In a flurry of hand-waving and goodbyes, the two elderly women left Kit alone with Evelyn. Shuffling the letters in his hands, he sought for something to say, something that wouldn’t cause offence. ‘So,’ he tried, ‘when did you move back to the village?’
‘In January. My mother had a heart attack and now requires a lot of care.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘Don’t be,’ she said matter-of-factly. Then: ‘Actually, it’s me who should apologise to you. I’ve meant to do so for ages but never got around to it.’
‘What on earth do you need to apologise for?’
‘Because I was very rude to you when we last met, and afterwards I didn’t have the decency to reply to your letter.’
‘Oh, that,’ he said airily. ‘Don’t give it another thought. I was my usual clumsy, idiotic self that evening at the dance. I should never have said what I did.’ Feeling on safer ground now, and noting the tea room behind them, he said, ‘I don’t suppose you’d care for a cup of coffee, would you?’
They took the last available table and ordered coffee and a toasted teacake each. ‘What were you doing before coming home to care for your mother?’ asked Kit, after the waitress had brought them their order.
‘I was teaching.’
‘Really?’
‘Don’t look so surprised. I was actually rather good at it. What did you expect me to do? Marry and have children?’
He smiled. ‘Nothing would surprise me with you, Evelyn. Where were you teaching?’
‘At St Agatha’s in Kent; a prestigious boarding school for girls. I taught mathematics.’
Treading warily, Kit said, ‘Do you miss it?’
She stirred her coffee slowly. ‘Terribly. I miss the girls and the other teachers; they were a good crowd. And I’m well aware what you’re thinking: that I’ve sacrificed a fine career for a rancorous woman who does nothing but complain and make my life hell.’
‘I wouldn’t presume to think anything of the kind.’
She smiled. ‘Well it’s exactly what I think, so I wouldn’t blame you for seeing it that way. It was why I was so rude to you that night of the dance; you said exactly what I was thinking and I hated myself for it. But life has a habit of changing, so who knows what the future holds? Probably war at the rate things are going in Germany. Will you go and fight?’
‘Of course, try and stop me!’ His response, he realised straight away, was ludicrously glib and said in the hope that she would be impressed, or at least think well of him. ‘I’ll join the RAF, if they’ll have me,’ he said more seriously.
She took a sip of her coffee, regarded him over the cup with a sure and level gaze. ‘So you’ll become a dashing pilot in a smart blue uniform. How very you.’
‘And now you’re teasing me, I do believe.’
‘Only a little.’ She lowered her cup into its saucer and sighed. ‘I wish I could do something half so useful if war is declared. As it is, I’ll be stuck here. Although, and much against my mother’s wishes, I have agreed to take in an evacuee if called upon to do so.’
‘Well, that would be doing something eminently useful and practical.’
She shook her head and tutted. ‘Don’t patronise me, Kit. Anything but that.’
‘I didn’t mean it that way.’ He took a bite of his teacake, and when he’d finished chewing on it, he said, ‘I’m glad I bumped into you.’
‘I’m glad too. I saw you at the funeral and thought how well you looked.’
‘You were there? I didn’t see you.’
‘I sat at the back and didn’t linger when it was over. I wanted to say hello to you, but I didn’t think the moment was right. How long are you going to be staying at Island House?’
‘A week. Along with my brother and sister, and Allegra.’
She nodded thoughtfully. ‘The gossip machine has been rife with talk. I heard Hope surprised you all by arriving home with a baby, a German baby no less.’
‘A German baby whose father is Jewish,’ he said, keen to make things clear. ‘The child is her niece.’
