Swansea Girls Read Free Page A

Roy.’
    ‘Come and meet someone.’
    Lily walked through to see the brother and sister who had taken her in as a three-year-old evacuee and loved and cared for her ever since, sitting with a strange young man.
    ‘Here’s our Lily.’ Roy’s sister Norah beamed proudly at her foster-daughter. ‘Lily, this is Brian Powell, our new lodger.’
    Brian rose to his feet and held out his hand. ‘Pleased to meet you, Lily.’
    ‘Brian starts work at the station on Monday,’ Roy explained.
    ‘You’re a policeman?’ Lily wasn’t good at gauging people’s height, but Brian seemed even taller than her Uncle Roy, and he was over six feet.
    ‘I’ve just finished training in Bridgend.’
    ‘Brian’s from Pontypridd. Swansea’s his first posting.’
    ‘By the look of you the weather must be a lot warmer in Pontypridd than Swansea,’ Norah observed. Brian’s hair was black, his skin a rich sunburned brown.
    ‘I only left Cyprus two months ago, Mrs Evans. National Service,’ he added by way of an explanation.
    ‘It must be lovely to travel,’ Lily murmured shyly as she sat on the sofa next to Norah.
    ‘That depends on how you do it. The army doesn’t make first-class arrangements but once we were there the beaches were fantastic. White sand, blue sea ...’
    ‘And warmer than Langland Bay I should think.’ Roy pulled his pipe from his trouser pocket.
    ‘I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been to any of the Gower beaches.’
    ‘Never?’ Lily asked incredulously.
    ‘The furthest Pontypridd people go on day trips is Barry Island or Porthcawl.’
    ‘But now you’re here, you have to see the Gower.’
    ‘I have a bike; perhaps you could show me.’
    ‘I wouldn’t be happy with our Lily riding pillion on a motorbike,’ Norah broke in swiftly. ‘Aren’t you going out with the girls tonight, Lily?’
    ‘Yes, and I have to get ready. Excuse me, Brian.’
    ‘Nice to meet you, Lily.’
    As Lily closed the door she heard Norah say, ‘Lily is only just eighteen, Brian. My brother and I lead a quiet life. Some would say we’ve sheltered Lily, wrapped her in cotton wool as it were, but the truth is she’s not used to young men, especially in our home. You see, we stopped taking in lodgers when the war ended, but given the present housing shortage, when the sergeant mentioned you were having trouble finding a place we thought it only right to offer you a room here ...’
    Lily didn’t wait to hear any more. Whether it was his height, suntan or air of confident self-sufficiency, Brian seemed a lot older than her. And there was one thing she agreed on with Judy and Helen. Fair boys like Adam Jordan were more attractive than dark ones. Not that she stood a chance of getting Adam to notice her with Helen around, but that didn’t stop her from dreaming – just a little.
    Brian remained in Norah’s living room only as long as it took to finish his tea, home-made cake and make his excuses. He’d heard enough stories about PC Roy Williams in police training school to know that he was a well-respected officer who had gained the trust and admiration of every colleague he had ever worked with, and nothing, but nothing, happened in Swansea that he didn’t know about. He’d been looking forward to working with, and learning from him, but Roy’s widowed sister was something else. Roy had mentioned that her husband had been killed at Dunkirk but, German guns aside, Brian decided that the late Mr Evans had proved his courage by marrying the formidable Norah.
    More spinster than widow, two minutes in her company had been enough to convince him that he had about as much chance of smuggling a woman into his room as he had of sneaking in an elephant. The thought depressed him. The house and his room were neat and clean, the tea Norah served excellent, but there was something off-puttingly respectable and antiseptic about the atmosphere after three months of communal bachelor living in training school.
    Dumping his suitcase and