Danny had tentatively selected a wedding date at the end of July — mainly, Bonnie guessed, to shut his mother up — and Bonnie had agreed. In fact, she would have married Danny tomorrow, but it was clear that nothing less than a big, swish society wedding would satisfy Cordelia, and that sort of event took time to arrange. And then there was the matter of their own home. Danny had purchased (with the help of his parents) a very nice house in the same neighbourhood — but thankfully, Bonnie thought, not too close. It was sitting empty at the moment, except for great heaps of wallpaper, paint and fabric samples, which he hoped Bonnie would have a look at as soon as she felt rested and settled. He would leave it all up to her. While he was poring over books about rare and revolting diseases, and techniques for setting recalcitrant bones, he could rest happy in the knowledge that their new house would be a lovely, welcoming home.
Bonnie was delighted, as she’d always wanted to have a go at interior decorating, but she felt a little guilty at having landed so squarely on her feet when poor Leila hadn’t even seen Jake yet, and was so clearly dying to. So she’d brushed everything else aside, even Cordelia’s offer to go shopping for fabric for her wedding gown, and made a point of spending as much time with her sister and niece as she could. They went sightseeing, had a good look at downtown Philadelphia and sent postcards to everyone in New Zealand they could think of. Leila bought Daisy two pairs of the cutest little denim dungarees to wear on Jake’s farm, and herself a cowboy hat to keep the sun off her face in case she went riding. She also sent a telegram to Jake to let him know when the train would be arriving.
There had been more tears and hugs as she and Daisy boarded the train, and promises that they would most definitely be back for Bonnie and Danny’s wedding in three months’ Time. But now, as she sat back and watched the city streets turn into suburban roads and then fields, she thought about what Danny had said when he’d taken her aside last night after dinner.
They’d sat down on a bench on the wide stone balcony overlooking the garden, and he’d given her a glass of cognac and lit a cigarette for her.
‘What I said on the day you and Bonnie arrived about Jake being a good man, well, I meant that.’
‘Yes?’ Leila wasn’t quite sure what Danny was getting at.
‘I really did, but, well …’ He ran his fingers through his hair hesitantly, as if he didn’t know how to phrase his next words.
‘What? What are you trying to say?’ Leila demanded, feeling a stab of panic.
‘Don’t worry, it isn’t anything really. It’s just that, well, it was rough on Okinawa, and it sort of affected Jake.’
‘What do you mean? He hasn’t got shell shock, has he?’
‘No, nothing like that, but he was very quiet afterwards though. And he hit the bottle for a while. Mind you, we all did that.’
‘He didn’t go with … well, you know what I mean.’ Leila wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the answer to this.
‘Other women? Hell, no. He talked about you and Daisy all the time. No, it’s more like he lost a bit of his spirit, but I’m sure he’ll be back to normal by now because it’s been almost a year. I just wanted to say that if he seems a little subdued and not like he was when we were in New Zealand, well, that’s probably why. That’s all, nothing serious.’
Leila exhaled in relief. Without being conscious of it she’d been steeling herself against hearing news a lot worse than that. Almost cheerfully, she said, ‘Well, thanks for telling me, Danny. I’m sure he’ll have come right by now, and if not, well, Daisy and I will just have to see what we can do about it, won’t we?’
‘That’s what I thought.’ Danny raised his glass. ‘So here’s to you and Jake, best of luck and may you prosper. And tell him I fully expect him to see him with you and Daisy at the wedding, okay?’
So it hadn’t been bad news, not really. Just something she might have to watch out for.
Daisy fell asleep almost as soon as the train left Philadelphia, and Leila drifted off half an hour later. When she woke it was almost lunchtime and they were both hungry, so they made their way to the dining car. If they had boarded the train from Manhattan they would have had the company of the girls from the Robert E. Lee, including Marjorie, who were travelling across country, but now it was just the two of them. The train stopped at regular intervals to let people on and off, and the other passengers in their compartment were friendly, and interested in where the young woman and her pretty daughter were from and where they were heading. Leila thought that was a good sign. And the scenery changed often, so there was always something to look at.
They spent the first night on the train stretched out on the seats, which wasn’t very comfortable, but it was better than having to sit up. When they woke early the next morning they were in Arkansas, according to the signs on the railway stations they went through. They would be getting off at a city called Alva in Harper County, the nearest railhead to the settlement of Wyman, beyond which Jake lived.
She surreptitiously sniffed her armpit. A bath would be very nice, but all they’d managed was a quick wash in a tiny handbasin in the train’s toilet. At the next stop, she and Daisy dashed off and bought several news papers and a comic to occupy them as the hours and the miles rattled past. It had been exciting at first, heading off across America by train, but now it was merely boring, and all the sitting was very hard on a person’s bottom. Daisy was extremely fidgety, and had been up and down the length of the train many times already.
On the tenth excursion, she came back leading an elderly black man by the hand. Leila could see from his uniform that he worked on the train.
‘Mum, here’s Mr Brakeman,’ Daisy announced.
The man laughed, showing dazzling white teeth in what was probably the blackest face Leila had ever seen.
‘No, Missy, I am the brakeman, my name is Jackson T. Phelps.’
‘Oh. Any way,’ Daisy added, ‘he’s never met a lady from New Zealand before.’
Jackson Phelps offered his hand. ‘Pleased to meet you, Missus Daisy’s Mother.’
‘It’s Mrs Kelly, Leila Kelly. Hello, Mr Phelps, I’m very pleased to meet you.’
‘We’ve never met a black man either, have we, Mum?’ Daisy said.
‘Daisy, manners!’
‘But we haven’t!’
‘It’s all right, Missus Kelly, she’s just a child. And ain’t it probably true, with y’all coming from New Zealand?’
‘Well, plenty of people from New Zealand are dark-skinned, but I have to be honest, Mr Phelps, hardly any are as dark as you are, if you don’t mind me saying so. I think it’s a bit of a novelty for Daisy, so please don’t be offended.’
‘It definitely ain’t no novelty for me, Missus, but no, I ain’t offended, not in the least. In fact I was just sitting on my little stool wondering what to do next when your Daisy appeared in the engine. As we don’t allow no children up in the engine, we thought we’d walk back together. Ain’t that right, Miss Daisy?’
‘Yep, it sure is,’ Daisy replied, having picked up some of the American vernacular already. ‘We’re going to live with my dad in a big house on a big farm, aren’t we, Mum?’
‘War bride?’ Jackson Phelps asked interestedly. ‘Seen a few of those over the last twelve months or so. Quite a few from New Zealand, too. So, where you heading?’
‘Someplace near Wyman. My husband has some land there. He’s meeting us at the railway station tonight.’
‘Is that right? Well, there’s plenty of land out that way, sure enough.’ He took his cap off and scratched the grey stubble on the back of his head. ‘But what I come to ask you was, your Daisy seems mighty bored and my old momma always said idle hands do the Devil’s work, so would you have any objection to me teaching her a few card games? Nothing like poker, just some simple tricks I teach my grandchildren when I’m at home, to give her something to do. I got nothing to do myself ’til we hit the next station.’
‘Whereabouts?’ Leila asked cautiously.
‘Right here, if that’s all right with you, Missus. I ain’t supposed to fraternise with the passengers, but who the hell’s going to see?’
Daisy giggled. ‘Jackson swore, Mum.’
Jackson made exaggerated spitting noises. ‘So I did. Wash ma mouth out with soap!’
Leila giggled herself this time. ‘Well, I suppose so. Just say when you’ve had enough, though. Daisy’s been known to wear down the most patient of people.’
‘Not me, Missus,’ Jackson chuckled. ‘You ain’t met my grandchildren.’
They played cards for two hours without a break, giving Leila the opportunity to doze, then go for a walk up and down the train herself. Outside the scenery was changing yet again. It was starting to look very dry and dusty, and flat for almost as far as the eye could see.
Then it was lunchtime, and Jackson had to go back to work. The afternoon passed just as slowly, although Jackson came back for an hour. Leila asked him about the history of the area, and he told her a rather depressing story about the dust storms that had come during the 1930s and destroyed almost all the crops and forced the landowners and workers to pack up everything they owned and drive away forever. But there were still people working the land, he said, and the federal government was starting to set up programmes to get the fields and the soil back to a state where crops could be grown again, although it was a slow and very expensive business. It was a fascinating and heartbreaking story, and Leila never once connected any of it to where she and Daisy were going to live.
At 10.30 that night, Jackson came through the car to let them know that they were about ten miles outside of Alva. Daisy bounced up and down on her seat excitedly, and Leila got to her feet and set about gathering their things.
Soon, the rhythm of the train changed and began to slow, and the occasional house flashed past in the semi-darkness of the night. It seemed that Alva wasn’t really a city at all, perhaps not even as big as Napier, but by then nothing could dampen their excitement. As the train came to a slow and noisy stop, Leila and Daisy waited at the end of the car to step down onto the station platform.
From the engine, Jackson watched as the woman and the little girl got off, and smiled to himself as a tall man appeared out of the shadows and stood with his arms spread wide in greeting.
There were no passengers or freight to pick up, so the train pulled out almost immediately.
The engine driver followed his brakeman’s gaze. ‘Where they headed?’
Jackson’s smile disappeared. ‘Wyman.’
‘Oh my Lord.’
Jake helped Leila and Daisy up into the cab of his rickety old truck. He couldn’t stop smiling, and Leila was far more relieved than she wanted to admit to see that he looked exactly as he had in New Zealand, except of course that now he was wearing overalls and an old work shirt, instead of his smart Marine uniform. He’d clearly been in the middle of working when he’d set off to collect them.
Daisy, who had suddenly become uncharacteristically shy the minute her father said hello and picked her up for a big hug, had fallen asleep.
Unexpectedly, Leila felt shy and tongue-tied herself, and almost as if she were sitting in the truck with a stranger. And she was, really; it had been almost four years since she had last seen Jake. She’d looked forward so much to this meeting, and now that it had arrived she didn’t know what to say.
They drove in silence for a while, then he asked her how she was and how things had been since he’d last seen her. So she told him, and then he talked about what he’d done since leaving Auckland, but not about the bit on Okinawa, and how it had been for him coming back home and being demobbed. And she talked about her family, and how most of her cousins were home from the war now, and what they all planned to do now that it was over. And all the while she watched miles and miles of identical, flat fields sweep past in the dark, while snatching glances at Jake when she thought he wasn’t looking. But he always was, and now and then she thought she caught a hint of sadness in his eyes, as if he were seeing something she couldn’t even begin to imagine.
They talked about Daisy, who was slumped against Leila and snoring her head off, Ginny at her feet. Leila spoke of what she wanted for their daughter, and Jake said nothing, just nodding as she talked.
His hair was longer now, curling where it touched his collar. He was as handsome as he’d ever been, and his body was still strong and hard. But the more Leila looked at him, the more her heart sank. There was absolutely nothing about him to justify what she was trying so hard to deny, but she knew that Jake had somehow changed. The flame that had once burned in him — the one that had made him swing her around to ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’, the one that had made her knees weak and set her on fire, the one that had so much made her want to say ‘I do’ when they were married — had gone out. He wasn’t cold, he was just … somewhere else.
But, she told herself, this was to be expected. She was probably the same; it had been such a long time and they would have to get to know each other all over again. It might take time but they would get back to the way they’d been before. They would.
The truck was a particularly elderly one, with a hole in the floor through which Leila was convinced she could see the gravel road, and it was rattly and draughty and the window at the back of the cab was missing. The headlights worked, though, and in them she caught brief glimpses of small animals — looking suspiciously liked stripey possums — as they dashed from the fields on one side of the road to the fields on the other.
‘What are they?’ she asked Jake.
‘What are what?’
‘Those little animals running across the road.’
‘I didn’t see. Gophers, maybe? Raccoons?’
‘What does a raccoon look like?’
‘Well, it looks like a … raccoon.’
‘Do they have stripes on their tails and sort of goggles on?’
Jake laughed. ‘Yep, sounds like a raccoon all right.’
Leila contemplated waking Daisy so she could see them too, but decided against it — there would be plenty of opportunities for her to see the local wildlife.
They were silent again, until Leila eventually asked, ‘How far now?’
‘About another thirty miles or so. The road gets quite rough just a bit further on.’
And so it did, but Leila didn’t feel the bumps and swerves as the truck went over and around various potholes, because she too had fallen asleep.
She woke with a jolt almost an hour later, wondering where she was.
Jake had pulled up in front of a small, L-shaped house in the middle of what appeared to be an endless field of stunted little bushes. By the moonlight she could see that the house had never been painted, and that the yard surrounding it was of bare earth. In front of the house stood a single tree with a tyre swing hanging from it, swaying gently in the breeze. A decrepit shed stood to one side, empty. Somewhere, not too far away, a dog was barking; otherwise the silence was total, except for the ticking of the truck’s motor as it cooled down.
She sat up. ‘Why have we stopped here? Are we lost?’
Jake looked at her, and in the moonlight his eyes were unreadable. He reached for her hand. ‘No, Leila, we’re home.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Kenmore, April 1946
Violet and Sam had been on a train too, the one that travelled from Wellington up to Napier.
Violet had been fine all the way across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans until they’d reached Australia, but then she had woken one morning in the cabin she and Sam shared, wondering if she was doing the right thing.
What if Billy’s parents rejected them? What if they denied that Sam was Billy’s son and wanted to have nothing at all to do with him? He was only a little boy, but he was very perceptive and Violet feared that such a rejection would harm him badly. He knew all about his father being a soldier from New Zealand, and that he and his mum had fallen in love but that his father had died in the war before they could be m
arried. There had been no secrets between mother and son, and no silly stories to explain away the fact that Sam had no father. But the possibility that his grandparents might not want to know him might prove too much for him. She hadn’t even written to them in advance, for that very reason. If she had, and they’d declined, she would eventually have had to tell Sam that they weren’t interested. But perhaps she should have done it that way after all. Billy had said his parents were wonderful people, but Billy was dead, and he would not be there when they finally did meet.
But it had been too late by then. So here she and Sam were, having trudged to the outskirts of Napier because she didn’t have the money for a taxi, standing on what she had been assured by a passing cyclist was the road out to where Billy’s parents lived, with their thumbs out hoping that some kind motorist would give them a lift. It was cool and they both had their winter coats on, but it was nowhere near as cold as early spring in England. They had one suitcase between them, and Sam was sitting on it with his head down, almost asleep he was so tired from all the travelling. He was wearing his little cap as well, and Violet bent down and pushed his dark hair back under the brim.
‘Won’t be long now, love,’ she promised. ‘Someone will come by soon and give us a ride.’
Sam said nothing, and continued to stare unseeingly at the stones on the road. He was exhausted and hungry, and his feet hurt in his new boots.
Violet gave him a kiss, and dug an apple out of her bag for him to eat while they waited. New Zealand was a very pretty place, she thought, almost like England in some ways, and there were all sorts of things in the shops that you couldn’t get at home, although the shopkeeper she’d spoken to earlier today had said that some items were still being rationed. But he’d given Sam a biscuit out of a huge jar on his counter for nothing.
Blue Smoke Page 36