Swansea Summer Read Free

rang out from the living room. ‘They’re already here. Please, Jack.’ Twisting her hands behind her back, she struggled to refasten the hooks.
    ‘Every married man I know complains his wife won’t let him go down the pub. You’re throwing me out before we’re even married.’
    ‘Stag nights are different.’
    He rehooked her bra. ‘I’ll go, but only because I’ll have you all to myself from two o’clock tomorrow.’ Seeing dirt on his suitcase, he lifted it towards the light and brushed it down. ‘Shall I leave this in the bedroom?’
    ‘Please.’ Helen felt suddenly and inexplicably shy as she followed him in through the back door and down the passage to the bedroom.
    He dropped his case on the rug at the foot of the bed and looked around. ‘You’ve put the eiderdown Brian and Judy gave us on the bed.’
    ‘You like it?’
    ‘Even I can see it goes great with the lamps and wallpaper.’
    ‘I mentioned the colour scheme to Judy in one of my letters, but she sent a sample to Lily before buying it, just to be sure.’ She glanced at his case. ‘Do you want me to unpack for you?’
    ‘There’s only a couple of shirts, trousers and some underclothes. I can do it.’
    ‘The boys are waiting.’
    ‘I meant when we come back from honeymoon.’
    ‘Everything will be creased by then, silly.’ The thought of his clothes hanging next to hers in the wardrobe and his presence in the intimacy of the bedroom she had expended so much thought and time on brought the realisation just how close their lives would be from tomorrow on.
    ‘Happy?’ he questioned, concerned by the preoccupied expression on her face.
    ‘I’ll be happier tomorrow night.’
    Gathering her in his arms, he tickled the soft skin at the base of her ear. ‘Everything’s going to be perfect. I’m going to take good care of you and’ – he patted her stomach – ‘little Jack.’
    ‘I thought we’d settled on Dirk after Dirk Bogarde.’
    ‘You settled on Dirk, I settled on Jack. We have another six and a half months to argue about it.’
    ‘I didn’t agree to that.’
    ‘I only settled it with myself.’ Hearing laughter, he glanced behind him to see Judy, Lily and his sister in the passage.
    ‘The honeymoon’s supposed to start after the wedding, Jack,’ Judy reminded him tactlessly.
    ‘What have you girls planned for tonight?’
    ‘Babycham, sherry…’ Helen began.
    ‘Beauty treatments, girl talk – and peace from all men,’ Judy added tartly.
    Jack gave Helen a last hug before releasing her. ‘Take it steady with the drink, love.’
    ‘That’s great advice coming from someone on their way to the Rose,’ Judy retorted. ‘I bet a penny to a pound none of you will be sober an hour from now.’
    ‘You’re on,’ he agreed.
    ‘How would we know?’
    ‘You can check with Brian.’
    ‘He’ll be the first to get legless.’
    Sensing an edge to Judy’s voice, Jack turned back to Helen. ‘Bye, sweetheart. See you tomorrow.’
    ‘I’ll be there.’ As he kissed her again, Helen wished she had the courage to defy convention and do as he suggested, send the girls away and spend not only the evening but also the night with him.
    ‘If you’re giving out beauty advice, Judy, I’d be grateful for some,’ Lily followed the other two up the stairs to the ground floor as Helen locked the basement.
    ‘With your skin and hair, you don’t need any. What’s this?’ Judy asked as Helen’s brother, Joe, wheeled a trolley loaded with plates and bottles out of the dining room.
    ‘Surprise for the bride.’ He pushed it into the living room. ‘Thought you girls might be peckish.’ He said ‘you girls’ but Judy, Helen and Katie noticed he only had eyes for Lily. They also noticed that she refused to meet his gaze.
    ‘You made us sandwiches?’ Helen asked suspiciously.
    ‘Actually … no. I asked Mrs Jones to cut them, but I did buy the sausage rolls and pasties in the baker’s and I picked up some extra Babychams