Chapter Forty-Two

“Have you considered where you and Walter are going to live?” Mary asked as she fed some brandy to the fruit cake she was nursing for Doris’s wedding.

“Good point,” Betty remarked, looking up from her newspaper that Wednesday evening. “I love having you here, but you’ve got to admit, it is a little crowded, and if you add a man to the equation…”

“I know, I know,” Doris replied, slumping down onto the sofa before looking up to say, “That’s why I’ve asked Ruth over tonight.”

“I was wondering why the extra Guinness was outside the kitchen door,” Betty replied.

“Well, I have to butter her up somehow, and I know she’s partial.”

“That’s probably your fault,” Betty said from behind the paper. “The Ruth I knew always preferred sherry, but since meeting you…well, I can’t deny she loves the stuff.”

“I’ve always said she was a lady of refined taste,” Doris declared, raising an imaginary glass in toast.

The lounge door opened to admit Jane and the lady in question. “Did I hear my name being taken in vain?” Ruth said, though the smile upon her face clearly showed she wasn’t being serious.

“Oh, absolutely you did,” Mary decided. “Doris is up to something.”

“I am not!”

Ruth looked around at the room’s occupants before joining her American friend on the sofa. “Of course you are, but in the best possible taste.”

“Would anyone like to join me in a Guinness?” Doris asked, getting to her feet.

Ruth stared for a second before saying, “Okay, I believe you all. She’s up to something.”

“I am not”—Doris stamped her foot in emphasis—“up to something!” But she didn’t help her cause by stopping in the doorway and saying to Ruth, “I may have something to run by you, though.”

“Told you.” Mary shrugged.

“So how’re you?” Jane asked, coming into the room in her dressing gown, having just finished her bath. “And what’s our Doris up to now?”

“Does everyone think I’m always up to mischief?” Doris shouted from the kitchen, where the sound of bottle tops being removed could be heard.

Penny conducted the response. “Yes!” everyone cried.

Kicking the door wider, Doris reentered the room bearing a tray of bottles and glasses. “Honestly, I don’t know why I put up with you lot,” she grumbled.

Quickly going to her aid, Penny lifted some bottles and distributed them around the room, whilst Doris placed the tray on a side table before handing out the rest. To everyone’s surprise, Doris had a mug in her hands, instead, and a very satisfied expression upon her face.

Jane’s nose began to twitch and, suspicion upon her face, she took a deep sniff as Doris wafted past her to perch upon the windowsill. “Is that what I suspect it is?”

Before she replied, Doris lowered her head and inhaled deeply. “Mmm, coffee. The only drink better than Guinness! Bless Jim, a saint amongst men.”

“I thought we’d rationed you,” Penny said.

“I’m in shock, after what happened to my poor fiancé,” she countered.

“Isn’t Walter the one who should be in shock?” Mary pointed out.

Just in case anyone decided to try taking it from her, Doris took a deep and evidently satisfying sip from her mug. “I’m sure he is. I’m simply coming out in sympathy.”

Ruth blew a raspberry, before bursting out laughing. She then shared some news of her own. “From what Matt’s told me, he may be getting some kind of award for what he did.”

This brought more than one whistle of appreciation and a sharp intake of breath from Doris. “He never told me!”

Shaking her head, Ruth quickly placated her. “I don’t think he knows yet. Matt’s only just left, and he’s only just told me.”

Doris immediately raised her cup. “To Walter!”

Once everyone had toasted him, Ruth asked, “What were you going to run by me?”

“Well,” Doris began, “I’ve been thinking if there’s a way for Walter and me to live together after we’re married.”

“And…” Ruth prompted when Doris didn’t immediately elaborate.

Obviously in need of the caffeine courage, Doris drank down the rest of her mug of coffee.

“I swear that girl’s got an asbestos throat!” Mary said with a shake of her head.

“And I was wondering how you’d feel if I moved in with you?”

“With me?” Ruth asked, slightly puzzled.

“To be more precise, into Walter’s room.”

“You do know he lives in the attic? And that there’s no window up there?” Ruth needed to check.

Doris nodded enthusiastically. “I do. We do, I should say, as we have talked about this. That’s to say, it isn’t only my idea.”

“Very glad to hear that,” Ruth told her.

“I’m sorry to spring this upon you, Ruth. We only discussed it the other week, and we were going to talk with you a few days ago, only, well, with what happened to Walter, it’s only just come back to me. What do you think?” she asked, unable to keep a slight tremor from her voice.

Ruth was silent for a minute or two, taking the odd sip from her glass, before she finally asked, “I don’t see a problem with that, but how do you feel about this, Betty?”

“I can’t deny it’ll be quieter around here without her,” Betty announced, to general amusement. “Girls?”

“At least you’re only going to be next door,” Penny said, though everyone saw her wipe the side of her eye.

Doris went and wrapped her friend in a hug. “You don’t get rid of me that easily, Alsop,” she told her.

“Does that mean I can move into Doris’s old room?” Jane asked.

“Hey! Wait until I’ve moved out, at least!” the American replied, before breaking out into a smile.

Jane waved away her jocular protest. “That’s settled, then. Ruth, I don’t envy you young Doris’s singing in the bath.”

“Oh, my God! What is this? Pick-on-Doris day?”

“No different to any other, then,” Mary added, to which, after a very short period of thinking, Doris could only nod.

****

Penny was tucked up on the sofa after Ruth had gone home later that night, happily lost in The Body in the Library and lost to the world, when Doris tapped her on the knee.

“What’s up?” she asked, without looking up.

“Not what I was going to ask, but haven’t you finished yet?”

“No,” Penny replied. “I’m savoring it. The best Miss Marple I’ve read yet!”

Doris frowned. “Can’t you savor it a little faster?”

Penny peered at her friend over the top of the book. “Just for that…no. Now, what did you want to ask me?”

Tearing her gaze from the treasured novel, Doris asked, “Do you think Celia will be able to make it for my wedding?”

The book flopped down onto Penny’s lap, and she only just prevented it falling onto the floor.

“Hey! Careful with that book, or I’ll take it off you!” Betty told her from across the room where she was just as engrossed in The Moving Finger, the newest Miss Marple story.

“Doris made me do it,” Penny pouted, carefully closing the book and placing it beside her. She looked back at where Doris was waiting. “Let’s find out. Luckily it’s on a weekend. Hang on. I’ve got her school’s telephone number upstairs. I’ll go and make a call.”

“Thank you!” Doris shouted after her, immediately sitting down where Penny had been and taking up the book.

“She won’t thank you for that,” Betty remarked.

With the book already open, Doris didn’t look up as she replied, “Just a little taster. I’m getting withdrawal symptoms.”

Five minutes later, Penny stuck her head around the door. “Celia asks if she can be a bridesmaid.”

Quickly hiding the book and adopting an innocent expression, Doris told her, “I’d love that! Tell her yes.”

“Great!” Penny said, following up with, “Put my book down, madam,” before closing the door and going back to the phone.

“Told you,” Betty mumbled, turning the page on her own book, whilst Jane and Mary, who were playing a game of chess, both chuckled to themselves.

Penny was back in the lounge when a rap came on the front door. “I’ll get it!” she announced and reappeared a half minute later with Grace in tow.

“Hello! What brings you here this late at night?” Betty asked, putting her bookmark in place before carefully putting her novel aside.

Without preamble, Grace sat down beside Doris, who promptly turned white as all the blood drained from her face.

“Oh, hell. What’s happened? Is Walter d…”

Grace quickly and vigorously shook her head. “No! God, no!”

Doris fell back and began to fan her face. She turned her best glare upon the nurse. “Don’t do that to me!”

Mary felt she had to say, “To be fair, she hasn’t actually said anything.”

Doris, who looked on the cusp of speaking again, instead took a couple of gulps of air before, looking a little contrite, she told Grace, “I’m sorry. I guess I must be more on edge than I thought. He is all right, though, isn’t he?”

Grace nodded and kept nodding until Doris had to place a hand on the girl’s thigh to stop her. Then the nurse told her, “Yes, he’s fine. The only thing is, and I knew you’d want to know as soon as possible, and it’s only been decided tonight…”

“Out with it…please,” Doris snapped, and then immediately apologized. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap.”

“That’s okay. I was carrying on a bit. He’s fine, but the doctors want to keep him in for a week. He had another x-ray today, and they found another grenade fragment in his skull.” Doris drew in a deep breath of shock, and Grace quickly took hold of her hands and squeezed them tightly. “He’s already had the operation. They’ve removed it, and he’s recovering now.”

“Bloody hell!” Doris said into the silence. After a few moments, she grabbed Grace before she could object and did her best to squeeze the air out of her lungs before holding her startled friend at arm’s length, “Thank you for coming to tell me. You’re sure he’s going to be okay?”

Grace nodded. “Very sure. I didn’t want to leave until he’d come around and I could talk to him.”

The emotion of the moment and the news suddenly hit home, and Doris burst into tears.