CHAPTER 83
Chris had really worked hard at his planning, I realised, as our ‘two tribes’ crossed paths at the halfway point. Annie had been sent off with Darius, so I had Eric with me for the first part of the evening. I decided as we started our walk that I wouldn’t pump him for info, but me and good intentions have never been the firmest of friends.

“When did you decide this trip, Eric?”

Siân looked round from the other side of him, where she was actually walking with her arm linked in his.

“My beloved did that bit. We couldn’t get across to pick up the girl, and she was already staying with them, so it made sense doing it this way. Besides, Annie knew Chris already from the old diversity road-show thing”

Eric shook his head, grinning in a way Sammy could never have managed.

“Sometimes I really do think it is assimilation, Di. From day one, it’s been like swimming upstream. Hard work, and you get nowhere, and you still end up going where everything else is”

Siân barked a laugh.

“And you would have it any other way, ah?”

A much happier grin.

“Bollocks would I, and you know it. I just regret…”

He tailed off, clearly losing himself in some memories while seeking the right words.

“Diane, understand this: I have known her a bloody long time. Not as long as you did, of course, or rather not from as long back, but almost from the day she moved over to England. I just wonder how things would be if she had found herself earlier, if you get me? It feels almost like time wasted now”

I took his other arm, squeezing it to me.

“And how does it feel now?”

“You know the answer to that one! Anyway, we have a very cheeky question… Siân? Where are you parked?”

The redhead laughed.

“You know bloody well where! Sorry, Di, but if we are being forward…”

I laughed out loud at that one.

“Mrs Powell, let me guess: you are assuming there will be space in Hotel Sutton? Of course there will… Ah! Am I right, Eric? Same favour?”

“We stopped at Seb’s family’s, and they don’t have that much room”

I couldn’t hold the laughter back after that one.

“Oh dear god! So Charlie has to bunk up with Seb because, you know, limited room and oh dear, how sad…”

All three of us hit “Never mind!” simultaneously, and I sobered just a little.

“We have a spare bedroom, as well as the stuff we bought for camping at Christmas. Rhod is with Mam and Dad, but I doubt you two will fit into---oh, Eric! Blushing?”

“No wonder you two get on so bloody well! Two of a sodding kind, you are!”

“Resistance is useless indeed, mate!”

The evening continued as such things do, and when our crew finally arrived at the Elaine Powell Bar, I was feeling rather mellow, while trying to avoid becoming maudlin, as couples were reunited, alcohol clearly removing more than a few inhibitions, judging by some of the greetings on show. The salient point was the simple fact that nobody seemed to be holding back from showing their affections. Safe space, safe people. Stories were swapped, along with what was most likely some saliva in many cases, and people were relaxed in both senses. The alcohol was biting, and that combined with the release from stress. Barry, in particular, looked serene, an arm around Candice’s waist as the other lay over Annie’s shoulder, and her own free arm hugged Alun close.

That man’s own expression of comfortable happiness really warmed my heart, as it was the best expression I had seen on his face in longer than I could remember. Thank you so much, team, friends, everyone.

Marlene brought out plates of curried stuff, most of it finger food, and I loaded up well, trying to counteract the alcohol a little, or at least leave less room for more. The ceremony was actually due the following weekend, so we would have time to recover, but I was still a Mam, with a small boy due home the following day, and my own Mam not to disappoint.

I found myself in a huddle at one point, six of us in three pairs as Barry filled Annie in on station gossip, in widescreen and well-fuelled detail. I made a comment about overloading her with detail, and Barry just roared.

“Bloody detail, aye? And this minor bloody detail standing in front of me? How the fuck did we never fucking… sorry, ladies! How did we never spot what you were, Annie? Not even after that kiddy…”

I saw the wince seize her face, as did Barry, and he pulled it back.

“Sorry, love. You know how I meant it, aye? And…”

He looked down at Candice, and his face crumpled a little.

“Not the only one, aye? I’ve been lucky, being with Bryn over there, and I see what this lot are like, how they pull together, but you never had that, did you?”

Annie, in turn, glanced at Eric, who pulled her closer.

“Barry, we have this conversation about once a month, and it’s always the same answer, and it’s also always bollocks. Someone asks her how she coped, and she says she didn’t, but as it’s my job now, she can, and it’s not true. We cope together. Simple as that. I would be lost without her. It is a two-way street, and that is exactly how it should be”

He looked across the bar, where Charlie was cuddled up to Seb as his mother hugged them both; it was clearly getting late. Sammy was long gone, Frank was helping Deb with her coat, and I scuttled across after a quick “Excuse me a sec!”

“You off, love?”

“Aye! Both of us getting old, we are”

“Quick question, OK? June, in England, camping weekend, you and the girls, and their boys, and music?”

She fastened her coat, Frank’s arm comfortably over her shoulders and a smile in his eyes.

“Would this be folk?”

“Ish!”

“And in which language? Sod it! I don’t give a shit, right now. Sort details out later; I have a warm man to get into bed and…”

For the first time, I saw her really embarrassed, but Frank just laughed out a comment about playing her cards right. She looked up at him, slightly puzzled.

“How much have I had to drink, love?”

Another happy smile from her baker.

“Does it matter?”

She pulled his head down, kissed him on the lips, and pulled back just far enough that he could see her smile.

“No. Not really. Night, Di”

That last came without her looking away from him, and then they were out of the door. I felt a presence at my shoulder, and turned to find Chris., who was looking a little dreamy.

“This is what it is all about, Di, love. Love, yeah? I never thought… Shit! Not going to get weepy, not tonight, but look at this lot! Now, Marlene is coming to the end of things, and some of us are going clubbing, but I really think Lainey needs to go to bed, and you have a little boy to see tomorrow”

I turned round to pull him close, kissing his cheek.

“You taking over mother hen duties now?”

His smile was as warm as Alun’s had been, and as soppy as Barry’s or Eric’s.

“No, girl. Just finally realising I am coming to the end of a journey I didn’t realise I was on, and it feels good, and it feels right, and it feels almost as if it should have been obvious years ago, and Stuff. I shouldn’t have spent so long talking to that Eric bloke!”

He laughed, and it was genuine and far from his usual campiness.

“Not turning me off solids, though. Horses and Persian stallions for courses! Best bib and tucker for next weekend, for all of you including your little man, and Marlene is already calling a taxi for Lainey. They staying at yours?”

“Shit! Can you tell Marlene we will need a people carrier? Annie and Eric as well”

“Will do, love. You couldn’t make do with an ordinary car and just leave your hunk with me? Annie could sit on a lap…”

“And Persian stallions?”

“Damn it! There’s always a catch!”

“Hang on, Chris: you want Rhod at the wedding?”

He cocked his head to one side, eyes crinkling.

“Elaine and Siân are bringing their two, Di. I want my family around me next Saturday! Do you mind?”

“Of course not! You do realise he will try and sing along to anything you play on the day?”

“And my mileage may vary in terms of the word ‘sing’? All the better if he does. Now, I shall collar Marlene… and then Darius…”

He was as good as his word, and after a slightly worried taxi-driver (‘None of you are likely to chuck up, are you?’) had dropped us all off at our home, we limited the latter part of the evening-that-had-become-morning to a pot of tea as Blake laid out some camping mats and a couple of spare duvets. I was so tired, I think I was asleep while taking my clothes off.

It was raining in the morning, which meant that the light coming through our bedroom curtains was a little more subdued than it would otherwise have been, for which my beloved husband seemed grateful.

“Serves you right, love. Try talking to more people; slows the drinking down. What time’s Mam due?”

“Said about twelve”

“I think we’d better get moving. Hang on… Do you smell what I do?”

He lifted his head slightly and sniffed.

“Bacon? Those buggers know how to make themselves at home, don’t they!”

I pulled on a pair of pyjamas and a dressing gown before trudging downstairs, the bacon’s aroma intensifying with each riser I descended. Three people were in my kitchen doing Things, and the one with dark curls grinned at me as I entered.

“Lainey’s still spark out, aye, but Eric and I had a walk down the road to the garage and got some supplies. What are you doing for lunch?”

“Um, I don’t know. I think Mam might have ideas”

“Ah. Might they involve roasts?”

“You inviting yourself, woman?”

“Yup! Just have a bit of an issue with roasts. Chicken’s OK, but not red meat”

Eric slipped an arm around her.

“Smells, Di. She gets flashbacks”

Oh shit. I understood far too quickly what he meant, and had a vision of old Adam in a hospital bed, with a few minor burns and a lorryload of guilt and shame.

“I will give her a ring, OK? Annie?”

“Aye?”

“You be OK with Mam here? I think she knows about you, and she remembers me talking about you, way back, yeah?”

She smiled gently, patting her husband’s hand.

“And is she sensible about it? I suspect I know the answer, aye?”

‘One of the good ones’, as Mam said so rarely but so clearly. All I could do was nod, and smile back at her. I went into the living room with the tea Annie poured for me and picked up the phone.

“Hiya, love. Up early, considering, isn’t it?”

“He’s still in bed, Mam!”

“Men will be men, love, but you will already have discovered that for yourself and in your own way. Our boy wants me to have a proper dinner with you”

“One of the reasons for ringing, Mam. We have guests after last night”

“Are they staying for a while?”

“Yes, I believe so. Four of them”

“Two of them will be that Elaine and her wife, then. Is the other that boy you were working with?”

How did she guess… Oh!

“No, Mam. Not Jon, but sort of a boy I was working with some time ago. They have problems with roast meat. Apparently chicken’s not a problem, just red meat. I suspect the worst will be pork”

Mam was silent for nearly twenty seconds, her voice hushed when she spoke again.

“I believe I can guess why, love. You, your people, you have a job… You see things I do not wish to think about. I will stop at the big shop on the way. Three small birds will cook more quickly than one or two larger ones. Do you have enough in the way of vegetables. Dessert?”

I laughed out loud.

“If you can find some, Mam, I suspect some frozen yoghurt would be appreciated, at least going from recent experience”

“I will do my best, love. Now, be off and rouse your other man so he has time to work off the hangover I suspect he has gathered to himself. And I forgot to ask: how did the evening go?”

“Oh, Mam! So many happy people I nearly cried. I was thinking about you, as well, you know”

“Oh?”

“Just something you say, yeah? ‘One of the good ones’, isn’t it? And there were so, so many of them there, and they were smiling, and… Sorry. I should have better control, at my age”

As I wiped away a couple of tears, she sighed, and it was a happy sound.

“My darling, you just carry on being who and what you are, just keep making me and Dad proud of you, all right? Now, go and pull the covers off our son while I get our grandson dressed. I will see you at about twelve”

I did as she had instructed, pushing ‘their son’ into the shower (and sneakily reaching through the curtain to switch it to cold when he turned his back, which certainly got him moving).

Bacon, egg and mushroom sandwiches together with mugs of tea settled everything down, even for Lainey, who was book-ending hangovers with my husband. I left them all in the living room to carry on doing whatever ‘mingling’ is called in such circumstances, and settled myself to peeling and chopping potatoes, swede and carrots, and shredding white cabbage. I had just set the oven to heating when I heard the bell. Putting down the rather large cook’s knife I was wielding, I wiped my hands and went to open the front door.

“Mam! We got chickens! Why have we got three chickens, Mam? Can I have two legs?”

I hugged him after Mam, then began peeling off his coat as she undid his shoes. Once they were off, he rushed into the living room as Mam released the cat from his carrier. I called after him about there being guests, but to no avail. The door flew open, and as he rushed in, Mam and I heard him shout.

“Auntie Annie! Yeah!”

The two of us followed, to find him wrapped round my old friend where she sat on one of our armchairs. Mam caught the soppy expression on my face, and whispered in my ear.

“Not just one of the good ones, love, but it looks like she is one who knows the right way she should live her life It is so clearly what she should always have been”

She raised her voice.

“Rhodri ADAM Sutton: will you introduce me to your Auntie Annie, please?”