In The Name Of Love
Page 15
Cyril drove, and Joyce decided to sit in the back with April. She held her hands and said, "If this doesn't work out, don't be upset, my dear. I know your intentions are of the best, and you would not say or do anything to hurt me."
"I'm so worried, though."
"I cannot tell you how I feel, my dear. Part of me is bursting with excitement that it may be Arnold, and the rest of me is filled with worries. I worry that it isn't him, I worry that if it is him he won't know me, and I worry that his imprisonment has affected him…"
"Oh, Joyce," said April, close to tears as she gave her a hug.
"This way," Cyril said, pointing towards the offices, when they arrived. He'd phoned ahead and spoken to the medical office in charge of that patient, and they were to meet the doctor now, in his office.
The doctor was a middle-aged man, who April had frequently passed in the corridors, but had never spoken to him. He cleared his throat and said, "The patient does not have a name that we know of, because he's never spoken to anybody since the French hospital passed him over just five years ago. Apparently they weren't sure of his nationality, until they saw him reading an English newspaper."
"Is he ill, or…" Joyce asked, rubbing her hands with worry.
"Shell-shock is the best description. That, together with the fact that for some reason he just doesn't wish to speak, or perhaps cannot. I think perhaps he is also suffering from loss of memory, or at least a partial loss. It is difficult to tell with a patient who cannot communicate."
"Can we see him now?" asked Joyce.
"I don't want you to meet him in the ward, in case it upsets other patients, so I've asked a nurse to bring him to this room. They're probably waiting outside," he said, going over to the door, "But please remain calm, with no sudden movements that might shock or upset him."
Joyce looked at him, her face white and strained. She saw him beckon with his hand and then she saw a middle aged man with gray hair shuffle into the room, with his eyes firmly on the ground ahead of him. He was clutching something in his hand.
Joyce stood up and moved closer so she was just a few feet from him. She tried to see his features, but the man held his face low. From his stature and demeanour, it did not appear to be Arnold, but a look at his face would soon tell her.
She heard a sniffing sound, and realised the man was sniffing deeply, as if trying to smell something.
She saw the man staring at her feet and slowly he lifted his head so he could see her legs, waist, and body. When his head came up to look at her face, she held her breath. This looked so much like her Arnold, but there was so much pain on his face, it was hard to tell.
The man breathed in deeply, then tried to speak.
"Arr..mmm…kud."
He stopped for a moment, looked into her eyes, and then said, "Joy..Joyce?"
She could hold back no longer and stepped forward to wrap her arms around him.
"Oh Arnold, what have they done to you, my dear?"
Tears were flowing freely from each person in the room.
Arnold raised his hand and gave the tattered photo to Joyce and said, "The Germans shot you, but I never forgot your face."
She took her copy of the photograph from her handbag and gave it to him. She said, "I never forgot you, Arnold, and now you can always remember me…"
EPILOGUE
Arnold had a lot of memories lost or damaged, but with careful nursing from Joyce most of the important ones returned. They spent hours together in her private sitting room, looking through old photographs and remembering the happy times.
They had an unspoken agreement that neither would ask the other about the missing years they'd lost, but would concentrate on their years ahead. The house in Stockport was sold, and they went to live in Peacehaven, spending the mornings at home and the afternoons walking along the beaches, and shopping in the town.
April and Cyril managed to marry exactly two days before their son was born. Joyce and Arnold were godparents at George's christening, and promised him many summer holidays with them in Peacehaven.
Worthington Insurance Brokerage became very successful, and was soon the leading business of its type in Stockport. Their new offices were fantastic, and although they had a room she could use as a crèche, April did not go there too often – after all, she was busy growing a sister for George!
Edna mourned the loss of her lover, when she read about him and Beryl in the Sunday scandal sheets. She found solace in the arms of the widower next door, who'd been wooing her for five years. They married and knocked the two homes together and ran a small bed and breakfast business for tourists. It didn't make a lot of money, but they were tremendously happy together and when April and George came over for visits, they were treated like royalty.
Beryl insisted on marrying Grant, once his divorce papers came through. They bought a small restaurant on the Corso in Manly, on the North Shores of Sydney. Once the last diners had gone home, they cleaned up for morning and went upstairs to bed.
In the restaurant, the diners all knew who was boss, and used to smile at the way she ordered her husband around. The Australian wives frequently looked over at their chauvinistic husband's and wished they could do the same, but knew all it would get them was a black eye, or even a broken rib or two.
In the bedroom, Beryl really came into her own and out came the collection of sex-toys she'd purchased from a room behind a seedy little shop in Paddington, and for the next hour or two she put Grant through his paces.
In room 405 of the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, two guests who'd arrived only that day on holiday were dressing for dinner.
"Do you think they'll be surprised to see us?" said Jack Morgan, cigarette dangling from his mouth as he spoke.
"Well, if we're not a surprise, I'm pretty sure these photographs will be," said Raymond Agnew, spreading the large 10" by 8" black and white photos of Beryl and Grant in the most compromising sexual activities.
"How much do you reckon they'll pay?"
"I don't know, but I suggest we agree a price on the photos and negatives first, and when we've got that in our hot little hands, we can show them the movie!"
"I love it," said Jack, lighting yet another cigarette, "I love it. And if they give us any trouble we'll visit the Sydney Newspapers, they'll publish anything with a bit of scandal attached to it…