‘Oh, don’t be daft. He’s doing a favour for his mate, that’s all, the same as this lass is doing a favour for hers.’
‘Mary, it’s Charlie. You know how he is with women. They fall for him when he isn’t even trying – probably even more so now he’s in uniform.’ She sighed. ‘The date must have happened by now, if you had this letter on Friday. She’s probably in love with him already.’
It wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that Charlie’s charm might produce an instant effect. Had he held this new flame tight against him in the darkness of the cinema, as he’d once held Bobby? Had he kissed her with the same passion and urgency that Bobby had once been proud to feel could be inspired by her and her alone?
‘If you ask me, he put that in on purpose to make you jealous,’ Mary said, catching her dejected expression. ‘He knows I’ll let you read the letters. Probably there never was any date at all.’
Bobby pressed her eyes closed. ‘No.No, I’m glad he’s taking out girls rather than sitting in his digs pining for me. I mean, I ought to be glad. I told him he should move on and not wait for me to change my mind.’
‘And yet you wonder why it still hurts,’ Mary said gently.
‘I know why it still hurts. I just wish it would stop.’
‘You are a funny old thing, Bobby. Here’s happiness right within your grasp – it isn’t too late, I’m sure. All you’ve to do is reach out for it, and instead you shove your hands firmly into your pockets.’
‘You told me you understood why I’d turned him down.’
‘From a head point of view, I understand. From a heart point of view, I can’t fathom it at all.’ Mary looked at her curiously. ‘I always believed there was nothing harder to say no to than love, once it happened. You’re a strong young woman to be able to do it.’
‘A strong one and a foolish one. Isn’t that what you’re thinking?’
‘I’m thinking no such thing. But I know it isn’t a choice I could have made for myself if Reg and I were you and Charlie. You know, I was asked that same question by a man who loved me while all the world went mad around us too. And I’m very glad, all told, that I was too weak to say no instead of yes.’ There was the sound of Reg’s car pulling up outside. ‘Here’s our guest arriving. Bobby, can you fetch the girls from upstairs? I’ll set the tea to brew.’
Chapter 33
In fact, Bobby had no need to fetch Florence and Jessie, who came thundering down the stairs as soon as they heard Reg arrive back with their father.
Captain Parry was a tall, somewhat gaunt man of about thirty-five, spruce and clean in his uniform, with thick red hair like his daughters’ and whiskers to match. When Reg first showed him in, this hero of Dunkirk looked very much the English military gentleman: stiff and guarded in expression, with manners of the old school. However, his standoffish air altered at once when he caught sight of his two daughters running down the stairs to greet him. All formality disappeared as he threw open his arms and the pair of them barrelled into him, almost knocking him off his feet.
‘Well, this is truly a welcome fit for heroes,’ he said, laughing breathlessly.
‘Daddy, you have to come and see Ace,’ Florence said, tugging his sleeve, while at the same time, Jessie said, ‘We’ve made up lots of new games, Daddy. You need to come and play with us.’
‘I’ll demand a proper hug from each of you before I do either of those things, which you ought to give like dutiful daughters.’ He crouched down so he could draw them to him, looking slightly damp of eye as he planted a kiss on each little crown. ‘I’m not sure you realise how much I’ve missed you both, my little red-headed rascals.’
‘We missed you too, Daddy,’ Florrie said. ‘Lots and lots. Now please will you come and see Ace? Uncle Charlie bought him for us.’
Mary intervened at this point. ‘Girls, your father’s had a long journey. I think the least you might do is let him sit down and have a cup of tea in the parlour before you start demanding dogs and laiking from him.’
‘Laiking means playing,’ Florrie told her dad with a knowledgeable air. ‘They talk English different here. Reg says it’s what you call adialect.’
‘Daddy, come on.’ Jessie took his hand. ‘I’ll show you the parlour.’
‘I can fetch the tea things,’ Florrie said eagerly. ‘Mary lets me bring in the tray if she carries the pot.’
Smiling, Captain Parry allowed himself to be led into the parlour by Jessie. Mary went back to the kitchen with Florrie for the tea things while Reg and Bobby followed him through.
The captain glanced at the desks, typewriters and stacks of magazines that took up most of the space on one side of the parlour, but he was too polite to make any observations. Jessie pushed him unceremoniously into an armchair and immediately clambered up into his lap. Since there were only armchairs enough for three, Bobby sat at the chair behind her desk.
‘This is where Reg and Bobby make their magazine,’ Jessie told her father as she snuggled under his arm, evidently relishing the role of guide. ‘Sometimes they let me and Florrie help with it too. Florrie had a story in it. Oh, but you ain’t to tell her I said so because it’s meant to be a big surprise when she shows it to you.’
The captain raised an eyebrow at Reg. ‘Is that right? We have a published writer in the family?’
Reg smiled as he took a seat opposite the captain. ‘I’m not allowed to either confirm or deny that. Your daughter insisted it be kept a secret until you were here and she could show you in person.’
Florrie came bouncing in with the tea things, the mugs rattling on their tray as she struggled to restrain her exuberance. No sooner had she put them down on the table than she was bounding towards the door again.
‘Dad, I’m going to get Ace,’ she announced. ‘He’s in the attic. We hid him there so’s he’d be a surprise.’ She disappeared without waiting for a response.
