Read Tiger Bay Blues for Free Online

but she did intend to make the most of her time with Peter, and encourage him to arrange to meet her again outside of the youth club, which wasn’t likely to happen if Maggie put an end to intelligent conversation with her blatant flirting. She moved her chair as close as she dared to Peter’s, leaned towards him and listened intently to every word he said. It was only embarrassment that stopped her from staring, because every time she glanced discreetly at him from beneath her lowered lashes, she found his soft, brown eyes focused on her.
    The main course was eaten, the plates cleared, the strawberries and cream served, and the bowls removed. Coffee pots, cheese boards and crackers were placed at intervals along the tables and, throughout it all, Edyth and Peter remained locked in conversation, isolated from and oblivious to everyone around them, in spite of Maggie’s attempts to interrupt. When Lloyd rose to make his ‘father of the bride’ speech, Edyth took the coffee cup the waitress had set in front of her and sipped it absently without putting in her customary cream and sugar. She tried to look as though she were listening, but she couldn’t see or think of anything other than the man sitting beside her. And she couldn’t have made it more obvious that she hadn’t heard a word that had been said when Harry followed her father and made the traditional toast to the bridesmaids. She lifted her own glass and only realised her mistake when Maggie hissed, ‘That’s us, you fool.’
    Five minutes after the speeches had finished, Edyth couldn’t recall a single word that had been said. She resented the polite enquiries that disrupted the flow of her and Peter’s conversation – the waitress enquiring as to their preferences; their fellow diners’ questions as to what Peter thought of Pontypridd and how he was settling into the town – but worse of all was Maggie, who simply refused to leave them alone. No matter how she glowered, glared and frowned, or how many kicks she aimed at her sister’s ankles under cover of the table, Maggie continued to flutter and coo around Peter like a lovesick dove.
    ‘You are so right, Reverend Slater. But then, no one in this family has ever voted Tory,’ Maggie purred, breaking in on Peter’s mild condemnation of the Tory party’s demands for a cut in the dole just as unemployment was spiralling out of control across the country. ‘Edyth,’ she gave her sister a wide insincere smile, ‘the jazz band is playing dance music.’
    ‘So we can all hear, Maggie.’ Edyth struggled to keep her irritation in check.
    ‘You know how you love to dance,’ Maggie commented archly.
    ‘And you don’t, Miss Evans?’ Peter turned to Maggie in surprise.
    ‘I don’t care for jazz or modem music,’ Maggie lied. ‘I prefer the waltz and foxtrot. But then,’ she shrugged and sighed theatrically, ‘I have very different tastes from my sisters and am always outvoted by them. However, that won’t stop me from asking Father to hire a string quartet to play at my wedding.’
    Edyth realised that her sister had been listening in on her and Peter’s conversation for longer than she’d thought. Normally she would have retaliated, but the last thing she wanted to do was start an argument that might show her in a poor light in front of Peter Slater. ‘Isn’t it a little early to start planning your wedding, Maggie?’ she questioned evenly. ‘You are only seventeen.’
    ‘Nearly eighteen.’ Maggie tempered her swift correction with a subdued glance at Peter.
    Lloyd left his seat and led Bella on to the dance floor. Toby followed with Sali. The musicians played ‘What is This Thing Called Love?’
    ‘Even after the ceremony I find it difficult to believe that one of us is actually married – I mean, us girls. My eldest brother Harry has been married for four years, so I am used to the idea.’ Edyth felt the need to fill the silence that had fallen after Maggie’s sharp