Chapter 27
Bobby quickly dragged Ernie away, hoping he wouldn’t notice anything amiss. She managed to make polite conversation until her bus arrived, but her brain was awash with concern for her sister.
Lil had been adamant that there was nothing untoward in her relationship with the captain. Despite Bobby’s qualms, no one else in the family seemed to think there was anything improper about it. Even Tony, a jealous husband if ever there was one, didn’t suspect anything.
Why? Bobby knew it wasn’t really about Lilian.
It was because the captain – officer, war hero, fond father, model of an old-fashioned English gentleman – seemed in every way above reproach.
Even after seeing what she had seen with her own eyes, Bobby could hardly believe that George Parry would pursue a married woman.
It had worried her enough when she had spotted the two of them in Settle, talking so earnestly, but Lilian had sounded genuine when she had told Bobby she’d been advising the captain on engagement rings.
But the pictures – that was different, wasn’t it?
Bobby would need to be delusional in the extreme to persuade herself that Lil and George must have run into each other there coincidentally.
True, they hadn’t looked exactly cosy, but they had without a doubt been at the place together.
What else was she supposed to think, except…
but even now, Bobby wasn’t ready to give a name to what she thought.
Oh, she could curse her family today! It felt like every time something went right with them – Charlie’s new job, Marmaduke, her father’s marriage to Mrs Hobbes – something else went wrong to balance it out.
The doctor had said she must try to avoid shocks at this stage in her pregnancy, and here was her little brother turning up out of the blue with a pregnant Irish Catholic girl while her twin sister was sneaking around with another man behind her husband’s back.
‘Take care of yourself, Slacks,’ Ernie said as he handed Bobby on to the bus. ‘Keep me in your prayers.’
‘Hmm?’ Bobby roused herself. ‘Oh. Yes. I will, Ernie.’
‘See you soon, OK? Look after that godkid of mine.’
Bobby managed a smile, although she was a million miles away.
When Ernie had gone, she paid her fare and went to sit at the back. She had no energy for small talk if a neighbour were to get on. At the back, she could slump down in her seat and hopefully stay unnoticed until it was time to get off.
She almost slid right off her seat, however, when her sister and Captain Parry got on at the very next stop. They didn’t notice Bobby, hiding at the back. She watched to see how the pair would behave together.
They weren’t touching – in fact almost suspiciously so. Any man who possessed a degree of chivalry would hand a woman to her seat on an unsteady bus, even if she were a stranger. The captain didn’t. He seemed to be consciously maintaining a degree of distance from his companion.
‘I had a wonderful time,’ he said in a low voice.
Lilian smiled, but she didn’t speak.
‘Lilian, I wish it didn’t have to be this way.’
‘So do I, George,’ she said quietly. ‘But it does. Give Veronica my regards, won’t you?’
‘I’ll be sure to do so. Thank you again for your company.’
And that was it. The captain left Lil and went to sit at the front.
The two didn’t so much as look at one another for the rest of the trip.
George got off at the stop before the one closest to Silverdale, as if anxious they shouldn’t be seen walking into the village together.
Lilian, Bobby assumed, would get off at the Bull.
She didn’t know what to make of it. If it was an affair, it seemed a rather odd one.
It reminded her of that Fred Astaire song, ‘A Fine Romance’.
Like the couple in the song, Lil and George had hardly seemed overcome by passion.
Nor were mistresses known for sending good wishes to their lovers’ wives on parting.
When their stop approached, Bobby let Lilian stand up first before following with her shopping basket. She tapped her sister on the shoulder.
‘Oh!’ Lilian patted her heart. ‘Bobby. You gave me the fright of my life.’
‘Mmm, I bet.’
‘Where did you spring from? Were you hiding under the seats?’
‘I was at the back.’ Bobby glanced at the driver as they slowed to a stop. ‘We’ll talk when we get off.’
They alighted and the bus drove away.
‘We can hitch a ride with Bert in the coal wagon,’ Lilian said, a rather forced brightness in her tone. ‘You ought not to walk. It isn’t good for you in your condition.’
‘Do you know what’s not good for me in my condition?’ Bobby said. ‘Sudden shocks and surprises.’
‘Yes, I got your note about Jake turning up. You ought to have sent him to us. He can sleep in the nursery if we bring Annie’s cot into our room. Do you want me to take him tonight?’
Bobby glared at her. ‘You can jolly well stop trying to change the subject, Lilian Scott. That wasn’t the shock I was referring to and you know it.’
Lilian sighed. ‘You saw then.’
‘I did, and it’s no use trying to tell me to mind my own business.’ She folded her arms. ‘What’s going on, Lil? You swore to me there was nothing between you two.’
‘There isn’t. I mean… look, it isn’t what you think.’ Lilian glanced round at the sound of the coalman’s horse and cart trundling towards them. ‘We’ll get a lift to your cottage, then I swear I’ll tell you everything. But don’t be all cross and Bobby about it, will you?’
‘I’m making no promises until I know what there is to be cross and Bobby about.’ She lowered her voice as Lil flagged down the cart. ‘I only hope you know what you’re getting yourself into, that’s all.’
As soon as the cottage door had closed behind them, Bobby turned to her sister.
‘Well?’ she demanded.
‘Can’t I at least put the kettle on?’
‘There isn’t time. Charlie might be back any minute with Jake and Kathleen, the girl he brought. I want to hear all about it while we’re able to talk freely.’
Lilian frowned. ‘Our Jake brought a girl?’
‘Never mind Jake. You’re not going to distract me, Lil. Tell me about you and George Parry.’
Lilian sighed. ‘Sit down first. You must want to get the weight off your feet.’
‘Well, all right,’ Bobby said grudgingly. ‘But no making a bolt for it. If I have to lock you in to get the story out of you, I will.’
Bobby sat on the settee and Lilian, smiling, sat beside her.
‘I pity poor Marmaduke, being born to such a terrifying specimen of a mother. I dread to think how you’ll be when the poor boy starts taking out girls.’
Bobby opened her mouth, but Lil raised a hand.
‘All right, I’m telling you,’ she said. ‘It really isn’t as bad as it looks.’
‘I saw you coming out of the cinema, Lil. How can that possibly not be as bad as it looks?’
Lilian frowned. ‘Have you been following us?’
‘No. I was shopping.’
‘Friday’s your shopping day.’
‘That was before our Jake turned up without his ration card and his ribs showing,’ Bobby said. ‘I popped in to see what extras I could pick up, then I bumped into Ernie King and he insisted I have a sit-down opposite the cinema.’
Lilian examined her with concern. ‘You do look tired. Are you getting enough rest?’
Bobby glared at her. ‘That’s neither here nor there. What had you been doing at the pictures?’
‘Watching Gary Cooper in Pride of the Yankees.’
‘All right, and what else?’
‘That’s it.’ Lilian shuffled to look into her eyes. ‘That really is it, Bobby. I know what it must look like, but I swear that man has never so much as held my hand. We’re friends, that’s all. Just… good friends.’
Bobby shook her head. ‘Friends don’t go to the cinema. Lovers go to the cinema.’
‘Don’t be daft. Friends go to the cinema all the time.’
‘Not when one’s a man and the other’s a woman. Especially not an engaged man and a married woman.’
Lilian turned away, scowling. ‘Honestly, I can’t believe you sometimes. Who did you say you were with when you saw us?’
‘Ernie King.’
‘Arm in arm, I suppose?’
‘Only because I was weak,’ Bobby said, flushing. ‘That’s what any gentleman would do.’
‘But he’s not your husband, is he? It wasn’t so long ago he wanted to marry you.’
Bobby laughed. ‘He’s unlikely to swing me on to a stallion and ride off into the sunset with me now, is he? He’d damage his back.’
‘If people saw you arm in arm, there’d be talk.’
‘I’m seven months pregnant, Lil.’
‘Which is exactly what there’d be talk about. Why am I always getting the lectures while you act like you’re the respectable one? You’re not Mam.’
‘You know it isn’t the same. There wasn’t anything secretive in my meeting Ernie. He just happened to be there.’
‘Isn’t it the same?’ Lilian demanded. ‘How many times have you been to the pub with one of your men friends, just the two of you? Even married men, like Don Sykes?’ She was glowering now.
‘And am I to be denied the one thing that truly makes me happy? The one thing that makes it worthwhile getting out of bed each morning? Why must it be one rule for me and another for you?’
‘You can’t compare this to my relationship with Don. He’s never behaved in any way that wasn’t brotherly. He doesn’t give me fur coats and knicker elastic for presents either.’
‘He gave you a fountain pen.’
‘That was a leaving gift. He was my boss, Lil. We never went for a drink without the blessing of his wife. I’m godmother to their child.’ Bobby raised an eyebrow. ‘I take it Tony doesn’t know about your cinema dates with the captain?’
‘Well, and what if he doesn’t? He expresses precious little interest in anything else I tell him about my day.’
‘Look, I don’t want to have a row over it,’ Bobby said soothingly, putting one hand over her sister’s. ‘I’m sorry if I sounded like I was accusing you. It’s because I’m worried for you, Lil.’
Lilian’s black expression lifted slightly. ‘All right.’
‘How long has it been going on?’