Jenny's War (42 page)

They stumbled up the beach, Georgie’s progress hampered by Cassandra’s clinging hands, Jenny’s because she was so cold.

‘Thank goodness.’ Jenny looked up to see Charlotte and Miles hurrying towards them. Soon they were sitting on the sand wrapped in blankets and sipping hot tea laced with whisky.

‘The car’s just over the dunes. Let’s get you home.’

‘And a hot bath and bed for both of you,’ Charlotte ordered. ‘You’ve both had a frightening experience.’

‘C-Cassandra has hurt her-herself on the b-barbed wire,’ Jenny stammered.

‘I’ll phone for Dr Bennet as soon as we get back,’ Miles promised. ‘Now up you get. You take my arm, Jenny.’

They walked along the foot of the dunes until they came to the gap leading to the lane. Miles had brought his car as close as he could and they were all soon squashed into it and heading homewards.

‘I’ll never, ever go near the sea again,’ Cassandra vowed as she leaned her head against Georgie’s shoulder.

‘There, there,’ he comforted, as he might have spoken to Louisa. ‘It’s all over now and you’re safe.’

Jenny swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked back the tears, not caring, for once, if Georgie saw them. He would only think they were tears of relief after their nightmare experience.

Reaching the manor, they both had a hot bath and went to bed. Charlotte ran up and down stairs with hot drinks. ‘The doctor’s on his way.’

‘I’m fine,’ Jenny insisted and then shivered violently.

‘We’d be happier if you’d allow the doctor just to check you over, Jen.’

Jenny raised a watery smile. ‘Have I any choice?’

‘Not really.’ Charlotte chuckled. ‘Miles is insisting.’

Miles, not Georgie, as she might have hoped. Jenny sighed inwardly, set the empty cup down on the bedside table and snuggled beneath the covers. ‘I’m just so tired,’ she murmured and closed her eyes.

Charlotte crept out of the room. When the doctor arrived shortly afterwards, Jenny was still asleep.

‘Best thing for her,’ Dr Bennet said when he’d dressed Cassandra’s scratches and pronounced her fit and well, though perhaps a little overwrought. Speaking of Jenny, he went on, ‘We’ll not disturb her now, but if you have any reason for concern, let me know and I’ll come at once. Just let her rest over the next few days. No school-work until she feels ready.’ He’d heard about the young girl working hard at her lessons. ‘How’s she getting on?’

‘Fine. She’s got a place at the grammar school in the sixth form in September if her exam results are acceptable.’

‘Good for her.’ He paused and then asked, ‘I take it she’s come to live here permanently then, has she?’

‘We all hope so.’

Cassandra stayed in bed for two more days, hovered over by a worried Georgie, but Jenny was up and about the next morning claiming she was fine and wanting to get back to her school books. ‘Mr Lomax will be cross if I haven’t finished all the work he set me. The exams start next week.’

So, though Charlotte kept a close eye on her, they allowed Jenny to work quietly in the studio at her studies. They knew just how important it was.

‘And,’ Charlotte murmured softly to Miles, ‘it’ll keep her mind off fretting about Georgie running up and downstairs every five minutes waiting on Lady Muck’s every command.’

‘I’m going home,’ Cassandra declared the very first time she felt able to come downstairs for lunch.

‘Oh darling, must you?’ Georgie tried to argue. ‘I thought you had a whole week’s leave.’

‘I have, but I’m not staying here a moment longer.’ She shuddered dramatically. ‘Every time I look out of the window, I remember . . .’

‘Very well, then, I’ll take you back tomorrow – ’

‘No, this afternoon. I want to go this afternoon.’

‘But I don’t know if there are trains to Nottingham—’ Cassandra’s parents lived in a grand house somewhere just outside the city.

‘There must be,’ Cassandra snapped. ‘Even from this godforsaken place.’

There was an awkward silence round the table. No one spoke until Georgie rose and said quietly, ‘I’ll telephone the station to ask.’

‘Charlotte, please may I leave the table?’ Jenny said, afraid that if she stayed she would say something to Cassandra that Georgie wouldn’t forgive her for. ‘I must get on. ’Bye, then, Cassandra.’

Cassandra didn’t even glance at her. ‘Goodbye, Jenny.’

She passed Georgie on his way back from Miles’s study. ‘There is a train later this afternoon. I’d better take her home. Bye, Jenny. Take care of yourself, won’t you?’ He touched her shoulder and smiled down at her, though the worried look never left his eyes.

‘Bye, Georgie.’ To her chagrin, her voice was husky. She cleared her throat and forced a smile. ‘See you soon.’

‘Thank you for all you did to help Cassandra. But for you she might have – might have—’

‘Don’t mention it,’ she said off-handedly and turned away. She didn’t want his thanks for saving the life of the girl her darker side would sooner have left to drown.

Later that afternoon, Charlotte sought out Jenny in the studio. ‘I hope I’m not interrupting, but there’s something you ought to know.’

‘There’s nothing wrong, is there?’

‘Yes – and no – it’s about Georgie and Cassandra,’ Charlotte answered.

Jenny waited, her heart thumping.

‘I think – I mean – it rather sounds as if it’s all over between them.’

Jenny’s eyes widened. ‘What happened?’

‘After you came upstairs, Georgie came back into the dining room having found out there was a train.’

‘I know – I met him in the hall. We – we said “goodbye”. I thought he was going with her.’

‘So did he, but when he said he would get his things together Cassandra said there was no need. She was going back on her own. “You can take me to the station,” she said, “but there’s no need for you to come with me.” ’

‘What did Georgie say?’

‘He asked her why, of course, but she just stood up and told him she thought that it’d be better if they didn’t see each other any more. Oh, Jenny, you should have seen his face. I didn’t like her, but I hated seeing him so hurt. I think he’s very fond of her.’

Jenny snorted. ‘I don’t know why – she’s a cow and a half.’

‘Did she ever thank you for saving her life? Because we all know you did.’

Jenny shook her head. ‘Not really.’ In a small voice she added, ‘Georgie did, though.’ She paused and then asked Charlotte, ‘How are we to handle this? I mean – do I say anything to him?’

‘It’s difficult. They were quarrelling all the time she was packing. We could hear their raised voices down in the drawing room. I’m surprised you didn’t hear them too. But then this room
is
pretty well tucked away at the top of the house.’

‘Raised voices? Georgie?’

‘Yes, she even got our darling Georgie mad!’

‘Oh!’ Jenny was silent for a moment, unshed tears prickling her eyes before she said, ‘He must really love her, then.’

Charlotte had no answer.

None of them knew how to deal with the situation. Jenny kept out of the way as much as she could. Mr Lomax arrived at five o’clock to tutor her for two hours until dinner. Feeling that the presence of a comparative stranger might ease the atmosphere about the table, Charlotte invited him to stay for the meal, but it turned out that it hadn’t been necessary.

Georgie came down from his room just before seven and sought out Charlotte. ‘Please excuse me from dinner. I’m really not hungry. I’m going for a long walk.’

Mr Lomax, however, was an entertaining dinner guest. He talked non-stop and didn’t seem to notice that the others around the table were unusually silent.

‘He’s like that all the time,’ Jenny told them after he’d left, ‘but he is a good teacher,’ she added hastily in case Miles should think the man did more talking than teaching. ‘He seems to know an awful lot about all sorts of things. He’s found out what books I’ll be needing at the grammar school. And’ – she smiled despite the ache in her heart over Georgie – ‘he says Mr Boswell – that’s the art teacher – can’t wait for me to start.’

Charlotte was glancing at the clock for the umpteenth time. ‘Georgie should be back by now. It’s getting dark.’

Jenny jumped up. ‘I’ll go and find him.’

‘Oh Jen – do be careful what you say.’

‘I will.’

She headed for the hall cupboard to find boots and a coat and then set off down the drive to take the long path across the flat land to the beach. She was sure that was where he’d have gone. She climbed the dunes and stood on the top. The marsh below and the beach beyond it were already in shadow. She took a deep breath, pulling in the bracing, salty sea air. The waves breaking on the shore sounded so loud in the deepening dusk. She looked to right and left, but there was no sign of a lonely figure walking the shore. She bit her lip, suddenly even more anxious than before. Where was he?

She began to walk down the dune towards the marsh, the little white flags with which she’d marked the path to where the samphire grew were still fluttering and at the end of the line was the bucket they’d used. It had been forgotten in all the drama that had followed.

‘What we picked will have died by now,’ she murmured as she moved towards it.

She emptied the bucket and collected the sticks and white rags, carrying them back to the wooden box in the dunes. It was as she was closing the lid that she heard a voice close by.

‘Jen.’

She jumped and stared through the gloom. ‘
There
you are,’ she said and couldn’t hide the relief in her voice. But then, quite deliberately, she adopted a firm tone. ‘You ought to come home, Georgie. Charlotte’s worried.’

‘You go back and tell them I’m fine.’

She climbed to where he was sitting. ‘No, that won’t do.’ She grasped his arm and tried to pull him up.

To her surprise, he chuckled. ‘You’re a determined little madam, aren’t you? Do you always get your own way?’

‘Yes,’ she answered, even though it wasn’t quite true.

She didn’t think she’d ever have what she most wanted where Georgie was concerned.

As they walked home, Georgie said, ‘I expect you know what’s happened?’

There was no point in lying and perhaps she was the one who could speak most candidly about it. ‘Yes, I do. And I’m sorry – at least, I’m sorry she’s hurt you. But to be honest, Georgie, she wasn’t right for you.’ She held her breath, fearing she’d said too much, too soon. She was afraid she’d make him angry again and this time his anger would be directed at her.

But Georgie merely said mildly, ‘What makes you say that?’ He didn’t sound angry – just curious.

‘She was hard and selfish. There was no gentleness about her. You’re such a lovely man you deserve someone who’ll be as loving towards you as you’ll be to them. She was all take and no give.’

Still, he said nothing so Jenny went on. She’d said too much to hold back now; it might as well be said. ‘She didn’t fit in here, Georgie. She was a townie like Alfie calls me.’

‘But you fit in.’

‘That’s because I love you – all.’ She couldn’t help the merest hesitation before the last word and prayed he hadn’t noticed. ‘And I love it here. You taught me to love the sea, but to respect it. You, and all your family,’ she said, more carefully now, ‘were so kind to me when I first came and even now, you’ve all welcomed me back and just look what your dad and Charlotte are trying to do for me.’ Bravely she pushed aside her overwhelming love for this man at her side as she added, ‘I’ve got a life to look forward to, thanks to them.’

He put his arm about her shoulders and hugged her to his side as they walked. ‘Don’t you ever leave us, Jen, will you? I couldn’t bear it if you left.’

As they walked homewards through the darkness, Jenny’s heart was singing.

In August, there was a double celebration at the manor. On the fourteenth, Japan finally surrendered to the Allies and Jenny’s sixteenth birthday exactly a week later had Charlotte and Miles planning a huge party for the following Saturday.

‘We’ll invite everyone,’ Miles said, never happier than when he was planning a party. ‘We never really celebrated VE day, did we?’

‘No,’ Charlotte said soberly. ‘It was difficult when so many are mourning those they’ve lost in the war and besides, whilst there was fighting still going on against the Japanese, it didn’t feel as if it were really over.’

Miles put his arm around her shoulders. ‘But now it does. And Philip and all those whom we’ve lost would be the first to say we should celebrate the peace. It’s what they made their sacrifice for.’

Charlotte nodded. ‘You’re right, of course. So, who are we going to invite?’

Miles flung out his arm as if to embrace the whole of Ravensfleet and the surrounding district. ‘Everyone we know and even some we don’t – if they want to come.’

Jenny glowered. ‘Not the Miss Listers.’

‘Come now, Jen. You wouldn’t be so mean to a couple of lonely old ladies, would you?’

Jenny hesitated, torn between the bitter memories of the two horrible old women and the kindly man standing in front of her who was magnanimous enough to forgive and forget most things.

‘All right,’ she said grudgingly and then smiled suddenly and, as always, it was like the sun appearing from behind a thundercloud. ‘They’ll be good company for your dad, Charlotte. Oops! I’m sorry, I shouldn’t . . .’

But Charlotte was laughing. ‘You’re right, darling. We’ll make sure we sit them together.’

Georgie threw himself into the preparations whenever he was home on leave.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said one evening over dinner.

‘Swings, roundabouts, a coconut shy?’ Miles smiled. Already Georgie had been full of ideas for their party. It was becoming more like a church feˆte every day. Thinking that his idea was something to do with the preparations for the big day, the family was quite unprepared for what he was about to say.

‘No, Father, about what I should do now. The RAF found me a “chairborne” job whilst the war was still on and I’m willing to stay on a few more months until we get all the lads home, but I don’t really want to sign on as a regular. I want to fly.’

‘Fly!’ they all chorused and Charlotte groaned. ‘We thought you might have forgotten about that idea.’