Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
Selina turned gratefully to accept a fresh cup of tea from Joan, and saw that Lily had followed her sister into the garden, tall and smart in a green frock with matching heels.
Her husband Tristan was on her arm, young Morris toddling after them excitedly, his wild ginger curls catching the sunlight brilliantly.
Though Selina realised he could hardly be a toddler anymore, especially when he made a beeline for Faith.
The two young children stared at each other for a moment before Faith handed him one of her snapdragons and pulled him down onto the grass to play with her, chattering in a lively fashion.
‘How do you do?’ William was saying in a friendly manner, introducing himself to Lily and Tristan. No, Selina thought, watching her prospective husband with secret amusement, he would have no trouble fitting in with her friends …
‘No Demelza and Robert?’ she asked Lily after they’d hugged.
‘Robert was needed to mind the farm, and Demelza’s got baby Petunia to care for now, as well as little Teresa …
Oh yes,’ she added, laughing as Selina’s eyes widened, ‘Dem had her second back in May, didn’t you hear?
The number of nappies and baby clothes we’ve been washing …
The farmhouse has been like a veritable laundry all summer!
’ She turned to make a quip to Alice about how her own hands would soon be pruny from washing nappies too, and the two sisters were soon joking and giggling as though they’d never been apart.
Selina stood drinking tea and smiling while she listened to everyone chattering at once.
It was as though a flock of noisy starlings had descended on Joan and Arthur’s idyllic cottage garden.
She caught Caroline’s eye, who rose discreetly to join her.
‘I meant to say I got your letter,’ Selina whispered in her ear.
‘I perfectly understand why you didn’t want to say any of that on the telephone.
So your parents turned up at the farm to take you home?
How dreadful of them … But at least they went away empty-handed. ’
‘Yes, Grace terrified them into giving up. Gran quite liked the farm. I told her I’d stay in touch. But only Christmas cards for the foreseeable future.’
‘That’s a shame. Family is so important.
But in your case …’ Selina studied Caroline’s girlfriend with interest. ‘Grace seems awfully brave. And a good friend to have on your side.’ She paused, spotting a secret smile on Caroline’s face.
Something had changed since her last visit, she felt sure.
‘In your letter, you also said Joe had told you he couldn’t keep any Land Girls on after harvest time.
That made me rather furious. After all our hard work too …
But I suppose it was inevitable. Things are gradually getting back to the way they were before the war. ’
‘Women back in the kitchen, men back in the workplace, you mean?’ Caroline sounded bitter.
‘Awful, isn’t it?’ Finishing her tea, Selina put the cup and saucer aside.
‘You know, we badly need skilled groundsmen at Thornton Hall, but it’s so isolated, it’s hard to recruit them.
Our current man is planning to retire next year and move upcountry with his son.
It strikes me that if you and maybe Grace are both looking for work on the land …
Well, groundswomen are as good as groundsmen in my book, and there’d be a cottage you could share that goes with the job. ’
‘Oh, Selina …’ Tears sprang to Caroline’s eyes as she realised what Selina was proposing. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘Discuss it with Grace and let me know. Though it was William who suggested it in the first place, so all thanks should go to him.’
Caroline’s eyes widened. ‘William? Does … Does he know that …?’
‘That you and Grace are a couple?’ Selina mouthed the last words rather than speaking them out loud. ‘Yes, of course. I hope you don’t mind me telling him. But he and I … We’re going to be married this autumn and will live at Thornton Hall with the children.’
‘Oh, congratulations!’ To her relief, Caroline seemed genuinely pleased.
‘We’re just waiting until they can rig up a suitable office at the hall, so William doesn’t need to drive into Bodmin every day.
He’ll be taking on a lower caseload too, to make life easier, given that we’ll have Bella’s children to care for together.
’ She blushed rosily. ‘And maybe one or two of our own.’
‘Goodness. Kids too?’ Caroline hugged her. ‘I wish you both very happy.’
‘Thank you.’ Selina grinned, adding with a rush, ‘He’s even bringing his mother to live with us too, as she’s partially invalided these days and he doesn’t want her to be alone.
She’s a lovely woman and I’ve been madly busy adapting a downstairs room for her.
I hope she likes what I’ve done with it. ’
‘I’m sure she’ll be thrilled, Selly. But listen, do you really want me and Grace on your doorstep every day? Two young women living together? Won’t people talk?’
‘Frankly, I don’t give a stuff.’ Selina was feeling defiant. ‘I’m sick of people telling women how to behave. Women did men’s work all through that blasted war … Yes, and often better than the men themselves. We deserve to live our lives however we damn well choose!’
‘Hear, hear,’ William murmured, bringing them a bowl of gleaming strawberries. ‘Maybe you can begin by choosing whether you’d prefer strawberries with sugar or cream.’ And they all laughed.
The next day, they all set off on foot together, walking to church for Sheila Newton’s marriage to Bernard Bailey.
Selina had taken the children aside after breakfast and told them that she and William would be getting married later that year.
She had half expected them to be unhappy; children often disliked changes to their routines.
But, to her relief, Peter took the news with surprising maturity, shaking William’s hand and wishing them both happy.
Jemima hugged her and beamed. Faith simply ran in circles, giggling happily.
‘There you go,’ William murmured, taking her arm as they set off for church. ‘Piece of cake.’
‘I was terrified they wouldn’t like the idea.’ Selina heaved a sigh. ‘Once again, I underestimated them.’ She found herself smiling though, her steps a little lighter as she realised that everything was going to work out. ‘I’ve got to stop doing that.’
It was a marvellously sunny day, the green Cornish hills bathed in brilliant sunshine, a light sea breeze snapping at dresses and locks of hair.
She smelt salt and heard the whisper of the tide washing in over the pure white sands of the bay.
Soon, Selina thought with a delicious shiver, she would be going to church as a bride, with William waiting for her before the altar.
Faith would make a wonderful flower girl, and Jemima a charming bridesmaid.
Peter was rather too old to be a pageboy.
But perhaps he could be best man. She suggested this to William, who thought about it and then nodded.
‘I’d like that,’ he told her with a smile.
‘An inspired suggestion, if I may say so.’
Behind them came Lily and Tristan, holding little Morris’s hand. And just ahead, pushing Felix in his pram, walked Joan and Arthur.
Arthur had enjoyed a lengthy heart-to-heart with Peter yesterday, Joan had told her in the evening.
Tears had been shed, and not just by Peter.
But apparently Arthur had every confidence in the boy’s ability to work through his grief and return to being happy and contented, even if he would never quite lose the pain of Bella’s death.
Selina had spoken to Peter herself earlier that morning, and been relieved by his level mood.
She had done the right thing, arranging to stay with Joan and Arthur over the wedding weekend.
Now at least she felt more confident that her nephew was well on the road to recovery, and might yet be able to return to formal education, perhaps at a local school where she could keep an eye on his progress.
At the church, they found a crowd of well-wishers, friends and family, all chatting as they waited for the bride to arrive.
The groom was already in the church, according to Reverend Clewson, who was floating about in his white clerical robes with his usual air of panic, trying to herd everyone into their seats in good time.
But nobody was willing to move, not in this fine weather, with the sun beating down and the scent of flowers everywhere.
Besides, they were all too busy catching up on gossip …
Alice and Patrick were standing with Alice’s dad, Ernest Fisher.
He turned to shake hands with William, looking him up and down with interest. ‘Ah, Selina’s intended …
You’re a solicitor in Bodmin, I understand?
Tell me, what do you think of this Michael Foot fellow?
His father Isaac was MP there for years …
’ And the two men stood talking about politics while Selina chatted to Alice and her husband.
‘Hello, stranger,’ a familiar voice came from behind, and Selina turned in astonishment to see her old friend Penny standing there, her husband John by her side.
‘Penny!’ she exclaimed, and hugged the former Land Girl. ‘It’s been ages, I swear …’
‘Another year, another wedding,’ Penny said flippantly.
‘We always seem to meet in a churchyard. Don’t you remember last time?
I had the most horrid hairstyle. Better now, though, don’t you think?
’ She patted her brown curls, which sat neatly on her shoulders.
‘John wants me to grow it long. Easy for him to say, though. He doesn’t have to wash it over a sink in a fisherman’s cottage. ’
Selina shook hands with John, who was grinning. The burly fisherman gave her a wink, glancing towards William.
‘That your new fancy man?’ John drawled in his thick Cornish accent.