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He stood up slowly. She looked at him expectantly. He said nothing, but after a long moment, he put his arms around her and the baby, gently embracing them both.
iv
Under wartime regulations still in force, the British government had a right to open a coal mine anywhere, regardless of the wishes of the owner of the land. Compensation was paid only for loss of earnings on farmland or commercial property.
Billy Williams, as minister for coal, authorized an open-cast mine on the grounds of Ty Gwyn, the palatial residence of Earl Fitzherbert on the outskirts of Aberowen.
No compensation was payable, as the land was not commercial.
There was uproar on the Conservative benches in the House of Commons. "Your slag heap will be right under the bedroom windows of the countess!" said one indignant Tory.
Billy Williams smiled. "The earl's slag heap has been under my mother's window for fifty years," he said.
Lloyd Williams and Ethel both traveled to Aberowen with Billy the day before the engineers began to dig the hole. Lloyd was reluctant to leave Daisy, who was due to give birth in two weeks, but it was a historic moment, and he wanted to be there.
Both his grandparents were now in their late seventies. Granda was almost blind despite his pebble-lensed glasses, and Grandmam was bent-backed. "This is nice," Grandmam said when they all sat around the old kitchen table. "Both my children here." She served stewed beef with mashed turnips and thick slices of homemade bread spread with the butcher's fat called dripping. She poured large mugs of sweetened milky tea to go with it.
Lloyd had eaten like this frequently as a child, but now he found it coarse. He knew that even in hard times French and Spanish women managed to serve up tasty dishes delicately flavored with garlic and garnished with herbs. He was ashamed of his fastidiousness, and pretended to eat and drink with relish.
"Pity about the gardens at Ty Gwyn," Grandmam said tactlessly.
Billy was stung. "What do you mean? Britain needs the coal."
"But people love those gardens. Beautiful, they are. I've been there at least once every year since I was a girl. Shame it is to see them go."
"There's a perfectly good recreation ground right in the middle of Aberowen!"
"It's not the same," said Grandmam imperturbably.
Granda said: "Women will never understand politics."
"No," said Grandmam. "I don't suppose we will."
Lloyd caught his mother's eye. She smiled and said nothing.
Billy and Lloyd shared the second bedroom, and Ethel made up a bed on the kitchen floor. "I slept in this room every night of my life until I went in the army," Billy said as they lay down. "And I looked out the window every morning at that fucking slag heap."
"Keep your voice down, Uncle Billy," Lloyd said. "You don't want your mother to hear you swear."
"Aye, you're right," said Billy.
Next morning after breakfast they all walked up the hill to the big house. It was a mild morning, and for a change there was no rain. The ridge of mountains at the skyline was softened with summer grass. As Ty Gwyn came into view, Lloyd could not help seeing it more as a beautiful building than as a symbol of oppression. It was both, of course; nothing was simple in politics.
The great iron gates stood open. The Williams family passed onto the grounds. A crowd had gathered already: the contractor's men with their machinery, a hundred or so miners and their families, Earl Fitzherbert with his son Andrew, a handful of reporters with notebooks, and a film crew.
The gardens were breathtaking. The avenue of ancient chestnut trees was in full leaf, there were swans on the lake, and the flower beds blazed with color. Lloyd guessed the earl had made sure the place looked its best. He wanted to brand the Labour government as wreckers in the eyes of the world.
Lloyd found himself sympathizing with Fitz.
The mayor of Aberowen was giving an interview. "The people of this town are against the open-cast mine," he said. Lloyd was surprised; the town council was Labour, and it must have gone against the grain for them to oppose the government. "For more than a hundred years, the beauty of these gardens has refreshed the souls of people who live in a grim industrial landscape," the mayor went on. Switching from prepared speech to personal reminiscence, he added: "I proposed to my wife under that cedar tree."
He was interrupted by a loud clanking sound like the footsteps of an iron giant. Turning to look back along the drive, Lloyd saw a huge machine approaching. It looked like the biggest crane in the world. It had an enormous boom ninety feet long and a bucket into which a lorry could easily fit. Most astonishing of all, it moved along on rotating steel shoes that made the earth shake every time they hit the ground.
Billy said proudly to Lloyd: "That's a walking monighan dragline excavator. Picks up six tons of earth at a time."
The camera rolled as the monstrous machine stomped up the drive.
Lloyd had only one misgiving about the Labour Party. There was a streak of puritan authoritarianism in many socialists. His grandfather had it, and so did Billy. They were not comfortable with sensual pleasures. Sacrifice and self-denial suited them better. They dismissed the ravishing beauty of these gardens as irrelevant. They were wrong.
