CHAPTER 29
It was the start of a wonderful month, made even better by the simple fact that there was no way at all that Mr and Mrs Edwards would be heading off castle-snapping. I was starting to see them as being as much a part of my family as my own parents, and being together was a blessing. I could never discount the reason, never forget it, but as she healed physically, my lover seemed to be finding her own spark again. We had a treat ahead, of course, at the end of August, but it was the weeks at home that I loved.

It wasn’t the best Summer for weather, but Dad’s customers were always hardy souls, and wet weather was just something they accepted as the price for being in the hills. The fly in our own little pot of ointment was an appearance in Coroner’s Court to decide on the reason for the deaths of four young people from my school.

We weren’t called. We didn’t need to be there, as it was only considering how the car went off the bridge. I did not want to be there. Alys was insistent, however, and so we sat in uncomfortable seats, just as uncomfortable in our thoughts, as legal people asked police officers and doctors all sorts of questions about tyre marks, airbags, blood alcohol and other stuff, and Alys squeezed the life out of my hand. Partway through, we were joined by Sali Masters, who gave us both a tight little smile before taking Alys’ other hand, while a number of bereaved parents sat well away from us.

I did notice one thing, and that was the gap between the Walters and the other parents. I sensed that they hadn’t exactly approved of the company Rhianon had kept. I simply did my best to ignore them, as Alys seemed to, but every so often, I caught Sali glaring at the Watkins. No love lost there, it seemed, and I had to wonder why.

There was no long wait, no retired jury, none of the drama so familiar to me from television shows, just a short absence of the judge or coroner or whatever he was called, and then a declaration that the deaths of four children were down to the utter stupidity of a mother allowing her son, off his face on booze and cannabis, to drive three friends about In her car. Apparently, we had missed her own trial.

Over, done, case closed, and official recognition of what being an arsehole can cost four people, as well as their families. I almost felt sorry for them, but not quite.

That was our Summer, then. My lover’s ribs slowly healed, and her laughter crept back into her voice and eyes. There were dark moments, especially in the small hours, but she was there, with and for me, and yes, there was snogging. We even had another visit from Neil, who stayed relatively sober, even giving Alys a ride on the back of his bike, and Mam caught me as I laughed at her clutching Neil’s waist with knuckles that would have shown white if not for the gloves she was wearing.

“Black and white, love”

“Sorry, Mam?”

“Light and darkness, then. Contrast. You only really appreciate some things when they’re gone, or nearly. Not saying I want her gone, of course, but you’re both laughing again, which is… Never mind. You know what I mean. Now, you up for a train ride again?”

She was holding a small envelope with a recorded delivery label.

“Annie, Steph and the rest were pretty sure you’d want to go again, but with all the… I wanted to be sure you were both up to it as well as, well, up for it. Your friends put their money together and bought you these, but things happened, and I don’t just mean the bad stuff. We wanted your heads clear for your O-levels, and then, well. Watching her over the last weeks, again, well. You want? It’ll be straight back to school afterwards, of course”

“Can I ask her when she gets back?”

Mam kissed me on the cheek.

“My darling, that is possibly the most mature thing you have ever said. Cuppa?”

When Neil roared back up to the bunkhouse, he held the bike upright to let Alys dismount, then rolled over to the spot he usually parked his bike. Alys waited for him to return, clearly unsure about how her helmet unfastened, and then she was grinning at me, hair all over the place. I returned her beam.

“Enjoyed that, then?”

“Oh yeah! But I don’t think I can do that on a regular basis. You just have to hang on, no control”

Mam handed her and Neil a mug each.

“Learn to ride for yourself, then; I did”

I looked her over, spotting the smirk hiding badly behind her poker face.

“Mam, the way you tell it, Dad did all the riding”

“Yup. Not stupid, me: best way to keep my front warm and keep all the rain off”

Neil was laughing raucously, as Alys joined in, and yes: it was a good Summer, despite how it had started. We walked for miles, even in the rain, and Alys had a moment of real excitement on finding some sundew, and both of us practised like mad for the sessions we would no doubt be playing at the end of August. That meant the Cow’s folk nights, of course, and the first thing that we noticed on our first trip there after Court was the complete absence of any member of the Watkins and Jones families.

What did catch my eye was the woman called Pat, and her taller friend, who turned up for one of the club nights. This time, there were four younger people with them, all girls. I wasn’t paying them much attention until Alys nudged me.

“Enfys?”

“That’s my name”

“Those girls over there?”

“Yeah?”

“Have another look. I think I have company”

“You’ve got me, love”

“No. I think one of those girls is like me”

“Oh? Which one?”

“Not saying, and don’t stare”

“You said to have another look!”

“Yes, and you’ve done that”

“You going to say hello?”

She looked down at the table for a few seconds before replying.

“No. Don’t think it would be right; she looks nervous, and that other woman is looking really scary. Don’t think the girl’s been out long. Leave her be, I think. Anyway, they’ve brought your harp out, so time to do your thing”

There was a slightly smug look on her face when we left for home, and all I could think was that she had watched the other girl while counting her blessings, and found that she had come out ahead. Definitely healing, thank god.

That time, I was ready for the way the train changed direction at Chester, just as I had grown used to having a young woman settled comfortably against me, and after we had negotiated the caravan wasteland, the miles had flown by. That time, we were collected from the station by Bill, but the process was the same, even down to the complaints about late arrivals. We were pitched up in the same place, the Edifice as imposing as ever, and the kettle already hot, Shan acting as Duty Wench for the moment. We were passed from hug to hug, each of them in turn checking that Alys’ ribs were up to it, and then we were faced with strangers, no fewer than seven of them; six and a half, rather, as one of them was a small boy. Annie called from behind us, introducing the newcomers, each of whom gave a little nod as their name was given.

“Girls, these are Sally and Stewie, Shan’s Mums Ginny and Kate, and my mates Kirsty and Den and their little D.A. Don’t get him wet, or feed Ginny after midnight. Or before, aye?”

The last, a very tall woman with an explosion of shocking scarlet hair, pouted theatrically.

“Could fall out with you, Price!”

“Johnson!”

“Patriarchal tool of the fascist oppressor!”

“Vegetarian!”

“Welshwoman!”

The red-haired woman turned to us, and in an utterly matter-of-fact voice remarked, “Don’t need to think up any insults for her, cause the truth is bad enough. I’m Ginny, one of Shan’s mums. Which of you is which?”

I pointed to my lover first, giving her name, and then myself, and the woman nodded.

“Right. Bit of advice: don’t expect sanity here. It’s overrated, in my opinion. WANT CHIPS TONIGHT!”

Jan called out over the laughter, “Depends on when Kelly and Mark get down, Ginny. Anyway, these two need to sort their bedding out, and then there’s a practice session before the first band”

“We doing any dancing? Not done any of that stuff since school, and that was the Gay Gordons, and just no!”

I didn’t know whether to run or laugh, until the woman called Sally raised a hand.

“Don’t worry, Enfys. Two of us are licensed to supply tranquillisers if necessary. Just say the words, and I will fetch the dart gun. Best done from a safe distance”

They carried on like that for another few minutes, until we left them to sort out our little ‘room’, and on our return, we found that Mark and Kelly had indeed arrived. More hugs, more tea, a practice session, some dancing followed by a couple of bands I had never heard of, and in the middle of it all, we had CHIPS. We staggered back to our tents, and Alys only had one episode of the night terrors.

Life was getting back to something I could enjoy.

We both had an idea of how festivals worked by then, with our wide experience of exactly one visit to the same event, so it wasn’t anywhere near as much of an avalanche of new experiences as the first one had been. I noticed that Alys was spending quite a lot of time with Chantelle, and as they held their little private chats, there were frequent touches, as well as hugs. It didn’t grate, and I didn’t ask questions, but I remembered what my girl had said about the young woman in pink.

I didn’t ask, I really didn’t want to know details, but I was starting to work out what Alys had meant when she had mentioned what Shan’s childhood had consisted of. ‘Bad times’; dear god. Put it behind you, Enfys; smile with her and for her, and watch her heal.

Tuesday morning came as a shock--- where had the weekend gone? We had memories, many of them consisting of Annie and Steph going as utterly insane in their playing as Mum Ginny did in her speech. Mr Kerr was there, playing his usual silly games with accent and language, and we ended up on the Monday night as a massively extended ‘family’ group. The man called Stewie had a clarinet, which fitted into our little orchestra nicely, and both Shan and Kelly did some of their clog-dancing stuff, until a funny little man asked Steph, very politely, if we wouldn’t mind playing for a set of dancers.

As one group of festivalgoers bellowed away in a singalong at the far end of the big bar, eight random people worked through what was called ‘a longways four couple set’ dance, and there was laughter yet again, and twinkling eyes, and I almost forgot about four dead children and a broken lover.

Not dropping you, girl. No more breaking, ever.