Copper Read online

  Copper

  By Ceri Bladen

  Copyright © 2012 by Ceri Bladen

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author: [email protected]

  Image Copyright © 2012 by Kim Sen

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 1

  September

  Ria ripped herself out of her troubled dream.

  'Oh no, what have I done?'

  Chapter 2

  8 months earlier

  Ria looked at herself in the mirror, her emerald green eyes in deep concentration while she tried to get her mop of curly copper hair under control. Practically, she needed to braid it for work so it did not get stuck in machinery, but it was much easier to let it curl naturally over her shoulders.

  While tying her hair her thoughts wandered back to when she was younger. She used to wonder why she did not have the black hair colouring of her father or her other siblings. She had often felt that the colour was like a beacon that said 'pull me' to her brothers! Finally, after the youthful teasing had died away, she found she liked being different from everyone else and she had learned to love the unique colour of her hair next to the paleness of her flawless skin. Her parents had often told her, when she was in tears because of the teasing, that the unique colour was a beautiful part of her Celtic heritage.

  After her hair was secured into a braid, she applied a little mascara to her long eyelashes and clear lipstick to her lips as work did not like makeup to be obvious. She looked into the mirror for the subtle results. She was not vain, but she knew that a naturally beautiful woman was staring back at her from the mirror.

  In the dressing table mirror Ria caught sight of her sister snuggled up in bed. She had shared a bedroom with her younger sister since they were babies. Oh, there were times when she wished there was space to have her own privacy, but never a selfish person, she realised that her family could not afford a bigger house on her Dad’s mining wage package.

  Whenever she was in need of solitude, she took herself down to the seaside. She appreciated living in a city where you could be in amongst the houses one minute and the next, by the sea. She loved her quiet time on the beach, spending many hours watching the sea, it made her calm and allowed her to think in solitude, something that was hard to do at times within her large family.

  Anne started stirring in the bed, ‘Anne love, you have half an hour before its time to get ready for school.'

  Anne moaned and pulled the pillow over her head. Ria knew exactly how she felt getting out of the warm bed into the cold bedroom. The fire had long since died and as no one would be using the room until the evening, the fireplace would remain cold. While her family were in work or at school, her mother would be clearing and restacking the fireplaces ready to light for them to come home to. Some neighbours had started to put radiators in their houses, but as money was tight in the Dillwyn household, having central heating was not a priority. Her father and brother worked down the coal mines and she had listened to far too many discussions about the effects on mining communities if people stopped using coal.

  Ria looked back at her reflection and watched as her breath clouded. Even though the bedroom was cold she liked the Autumn, when things were preparing for the winter. It was the time when her mother was busy jamming and pickling the fruit and vegetables from the allotment that her dad and family tended. They would be stored in neat rows in the larder on a cold slab to keep them cool. Some of the people she knew had started to buy fridges. She was fascinated when she saw one at her friend Karen’s house. Imagine that, a cupboard that kept your food cool, no more smelling the milk to see if it had turned!

  As she buttoned up her cardigan her mums voice interrupted her thoughts, ‘Are you lot up yet? Your breakfast is on the table and you will all be late for work if you don’t get a move on!'

  Ria quietly closed the bedroom door, giving Anne her precious extra minutes in bed before having to get ready for school.

  She made her way down the landing. The carpet muffled her footsteps but Ria noticed it was becoming threadbare in areas. It would have to make do for a while longer. It frustrated her at times that even though her Dad had a dangerous job and worked hard, they always seemed to be living ‘hand to mouth’. It was not as though her Dad was one of those men that spent his pay packet down the pub before giving the remains to her Mum. Ria sighed, did it really matter if the carpets upstairs looked a little worn?

  As she carried on down the hall she passed her brothers' bedroom and looked through the door around at the mess. Clothes were strewn everywhere, the beds unmade, the fireplace, like hers, was cold with ash; and amidst it all was the one brother left in the bedroom.

  'OK Mam, we will be down now!' Tom replied then mumbled under his breath while trying to find a matching pair of socks, 'it isn't even light yet!'

  Ria watched her brother with a smile curving on her full lips, her other brother, Michael, had already left the bedroom earlier. ‘What a mess! I feel sorry for any girl you end up with, she will have to spend nearly all her time clearing up after you!’

  ‘Why would I want to end up with one girl when there are so many for me?’ jested Tom.

  ‘Mmm, had the girls all over you in the Red Lion again last night did you?' Ria laughed, her face lighting up while teasing her brother, ‘I heard you trying to sneak in late not to wake mam and dad!'

  'What me, your responsible older brother?'

  Ria chuckled, Tom was too used to women falling for him. Since he had come out of adolescence he seemed to always have girlfriends, usually a different one every week. Even though he was her brother, Ria could appreciate that he was handsome, his dark hair had a subtle wave and gently flopped over his vivid green eyes. His strong chin had a cleft and he always seemed to have a day’s worth of stubble covering it. Yes, he was handsome, but the way he seemed to have different girls all the time, made her all the more weary that looks were not always a good thing in a man. A man who had lots of women chasing him did not seem to settle for one.

  Ria was brought out of her daydreaming as Tom pulled his six foot frame off the bed. It always amazed her that he was so tall when she herself was a couple of inches over five foot, like her mother. He playfully gave her a twist of her button nose and a nudge down the stairs.

  'Bet Mam could use the porridge
for wall paper paste by now!'

  Chapter 3

  Ria and Tom laughingly burst through the kitchen door and were immediately hit by the heat of the cooker and the smell of breakfast and coffee.

  Walking over to the coffee pot she poured herself and her brother a cup. It was a morning ritual; there was nothing more pleasing than holding a milky coffee in her hands chatting with her family. Her parents still preferred the traditional tea, but after being introduced to fresh coffee by her friend, she preferred coffee to wake her up.

  Evan, her father, raised his eyes from his porridge bowl to take in the scene in the kitchen, his kitchen, his house, his family, one he was so proud of. Still the kids needed to get ready. 'Stop that messing around and sit at the table. Your Mam hasn't been up early to get things ready for you, only for you two to be fooling around.'

  Ria walked around Michael, who had already polished off his breakfast, towards her father’s chair and playfully gave him a huge, noisy kiss on the cheek, 'Sorry Dad and Mam.' She winked at her young brother, Sam, who was smirking into his cereal bowl.

  After picking up a bowl, she helped herself to the porridge and added a generous helping of homemade raspberry jam. Ria noticed the tired look on her mother’s face. 'How is Johnny this morning? I heard him coughing in the night.'

  Johnny was Ria’s younger brother. It seemed as though he had always been ill. He had caught measles when he was younger and after that it was one infection after another. Johnny was one of the reasons that Ria had gone to work in the factory straight after school instead of following her dreams of becoming a nurse. She knew that the extra wages she brought in helped towards the things they had to get for Johnny, she reasoned she could always become a nurse later on in her life.

  'Not a good night, he is resting at the moment. On your way to work, would you get Dr Bevan to call in today, Victoria?'

  'Yes of course Mam.' Ria knew that the Doctor had been coming to visit Johnny more and more in the last six months and felt the unease creep up her spine.

  'Evan, you will have to leave me some money for me today to pay our bills at the Post Office. I couldn't last time, so I need to sort it out today, I will get Doris to keep an eye on Johnny for me.'

  Doris was an invaluable neighbour, wonderful company and help for her mother while everyone was out for the day. She had lost her husband in a mining accident seven years before. They had never had any children so she was left on her own.

  Ria hugged her coffee in her hands while she watched Tom reach into his back pocket and draw out his wallet.

  'I've got some money Mam, won a little last night and I want you to have it.'

  Ria watched as Tom gave it to his mother, along with a kiss and a hug. She knew that even though her mother would berate Tom for gambling down the Red Lion, she would also appreciate the money.

  Megan wiped her hands on her apron and forced a scowl on her face when she looked at her beloved eldest child. ‘You've been down that Red Lion again playing cards with all those scoundrels, I've told you.....'

  Whilst her mother was telling Tom off, Ria watched her father place his bowl in the sink and wrap his arms around his wife’s waist, kissing her hair. 'Leave the boy be, Meg, he is only twenty, leave him have some fun. Responsibilities will come soon enough.'

  'Aye, you're right. Come on the lot of you off to work, leave me in peace to get this house sorted. Don't forget to grab your lunches I have made for you!'

  Ria put her coat over her work clothes, the grey wool was starting to look threadbare. She would have loved to get a new one, but the money would be better used for food, not for her own vanity. Perhaps she could get Doris to work her miracles on it as she just loved playing ‘mum’ to them all and fixing clothes that needed it.

  As she turned she watched her mother and father hug and kiss each other goodbye. She had always witnessed the bond of love between them. Over the years she had often caught them cuddling in the kitchen, when she was little it used to embarrass her at times, but now it was something that she wanted when it was time for her to get married. Not that she wanted that for a while, as she was only eighteen! She enjoyed going out with her friends and she had resorted to going out occasionally with the Doctor’s son, John. Her friends kept telling her that he was a ‘good catch’, but he never stirred more than a sense of well-being in her. She was a romantic at heart and often daydreamed about being swept off her feet. Her friends, Karen and Sally, thought she was mad, saying that she would never find 'the one' if she did not give anyone a chance with her romantic notions. But why settle for less when she knew that one day she might have what her parents had?

  Chapter 4

  Ria closed the door behind her with a smile on her face. She loved this time of the morning, even though it was early and most people were still tucked up in bed if they had any sense. She tried to enjoy this time outside before having to endure the day inside the factory.

  Her mother had asked her to fetch the local Doctor, so today she kissed and hugged her Dad and brother at the end of the road. 'Dad, I'm going this way today to go and fetch Dr Bevan. You and Michael be careful down the mines today, there was loads of rain last night and you know how the mines flood.'

  Ria hated worrying about her father and brother down the mines.

  'It's what I do and what your grandfathers did before me, be proud,’ Evan quoted the sentence he always said to her after she voiced her worries.

  'You look after yourself anyway and you, Michael. Love you both, see you for dinner tonight.' She leaned forward and kissed her Dad and brother before waving to them as she watched them walk away. There was already an easy banter going on between them.

  Ria started up the narrow alley way up to Dr Bevan’s house. Dr Bevan had been the family doctor since Ria could remember. She smiled at the lion knocker, which she had always found peculiar, before she knocked the door and hoped that she was not disturbing him at this early hour. She heard footsteps approaching the door.

  'Well, good morning Victoria, what can I do for you?' Mrs Bevan, a short stout woman like her husband, had her grey hair woven into a bun on the nape of her neck. She greeted Ria with a friendly smile.

  'Is Dr Bevan able to go and look in on Johnny today? He had a bad night and Mam is worried.'

  'No problem love, I will ask him to add him onto his rounds today, but with the measles breaking out all over town, he is really busy.'

  Ria winced when she saw Mrs Bevan turn around and shout upstairs. 'John love, hurry, Ria is here, come and say hello!'

  She had been on a couple of dates with John, courtesy of Mrs Bevan’s matchmaking, but even though she had enjoyed going to the cinema with him there was no attraction on her side, which couldn't be said about him. He had made his interest in her perfectly clear.

  She watched John fly down the stairs at breakneck speed, a speed he used throughout his whole life she thought.

  'Morning darling, and to what do we owe this pleasure?’ He grinned. ‘Missing me?'

  'Oh, he's a one,’ glowed Mrs Bevan while giving her only child a beaming smile. 'Ria had asked your dad to go and check in on Johnny. Perhaps you could ask Ria to go out tonight to cheer her up?'

  Ria watched John eye his mum dryly, but with a smile on his face. 'Thanks, but I can arrange my life myself. Got my lunch ready so I can walk to work with Ria?'

  Ria sighed while she looked at John. All her friends thought he was handsome. He was when you looked at his blue eyes, blonde wavy hair, strong jawline and slightly misshapen nose that her brother had accidentally broken in a game of rugby when they were in school. But she loved him like a brother or friend and never experienced the butterflies or mind numbing feelings that her friends always talked about.

  'I'm already late John, I will see you another time.' She started to turn away.

  'Don't worry Mam, I will pick something up on the way'. Ria watched as John grabbed his coat off the rail and closed the door. Her fingers curled into her bag, relax she told herse
lf, what is wrong with me? John was a good, kind man whose company she enjoyed. He made her laugh and he was kind to her. It was not his fault that she felt uneasy when he tried to kiss her and take things further. He was always patient with her, even though she could see the frustration and desire in his eyes at times. He kept telling her that he would be there for her when she changed her mind.

  'So, about tonight? Do you want to do something?'

  'Ah, I don't know John, I need to get home to help Mam with Johnny. He isn't sleeping in the night and she isn't resting when she should as she is busy with the housework. I should really be at home helping her, but we need the money that I bring in. Alice has some days off school to help, but the headmaster had a word with my parents about her missing too much school.' Tears threatened to flow, so she took a steadying breath. 'Hey, look at me being all sensitive this morning!'

  John gathered her in his arms and kissed the top of her curly red hair, 'You can be sensitive on me anytime, my darling, anytime.'

  Ria relaxed into the hug, she did enjoy the comfort his arms gave her. The worry of Johnny’s illness and money was a lot to bear at such a tender age; sometimes overwhelming her. At these times she enjoyed John’s company; then she felt guilty for using him for comfort and not wanting more from him.

  'Well,' he moved his hands so that they were on her shoulders and took a step back, ‘if you don't fancy meeting tonight, let me at least walk you to and home from work.'

  'Thanks John, thanks for being understanding.’

  She walked the rest of the way with his arm lightly draped across her shoulders, having a large family this was the type of contact she was entirely comfortable with.

  Chapter 5

  The noise was the first thing to reach Ria when she walked into work, all the morning noise of gossiping workers. It was a welcoming sound. All of the workers were piling in and congregating by the lockers for their morning chatter. Coats were being hung up in exchange for the overalls and hats compulsory in the work. While she fought to put her unruly braided hair under her work cap, Sally, one of her good friends since Infant school, sidled up to her.