Blue Smoke (23 page)

She welcomed them with a kiss each, sat them down in the eclectically decorated front parlour, which smelled faintly of cinnamon and warm dust, and asked if they would like some afternoon tea.

‘Yes, please, but would you like a hand?’ Leila asked. Riria waved her away.

‘You should be resting in your condition, girl,’ she said, and disappeared into the hall with a rustle of her long taffeta skirt.

Bonnie and Leila looked at each other. What?

Riria returned minutes later carrying a tray laden with a teapot, cups, a milk jug and a plate piled with three sorts of cake.

As usual she was dressed from head to toe in black. Her long silver hair hung down her back in stark contrast against the darkness of her clothes.

‘Now, tamariki, what is it you need to see me about?’

‘You said a minute ago, “in my condition”,’ Leila began.

‘You are pregnant, child.’

‘Er, yes. How did you know?’

‘Your smell. A woman’s smell changes when she is hapu.’

‘Oh. Well, that is sort of what we’ve come to talk to you about.’

Bonnie poured the tea and waited for her sister to explain further. And waited and waited.

Finally, she said herself, ‘We have to be blunt about this, Aunty. Leila is, as you’ve already noticed, pregnant. She’s about three and a half months on. The father is an American who is due to go over seas in three days.’

‘Ah,’ Riria said knowingly. ‘The Third Marine Division, bound for the Solomons.’

‘How do you know that?’ Leila asked, surprised.

‘Everyone does, dear.’

‘Any way,’ Bonnie went on, ‘Leila has married this Marine, without knowing that he hadn’t received permission from his commanding officer. It’s an offence according to the US Navy to marry without permission and there’ll be hell to pay if anyone finds out. What do you think Leila should do about it?’

‘No, Bonnie, that’s
not
it,’ Leila said tetchily. ‘I’m very happy to be Mrs Jake Kelly, Aunty Ri. I need some advice on whether to stay here in Auckland to have the baby, or go home to Kenmore.’

‘I would have thought that was not a difficult decision to make at all,’ Riria replied. ‘Who would not want to have their baby with their whanau?’

Leila sighed. ‘All right, what I
really
want to know, Aunty, is how do you think Mum and Dad and Gran will take the news?’

‘As well as you would if your daughter was pregnant to a man you have not met, who comes from a foreign country and who is about to go off to fight the Japanese.’

‘I thought you might say that.’

Riria tut-tutted. ‘But that does not mean they will not welcome you, e hine. Go home, that is the
only
thing you can do. You must think first of your child.’

Leila looked as if she were about to cry. ‘I don’t know how to tell them, Aunty.’

‘Like this,’ Riria replied. ‘It is very simple.’

And she got up from her chair and went out.

‘What’s she doing?’ said Bonnie after a moment.

Leila shrugged, and they sat there for several minutes until they heard Riria speaking to someone in the hall.

Then it suddenly dawned on Leila. ‘Oh
Christ
! She’s telephoning them!’

She rushed out of the room but it was too late; Riria had already been connected.

‘Yes, we are all fine here, too … Really? Well, that is wonderful news. I am sure they will be very happy together … Yes, I expect they will. Tamar, I am ringing you about Leila … No, no, she is all right, but there is one small matter … No, she is fine, but it seems that she has married because she is three months pregnant …’ There was a brief silence from Riria, then, ‘Tamar, are you still on the line? … Yes, an American Marine … No, I have only just this minute found out … Yes, they are both here … I do not think that would be a good idea at the moment, e hine, do you? … No, it would be better I think if Keely comes up herself; it is a very long journey for someone of our age … Yes, I know, but these things can always be overcome, and sometimes they even work out for the best, as you know yourself … Wednesday? Yes, yes, I will. Goodbye, Tamar. Arohanui.’

She hung up and turned to Leila, who was waiting nervously for the verdict.

‘That was your grandmother. Your mother will be arriving on Wednesday to collect you. Would you like to stay here, or go back to Whenuapai until she arrives?’

‘I have to go back to the base — I haven’t said anything to them yet. But I’ll try to spend as much time with Jake before he goes as I can. I
love
him, Aunty. What if I never see him again?’

Riria watched as tears trickled down Leila’s smooth, pale cheeks,
and remembered the day that her darling John had left to join the New Zealand contingents in South Africa.

She held out her arms.

The girls went back to the base, and that night Bonnie helped Leila sneak out to meet Jake. They managed to spend one whole honeymoon night together at the luxurious Grand Hotel — after Leila had first produced their marriage certificate for the satisfaction of the concierge who would have nothing to do with unmarried couples using his lovely rooms as venues for their immoral trysts — and then two days later Jake, and Danny, were gone.

Leila and Bonnie were not able to see them off because they were on duty, but they appreciated the commiserations of their friends who knew they both had sweethearts shipping out. No one, however, knew yet that Leila had married hers, or that she was pregnant. Except perhaps for Peggy, whose knowing glance had lingered more than once on Leila’s slightly swelling belly.

Keely arrived at the base the following day, and went straight to the administration block and asked to speak with her daughters. When Bonnie and Leila, working in the SWO’s office, were advised that their mother was here, they glanced at each other apprehensively, took deep breaths and went to meet her in the visitors’ room.

Keely sat gazing out of the window, watching a transport plane lumbering down the runway, her face pale and the bags under her eyes prominent after her long train journey. Her gloves were rolled up in her lap and she’d taken off her hat and set it on her small suitcase on the floor. She looked tired, and very sad, but she didn’t seem angry. She stood and greeted them wearily.

‘Hello, darlings,’ she said as she kissed them. ‘I’m sorry, I’ve come straight from the train station and I’m rather worn out.’

Bonnie and Leila were disconcerted — they had been expecting one of their mother’s more spectacular tirades at the very least.

‘Now,’ she said resignedly once they were all seated, ‘tell me everything, right from the beginning.’

So Leila did, hesitantly at first, but soon the whole story came out.

As she listened, Keely was flooded with memories of the day she’d become aware of her own unplanned pregnancy, and how hopeless and helpless she had felt. She had married Owen, of course, but had not loved him at first, although she’d certainly fancied him enough to sleep with him. Did these sorts of things perpetuate themselves in families? If certain events occurred often enough down through successive generations, did they become almost expected, and therefore acceptable? She had been very lucky with Owen — with his patience, his perseverance and his love — and she prayed that Leila would be just as lucky with this young American man she had chosen. She certainly hoped Leila would make a better mother than she’d ever been to her own daughters. And it would be even harder for Leila, because the father of her child would quite possibly be away for some time yet, and might not come back at all.

When Leila finished speaking, it was Keely’s turn.

‘Leila,’ she began gently, ‘your father and I were very disappointed when your gran told us what you’d done. But this pregnancy isn’t the end of the world. We’re very happy for you to come home to have the baby, and you know Gran would love to have a little one in the house again.’

Leila said in a voice that was beginning to wobble, ‘I thought you would both be really angry with me.’

‘Oh, we were, dear, very. Your father went off for most of the afternoon and wouldn’t speak to anyone until the next day, and I threw one of Gran’s best soup tureens against the kitchen wall.
But we’ve had a day or two to think about it, and it isn’t as if it hasn’t happened in our family before, is it? We’re still a little upset, though, about your decision to marry this boy, and rather hurt because you didn’t tell us or ask for our advice. We didn’t even know you had a young man. I would like to have met him before he left. Your father was all for rushing up and talking to the lad — at the very least — but after we’d talked about it we decided it wouldn’t make much difference one way or the other, given that you’d already married him. We’re hoping we’ll meet him eventually.’

‘Well, maybe not, Mum,’ Leila said guiltily. ‘He’ll probably be sent back to America as soon as the war’s over, and then he’ll be discharged from the Marines.’

‘So he isn’t a career soldier?’

Leila shook her head. ‘He was drafted for the duration.’

‘And you want to go and live in America?’

‘Yes, but there’s no reason we can’t come back for holidays.’

‘It’s a bit of a trek, dear.’

But Leila didn’t want to talk about that. ‘I won’t be going for ages any way, I’d say. Possibly not even until the war’s over.’

‘Mmm. Have you told this Mrs Buckley-Jones yet about your predicament?’

‘Er, no, I was hoping you’d come with me when I tell her. I’ll have to leave the air force straight away, I expect.’

‘Well, there’s no point in putting it off any longer. Where is she now?’

‘In her office, probably. I’ll go and ask if it’s convenient for her to see us.’

‘That’s a good girl. Oh, and is there any chance of a cup of tea? I could really do with one.’

‘I’ll see, there’s usually an urn on the boil in the mess.’

When she’d gone, Keely said to Bonnie, ‘What’s he really like, this Jake Kelly?’

Bonnie looked uncomfortable. ‘Well, I don’t really know, Mum. We all went out together but I never got to know him really well, but Leila thinks he’s absolutely wonderful.’

‘Clearly. And you don’t?’

‘Oh, no, he’s nice enough. Very charming, very good-looking. I can see why she’s fallen for him, I must admit. And he seems kind, and he’s funny, and I do believe he genuinely loves her.’

‘Where’s he from? Do you know anything about his family?’

‘He’s from Oklahoma and his family are farmers. Cotton, I think he said.’

‘Well, she’s used to farm life, I suppose, but I expect it’s all very different over there.’

Bonnie shrugged. ‘I don’t know. He never really said much about his home.’

‘I imagine that’s the trouble with these American boys. You can never really tell what you’re getting. What’s yours like?’

‘Sorry?’

Keely nodded towards the ring on her daughter’s hand. ‘I see you’ve formed some sort of an attachment too.’

Bonnie blushed. ‘Yes, I’m engaged. I was waiting until after this to tell you. I thought Leila might be enough for you to go on with. His name is Danny Hartman, he’s twenty-five and he comes from New Jersey. He was training to be a doctor when America came into the war, and he’s a medic with the Marines. He’s the youngest of five children, a surprise baby, he said, and his father’s retired now, but he was a doctor too. An obstetrician. Danny’s going back to medical school after the war.’

‘At least he sounds like he has prospects.’ Keely sighed. ‘I suppose you’ll be off as well, then.’

‘I expect so, but I didn’t think it would be a good idea to get married now. You know, with the way things are.’

‘No, but then you don’t have to.’

‘No.’

Leila came back, and handed her mother a cup of tea. ‘She can see us in ten minutes, she said, if we don’t mind waiting.’

Mrs Buckley-Jones’s office was small, and narrowly saved from military anonymity by several pretty flower paintings on the walls and a vase of lavender hydrangeas on a bookcase behind her desk.

She ushered them in and introduced herself to Keely.

‘You’ve a fine pair of girls, Mrs Murdoch, and it’s a pleasure to work with them.’ She sat down behind her desk. ‘What can I do for you today?’

Keely looked at Leila expectantly.

In a way she was proud of her daughter. As Leila told Mrs Buckley-Jones what had happened she held her head up, her voice was steady and she didn’t falter once.

Mrs Buckley-Jones made a steeple out of her hands, and rested the tips of her fingers against her lips.

‘Well, Leila, I must say this is disappointing news, but these things happen, I understand that. You realise that you will have to leave the WAAF immediately? Your behaviour and your, ah, condition completely contravene the rules, and could be seen as a bad example to the other girls.’

Once again Keely was uncomfortably reminded of events from her own past.

Leila nodded. ‘I’m going back home to Hawke’s Bay. I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you, Mrs Buckley-Jones. I enjoyed working here very much.’

‘You made a notable contribution, Leila, and I liked having you. When you were actually on the base,’ she added archly.

‘Er, yes, thank you.’

‘Right. Mrs Murdoch, will you be accompanying Leila home?’

‘Yes, we’ll be going back on the train tomorrow.’

‘Then I’ll see to the paperwork, and I suggest, Leila, that you
go and pack your things and perhaps say goodbye to your friends. Unless, that is, you’d rather just leave?’

‘I’d like to say goodbye, if that’s all right.’

‘Off you go then. Mrs Murdoch, you’re more than welcome to give her a hand to pack.’

Bonnie was waiting in the reception area by the time Leila was ready to go. This was the first time in their lives they would really be apart, and she felt tears at the back of her eyes. She hugged her sister tightly.

‘Take care. Look after that baby, and I’ll be home as soon as I get a decent leave. Oh, sorry, I mean a
liberty
. And write me lots of letters. I want to know everything that’s happening, all right?’

Leila nodded, and blew her nose.

Keely stood back and watched them, her own eyes filling up. She had something she needed to tell them, and now that Leila’s affairs had been put in order she couldn’t put it off any longer.