Sammy knew perfectly well what Julie was up to. She did not want to get a house in Bishopbriggs simply because, as she insisted, ‘It’s such a lovely place. So near the Campsie Hills. Yet it’s only fifteen or twenty minutes away from the centre of town in the bus. And there’s the railway station as well. There’s even a nice wee cinema. What could be handier?’
What indeed? But handier for seeing her daughter was what she really meant.
He had no personal objection to looking for a house in Bishopbriggs and starting a new life there with Julie. But there were problems and not just of Julie forever hanging about trying to catch a glimpse of Alice. (She’d found out her daughter’s name when she heard one of the other schoolgirls call it out.) There was the problem with his mother as well. If he and Julie got a house in Bishopbriggs, he wanted his mother to come with them. Julie assured him that she wouldn’t mind. She was fond of his mother and got on very well with her. His mother, however, was refusing to leave the Springburn flat.
‘I’ll be fine here, son. It’s such a cheery wee house, being on the main road like this. I’m never lonely sitting at the front-room window looking at all that’s going on in Springburn Road. There’s never a dull moment.’
There certainly wouldn’t be if his father turned up. He could just hear him wheezing up the stairs – probably spitting on the stairs as well. He’d arrive at the door and put on a dying swan act for his mother to play on her pity. He’d allow her to help him into the house. His stick would thump noisily on the floor, no doubt, alarming the downstairs neighbours. He’d crash into a chair and wait for a glass of whisky to be administered to him.
Then he’d take either of two tactics. He’d either adopt his usual bullying, snarling style: ‘Get your coat on, woman. You’re coming back with me.’ Or he’d wheeze and cough and splutter and eventually manage, ‘You’re my wife. In sickness and health, you vowed before God and the church. Till death us do part. Cherish, you said, but as soon as I’m ill, you scuttle off. Some Christian! The minister came to see me the other day and the reverend gentleman was so shocked, he could hardly credit it …’
His mother would be conned into going back to look after him and would have to endure absolute hell in the process. He would soon be the death of her. But he would determinedly wheeze on for years.
‘We could get a flat in the main road in Bishopbriggs, Mother,’ he kept telling her. ‘It’s a busy road – Kirkintilloch Road, it’s called. Lots of people doing their shopping there and buses and trams going by. You’d love it. You could sit at the front-room window there and watch everything that’s going on.’
Julie tried to persuade her as well. ‘And we could take you for trips to Kirkintilloch and Blanefield. There’s lots of lovely country places to visit.’
‘I really appreciate it, dear,’ Mrs Hunter told Julie. ‘You’re always so kind to me and I’m so happy that Sammy has found someone as nice as you. But to start married life with your mother-in-law is not the best way. You and Sammy should get a decent start on your own. I’m an old woman. I don’t want to be a burden to either of you.’
Nothing either of them could say could make her change her mind. Eventually, Sammy had to agree but on one condition. ‘I’ll only going to leave you here if you promise me, Mother – promise me – that you’ll never go back to Father. Even if he comes pleading with you on bended knee.’
She shook her head. ‘Son, can you imagine your father either pleading or bending a knee? To me – or to anybody?’
‘Well, no matter what he does to try and persuade you, Mother, you must promise me that for no reason will you ever go back.’
‘All right, son.’
‘You promise?’
‘Yes, I promise.’
He had the telephone installed too and he planned to have one in the flat that he and Julie would rent. ‘That way I’ll just be on the other end of the phone for you, Mother,’ he told her.
It was certainly true what Julie had said about Bishopbriggs being an attractive place. The centre was called the village and had a row of shops, mostly family businesses, on either side of Kirkintilloch road, with grey stone flats above them. Large old villas, a church, a chapel, burgh hall, a library and a leafy park were all nearby. New houses were mushrooming up and, further back, brightly coloured bungalows and semis. But there hadn’t been many changes in the village for a hundred years or more.
Along Kirkintilloch Road from the bank was the Kenmure cinema. Sammy knew he and Julie could be very happy in Bishopbriggs. Except for the worries about his mother and about Julie because of her obsession with Alice.
However, he could not bring himself to spoil Julie’s happiness by voicing objections to the move. As a result, he agreed to rent the flat they eventually found above one of the shops. It was almost exactly opposite where Alice lived. They could have got a larger flat in far better condition in Springfield Road, but Julie’s heart was set on the one in Kirkintilloch Road, for obvious reasons.
It was agreed that the wedding would be held in the Quaker Meeting House in Newton Place in Glasgow. As usual with Quaker weddings, it took place as part of a normal meeting for worship. Everyone sat on rows of benches on three sides of the room. On the fourth side there was only one bench and a table. On the table, as usual, was a Bible, a book of Quaker faith and practice, a copy of Queries and Advices and a little bowl of flowers.
Sammy sat at the table waiting for the arrival of Julie. When she did arrive in her wide-brimmed straw hat with its band of turquoise ribbons and matching turquoise suit, she immediately brightened the whole room, and radiated light and colour. A gasp of admiration broke through the silence as, smiling radiantly at Sammy, Julie clipped over on her high-heeled shoes to join him. She settled herself comfortably on the bench, her head held high with pride.
Sammy marvelled at her self-confidence. He remembered how the set-up of the meeting-house benches and the heavy silence had discomfited him the first time he had attended.
After ten or so minutes of silence, the Registry Officer rose and said, ‘I am John Richards, Registry Officer for the West of Scotland monthly meeting of the Society of Friends. My sole purpose is to ensure that legal requirements are completed. I do not marry the couple – for they do that themselves.
‘The basis of our simple Quaker wedding remains the same as it was in the earliest days of the Society of Friends. For the rite of joining in marriage is the work of God only, not the priests or the magistrates. We marry none – it is God’s ordinance and we are but witnesses.
‘We will settle into a quiet meeting for worship during which Sammy and Julie will commit themselves to each other in the presence of God.
‘In their own time, Sammy and Julie will stand up and make their declarations to each other.
‘Then, during the worship that follows, in which everyone here is equal in the presence of God, we hope that anyone so moved will give a spoken message or a prayer for the couple. Later I will ask the couple to sign the Quaker marriage certificate which I am then required to read out.
‘The meeting will last approximately an hour, when two elders will close the meeting by shaking hands.
‘Then everyone will sign the marriage certificate, which is in the form of a scroll, for you are all witnesses of this joyful occasion and this certificate will also remind Sammy and Julie of our ongoing support in the years to come.’
John Richards sat down and, in the silence that followed, Sammy could have wept with happiness and gratitude. Gratitude for finding Julie. Gratitude for her love and gratitude for finding the Society of Friends. They were his saving grace, his rock. They had come as a light in his dark world and the light had never gone out.
Oh, how lucky he was. Sitting wrapped in the peaceful Quaker silence, he felt he was the luckiest man on earth. After losing Ruth, he had believed he would never love again. Ruth would always have her own special place in his mind and heart and soul. He would never forget her. But life had to go on and he believed that Ruth would not want him to be alone and lonely. She would want him to love and be loved. Julie would have felt the same about Reggie, he felt sure.
It was then that Sammy felt the time was right and he stood up. Julie also stood up.
‘Friends,’ Sammy said, taking Julie’s hand. ‘I take this woman, my friend Julie Vincent, to be my wife, promising, with God’s help, to be unto her a loving and faithful husband, so long as we both on earth shall live.’
Then Julie said, ‘Friends, I take this man, my friend Sammy Hunter, to be my husband, promising, with God’s help, to be unto him a loving and faithful wife, so long as we both on earth shall live.’
Then they both sat down and were once more absorbed into the silence. After a time, a woman rose to her feet to speak or ‘give ministry’ as it was referred to in Quaker terms. And what she said ‘spoke to his condition’, to use another Quaker phrase.
‘It says in Corinthians:
Love is patient,
Love is kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful;
It is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way;
It is not irritable or resentful;
It does not rejoice at wrong,
But rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things,
Believes all things,
Hopes all things,
Endures all things.
Love never ends.’
A long period of quietness followed. Then a man rose and said, ‘Friends, we hold this couple in the light. May God’s love enfold them this day and for the rest of their lives. We have known Sammy for some years and have great respect for his struggles as a conscientious objector. We welcome you, Julie, and know you bring each other great happiness. We pray that, whatever life may bring, your union will be enriched by the Spirit. This Glasgow Meeting will always uphold you.’
Julie felt for Sammy’s hand and squeezed it. They kept their fingers entwined in the silence that followed.
Then, unexpectedly, Sammy’s mother got up. She said, ‘I’ve not been to a Quaker wedding or service before. I’m not sure if this is all right. I just hope that God will bless our Sammy and Julie and keep them safe. They have had such hard times. Please give them many happy years together.’ She sat down again, head lowered.
There was a long, peaceful silence again, before someone else rose and said,
‘There is a place for you
Where there is perfect peace.
There is a place for you
Where nothing is impossible.
There is a place for you
Where the strength of God abides.’
And Sammy thought, no matter what fate had in store for him in the future, or where he ended up, he would always remember the place of perfect peace he was in now.