EPILOGUE
. . .
CAMDEN TOWN HALL, LONDON
THE FRIENDS WERE ALL BACK TOGETHER AGAIN.
AFTER THE months that Miranda had been away, there were Betty, Lucy and Hilda, laughing as they took their seats, and Shirley was there, too, she and Vernon slipping into the row behind.
‘What a wonderful day! Who’d have thought it, that they’d get married so soon. ’
‘They had to wait for Caroline’s divorce, although it was easier than she’d imagined. All she wanted to keep from her last marriage was Annabel, and Frank gave her up in the end.’ Betty patted her hands together in silent gratitude.
The registrar and his assistants took their places at the front, and the small gathering hushed as they waited for the ceremony to begin.
‘Has Caroline already given up her job?’ Miranda whispered to Lucy.
‘As soon as her divorce was finalized, she handed in her notice. Everyone in the palace was shocked, as you can imagine, but Caroline said that the queen was lovely about it. Even though she isn’t a fan of divorce, she acknowledges that it has its uses.
She offered Caroline a position in Balmoral, since she and Annabel plan to move there. ’
‘Do you think she’ll take it?’
Betty whispered, ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if she has a lovely break, enjoy being a mum.’
‘I’ve never seen her looking so cheerful,’ Lucy said. ‘And Annabel is delighted. She’s had a great time getting to know Angus. How curious it must be for her, to find out he’s her real father. And now there’s a chance she might have a sibling before long, too.’
Miranda couldn’t help asking, ‘And who took the position of assistant dresser? Not Miss Driscoll, I hope.’
A laugh came from Betty. ‘It went to a younger woman. Rumour has it the queen and Miss MacDonald wanted someone who moves with the times, someone like Caroline.’ She grinned. ‘A compliment from the queen, no less.’
The doors opened, and in came the couple, both Caroline and Angus beaming with smiles, Annabel a step or two behind them. Instead of white, Caroline wore a fashionable pale-green dress fitted to the waist with matching gloves and shoes.
‘She looks ten years younger – like a different woman!’ Miranda said.
Lucy’s eyes went to Miranda’s dress. ‘So do you, Miranda. No more black! Italy must agree with you!’
Smoothing down her sleek lilac dress, Miranda quickly said, ‘When in Rome! The Italian women are so beautifully attired, and you can’t help wanting to join in.’
After the coronation, Miranda had handed in her notice to the men at the palace, who were vexed to see their star worker leave. She overheard someone say, ‘Who’s going to organize the Coronation Tour now?’
Miranda, however, had no intention of staying.
What followed was a hectic few weeks in New York, selling variations on her article about the new era for women to a series of magazines and newspapers.
She’d become quite the talk of the town, and after numerous meetings had been offered a position as European correspondent for one of the larger newspapers.
After that, she’d planned to fly back to Betty’s to start her new life in London.
Except that she’d gone via Rome to see Sinclair and found herself unable to leave.
Lucy had already spotted the ring on her hand. ‘Are you engaged?’
Miranda couldn’t suppress a grin. ‘He proposed the evening I arrived.’
It had been incredibly romantic, a trail of red rose petals leading to a candlelit table laid for dinner, a red ribbon tied around a rose on her plate, the ring hooked underneath the red bud, glinting in the dappled light.
As Caroline and Angus took their seats in front of the registrar’s desk, Caroline looked around, catching the eyes of her friends and giving them a quick smile. Just the sight of her, bursting with happiness, made Miranda’s heart glow.
‘When are they moving to Balmoral?’ she asked Lucy.
‘They’re leaving in the morning, taking their honeymoon in their new home, Angus’s cottage,’ Lucy whispered. ‘Angus has a week off work to show them around and introduce Annabel at the local school. She’s nervous, of course, but the town is small and friendly, everyone will welcome her.’
The ceremony began, bride and groom signing the registry, and to the glee of everyone present, the registrar pronounced them husband and wife.
As they rose and turned, they looked so happy that the whole crowd got to their feet, letting out a terrific cheer as they proceeded out into the morning sunshine.
The reception was to be held in a nearby pub, with a roast lunch and, if they were lucky, a few songs from Lucy and Morris.
As they walked, Miranda tucked her arm into Lucy’s. ‘Has there been any news of Richard Villiers?’
‘Your article caused a great stir at the palace.’ Lucy laughed.
‘You described him with just enough detail for everyone to put two and two together. Now they know precisely how he operates. Even though he wasn’t kicked out, he was made to feel unwelcome, and after a desperate attempt to hold on to his position, he handed in his notice the following week. ’
‘And what about the Thursday Lunch Club?’
‘Villiers was booted out of that, too. Rumour has it the queen’s advisors warned that his misdemeanours could end up embarrassing Philip, so he had to go.’
‘Now that we have a bright young queen on the throne, perhaps in twenty or thirty years from now, it’ll be clever women like us at the top, ordering around old curmudgeons like them.’ Miranda laughed.
But Lucy just shook her head. ‘A younger woman bossing around an older man? That’ll never happen. It’s too degrading for a man to work under a woman.’
Miranda gave her a playful slap on her arm. ‘It’s talk like that that stifles our progress, Lucy. We have to believe it’ll happen, otherwise we’ll never get anywhere. We have to see it in our mind’s eye. How will women ever rise to the top if we don’t believe we can?’
After the feast, Angus gave a speech, raising a toast to his beautiful bride, ‘The woman who always should have been mine.’
Then, against the tradition of the bride remaining silent and demure, Caroline got up to say a few words, to hearty applause from the ladies.
She stood for a moment, waiting for complete silence, and then, slowly, she began.
‘Today is the first day of being who I truly am, being honest not only to myself, but to everyone around me. It is the day that everything changes for me, that my destiny, the only man I have ever loved, is bound to me forever.
‘Today is the day my daughter becomes legally connected to her real father, reversing the decision I made thirteen years ago to attach myself to a man who pretended to be on our side. I apologize to her with all my heart, and pray that I can make it up to her.’
Her eyes met Annabel’s through the crowd.
‘Sometimes we find something better in life, something that is more real than what we’re told to want, more tangible than a dream or a wish. Sometimes life knows us better than we do ourselves, if we have the bravery to let our own power inside us lead the way.’
She paused, looking around at the others.
‘Today is the day that I am accountable for my life. It is up to me and me alone to decide my future, not a man and not society. Today, it is up to me to accept that I made mistakes. It is up to me to forgive myself, to move on to a better life.
‘Today is the day that I feel gratitude to my dear friends.’ Her eyes rested on the group of them. ‘Without Miranda’s urging and Betty’s support, I would never have found the bravery to challenge my lot.’
She looked around the room, pausing for a long moment to collect herself.
‘Finally, today there is a new era for women.
With Queen Elizabeth on the throne, we must feel that we can – we should – step up and take our well-deserved places in this world.
Together, we can make the future one that is full of acceptance, courage and, most of all, love.
‘Humanity is fragile, and all the sunshine in the world can’t save those in distress or make the broken complete.
But love has the power to strengthen and protect, to guide us to a place where we feel sheltered and fulfilled.
A place where it doesn’t matter if it rains or shines, because we are home and dry. ’