Free Facing the World by Grace Thompson Page A

evidence that says I did. I can’t explain, but I can tell you that if I’d stayed the evidence would have been handed to the police together with a story to convince them and I’d have been arrested. I had to get away. Sally willingly agreed to help me, butother things occurred and – nothing that can’t be sorted. Very soon everything will be all right and I can come back.’ He smiled as he spoke; it sounded so easy he almost convinced himself. Then the image of David’s sneering face filled his mind and he felt that hope draining away. Perhaps his only chance was to stay away, take Sally and Sadie with him and begin a new life far away from his parents and the town that he’d always called home.
    ‘And Sally?’ Valmai asked, a frown creasing her brow, glancing at Gwilym.
    Gwilym shifted in his chair. ‘I know Sadie’s your daughter, Rhys. That’s the part I find most difficult to understand.’
    ‘You knew?’ Valmai gasped. ‘I’ve been so careful not to say a word.’
    ‘I might be housebound but it’s my leg that’s missing, not my brain,’ he said, and smiled at her to avoid sounding critical. ‘I guessed as soon as the news of her baby reached us but didn’t say anything in case you were disapproving of the girl, then after weeks passed and you said nothing it seemed best to remain silent.’
    Valmai laughed then. ‘Talk about secrets! What a family, eh?’
    Gwilym wasn’t laughing. ‘Well?’ he said, staring at his son. ‘What justification d’you give for leaving Sally to face everything on her own? The birth of a baby, the comments of vicious women like Milly Sewell? Was that necessary too? Denying that the baby’s yours, are you?’
    ‘Dad, we’ve stayed in touch. I’ve visited them when I dared. I couldn’t risk coming here, I’m sorry. But you’re right about her having to face the birth and the gossip on her own. Believe me, it wasn’t something I wanted to do but she insisted. She knew that if there had been even a hint of trouble with the police I might have lost my freedom. Sally is a remarkable young woman and I’ll never forget her loyalty and bravery. She is a wonderful person and I’m very lucky to have her love.’
    ‘And Sally, does she have yours?’ Gwilym asked softly. ‘Or is she just useful?’
    ‘The most important things in my life are Sally and Sadie and everything else comes a poor second.’ He eased himself away from them and stood up. ‘Now I have to go. It gets light around five and I have to be well away from here by then.’ He paused and added, ‘Sorry to sound dramatic, but please don’t mention my visit, or thatI’ve been living in Bristol. Just in case the police are given the misleading evidence. For one thing I don’t want Sally to be hassled.’
    Valmai was tearful after he left, hurt by the revelation that Sally had known how to get in touch and had seen him, while they hadn’t received more than a few misleading postcards. As though guessing her thoughts, Gwilym said, ‘We’re too close to a lot of houses. Sally lives down in School Lane. Besides, we have friends and might have been tempted to tell someone out of pride, rather than have everyone think he’d forgotten us.’
    ‘And now? We’re trusted with his secret after more than two years so what’s changed?’
    ‘We know a part of the reason. And inviting Sally and Sadie to visit won’t add to the faded gossip, will it?’
     
    A week later Sally brought her little girl to tea. Young Jimmy from next door came in and surprised them by getting on the floor with a couple of books Valmai had bought and entertaining the little girl. He didn’t read well and Valmai quietly helped when he stumbled over words.
    Some gossip resulted from the visit, mainly encouraged, unsurprisingly , by Milly Sewell but as there was little to add, it quickly died. In late September it began again. Sally’s pregnancy was becoming impossible to hide.
    Milly was walking past and as usual she gave