Such Sweet Sorrow Read Free

wife, Alma, being very happy at the thought of losing her husband before they’d even celebrated their first wedding anniversary.
    ‘He said now he’s married Alma, he’s more Welsh than anything else, and if Wales is fighting a war then so is he.’
    ‘Against his own kind?’
    ‘We’re not fighting the Russians.’
    ‘They marched into Poland like the Germans, didn’t they? I’m surprised that the recruiting office let Charlie join up.’
    ‘They haven’t yet,’ William answered evasively not wanting to get sidetracked into discussing the hard time Charlie had been given by the senior officer.
    ‘And your Uncle Evan?’
    ‘The pit manager’s already warned him that they won’t let him go. Experienced miners are worth their weight in gold now that war’s been declared. You still haven’t answered my question,’ he reminded her, deliberately drawing the conversation back to personal matters.
    ‘You want me to sit at home and wait for you, while you go to France and have a whale of a time with French girls who don’t know any better than to throw themselves at Welsh boys?’
    ‘I had hoped we could choose an engagement ring before I go.’
    William’s matter-of-fact assumption that she would fit in with his plans kindled a blaze of conflicting emotions Tina could barely understand, let alone control. He’d been around as long as she could remember. He was tall, dark and far too good-looking for her peace of mind, with a wicked sense of humour that drove her to distraction, simply because most of the time she found it impossible to tell whether he was clowning or serious. But loving him hadn’t blinded her to his shortcomings. He had an eye for other women. Vera Collins’s son’s black curly hair and dark eyes was proof enough of that, but fortunately for William, Vera’s husband was either the forgiving or the stupid sort.
    It had been hard enough to overlook William’s philandering until now, when they had only been boy and girlfriend – if only he hadn’t been going away – if she could have kept him in Pontypridd where she could watch him – if he hadn’t already had at least one affair: there were simply too many ‘ifs’ in the equation. ‘I don’t want to get engaged to a man who may never come back,’ she answered forcefully.
    ‘You won’t be, because I will be back.’ He folded his arms around her once more. ‘I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love you. All you have to do is turn your enormous, dark eyes on me to get anything you want that’s mine to give. And you love me, Tina, almost as much as I love you. We’re made for one another.’ He caressed the back of her neck with his hands, curling the soft tendrils of hair around his fingers. ‘Do you remember the fight I had with Tony when I told him we were going to elope?’
    ‘As we were six years old at the time I don’t think we’d have got very far.’
    ‘We would now.’ He slid his hands down to her waist.
    ‘Then let’s elope, now. Tonight,’ she suggested impulsively. ‘I have some money, we could go to Gretna Green.’
    ‘And if I get a letter from the army tomorrow?’
    ‘You won’t be here to receive it.’
    ‘They’ll come after me and charge me with desertion.’
    ‘How can they do that, when you haven’t been there to desert?’
    ‘We’ll get married the minute the war is over.’
    ‘I could have grey hair by then.’
    ‘No war can last that long.’
    ‘It’s not just the war. There’s Mama and Papa. They’ve never liked the idea of you and me. If the war hadn’t broken out Papa would have carried out his threat and sent me to Italy to marry a nice, Catholic, Italian boy.’ She made it sound like a fate worse than death.
    ‘They accepted your brother Ronnie marrying my cousin Maud, and she’s Baptist and Welsh.’
    ‘And they got married in an Anglican church and Papa wouldn’t even go to the wedding. Sometimes I think it’s just as well Ronnie carried Maud off to Italy