by June Tate
‘Hello, Jenny honey. Sorry it took me so long to get here, but here I am.’
With a loud cry of delight, Jenny ran to the door which Chad had now opened, to be lifted off her feet as she flew into his arms.
‘I knew you’d come!’ she cried as she rained kisses on him.
Beth and the others came running at the sounds of excitement, and Chad was made welcome by them all.
‘Hey, it’s great to be back and see you guys again,’ he said, all the time keeping his arm around Jenny.
She looked at Chad and frowned.
‘What’s the matter, honey?’ he asked.
‘I’m trying to think what’s different, but of course, you’re not in uniform, that’s what’s different!’
Chad was wearing a pair of dark-brown trousers and a tan leather coat. He looked very smart, but it did seem strange to see him out of uniform.
Beth sent them into the house so they could be together and alone. ‘But you can make us all a cup of tea in half an hour,’ she told him as she walked away, laughing.
Once in the kitchen, Chad took Jenny into his arms. ‘Here, let me look at you,’ he said as he caressed her face. ‘God! How I’ve missed you. I was almost afraid to come here this morning in case you sent me away.’
‘Did you believe what Adam said, then?’ asked Jenny.
‘I didn’t want to, but you know, the poor guy was blind. That’s why I sent the flowers, to let you know I still felt the same.’
‘What flowers?’
‘After I saw Adam, I went to the florist and sent flowers with a message.’
Jenny shook her head. ‘I never did see them. Adam must have got rid of them.’
Pulling her close to him, Chad said quietly, ‘You couldn’t blame him, honey. He was fighting to keep you. I’d have probably done the same.’ He gazed fondly at her. ‘My folks are very anxious to meet you.’
‘Do they know I’m married, waiting on a divorce?’
‘Yes, they know. They also know that I love you and we are going to be together.’
‘How long are you here for?’ Jenny asked.
‘As long as it takes to get the situation sorted. I’m not leaving here until you can come with me.’
‘My divorce comes up next week. Then I’ll have to wait six weeks before it’s finalized and I get my decree nisi. I don’t have to go, as I’m not contesting it. I’m afraid he named you, Chad, as the man I was consorting with.’
He grinned broadly. ‘Consorting, eh? Well, I guess that’s one way of putting it. What say we make Beth her tea and then go back to your place and consort?’
Jenny started to laugh. ‘It makes sex sound kind of legal, doesn’t it?’
He kissed her soundly. ‘I don’t care how it sounds, honey. Let’s just go and do it before I lose my mind waiting. It’s been a long time.’
After the divorce, Jenny and Chad waited for six weeks for the decree nisi and then they were married by special licence at the registry office in Southampton. Rusty and Beth were witnesses as the two of them took their vows. After which the four of them went to the Dolphin Hotel for a champagne lunch.
Chad reached for Jenny’s hand. ‘Sorry this wasn’t perhaps the wedding you dreamed of, darlin’, but when we get home we’ll have a church blessing with the family and friends.’
‘It really isn’t important, Chad.’ She held out her hand and gazed at her shiny new wedding ring. ‘What’s important is that we are married. The rest is all just stuff!’
‘I love this woman!’ he joked. ‘I’ll never have to spend a fortune on her, she said she’d live with me on a blanket outside if need be. Well, Jenny honey, I took you at your word. At home I bought us a couple of Indian blankets! Who needs a home – it’s just stuff!’
Gunter Reinhardt had returned to Germany with the other prisoners and like the Americans had been discharged from the army. To his delight, when he returned to his hometown, he found his home intact and the office where he was training was still in business. His parents were alive; his father had survived the fighting, and his mother had escaped the worst of the raids by staying with relatives.
They were somewhat shocked to discover that he had fathered a son with an English girl, but when he showed them the pictures of young Hans and Sarah that she’d sent to him, they were intrigued by their grandson.
As soon as he was able, Gunter arrived back in Southampton to take Sarah to Germany to be married. She introduced him to Beth and all the staff at the stables, and then they travelled by bus to visit the Browns.
Ethel Brown was delighted to see them and made a great fuss of Hans. She insisted they stay, and when Gunter queried the wisdom of this, she said, ‘The war is over! The sooner we get over it the better!’
At lunchtime when the farmer returned with his son, Sarah and Gunter were a bit apprehensive, but the young man surprised them. He shook Gunter by the hand. ‘My dad is always telling me how hard you worked whilst you were here and that he couldn’t have managed without you, so thanks for that. No hard feelings?’
‘No, indeed. Your parents were wonderful to me and to Sarah. I will always be in their debt.’
‘That’s enough of that,’ Arthur Brown said. ‘Let’s eat. I’m starving!’
The following week, Gunter took Sarah and their son across the channel by ferry and on the train to his home and family, where they were greeted warmly. Fortunately for her, his parents spoke English, but as his mother said, ‘Once you get settled in and married, you will have to shop, so you’ll need to learn the language.’ At the look of trepidation on Sarah’s face, she smiled. ‘Don’t worry, being in the country will help you to pick it up, but you must speak English to little Hans, then he’ll grow up knowing both languages automatically. I’ll help you.’
And she did. By the time Gunter had found a house for them and arranged a wedding, Sarah was already making progress with the language and finding that Gunter’s family accepted her without difficulty. For once, she felt part of a real family, and she blossomed.
It was January that they were married in a little local church with his family and friends assembled. Farmer Brown and his wife had travelled there, with Beth to give Sarah some support. Rusty and Jenny would have gone too, but Rusty was booked on a ship to take her to New York, and Chad was trying to get himself and Jenny a berth on the Aquitania, but they sent gifts and a telegram of good wishes.
Sarah sent her father a picture of her wedding and of Hans, but she ignored her mother. As far as Sarah was concerned, she didn’t have one.
The day arrived when Rusty left Southampton and, with the hundreds of other GI brides, sailed out of the port for New York and a new life. For some, when they reached their destination, it would be like being in heaven; sadly, for others it would be like hell on earth. But as the ship left the harbour, every one of them had a head full of dreams.
Beth, Chad and Jenny waved to Rusty from the quayside. Brad was meeting her in New York, and he’d invited Chad and Jenny to visit at any time. Rusty made her promise she’d keep in touch and that when they were both in the States they would visit each other at least once a year. She had given her word.
It took some further three weeks until Chad and Jenny were due to leave England for Wyoming. They had been to the American Embassy in London, filled in all the necessary papers, taken the medical and satisfied the authorities that financially they were secure. Chad’s father stood as guarantee for Jenny over and above his son, her husband. The American Embassy demanded a lot before they gave Mrs Chad Maxwell her visa.
Beth gave them a small farewell dinner, which was attended by the staff and a few friends. It was a happy occasion, and as they walked around the stables after, they talked about their first meeting and how their lives had changed.
‘It’s the crazy war, Jenny honey. Everything changes in one way or another. Some changes are for the good, and others, not so. It brought me you, so I was the lucky one. And believe me I’m going to make sure I deserved the
break. We are going to have a great life together. You will learn to love my country as I learned to love yours, and we’ll come back now and again to see it.’
‘Can we do that, really?’
‘Sure we can. This is where your roots are and will always be. No one can take that away from you ever, nor should they want to.’
She put her arms around his neck. ‘Mr Maxwell, you have a great understanding of what goes on in the mind.’
‘Of course I do, Jenny honey, I’m a horse whisperer, it’s part of the job!’
‘I just can’t wait to use those Indian blankets you bought,’ she teased.
‘I can’t wait to see you among my friends with your quaint English ways. Wait until you introduce them to teatime!’
Laughing she said, ‘With cucumber sandwiches, scones and crumpets.’
‘What the hell are crumpets? It sounds like an illness.’
She laughed loudly. ‘You have a lot to learn, cowboy!’
He chuckled. ‘You think so? Wait until you come on a round-up and have to cook on a chuck wagon!’ He drew her to him and kissed her. ‘We are going to have so much fun, you and I. And when we are old and grey, we’ll sit on our porch in the twilight and reminisce of how we met and the trials and tribulations we went through to be together.’
She smiled softly. She would always think affectionately of Chad as her guilty pleasure, which sounded a little naughty to her still, although they were now married. She hoped that one day Adam would find a little of the happiness she felt; then it would be a really fitting end to everything. She was now Mrs Chad Maxwell, and that was enough for her.