The September Girls (60 page)

‘Have we got enough?’

‘There’s a couple of canteens of cutlery around somewhere, still in the cases and hardly ever used. They’ll probably need polishing, but they’ll just have to do tarnished or not at all. If people don’t like it, they can polish it themselves, either that or eat with their fingers.’ Nancy paused for breath and Cara insisted she sit down and have a cup of tea while she sliced the ham. ‘You’ve been on your feet since the crack of dawn. It’s time you had a rest.’

‘I’ve got to have a bath yet,’ Nancy said after a few minutes of quiet.

‘And I’ve got to bath the children, although I can have them in and out in a jiffy, then I’ll have a quick one meself. Then we’ve all got to get dressed and someone will have to help Fielding with her wreath and veil.’

‘Eleanor will do that, she knows how these things go. Any road, she’s made it her job to look after the bride.’

Cara paused in the process of cutting a slice of ham. ‘I’d always imagined having a white wedding.’

‘Were you going to marry Kit in white, pet?’ Nancy asked softly.

‘No, in uniform.’ Suddenly, forcefully, Cara wished it was
her
getting married today, that Kit had turned up saying it was all a mistake, he hadn’t been killed after all. These things happened in wartime, he wouldn’t be the first man to appear from the dead.

But she’d
seen
Kit dead. She’d seen him without a face and there wasn’t a chance in a million there’d been a mistake. Tears came to her eyes at the thought that she’d lost him before they’d even got to know each other properly, that he would never know about Kitty, that they would never live together as they’d planned. Her grief felt as fresh and raw as if it was only yesterday she’d lost him and she had the same sensation she’d had on the plane back to England, that she was at the bottom of a deep, dark pit, where she was destined to spend the rest of her life with no chance of escape.

‘Are you all right, Cara?’ Nancy asked.

‘No.’ Tears were flowing freely now. ‘I’m not sure if I can get through today, Nancy.’ The tears choked her voice, making it thick and unsteady.

‘You will, pet,’ Nancy said roughly, giving her arm a little shake. ‘You’re a very strong young woman, never making a fuss, chasing after Fielding and bringing her back here, as if you didn’t have enough troubles of your own. You had two babies in a single year and there wasn’t a father in sight, yet you did it without blinking an eyelid. You stood up to your mam.’ Nancy smiled. ‘Now
that
takes courage. You’ll come through today with your head held high and a smile on your bonny face and no one’ll know how much you ache inside.’

‘Oh, Nancy!’ Cara knelt on the floor and threw her arms around the big, awkward woman, the first person to hold her when she’d come out of her mother’s womb, who’d been there for her ever since, and for so many other people. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you - what we all would do without you!’

Nancy stroked her hair. ‘You’d manage, pet: you especially. Me, I’m just a silly old woman who doesn’t know much about anything.’

‘You’re the wisest person in the whole wide world, Nancy. Somehow, just talking to you makes me feel better.’

‘Cara, pet, if you keep on saying things like that, you’ll make
me
cry,’ Nancy said shakily.

Footsteps could be heard coming down the basement steps. Cara scrambled to her feet just as her mother came in, her eyes extraordinarily bright. ‘I found your dad in Shaw Street,’ she said in a rush. ‘He’s brought Bernard with him. He’s a dead handsome little fella, just turned two. You’ll never believe it,’ she went on, ‘but that Lizzie Phelan woman was offered some posh job or other with the Red Cross and has only gone to live in America and Colm’s been left to look after Bernard on his own.’

Before Cara could respond, there were more footsteps and Eleanor arrived in the blue costume she’d made out of one of her mother’s dresses, and a huge wavy straw hat with a blue satin band.

‘Why, don’t you look a sight for sore eyes,’ Nancy said admiringly.

‘We all will by the time we’re dressed.’ Eleanor gave them a dark look. ‘I’d have expected you lot to have made a start by now. It’s just gone half past twelve.’

‘It never has!’ Brenna screeched.

‘Where’s the time gone?’ Cara groaned. ‘I’ve still got to get the children washed and I’ve not nearly finished cutting up this ham.’

‘Well, I’m not prepared to help with either,’ Eleanor said emphatically, ‘not in these clothes. Where’s Fielding? Did her hair turn out all right?’

‘No,’ Brenna snorted. ‘That hairdresser wants flogging to death. She turned a perfectly good head of hair into a regular dog’s dinner.’

‘Oh, my God!’ Eleanor wailed.

‘It’s all right,’ Cara said quickly. ‘She’s washed it again.’

‘Will it be dry yet?’

Cara confessed she had no idea. ‘I’ve completely lost track of time. I thought it was only about eleven o’clock.’

‘Someone should have been keeping an eye on the girl,’ Eleanor sniffed. ‘She doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going.’

Nancy ordered everyone to calm down. ‘Cara, just give the children a wipe over with the flannel and do the same to yourself. Meanwhile, Eleanor, you see to Fielding, and me and Brenna will get dressed, then I’ll sort out Kitty’s clothes and Brenna will see to Sean’s, leaving Cara to get dressed on her own. Is everyone happy with that?’

‘Yes.’ Cara fled from the room. Two members of the Townswomen’s Guild had offered to help with the food at the reception. Hopefully, they would arrive soon and they could sort out the meat and look for the cutlery. She was past caring.

 

Fielding looked ethereally lovely in her wedding gown, slim-fitting to make her look taller, her face partially hidden behind Eleanor’s own wedding veil secured with a wreath of wax lilies of the valley - the sort Cara had wanted. In the car, she clutched Colm’s hand tightly, as if she never wanted to let it go. He was terribly gentle with her, Colm, showing no sign of how he must be feeling after Lizzie had abandoned both him and their little son.

It wasn’t normally done for the bridesmaids to travel to the church in the same car as the bride, but the hire company was only able to provide one car with enough petrol for a single journey to the church and back. The other guests had had to walk, Brenna taking Sean in his pushchair. Cara and an unnaturally quiet Kitty, overawed by the occasion, had accompanied the bride and her substitute father for the day.

When they alighted from the car, there was a chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ and cries of, ‘Doesn’t she look lovely!’ from a crowd of women who seemed to spend their time on Saturdays waiting outside the church to see the various weddings. Someone waved and shouted, ‘Hello, Cara!’ and Cara recognized a girl she’d used to work with in Boots. It seemed so long ago that it was hard to believe she was the same person who’d stood behind a counter selling sticking plasters and tins of ointment.

Eleanor was waiting for them in the porch. ‘Come quickly,’ she urged. ‘The organist didn’t turned up, so Dexter was persuaded to take his place and he’s been playing “Ole Man River” over and over again. It must be the only tune he knows that sounds like a hymn. Some people actually started to sing and the priest is going berserk.’

‘Mammy!’ Sean cried joyfully when they entered the church, and there was a loud ‘Shush, darlin’,’ from Brenna.

Dexter must have been alerted that they’d arrived and he began to play a syncopated version of ‘Here Comes the Bride’. Fielding looked undecided as to whether to tuck her arm in Colm’s or hold on to the bouquet. ‘Here, luv,’ Colm said tenderly, ‘let us carry the flowers so I can lead you down the aisle and you can pretend I’m your dad.’

 

Oh, Lord! Brenna thought sometime later, any minute now I’m going to bawl me head off. It’s all so desperately
sad
. Fergus and Fielding had just exchanged vows and he’d had to slip the ring on to the third finger of her right hand because her left one was missing. A sudden bout of coughing and sniffing had overtaken the congregation. Still, the girl was marrying into a good, caring family. The Caffreys would look after her: she could count on that.

And just look at our Cara! Brenna’s heart swelled with pride. Tall and slim with a calm smile on her face, she looked a picture in that frock, although it was a bit off the shoulder for Brenna’s taste, showed too much flesh. Eleanor should have made a scarf to go around her neck. And Kitty looked dead pretty in that sort of Victorian pinafore thing with a lace blouse underneath - give Eleanor her due, she was handy with a needle.

Brenna doubted if there was a woman in Liverpool who had better-looking children than she had. Was there, for instance, a film star in Hollywood who could wear a uniform with such elegance as Tyrone? If that snooty bitch Sybil Allardyce thought she could get her hands on him, she had another think coming. Fergus, a tiny bit smaller, a tiny bit paler than his brother, nevertheless looked terribly distinguished in his new suit and new glasses. Anyone who didn’t know would have sworn he was a doctor or a headmaster, someone very grand and highly educated.

Sean squirmed on her knee and she patted his leg, whispering, ‘Stay still, darlin’. It’ll soon be over and then you can go to your mammy. Look at Bernard, he’s being as good as gold.’ Bernard had seemed a bit lost at first among so many strangers, his dad otherwise occupied giving the bride away, but Nancy had taken him under her wing and he looked perfectly content to be cuddled on her knee.

Brenna wasn’t sure whether to be glad or sorry that Lizzie Phelan had taken herself off to America. Most probably she was sorry for Colm and glad for herself because now she stood a chance of getting him back. So far as Colm was concerned, she didn’t have an ounce of pride - she would take him back tomorrow, today, if he asked.

 

Eleanor hadn’t expected to cry. After all, it was a joyful occasion. She felt sure Fergus and Fielding would be very happy: there was no reason on earth for tears.

Except the bride had no sooner joined the bridegroom at the altar when it dawned on her that she would never see Jonathan get married. It was a privilege than had been lost to her. She held her breath, determined not to cry and make a show of herself, and glanced at Hector. Was he was thinking the same thing about Morag? But she couldn’t tell: his face was grim, as it so often was. After a few seconds, she was forced to release the breath and with it came the tears and a muffled sob. She was aware of Hector shuffling closer and his arm went around her shoulders, squeezing them. He whispered something in her ear and she froze, wondering if she’d heard right. She looked at him again and this time he was smiling.

‘Yes, Hector,’ she whispered back, wiping the tears from her face. ‘Yes, I will marry you.’

 

The music could be heard all over the house, in the kitchen, up in the bedrooms. ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, ‘Whistle While You Work’, ‘Wanting You’ . . . The wedding would be the last time Dexter would play the piano in Parliament Terrace. In a few days, he was being transferred to somewhere on the south coast, along with Eddie and Nelson, their precise destination so far unknown. It was rumoured a vast army was gathering in the south to prepare for the invasion of France and the eventual routing of Hitler.

After three and a half years of fighting, the Allies finally had the enemy on the run. The Japanese had been forced by American might to retreat in the Pacific; in Russia the Germans lost whole armies of men as they were relentlessly driven back; and the British were gradually winning in North Africa. Night after night, day after day, Allied planes flew over Berlin, reducing the city to rubble.

By no means did this mean the war was almost over. People were still dying in their thousands in battle or when their ships were sunk. There was a long way to go before the conflict ended, but at least the journey had begun.

‘You look very serious, Cara. Is there something wrong, honey?’

Cara looked up, startled, to find Jack McGarry looking down at her. He was a distant cousin of Eddie’s who’d only arrived in Warrington a few days ago. Eddie had brought him to the wedding in place of Nelson. ‘No, I just got involved in this long chain of thought about the war, starting with you all being sent to the south coast.’

‘I won’t be going, not for a while yet.’ He was older than his cousin, about twenty-five, with a fine-featured, sensitive face and thick curly hair. His eyes were so dark they were almost black. They’d been introduced earlier and Cara had felt an immediate attraction. It was impossible to miss the look of admiration on his face when they shook hands. ‘Why are you sitting out here on your own, honey?’

‘Sean and Bernard insist on playing in the hallway. I thought I’d best keep an eye on them in case they get into mischief.’ She was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, feeling a bit out of things, as she watched the boys who’d become instant friends. Laughter issued from the dining room, Dexter was playing the piano in the parlour where Fielding had started to sing, and there was an animated discussion taking place in the kitchen: something to do with politics. It sounded as if Nancy and her dad were involved.

‘Fancy some company?’

‘I wouldn’t mind.’

‘Are the little guys cousins?’ he asked as he sat beside her.

‘No, believe it or not, Bernard - he’s the biggest - is Sean’s uncle. Sean belongs to me, Kitty, too. Me and Kitty were bridesmaids at the wedding,’ she explained. He probably had no idea who Kitty was.

He smiled. ‘I must admit that at the wedding I didn’t take much notice of anyone except the tall bridesmaid in pink. What’s that song? - I only had eyes for you.’

Before Cara could think of what to say to such an outrageous compliment, Fielding and Fergus came bursting out of the parlour and announced it was time they went on their honeymoon, but first they had to get changed.