‘Things must change from time to time,’ Teddy observed. ‘They cannot remain as they are forever.’
‘I just wish they didn’t have to change now, when I’m about to say goodbye.’
Teddy nodded to the cake in Mary’s hand. ‘You do not finish your cake, Mrs Atherton.’
She looked at it longingly. ‘Oh, I couldn’t. It’s too naughty. I think I’ll take it home to make it last.’
‘As you wish.’
Mary tutted when she spotted something at the other end of the hall. ‘There’s Jessie helping herself to more lemonade. She’ll be sick if she has anything fizzy after all that running about. Excuse me.’
She half walked, half ran to prise the drink out of Jessie’s hands.
Bobby crouched so she was level with Teddy.
‘This is quite a party,’ she said.
‘I only see Topsy’s smile,’ he said, beaming in his wife’s direction. ‘The wedding ceremony was all for me, so I could call her my wife. This reception, it is all for her. I wonder, sometimes, how two such different beings could ever have come to fall in love. I like everything that is quiet and calm; she, everything that is noisy and gay. But while I have not her capacity for joy, I love to see it shining in her face.’
Bobby took his hand to press it. ‘And you’ll see it frequently over the years. Every happiness, Teddy.’
He turned to smile at her. ‘It is all thanks to you. My saviour on the mountain, who brought me to my love.’
‘Well, it really ought to be Charlie who’s given that title. He was the one who treated you when you were so close to death and brought you to the hospital.’
‘Ah, but it was you who made the men come for us. I will not forget it.’ He turned back to look at Topsy. ‘It is not many women who would have looked on me then and done anything but recoil as from a monster.’
‘But Topsy didn’t, not even for an instant. You were unconscious, but I saw it. The compassion she felt from that first moment, and love too, perhaps. I am glad you changed your mind about marriage, Teddy.’
He sighed. ‘Sometimes I wonder if I was right. Still it haunts me, that I can never give her a child. But I loved her too much to see her married to a man I knew could never feel half of what I did.’
‘You were right to do so. I believe that with all my heart.’ Bobby smiled at Topsy and Archie, playing the fool on the dance floor to make the children laugh. ‘See how happy she is, because of you.’
But still Teddy looked wistful as he watched his new wife play with the children.
‘Her own babies would have been so precious,’ he murmured. ‘Yes, and she would have loved them so. Sometimes I imagine their faces, and it brings tears into my eyes. I will do everything I can to make her happy, but this one thing, more important than all, my body is now too broken to do.’ He looked at Bobby. ‘And so you are to leave us for the war. To whom then will I tell my troubles?’
Bobby smiled. ‘To your wife, of course. But I hope you’ll write – you and Topsy. I feel like I’ll go mad with homesickness if I’m not kept informed about everything going on here.’
‘Certainly. We will not allow you to forget us.’
Topsy came hurrying over.
‘Oh, Teddy,’ she said breathlessly. ‘Do come and dance again. Archie says he’ll manage the wheelchair. It’s “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” after this slow one and I know it will be an absolute scream watching Arch try to keep up with the steps while he pushes. Will you?’
Teddy smiled. ‘I don’t suppose I am allowed to refuse you anything today. If you wish it, my Topsy.’
‘Sorry, Birdy, but he is my husband, you know,’ Topsy said as she commandeered the wheelchair. ‘Grab yourself a partner and come dance. Piotr and Jolka are on the floor, and your sister hasn’t let that chap of hers sit down for one in spite of her swollen ankles. There’s Chip standing about if you need a man.’
‘Soon,’ Bobby said. ‘I’d just like to stand and be quiet for a moment.’
Topsy frowned. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I need a little time, that’s all, then I’ll join you.’
‘Well, if you must.’
Bobby watched as Topsy wheeled her new husband to the dance floor. She let her gaze drift over the dancing couples: sweethearts and spouses, holding each other close as their bodies drifted, oblivious to everything but one another. Most of the young men were in uniform, and some of the women too – mostly the khaki of the Army and slate blue of the Air Force, with one Wren present to add to the sober spectrum in her suit of navy blue.
