by Anne Bennett
The doctor nodded. ‘There is someone special in her life, though.’
‘I don’t see how there can be,’ Bernadette said.
‘Ah yes, this much she has told me,’ the doctor told her. ‘Only she wouldn’t say who the man was. You see, all will not be lost if there is some arrangement between them. They can be married speedily and the problem solved.’
Bernadette shook her head. ‘St-Omer, like Paris, has few young men left. They are mostly enlisted in the army, and she has been given no opportunity to meet anyone, though the town has plenty of British soldiers.’
‘She would never have been given the opportunity to meet any of those, though,’ Raoul said.
‘Well, she met someone,’ the doctor said. ‘And it needs only one to put her in the state she’s in.’
‘Then I intend to find out who the man is,’ Bernadette said, ‘and, if possible, take the girl back to St-Omer and see if the man will do the decent thing by her. That little lady,’ she added grimly, ‘has some explaining to do.’
Gabrielle was sitting on her bed waiting for a visitation by her aunt, and when she saw her framed in the doorway, her face so full of sadness and disappointment, she cried, ‘Oh, Aunt Bernadette, I am so sorry.’
Bernadette crossed the room. ‘What possessed you, child?’
‘Auntie, we couldn’t help ourselves.’
‘Tell me, was it one or several men you lay with?’
Gabrielle was truly shocked. ‘One man only, Aunt, and one I love with all my heart and soul. What sort of girl do you take me for?’
‘You know, Gabrielle, a year ago that wouldn’t have been a hard question to answer,’ Bernadette said, disappointment being replaced by anger. ‘But now I don’t know what sort of girl you have turned out to be. A girl who lies down and offers herself like some repulsive harlot is not the sort of person I would wish to be related to.’
Gabrielle recoiled from the harsh words, and yet she tried to defend herself. ‘It wasn’t like that, truly it wasn’t!’ she cried desperately, yet she knew that is how everyone would view it. The love she and Finn had shared in the farmhouse would be tainted and spoiled, and she could almost feel a coldness between her and her aunt that had never been there before.
‘And who is the boy or man who took you down in such a manner? Was he from the town?’
‘No,’ Gabrielle said, and when she saw the look of repugnance sweep over Bernadette’s face, she lifted her head higher. ‘His name is Finn Sullivan and he is an Irishman in the British Army.’
‘A common soldier!’ Bernadette cried. ‘How could you lower yourself like that?’
‘He wasn’t. He isn’t!’ Gabrielle exclaimed. ‘You don’t know him. I don’t care what you say either because I love him and he loves me.’
‘And what would you know about love?’ Bernadette sneered.
‘I know how I feel.’
‘I know how you felt as well,’ Bernadette said. ‘Full of wantonness. How did you meet this common soldier you say you love?’
There was little point in concealment. It would all come out in the end, but when Gabrielle began explaining how she climbed down the tree, even she was aware how sordid it sounded.
Bernadette suddenly remembered the sound of rustling she had heard outside her room the night before she and Raoul had left for Paris, and she said, ‘You even crept out to see him the night before we brought you here, didn’t you?’
Gabrielle nodded. ‘I had to do that,’ she whispered. ‘It was to say goodbye. I don’t know when I will ever see him again.’
Bernadette’s face was full of disgust. ‘You shouldn’t have seen him in the first place, you stupid girl. You behaved little better than a common tramp, Gabrielle. To think I felt sorry for you, cooped up in that house. I see now that your father was right. He must have known that he had a slut for a daughter.’
‘I am no slut,’ Gabrielle cried. ‘We didn’t intend this to happen and it happened the once only when we forgot ourselves. Finn is a fine man and will marry me willingly, I know, and he is a Roman Catholic.’
‘Then that is the only good thing about all this,’ Bernadette said. ‘At least it is not some heathen you will be married to.’
‘And we should be grateful to him and men like him because he is fighting for France,’ Gabrielle said, lifting her chin in the air. ‘I’m proud of what he is doing.’
‘You can take that haughty look off your face before I take it off for you,’ Bernadette said sharply. ‘You have nothing to be so high and mighty about, and the idea that he and his kind are fighting for France is nonsense. They are fighting for themselves. But that is neither here nor there. He has got you in the family way and he must be made to marry you.’
‘We wanted to marry,’ Gabrielle said. ‘I said I would wait for him, but he might not be at St-Omer now.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because they were awaiting orders for moving out when I came to Paris.’
‘Well, if they are gone someone will know where. He will have to be found and made to do his duty,’ Bernadette said. ‘We must make plans to return as soon as possible. Raoul will go to find out when the next train is and we must send a telegram to your parents so that they will expect us.’
A shudder went right through Gabrielle’s body and she said to her aunt, ‘I’m afraid of facing Papa.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ Bernadette said. ‘You have done your best to shame him—shame the whole family, in fact—but you should have thought of that sooner.’ As she got up she looked at Gabrielle disparagingly. ‘I will tell my maid that there is sickness in the family and you are needed at home, and send her in to help you pack. And we won’t bother taking any of the fancy gowns I bought for you. You will hardly fit into them for much longer anyway.’
They travelled to St-Omer that same day and arrived in the evening. The Joberts had already eaten, but when Mariette offered to make them a meal, Bernadette shook her head.
‘We had something before we left and I have news that cannot wait,’ she said.
Mariette nodded. The telegram had just said that they were returning unexpectedly, and news like that was bound to make a person anxious until it was explained.
‘I need to speak to you privately,’ Bernadette went on, looking at the puzzled faces of Pierre and Mariette. In the train Gabrielle had begged her aunt to break the news to her father, hoping it might soften the blow. Bernadette agreed to try, though she felt sure there was no way news like that could be softened.
Gabrielle sat in the adjoining room and listened to the murmur of the voices and the ticking clock, which seemed inordinately loud, and waited. She heard a cry from her mother and a roar from her father. Then he was at the door, his face puce with such temper he was like an enraged bull, and he was across the room in seconds. Grabbing the bun at the nape of Gabrielle’s neck, he pulled it with such force that grips spilled out all over the floor and Gabrielle’s hair loosened. Then he pulled her into the room and slammed her so hard against the wall that she felt as if all her bones had loosened.
‘Tell me it isn’t true, you strumpet,’ he bellowed.
‘I’m sorry, Papa…’
‘Sorry,’ snorted Pierre. ‘And you will be sorrier before you are much older.’ The punch he powered at Gabrielle caught her full in the face and knocked her from her feet, and she folded to the floor with blood spurting from her nose.
‘This isn’t the way,’ Bernadette said, helping the disoriented and weeping girl to her feet.
‘I haven’t started yet,’ Pierre said, drawing his belt from his trousers as he spoke. ‘I have never lifted my belt to either girl before, but then neither has presented me with a full belly before.’
‘Haven’t you listened to a word I said?’ Bernadette said. ‘Time is of the essence. Gabrielle said this man was awaiting orders to leave and you say some have already gone. We need to go up to the camp early tomorrow morning and find this man wherever he is, and Gabrielle needs to be
in a fit state to do that, not beaten senseless.’
‘She’s right, Pierre,’ Mariette said. ‘The only way to make any sense out of this and make it a bit more respectable is to get Gabrielle married off as quickly as possible.’
Pierre knew that what Bernadette and his wife said made sense, but he was so angry with Gabrielle he had wanted to beat her to pulp. He had no place in his heart to feel any measure of sympathy for her or guilt for the mess he had made of her face. In his opinion she had got what she deserved.
He wagged a finger in front of Gabrielle’s eyes and said, ‘You thank your lucky stars that your aunt and mother pleaded your case because it saved you from the beating of your life.’
Gabrielle knew they had and she knew it might happen yet if they couldn’t find Finn at the camp.
‘God, I wish we could get a move on,’ said Finn, with the company assembled to move out. ‘Despite the fact it is the first of May today it’s chilly enough this early.’
‘I’ll say,’ Christy agreed. ‘Still, can’t be much longer now. We’ve had roll call and kit inspection and everything. I can’t think what they are waiting for.’
Many thought the same. Some had begun to kick a football around, others became involved in an impromptu game of cards, and Mikey Donahue drew out his mouth organ and began to play the haunting tunes of their homeland. Others, like Finn and Christy, were anxious to get going and were milling around aimlessly waiting for orders.
Suddenly Christy said, ‘Uh-uh, here comes trouble.’
Finn turned and saw Sergeant Lancaster approaching them. Like the sergeant who had trained them initially, this one had a voice like a foghorn. In fact, every sergeant he had ever met appeared to enjoy yelling. Finn remembered in his early days in the army he had often prayed the sergeant assigned to them would have a bout of laryngitis to give them all some respite.
‘Looks as if one of us is for the high jump,’ Christy said out of the corner of his mouth. ‘What you done?’
Finn couldn’t think of a thing and, anyway, there was no time to say anything before the man snapped out, ‘Private Sullivan, follow me.’
Finn’s time in the army had taught him that it was pointless to ask questions. You might as well talk to a brick wall. And so with an almost imperceptible shrug to Christy, he marched behind the sergeant many of his fellow soldiers stopped what they were doing and watched in surprise.
Sergeant Lancaster halted outside the tent occupied by Lieutenant Haywood, who was Finn’s platoon commander. ‘Wait here,’ he told Finn, and he entered under the flap, leaving Finn outside wondering what it was all about. He heard the sergeant announce him and the lieutenant saying to send him in, and he entered tentatively. He couldn’t see who was in the tent until he had gone past the second flap. When he saw sitting across the table from a stern-faced Lieutenant Haywood was Gabrielle, beside her thunderous father and her agitated mother, his gasp was audible.
He felt as if a piece of cold steel was in his stomach and then Gabrielle turned and looked at him, and he gasped anew at the sight of her battered face. He guessed then what they had come about. Somehow, they had learned about his association between him and Gabrielle.
But surely there had been no need to abuse Gabrielle in such a way. He felt anger coursing through him and he glared at her burly father beside her, his face suffused with rage, and had the urge to rush across the room and take the man by the throat.
‘D’you know what this is all about, Sullivan?’ the lieutenant rapped out.
Of course he knew, but still he said, ‘No, sir.’
‘Monsieur Jobert says that his daughter is with child and she has named you.’
Finn looked at Gabrielle in total shock. The nightmare scenario of him marching away and leaving Gabrielle alone and pregnant was going to come true. It was the future he hadn’t wanted for her and it was all because he had forgotten himself just the once and made love to her properly. His face was lined with sorrow and regret, and he didn’t have to ask if it was true. It was evident in Gabrielle’s face, even though it was so swollen and discoloured.
He saw something else too. Though her eyes were little more than slits, he could see the slight fear behind them. Surely she knew he would never let her down?
‘Do you deny it is your child?’ the lieutenant asked.
‘No, sir, I don’t deny it,’ Finn answered firmly.
At this, Pierre growled out something in French and Gabrielle’s mother put a hand on his arm. Pierre shook her off and got to his feet, and it was Sergeant Lancaster that restrained him.
When he was seated once more, the lieutenant said, ‘Are you willing to marry the girl, Sullivan?’
‘Oh, gladly, sir. More than willing.’
‘St-Omer,’ Pierre said in broken English. ‘We go back.’
‘Oh no, sir,’ the lieutenant said. ‘There is no time to go back to St-Omer. We have already held the company up over this and they must move out shortly. Can you understand any of this?’
‘I can translate, Lieutenant,’ Gabrielle said.
‘Then please do so,’ the lieutenant answered.
Gabrielle spoke to her father and then he leaped up from his chair and banged his chest and announced, ‘I Catholic.’
‘We have a Catholic priest on the camp, the name of Clifford, who can officiate,’ the lieutenant said. He turned to Gabrielle. ‘Can you tell him that? Assure him it will be done properly and tell him also that it’s the only thing we can offer. We do after all have a war to fight and have already been delayed long enough.’
When Gabrielle spoke to her father, this time impressing on him that it was that or nothing, he seemed to calm a little. The important thing was that his daughter would have marriage lines, and where the ceremony was carried out, and by whom, mattered much less. So he nodded and sat back heavily in the chair.
The lieutenant said to the sergeant, ‘Can you find Father Clifford and ask him if he would be so kind as to come here?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘And there is no reason to delay the company any longer. They can move out now and the rest of us can follow later.’
‘Could I have Christopher Byrne as my witness, sir?’ Finn said.
‘You are hardly in a position to make demands, Sullivan.’
‘No, sir,’ Finn said. ‘Sorry, sir. It’s just that he is the same faith as myself.’
‘And that’s important, is it?’
‘Yes, sir.’
Lieutenant Haywood sighed and then glanced over at the sergeant. ‘See to that as well, will you?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘You are a bloody nuisance, do you know that, Sullivan?’ the lieutenant burst out as the sergeant left. ‘The whole regiment has been put on hold because you couldn’t control your carnal urges.’
‘Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.’
‘I should put you on a charge for this, and if we weren’t all set to move out immediately I would do just that.’
Gabrielle suddenly felt very sorry for Finn. ‘Could Finn and I have a few words alone?’ she asked. And then, as he hesitated, she pleaded, ‘Please. It might have to last us years.’
‘All right,’ the lieutenant said. ‘But a few minutes is all you will have.’
Pierre had been watching the interchange with interest, understanding little of it, and then as Gabrielle stood up, he grasped her wrist and she spoke to him in French. Finn thought he was about to protest and not let Gabrielle go, but her mother spoke up too and he released Gabrielle and she crossed the room to Finn.
They were shown into another smaller tented area off the main one and as soon as they were out of sight they were in one another’s arms.
‘Oh, my darling girl, how you have suffered,’ Finn said brokenly, kissing her face gently. ‘What a brute your father must be to abuse you so.’
‘I angered and shamed him,’ Gabrielle said. ‘My father is not known for his gentleness but I think many fathers would have reacted so. I almost expected it,
for all I asked my aunt Bernadette to break the news to him. She found out, you see. She was worried about me and called the doctor when I was just coming to terms with the truth myself, and when I told her who the father was and said the camp might have already moved off, she couldn’t get me home fast enough.’
‘Good job she did,’ Finn said. ‘In a few minutes we will be husband and wife. How do you feel about that?’
‘I am pleased about it,’ Gabrielle said, ‘but I would be just utterly delighted if you were able to go home with me.’
‘One day, when the war is over, I’ll be able to do just that,’ Finn said. ‘And at least this way, if anything should happen to me…’
‘I don’t want to think about that sort of thing.’
‘I know, but all I’m saying is that as my wife you would be informed first. Say I was injured or something. I could be passing through St-Omer and maybe you could come and see me.’
‘I don’t want to think of you injured.’
‘Then I won’t be,’ Finn declared stoutly. ‘I will tell you what I told my brothers. I will catch the bullets in my teeth and spit them back.’
Finn was gratified to see the ghost of a smile playing around Gabrielle’s bruised eyes and she said, ‘You are a fool, Finn Sullivan.’
‘I know this,’ Finn said with mock humility. ‘It isn’t so bad, I always think, if a person is aware of it.’
‘Ah, Finn!’ Gabrielle said, cuddling against him. ‘I love you so.’
‘And I you, my darling girl.’
‘What will your family say, d’you think?’
‘Well, I don’t know till I write and tell them,’ Finn said. ‘My mother is a queer kettle of fish altogether and would hardly welcome the Pope if he came knocking on the door. But Joe and Tom would love you almost as much as I do, and my wee sister, Nuala, would I’m sure be delighted to have a new sister. You will see all this for yourself one day, for I will take you home to meet them just as soon as I can.’
Their time was up. There was no way that Finn could kiss those inflamed lips, but the love light shone from both their eyes as Gabrielle held Finn close once more. ‘Please be careful,’ she said earnestly. ‘You have more to lose now.’