with at short notice.’
    Bethan fell silent as Charlie appeared at the top of the stairs. He’d always been superbly fit, and while he’d run his butcher’s stall he’d developed muscles like a wrestler’s, but he was leaner than she remembered and harder, and there was a look in his ice-blue eyes that she hadn’t seen before. She recalled something her father had said when they had been worried about the boys at the time of Dunkirk. That wherever Charlie was, he wasn’t on the French coast. The war was proving difficult for all of them, but the strain mirrored on Charlie’s face told her that it was proving more difficult for him than most.
    ‘Is something wrong?’ Charlie asked.
    ‘Only that we’ve decided that you two should spend whatever leave you have at my house. It will give Alma the break she needs from caring for her mother. I’ll take over nursing Mrs Moore, and Diana will help in between looking after the shops.’
    ‘You’ve got good staff, they won’t need much supervising,’ Diana declared, minimising her own contribution.
    ‘I still don’t know whether I should leave my mother …’ Alma began doubtfully.
    ‘Penycoedcae is hardly the ends of the earth,’ Bethan reminded her. ‘If there is any change, or your mother comes round, I’ll drive up there and bring you down.’
    ‘You promise?’
    ‘I promise,’ Bethan agreed