The women were sitting in the Admiral, having realised they hadn’t been out for a drink en masse for ages.
‘Pearl’s set a date,’ Polly announced.
‘What? Set a date for the wedding?’ Martha asked.
‘Of course for the wedding,’ Dorothy said, rolling her eyes to the pub’s beamed ceiling. ‘What else would she be setting a date for?’ She looked across the table at Polly. ‘So, come on, when is it?’
Polly took a sip of her port and lemon, looking around the table at her workmates. How life could change. How people could change. Not so long ago, the prospect of Pearl getting married would have barely caused the bat of an eye; at most, a few mumbled, derisory comments. The faces looking at her now were expectant, happy – eager to know more. Whether Pearl liked it or not, she had become something of an accidental heroine the day she’d gone to battle with Mr Havelock and had helped them all.
‘Well, she’s been lucky – or should I say, Bill’s been lucky, as he seems to be the one doing all the gadding about and organising. Anyway, when he went to see the registrar the other day, the person before him had just cancelled her date.’ The reason being, Polly did not add, the poor woman had just had notice that her fiancé had been killed in action. ‘And the day that had just become free was Saturday, April the seventh, which is—’
‘The Easter weekend!’ Dorothy shrieked.
‘Why do I think something else exciting is happening that weekend,’ Gloria said.
Angie looked at Gloria and gave her a weary nod. ‘Toby’s just managed to wrangle some leave that weekend.’
‘And,’ Dorothy said, silently clapping her hands, ‘we’re bullying Quentin into getting leave then as well.’
‘Correction,’ Angie said. ‘Dorothy is bullying Quentin. Every time he rings up, she snatches the phone off me ’n tells him we’re all gannin out on Easter Saturday on a double date’ – Angie widened her eyes – ‘somewhere posh.’
Hannah chuckled. ‘Dorothy, you’re getting worse.’
‘And as he’s got a forty-eight-hour pass, he’s going to meet the family on Easter Sunday.’ This time it was Dorothy who widened her eyes.
‘Does that mean he’ll ask you to marry him then and there?’ asked Martha.
‘No, silly,’ Dorothy said, ‘it just gives him the green light.’
‘But what happens if they don’t give him the thumbs up?’ Martha asked.
‘Oh, they will,’ Dorothy said. ‘I can just imagine their relief at being able to finally get shot of me – make me someone else’s responsibility.’
‘I’m sure they don’t really think like that,’ Hannah said.
Dorothy arched an eyebrow.
‘Anyway, where’s the queen bee?’ They all knew Dorothy was talking about Helen. ‘Bet you she’s got much more glamorous places to be than the Admiral.’
‘I did ask her to join us,’ Rosie said, ‘but she’s gone to see her relative.’ Rosie was very aware that there could be no slip-ups at all with regards to Henrietta. It just needed one pair of flapping lugs to catch on to what they were talking about and the results could be disastrous.
‘Ahhh,’ Dorothy and Angie said in unison.
‘Not the most glamorous of nights out, then,’ said Polly.
‘No, but I think she combines it with seeing Dr Parker,’ said Gloria.
This precipitated another ‘Ahh’ from Dorothy and Angie.
‘Right, my round,’ Rosie said, standing up. ‘Same again?
Everyone nodded.
‘I’ll come and help you,’ Gloria said.
After pushing their way through the densely packed pub, Rosie shouted the order to the barman, before turning back to Gloria.
‘Everything all right with Jack?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ Gloria nodded. ‘We’re good. Better still now that I’ve made up my mind about telling the boys everything. I’m just glad I’ve Dorothy coming round on Friday to help me with it – or should I say, writing it for me. I think that’s been half the problem. Why I’ve left it this long.’
Rosie laughed. ‘I must admit, I don’t think you could have left it much later. Any longer and this war would have ended and they’d be back to celebrate with their mam … and their mam’s fancy bit … and the little sister they had no idea they had.’
‘Don’t,’ Gloria said. ‘I feel bad enough as it is. The more I think about it, the more I can’t believe I haven’t told them before now.’
‘They’ll be fine,’ Rosie said. ‘I’m sure they’ll just be happy their mam’s happy – and not with you-know-who.’ Even Rosie hated to call Vinnie by his name.
‘And you?’ Gloria asked as the barman put their drinks onto a tray. ‘Are you bearing up?’
‘I am,’ Rosie said, paying the barman. ‘Ever since Christmas I’ve felt …’ she paused ‘… hopeful.’ Another pause. ‘As if everything’s going to turn out all right. Just like it has with Charlotte.’ She picked up the tray and laughed. ‘Well, to an extent.’
‘She still being clingy?’ Gloria asked.
‘Not as bad as she was, but she’s still wanting to be with me all the time, or with Lily, or, ideally, with us both – at Lily’s.’
Gloria chuckled as she helped make a path through the crowd of bodies back to their table. They arrived just in time to hear the end of the discussion about what the women were all going to wear to Pearl’s wedding.
‘A toast,’ Dorothy declared, raising her glass.
‘To what?’ Martha asked.
‘To love, of course!’ Dorothy said.
‘To love,’ everyone chorused.
Everyone was well aware, though, that Dorothy was not thinking about Pearl and Bill when they all clinked glasses, but the love in her own life – or rather her hopes of seeing Toby on his knee and a big sparkling diamond ring in his hand in the near future.