35. Arrangements

Harry was given a guest room in the convent, where he was fussed over by all the nuns, while in her kitchen Sister Mary Paul made Harry nourishing meals ‘to put a bit of flesh on his bones’. Harry’s time in the convent proved useful in more ways than one. He quickly introduced himself to Father Ben, who was a mine of useful information when it came to Diana and Harry’s forthcoming wedding.

‘The nearest church is St Mary’s in Allithwaite Village,’ he told Harry, as they took a stroll round the convent gardens. ‘I know the priest there, Father Peter, and I’m sure he’ll be able to accommodate your wishes. You’ll need to have the banns read, of course,’ he added. ‘They’re usually read on three separate Sundays in the three months before the ceremony takes place.’

Harry’s face dropped. ‘I’m on compassionate leave but I might be called back to London at any time. I was hoping we could get married immediately; then I can settle my family in a new home before I’m posted elsewhere.’

‘We live in strange times. I’m sure Father Peter has had many an anxious groom asking just the same question,’ Father Ben assured Harry, who gave the priest a grateful smile.

‘When I next part from Diana, I want to leave her and Teddy in a secure place,’ Harry said earnestly. ‘We’re a family now and I never want her to feel abandoned again.’

‘I quite understand,’ Father Ben said. ‘We’ll need to get you a Special Licence,’ he added. ‘While we’re waiting for it to come through, let Diana have this happy time with you, my son – God knows, she deserves it.’

Diana was eager to introduce Harry to Teddy’s best friend, George.

‘They were born the same day, a few hours apart, and they’ve slept side by side in the nursery ever since. Look at them now,’ she laughed, as she pointed to the two little boys rolling around on the nursery mat, gurgling as they made grabs for each other’s tiny fingers.

Harry watched the boys in delight. ‘They’re so strong,’ he exclaimed. ‘They can’t leave each other alone.’ He laughed as Teddy yanked at George’s glossy dark curls.

When it came to feeding time, Harry popped George on to his knee and fed him with a bottle, while Diana breast-fed Teddy. Seeing Harry cradling George in one arm while he tried to steady the bottle in the other brought a smile to Diana’s face.

‘Heavens!’ Harry exclaimed as hungry George drained the bottle in no time. ‘This chap can put it away.’

‘Now burp him,’ Diana instructed.

‘How do I do that?’

‘Put a cloth over your shoulder in case he’s sick,’ Diana advised. ‘Now lay him against your shoulder and gently rub his back until he burps.’

Looking as if he were holding the crown jewels, Harry cautiously rubbed George’s back, then chuckled as the little boy gave a series of burps.

‘Thank you for helping, darling,’ Diana said. ‘I try to feed them both together, but the bigger they grow the more demanding they get; sometimes it’s quite a juggling act,’ she admitted.

Holding sleepy George close to his chest, Harry gazed into his big dark eyes. ‘Where’s his mother?’ he asked quietly.

‘She left when George was six weeks old; she hasn’t seen him since,’ Diana answered.

‘She must have been devastated?’

‘Oh, she was,’ Diana assured Harry, as she set about burping Teddy. ‘She adored George and would have kept him but for her family, who refused to have anything to do with a child of mixed race.’

‘Poor little chap,’ Harry murmured. ‘What will happen to him?’

‘Marie left him here to be adopted … but it’s not happened yet,’ she added sadly.

‘But he’s gorgeous,’ Harry cried. ‘Strong, healthy, bright and as good as gold.’

‘He’s all of those things and many more,’ Diana said passionately. ‘But prospective parents thought it only right that a child of colour should be brought up by parents of colour. Actually,’ she hotly blurted out, ‘I would happily raise George beside Teddy and call myself proud to be the mother of such a wonderful little boy – whatever the colour of his skin!’

The Allithwaite vicar, who had been advised by Father Ben as to the urgency of Harry’s circumstances, agreed to marry the couple by Special Licence. Once Harry was sure of the wedding date, he suggested to Diana they went into Grange for a walk on the vast beach that stretched way out to the Irish Sea. Diana had been worried about leaving the babies, but Dora had allayed her fears with a wave of her hand.

‘Away with you! If I can’t handle two extra babies for a few hours I shouldn’t be in the job,’ she teased. ‘You’ve been cooped up here for weeks on end; take a break and have some fun with your handsome young man.’

Hand in hand, the couple walked the short mile along the track into Grange, which, by comparison with quiet, isolated Kents Bank, was buzzing with activity. It was pleasantly exhilarating to be out among people going about their business, popping in and out of shops and stopping on street corners to pass the time of day with friends and neighbours. After walking along the esplanade in the gusty wind that brought colour to Diana’s high cheekbones, they hurried into the warmth of the Smugglers’ Arms Inn, where Harry ordered tea.

Sitting by the crackling log fire, Harry mused, ‘This is the first time we’ve been really alone since the day I left you in Shelford.’

Diana cocked her head as she reflected on the last year.

‘I suppose it is,’ she agreed.

‘We were happy in Shelford, weren’t we?’

Diana gave a radiant smile. ‘Very happy,’ she assured Harry, who took a deep breath before unfolding his plan.

‘So, my darling girl, how would you feel about going back there?’

‘I would absolutely love to go back to Cambridge!’ she exclaimed. ‘It would be like going back home.’

Harry waited for the waitress to set down her tray loaded with tea and toasted tea cakes, before he continued with a twinkle in his eye.

‘We’ll carry on where we left off,’ Harry said happily.

Diana’s smiling face suddenly tensed as a thought occurred to her. ‘But your work?’ she asked fearfully. ‘Where will they send you next?’

Harry gave a playful wink. ‘Derek Robson in the Ops Block is in the process of pulling a few strings; he’s hoping to recall me to Duxford’s viewing gallery. It’s not firmed up yet,’ Harry added hastily. ‘But Derek’s hopeful that it might be soon.’

‘So, you won’t be sent away?’ Diana gasped.

‘Not immediately,’ he assured her. ‘Oh, and there’s just one more thing about moving back to Cambridge,’ Harry said, smiling.

Diana gave him a teasing look. ‘You seem to have covered everything, darling. ‘

‘With your permission I’d like George to join us in Cambridge too!’

In floods of tears, Diana, completely overcome with happiness, had to be taken out of the cosy inn, where the drama of their intense conversation was attracting too much attention. Once outside, Harry swung his fiancée into his arms, wiping away her tears with his kisses.

‘The last thing I wanted to do was to make you cry, my love.’

Clinging to him, Diana laughed with joy. ‘I’ve never felt happier in the whole of my life. It’s exactly what I wanted!’

‘I know,’ he smiled. ‘I’d only got to look at you to see that.’

‘I was dreading parting them,’ Diana confessed. ‘Teddy and George love each other like brothers.’

‘Father Ben is already working on the adoption papers,’ he told her.

Now that she was able to process what was going on, Diana’s brain started racing. ‘I’ll need to phone the farmer to see if the Shelford cottage is still vacant.’

‘It was when I was last there quite recently,’ Harry said. ‘It will need warming up. It might be a bit damp after being empty for so long.’

Diana shook her head as if she could not quite take everything in. Tipping her small chin so he could smile into her cornflower-blue eyes, Harry said, ‘Invite everybody in the Home and the convent to our wedding, sweetheart – let’s make it a day of real celebration!’

With her wedding day fast approaching, Diana went into a flat spin. She would have been content to walk down the aisle in her pale-blue WAAF uniform if Gracie, Ada and Zelda hadn’t taken her to one side.

‘I was going to leave the Home next week but now I’ll leave the day after your wedding – I wouldn’t miss you getting wed for the world,’ Gracie announced. ‘My last gift to you before I rejoin my mates in the shipyard is to do your make-up and hair on your wedding day.’

Before Diana could open her mouth to protest Ada joined in. ‘And mine is to help you sort out what you’re wearing.’

‘And I’m doing the bouquets, corsages and buttonholes,’ Zelda chipped in.

Diana smiled at the three women who had become her best friends during her stay at Mary Vale. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I gratefully accept all of your kind offers.’

‘When you’ve got a spare ten minutes, let’s go through your wardrobe,’ Ada suggested.

Diana laughed in excitement. ‘No time like the present.’

The contents of Diana’s wardrobe were hardly inspiring. There was an assortment of baggy outfits that she had worn through her pregnancy, and a couple of pairs of trousers. But Ada gave a cry of delight when she spotted a silky blue crêpe two-piece suit tucked away at the back of the wardrobe.

‘That looks nice,’ she said.

Diana shrugged. ‘It’s just an old suit,’ she replied.

Ada pulled it out of the cupboard to take a closer look. ‘It doesn’t look old,’ she protested.

‘I’ve not worn it for ages,’ Diana said dismissively. ‘I’m sure it won’t fit me any more.’

‘Of course it will fit you,’ Ada cried. ‘You’re as slim as a wand these days. Here, try it on,’ she urged, as she pressed the suit into Diana’s reluctant hands.

Diana wriggled into the silky crêpe suit, then stood in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection.

‘It’s too big if anything,’ she said, as she tugged at the loose waistband.

‘Breast-feeding is a sure and certain way of losing weight,’ Ada said knowingly. ‘Turn around.’

Diana obediently spun in a circle.

‘It just needs a nip and a tuck, and it will fit perfectly,’ Ada told her friend. ‘And the colour is wonderful on you,’ she enthused.

Diana paused to take another look at herself, ‘It is rather pretty,’ she conceded.

Ada gave her a hug. ‘Harry’s bound to love you in it!’

Sister Mary Paul and Sister Theresa were working out a menu for the wedding breakfast.

‘If Farmer Arkwright could supply me with a pheasant or two, I could make a tasty game pie,’ the old nun suggested.

‘I’m sure Zelda’s got enough winter veg in her garden to go with it,’ the younger nun replied.

‘And I’ve got some fine potatoes stored in the cellar; we could roast those with some parsnips,’ Sister Mary Paul added.

‘A feast!’ Sister Theresa exclaimed excitedly.

‘No cake, though,’ Sister Mary Paul grumbled.

‘I’m sure cake is the last thing on Diana’s mind,’ Sister Theresa teased.

‘I think we could stretch to a nice meringue,’ Sister Mary Paul added with a hopeful smile. ‘If I could get extra eggs off the farmer.’

Sister Theresa grinned as she shook her head. ‘What on earth would we do without Frank Arkwright and his dad?’

Sister Theresa was absolutely right: cake or food of any kind was the very last thing on Diana’s mind. Grateful that all arrangements were under control, Diana concentrated on the practical details of returning to the cottage with two babies in tow. When she received a letter in response to her own from the Shelford farmer, she was relieved to hear that the cottage was indeed vacant, though in need of warming up.

‘I’ll get the Aga going,’ the kindly farmer wrote. ‘The place should be nice and snug by the time you arrive here.’

Diana, in a daze of excitement, simply could not believe that after all her heartache and sorrow life was suddenly so wonderful. To complete her happiness, Father Ben had drawn up the adoption papers for George for her and Harry to sign. He had also been in touch with Marie, informing her by letter that her son, George, had found a perfect home.

‘I didn’t think it was appropriate that I should name you and Harry as the child’s new parents,’ he told the prospective parents.

Diana nodded. ‘We can follow that through at a later date when we think the time is right,’ she agreed.

‘God works in mysterious ways,’ the smiling priest told Diana. ‘Teddy will have a brother and you will have another wonderful son.’

Hugging herself, Diana left Father Ben’s office chanting joyfully, ‘George and Teddy – Teddy and George – our own little boys!’