Chapter 28
Bobby’s train of thought was interrupted by the arrival of Andy and Ginny Jessop, accompanied by Andy’s granddaughter Mabs. Andy leaned on Mabs’s shoulder while Ginny fussed around him, making sure he was fully covered by his muffler and coat.
‘Stop thy fettling, lass,’ he said with a hoarse laugh. ‘I’ll not drop dead o’ cold afore we get there, I promise.’
‘Hullo,’ Archie said in a low voice to Bobby. ‘Here’s a fine local specimen. He looks like an old poacher.’
Bobby laughed. ‘It’s my friend Mr Jessop.’ She waved to Ginny, who hailed her.
‘It’s Miss Bancroft, Andy,’ she said to her husband, and he beamed.
‘Do you mind if I leave you to have a little talk with them?’ Bobby asked Archie. ‘I feel like I’m on a sort of farewell tour today. This is probably the last time I’ll see everyone from the village before I leave.’
‘Oh, don’t mind me,’ Archie said cheerily. ‘Just be sure to save me all your dances and I shan’t be in the least jealous who you speak to.’
Bobby squeezed his shoulder, then went to join Andy and Ginny.
‘Mabs, I can help your grandfather if you want to go in,’ she said. ‘Gil was looking for you before. I suppose he wanted to ask for a dance.’
Mabs tossed her head. ‘Huh. He can ask all he wants.’
‘Now don’t be haughty, young miss,’ Ginny told her sternly. ‘Gil’s paying you a compliment and the least you could do is be gracious. One day you’ll learn to look past what’s outside to what’s in.’
‘Listen to thy step-nana,’ Andy said, nodding. ‘Yon post office lad’s worth ten of the ones tha meks a fool of thyself running after.’
Mabs ignored them.
‘Is Ernie inside?’ she asked Bobby.
‘No, he couldn’t get leave.’
‘What about Sandy?’
‘Yes, I think so.’
‘I’ll give him a dance if he asks then. Gil Capstick can go whistle.’
She left them to go in, head held high.
Ginny shook her head as Bobby took Mabs’s place at Andy’s side, threading her arm through his so he could lean against her. ‘That lass gets more wayward every day.’
‘Poor Gil,’ Bobby said. ‘It’s hard for the local lads to compete with the Canadians. They must seem very exciting and exotic to someone Mabs’s age.’
‘Always it’s uniforms and foreigners wi’ that girl. I despair of her ever settling, I really do. Lord knows what the forces will make of her if she’s called on to go.’
‘Army could be t’ mekkin on her,’ Andy said. Bobby realised she was walking a little too quickly for him as he shuffled along, and slowed her steps to match.
‘Or it could be t’ ruining of her,’ Ginny muttered. ‘I’m sure my girls were never so wilful.’
Andy grinned at her. ‘Nay, but tha was, eh, Gin? Don’t think I’m too old to have forgotten.’
Ginny smiled and nudged him. ‘Now you’ve no right to hold them days against me, Andy Jessop. I was nobbut a bairn then.’
‘Well, no more is our Mabs. She’s noan long turned nineteen. She’ll be reet, lass, don’t tha worry. Just has to learn her lessons her own way, same as we all did.’
‘Be careful, Mr Jessop,’ Bobby said. ‘Here’s a step.’
Between them, she and Ginny helped the old man inside and guided him to a seat at one of the tables. Ginny sat beside him, but Bobby remained standing. Andy smiled up at her, squinting to make her out with what was left of his sight.
‘And how’s our lass from t’ paper?’ he asked.
Bobby sighed. ‘Soon to be the lass from somewhere else entirely. I feel like I’m here to say goodbye as much as to celebrate Topsy’s wedding.’
‘Is it soon tha goes to t’ Air Force?’
‘Yes, it’s this Monday.’
‘What’ll they give thee to do there?’
‘Administration, the lady who interviewed me said.’
‘Administration?’ Andy said, frowning. ‘That typing and such, is it?’
‘Yes, like a secretary does.’
He shook his head. ‘Nay, that’s not for thee. Waste o’ that good brain of thine.’
‘Well, perhaps not,’ Bobby said, thinking about what Archie had said. ‘There might be other work for me, if I impress them.’
Ginny smiled. ‘Are you going to win the war for us then, Miss Bancroft?’
‘I’ll certainly do my best,’ Bobby said, laughing.
‘Just be sure to come back when tha’s won it,’ Andy said. ‘It’s here tha belongs. Remember that.’
‘I won’t forget.’
‘We’ll be flitting soon too,’ Ginny said soberly.
Bobby frowned. ‘You’re not moving away from Silverdale?’
‘In a manner o’ speaking. Only as far as my daughter’s in Smeltham, but we’ve to leave Newby Top. It’s not healthy for Andy now, and I must admit it’s getting into my old bones as well. We’re not young, Miss Bancroft. Cold, rattling farmhouses up in t’ fells are no place for folk our age.’
Andy sighed. ‘Never thought I’d see t’ day I’d leave the old place. I’d eight siblings born in front of that fireplace. Three bairns, five grandbabbies, four great-grandbabbies. I’ll noan get to see another generation.’
‘I am sorry,’ Bobby said quietly. ‘I know how attached you are to the place. But Mrs Jessop is right: you ought to think of your comfort.’
‘Aye, it’ll be summat to be warm and in walking distance o’ t’ pub,’ Andy said with a grin, earning him a nudge from his wife.
‘Sad to think my days of striding over them hills are done with, mind. Can’t even enjoy ’em with my een now they’ve packed in.
’ He sighed. ‘All I can do is wait for t’ fell wind to blow my way so I can smell them. ’
Bobby smiled. ‘I know that smell well enough. Blooming heather, burning peat and muck-spreading.’
‘Aye, that’s it.’ Andy put out his hand. ‘Well then, tha’d better say goodbye, eh? Here’s hoping it’s not last one.’
Bobby shook his hand, and then his wife’s.
‘I’ll write,’ she said.
‘Aye, be sure tha does, and Gin can read it me. I’ll miss thy bits in our paper,’ Andy said. ‘Ta-ra, Miss Bancroft. Fare thee well, wherever life takes thee.’
Bobby left them and approached Mary, who was standing near one of the food tables with Teddy, holding a small piece of wedding cake as if it was the most delicate bone china.
‘Bobby, will you please give your friend permission from both man and God to enjoy her cake?’ Teddy said. ‘I cannot persuade her to eat it.’
‘Royal icing,’ Mary breathed as she stared at the delicacy. ‘And marzipan! Not crushed haricot beans and almond essence, or any of the ersatz stuff we’ve been making do with – the real thing! Wherever did it come from, Teddy?’
‘It is our friend Flying Officer King we must thank,’ Teddy told her. ‘The Canadian rations are rather more generous than ours, it seems. Though he could not be with us, he kindly donated sugar, butter and fruit as his wedding gift so that Maimie might bake a fruitcake.’
Mary shook her head wonderingly. ‘There must be a week’s sugar ration just in this little piece. I know I’ll never be able to sleep if I eat it.’
‘Please, I insist. It is my wedding day, you know.’
Mary looked hesitant, but she broke off a little piece of icing and put it in her mouth. She closed her eyes as she sucked it.
‘Oh, that’s just wonderful,’ she said with a deep sigh.
She frowned when she opened her eyes to look at Bobby, who was watching the dancers absently.
There were now eight or nine couples, whirling around to ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’.
Topsy was dancing with Archie, laughing as he threw her about.
The children present – left to grow wild in the absence of adult supervision – weaved between the dancers, giggling as they chased one another.
‘Is everything all right?’ Mary asked.
‘Hmm?’ Bobby roused herself. ‘Oh. Yes. I was just talking with Andy Jessop.’
‘How is he? In good health and spirits?’
‘I think so,’ Bobby said slowly. ‘Except that he and Ginny are leaving Newby Top. They’re moving in with her daughter in Smeltham.’
‘That’s for the best. I wonder they stood it as long as they did. My bones would be stiff as owt if I had to live in that old place, and I’m half Andy’s age.’
‘I know.’ Bobby sighed. ‘Everything seems to be changing though. I wish it wouldn’t.’
‘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.
Bobby closed her eyes and let the sounds of music and merriment wash over her. She tried to shut out the image of the uniforms, and any thought of the war.
If she listened carefully, she could pick out the voices of her friends and family.
The Parry girls, giggling as they played with their friends.
Reg and Mary, talking to her father. Lilian and Tony, Piotr and Jolka, Topsy and Teddy, Andy and Ginny.
She tried to fix this moment in her memory – the people she loved best, safe, filled with joy, untouched by the conflict raging outside.
Soon it would be the day after tomorrow, and a new life would be waiting for her.
But at least she could take this one perfect moment with her.