Holidays at Home Omnibus by Grace Thompson

Author:Grace Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo Books
Published: 2017-03-09T05:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Marged and Huw pretended that the wedding was a happy joke and encouraged the other guests to think the same. Deep inside, hidden by their smiles, they felt humiliated. Marrying a man the same age as her father would have been difficult enough to explain, but to marry him secretly, while giving everyone the impression she was going to marry the son, made it impossible. How could they face people, knowing they were talking about them, laughing at their embarrassment?

The party atmosphere was strained, only Lilly seeming unaffected by her announcement. The food was excellent but no one tasted it; they were all wishing the occasion was over and they could leave. There was the threat of an approaching row in the air that no one wanted to witness.

Ken sat next to Eirlys wishing he were a hundred miles away, with Janet. A letter had arrived that morning and he had taken it from the postman without Eirlys seeing it, the handwriting telling him it was from Janet. It was unopened and he hoped it was an answer to his own, telling her he wanted to divorce Eirlys and marry her.

As the talk went on around him he fingered the letter, wanting to read it but unable to get away from Eirlys. He needed privacy, a pleasant place and the time to relish what he hoped was the promise of a new beginning, a happy future.

‘I do think Mrs Denver should have told them – you know – what was going on,’ Eirlys whispered.

‘Going on?’ he said, half hearing what she was telling him and alarm stiffening his jaw. ‘What’s going on?’

She pointed at Mrs Denver, who had apparently been present at the marriage. The poor woman looked close to tears. She was trying to help Marged as the meal progressed, hovering as though waiting for an opportunity to explain her involvement, but Marged didn’t want to hear. Every time the older woman opened her mouth to speak, Marged pushed her angrily aside. Why hadn’t she told them what Lilly planned? How could she condone such a wicked plan?

Everyone was trying to make conversation but trying to avoid certain subjects made it hazardous. The present wedding was taboo, the weddings of others were no better, and the war, with the fall of Singapore and ferocious bombing raids of Germany which would certainly bring reprisals, was too gloomy to mention.

Marged and Huw were thinking about how they had protected their daughter’s special day by keeping to themselves their worry about Eynon, and unanimously they agreed it was no longer necessary. Why should they pretend everything was a huge joke when their son was somewhere fighting for his life?

As they were finishing the wedding cake and holding up their glasses for the toast, Huw stood up and instead of wishing the couple a life of happiness, he said solemnly, ‘We weren’t going to mention this today, out of consideration for Lilly and her – husband. But Marged and I heard a few days ago that our younger son, Eynon, is missing in action somewhere in France.

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