Chapter 26
‘Oh my word!’ Bobby stared at the girl’s stomach.
‘Aye, all right, you can give me a sermon later,’ Jake said. ‘Can we come in or what, Bob? Cold out here.’
‘Um, yes,’ Bobby said. ‘Yes, come in, both of you.’
She ushered them into the parlour. Charlie looked up from his newspaper.
‘Hullo, Jake. Didn’t expect to see you today.’
‘All right?’ Jake went to shake Charlie’s hand before guiding Kathleen to the fire.
Charlie didn’t seem nearly as dazed at the unexpected appearance of his brother-in-law as Bobby, although his eyes, too, flickered to Kathleen’s stomach.
‘This your young lady?’ he said.
‘Aye.’ Jake regarded Kathleen proudly. ‘Soon to be my missus. Kathleen Brady.’
Charlie stood up to present the girl with his hand, and she shook it shyly.
‘You’re very welcome, Miss Brady. And congratulations.’ He glanced at her stomach. ‘Double congratulations, it seems. Can I get you both a cup of something?’
‘Thank you,’ Kathleen said in her soft voice. ‘I’d love a cup of tea, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.’
‘I’ll make it. Charlie, go and have your stew in the kitchen.
’ Bobby, who had recovered her equilibrium finally, shook her brother’s fiancée’s hand as Charlie disappeared to have his tea.
‘I’m sorry, you must think I’m frightfully rude.
It was only the surprise of seeing my no-good baby brother. Welcome to our home, Kathleen.’
‘It’s a lovely place you have,’ the girl said politely.
‘Thank you. Now I wonder if you wouldn’t mind covering your ears?’
Kathleen blinked. ‘Covering my ears?’
‘Yes. I need to say a few words to our Jake that I’m afraid are going to turn the air rather blue.
’ Bobby spun to face Jake, who was scuffing his feet as he awaited the earful he knew was coming his way.
‘What the hell do you think you’re playing at?
I’ve barely had a line from you for months, then you turn up with a fiancée you haven’t told us about and a baby on the way? Dad’s going to play pop.’
‘Why do you think I came to your place?’ Jake said, with an attempt at a grin. ‘Look, can you save it, Bob? I’m knackered. You can tell me off when I’ve had some sleep.’
He did look tired, and haggard too. It had been some time since Bobby had seen her youngest sibling.
Now she examined him properly, the change in his appearance was rather shocking.
He had lost weight, she was sure. Although his face was still boyish, his eyes seemed to carry more than their twenty-one years.
It reminded her that the war on the home front could do as much damage to a man as the battlefields of Europe and Africa. Months of defusing bombs had clearly taken their toll on her little brother.
‘Come and sit down,’ she said in a softer voice. ‘How long are you both here for?’
‘Three days.’
‘As long as that?’ Bobby rubbed her head. ‘Lord knows where I’m going to put you, but we’ll make it work somehow. I’ll have to go into town again tomorrow and see what food I can get. You’d better give me your ration card.’
Jake grimaced as he sat down. ‘Forgot it. Sorry.’
‘Oh, you are hopeless. I thought they gave you one with your leave pass.’
‘They did, but I left it somewhere. It don’t matter, I don’t eat much these days.’
‘Well you ought to. You’re as skinny as a rake. I’ll have to see about fattening you up before I send you back.’
‘I’ve got my book,’ Kathleen said. She took it from her handbag and handed it to Bobby. ‘Sorry to be so much trouble to you, Miss. Jake said it would be all right if we stayed here.’
Bobby smiled as she put the ration book away. ‘It’s Bobby, not Miss. Don’t worry, love, no one’s blaming you.’ She sat down by Jake and ruffled his hair. ‘I’m blaming this one. Still, it’s good to see you, Jake, even if you are a… but I won’t go into that. You know what you are.’
‘We can stay then?’ he asked.
‘I’m not going to throw you out into the street, am I?’ She glanced at Kathleen. ‘I’ll have to think about sleeping arrangements though. What possessed you to just turn up?’
‘We needed your help.’ Jake beamed at his fiancée. ‘We’ve come to get married. I thought you and Lil could help us sort it out.’
Bobby pressed her forehead. ‘You’re wanting to arrange a wedding on this leave? In three days? Oh my word.’
‘Well, we need to do it fast, don’t we?’
Bobby glanced at Kathleen’s swollen stomach. ‘So I see.’
‘Look, we meant to do it properly. Have the wedding first and that. But the army wouldn’t let me out for it, so… things ended up sort of the wrong way round.’
Jake looked so genuinely puzzled as to how this could have happened that Bobby couldn’t help a smile.
‘I’ll make your tea,’ she said, heading to the kitchen.
Charlie was seated at the table, finishing a bowl of stew.
‘Well this is a turn-up,’ he said quietly.
‘You’re telling me,’ Bobby muttered back. ‘Honestly, I don’t know whether to hug the lad or strangle him.’
‘He looks like he needs the hug more. Poor kid.’
‘I know, he looks dreadful. I suppose you heard all that about the wedding, did you?’
‘I did. Why would he come to you?’
‘Me and Lil did our share of raising him,’ Bobby said, rubbing her forehead. ‘He was a bairn when our mam got ill. I suppose it’s natural he’d look to us when he needed help.’
‘Not to your dad?’
‘Their relationship’s always been a bit strained. Jake found it hard to understand why Dad was… the way he was. Struggled to respect him.’ She shook her head. ‘Honestly, could he not send a ruddy telegram to say he was coming? Where on earth are they going to sleep?’
‘They’ll have to bed down in the parlour.’
‘They can’t share, can they? They’re not married yet.’
Charlie laughed. ‘She must be six months pregnant, Bobby.’
‘I suppose so,’ Bobby conceded. ‘Still, I’d like to do things properly until after the wedding.
She ought not to sleep on the floor in her condition anyway.
She’ll have to share with me and you can sleep in the parlour with Jake.
’ She pressed her aching temples. ‘I can’t imagine how I’m to feed them.
Typical of the boy to forget his ration card.
And how can we arrange a wedding at this short notice? ’
‘Registrars are used to last-minute arrangements these days. We’ll take them into Skipton tomorrow. I’ll go to the registry and organise it while you hunt down provisions.’
Bobby glanced through the door at her brother, who was sitting with Kathleen on his lap. ‘I’d be minded to give him a serious ticking-off about getting that poor girl into trouble if he didn’t look so awful. But he’s trying to do the right thing.’
‘You can tell he thinks the world of her.’ Charlie got up and gave her a kiss. ‘And since I feel much the same about my own wife, I’m going to insist she eats her stew while I brew the tea.’
‘Yes, I ought to eat.’ Bobby rubbed her eyes. ‘I dread to think what our Lil’s going to make of all this.’
Bobby slept badly that night. She found it hard to relax, sleeping beside a stranger.
Kathleen was a quiet sleeper, but this only made things worse.
Bobby had grown used to Charlie’s restlessness.
The lack of movement felt eerie, now. She listened carefully for any sound from the parlour to indicate her husband was having an unsettled night, but she couldn’t hear anything.
Charlie’s nightmares were different from her father’s: more a quiet whimpering than outright screams.
Oh God, her father. He would have to be told about this.
Rob’s relationship with Jake had always been difficult, but Bobby would like Kathleen to be welcomed into the family properly.
There was also the thirty-five pounds her dad had put aside for his youngest child.
The lad had more important things to spend it on now than his Triumph motorcycle.
She made a mental note to send a message to Lilian tomorrow, and enlist her help.
By 9 a.m., Bobby, Charlie and the prospective newlyweds were in Skipton. Bobby hadn’t neglected to send a note to Lil via Gil Capstick, explaining that Jake had turned up for some leave and to call round later.
‘You three had better get to the registry and find out what you need to do,’ Bobby said. ‘Don’t wait for me after, just get the bus back. I’ll head home once I’ve scoured the shops for supplies.’
‘Don’t you need witnesses though?’ Jake said. ‘You’d better come with us, Bob, in case you have to sign owt.’
Bobby was surprised her eternally clueless little brother was even this well-informed about weddings.
‘I doubt they’ll be able to do it today, Jake,’ she said. ‘You have to get a licence first. Once you’ve got that, you can arrange the ceremony when you’re next able to get leave.’
He shook his head. ‘We want it done right away. Don’t we, Kath?’
The girl nodded. ‘I don’t want my baby born without a father. My family wouldn’t ever speak to me again. They’re strict Catholics.’
‘They don’t know you’re engaged?’ Bobby asked.
‘No. I came over here to go into service, but I lost my job last month.’
‘The toffs she worked for gave Kath her ticket when they noticed… well, you know,’ Jake said, looking rather guilty. ‘I’ve been supporting her on my pay, but a guinea a week don’t go far. I’ll get more once we’re married.’
‘And if I have the baby here then, um…’ Kathleen flushed. ‘Well, there’d be no need for my mam and da to know we didn’t do things proper. I’m of age.’
‘We’ll do everything we can,’ Charlie said. ‘Let’s start with buying the licence. You’ll need the special one for servicemen if you want a wedding this weekend.’
‘Buying?’ Jake cast a worried look at his bride. ‘Here, does it cost money to get married? I spent all I had getting us here.’
‘Never mind the money. You can owe it us.’ Bobby gave him a kiss, and one for Kathleen. ‘Once you’re safely married, we can spend your next leave celebrating. But for now, just try and get yourselves wed, all right?’