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CHAPTER NINE

A second letter

Huw got another surprise when a second short letter arrived from Wales.

Dear Mr Thomas

I know that my mother, Megan Jenkins, wrote to you two weeks ago. I hope you got that letter. For some reason, I think you did.

‘Ah! So she did get married,’ thought Huw.

She told me about your letters that she’d found, and I’ve talked a lot about you. But there was something in her letter that she didn’t say.

It’s quite easy for me to write, but probably not easy for you to read. I am your daughter. I was born on November 14th, 1946, seven months after you left Tredonald.

So you can see - if you get this letter - that both of us really would like to hear from you.

With best wishes

Beth Jones

Good God! Was it true? Did he have a daughter? It could be true - the dates were right. He remembered the one and only time that he and Megan had made love. It was quite soon after Gareth’s death down the coal mine, and they’d been alone in her parents’ flat for the first time.

‘I’m sorry, Megan,’ said Huw, talking to his drawing of her. ‘Did you hate me for what happened?’

He had to write back to Megan. They had a daughter! How strange that sounded! What was she like? There was nothing in Beth’s letter to help him get any idea of her. He wanted to meet her, but would she want to meet him? It’d be very difficult for all three of them. there was fifty years of nothing between them.

That night Huw told Mike and Mike’s wife, Rebecca, about the letter. Neither of them really knew what to say. Mike found it hard to understand that his father had a daughter, a daughter his father had never known about. To Rebecca it all seemed unreal.

‘Wait a minute, Huw,’ she said. ‘Someone writes to you saying she’s your daughter and you believe her? How do you know for sure?’

‘It’s true,’ said Huw slowly. ‘In my heart, I know it’s true.’

He looked at Mike and Rebecca and said, ‘Anyway, I’ve decided I am going to write back to Megan. We’ll see what she says.’