The Grafton Girls - Annie Groves [129]
Out of the corner of her eye Diane noticed that someone was sitting huddled up in the corner of a bench in one of them. She was about to walk away, not wanting either to disturb them or to have them intrude on her own unhappy thoughts, when she realised that the other person was Ruthie and that she was obviously in great distress.
Not giving herself time to change her mind, she picked her way over to her, more shocked to see the look of bleak despair in her eyes than by the sight of her tear-blotched face.
‘Ruthie, what’s wrong?’
Ruthie started up guiltily, and then subsided back into her seat when she recognised Diane. She had come here to try to compose herself before she went home, but instead, she had ended up becoming totally overwhelmed by her distress.
‘It’s Glen,’ Ruthie told her brokenly. ‘He…Walter’s dead and Glen’s going to be court-martialled but it wasn’t his fault.’ She started to sob uncontrollably.
Worried, Diane sat down next to her, taking hold of her hand. ‘Stop crying, take a deep breath and tell me properly what’s happened,’ she instructed her calmly, using the manner she would have used to a raw new recruit.
To her relief Ruthie did as she had told her, although it took many stops and starts before Diane was able to get the full story from her and make sense of it.
What Ruthie told her filled her not just with shocked disgust for Nick and Myra, but also with a deep sense of unease. She knew how things worked in the tightly controlled environment of rules and regulations that was the armed services, and just how difficult it would be to convince Glen’s superiors that he was the victim of an injustice when his platoon mates were lying to protect Nick. It was obvious to Diane that Ruthie was telling the truth, and she suspected that initially, when they had lied to the police, Nick had assumed he would find some way of wriggling out of any charge brought for fighting with a comrade. Walter’s death, though had altered things. Whoever was convicted would be facing the death penalty. Poor, poor Ruthie – no wonder she was distraught.
‘Look, dry your eyes,’ Diane told her.
‘I can’t tell Mum what’s happened. She’s really taken to Glen and she’s been so much better since him and me got engaged. It’s been like a bit of a miracle, and even our doctor has said how much she’s improved. She hasn’t gone out once looking for Dad, like she used to. I don’t know what it’s going to do to her if I have to tell her about Glen. It will be bad enough telling her about Walter.’ Fresh tears filled her eyes. She turned to Diane, twisting her damp handkerchief between her fingers as she sobbed, ‘Why did this have to happen? And that Myra – how could she lie like that?’ Hope suddenly flared in her eyes. ‘You wouldn’t have a word with her, would you…tell her what’s happened to my Glen? Oh, please say that you’ll help us?’ she begged desperately.
Diane hated to disappoint her but knowing Myra as she did she doubted that Myra would agree to do anything that would damage her chances of getting to America. She couldn’t bring herself to destroy Ruthie’s hopes, though.
‘I will speak to her,’ she agreed, ‘but only if you promise me that you’ll stop crying and go home.’
‘You mean it. You really will try to help us?’ Ruthie breathed.
‘I mean it,’ Diane assured her.
‘Promise?’ Ruthie begged, suddenly more a little girl than a young woman. Her vulnerability tugged at Diane’s own heart.
‘I promise,’ she agreed.
‘I’ve just seen Ruthie,’ Diane announced without preamble as she entered the shared bedroom. ‘Ruthie, who?’ Myra asked her. She was lying on her bed, smoking, her eyes narrowed in contemplation of the smoke ring she had