THE WAR BRIDE CLUB (27 page)

      
Charlie
. She would never forget him.
 

There was something about Luke that was starting to remind her of Charlie, finally, after all this time. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but somewhere, lurking beneath the surface, there was something. Something she hadn’t seen before, but that she could see now that he was suddenly spending a lot more time at home.
 

      He turned to face her. Smiled. Or gave her half of a smile.
 

      “What are your plans for the day, Betty?” Luke asked.
 

      She put her cup down and turned her body to face him. He was sitting at the morning table, paper spread out in front of him, the remnants of yesterday’s paper spilling across the wooden top.
       

      “Nothing planned.” She never had anything planned. Aside from the girls she’d met on her way over, she knew nobody. Had no one. So her days were filled with caring for William, talking to and helping Ivy, and making her way through the books in the library. What she needed to do was find her friends. She could use their support. But for some reason she still hadn’t tried to make contact with them and neither had they found her.

      “I thought we’d make a trip to see my parents,” he told her.
 

      She felt slightly light-headed.
His parents?

      “I didn’t know they wanted to meet me,” Betty said.
 

      He took a sip of his coffee and started to fold the paper back together. “Quite the opposite. They’ve been telling me how inappropriate it is to have you locked away here in the house of a bachelor, when they could accommodate for you in their home.”

      He must have seen the ashen shade of her face. It was like all the blood had drained straight through her skin.

      “Relax.” It was one of the few times she’d seen him direct a full smile her way. “I’m not going to drive you there and leave you. I just feel like I’ve neglected you, and now that I have everything under control at work, I want to spend some time with you and William. “

      She let out a slow breath. It had taken all her efforts to settle here, but without Ivy, she’d be a mess. Even talking to Luke sometimes took it out of her, on the rare occasions she’d actually spent time with him. He was usually up and gone by the time she rose, and home only once she’d already taken herself off to bed.
 

      Ivy entered the room then to clear the breakfast dishes.
 

      “I was just telling Betty that today might be a good day to introduce her to my mother and father.”

      Ivy exchanged a quick smile with Betty. Luke didn’t miss it.
 

      “And I’ve no doubt she’s heard all about them from you,” he said in a dry tone.

      “I haven’t even mentioned them.”

Ivy did a terrible job of disguising her feelings.
 

      “They’re not all bad, despite what you might have heard,” Luke told Betty.
 

      “That why did you moved away from home so quickly, Master Luke?”

      He swatted with a hand in Ivy’s direction. “Enough with the Master Luke and enough with the analysis.”

      Betty giggled. She couldn’t help it. Up until now, she’d wondered if Luke was even capable of humor. Had wondered if they’d ever just enjoy the simplicity of one another’s company, or if he’d manage to keep avoiding her forever.

      “Enough from you, too.” He pointed his finger and laughed back. “I don’t need two women ganging up on me.”

      Ivy tutted and left the room, dishes piled in her hands.
 

      “So?” Luke asked.
 

      “It would be lovely to meet them.” Betty smiled. “But promise you’ll bring me straight back here afterward. I don’t want to stay with them.”

      Luke rose and stopped to talk to William. That was a first too.
 

      Her little boy was lying on the large sofa, swaddled in a soft blanket and cocooned by pillows so he wouldn’t fall off. He had been busy gurgling and talking to himself the entire time they’d had breakfast.
 

      “You want to meet your grandparents, little guy?” Luke asked him.
 

      Betty moved to stand beside him. William had his little hands fisted, thrust into the air, and he was verging on smiling.
 

      “Smile for your uncle, go on now?”

      She leaned forward and tickled under his chin. His bottom lip started to quiver.

      “Come on, William.”

      He swapped his gaze from Betty back to Luke. She could see Luke smiling back at him from the corner of her eye.

      “Oh, look!” She laughed as William performed a series of smiles and funny expressions.
 

      Luke laughed, too. He reached out one finger for William to grab hold of.
 

      “I think he likes you,” Betty told him.
 

      Luke looked at her. They were standing close, both hovering over the baby. Too close.
 

      He jerked back, releasing William’s hold. The baby started to cry.
 

      “I’m sorry, I…”

      Betty reached for William. He started to smile again as she pulled him into her arms.
 

      “He’s a big faker, that’s all.” She kissed his forehead and turned her back so he could look over her shoulder at Luke again.

      “I think we should leave in an hour, if that suits you. I’ll advise them we’re coming.”

      Betty turned around, only to see Luke’s back. Had she said something wrong for him to be so abrupt?

      Ivy appeared, her eyebrows pulled close, as if in question.
 

      “I’m not sure if I upset Luke. I…”

      “He’s just a bit confused. You know, not used to babies,” Ivy told her.
 

      Betty shrugged, but she was hurt.
 

      “Or women,” Ivy continued.
 

      She found that hard to believe. He wasn’t Charlie, but he was handsome. Thick dark hair, brown eyes, tall. And he owned a beautiful home and what must be a successful business. Why would he not have experience with women?
 

      Ivy read her expression.
 

      “I’ll tell you all about it one day,” Ivy said, patting her on the shoulder as she passed. “Mind you, after today, you might figure it out yourself.”

      Betty didn’t have time to interrogate her, not with only an hour until they left.
 

      “What should I take? Do I need to get dressed up? Take an overnight bag?”

      Ivy shook her head. “No to the overnight bag. Luke will be sick of them from the moment you arrive. Smart dress, but be comfortable. It’ll take you well over an hour even in that fast car of his.”

      “And William?” Betty asked.
 

      “Do you want to leave him here?”

      “No! I mean, it’s not that I don’t trust you, I just…”

      “Of course. Just be sure to take a warm blanket for the car and you’ll be fine.”

      She felt a sudden rush of affection toward Ivy. There was something about this woman that she had grown to love over a very short span of time.
 

      Betty walked forward and planted a kiss on Ivy’s cheek.
 

      “What was that for?”

      “For just being you.”

Betty was thankful William had fallen asleep so fast. The motion of the car had seemed to lull him, and he was tucked against her, his little body rising and falling in slumber.
 

      Luke had been quiet but pleasant company. She just wasn’t sure what to talk about. Or how to start a conversation with him. Even after all this time, it felt odd not having Charlie here, too.

      She watched out the window, as the landscape changed from city to country. It was pretty here, but so different from her home.
 

      “Did many of your friends marry soldiers?”

      The sound of his voice took her by surprise. She turned to face him as he glanced sideways at her.
 

      “A few of my friends dated soldiers, Americans, but I was the only one to marry.”

      He nodded, eyes fixed firmly on the road.
 

      “Charlie told me you two met at a dance,” he said.
 

      She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering Charlie watching her from across the room, then making his way over. “We sure did.”

      “He also wrote to say that he knew from the moment he saw you that he was going to marry you.”

      She liked that Luke was smiling as he spoke. It made it easier for her just to talk to him, candidly, knowing that Charlie had shared his true feelings with him.
 

      “I thought it was just an infatuation with a pretty girl, but he was pretty determined where you were concerned.”

      They fell into silence again. This time it was comfortable though. She didn’t mind the quiet – it gave her time to think about Charlie, and it was nice being able to talk with Luke about him. Ivy was great, but Betty had desperately wanted to be accepted by Luke. For him to like her, rather than just feel she was his burden now his brother was gone.
 

      “Betty, you never did tell me how the trip was.”      

      The simple fact was that he’d never asked her. In fact, they’d hardly talked properly before, except for the odd exchange of pleasantries, so of course she hadn’t told him.
 

      “Ah, it was interesting,” she said.

      He glanced over at her again. “How so?”

      “Well, the fact that I hid my pregnancy to get on the ship, then ended up having William during the voyage, made it quite a trip.”

      He laughed. “I’m sure it did.”

      “But I met some wonderful girls, and we had a lot of fun.”

      She was watching him and saw his smile disappear,
 
replaced by a more tense expression. “Would you still have come, if you’d got my message?”

      Betty stared out the window. She’d asked herself that question over and over again, so many times. Truth was, she didn’t know the answer.
 

      “Honestly, Luke, I don’t know. I had nothing in London, no family, but I wouldn’t have asked you to take me in. I wouldn’t have expected your charity.”

      “It’s not that I don’t want you here, Betty. Please don’t feel like you’re a burden to me. Don’t ever think that.”

      She nodded. Sometimes it did worry her. Often. It was hard not to.

      “Charlie and I were very close. We had our arguments, but I loved my brother. You meant a lot to him, I know that. But I wasn’t sure when you got here if it was just about the money or…” 
      “I didn’t even know Charlie came from money.” She wasn’t going to keep quiet over the truth, not on this subject. “Other girls came here with big dreams, but I came here for Charlie and for no other reason. I loved your brother, Luke, even if that’s hard for you to understand.”

      She saw the clamp of his jaw, the anger in his gaze. He slowed down, pulled off the road onto the shoulder, and came to a complete stop, .
 

      He kept his hands on the steering wheel, even as he looked at her.
 

      “I thought Charlie had just fallen in love with some foreign girl, you know, taken it into his head some broad loved him as much as he supposedly loved her.”

      She felt anger starting to pulse deep inside her now. Until she heard Luke’s voice soften.
 

      “But after that first night, when I saw you with William, I knew that wasn’t the case. Every day when I come home and Ivy tells me how much she’s enjoying your company, I see what Charlie saw. I know you didn’t come looking for a lifestyle and money. I know that you loved my brother, and that he loved you.”

      Relief washed through her, down every inch of her body.
 

      He looked uncomfortable, but she was so relieved they’d had this talk.
 

      “You’ll both always be welcome in my home, Betty. I want you to know that.”

      “And I’m grateful, Luke. Truly I am.”

      He put the car in gear again, cleared his throat, and then pulled out onto the road. Conversation over.
 

      “So tell me about these friends you made on the ship.”

      Betty smiled. He was as good at changing the subject as Charlie had been.
 

      “Funny you should ask, because I might need your help,” she told him.