Chapter Twenty-Nine

August 1942

This was it – the day of Rosie and Oscar’s wedding. Oscar had been as good as his word and stood nervously at the end of the aisle, waiting for his bride.

Stella, sitting at the front of the church with Catherine on her knee hid a smile as she heard Rosie say, quite incredulously, ‘I’d forgotten quite how tall you were, darling boy!’ when she arrived next to him.

They were married in Hartsford church, and it was a bittersweet homecoming for Stella. Shortly after Rob had been discharged from hospital – and the RAF – they had decided to make a new start and move to Devon. Down there, they could be new parents with a new baby, and not have any fingers pointing at them or tongues wagging in the village. She could continue with her voluntary work, as there were heaps of little evacuees down there too and she quite fancied becoming a teacher eventually. There were lots of things to look forward to.

Stella knew that the odd, curious looks she and Rob had started to receive in Hartsford were the result of people doing a little bit of maths, and a little bit of gossip-mongering and coming up with something not too far from the truth. Catherine’s hair was no longer as blonde as it had been, and, you could definitely see a hint of strawberry now. It would darken, Stella knew, and she’d be a redhead by the time her first birthday rolled around. Stella had also started to recognise more of her own features in the baby and, delicious as that was, she knew they’d soon have a miniature Stella on their hands.

There was no need for the village to make up tales to fit the evidence. And although she didn’t really care what they said about her, she cared what they might say about Catherine. So it seemed sensible to remove themselves from the gossips. Rob had started writing again, as well as doing his own work for the war effort, and someone was quite interested in the outline of a play he had come up with, so they were going to pursue that when they were so close to London. After the wedding, and after the celebrations were over, though, because Leo and Helen were putting on a bit of a reception for the newlyweds at the Hall.

And so it was that, after most of the guests had left, they were all sitting by the Spa area. Rosie, her beautiful dress, (Helen’s dress, made over once again), all ruched up, was dangling her toes in the water, and Oscar was sitting on the ground beside her. A half-empty bottle of champagne was between them and they were laughing at something, their heads close together. Someone had dragged the old gramophone out and they had cranked it up, and the notes of Glenn Miller’s Moonlight Serenade were filling the evening.

‘You see,’ Rob whispered to Stella, lazily playing with her hair as she lay with her head in his lap, ‘he doesn’t have a problem with rhyming “moonlight” and “June light”.’

Stella giggled. ‘Yes, but he does it so much better than you did, darling.’

Vronnie and Stephen were sharing a slice of wedding cake, Vronnie groaning that she was already so full from the feast that she was struggling somewhat. Stephen was laughing and waving a forkful of cake in front of her as she shook her head determinedly. Even though they’d begged milk and eggs from the local farmers and everyone had pooled all their own rations to make the cake, Vronnie swore she couldn’t quite do it justice, just yet. It was nice to see them tease one another again. Stephen had cried when Rob met him again, and the three boys had disappeared together and talked for quite some time. Stella hadn’t asked what passed between them, but Stephen seemed a lot happier nowadays, and Vronnie was much more relaxed as well.

Mary and Lois would never change, as they all told one another. They had new beaux, new USAAF boys, and were still enthusiastically working as nurses.

Leo had joined the little group at the Spa, of course, no longer looking so stiff and awkward amongst Stella’s friends. He was part of their circle now.

Her heart went out to him at one point: ‘I’d like to raise a glass,’ he said, quite seriously. ‘And I would like to raise it to our dear friend Anthony. He was part of this family for a long time, and I know that none of us will ever forget him. He was, and is, a true gentleman of honour. To Anthony.’

‘To Anthony,’ they all repeated.

Stella glanced at Helen, but she remained as composed as ever and nodded in agreement. ‘He would have appreciated having his friends with him,’ she said quietly, looking at Stephen and Oscar. ‘I’d like to thank you on his behalf.’

‘I wish we could have done more,’ said Oscar.

‘You were there. That was enough,’ replied Helen. ‘Thank you.’ She looked at Leo and reached across to him, taking his hand and squeezing it. ‘And thank you, Leo, for taking something so very broken and making it whole again.’

Stella bit her lip to stop the tears coming as she watched her best friend and her brother embrace.

‘Anyway.’ Helen suddenly sat up straighter and smiled around at them. ‘I’ve got some more news, if anyone’s interested.’

‘Oh?’ Rosie’s eyes were half-hooded, drunk on love and champagne. ‘Please. Do share.’

‘Willingly.’ She smiled up at Leo. ‘I can’t do it any better than Stella did, so here goes. I’m knocked up. Yes. Really and truly. Catherine will have a little cousin in about five months’ time. So there you go.’

Stella shrieked and launched herself at Helen. ‘Oh, my God! Congratulations! Oh, Helen!’

‘Hey, I had something to do with it too!’ Leo laughed.

Stella shouted with joy and turned her attention to him. ‘Of course you did, darling brother. Of course you did. Congratulations to you as well.’

She gave him a huge, smacking kiss on the forehead and he laughed again, waving her away. ‘Thank you. Thank you, Ezzy.’

Rob leaned over and shook his hand. Catherine was asleep on his shoulder, so it was quite an awkward movement, but they managed nevertheless. ‘Congratulations. And to you, Helen, of course.’

He looked at Stella and she caught his glance. It still gave her pleasurable shivers, and she knew it would for as long as they lived.

‘Come on,’ she said, holding her hand out to him. ‘Shall we go for a little walk? Show Catherine some of the sights of the estate before we go home?’

Home. Devon was home now.

‘Yes.’ Rob smiled and got to his feet. ‘Let’s go.’

Rob balanced Catherine with one hand as he reached for his stick with the other, and they made their way across the Spa. He knew where she was taking him, and they went along the little path by the changing rooms, around the back of the building.

The path was overgrown now, and would, he suspected remain that way for a while until the estate was fully staffed again. They pushed their way through the overhanging branches, and came to a halt at the back, near the doorway.

Stella turned and looked up at him. ‘I’d like to go inside, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.’

‘Not today.’ He grinned. ‘We’ll have to take Catherine in one day, though.’

‘Yes. But when you walk a little better – I don’t want you squeezing through there and suffering.’

He laughed. ‘Very true.’ Stella held her arms out for Catherine, and Rob passed the baby across, loving how Stella nuzzled into the fuzzy hair that was starting to curl into little ringlets.

‘It was good of you not to rain on their parade.’ There was a teasing note in his voice.

Stella coloured. ‘I’ve no idea what you mean!’

‘You know jolly well.’ He moved closer to her and touched her still-flat stomach. ‘You could have easily told them.’

‘I could have done.’ She smiled up at him. ‘But I’d already made an announcement like that last year, and everything seemed very dark and dismal that day. Let Oscar and Rosie have their day, and my brother and Helen have their big announcement. Ours will keep.’

‘It won’t keep too long.’ He grinned. ‘But I’ll be here to share it all with you this time.’

‘What, to watch me grow fat and grumpy again, and waddle like a penguin?’

‘Maybe. But also to rub your poor back and bring you cups of tea when you want to put your feet up.’

Stella laughed. ‘Well, thank you in advance for those offers. I shall look forward to taking you up on them. I’m really not looking forward to being fat again though.’

She screwed up her face and he kissed her scrunched-up nose. ‘It’ll all be worth it. And we still need to factor in our own wedding, don’t forget.’

‘Hmmm,’ said Stella. ‘We do have one and a half children already. And I got quite used to being Mrs Edwards in Bath. Or I could be very daring and call myself Mrs Jack Shelley. Maybe even Ezzy Shelley. What do you think?’

‘Darling Stella – or Ezzy, or whatever you want to be known as. I shall leave it up to you to decide when we do it. I insist, however, that we do do it, and I eventually get to make an honest woman of you.’

‘I think it’s too late for that, don’t you?’ She looked up at him and grinned. ‘Part of me thinks we should get this little one out of the way first, but the bigger part of me wants to do it right now, and not waste any more time. What do you think?’

‘I like the second idea best,’ he said, amused by this funny, loveable girl he had fallen for so many years ago. ‘We’ll go for that one.’

And, with a smile on his lips, he leaned down to kiss her, and knew nothing would ever drive them apart again.