Turn Left at the Daffodils. Elizabeth Elgin

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СКАЧАТЬ is – and how very wonderful it can be?’

      ‘I’d like to think we could be like you and Bob, but we’re not. Do you know that when you talk about him your eyes go all far away, and tender? And do you realise that you touch your wedding ring, too?’ Carrie whispered. ‘And hadn’t you thought that I wear my engagement ring round my neck because I say I don’t want to get it greased up?

      ‘And I didn’t join up to get away from Jeffrey, or get out of getting married. It was really, I suppose, to get away from the pressure. Everybody seemed to assume that that’s how it would be. I wanted time to myself, to think it out.’

      The tears came then, hot and salty, and she covered her face with her hands and wept. And Evie sat on the bed beside her, and held her close, and said, ‘Sssssh. Seems to me you’ve been bottling this up for far too long, Carrie Tiptree, and when you are ready, you and I are going to have a good talk about things, before young Nan gets back. And talking about our Nan,’ she smiled, offering a clean handkerchief, ‘I wonder if her young man made it or if she’s on her way back, now – stood up and fed up!’

      Private Nan Morrissey turned the bend in the road and saw the Black Bull ahead. No one was waiting there. She glanced at her watch. Ten minutes early, so where should she wait? Inside the pub, or outside? She remembered Grandad and decided to wait in the car park to the left where she wouldn’t be so conspicuous – especially if Chas didn’t turn up.

      She heard the banging of a car door, and footsteps and then, ‘Nan!’

      ‘Hi!’ she called, hurrying to meet him.

      ‘I was sure you wouldn’t turn up.’ He took her hands in his, kissing her cheek.

      ‘And I was sure you’d be flying. I decided to give it till half-past, then shove off back. But you’re here. I wanted you to be.’

      ‘You did, Nan? Truly?’

      ‘Honest to God. Now – are we goin’ inside for a drink, or shall we have a stroll and a chat, before it gets dark?’

      ‘Whatever you want. We could, of course, sit in the car…?’

      ‘The car? You got a motor, Chas?’

      ‘I sort of share one. She’s a little darling. Come and meet her?’ He led her to a small car, a baby Austin, with one door tied up with wire and a mudguard missing. ‘We call her Boadicea.’

      ‘You call her what!’

      Nan knew about Queen Boadicea. Indeed, she’d had nothing but admiration for the tribal queen who rebelled against the Romans who shouldn’t have been in England the first place!

      ‘But Chas – that motor isn’t one bit like a war chariot! Not the one Boadicea drove. Pulled by horses hers was and it had steel blades sticking out of the wheels so anybody that got a bit close got their legs cut off at the knees! That little thing shouldn’t be called Boadicea!’

      ‘What, then?’ He grinned.

      ‘We-e-ll – something like Violet or Primrose. Something delicate, sort of – and helpless!’

      ‘Sorry, Nan. Boadicea she is.’ He patted the bonnet with a gentle hand. ‘It was my turn to have her, tonight. She belonged to an air-gunner who didn’t make it back, so we kind of took her over.’

      ‘But where do you get petrol from?’ Petrol was severely rationed.

      ‘We sort of come by it. You can usually get hold of the odd gallon if you know where to look. And Boadicea goes a long way on a gallon.’

      ‘Y-yes. Well, I suppose we’d better go inside. I fancy a glass of shandy. How about you, Chas?’

      ‘Anything you say. I reckon we’ve got a lot of talking to do. And I’ll run you back in her.’

      ‘Do you know where my billet is – in the dark, I mean, and without lights? And can you find your way back to the aerodrome, from Heronflete?’

      ‘Darling girl, I can navigate my way to Berlin and back in the blackout – and without lights, too. Boadicea might have seen better days, but I trust her implicitly.’

      ‘Then I’ll be glad of a lift, only I haven’t got a late pass. I’ll have to be in by half-past ten or I’ll be in trouble.’

      ‘Don’t worry. We’ll have you home in good time.’ He took her hand, pulling it through his arm. ‘Like I said, you & I have a lot of catching up to do.’

      And Nan let slip a little sigh, and thought how nice it was to be walking arm in arm with a young man who called her darling girl. And, of far more importance, a young man who hadn’t stammered once since they met. Now that really was something!

      ‘Feeling better now?’ Evie asked softly.

      ‘Yes. And sorry I made such a show of myself. I can usually cope with things. I’ve had to, y’see, me being what you might call a fatherless only child. And you must think I’m dreadful, leaving my mother on her own like I did. But it seemed to be the only way out. And I’m not making a fuss, truly I’m not.’

      ‘You’ve every right to make a fuss. Getting married is for life, Carrie, and best you sort yourself out now than be sorry, afterwards. And can I just say, that in my opinion, Jeffrey should have been a bit more – well – careful, when it was your first time. Bob was lovely – so gentle – but it seems to me that Jeffrey just rushed in without any talking – y’know, love words – or coaxing and kissing. And touching, too. Touching is very important; makes you want to as much as he does. But then, it might have been his first time, too – had you thought about that?’

      ‘No I hadn’t. I suppose it could have been like that for him, too. But why didn’t he tell me, instead of just demanding and snatching, Evie? I think I’d have felt a bit better about it if he’d been straight with me.’

      ‘Yes – we-e-ll – you’re both going to have to be honest with each other, and both of you must try not to be accusing, or bitter. Just try to talk -or write – as friends; loving friends.’

      ‘I’m not writing to him, Evie. I know it would be far the best way because I could set out my feelings more carefully and without interruption, too. But the thought of my letter being censored – oh, no. And it would be the same for Jeffrey, as well.’

      ‘Then what you’re going to have to do is write it all in a letter, keeping nothing back, and then stick a stamp on it and post it in a pillarbox like civilians do. We’re going to Lincoln on Saturday – surely you can manage to post one without been seen? It’s the best way out, in my opinion.’

      ‘I hadn’t thought of that, Evie. After all, even if I were caught, it wouldn’t be Heronflete I’d be writing about, would it? It would just be -’ She hesitated, sighing deeply. ‘Well, it would just be about my love life, wouldn’t it. Or the lack of it.’

      ‘You’ll give it a go, then? All it needs is an unbiased, uncritical letter telling Jeffrey how you felt about what happened that night, and how willing you are to work things out between you so that, when you do get married, everything will be much less embarrassing. You do want your wedding night to be something to remember always, don’t you Carrie?’

      ‘Yes, СКАЧАТЬ