Chapter Ten
CHAPTER TEN
Bella had been for coffee and cake at Michel’s and Celestine was sipping at a cup of tea from her flask as they sat outside the stall waiting for customers. The day so far had been a slack one, and conversation had turned to plans for the upcoming Liberation Day celebrations. Celestine munched on an apple turnover. Bella had demolished hers almost as soon as she’d left the bakery, hungry, despite a decent breakfast and a good dinner the night before with Rory.
‘Oh Lord,’ Celestine muttered as she put her cake back into the box and wiped her hands. ‘Here comes Bernard.’
‘Who’s…?’ Bella began, but was cut off by Celestine pushing a bright smile across her face and greeting a tall, pale man of about seventy as he made his way over.
‘Hello, Bernard!’
‘Celestine!’ He smiled. ‘How are you doing? How’s the leg? On the mend now?’
‘Yes, mending nicely, thank you.’
‘Good, good…’ Bernard glanced at Bella, as if waiting to be introduced. But Celestine didn’t and so Bernard took the lead. ‘How do you do? I’m Bernard Babin. You must be Celestine’s niece.’
‘Um, yes,’ Bella said, taken aback that he already knew of her.
‘I bet you don’t remember me,’ Bernard said. ‘We met many years ago. You must have been about this high…’ He indicated his knees.
‘I’m sorry, I don’t…’
For a moment, he seemed offended at her admission, but then he puffed out his chest and continued to Celestine. ‘I thought I’d take a moment to go and see all our contributors for the Liberation Day event. Just to make sure everyone is on track to meet their deadlines.’
‘I’m perfectly on schedule,’ Celestine said primly. ‘There’s no need to worry.’
‘We…the committee, that is, wondered if you might need some help. Taking into consideration your current circumstances.’
‘I have Bella. We’re managing nicely, thank you.’
‘And you have enough money?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you’ve got the dimensions of the displays? Because we need them to be very precise to fit?—’
‘I have the dimensions,’ Celestine said. ‘They’re exactly the same as last year’s dimensions and the year before that and the year before that. Unless the committee has decided to change them without telling me, and then it would hardly be my fault if they were wrong, would it?’
‘No, we haven’t changed them. So we need to dress the floats?—’
‘The day before, yes. I know that too. I’ve been helping you to dress the floats for over forty years now.’
‘Right…’ He glanced at Bella again, who couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for him. Celestine seemed intent on giving him short shrift. ‘So…Bella…You’re going to be here for the parade? Or are you going over to St Helier for their celebrations? Most tourists do, you know.’
‘She’s not a tourist,’ Celestine said. ‘She’s family. Of course she’s staying for ours.’
Bella tried not to show her surprise at Celestine’s response.
‘Ah. Then in that case,’ he continued, undaunted, ‘you’d be most welcome to sit up on one of the floats. We’re going to have some old army vehicles too. We’re always looking for characters to travel in them.’
‘Characters?’ Bella frowned.
‘Yes, you know, dress up, wave to the crowds, that sort of thing. I’m sure we must have some Wren uniform or something in your size in the storeroom, if you were interested.’
Bella glanced at Celestine, who didn’t seem to have an opinion either way. At this point, she’d gone back to her cake and was munching silently. ‘I suppose I could do that if you’re short of volunteers.’
‘Marvellous. Celestine has my details; please send over your measurements so we can find you something to wear. If you could do that as soon as possible, it would be very helpful.’
‘OK, I’ll do it just as soon as we get home.’
Bernard nodded at Celestine, who simply raised her eyebrows in return and then went back to her cake. Then he nodded at Bella.
‘Bye,’ she said. As soon as he was out of earshot, she turned to Celestine. ‘I’m assuming you find him a bit annoying.’
‘Was it that obvious?’ she asked with a wry tone. ‘Him and his stupid committee. He thinks he’s such a big cheese.’
‘He is in charge of the celebrations. I suppose that’s quite a responsibility.’
‘You won’t be so charitable after you’ve suffered an afternoon of him checking every single thing you do over and over and telling you just as often that it’s not right. One year he asked me for a new display. I spent hours on it, got the measurements an inch out, and he went on about it for at least twelve months. One inch! What did it matter?’
‘Well, I’ve agreed to that dressing-up business, so I suppose I will find out for myself.’
Celestine broke into a smile now. ‘You’re going to look lovely in your uniform.’
‘I’m going to feel like an idiot. He caught me off guard, otherwise I might have been tempted to make my excuses. How am I meant to watch the parade with you if I’m in it?’
Celestine waved away her question. ‘I won’t be alone – don’t worry about that. There are plenty of people I can watch with. I’ll be proud to see you up there. I’ll be able to say to everyone, “That’s my Bella.” You always wanted to do it as a child, you know, but you weren’t allowed because you were too young. You used to get so grumpy about that. Don’t you remember?’
‘Well, yes, but I was about ten, and when you’re ten, that stuff does look exciting. At forty, not so much. Were Bernard and his committee in charge back then?’
‘Some of them.’
‘In that case, I ought to give him a piece of my mind for not letting me do it when I was ten and I wanted to.’
Celestine started to laugh. ‘You were never in St Rosa long enough to make the preparations either. Much as I’d love to see you tear a strip off Busybody Bernard, perhaps you could let him off for that.’
Bella was about to reply when she noticed someone looking over the ready-made bouquets on display at the front of the stall. Celestine looked at the same time and made a move to go over, but Bella stopped her.
‘I’ve got this. Finish your tea.’
‘Thank you.’ Celestine smiled. ‘I really am going to miss you when you go home, you know.’
Bella tried to put her aunt’s statement out of her mind as she went to help the customer. The truth was, she was going to miss Celestine too. She was going to miss a lot of things about this visit when it was over.
‘Here we are…Bella, could you make some space?’
Bella cleared away the leftovers from their dinner and took the album from Celestine, laying it down on the table. Celestine eased herself onto a chair.
‘These are last year’s displays,’ she said. ‘I thought it might be useful for you to see so you have some idea of what they’re going to look like when we’re done.’
‘Wow!’ Bella pulled the book towards her and studied the photos. ‘They’re amazing. You did these by yourself?’
Celestine nodded.
‘They must have taken you ages,’ Bella continued, turning her attention back to the photographs. She flicked to the next page and was greeted by more photographs, but this time of the parade itself, Celestine’s arrangements taking pride of place on one of the floats. ‘That’s so cool. I hardly remember all this, you know. I only have vague memories of it all being mad and loud and quite exciting, but I can hardly remember details. I know I was always envious of the girls who sat on the floats and in the cars waving at everyone. I wonder what my ten-year-old self would say now, knowing I’m finally going to get to do it.’
‘I’m sure she’d be talking ten to the dozen,’ Celestine said. ‘I’m sure I have some photos of those old parades in another album. There must be some with you in them. Perhaps I can find them…’
‘I’ll go,’ Bella said. ‘You’re supposed to be resting that ankle. Are they in the dresser where this one was?’
‘Yes, they should all be in there. You might have to hunt through them. In fact, you might as well bring them all; it’ll be easier than going back and forth until I’ve found the right one. One day I’ll label them properly. I’m sure I’ve been saying that for longer than I care to remember, but still.’
Bella got up and went to the dresser, gathering up all the old albums, recalling the evening when she’d snuck a look as Celestine slept. At least this time it was all above board. Perhaps Celestine would talk her through some of the others after they’d looked at the old parade photos. They were heavier than they looked, and by the time she’d got back to the kitchen with them, she was about ready to drop the whole lot. They fell to the table with a heavy thud as she let go.
‘Oh, they’re all dusty.’ Celestine tutted to herself. ‘Fetch a duster from the cupboard under the sink, would you? We’ll be sneezing all night otherwise.’
Bella did as she was asked, and Celestine set about wiping each book.
‘Can I look?’ Bella asked, reaching for one of the clean ones.
‘Yes, of course,’ Celestine replied vaguely.
Bella pulled the top book from the pile and opened it. This one seemed to contain more recent photos – at least they were all in colour. She didn’t know many of the people in them so assumed they were either distant family members she couldn’t remember or friends and neighbours she’d never met. With a cursory interest in each page, she worked quickly through the album and then put it back on the table before taking the next one from the stack. This one contained more of the same. Terrible as it made her feel, Bella wasn’t really interested in any of this, even though it was telling her a lot about Celestine’s life. She didn’t feel any connection to any of these people, save their connection to her great-aunt.
‘Oh, here’s some of you,’ Celestine said, handing a book she’d just wiped over to Bella, opened at the page.
Bella smiled at the collection of images. They were all taken on the same day by the looks of things, featuring her parents sitting in the garden of Villa Rosa, a grumpy-looking Uncle Roland by their side, and Bella herself as a toddler on her mother’s lap. Bella had seen versions of this scene in her parents’ collection, but they were taken from different angles and had Celestine in them with her dad missing, so she’d assumed he’d taken those ones. It was lovely to see these with her dad in there, Celestine’s absence from them suggesting she’d taken these.
‘You were a bonny little thing,’ Celestine said.
‘You mean I was fat…?’
Celestine smiled as she started to wipe down the next album. ‘I’d never say that, but you did love your food.’
‘Still do,’ Bella said. ‘But I have to watch what I pack away these days.’
‘Rubbish,’ Celestine said. ‘You have nothing to worry about – you look lovely.’
‘It’s a shame Sean doesn’t agree with you.’
‘Well…the less said about that man the better. I never took to him, you know. I would never have said anything about it, of course, but I had my reservations even from the handful of times I met him.’
‘Feel free to let rip now – there’s nothing you can say that will upset me where he’s concerned – he’s done a decent job of that all by himself. He’s put me off men for good.’
Celestine looked up from her dusting and raised her eyebrows. ‘What about your new gentleman friend?’
‘Rory?’ Bella flushed. She’d almost forgotten she’d told her aunt about him. ‘We’re friends, nothing else. I’ve only just met him.’
‘But you had dinner together.’
‘Not in that way. We just happened to get talking, both fancied the museum, and then we both wanted to eat afterwards so we grabbed something. It was just a casual meal.’
‘If you say so.’
‘Aunt Celestine,’ Bella began with a wry smile, ‘you’re surely not saying that men and women can’t be friends without there being something more to it? I’d have thought you more enlightened than that.’
‘Then why did you blush when I mentioned him?’ Bella’s mouth dropped open, and Celestine started to chuckle. ‘I’m afraid you dug your own hole there.’
Bella reached for another album and opened it up. It contained photos that were obviously older than all the ones she’d seen so far. ‘Who’s this?’ she asked, holding it up to show Celestine a sepia print of a woman in a stiff dress sitting on a high-backed chair with a basket of flowers at her feet. It looked as if it might have been taken in a studio set of some kind.
‘That’s my mother. That was the last photo I have of her – she died shortly afterwards.’
‘When was that?’
‘1940.’
‘The year the island was occupied by the Germans?’ Bella frowned at the photo and tried to imagine her great-aunt, not only under the jackboot of an invading army but also still in mourning for her mum, but she couldn’t. It was surely too much pain and turmoil for anyone to come through unscathed. It was no wonder her aunt chose not to talk about those years.
‘Yes.’
‘So your dad had to look after you?’
‘He had too much to do for that. I did what I could around the house to help him and kept myself busy. I had my little brother – your grandfather – to think of too. There was only me to look after him.’
‘How old were you then?’
‘I was ten…? I forget. I had a lot of friends – that helped. Sometimes their parents would take pity on us and have us over for tea. Of course, when food became scarce towards the end of the war, that happened a lot less.’
‘I didn’t know this. I mean, I sort of knew your mum had died young, but I had no idea all this had happened. That must have been awful.’
‘There was so much going on I hardly had time to think about it. I suppose nowadays I’d have trauma or something and go to see someone about it, but back then we just soldiered on.’
‘Even at ten years old?’
‘Even at ten. That’s just how it was – there was a war on, no time to wallow in self-pity, even for children. We had to concentrate on staying alive.’
‘It really was that intense? Like you could have been killed?’
‘We didn’t think about it day to day, but people did disappear. There was a woman in St Rosa who got caught hiding an escaped worker from the tunnels. She got taken by the soldiers and we never saw her again. Nobody wanted that to happen to anyone else so we kept our heads down.’
‘It sounds like you had good friends, at least. If they took you home and fed you and kept you company, I mean.’
‘I did.’
Bella was thoughtful, trying to choose her next question with care. This felt like the first time her aunt had been so open about anything during that time, and she wanted to take full advantage of her sudden candour, but at the same time she didn’t want to seem as if she was drilling for secrets.
‘At the museum there was a display that talked about people fighting back, like a sort of resistance. Not quite that, but owning illegal radios and things and getting information from the mainland. Did you know anyone who did that?’
‘If they did, they certainly didn’t say so.’
Bella turned back to the album and flicked the page, her gaze falling on a photo of a group of young girls standing on the beach. One was instantly recognisable as Celestine. One of the others looked familiar. She held it up. ‘Who’s this?’
‘Oh, that’s me with Dolly – you’ve met her, of course – Violette and her sister Anais.’
‘You were all friends?’
‘Yes.’ Celestine took the album out of Bella’s hands. ‘I’m sure you don’t want to look at ancient photographs of people you’ve never met. Let me find some of your dad…’
Bella held back a frown. It was so clear Celestine had reached the limit of what she was prepared to say about the war years. As frank as she’d been about some of it, Bella was left with yet more questions. There didn’t seem much hope that they’d be answered – at least not tonight. If Bella was patient, perhaps she’d get more of the story before she went home.