Ernie helped her to her feet and hooked her arm through his. They were about to set off when Bobby’s attention was caught by someone emerging from the cinema. She instantly recognised the clipped moustache, pipe and flaming red hair as belonging to George Parry. His hair alone made him a hard man to miss.
Bobby was surprised to see him in town, and by himself. She had seen the Parry girls a few days ago, and had understood their father had a date arranged with Miss Simpson after today’s shift at the department store. This information had been accompanied with the customary grimaces and eye-rolls from Florrie and Jess, who were still struggling to warm to their father’s fiancée.
A moment later, however, a woman emerged to join him.
So he was on a date after all. Bobby wondered why the captain would bring his young lady out to Skipton when there were many more cinemas in Bradford.
‘Who is it, Slacks?’ Ernie asked, squinting to see what she was looking at. The sun was in their eyes, and Bobby, too, had to squint to see properly.
‘George Parry and his fiancée,’ she told him. ‘I suppose I ought to go and say—’
But Bobby stopped short as the sun disappeared behind a cloud, and she was able to get a better look at the woman with Captain Parry.
Because of course, the woman who had accompanied the captain to the cinema wasn’t Miss Simpson. It was Lilian.
Chapter 27
Bobby quickly dragged Ernie away, hoping he wouldn’t notice anything amiss. She managed to make polite conversation until her bus arrived, but her brain was awash with concern for her sister.
Lil had been adamant that there was nothing untoward in her relationship with the captain. Despite Bobby’s qualms, no one else in the family seemed to think there was anything improper about it. Even Tony, a jealous husband if ever there was one, didn’t suspect anything.
Why? Bobby knew it wasn’t really about Lilian. It was because the captain – officer, war hero, fond father, model of an old-fashioned English gentleman – seemed in every way above reproach. Even after seeing what she had seen with her own eyes, Bobby could hardly believe that George Parry would pursue a married woman.
It had worried her enough when she had spotted the two of them in Settle, talking so earnestly, but Lilian had sounded genuine when she had told Bobby she’d been advising the captain on engagement rings. But the pictures – that was different, wasn’t it? Bobby would need to be delusional in the extreme to persuade herself that Lil and George must have run into each other there coincidentally. True, they hadn’t looked exactly cosy, but they had without a doubt been at the place together. What else was she supposed to think, except… but even now, Bobby wasn’t ready to give a name to what she thought.
Oh, she could curse her family today! It felt like every time something went right with them – Charlie’s new job, Marmaduke, her father’s marriage to Mrs Hobbes – something else went wrong to balance it out. The doctor had said she musttry to avoid shocks at this stage in her pregnancy, and here was her little brother turning up out of the blue with a pregnant Irish Catholic girl while her twin sister was sneaking around with another man behind her husband’s back.
‘Take care of yourself, Slacks,’ Ernie said as he handed Bobby on to the bus. ‘Keep me in your prayers.’
‘Hmm?’ Bobby roused herself. ‘Oh. Yes. I will, Ernie.’
‘See you soon, OK? Look after that godkid of mine.’
Bobby managed a smile, although she was a million miles away.
When Ernie had gone, she paid her fare and went to sit at the back. She had no energy for small talk if a neighbour were to get on. At the back, she could slump down in her seat and hopefully stay unnoticed until it was time to get off.
She almost slid right off her seat, however, when her sister and Captain Parry got on at the very next stop. They didn’t notice Bobby, hiding at the back. She watched to see how the pair would behave together.
They weren’t touching – in fact almost suspiciously so. Any man who possessed a degree of chivalry would hand a woman to her seat on an unsteady bus, even if she were a stranger. The captain didn’t. He seemed to be consciously maintaining a degree of distance from his companion.
‘I had a wonderful time,’ he said in a low voice.
Lilian smiled, but she didn’t speak.
‘Lilian, I wish it didn’t have to be this way.’
‘So do I, George,’ she said quietly. ‘But it does. Give Veronica my regards, won’t you?’
‘I’ll be sure to do so. Thank you again for your company.’
And that was it. The captain left Lil and went to sit at the front. The two didn’t so much as look at one another for the rest of the trip. George got off at the stop before the one closest to Silverdale, as if anxious they shouldn’t be seen walking intothe village together. Lilian, Bobby assumed, would get off at the Bull.
She didn’t know what to make of it. If it was an affair, it seemed a rather odd one. It reminded her of that Fred Astaire song, ‘A Fine Romance’. Like the couple in the song, Lil and George had hardly seemed overcome by passion. Nor were mistresses known for sending good wishes to their lovers’ wives on parting.
When their stop approached, Bobby let Lilian stand up first before following with her shopping basket. She tapped her sister on the shoulder.
‘Oh!’ Lilian patted her heart. ‘Bobby. You gave me the fright of my life.’
