Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [44]
Lewis’s had been ever so good to her as well, giving her a day’s leave without docking any of her pay. Oh, she just couldn’t wait, although of course she was going to miss home and her family. She just hoped though that she’d be able to be Bella’s bridesmaid. A real surprise that had been, to all of them.
‘Perhaps the young man that was so kind to you will be at the wedding,’ her mother had suggested.
Grace knew that she had coloured up and she knew too that her mother had noticed, but she was determined to be realistic about Seb and his kindness to her, and so she had said determinedly, ‘Well, he could be, Mum, although he told me that he isn’t really related to Alan at all. And… well, I got the impression he wasn’t very keen on him, and if he’s already back with the RAF, he may not be able to be there.’
‘Well, never mind,’ her mother had responded. ‘I’d have liked to thank him for his kindness to you, though.’
‘How many breaths do you think it will be before her hat falls off?’ Louise whispered to her twin.
‘Ten,’ Sasha responded.
‘I bet you it’s fifteen. And if I win you’ve got to kiss Tom Lucas.’
‘I’m not kissing him. You kiss him.’
‘Sally says that he sticks his tongue right down your throat.’
‘Why would he want to do that?’
‘It’s what they do in France, she says.’
‘Mum’s watching us …’
The sudden realisation that the vicar had stopped speaking virtually in mid-sentence caused not only Jean but virtually the whole congregation to look first towards the pulpit and then back towards the now open door, where the verger and two of the sidesmen were in earnest conversation. The verger broke away and started to hurry down the aisle, his robes billowing with the speed of his progress. He reached the pulpit, saying something to the vicar, who had leaned down to listen.
Several seconds passed. Mrs Knowles woke up abruptly in mid-snore and straightened her hat. The vicar stepped down from the pulpit to stand in front of the congregation.
‘It is my sad duty to inform you that we are now at war with Germany.’
Immediately Grace looked towards her parents. Her mother’s face had lost its colour and her father’s mouth had gone stern. The twins were standing close together, their arms round each other.
Luke stood apart from his family, a grim, almost bitter, expression shadowing his face as he watched some of the other young men gravitate towards one another and begin a low-voiced conversation. Why couldn’t his father understand how it made him feel, knowing that he was going to be safe here in Liverpool whilst his friends went off to fight? The service summarily finished, the congregation was moving swiftly towards the open doors. Half a dozen young men in various service uniforms, who had been attending church with their families, were very much the centre of attention, receiving approving smiles and words of encouragement as older men went up to them to clap them on the shoulder or pat them on the back.
Luke could feel the backs of his eyes burning drily with shame and anger.
‘Oh, Sam, do you think it’s really true?’ Jean asked anxiously as they all left the church.
‘I reckon so. We’ll know more when we get home and listen to the wireless. Luke, we’d better check in with the ARP post this afternoon,’ he told his son, ‘and I’ll have a word with Andy Roberts to see if he’s heard anything.’
Andy Roberts was the most senior of the Salvage Corps men and acted as an unofficial co-ordinator and ‘foreman’ for the group.
‘Does that mean now that Hitler’s going to march into Liverpool?’ Lou asked anxiously.
‘Don’t be daft,’ her twin responded dismissively. ‘He can’t march across the Channel, can he?’
‘No, but he can ruddy well bomb it,’ Arthur Edwards, one of their neighbours, told them, having overheard the twins’ conversation. Arthur was a widower, and Jean normally made up a bit of a plated dinner for him on a Sunday.