WITH GWILYM IN hospital, thoughts of finding Rhys were pushed aside. Valmai visited him daily and continued to work the usual hours at the hotel. She was frightened at the damage he had done to his healthy leg but also hopeful that after this stupidity he would finally accept the need for a properly fitted false limb.
Sally called at the hospital too and sometimes brought Sadie to wave to her grandfather through the window. His bedside table was always covered with treats and most of these he passed on to Eric when he came.
For Eric the delay in searching for his daughter was painful but he had promised Valmai he wouldn’t go on his own. To find the money to travel there and stay a night or two, which is what he hoped to do, would have meant giving up his room for a week. ‘Sleeping at the mill in December is not allowed,’ Valmai had warned. ‘If you try, I’ll tell the police you’re a vagrant and need locking up!’
He smiled, knowing she was joking but he agreed to wait.
Valmai knew she should offer him a room with her and Gwilym, even if only for the winter months, but with only two bedrooms and one large living room, it wouldn’t have been very convenient and Eric would have regretted the loss of his privacy. The second bedroom was still for Rhys.
David seemed amused by the latest rumours. He laughed at the story of Rhys and Eric’s daughter being together to his mother and people he met, but to Sally he showed nothing but sympathy. He visited her often, taking small gifts for Sadie and sometimes calling and suggesting a walk. He put Sadie on his shoulders and they spent time in the park and walking through the woods, where he would point out where various animals lived and invent stories about their lives.
Sadie greeted him with excitement and Sally too began to feel a warmth towards him she hadn’t expected. With Christmas almost upon them, they went shopping and bought a few presents, laughing as they hid from each other the surprises that would be revealed on Christmas Day. He waited outside a bookshop while Sally went in to buy something for Sadie and Mrs Gorse, and also outside the men’s clothing shop, where Rick worked, to buy a gift for him.
David often put an arm around her shoulders as they crossed a road or when he shepherded them into yet another shop. It seemed natural, and she didn’t edge away from his occasional embrace. It was the season that made the difference, she decided. There was a willingness to share, a need to belong and the warmth that was Christmas changed people for the better. Every day was filled with moments of happiness. Strangers shared their plans and the shops were crowded with people who smiled more readily. There was an unusual politeness.
It was this mood, this excitement, she mused, that had made the difference in the way she felt about David, a happiness in sharing that she hadn’t known for a very long time. Everything was fun and for an hour or two Sally could forget the hurt she suffered by Rhys’s mysterious behaviour and revel in the joy of the season and friends with whom to share it. She enjoyed making plans, preparing for guests, cooking, buying party clothes for herself and Sadie. Money, she admitted to David, made a big difference.
They went back to the house in School Lane loaded with parcels one afternoon and as Sally took off her coat and filled the kettle, David ran upstairs with the parcels. As he walked slowly back down again he looked serious.
‘I’ve enjoyed today, Sally love. I want more days like this; you, Sadie and me.’ He looked at her, assessing her mood, then moved towards her and put his arms around her. ‘Tell me you feel the same. We’ve both been lonely too long. You know I love you and little Sadie. I know we can be happy together now Rhys is out of your life and unable to ruin things ever again.’
His arms felt so comforting, the words touching her heart, and when he mentioned Rhys she tried not to feel anything but indifference. His kiss warmed her and the need for this closeness was strong. Then Sadie called, insisting she was ‘hungry for a cake’, and the mood faded, although the look in David’s eyes didn’t change. He kissed her again lightly then went to see what the shopping bags offered for the hungry little girl. ‘Doughnut or currant cake?’ he asked.
‘Yes, please, David. Both!’ Sadie said with a laugh.
Sally’s mind was in turmoil as a picture of Rhys came and went, being replaced by the smiling face of David. During these terrible months he was always there when she needed him and asked nothing in return. She wondered if she would – could – forget Rhys and accept David. Something inside her at that moment as she watched her daughter laughing, looking up at him, grew in strength and she thought she might.
Eric still felt uneasy spending time with Jimmy but he didn’t want the boy to think he no longer had a friend. He knew Jimmy was unsettled and guessed he was likely to run away again if things became intolerable in the Prosser household. He wanted to keep an eye on him to make sure that if he did, he’d be there and able to help.
He was sitting in the workshop one afternoon finishing a rocking horse Gwilym was making. It was a long job and he did some of the work every day in between other smaller pieces. Jimmy talked about a book he was reading about a boy who had an adventure travelling, and working when he needed money. ‘He used a compass,’ he said. ‘How does that help?’
Eric explained about following a course and he also promised to get him one. ‘You’ll enjoy the book even more if you can see the way he’s travelling,’ he said, ‘and you follow his route on a map.’
‘So if he wanted to go from here to the seaside, he’d go south?’
Eric laughed. ‘You wouldn’t need a compass for that. From here to the seaside you could catch a bus and be home for supper!’
‘It must be a long way. I’ve never been there,’ he surprised him by saying.
Amy and Rick had heard the latest on the Rhys saga and they called on Sally one evening. As Valmai wasn’t free to go, they offered to take Sally and Eric to Bristol.
‘We won’t intrude,’ Rick promised, ‘we’ll just drop you off where you want to be and pick you up later.’
‘It isn’t such a great favour,’ Amy admitted. ‘I’m longing for the excuse to visit more shops. This is our first Christmas and Mummy isn’t coming. She’s going to Bournemouth to stay with cousin Godfrey.’
‘Three cheers for cousin Godfrey,’ Rick said. ‘We’re going to have the best Christmas ever. Breakfast in bed, a long walk in the morning, followed by a late lunch, then a party for friends on Boxing Day to finish off the turkey.’
‘We’ve decorated the whole house in a way that will horrify my mother,’ Amy added. ‘Using every colour and shade known to man, streamers and balloons and more glitter than you’ve ever seen in your life.’
When they were leaving, Amy told her friend that they were happier than they’d ever imagined. ‘Mummy caused a few problems at the beginning, insisting on us following her advice. Now, half the fun is learning to outwit her. Wicked, isn’t it?’
‘We love her of course,’ Rick added quickly, ‘and we’d never deliberately hurt her feelings, but we need to make her see that our ways are different from hers.’
‘She hasn’t visited for a while. There was her illness and hospital, the convalescence in Bournemouth with cousin Godfrey. Since then we’ve had to visit her. When she does come she’ll be surprised at the changes we’ve already made to her carefully designed decor. Cheerful blue instead of the drab grey she ordered for the bathroom and the kitchen is now a cheerful yellow. The drab curtains too have been put aside and new ones chosen. Poor Mum, she will insist that she knows best.’
‘But she’ll soon see that the house is ours, Amy’s and mine, and we want everything to represent our taste, not chosen from the books on design she’d buried herself in for months.’
David’s mother loved Christmas and although there would be only the two of them and David would be out for most of the day, she decided to decorate a tree and put up some coloured lights. The trimmings, as she called them, were stored in the loft and, impatient once she had made up her mind, she was unable to wait for David to come home so struggled in with the ladder and went up herself.
There was no light up there and with the aid of a torch she searched the assorted boxes until she found the lights and baubles to hang on the tree. Now she needed the artificial tree. It was as she pulled aside some old mats and a chair with a broken seat that she found David’s treasure. She gasped with delight. He was always buying antiques. Perhaps these were for her Christmas present. He rarely bought something new, always something old and beautiful.
She pushed the tree down on to the landing, carefully carried down the box of fragile baubles then went back and brought down the picture and the silver vase. She spent a happy couple of hours cleaning them, then put them back, carefully rewrapped, so David’s surprise wouldn’t be spoilt.
When he came home, David was alarmed when he saw the tree dressed in the bright decorations. ‘Mam! Have you been up in the loft? You shouldn’t do things like that. Why didn’t you wait for me?’
‘I remembered where they were, I didn’t have to search,’ she said, hoping he wouldn’t notice the difference in the way the secret gifts had been wrapped. ‘It didn’t take more than a minute or two.’
Later, David made the excuse of going up and making sure there were no more trimmings they could use and he was relieved to see the picture and bowl still wrapped and in the same place as he’d left them.
Sally arranged a day when she and Eric would go to Bristol and one week before Christmas, on Monday 18th, they went. Sally directed them to the place where she had seen Rhys with the woman who, in the unlikely event of Milly being right, was Eric’s daughter. Amy and Rick waited in the car when they walked up the steps and knocked at the door. There was no reply and going around to the back they knocked again but no one came. The thin curtains were drawn but no light showed. The place looked deserted.
Hiding the disappointment they all felt, they got back in the car and went to spend a few hours enjoying the shops. Sadie loved the displays and shouted in excitement as they went into each new store. Rick carried her part of the time as, from her pushchair, down among shopping bags and people’s knees, she couldn’t see what was going on and protested loudly to let them know.
Before they left to drive home, Rick took them back to the house where Rhys had apparently lived and Eric walked around again to find nothing had changed. The place looked abandoned. ‘They might be away for Christmas,’ Eric said. ‘I’ll have to be patient until the New Year.’
‘Sorry, Eric, I should have faced them when I came first instead of running away.’
‘Don’t worry. After so long, what’s another few days?’
‘Look, we aren’t in a hurry to get home, shall we go somewhere and eat?’ Rick suggested. ‘Sadie will sleep in the car going home if she’s tired and we can call it a pre-Christmas treat.’
They chose a small restaurant and it was almost ten o’clock when they reached home. Sally, carrying her shopping with a sleeping Sadie over her shoulder, opened the front door and stood to wave as Eric, Amy and Rick drove away. Then a figure materialized a few feet away.
‘Please, Sally, can I come in?’ Rhys asked.
Sally threw the shopping bags inside, went in after them and without a word, closed the door.
She knew that was wrong. She should have allowed him in and given him the chance to tell her about the woman. If it was Eric’s daughter he needed to know. She had let Eric down again by shutting the door against Rhys. She put Sadie down and went outside, but there was no sign of him. Why had she acted so selfishly? Why hadn’t she thought about Eric before slamming the door?
Jimmy was on his bed, lying on his front, propped up on his elbows with his hands over his ears. Even with his hands pressed tightly as he could, he could still hear them arguing. His father’s low rumbling voice in counterpoint to the high-pitched shrieking of his mother’s. The book in front of him was one lent to him by Rick and it was an interesting story, but the shouting from the kitchen made it impossible to concentrate. If only he had somewhere to go he’d be out of here as fast as his feet could take him.
Eric was no longer his friend. Recently he’d often refused to go for a walk with him, even when he wanted to show him where the badgers had run, leaving tufts of their hair on the wire fencing. Nobody likes me, he thought glumly. Dad’s right and I’m useless. It was only eight o’clock but, still fully dressed, he slid between the sheets. He pressed his head into the pillow and brought another over his other ear but still the noise went on. Then there was a sudden and louder sound. Plates smashed, and what sounded like a table being overturned. He dug deeper into the covers and closed his eyes tight as though that could help to obliterate the sounds from below.
Then there was silence that was as unnerving as the noise and he got out of bed and went on to the landing. The voices were still to be heard but quieter now. His mother’s voice was the easiest to hear and she was telling his father to go.
‘I’m not going anywhere!’ Walter raised his voice again. ‘If anyone leaves it’s going to be you and you can take that useless boy with you.’ Jimmy heard the back door open and slam closed and the sound of his mother’s slippered feet running down the path.
He didn’t wait to hear any more. He grabbed his clothes, the blankets packed ready for when he had to leave, and when he heard his father go into the living room and turn on the television very loud he went cautiously down, stole the contents of his mother’s purse, then filled a bag with food and a bottle of pop and left the house, staggering under his load.
He was surprised at how cold it was. He’d been under the bed covers fully dressed and the contrast hit him with a shock. Frost sparked on the fences and on patches of damp on the road. He wondered where his mam had gone. Why hadn’t she waited for him, he wondered sadly. Forgot I was there, like she usually does when she and Dad argue.
He’d have preferred it if his father had been the one to leave and for a moment he hesitated and wondered whether his dad might be all right without anyone to argue with. But then, he decided sadly, he’d still have me, ‘that useless boy’, to shout at. He hurried on. Tomorrow he’d go and see Valmai and Gwilym – they’d know what to do – but for tonight he’d go and seek comfort in the old mill. He patted his shoulder bag. Food, drink and paper and matches to light a fire. He’d be all right until morning.
Rhys went to his parents’ house and having heard about Gwilym’s accident asked to be allowed to stay. ‘This is still your home, Rhys,’ Valmai said, but she was uneasy. She felt that by allowing him to stay she was letting Sally down, but what else could she do? He was her son and she couldn’t send him away. Specially with so many questions needing answers. ‘You can’t use your room, mind. Netta’s in there. She and Walter have had a serious falling out. You can sleep here on your dad’s chair.’ He didn’t sleep, but sat beside the fire and tried to prepare the words he needed to say to Sally, if she ever allowed him to say them. She had to be the first one to hear his story. Then he’d tell his parents and ask them all to forgive him or at least to understand.
He and Julia had left the house in Bristol for the Christmas period. He hoped they wouldn’t be going back. She had taken her daughter and gone to spend Christmas with a friend in West Wales for a week. He had decided that the time had come to explain all that had happened. Would Sally understand? Would she even allow him to tell his story?
Netta was surprised to see Rhys there when she went downstairs early the next morning. His eyes were closed and she tiptoed past him and filled the kettle as quietly as she could. But he followed her into the kitchen and began putting cups out on a tray.
‘I’ve got your room, Rhys, I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. I’m a big boy now, Auntie Netta,’ he said, using the name he’d used all his life. ‘If things hadn’t gone so terribly wrong, I’d be married with a home of my own by now.’
Netta didn’t ask for an explanation; this was not her business. ‘Uncle Walter and I have had too many rows. I couldn’t stand it any longer.’
‘Where’s Jimmy?’
‘Still asleep. I’ll go and fetch him and give him breakfast a bit later. Best to let him sleep while he can and I don’t want to go and wake up Walter and start more rows.’
They heard Valmai coming down the stairs and Rhys looked towards the door ready to greet her. ‘Mam, I’ll explain when I’ve spoken to Sally. She needs to be told before anyone else.’
Valmai shrugged. ‘What about you, Netta, are you going back to see to Jimmy? Frightened he’ll be and wondering where you are.’
‘Will you go and fetch him? Please, Val. I just can’t face the man. He’ll only start off again. Bring Jimmy here and before the end of the day I’ll have decided what to do.’
‘Of course I’ll fetch Jimmy. And you can stay as long as you need to. Just get things settled once and for all, for Jimmy’s sake as well as yours.’
Rhys drank some tea and then left. He walked to the house on School Lane and looked up at the windows, shining in the sudden brightness of an early morning sun. There were lights on in one bedroom and below. At the side, a shaft of light shone from between partially open curtains in what was probably the kitchen. He followed the path around to the back door and knocked.
He heard voices within and the soft giggle of a child. A pang of pain pierced him as he thought about what he had done to his daughter. The voices stopped and the door opened a crack.
‘Sally, please, let me talk to you. I want to see you and Sadie. I have to explain. Please.’ The door closed without Sally uttering a word.
‘Damn! I’ve done it again!’ she gasped aloud. What is the matter with me? I’ve let Eric down again! He deserves to know whether or not the woman was his daughter. What sort of a friend am I that I could miss the chance of finding the answer, twice? Then she excused herself by remembering that she had to get to work and before then get Sadie ready and taken to the nursery. Now Rhys was here. Eric would soon learn the truth. Her not opening the door wouldn’t change anything. Rhys owed everyone an explanation and she didn’t need to mess up her day to help him. Now was a stupid time to knock on her door. Satisfied for the moment that the blame was with Rhys, she hurriedly prepared for the start of the day. ‘Come on, lazy bones,’ she called to Sadie. ‘Time to get ready for nursery.’
David was there as she went to her car and she almost didn’t see him. The man at the edge of her sight she presumed to be Rhys and she got into the car and slammed the door, turned on the engine and was moving off when he reached the driver’s door. ‘Sally, wait!’
She switched off the engine. ‘David. I’m sorry. I thought it was Rhys.’
‘He’s back?’ David was surprised. ‘I don’t know how he can face you. Wants more money, does he? Or more time?’
‘I don’t know. I didn’t give him a chance to tell me.’ She smiled up at him. ‘Let’s forget Rhys, shall we? He’s no longer a part of my life and he doesn’t appear to want to be part of Sadie’s either.’
‘That’s fine by me!’ He leaned into the car and kissed her cheek. ‘Sally, I was going to ask if you were free for an hour, lunchtime maybe? Or can you leave early? With only days to go I haven’t bought anything for Mam and I know she would like a dressing gown. Now how can I choose a dressing gown? I don’t know what size or what colour she’d like. I was hoping you’d help.’
‘Can you meet me in Cardiff, near the office, at three? I’ll have an hour but I’ll have to go back to the office. We’ll find something in an hour, surely.’
‘Thank you.’ Smiling, he waved her off. ‘I can’t wait,’ he shouted. Rhys was back and he’d keep coming back. It was time to play his trump card and get rid of him for good. Taking Sally away from him might be easier than he’d thought. But if Rhys no longer wanted her, if he’d found someone else, that would be different. He didn’t want her if Rhys didn’t. There was no fun in that.
Netta kept putting off going back into her house and it was Valmai who, at half past eight, went to wake Jimmy and bring him back to give him breakfast. Walter was sleeping, slack-mouthed, on a couch and the place smelled unpleasantly of stale food and beer and cigarette smoke. There was no sign of Jimmy. Giving Walter a prod to rouse him she told him she was going to wake his son and ran up the stairs. Jimmy’s room was empty. She looked in the other bedroom and ran down, alarm growing by the second. ‘Walter! Where’s Jimmy? He hasn’t gone to school without breakfast, has he?’
‘Still in bed. Never gets up in time unless he’s called.’
‘And you didn’t think to call him!’ She looked at the clock. It was almost nine o’clock. ‘Walter, he isn’t here! For heaven’s sake, man, he’s only eleven and you don’t know where he is! When did he go? He could have walked out some time during the night and he didn’t knock on my door, so where would he go?’
‘He’ll be all right. On his way to school, sure to be.’ But he looked concerned. His eyes, bleary and watery, had widened in alarm.
‘Walter, wake up! It’s cold out there. We don’t know how long he’s been out there. We have to find him!’
Netta appeared then, and guessed from the expression on their faces that once again Jimmy had run away. ‘Where will you look?’ she shouted. ‘What if he isn’t at school? What then? Proud of yourself, are you? Driving a child out because of your idleness and foul temper. Shamed you should be, Walter Prosser. Shamed.’
‘Us you mean. It isn’t only me. He’s running away because of US!’
‘And who can blame him,’ Netta whispered, looking at Valmai in fright. ‘It’s winter – he can’t be sleeping out in this, can he?’ She grabbed her purse and ran to the phone box. The children would be filing into their classes and she asked the secretary to phone back and let her know if Jimmy Prosser was present. She tapped her fingers impatiently on the phone as she waited for the call, shushing away someone who came wanting to use it. She willed him to be there and that he hadn’t wandered off somewhere. The weather wasn’t seriously cold but the temperature was low enough for a night out to be dangerous for a young boy. She kept picturing the old mill, imagining Jimmy sleeping then slipping into unconsciousness and – the terrifying thoughts stopped there as the phone rang.
No, Jimmy wasn’t at school.
Jimmy hadn’t slept well. The floor never lost its chill, the blankets too were cold to the touch and his nose seemed like a piece of ice that didn’t belong to his face. As dawn broke he rose, checked his compass and began to walk south. The money he had taken from his mother’s purse would last a few days, then he’d go to the police, give a false name and he’d be taken to a children’s home where there’d be lots of friends and no one calling him useless.
Rhys went at once to look for the boy. Firstly to the mill where there was no sign of him although a few apple cores suggested he – or someone else – had stayed there for a while. He looked around the place where he had spent many hours as a child; friends and imagination was all they had needed. The paddles on the waterwheel were obviously being cleaned. Piles of moss and water weed stood on the bank of the stream and several of the paddles had been scraped clean. The water was moving sluggishly and grease was visible on the moving parts of the pen-stock which had once controlled the water to the wheel along the leat. Jimmy’s work, he guessed. Spending time here to escape the rows at home, he’d have been glad of something to pass the time. Poor lonely, frightened little boy.
He walked through the woods, searching each of the many places he had played in years before. The hollow ash where they’d left messages for other gang members, the hazel tree that drooped and made a good hiding place, but with the leaves fallen from the trees they were no longer any use for concealment. Some evergreens offered hope but yielded no sign of Jimmy being there recently. He went back to the house to see if anyone else had been more fortunate.
Eric was there and he nodded with little friendliness at Rhys, before turning away.
‘Eric, I have to talk to you.’
‘Jimmy’s missing. He’s the priority now.’
‘But I have things to tell you.’
‘Forget Eric and tell me where you’ve looked,’ Walter said, glaring at Eric.
Ignoring him, Rhys said, ‘Eric, I have to talk to you.’
‘Later!’
An hour later, having faced accusations from everyone for his neglect of his son, Walter’s face had lost its anger. He looked deflated, and more than a little afraid. He had washed hurriedly and had already walked the streets following the route Jimmy would normally take to school. He had asked the teacher to talk to Jimmy’s friends and ask them for suggestions as to where he might have gone. He rejoined the others in Valmai’s house.
‘I’ve searched the mill and the woods around,’ Rhys told them now. ‘I doubt if he’s gone far. He’s probably nearby, punishing someone, making them worry.’
‘But we have to find him. He can’t survive in this weather,’ Netta wailed.
‘I think I might find him,’ Eric said. ‘If he hears my voice I think he’d come out for me.’
‘Stay away from my son!’ Walter snapped. ‘You’re probably the reason why he ran away.’ Shocked, Eric sat down on the chair normally used by Valmai and stared unseeing at the ashes of the fire.
Valmai came and put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Talking through his hat as usual. Ignore him,’ she said loudly, glaring at the man.
‘But I know I’m the one to find him. He’ll come if he hears me,’ Eric said anxiously. ‘Every minute he’s out there in this weather, the more dangerous it becomes.’
‘Stay away. I’m warning you.’ Walter muttered. He knew he was being stupid but guilt and something more, jealousy of Eric, made him keep up his ridiculous attack. He had to find his son, not Eric. He went out and leaned on the wall, staring over the fields, then went back inside.
Rhys was returning to the house when he heard raised voices. Sally and his mother were having a disagreement, Sally insistent and his mother pleading. He quickly gathered that if he stayed, Sally and Sadie would not spend Christmas Day with his parents. He had caused them all enough misery. It was time Rhys left.
Gathering his few belongings he slipped away unnoticed by anyone and walked towards the bus stop to start his journey to a lonely Christmas.
Jimmy saw a shed near the path he was taking across a field, and he pushed through the hedge and went inside. He was hungry and cold and wrapping the blankets around him, he searched in his bag for something to eat.
‘Clear off!’ a voice near him growled and he leapt up in alarm. There was no sign of anyone and he began to think of ghosts and monsters. The voice came again and this time, a man who had been sleeping in a corner wrapped in sacks, sat up. ‘Clear off!’ he repeated. ‘If the farmer saw you coming he’ll send us both on our way and I’ve slept here for a week.’ He looked at the bag. ‘Got any food?’
Jimmy offered him some biscuits. ‘You a tramp?’ he asked. The man crawled across and snatched the bag. ‘Go home, you stupid boy. Got a home, haven’t you?’ When Jimmy nodded, he said, ‘Thought so. Well, go on then. What are you doing out here disturbing the likes of me, eh? Go on, clear off!’
As Jimmy ran from the building, the man snatched the blankets from him. ‘You won’t need these, got plenty at home. Go on, clear off.’
Jimmy hurried away and, afraid to sit and eat the food he had left in case the tramp appeared or the farmer he’d warned him about, he went to the road and waited for a bus. He didn’t know which way he needed to go to reach the seaside but as soon as a bus appeared he got on. The pocket in which he’d put the money was empty. It must have fallen as he ran away from the tramp. ‘No bus fare, no bus ride,’ the conductor told him. ‘Sorry, son. Far from home, are you?’
‘No, not far,’ Jimmy said.
‘Best you get back there. It’s getting colder and you aren’t exactly well dressed, are you?’
At least he didn’t say they’d be worried, Jimmy thought with a sigh. He stopped and looked around him. He had to go back. There was no choice with the money gone and no blankets. He looked at the compass and tried to find a path or road that would take him north. If he could manage to find his way back, he’d make a shelter and stay at the mill. One day when he was old enough he’d live there and forget he ever had parents. That would please them. They can shout at each other all day, he thought, and they’ll be glad not to have me hanging around.
The police came several times and promised to do everything they could to find the boy. ‘How long has he been missing this time?’ the constable asked.
‘We don’t know,’ Netta wailed, glaring at her husband. ‘He was supposed to be looking after him and he didn’t know he wasn’t in his bed. Call yourself a father?’ she shouted at Walter.
‘Netta, make us all some tea,’ Valmai demanded imperiously. ‘Stop shouting at each other and think.’
China rattled and water was poured into the kettle but Netta’s hands were shaking and it was Eric who took over the task. ‘I’m not touching anything he’s made,’ Walter muttered. Netta threw a cushion at him and told him to get out. Walter looked threatening and began to rise out of the chair. Netta pushed him back and Valmai tried to hold them apart.
The constable took over. ‘Go now, and ask anyone you can think of to come and help,’ he told Walter. He coaxed him up out of his chair, handed him his coat and pushed him firmly out of the door. ‘Right. What next?’
‘Somebody should go and talk to the farmer. There are lots of barns and places where he might be.’
‘We’re already on to that,’ Constable Harvey assured her.
Netta shivered. ‘Oh, why did I walk out last night? Why did I leave him in the hands of that idle, useless husband of mine? I should have taken Jimmy and gone years ago. If anything’s happened to my boy, I’ll—’
‘Here, drink this, then we’ll ring the school again in case he got there late.’
The police had already arranged for the school to let them know if Jimmy turned up but the constable said nothing to Netta. Better give her that small hope for a while longer.
Unaware of the missing child, David was waiting for Sally outside her office. He linked arms and held her close. ‘Where first?’ he asked. ‘Cup of tea and a cake?’ Laughing happily they went into a smart café offering mince pies and Christmas cake and sat making plans for Christmas.
‘I know you’ll want to be with Valmai and Gwilym on Christmas Day – they’ll be feeling the absence of that son of theirs and Sadie will cheer them up. But what about Boxing Day? Mam would love it if you and Sadie came to us.’
‘You’re right we’ll be with the Martins on Christmas Day and we’ve arranged something on Boxing Day – lunch with Amy and Rick,’ she said.
‘And what about Christmas Eve?’
Soon it was all arranged and Sally admitted to herself that the pleasure she displayed was really relief at not being in the house where Rhys might find her. ‘It will be perfect if I can manage to avoid seeing Rhys.’
Words that warmed David’s heart.
Gwilym was brought home by ambulance that afternoon and as the light began to fade and there was still no sign of Jimmy, Eric said, ‘Say what you like, Walter, but I’m going to find the boy. I know he’ll come if he sees me and I know the area where he’ll be hiding. I’ve told the police and they’ve searched several times but I know he’ll come out for me. He talked about going to the seaside. He told me he’d never been. Imagine that, Gwilym, eleven years old and the coast only a few miles away and Walter’s never taken him there.’
Walter began to bluster and threaten but with Constable Harvey following, Eric set off for the mill. Walter followed, resentment against Eric stronger than fear for the boy’s safety.
Before they reached the part of the path from where they had a first sight of the ruined building, Eric stopped and listened. ‘Can you hear something?’
Constable Harvey shook his head. He couldn’t hear anything except the wind in the trees.
‘I can hear the water. He’s got the wheel turning! Hurry, he’s sure to be still there.’
Harvey and Eric ran, with Walter struggling to catch up. Eric pointed towards the derelict room where he had often slept and they both called and listened. There was only the sound of the stream. Eric went to look at the wheel and there was Jimmy, half in the water, his face red with blood, his eyes closed. ‘Jimmy!’ Eric called, running down to him.
‘Why were you so long?’ Jimmy murmured.
He had been trying to release the wheel and his arm had caught in a split plank of wood. Eric eased him out of his coat and wrapped the boy in his own. Walter arrived as Eric stood in the stream, holding Jimmy in his arms. He angrily demanded that Eric came away and left him to help his son. He leaned over and began to pull Eric aside and the wheel moved, slightly, but threateningly.
The bank was slippery and was already marked where the boy had struggled as his sleeve had caught in the weak piece of wood. Eric pushed Walter away and Walter tried to respond by pushing him towards the water. Jimmy was in danger of falling into the stream, now deeper due to his efforts to clean it. Eric eased the boy up the slippery bank where willing hands lifted him to safety, then he turned and grabbed Walter by the scruff of his pants and the collar of his shirt and threw him in the deep water of the stream. He went back to Jimmy and said, ‘Sorry, son, but I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time.’
Jimmy’s eyes were closing and Eric called for the constable to help him. Together they carried Jimmy home with Walter behind, shivering, trying to hold back sobs of anguish. ‘Sorry, son,’ he was muttering. ‘Sorry.’
‘I knew you’d find me,’ he heard Jimmy say to Eric. ‘I knew you’d come.’
‘That was the worst thing of all, Jimmy knowing Eric would find him and not me,’ Walter told Netta later, but his anger against Eric hadn’t eased.