Spoils of War Read Free Page B

wistful tinge that he realised could be open to misinterpretation.
    ‘And I’m glad Dino finally persuaded my Aunt Megan to set a date.’
    ‘From what he told me, he set five, and she chickened out of four,’ David replied wryly.
    ‘Ladies and gentlemen, would you please go to your tables and be upstanding for the bride and groom,’ Megan’s brother, Huw Davies, shouted, assuming the mantle of Master of Ceremonies.
    ‘Won’t you join us, David?’
    ‘Thank you for the invitation, Andrew, but Dino’s commanded all remaining Americans to the top table. I believe it’s something to do with needing the moral support of his fellow countrymen in the face of overwhelming odds.’
    ‘We’ll see you later?’
    ‘I’ll look forward to it.’ David nodded to Andrew and smiled at Bethan. His gaze met Bethan’s for the briefest of moments but he saw enough to realise she was uneasy about something. And given the way Andrew was watching him he didn’t need anyone to spell out what was troubling her.
    ‘The bride and groom!’ As the toast echoed around the room, Bethan lifted her glass to Megan, resplendent in a cream and lace silk costume that her newly acquired nieces-in-law had sent from America. As the guests sat down, Dino rose.
    ‘My wife and I …’ the laughter that greeted his opening drowned out the rest of his sentence. Shrugging his shoulders he crumpled the sheet of paper he was holding into a ball and tossed it on to the floor. ‘So much for speeches,’ he continued when he could finally make himself heard. ‘Those of you who know Megan, also know how hard I had to work on her just so I could say those four words.’ His face fell serious as he looked down at her. ‘But boy, was it worth it!’
    ‘Let’s hope she still thinks so in six months,’ Tina called out from the door.
    ‘That’s another thing I’ve learned since Uncle Sam sent me on this trip,’ he retorted cheerfully. ‘There are some people over here who will never accept us Yanks as the good guys. Even stepdaughters-in-law.’
    ‘Maybe in another ten years or so.’ Tina nodded to the waitress behind her. She entered the room carrying an outsize, elaborately iced cake, larger than any seen in Pontypridd since before the war.
    ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Tina announced, ‘I give you the Ronconi family present to the bride and groom, and before the groom asks, it is real, not cardboard and in answer to any other questions – don’t ask.’
    Through the laughter and ceremony of cutting the cake that followed, Bethan’s attention, like everyone else’s was drawn to the top table.
    ‘He’s what you women call good-looking, isn’t he?’ Andrew murmured.
    ‘Dino?’ Bethan was very fond of the middle-aged, short, plump American who’d captivated her aunt, but by no stretch of the imagination could she call him good-looking.
    ‘I was referring to the colonel.’
    ‘David? I wouldn’t know.’
    ‘Come on, Beth, you know.’
    ‘I suppose he is, I’ve never thought about it,’ she lied, taking the slice of cake the waitress handed her. ‘I wonder where Tina found these ingredients. I haven’t seen dried fruit this quality since before the war.’
    ‘I think it was a good idea to ask him to stay with us tonight.’ Andrew refused to be fobbed off by a discussion on dried fruit.
    ‘I don’t.’ The instant she’d spoken she realised her reply had been too quick, too finite.
    ‘It would put an end to the rumours once and for all if he stayed with both of us, Beth.’
    ‘I wasn’t aware people were still talking about David and me.’
    ‘Weren’t you?’
    ‘I have better things to do than listen to old women’s gossip.’
    ‘It’s not just the old women, Beth. A lot of the men coming home are questioning what their wives did when they were away.’ Crumbling his cake into small pieces, he left it lying uneaten on his plate.
    ‘I told you nothing happened between David and me.’
    ‘And I believe you.’
    She