Copper, page 5
His parents had been quick to arrange for them to go out together as soon as he had arrived back in Swansea. However much the families wanted them together, Mary stirred nothing but sibling affection. She certainly was not fiery enough to keep him interested. Nothing had even been said about what had happened at the party, but at the moment he wasn’t too sure if he was glad of that or not. He needed to make his intentions clear to his parents and Mary again. He did not want her hurt.
After seeing the Police and sorting his flat out, the week in London ended up being pleasant. Mary, as usual, was quiet, unassuming and relaxing to be around. It had been easy to go and enjoy the sites with her and spend time in the numerous restaurants. Apart from a couple of evenings when he visited friends, Darren had been a constant companion, humorous and charming to Mary, especially in the lulls of conversation when Morgan found himself thinking of Ria.
Morgan was still not entirely comfortable with his feelings for her, but he did know that he wanted her in his life. From what he knew about her, and from the snippets of gossip he had heard about his family, he needed to make her understand that he did not want a quick fling with her. Being a truthful person, he could not, in all honesty, promise her anything long term at the moment. But surely that was enough to start off with? He felt the tension ease after he made the decision to see her tomorrow.
Chapter 18
The end of the week came slowly for Ria. She had waited anxiously every day for Morgan to appear at work, but he had never arrived.
'Are you listening to me?' Karen was watching Ria closely.
Karen was aware that Ria had been distracted all week. So far, she had not found out why. She knew what had happened at the Christmas party, hell, everyone knew what had happened at the Christmas party! However, unlike Karen, no one else had seen how Morgan had been kissing Ria under the mistletoe. Wouldn’t that give them something to gossip about! Karen wanted to protect her friend as much as possible, so just left everyone in work guessing why their boss, who normally seemed so placid, would punch out a guest of one of the workers. She nudged Sally.
'Why don't we have a girlie night tonight? It will be a laugh, perhaps I will get Mum to bake us some of her lovely cakes too. Then, after we have stuffed and pampered ourselves, we can catch a film at the cinema? I’ve heard they are screening ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’. I think David Niven and Shirley MacLaine are staring in it.’
Even the thought of a film and cake left Ria feeling deflated. She just wanted to go home to her bedroom, curl up with a good book and hibernate. She knew it was because she had missed seeing Morgan at work. She felt the keen disappointment when every time the door opened; it was not him that entered.
She realised she needed her friends to talk to, but at the moment, she was feeling so jumbled up that she wanted to work out how she felt first before sharing it with anyone else. She recalled the kiss that had turned her bones into jelly. What exactly was she going to do about it? What could she do about it? Nothing, she thought as she felt as though her heart was being squeezed. She knew a man like Morgan was used to more sophisticated women, women with breeding and money. He would not be interested in her for anything more than fun. She could not let herself be someone just to fool around with, could she? She had never experienced feelings like this before and she was not sure if she knew what to do about them.
Ria looked at Karen and Sally. Perhaps she needed some fun to get all her jumbled up emotions into check. She needed her friends. Perhaps they could help with some of her issues and help put things back into prospective. 'Yes of course. Let’s enjoy ourselves tonight.'
Chapter 19
‘Oh, I’m stuffed!’ Karen sighed contentedly as she placed the last her Mother’s cake into her mouth.
‘Chocolate cake and martini, bliss!’ Ria agreed as she relaxed back onto Karen’s bed, plumping up the pillows to place against the wall.
Sally lay on the rug on the floor with her hand spanning her full belly.
Ria looked around Karen’s bedroom and experienced the familiar feeling of warmth. The three girls had known each other since they were little and even though the bedroom decoration had changed from ponies to flowers, it still evoked wonderful memories.
On the walk over, Ria had decided she needed to talk to her friends about her feelings for Morgan. Not that she might ever get a chance to be with him again, but she decided it would be good to talk through things with them. Karen and Sally had ways of making things seem a whole lot better.
Ria looked over to Karen who was leaning back in a chair with her feet on the bedspread. She would definitely be the one that would be able to help her get her head around the ‘Morgan situation’. From as long as Ria could remember, Karen always had a flock of boys after her. She always complained in jest that she would end up an old maid, but Ria doubted that would ever happen, there were far too many males interested in her. Out of the three, she was definitely the one with the most experience; she always seemed to be either in love or recovering from supposed heartbreak.
Sally’s movement caught Ria’s eye. Now Sally was a completely different kettle of fish. Ria had always thought that Sally was beautiful, but she never particularly seemed interested in the opposite sex. She had been on a couple of dates, but always said that she was waiting for ‘the one’ to realise he loved her and sweep her off her feet! Little did Ria know that ‘the one’ was in fact John!
‘All we need now are the men!’ Karen laughed, a mischievous smile on her lips. ‘Or shall we just talk about them instead? Could be more fun! So, Ria, now you have a couple of drinks in you, would you like to let us in on your gossip? What exactly is happening between you and dreamy boss? That kiss under the mistletoe was steaaaamy!’
Ria leaned forward and crossed her legs, ‘I don’t know! I’m confused!! Obviously I fancy him, I mean who wouldn’t1 He is ssooo handsome! That kiss….. well, I haven’t experienced anything like that before!’
‘He’s better than the guys around here, that’s for sure! Although saying that, Tom your brother is a bit of alright!’ Karen teased her friend.
Ria playfully gave Karen a tap on her leg. ‘You leave Tom out of this! Actually Tom is half the problem I think! Tom spends his days and nights going out with all the girls in town. He is so good looking that he can practically see anyone. That is the problem, he doesn’t want to be with anyone long term. So as far as I can see he ‘has his fun’ and then dumps them!’
‘He can have his fun with me anytime!’ Karen jested.
‘Urk! I don’t think I could handle you and my brother! Anyway, I expect Morgan Templeton is the same. Don’t tell me he couldn’t have anyone he set his eyes on. So, while I am flattered that he seems to like me, I am also scared stiff that I will just be a notch on his bedpost. It is something I don’t want. I want the long term thing, the marriage, kids and everything!’
Ria cuddled the pillow that was now in her arms a little closer.
‘The way he was kissing you, he seems to more than like you! And what is wrong with getting some experience in before you get married? I, for one, am sick and tired of the double standards! It is alright for a man to go out and sleep with anything that moves, but so wrong for the girl! Well stuff that, I for one, am going to know exactly how to keep my husband happy in the bedroom!’ Karen’s arms were waving to accentuate her point.
Sally, shocked but giggling, put her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. ‘You’re so naughty Karen! But what about the gossips, don’t they bother you?’
‘No, not really,’ Karen hesitated slightly. ‘Most people are hypocrites anyway – I bet you half the people who marry should not be wearing white! At least I am honest and young and alive and enjoying myself! Anyway enough about me, what about you Ria, so you wouldn’t like to be a notch?’
‘No, well I never thought I would, but I was so confused the other night.’ Ria watched as Karen raised her eyebrows at her. She carried on, ‘I know that might sound old fashioned to you, but it how I feel, I think. Oh, I don’t know I am so confused!
After that fiasco in the Christmas party, I went down to the beach to cool off. You know when you both took John home for me. I was so annoyed with the two of them. John, because he had too much to drink and was all over me. Morgan, because he had no right to hit John. I was dealing with it. Anyway, Morgan came to the beach.’
‘What! He followed you?’
‘No, I think it must be a place where he goes to cool off, like me. Anyway, he asked me to ask him to kiss me – and I did!’
‘Nooo! Wow, how come you haven’t mentioned this before?’ Karen asked.
‘Well the kiss was… was………’
‘Toe curling, blood curdling?’ Karen filled in the blanks
‘Yes! It felt absolutely wonderful – I find it hard to describe! I was so caught up in the kiss that I think he could have undressed me there on the beach!’
Sally, still hiding her mouth under her hands, looked at Ria wide eyed.
‘So what stopped you?’ Karen asked
‘Karen!’ reprimanded Sally. She had never been kissed properly by a man, so sometimes found Karen too forward, even though she loved her.
‘Me! Him! Oh, I don’t really know, I was all jumbled up. I’d never, ever felt like that before. But the reality of it is that he only wanted to sleep with me. He invited me back to his house!’
‘Why didn’t you go?’ Karen asked seriously.
‘When he asked me, I realised that I couldn’t go through with it. But hell, if he just kept kissing me and not asked me home, I most probably wouldn’t have hesitated! But because he gave me time to think…… Look it is not as though I think any worse of you Karen, but I realised that it was not what I want.’
‘Oh thanks!’ Karen intercepted, not really taking offence to her friends words.
‘It’s just that the gossip surrounding him just sprung to mind and I really, really do not want to be a notch, however good looking he is!’
‘Ooo, what did he say when you explained that to him?’ asked Sally finally removing her hands from around her mouth.
‘Well, I didn’t in so many words. I just got angry because I was embarrassed. I thought that he might just see me as a young, inexperienced girl’.
‘Which you are!’ interjected Karen.
‘Yes, well. I didn’t want him to think I was inexperienced but I didn’t want him to think I was easy either. So I got angry and walked away! And now I am so embarrassed to see him again, but I also want to see him again. Oh girls, help me I am so confused!’
Karen got off her chair, sat on the bed next to Ria and draped her arm around her friend.
‘Now I’m no expert,’ she winked at Sally who was giggling at her response, ‘but I see you have two choices. The first is: forget about him, if you don’t feel comfortable with him wanting to go further, do not get into a situation that will allow it to happen; stay well away from him.
The second is: forget about the gossips, enjoy yourself and see where the situation takes you. Don’t let him force you into anything you do not want, but I personally think he is a decent person, so explain that you want to take things slow and if he is prepared to do that, I think he is a keeper!’
‘Thanks girls, you don’t know how important you both are to me. I’ll think things through. Come on, group hug.’ She said as they all jumped on the bed to hug each other.
Chapter 20
Morgan rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath. He was back at the factory, the accounts lay in front of him almost forgot in his thoughts.
He had arrived early at the factory before anyone else. He tried kidding himself that it was to catch up on his work, but as the accounts still lay hardly touched in front of him, he knew it was not the reason. He grabbed his cold coffee, briefly wondering whether the extra caffeine would be good for his already wired system. He desperately needed to speak to Ria. He had enough of waiting. He did not want her to think that all he wanted to do was to sleep with her. He smiled, yes of course he did, but he wanted to spend some time with her, see where it lead.
A steady stream of workers started to arrive, each hanging up their coats and putting on their overalls and hats. Morgan stood by the one way window and watched as they chatted and greeted each other. He could not hear what they were saying from his office, but the conversations looked quite animated this morning.
Where was she? Something was working its way through his system, was it the caffeine or agitation that she was not there? The bell started to ring for the start of the day and the workers walked towards their stations. Ria had not arrived. He desperately wanted to see her. The need had been building since he had returned to Swansea from London. It had somewhat stunned him that he had not been sad to leave London. He had wanted to come back to Swansea, back to Ria. London was his home really, he was here to do a job for his father and then would be returning, wouldn’t he? That future was making him a little uneasy.
Annoyed Morgan sat back down into the leather seat and attacked the accounts.
Chapter 21
Ria put her hand over her mothers and squeezed, looking into the tear stained face. The despair etched in her face suddenly made her seem so much older than her forty five years. She felt her emotions rising in her throat and tried hard to suffocate them. She needed to be strong for her mother and siblings, not fall apart like she so desperately felt like doing.
Ria recalled what had happened just an hour ago, but already felt like a distant foggy memory. She had been putting her coat on ready to leave for work when, Ivan, the foreman from the mine had arrived. She had instantly known there was a problem; Ivan was out of breath and covered in the coal dust that all miners tried to shower off before leaving work.
She felt the blood drain out of her when Ivan told her that there had been an explosion down in the mine and six miners were missing. Her Dad and Michael amongst them. When Ivan left to go and inform the other families of the awful news, Ria turned towards the kitchen door and listened to her mother humming while clearing the kitchen after breakfast. Even though Ria felt like collapsing into a tight ball and crying, she took a steadying breath and entered the kitchen, ready to tell her Mother the awful news.
Chapter 22
‘Mam, Alice said that Doris is up now. She’ll go and fetch her and we can go down to the mine together to see if there is any news. I know Tom is already there, but you might feel better if you were nearer. Doris will come and look after Johnny. Sam can come with us when he gets up, he doesn’t need to go to school today.’
‘Oh, I don’t like to bother Doris, not after her husband…..’ Tears filled her mother’s eyes.
Ria willed the tears not to show in her eyes. She remembered when Doris’s husband got trapped down the mine, the hours of waiting, the awful news that he had not survived, the months of grieving. Ria desperately hoped that her family would not have to go through the same fate.
Ria raised her eyebrows at her sister and gave her a nod to go and fetch their neighbour. She felt a surge of pride when she noticed that Alice too was trying to keep her tears in check, comforting their mother both their priorities. She half watched as Alice slipped out to inform their neighbour.
‘Don’t worry Mam. Doris will want to know that there had been an accident down the mine. I know Dad and Michael will be alright, they were on the same shift, they will look after each other.’
She felt her mother’s shudder under her hand and then witnessed her mother pull herself together. The glazed expression lifted and she stood using the table for support, ‘Yes, yes, let’s go. I want to be there when your Dad and Michael walk out of that mine.’
Chapter 23
Morgan ran his fingers through his hair. He had been solidly working his way through the accounts for three hours now and it felt like it. He had been determined not to check if Ria had come to work. He had tried not to think of her, but it was useless, he did. He smiled ruefully, how on earth could he still be thinking of her when looking at accountancy sheets?
After getting himself a fresh coffee, he wandered over to the window. She still was not in and the factory looked half empty. Slightly confused, he turned quickly to the door when he heard a knock. Something was not quite right and he had a feeling in his gut he was just about to find out. Mr Jones entered the room and Morgan noticed how agitated he looked.
‘What’s wrong? Why is the factory floor half empty?’
‘Oh dear, oh dear…. Haven’t you heard? I thought Helen, my secretary, would have been up to tell you. There was an accident at the mines. Six men are still missing, half the workers are up there.’
Jones snorted and patted his stomach while Morgan continued to watch him, a little stunned at the news.
‘Mmmmm, everyone knows someone. That’s the trouble sometimes with a small community. I’ve spent the morning trying to arrange cover, but if they are not already in work, they are down the mines waiting for word.’
Morgan felt a tightening in his stomach. Didn’t Andrew mention before that Ria had family that worked down the mine? The urge to go and find her was overwhelming. Never before had he had experienced such a need to protect. Fed up with fighting his feelings, he placed his cup on his desk and strode to the door.
‘I’m going to the mines to see if there is anything the Templetons’ can do to help.’
He left Andrew Jones mumbling to himself.
Chapter 24
The area was crowded with people, some pale with shock, some crying. In a close knit mining community, whenever there was a crisis, everyone volunteered their services. Huddled together, people were whispering, some too shocked to comment, all aware that time was the enemy for those men trapped. The longer it was before news, the worse it usually was.
