‘Blimey.’ Sheila, who had invited Bernie to supper that evening too, was surprised. ‘I hope that won’t be too much hard work for you. It’ll be a full house.’
‘We can manage,’ her granddaughter assured her cheerfully. ‘Besides, Mary always brings a large pudding with her, and her husband will help with the dishes afterwards, along with Tris and Rob.’ She laughed merrily, carrying Morris off for his nap. ‘We all muck in here, you’ll see.’
Sure enough, dinner that evening in Penzance was a lively affair, the small farmhouse dining room packed with folk. It was dark and snowy outside, but Tristan and Robert had herded their large flock of sheep into fields nearer the house to keep a closer eye on them, while the newborns and the lambing ewes were under shelter in a large, covered enclosure. The two sheep farmers stamped in from the bitter weather, snow on their boots and coats, just in time to sit down with their guests. Mary and Dick were good-natured and friendly, and it was soon clear that Mary was expecting, revealing a rounded tummy as soon as her coat came off.
‘Only two months to go,’ the curly-haired young woman told Sheila with a smile, easing wearily onto the sofa. Mary and her husband Dick both had strong Cornish accents like Tristan and Demelza, Sheila had noted when they were first introduced. ‘But we’re all prepared. I’ve been knitting booties by the dozen, my parents bought us a second-hand crib attheir last visit, and Dick’s painted the nursery a glorious bright yellow. I can’t wait for Baby to arrive!’
‘Enjoy those broken nights,’ Demelza muttered.
‘Well, it looks like you must enjoy them,’ Mary quipped, accepting a cup of tea from Sheila, who’d insisted on making herself useful while the two women cooked. ‘Thank you, Mrs Newton.’ She nodded to Demelza’s increasing tummy. ‘Given that you’ve decided it’s time for round two.’
‘That was more of an accident than a decision,’ Demelza admitted, chewing on her lip, then flushed when everyone laughed.
‘Accidents do have a tendency to ’appen, love.’ Sheila chortled. ‘Anyway, you might as well have two babies as one. That’s what we thought when little Violet came along, after we’d grown used to the idea of only having Betsy, who was Lily’s mum.’ She sighed, wishing again her eldest daughter had survived the war. ‘Ah, those were the good ol’ days.’
Bernie, standing up to drink his tea, as there weren’t quite enough seats in the cramped front room to go around, gave her a wink. ‘Plenty of time for more goodnewdays ahead, Sheila.’
‘Amen to that,’ Robert murmured.
They sat around one big table to eat a roast chicken meal with all the trimmings, and afterwards each enjoyed a portion of Mary’s fruit pudding, heated up and served with lashings of condensed milk.
‘You’ve outdone yourself, ladies,’ Dick announced as he pushed aside his dessert bowl. ‘Three cheers for the cooks!’
And they all cheered, while the young women grinned, looking bashful. Then the three men rose, with the exception of Bernie, who’d offered to help with the washing-up butbeen told to stay and entertain the ladies instead, and began clearing the table.
‘Have you had a good holiday here, Mrs Newton?’ Mary asked, producing wool and needles from her bag, and began to knit with a practised air.
‘Oh, I’ve had such a wonderful time, thank you.’
Across the cosy room, Sheila caught Bernie’s eye and smiled. They’d walked out together every other day during her stay, and she had indeed enjoyed herself being away from home and Violet’s disapproving eye.
Only that morning they had strolled arm in arm along the seafront at Penzance, in an icy wind laced with snowflakes, where he’d braved the weather to take off his hat and once again proposed marriage to her. She had said no, of course. But she couldn’t deny the man was good company. Indeed, she was beginning to feel so much affection for him, she could happily have agreed to marry him, if it hadn’t been for her fears over what might happen once she was a wife again. Bernie might claim that he wouldn’t interfere with her running the village shop or sitting on the council once they were wed, and she believed he meant it, but she also knew that men had a funny way of changing their minds once they’d achieved the thing they were after. So, although Sheila liked him a great deal, she was not yet ready to say yes.
On her last day in Penzance, Sheila had a comfortable chat with her other granddaughter Alice, who’d had a telephone installed in her flat in London, and got all their news too. She and Patrick were still working for the government and had high hopes of being able to afford their own house soon, with a garden too, out in the growing suburbs. She also spokebriefly to Ernest, who was still staying with Alice and her husband.
‘How’s the weather been in Porthcurno, Sheila?’ her son-in-law asked down the crackly line.
‘We’ve been having a nasty, cold snap,’ Sheila admitted, pulling her cardigan closer in the draughty hall, ‘but I’m sure it won’t last.’
‘I wouldn’t be so sure,’ Ernest told her. ‘The government expects heavy snowfall this winter, and not just up north. I hope Joe and Violet are prepared for this “cold snap” to get worse before it gets better.’
Sure enough, when Bernie drove her home from Penzance, snow lay thicker than ever along the verges, the sky glowering with dark clouds.
Sheila mentioned Ernest’s warning. ‘He says we could have blizzards, even down here in Cornwall.’
‘I’ll believe it when I see it,’ Bernie told her easily, and whistled between his teeth. ‘You warm enough, my darling? Or would you like that blanket from the back seat?’
Shivering in the chilly car, Sheila reached through for the tartan blanket to wrap about her knees and caught his quick grin. ‘Don’t you tell Violet. She already thinks I’m as old as the hills and that I need looking after.’
‘Ah, but to me, you’re still the fresh-faced girl I fell in love with at school,’ he told her softly, and she chuckled, torn between wanting to tell him off for such ridiculous flattery and a growing curiosity to know how it would feel to be Mrs Bernard Bailey.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Caroline hugged Selina in the snowy farmyard, while they waited for Peter to return from visiting the pigs with Grace and Tilly for the last time. ‘I wish you didn’t have to go,’ she admitted, ‘but Mrs Newton’s due back from Penzance today. And I doubt you’d be comfy squeezing into the attic rooms with us Land Girls. Not now you’re so posh,’ she added with a wink, hoping her friend wouldn’t mind her teasing.
‘Posh?’ Selina laughed and shook her head. ‘Hardly. But I do need to get back to Bodmin. Jemima and Faith will be missing us madly by now, and although their cousin Nancy is good with the girls, she’s still quite young and I don’t like the idea of leaving her in charge for so long.’ She was smiling, though. ‘It’s been lovely seeing you again, Caro. We must keep in touch.’
‘Of course.’ Caroline carried Peter’s abandoned bags to the boot of her car, placing them beside Selina’s case. ‘So,’ she added shyly, ‘you’ve had plenty of time to meet our new Land Girl. What do you think of her?’
