by Anne Bennett
He looked at Lizzie and added, ‘You said once you’d already visited Hell, and now I know what you mean.’
All the children were intrigued by Scott, who was supposed to have died in the war, and Tom’s standing rose in the street because he had a real-life American visiting his house.
‘It’s cos he’s our Georgia’s daddy,’ Tom told them proudly one day. ‘She hasn’t got a mammy so our mammy has been looking after her when her daddy was fighting and that.’
‘Has he come to take her home then, back to America?’ one boy asked.
Tom was suddenly very still. He’d never thought of that. He faced the fact that that was probably why the man had come, to take Georgia away with him, and he was filled with misery and sadness at the thought of Georgia leaving them.
Lizzie wondered why she hadn’t anticipated this. She’d been so thrilled to see Scott alive she hadn’t thought of anything else, but the children had accepted the lie that she had told them. She should have known this would come up sooner or later.
‘Is he going to take our Georgia back to America or not then?’ Tom asked, after recounting what the boy had said to him.
Lizzie didn’t know what to say to the child, who was so obviously upset at the thought of losing Georgia, and he was still far too young to be told the truth. She parried, playing for time. ‘It’s not as cut and dried as that, Tom.’
‘Why ain’t it?’ Tom said, scrubbing the tears from his eyes with his sleeve impatiently. ‘I can’t see any other reason for him coming here.’
‘Georgia doesn’t know Scott yet. He wants to get to know her again.’
‘And then take her?’
Over my dead body, Lizzie thought, but didn’t say this as she put her arms around her son. Normally he’d have pushed his mother away, thinking he was too old for such things, but he was grateful now for the arms around him as Lizzie said, ‘Nothing is decided yet, really it isn’t.’
She knew Tom wasn’t satisfied, and when Niamh also attacked her that evening with similar questions, she knew they had been talking, understandably, discussing it. Celia had been home from work and she said when the children had gone to bed, ‘What are you going to do?’
‘I’ll talk to Scott tomorrow. Maybe he’ll think of something.’
However, Scott had no magical solution. ‘Let me talk to them,’ he suggested to Lizzie, ‘after Georgia is in bed this evening.’
‘Aye,’ Lizzie said, and added, ‘At least that is one who is very glad you are here.’
Scott smiled, for the little girl was totally enchanted to find she had a real live daddy after all this time. She remembered being told he had died, but they’d made a mistake, her daddy told her. He’d been in a camp, not dead at all, and she was very glad about that.
‘The most important person here is Georgia,’ Scott told the children. ‘This is her home and you are her family. Oh, I know she is all over me at the moment, but that is because I am new, someone different.’
‘But she’s your little girl,’ Niamh said.
‘Yeah, I know, and one I haven’t seen for four years,’ Scott said. ‘That’s what I meant by saying that Georgia and how she feels is the only important issue here, even more important than the fact I am her father. How could I take her away from all of you, especially your mother? You would be unhappy, but she would be distraught, I imagine.’
‘So you won’t be taking her away?’
‘For a holiday maybe, when she knows me better,’ Scott said. ‘That’s all.’
‘So she can stay with us for always?’ Niamh asked.
‘It’s where she is happiest,’ Scott said simply.
It was Lizzie’s greatest desire to feed Scott good, wholesome food to build him up. Within a couple of days the lines had begun to disappear from his face and he had become much more relaxed. He was still far too thin, but with rations how they were she was at a loss to know what to do about food. Not that Scott ate much at the house, taking most of his meals at the hotel.
Scott himself could remember well the shortages of wartime, and from what he’d seen, things were no better yet. He had a surprise coming any day that would, he knew, put a smile on Lizzie’s face. He’d flown over to England, but the surprise had had to come by sea and there had been a little delay, for the only ships so far returned to civilian duties that trawled across the Atlantic were those detailed to bring the girls who’d married American servicemen back home to the States. But he was expecting news of it soon.
In the meantime he seldom came empty-handed. Hearing of the children’s delight at their first sight of a banana, he started to bring fruit—not just bananas, but apples, oranges, pears, and even grapes. He bought them their first pomegranate and taught them how to eat the purple seeds inside.
But although Scott enjoyed spending time with the children, what he liked most was time alone with Lizzie. As one day slid into another they became easier with one another and Celia would often slip around to Violet’s to give them time alone.
They could talk for hours and never run out of things to say, and Lizzie felt her feelings for Scott deepen, but she didn’t know how she could tell him this for she didn’t know how he felt. Sometimes he would reach for her hand as they sat together, or drape an arm around her, and she would snuggle against him and give a little sigh of contentment. Scott would hold her closer and feel himself relax and begin to hope that Lizzie was warming to him.
‘And how is your lovely mother-in-law?’ he asked her one day.
‘Dead, thank God,’ Lizzie said. ‘Oh, and you remember the night I told you Steve’s brother Neil and two of his mates tried to rape me and might have succeeded if it hadn’t been for Celia?’
‘I remember,’ Scott said grimly. ‘I said I would like to meet them some day and give them all a dust-up for what they did to you.’
Lizzie shook her head. ‘They’ve had their just deserts,’ she said. ‘Roy and Stuart never came back after D-day and Neil was damaged all down his left side and has lost his left arm and left leg.’
‘And did you feel sorry for him?’
‘No, I didn’t,’ Lizzie said. ‘I don’t know what sort of person that makes me.’
‘A normal one,’ Scott replied, and kissed her lightly on the cheek, and Lizzie put her arms around Scott’s neck and held him tight.
The next day Scott turned up at the door with a large tea chest, which he helped the taxi driver carry into the living room.
‘What is it?’ Lizzie asked, intrigued.
‘You’ll see,’ Scott said, the smile nearly splitting his face in half as he anticipated Lizzie’s delight.
He wasn’t disappointed, for when the lid was prised off Lizzie was rendered speechless, for the chest contained food she hadn’t seen for years, all in tins and packages, and so much of it. There was ham and pork and spiced sausages, even tins of sliced chicken and beef and lots of dried egg powder. There were cans of fruit, pineapple, oranges and peaches, and jars of jam of every flavour and others of honey and something else, which Scott said was peanut butter, and two large jars of coffee as well as many, many packets of tea. There were bars of chocolate, a tin of toffees, and a much larger tin housing a huge fruit cake, and tucked down the side a bag containing six pairs of nylon stockings.
‘Oh Scott!’
‘You’re not crying?’
Lizzie gave a sniff and dashed the tears from her eyes with her fingers. ‘Only a little,’ she said. ‘I can’t find the words to tell you what all this means.’
‘It had to come by ship, so that is why you’ve had to wait a while,’ Scott said, and Lizzie was overcome by Scott’s thoughtfulness, his kindness, and when he swept her into his arms she went without a moment’s hesitation. For the first time their lips met and Lizzie felt an explosion inside her and knew that the things both were hesitant to talk about had been decided by that kiss.
Scott led Lizzie to the sofa and, sitting beside her, picked up one of her hands. ‘We need to do some straigh
t talking, Lizzie,’ he said, ‘because I know that you’re the woman I have waited all my life to meet. I love you with every part of me. There isn’t a way I could ever hope to show you how much I love you. I’ve known this since the first time I met you, I think, though those first few visits were tinged with guilt. I know for years you thought I was dead, lost to you, and I don’t expect you to feel as deeply as I do, but have you any feelings for me at all?’
‘Oh Scott,’ Lizzie said. ‘You don’t know how I’ve longed for you to say something like this. I thought I’d misinterpreted the way you looked at me sometimes.’
‘You mean there is hope for me?’
‘More than just hope,’ Lizzie told him. ‘I too have never loved anyone before.’
‘Not your husband?’
‘No,’ Lizzie admitted. ‘He knew, I think, that I didn’t. I married him because it was easier than trying to find a future on my own. Britain was a strange place then, and millions were out of work. I’d lost my job through illness, and my place to live too, because I worked in a hotel. Steve offered me marriage, begged me to marry him, and it was easier to agree than try and figure things out myself. But never before have I felt this fluttering in my heart that I get when I look at you. I want you to put your arms around me and hold me tight, and I want you to kiss me properly.’
‘Oh God, Lizzie,’ Scott said. ‘You shall have all that, my darling. You’ll have everything you want, but there are serious implications too. Tell me truthfully how you feel about the colour of my skin?’
Lizzie looked at this honourable and considerate man, his love for her reflected in those deep, dark eyes, and she said, ‘You deserve honesty. When you appeared in my life and told me about your brother, I was devastated and, yes, embarrassed to be seen with you, embarrassed to walk the streets. But I see that as stupidity on my part and ignorance on the part of anyone else who views it differently. Now, I’d be proud to be seen with you.’
‘Would you consider marrying me?’ Scott asked. ‘Please think carefully before you answer. All in all, we’ve known each other such a small amount of time, and marriage will mean us all living in America. And there’s something else: I am not a Catholic.’
‘I know that.’
‘And I’ll not turn,’ Scott said. ‘However, I’ll not stop you practising your religion, nor any children we might have.’
‘Scott, I want to marry you,’ Lizzie said. ‘I always understood that when a woman married a man she went with that man to the ends of the earth if necessary. The religion bit is difficult because, if I’m to be married in the eyes of God, it must be done in a Catholic Church, and they do not like mixed marriages. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. As for not knowing each other long, well, we’re not a couple of teenagers who don’t know our minds, are we? I have never felt this way before and I don’t expect to ever feel this way again.’
‘You don’t know how happy you have made me,’ Scott told her. ‘I feel ten feet tall; I feel like telling everyone, shouting it from the rooftops, but I’ll content myself by asking you if you will accept this and do me the honour of wearing it? I see you have no engagement ring.’
Lizzie had been given an engagement ring by Steve. As he’d boasted the night Tressa got engaged, the night she’d told him it was over, his ring for Lizzie was larger, more lavish, and, she guessed, far more expensive than the one Mike had bought, and Lizzie had never liked it. To her it was like Steve was showing off, showing the world how much he loved his wife. She would have appreciated Steve’s company more, cuddling her before the fire, listening to the wireless, or just talking, or risking Flo’s wrath, or going to the pictures, or taking in a show now and again, and not to have to share her husband with prostitutes.
She’d taken the engagement ring off and put it in her case the day the priest took her to the convent, and had never worn it again. She intended giving it to Niamh when she was older, but the one Scott presented her with was exquisite. The centre was a sparkling blue sapphire, surrounded by diamonds that twinkled in the lights, and she slipped it on her finger and kissed Scott on the lips. ‘I’ll be proud to wear it,’ she said.
She felt incredibly lucky to have another chance like this. And yet she knew there were problems and possible heartache ahead. She didn’t know how the children would take to Scott as a father figure, and more particularly whether they would view moving to America as an opportunity or something to dread.
But when Scott kissed her, all her apprehensions fled, and when he gently teased her lips open she groaned with longing, and how she wanted to take this further. But she knew that any minute the children would be in from school and she pulled away with difficulty. ‘The children will be here soon,’ she said in explanation. ‘Can you help me put all this food away, and then…then I will cook a meal fit for a king. A meal to celebrate the fact that you have made me the happiest woman on God’s earth.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Niamh noticed the ring straight away, as Lizzie knew she would. Scott had gone out for a walk so that Lizzie could talk to the children alone. ‘If I’m here they might feel constrained and not be totally honest about how they really feel, and after all it is a lot for them to contend with.’ It was just another sign of his thoughtfulness that Lizzie so loved him for, so she sat with the children and told them all of their plans to marry. ‘Scott will be your new daddy,’ Lizzie told them. ‘Will you mind that?’
Niamh considered this and eventually said, ‘No, I don’t think so, Mammy, Scott’s all right. I suppose we’ll have to live in America too?’
‘Will you mind that?’
‘No,’ Niamh said. ‘I’d quite like that.’
‘Tom?’
‘Scott’s better than all right,’ Tom grinned. ‘He’s great, but if we have to live in America then he’d better start teaching me baseball. I don’t want to go over to America and be called dumb cos I don’t know the rules.’
‘You’re dumb anyway,’ Niamh said. ‘Will you shut up about sport. We’re talking about Scott.’
‘Well so am I, stupid.’
‘Children!’ Lizzie admonished. ‘Stop arguing. Goodness, I’m not sure Scott will want to adopt you if you go on like this.’
‘Adopt us?’
‘To be your daddy, yes.’
‘Right,’ Niamh said.
‘What is it, Niamh?’
‘You’ll wear his ring then,’ Niamh said slowly, ‘like, Scott’s engagement ring now?’
‘Aye.’
‘What about the rings Daddy gave you?’
‘They’re still precious to me, Niamh,’ Lizzie said gently. ‘But, you see, I can’t wear them when I’m married to Scott. I thought to give them to you when you’re sixteen. Would you like that?’
‘Ooh, Mammy, yes. Yes I would.’
‘That’s settled then.’
‘Can I have our Dad’s watch then?’ Tom asked.
Lizzie remembered when Tom was sitting on Steve’s knee he would always put the watch to his ear to hear the loud tick. Because Steve had been killed cleanly by a sniper’s bullet, the watch on his wrist had been intact and returned with his effects. So she was able to say, ‘Of course you can.’
‘What can I have?’ Georgia asked.
‘Nothing,’ Niamh said. ‘He wasn’t your daddy.’
‘That’s not fair.’
‘Yes it is. You’ve still got your daddy.’
‘Well then,’ Georgia said mutinously, ‘I’m not going to any America.’
‘You’ve got no choice,’ Tom taunted her. ‘You’re just a baby.’
‘I’m not.’
‘Oh yes you are’.
Lizzie scooped Georgia up just before her booted foot struck Tom on the shin. ‘Stop it,’ she said. ‘And you stop teasing, Tom. God, you wear me out. Maybe I’ll go to America and leave the lot of you behind.’
Lizzie was sorry she’d said that when she saw the look on Tom and Niamh’s faces. They remembered a time when thei
r mother hadn’t been there. But it did ensure that for the rest of the evening they behaved like angels.
When Celia came home and was told, she too admired the ring and extended the warmest congratulations to them both, for Scott had returned from his walk. The sumptuous meal was followed by peaches with condensed milk dribbled over them, while Niamh and Tom plied Scott with questions about life in America.
‘Why don’t you two go out tonight?’ Celia suggested to Lizzie as they washed the dishes while Scott tucked Georgia into bed. ‘Sort of celebrate. You know I wouldn’t mind seeing to the children.’
‘You don’t have to look after me,’ Niamh protested. ‘I can see to myself.’
‘And me,’ said Tom, and Celia was grateful Georgia was in bed as she would undoubtedly have chimed in too. ‘Aye, well,’ she said, ‘I’m here anyway, so why don’t you take advantage of it?’
Scott, coming into the room at that moment, said, ‘We could go to the pictures if you’d like to. Brief Encounter is showing at the Gaumont in the city centre.’
‘How d’you know?’
‘It’s not far from the hotel where I’m staying,’ Scott said, ‘and I saw it when I took a walk out the other evening. I went to see the bomb damage. The city centre sure took a pounding.’
‘Aye, it did,’ Lizzie agreed. ‘There were times I thought it might all be razed to the ground.’
‘Well, would you like to see Brief Encounter?’
‘I wouldn’t mind.’
‘Well get a move on then,’ Celia said, and Lizzie made a face at her before opening the door to the stairs, but her insides were jumping with excitement. She was determined to make herself look good for this man of hers, and to wear a pair of the nylon stockings she’d received that day.
‘D’you think it’s all right, Celia, Mammy getting married and all?’ Niamh asked when Scott and Lizzie had gone.
‘Why not?’ Celia said. ‘Your daddy has been dead for years, and whatever your mammy does now she can’t change that. But she’s still young.’