The Foster Children of Time

Chapter Twenty-Five: More Belated Answers

Chapter Twenty-Five

 

 

Endewyn Celeste Vaughn was born on April 21, 1920 on a family farm in Montgomeryshire County in Wales.  Her parents, Owen and Sian were Catholic, and had Endewyn fairly late in life, the only child of their marriage.   Endewyn's aunt Rhian, eleven years younger than Sian, assumed the role of an elder sister to the girl.  As a young girl, Endewyn admired crooner Donald Peers and displayed an early aptitude for dance.  She dreamed of one day appearing on stage in Cardiff, or even London.  At bedtime, Aunt Rhian entertained Endewyn with folk tales about the fair people who lived in the mountains, learned in turn from her own mother.  As Endewyn grew to adolescence, it became increasingly clear that she had been blessed with great beauty.  Aunt Rhian often teased her about being a changeling child of the Tylwyth Teg.   Endewyn was not overly impressed with the suitors that eventually called at her door, most of whom she had known since childhood, others who had been awkwardly introduced at social events by her mother.

In the fall of 1937, Endewyn and Rhian visited relatives in Swansea.  It was there, as she and her aunt strolled along a line of shops, that Endewyn met Edward.  Edward was a slight young man, shy and self-effacing, who worked on piers unloading cargo ships.  Endewyn was immediately smitten, and with the cooperation of Rhian soon made her feelings clear to him.  After that, Edward called upon Endewyn regularly during the time she was in Swansea.  Edward and Endewyn would sit looking out over the bay as the sun set, chatting oblivious to the world around for so long that Rhian was often obliged to fetch Endewyn and return her to their relatives' house.  Edward promised Endewyn, on the eve of her return to the family farm, that he would present himself to her parents and sue for her hand in marriage. 

Edward was true to his word, but he balked when he learned that Endewyn's family was Catholic.  His own family devoutly adhered to the Church in Wales, and strongly disapproved of marriage outside the Church.  Endewyn, deflated, sulked in her room and shunned the company of people for months afterward.  Only upon urging from Rhian did she finally emerge, and resolved to find Edward and make him realize his folly.  With her parents' blessing, she returned to Swansea the following year.  She found Edward still working on the docks.  He tried to ignore Endewyn at first, but she returned every day, telling jokes, singing songs and on one occasion, dancing a fiery jig to the delight of all of the stevedores present.  After several weeks of this, Edward could no longer deny the stirrings in his heart.  Risking the opprobrium he faced from his parents, Edward finally asked for Endewyn's hand in marriage.  They were wed on Christmas Eve in 1938. 

When war broke out in Europe, Edward joined the Merchant Navy and quickly rose in rank to a boatswain on a Fyffes Line freighter.  The war years were a time of great personal stress for Endewyn, relieved only on the occasions when Edward safely returned from a successful run.  After the war ended, Edward retired from the Merchant Navy to spend more time with his wife.  Endewyn rejoiced and looked forward to raising a family with Edward.  However, the seasons passed and the young couple was not blessed with a child.  A visit to a doctor confirmed unwelcome news:  Endewyn was incapable of having children of her own.   Edward and Endewyn were both distraught.  

Soon after that misfortune, Edward accepted an offer from a wartime shipmate to join what was promised to be a lucrative merchant run to Jamaica.  Endewyn's worst fears were realized when it was reported that Edward was lost when the freighter ran aground on rocks off Anglesey.  Endewyn returned to the family farm and spent the next several years caring for her parents, both aging and ailing by this time.  Her mother passed away in 1948 and her father succumbed to illness the following year.  By this time, Rhian had married an American serviceman and departed overseas with him.  Endewyn continued to operate the farm with the help of hired hands.  Care aged her prematurely and her once girlish figure was rounded by the years.  She shunned contact with others increasingly.  Endewyn had been proud of her ability to attract men in her youth and was particularly disillusioned by her perceived loss of beauty.