Free Sinners and Shadows by Catrin Collier

long way to go before he’ll convince me that he’s changed his wandering ways. Now if we’re going to get the upstairs breakfast served on time, we have to get our skates on. Mair, clear this table; Bronwen, lay the table in the breakfast room. I’ll check the menu with Cook and set up the trays.’
    â€˜I think Mrs Williams is actually beginning to like me.’ Joey took Rhian’s hand and nestled it in the crook of his arm as they walked down the drive of Llan House.
    â€˜I don’t know how you can say that. She’s downright rude to you.’
    â€˜It’s not what she says; it’s the way she says it. I can tell that underneath it all, she’s fond of me.’ He pulled two tickets from his inside pocket and waved them under her nose. ‘The best seats, undercover …’
    â€˜Bronwen said all the seats are undercover. They’ve put up the most enormous marquee that seats ten thousand people.’
    â€˜Some seats are more undercover than others,’ he continued unabashed. ‘The most expensive have the best view of both rings. And these are the most expensive and comfortable. The man at the box office promised me that we’d get cushions.’
    â€˜I hope we also get space. Bronwen said the tent was packed so full when she went with Meriel they had difficulty drawing breath.’
    â€˜I’m surprised anyone can draw breath around Cook, given the size of her. She probably swallows all the available oxygen for miles around.’
    â€˜That is cruel. She can’t help her size.’
    â€˜She doesn’t overeat?’ Joey asked in surprise.
    â€˜No more than the rest of us.’ Furious with Joey, Rhian wasn’t prepared to let the matter drop. ‘Looks aren’t everything, Joey. You might be handsome but as Mrs Williams says –’
    â€˜Handsome is as handsome does,’ he chanted in a bored tone. ‘I wish I had a penny for every time she has said that about me. And I can’t help the way I look any more than Cook can.’
    â€˜No, but –’
    â€˜What?’ He stopped walking and stood in front of her.
    â€˜You could try to be nicer.’ As always, whenever he looked her directly in the eye, she became flustered.
    â€˜I thought I was always nice to you,’ he said softly.
    â€˜Well, you’re not,’ she countered.
    â€˜Tell me how I can be nicer?’
    â€˜By walking me to the station in time to buy chocolates for the children, and catch the early train so we can visit Sali before the show.’
    â€˜We said we’d have lunch with Sali, not breakfast.’ Despite his protest he stepped back and offered her his arm again.
    â€˜I’d like to spend some time with Bella and Edyth.’
    â€˜The doting aunt.’
    â€˜And why not?’ she retorted in indignation.
    â€˜I spoke as the doting uncle. What is the matter with you? I thought we’d planned the perfect day out and you’re spitting pins and needles.’
    â€˜Nothing’s the matter with me,’ she retorted unconvincingly.
    â€˜Mrs Williams been having a go at you about me again?’
    â€˜No more than usual.’
    â€˜Perhaps she’ll leave off after today.’
    She didn’t ask him to explain his remark because she guessed what he meant. But she had absolutely no idea how she would react when he brought the subject up again.
    Rhian refused Joey’s offer to hire a cab when they arrived in Pontypridd and insisted on walking to Ynysangharad House. When they left the top end of Taff Street, she stepped off Victoria Bridge, which carried traffic over the River Taff, and climbed the steep steps of the Old Bridge alongside it. A crowd of small boys in ragged clothes were leaning precariously over the edge of the stone parapet, trying to see the animals tethered at the back of the enormous marquee that almost filled the Malsters’ Field.
    â€˜â€¦Â My