CHAPTER 52
On a hunch, as I cuddled Sarah, I looked across at her Mam, to see her face crumpled.

“Sioned?”

“Yes?”

“Can we agree a way forward? This is… This is bloody awkward. I don’t think it would be good for Elaine, would it?”

One hand came up to rub her forehead, and I suspected to wipe a tear, so I pressed on.

“I have said what my problem was, but I think I need to be clear. I was raped. It was by a relative of Joe Evans, and the same two bastards came to see me in hospital as visited Sarah. I found out… I lost faith in my own parents, and it was years till I found out that they still had faith in me. My Mam had bloody press clippings, and it was Elaine’s work that got two arseholes out of the picture, stopped them hurting someone else like they did me and Sarah”

I stopped just then, and grinned at them all, without mirth.

“Like that actually worked! Never mind; we got them for other shit, and then well… Sarah?”

“Yeah?”

“How much of what went on over my way did you read? The other rapes, for a start?”

She dropped her eyes, nodding.

“Those trans kids… That bloody well hit home”

I found myself on P, P and a sudden surge of maturity that trumped everyone else’s age advantage,

“Right, you lot, Detective Constable time, isn’t it? We have opened up a can of shit-puking worms here, and I am going to deliver some more, so please, please understand why, OK? Now, we all have issues with the same little collection of orifices, sorry, Sioned, so we have agreement there. Now, Lainey has… Lainey was ill for a while, and I think we all know that it was all tied up with what happened to Sarah here, and no: no fault, no blame, OK?”

Sarah nodded, slowly, but clearly, and I looked across to her Mam, who gave me the same message. I smiled round the room, lingering in Tony’s gaze.

“Leave her to her love for her sister, then. We know, and we love her for it, so don’t shatter her dream. Some day, she’ll be able to cope, but it’s that locked door idea, isn’t it? She’s been pushing hard, and if we open it, she falls flat on her face. Look. While we were chasing the gang we’re talking about, we had half a dozen people in the frame, and Lainey kept on and on about them being three. It was a bit worrying, if you take my point. She needed… the scenario? The focus?”

Sioned stared hard at me.

“I will need to speak to Twmi, to her father, but are you saying we should leave her support in place? Leave that door locked?”

I nodded back, and tried to find the words about that focus, that need, and it wasn’t until Tony himself was holding me that I realised how freely my own tears were flowing. I found a grin somewhere.

“Shit, if you need an example of obsessive bloody focus, I will have to introduce you to the bloody Elliotts. Not today, though. Don’t ask. Now, are we agreed about Elaine? New mother, new life, no revelations? Oh, and Sar: you must be a seriously good actress!”

She broke the mood, beautifully.

“Oh, yes. I mean, I have faked every orgasm ever!”

Two seconds of pause before she added “But I am a lousy liar”

I looked around at the grins, even one from her Mam, for god’s sake, and decided we needed to switch directions.

“Aren’t we forgetting something, people? Two fat ladies?”

Sioned beamed at that one.

“What could go wrong when their Dad is in attendance? Now, tea? I have brought some few things to eat, but it is not much”

The front doorbell went, Sarah jumping up to answer it and returning with Eric, who waved some car keys at me.

“Your man said not to crash it! Hi, Tone, Sar. Where’s Jim?”

Once more, I saw someone shuffling the numbers in his head before deciding he had all the sums he needed for that moment.

“Adult conversation… I don’t need to know. Room next to my wife at all?”

Tony shook his head.

“I think, from what Sioned says, we need the car again. I’ll grab Jim. Is there anything around here like a decent Chinese takeaway?”

Sarah struck a sneering pose, holding it just long enough to mutter something about technophobic fossils before breaking down in giggles and holding her phone up.

“Already on it, cariad. Place down towards town, and they deliver. Menu’s online. Grab the boy and we can order a mix and match. Mam, I know you’ve been baking, but there’s a lot of us, so do you mind a takeaway? Oh, and it’s our treat, me and Tone, this time. No silliness with tiny portions. Eat properly tonight because some of us might have to stay up by the phone. Hi, Jim! Just in time; can you check the fridge, see what we have in terms of milk and stuff? Uncle Arwel and Aunty Alice will be here tomorrow, and you know what his shopping is like”

The lad grinned. “A lorry load of beer you mean, Mam? I’ll have a look”

He was back in a minute.

“Two pints. No sausages, only four eggs, one pack of eight rashers, half a sliced loaf”

Sarah grinned once more.

2My boy never does half a job. Now, sod the delivery, then. There’s a supermarket behind the Chinese, and Di? If you are willing to drive, we can get tomorrow’s breakfast while we ait for tonight’s meal. Mam? You and the boys hold the phone for news?”

She tugged Annie and myself to our feet, and we were off down the road, Sarah giving clear directions as I drove, along with a little hint about leaving the ‘men’ to sort out their side of things.

“My Tone is simply going to be fretting non-stop, so leave him to do it without having to put a front up. Mam’s used to him by now. Left here…”

We ordered our food, and as they began the preparation Sarah led us round the supermarket, almost filling a trolley with the makings of enough Full Welsh Breakfasts to cater for an army, plus teabags, what seemed like a couple of gallons of milk, butter, jam, the works. Annie made a comment about someone called Ginny killing her, and Sarah guffawed.

“Eric has told me all about half a bloody grapefruit eaten with a Special Spoon, woman, but that is not for today. Get some bloody fruit if you want, but can you see Arwel accepting it? Anyway, the two of you will ride it off, sure as eggs… ah. Eggs. Nearly forgot. Right! Till, load car, grab food, get back to our boys”

Back to the Fortune House for our Banquet for the 5,000, and back to the house, where Annie and I were left to unload the lard from the boot while Sarah rushed in to start plating up. My old friend and I carried bag after bag down the hallway into the kitchen, and I was more than a little disappointed to see all the hot food left to cool down on the worktops, plates nowhere in sight.

Disappointed… I rushed into the living room as the realisation hit me. Four people were huddled on the sofa, three of them in tears. Annie went straight past me to her husband, calling out “And?”

The bigger man just kissed his wife, so, so tenderly, and gave us a smile soppy enough to give Annie competition.

“Four healthy people, Annie. Two women. One boy. One girl. Twm says ten fingers, ten toes, lungs that work very well indeed. The girls are in a room together. Both are worn out, but no issues, no scares, just…”

He was crying again, and Sioned took over.

“Diane?”

“Yes?”

“My other pretty daughter asks if you can do the work of telling her other friends. She says you know who to call. Jim, cariad, please help your Aunty here to get our supper onto plates, otherwise it will have cooled before we can eat it”

I grabbed my mobile, and then turned back to Sioned.

“We got names yet?”

“Not yet, but my grandchildren are of both mothers, they say, so we will not specify who gave birth to which child. Please honour that request”

Dial…

“Samir Patel! Hi, girl. Can I assume you have news?”

“Yup! Going to ask if you can put out a team message. Two fat ladies are no longer fat. No issues—well, two issues, actually, and those are one boy and one girl”

“Magic, mate! You been in to see them?”

“Not yet, Sammy. There will be all sorts of procedures going on, and trust me, all those two will be after doing is sleeping. It’s hard bloody work!”

“Right. Team mail drafted… Ah. Want me to let her boss know?”

“Please! Oh, and Dai Gould would be good; he can cascade it. I have some others to ring”

“Consider it done. When are you back? Oh, sorry. That was rude. Take whatever time you need, and just let us know, OK?”

“Thanks, Sammy”

“Any time. And make sure they get our best wishes, girl”

“Wilco”

Hang up, redial.

“This is Chris. I’m out at the moment, well, I’m always out, but you know what I mean! Leave a message!”

Down the mental list, so many of them needing a message left, and then sod it. Jim had the food ready, Blake and Twm were on their way back, and Tony’s tears had stopped.

I watched him eat, fascinated by his ability to chew and swallow without ever losing his grin. Later, in bed, I wept on my own man. I have no idea why, but it seemed absolutely right to do so.