Archie grinned and took her hand to pull her on to the dance floor, where a few other couples had joined the newlyweds. Chip had taken charge of Teddy’s wheelchair so Piotr could enjoy some time in the arms of his wife. Their little son Tommy was now in the care of the Parry girls as they examined the tables of food, making a mental inventory so they could show off to any friends at school who hadn’t been lucky enough to be present. Lilian had dragged Tony on to the floor as well. He struggled to hold her close with her swollen belly between them, but nevertheless wore an expression of pride in his pretty wife and the visible evidence of his virility.
‘I was hoping I’d get the chance to give you a whirl,’ Archie said to Bobby. ‘Best part of the day. Mind you, I can’t deny I had a tear in my eye when I handed the old girl over earlier. Appropriate, what? The old groom giving her up to the new.’
‘Your friend Mr Dolly seems a little confused by it all,’ Bobby observed.
‘Topsy can have that effect on people. They’re so used to one way of doing things, you know, and then along comes Tops with her mad ideas. But Dolly’s not a bad sort, deep down. He’s just got the hump because he thought he might have a chance with her himself.’ Archie gestured to a handsome middle-aged woman looking down her nose at proceedings as she spoke witha high-ranking RAF officer. ‘Did you notice that Mother was here?’
Bobby glanced at Topsy’s Aunt Constance. ‘I thought she’d sworn she wouldn’t come.’
‘She did, but then she heard Topsy’s Uncle Geoffrey would be attending – that’s Air Marshal Sir Geoffrey Badham to the rest of us oiks. I think Mother has rather set her cap at him. Having given up on marrying me off for money and status, she’s determined to do it for herself.’ He looked approvingly at Bobby’s floral dress. ‘I say, you do look smashing. Is your chap here?’
‘No, he couldn’t get leave.’
‘And no Ernie King to share you with either. That means I can have every dance to myself.’
Bobby smiled. ‘Aren’t you worried Mother Dearest will cut you off if she sees you waltzing with the gamekeeper’s daughter?’
He laughed, flushing a little. ‘Ah, now you’re going to force me to reveal my deep, dark secret. I was hoping to save it until at least one of us was squiffy. Things never sound quite so foolish after half a bottle of wine.’
‘What is it?’
‘A job.’
‘You finally found something? What are you doing?’
He smiled. ‘That’s the embarrassing part. I suppose you thought I was joking, after our pantomime when I said I might audition for ENSA. Well, I thought, what the hell – why not give it a try? Playing the fool is really the only thing I was ever any good at. Anyhow, I suppose they must be desperate because they’ve assigned me to a troupe.’
Bobby blinked. ‘You’re joining an ENSA troupe?’
She knew Archie had been keen to find a job that would give him some degree of independence from his mother’s tightly knotted purse strings since being invalided out of the RAF, butthe idea of Bobby’s upper-class friend joining the organisation that provided entertainment for the troops – Every Night Something Awful, as wags liked to joke the initials stood for – had never occurred to her.
‘That’s right,’ Archie said. ‘Chap there lost the other half of his double act in the Blitz so he needs a new stooge. The gag is that he’s a cloth-cap-wearing salt-of-the-earth type and I’m to be the aristocratic idiot he outwits.’ He grinned. ‘Suits me perfectly, don’t you think? I won’t even need to rehearse.’
‘You in ENSA! I didn’t expect that, I must say.’
‘I know, isn’t it madness? We’re being sent to Northumberland in a few weeks to entertain some soldiers. I hope the cook there has been saving up their egg rations. They’ll need some rotten ones when I get on stage.’
‘Oh, I think it’s wonderful,’ Bobby said, beaming at him. ‘You were marvellous in our pantomime. Loads better than any ENSA comedian I’ve seen. I hope you’re sent to entertain wherever I am.’
‘Why, are you going somewhere?’
‘To the RAF training school ten miles away. I got called up to the WAAF – I leave on Monday. I’m ever so nervous.’
‘Then I ought to make the most of you, if you won’t be here the next time I come.’ The tune they had been dancing to ended and Archie took her hand to lead her to the tables of food. ‘Let’s get some tuck and have a little talk somewhere private, shall we?’
There wasn’t really anywhere private indoors, so after helping herself to a small chicken leg, a boiled egg and a piece of bread and butter, Bobby followed Archie outside with her plate.
She picked up the chicken leg.
‘Do you suppose this hen had stunted growth?’ she asked. ‘I’ve never seen such a tiny leg.’
‘Probably pigeon,’ Archie said. ‘I imagine someone sent Tops a brace or two from their hunting bag as a wedding gift. You could have had another, you know. Looked like there was plenty there.’
‘I’ve got so used to counting every mouthful, I can’t bring myself to break the habit.’ She frowned at the little leg. ‘I wonder what Topsy’s planning for the bones. You could get a lot of stock out of what’s on that table.’
Archie laughed. ‘You’re talking like a housewife already, darling. Not married yet, are you?’
‘No. Not yet,’ Bobby said quietly. ‘How about you? Have you managed to find yourself a suitable wife?’
