That left her with just Emily, Vi, Susie, Lizzy and Aunt Victoria, and Aunt Victoria was doing all the talking.
‘Everyone knows I’ve always held Boots in fond regard, I’ve always felt no-one was more of a born gentleman than him, and I hope I’m not hurtin’ anyone’s feelings by saying this sort of behaviour’s not what I ever expected of him. Goodness knows, as I said to Vi’s dad last night, we’ve all thought a lot of him as his mother’s eldest son and a credit to you, Maisie, and it’s very saddening to know what he got up to in France.’
‘Oh, I don’t feel sad, Aunt Victoria,’ said Susie.
‘No, well, we’ve all got to put on a brave face,’ said Aunt Victoria, ‘and I’m makin’ a start by not saying anything to my friends and neighbours.’
‘Are you sure that’s a brave face?’ asked Emily.
‘I’m doin’ it for the family’s sake,’ said Aunt Victoria.
‘Well, you needn’t,’ said Chinese Lady. ‘Boots’s French daughter is an Adams, and no-one has to keep that quiet. Mind you,’ she added, frowning a little, ‘it might be best, if she comes home with Boots, to do what we can to make her more English. Just in case she’s a bit too Frenchified.’
‘Frenchified?’ said Vi.
‘Fast,’ said Lizzy.
‘Well, yes, it’s born in most of them,’ said Chinese Lady, then realized she had given Aunt Victoria another carpet to beat.
‘Yes, we’ve all heard stories that don’t bear repeating,’ said Aunt Victoria, who was actually addicted to repeating everything scandalous over a cup of tea with a neighbour, but only in a shocked and confiding whisper, of course.
‘Oh, you can tell us, Aunt Victoria,’ said Susie, ‘we’re all married women.’
‘No, it wouldn’t be right,’ said Aunt Victoria, ‘but I will say it’s hard to believe that Boots of all people has a French daughter.’
‘No, she’s half-English,’ said Emily, ‘seeing that her father is all English. Come to that, she doesn’t look a bit French in the snapshot.’
‘Or fast,’ said Vi.
‘Lots of men have French daughters, especially Frenchmen,’ said Susie. ‘Anyway, we all mean to stand by Boots, don’t we, Aunt Victoria? We’ll all be very nice to her, won’t we?’
‘We’ve got to for Boots’s sake,’ said Vi.
‘And the fam’ly’s sake,’ said Lizzy.
‘Well,’ said Aunt Victoria, ‘I should think everyone knows I’m willing to do all I can to help Emily get over what must have been a painful shock.’
‘I’ve already done that,’ said Lizzy, ‘over a cup of tea last night. And afterwards we had a drop of port to cheer us up.’
‘That’s funny,’ said Vi, ‘Tommy gave me some port last night.’
‘Well,’ said Aunt Victoria, ‘while I’ve always been Christian-minded, I don’t hold with anyone being born out of wedlock.’
‘Tommy mentioned we ought to celebrate a sort of French weekend,’ said Vi, ‘so he gave me another port at the end of dinner today, and ’ad one himself.’
‘Does that make a French weekend?’ asked Susie.
‘Well, not just the port,’ said Vi.
‘Vi, you’re giggling,’ said Lizzy.
‘What, me at my age?’ said Vi.
‘I don’t know anyone should be giggling,’ said Aunt Victoria.
‘Sammy’s never given me a French weekend,’ said Susie.
‘I’ve had all kinds of weekends with Boots,’ said Emily.
‘I don’t think we’d better hear about them, Em’ly,’ said Chinese Lady.
‘No, not likely,’ said Emily, ‘not in my state of ’ealth.’
‘Emily,’ said Aunt Victoria, ‘I’m sure your Uncle Tom and me understand the shame you must be feelin’.’
‘I suppose it’s not really the best time to talk about French weekends,’ said Susie, ‘but couldn’t you bring yourself to tell us something about all kinds of weekends with Boots, Emily?’
‘Em’ly, don’t you say another word,’ admonished Chinese Lady.
‘But we’re dyin’ to hear,’ said Vi.
‘Vi, I’m surprised at you,’ said Aunt Victoria.
‘I’ll write it all down in a book in me old age,’ said Emily.
‘Em’ly, now you’re doing some giggling,’ said Lizzy.
‘It’s me memories,’ said Emily. ‘Mum, d’you remember the time Boots came ’ome on leave for Lizzy’s weddin’ and gave us all presents he’d bought in France?’
‘I ’ope you’re not goin’ to write down in a book what he gave you,’ said Chinese Lady. ‘I was never more embarrassed by that son of mine.’
‘Come on, Emily, I won’t be embarrassed,’ said Susie.
‘Would anyone like me to talk to Boots about his shameful behaviour?’ asked Aunt Victoria.
‘Come on, Emily, what did Boots bring you back from France?’ asked Susie.
‘Go on, tell, Em’ly,’ said Lizzy, and laughed.
‘French cami-knickers,’ said Emily. ‘Me, would you believe? Me that was all soppy, innocent and romantic, gettin’ French cami-knickers from me fav’rite soldier.’
‘Help,’ said Susie.
‘Yes, someone hold me up too,’ said Vi.
‘I didn’t know what to do with me rapturous blushes,’ said Emily.
‘You’re giggling again,’ said Lizzy.
‘So am I,’ said Susie.
‘That Boots of yours, Maisie,’ said Aunt Victoria, ‘it’s an alarming surprise to me, him havin’ that much of the devil in him when he was in France.’
‘Yes, even my Annabelle said he’s got a bit of the devil in him,’ said Lizzy.
‘It makes it hard for your family to hold its head up, Maisie,’ said Aunt Victoria.
‘It’s not hard for me,’ said Lizzy, ‘he’s always been a surprise packet.’
‘I’m keepin’ quiet about Sammy,’ said Susie.
‘Yes, and Tommy’s earned medals,’ said Vi.
‘I don’t think I want to hear any more about them sons of mine,’ said Chinese Lady.
Susie, Lizzy, Emily and Vi laughed. Just the faintest smile touched Chinese Lady’s firm lips. Her daughter and her daughters-in-law had all been telling her in their own way that the family wasn’t in crisis as far as they were concerned. Boots was to be forgiven. They were closing ranks around him, around the family, and they’d close them around the girl Eloise if she came home with Boots. Even Aunt Victoria looked as if she accepted that what had been done couldn’t help having been done at the time.
‘Boots,’ called Susie, ‘could you spare a minute?’
Boots, keeping wicket, came over to the ladies of the family, who were sitting around the table on the flagstoned area outside the kitchen. He looked a little wary.
‘Well, Susie?’ he said.
‘We’ve got something to say to you,’ said Susie.
‘What?’ said Boots.
‘You’re a surprise packet,’ said Susie.
‘Am I?’ asked Boots. ‘Who said?’
‘Aunt Victoria,’ said Lizzy.
‘Oh,’ said a flustered Aunt Victoria, ‘I meant it nice, and we’re all standin’ by you, Boots.’
‘Well, good on you, Aunt Victoria,’ said Boots, and planted a warm kiss on her forehead.
Aunt Victoria went quite pink and sort of coughed.
‘Crikey, Mum,’ said Vi, ‘now you’re giggling.’
‘It’s this French weekend,’ said Susie.
That brought shrieks of laughter, and it meant that by the time tea was being enjoyed in the garden, Chinese Lady knew no-one was going to fall out of line, that her wish for Eloise to be accepted without question would be observed.
A little while after tea, when many hands had helped to clear up and wash up, Lizzy called Annabelle in from the garden and took her into the empty dining-room.
‘What’s this for, Mum?’ asked Annabelle.
‘Nick’s just arrived,’ said Lizzy, ‘and he’s in the sitt
ing-room.’
‘Oh, yes, we were going to meet this afternoon,’ said Annabelle, ‘but when he phoned me this morning to arrange the time, I told him there was a family get-together here and that he could only call for me after tea.’
‘Annabelle, you’re already seein’ so much of that young man that I don’t know why you had to have him call here this evening,’ said Lizzy, showing that she still wasn’t completely happy about Nick’s background. To Lizzy, his background was dubious because his father had done time in prison, and although she couldn’t help liking Nick, she still wished Annabelle’s first serious relationship had been with someone who didn’t have that kind of a father. ‘Your dad and me haven’t put anything in the way of you goin’ out with Nick, but I do think you could have put him off this evening when the whole fam’ly’s here on account of the awkward problem your Uncle Boots has given us. The evening ought to be just a fam’ly one.’
‘But, Mum, the problem’s not awkward any more,’ said Annabelle, ‘everyone’s accepted it, everyone’s had their say.’
‘No, they haven’t,’ said Lizzy. ‘Most of you just sneaked off to play cricket when we should all have been talkin’ about the best thing to do.’
‘But everyone agrees the best thing to do is to see if the girl will come home with Uncle Boots,’ protested Annabelle.
‘I don’t like you bein’ so casual about it,’ said Lizzy. ‘It’s not the time to have outsiders here, it’s for the fam’ly alone.’
‘Mum, that’s not fair, Nick isn’t an outsider. You’re just saying that because of his dad.’
‘Annabelle, I won’t have any sauce from you, d’you hear?’ said Lizzy. ‘It’s natural for your own fam’ly to want the best for you.’
‘Well, Nick’s the best,’ said Annabelle. ‘I’ll never meet anyone better, I know I won’t, so that makes him the best.’
‘I hope he hasn’t said anything about gettin’ engaged to you,’ said Lizzy, frowning.
‘No, he hasn’t,’ said Annabelle, ‘and I’ll be eighteen soon. I won’t ever forgive you if you put him off asking me.’
‘Annabelle!’
‘He knows you disapprove because of his Pa, Mum, you show it nearly all the time.’
‘Annabelle, I won’t ’ave you talk like this to me. You’ve been brought up, like I was, to honour your parents, like the Bible says. The trouble with you, my girl, is that you want your own way too much. You’re precocious.’
‘Oh, Mum.’ Annabelle regarded her mother in dismay. They were so alike, this mother and daughter, both vividly brunette, chestnut hair and brown eyes identical. Lizzy at thirty-six was quite beautiful in her looks and her hour-glass figure, the latter sustained by the lightest of modern corsets. Annabelle, nearly eighteen, was lovely. Nick was utterly gone on her, and she knew it, and revelled in it. ‘Mum, don’t say things like that – oh, lor’, I’m not selfish and precocious, am I?’
Lizzy perceived her dismay, the little shock in her expression, the shock of a young lady almost certainly thinking that perhaps her young man saw her like that. While Lizzy would have to admit her first-born was at least a little precocious, she was far from being selfish or demanding.
‘Annabelle lovey, no, of course you’re not. I shouldn’t have said that. I suppose it’s Boots, that brother of mine, that’s put me out a bit.’
‘Mum, he couldn’t have helped doing what he did, I’m sure he couldn’t. We all know what our soldiers went through, I’m sure that when they were out of the trenches none of them could have resisted French war widows who wanted some love themselves.’
‘I think we all realize that,’ said Lizzy, ‘it’s why we’ve forgiven Boots.’
‘Well, we should,’ said Annabelle. ‘Mum, you don’t suppose Nick thinks I’m a bit spoiled, do you?’
‘I’m sure he doesn’t, because you’re not,’ said Lizzy, and found a smile for her daughter. ‘Me and your dad are proud of you, lovey. There, go and see Nick, he’s waitin’ in the sitting-room for you and will be wondering what’s keepin’ you. And I want you to know I think him a very nice and upright young man.’
‘Bless you, Mum,’ said Annabelle, and went to find the light of her life. Nick, seated, got up as she entered.
‘Hello, Sleeping Beauty, someone kissed you awake?’ he said.
Annabelle was still a little uncertain about herself, still wondering if it was true she liked her own way too much. She knew she liked having her own way with Nick. Not that he always gave in to her, far from it. It was in her favour, wasn’t it, that she didn’t throw tantrums whenever things went his way and not hers? There he was, and really a very nice young man without being boringly nice. There’d been a lot of laughs over tea, all about her Uncle Boots having a bit of the devil in him. Annabelle thought he’d always had that, and she also thought Uncle Sammy had his share, and from what Aunt Vi said, Uncle Tommy wasn’t dull, either. Annabelle saw Nick in those terms, she saw him as a young man with a lovely bit of the devil in him. It was that which made her pulse rate jump about sometimes, that which made him exciting to her. She’d known him for ten months now, she’d been his one and only for seven months and she thought it was time he said something to make their relationship more definite. After all, as she’d reminded her mum, she’d be eighteen later this year. But Nick knew her mum still had reservations concerning whether or not the son of an ex-convict was right as a prospective son-in-law, and he probably wouldn’t commit himself until those reservations went and lost themselves somewhere.
‘Hello,’ she said, ‘what makes you think I’ve been kissed awake? Oh, you mean the time I’ve taken to get here. Well, there’s been a bit of a discussion.’
‘Yes, you mentioned on the phone this morning about a big family get-together,’ said Nick, thinking her delicious in a summer dress of apricot. She made a little face. ‘What’s up?’ he asked.
‘Nick, you don’t get fed up with me sometimes, do you?’
‘Fed up?’
‘Yes, you don’t think I’m a bit spoilt, do you?’
‘What’s brought this on?’ asked Nick.
‘I think I’ve lost a bit of belief in myself,’ said Annabelle.
‘Well, I haven’t,’ said Nick, ‘I’m living on top of the world about you.’
‘You really like me just as I am?’
‘I don’t want you any different,’ said Nick. ‘The family discussion wasn’t about you, was it? I mean, has one of your aunts or uncles put you down?’
Annabelle let a little breath of relief escape. She knew Nick, she knew he’d have been frank if he’d thought she was a little spoilt.
‘No, it was nothing like that,’ she said. There was no point in not telling him, because everyone close to the family would know about the girl Eloise eventually. Annabelle didn’t doubt she would come to England sooner or later. ‘Nick, it was all about my Uncle Boots having discovered he was the father of a French girl.’
‘Come again?’ said Nick.
‘Yes, what an eye-opener,’ said Annabelle. ‘He was billeted with his company on a farm just before the battle of the Somme began, and the French farmer’s daughter was a young war widow. It must have been love at first sight. Anyway, Uncle Boots, having been blinded in the battle, was sent home to a hospital and never went back to France. He had no idea his French lady love had had a daughter by him. He’s just found out, and, as the mother is dead, he’s going over to France with Rosie in the hope he can bring the girl back home with him. What d’you think of that as a fascinating piece of news?’
‘Bit of a family shock, I should think,’ said Nick.
‘Oh, it was at first, but all is forgiven,’ said Annabelle. ‘Well, Uncle Boots isn’t the sort of man anyone wants to chuck bricks at. He’s a sort of institution.’
‘Well, I like him myself, and that’s a fact,’ said Nick, ‘and I’d certainly like to meet his French daughter. How old is she?’
‘Ten,’ said Annabelle.
‘Ten?’ sai
d Nick. ‘I can’t work that out.’
‘You don’t have to,’ said Annabelle, ‘you’re not going to meet her. I don’t trust French girls.’
‘I don’t trust you saying she’s ten,’ said Nick. ‘From what you’ve just told me, she must be all of seventeen.’
‘Yes, that’s why you’re not going to meet her,’ said Annabelle. ‘No, seriously, don’t you think it’s fascinating?’
‘What does everyone else think?’
‘That Uncle Boots didn’t half get up to something when he was in France,’ said Annabelle.
‘Mother O’Grady,’ said Nick, ‘what a hot potato to land in his family’s lap after all these years.’
‘Excuse me,’ said Annabelle, ‘d’you mind not referring to my French cousin as a hot potato? I might tell you everyone’s dying to see exactly what the girl is like. No-one’s mentioned anything about a hot potato.’
‘Slip of the tongue,’ said Nick. ‘What about a shadow out of your uncle’s French past? How does that sound?’
‘Oh, I’ll allow that,’ said Annabelle. ‘By the way, I’ll be eighteen quite soon.’
‘By the way,’ said Nick, ‘I—’
‘You can’t say by the way when I said it first and when you haven’t made any comment on my remark.’
‘No, I suppose not,’ said Nick. ‘What was your comment?’
‘I’ll be eighteen quite soon.’
‘No, is that a fact?’ said Nick. ‘You’re growing up.’
‘Your tongue’s slipped again,’ said Annabelle.
‘By the way, my salary’s been increased to twelve pounds a month,’ said Nick.
‘Twelve pounds? Three pounds a week?’ Annabelle was all attention then. ‘Nick, that’s smashing.’
‘It’s a useful leg-up,’ said Nick. ‘D’you think your mother will like it?’
‘What’s it got to do with Mum?’
‘Well, I think she’s still giving me funny looks about Pa.’
‘Mothers are like that,’ said Annabelle. ‘We just have to work round them with the help of dads.’
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