‘Oliver has had the most wonderful idea,’ Nessie told Reuben when she hurried in out of the cold some minutes after Oliver had left.
‘Oh yes, what’s that then?’ Reuben glanced up. He was toasting his toes by the fire and had been enjoying a nap. Joseph was already tucked up in bed fast asleep.
Nessie hurriedly told him and Reuben frowned, not sure what to make of it. ‘It all sounds well and good but do you think anyone would turn up?’
She nodded fervently. ‘Oh yes, I’m sure they would.’ Her face was glowing he noted and her eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm. ‘Just think of it, Reuben. What a difference it would make to people who barely have enough food to survive. We could provide bread with the soup too, to make it more filling. And if we could get enough people willing to sponsor the soup kitchen we might even be able to provide proper cooked meals eventually.’
Reuben thought she was being rather optimistic but she was clearly so taken with the idea that he didn’t want to spoil it for her. His sister had a heart as big as a bucket. Sometimes he wished that she wasn’t quite so generous and thought of herself for once. He thought of little Joseph lying upstairs and sighed. Nessie loved him as if he were her own child but what would happen if she decided that she wanted to get wed one day? Would a man be willing to take on a child like Joseph – if he were still alive, that was? Still, that was something to worry about in the future. For now, he supposed they should count their blessings, although he still desperately missed the work he had once done on the railways before his accident.
His thoughts moved on to a certain young lady he had met the week before and without realising it colour crept into his cheeks. He had spoken to her outside the church following a service and she had shyly thanked him for the respect the funeral parlour had paid to her uncle, the deceased.
‘He was such a kind man,’ she’d told him with tears glistening on her long, dark lashes, and Reuben’s heart had done a little lurch. He discovered that her father owned Harding’s, the hardware shop in town, and she told him to pop in and see her if he ever happened to be passing. As yet he hadn’t taken her up on the invite. The funeral parlour had been too busy for a start and what with Christmas and one thing and another he hadn’t found the time. But I will, as soon as things settle down a bit, he promised himself, and while Nessie bustled away to check on Joseph, he sat by the fire and thought of seeing her again.
Andre did not return on Boxing Day evening, as he had promised. But he was back fairly early the following morning. When Nessie heard his key in the lock she hurried into the shop to greet him with a smile on her face but it died away instantly when she saw his expression. He looked truly ghastly and when he sank down onto the nearest chair and buried his face in his hands she rushed over to him. Something was very clearly amiss.
‘Andre, has something happened?’ Dropping to her knees beside him she put her arm across his shoulder.
For a moment, he remained in the same position then he raised his head and she saw the raw pain in his eyes.
‘It’s my friend … Jean-Paul, he passed away last night.’
‘Oh no, I’m so sorry.’ It sounded so inadequate but what more could she say? She was used to dealing with people who had lost loved ones by now but knew all too well how different it was when one of those people was someone close to you.
‘When we have attended to the funeral we have booked this afternoon, I am going to ask Charlie and Reuben to come with me to Coventry to bring him back here in the hearse.’
‘Are the roads clear enough for the horses to get through?’ she asked worriedly. Coventry was at least nine or ten miles away, which was far enough for the horses to go there and back even in good weather.
He nodded. ‘Yes, I think we’ll manage it. Most of the main roads aren’t too bad from what I could see of it.’
‘Will you be arranging his funeral?’
Another nod. ‘Of course, and I must also write to his parents to inform them of his death,’ he said woodenly.
‘Do you think they’ll come from France to attend the funeral?’
He shook his head, his eyes hardening. ‘I think it is highly unlikely. They turned their backs on him as my parents, or at least my father, did on me.’
‘But why?’
He stared at her for a moment. They were on easy terms now and could talk to each other on most subjects but he had always kept his past and his personal life very private.
‘They all turned their backs on us because they discovered that Jean-Paul and I were …’ He struggled to find the right words. ‘That Jean-Paul and I were … more than friends.’
She stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment and then as his words sank in and she realised the meaning of them she gasped.
‘Y … you mean that you and he … loved each other?’ her words came out as a whisper.
He nodded and lowered his head again as he struggled with his grief, and instantly sympathy overcame the shock and she held him tightly as she might have a child.
‘Oh, Andre, I’m so sorry,’ she muttered, rocking him gently. Andre and Jean-Paul had obviously been lovers, but who was she to judge them? Suddenly things began to fall into place like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The reason he had disappeared off each week. His reluctance to speak of Jean-Paul. Should his secret ever get out it would be the end of his business, for no one would wish to use his services then. He was openly sobbing now.
‘I … I would be grateful if you could keep what I have just told you to yourself,’ he said through his tears. ‘Not all people are as understanding as you and it is hard enough …’
‘It will be our secret,’ she assured him, then, rising, she headed for his drawing room where he kept a cut-glass decanter full of brandy on a small polished table. Today she felt he was in need of something a little stronger than tea.
It was late that evening by the time the men arrived back home with Jean-Paul’s body.
‘Phew, that was some trek,’ Reuben said tiredly when he finally joined his sister in their cosy sitting room. She hurriedly sawed some generous slices from a fresh baked loaf and placed it beside a big dish of broth she had been keeping warm for him. There was some more for Andre too, although she doubted that he would eat it.
‘Did you get to see Jean-Paul?’ she enquired curiously.
Reuben shook his head. ‘Not a glimpse. Andre had him thoroughly wrapped in a sheet before we were allowed to carry him out to the hearse. Why do you ask?’
She shrugged. ‘Just curious, I suppose.’ She retired to bed, thinking of Andre who was still locked away in the preparation room with his lover. She knew that the relationship the two men had shared would be frowned on as being unnatural as well as illegal but something her mother had once said popped into her head. Love will strike where it will. We can’t always choose who we fall in love with. It just happens.
Why, she wondered, did that saying suddenly conjure up a picture of Oliver Dorsey’s handsome face? It was the last thing she thought of as she fell into a deep and contented sleep.
The New Year came and went quietly and Nessie didn’t feel it would be right to celebrate while Andre grieved for his friend. ‘I have arranged Jean-Paul’s funeral for the day after tomorrow,’ he told her. ‘It will be a quiet affair and following a short service he will be interred in Chilvers Coton churchyard.’
‘Would you mind if I attended? I’m sure Molly could manage everything here for a while,’ she asked. She saw the gratitude in his eyes as he nodded. She couldn’t bear to think of him being the only mourner. And so, the next day, Nessie attended Jean-Paul’s funeral standing close to Andre’s side in the pew. At one point, she discreetly held his hand and she could feel him shaking. In life they had been forced to hide the love they felt for each other and now in death Andre was having to do the same because people would never understand. She would stand by Andre come what may. He was far more than her employer now. He was her friend and he had shown her and her family nothing but trust and kindness and she would never forget that. But for now, she could only offer what comfort she could and help him through the dark days ahead.