by Mary Arden
‘Well my dear,’ Sir Graham beamed, ‘have you ever seen anything quite so beautiful?’
‘No Sir Graham, I must admit I haven’t,’ I replied feeling overawed by the experience of seeing such a magnificent beast.
When we got back to the car we said goodbye to Angus and then drove back to Sir Graham’s house. As he opened the front door he said, ‘Why don’t you two make yourselves at home, while I let the dogs out, perhaps one of you can put the kettle on? I hope you don’t mind having tea in the kitchen but it’s lovely and warm in there, and the drawing room is bloody freezing, so we hardly ever use it.’
As I went upstairs to get washed and changed, Duncan told me that he would meet me in the kitchen a bit later. When I put my own clothes back on, I noticed that my knees and elbows looked a bit red from crawling over all the sharp stones and thistles that afternoon. I then left the borrowed things in a neat pile on the floor because they were too dirty to leave on the chair.
I found my way back down to the kitchen, and decided to put the kettle on. Just as I was looking in the drawers for a tablecloth, Sir Graham came into the kitchen and told me where I could find one. He then suggested that I use the crockery on the dresser and that the milk, butter and jam were in the pantry.
‘I will leave you to it, Mary, while I let the dogs in,’ Sir Graham said.
I had just got everything ready, when the back door opened and two large Labradors charged into the kitchen nearly knocking me over.
‘Sit!’ Sir Graham commanded. Both dogs immediately sat down.
That’s impressive,’ I remarked.
‘That’s nothing, watch this,’ he chuckled and then yelled, ‘Biccies!’
The dogs then leapt up and one of them pushed the swing-door to the scullery open with its nose and they both disappeared. A moment later the two dogs returned, each carrying an empty bowl in their mouths. They then put them on the floor and pushed them towards Sir Graham, who was now rattling a box of dog biscuits, which made their tails wag with excitement.
‘You want some biccies, do you then boys?’ he asked. ‘Say please.’ The dogs both gave a loud woof in unison, so their master rewarded them with a handful of biscuits in each bowl, which were wolfed down in seconds.
While the kettle was boiling, I told our host that everything was ready but I couldn’t find the tea leaves anywhere.
‘I’m not surprised,’ he chuckled. ‘Elizabeth keeps the tea in the jar marked Sago, as it has an airtight lid.’
I was just wondering where Duncan had got to when he joined us.
‘Sorry to be so long, ‘he apologised, ’but I have just been talking to your gardener, and was amazed that he still remembered me after so long. He reminded me of the time when Hamish and I used to smoke behind his shed, so that Lady Elizabeth wouldn’t find out!’
‘Find out what?’ a female voice called from the hall. A moment later a smiling Lady Elizabeth came into the kitchen and went straight up to Duncan to give him a hug saying, ‘Hello dear boy, it’s so good to see you again.’
She then turned to me and said, ‘You must be Mary, its lovely to meet you,’ and gave me a kiss on my cheek. I thanked her for lending me the clothes and told her where I had left them. Over tea, the two men talked about the difficulties of running an estate with so few men around to help, and Lady Elizabeth asked me to tell her all about my family and about the work I did in the Wrens. She then offered to show me the portraits of all the women in her husband’s family. When I asked her why these paintings had been banished to a hallway right at the back of the house, she explained that many years ago one of the wives had run away with another man and since then all the paintings of any female members of the family had been hung in the remotest part of the house.
‘Is there a portrait of you here?’ I asked.
‘No, it’s in Graham’s study. I have warned him that if he dares to put it with the others I will run away with the gamekeeper and that will be the ruin of his good family name!’
When it was time to leave, Sir Graham said he would take us to the bus stop in Pitlochry, and as we were getting out of the car, I spotted an elderly man running out of the post office, waving his arms and shouting Sir Graham’s name. He had a small pack of letters tied together with string in his hand and as he handed them to the Laird, I heard him say, ‘Here are some letters from the young master for you, Sir Graham. I was going to bring them up to your house and then I recognised your car.’
Sir Graham suddenly staggered, so Duncan put out a hand to steady him.
‘Thank God,’ Sir Graham sighed, ‘and thank you for bringing them to me. Now I must get back and tell his mother, as she will be as relieved as I am to hear from him at last.’
Just then our bus arrived and Duncan asked me to flag it down, so that it wouldn’t leave without us, while he said a final goodbye to Sir Graham. When Duncan joined me on the bus he told me how happy Sir Graham was to get the letters from his son, as he now had an address to write to him and could arrange for Red Cross parcels to be sent to his prisoner of war camp.
By the time we got back to the hotel I was beginning to feel very stiff, so Duncan suggested that I have a hot bath. As I lowered myself into the water I let out a squeal, as not only were the blisters on my hands still hurting but now my knees and elbows were sore too. Duncan came in to see what was the matter and told me to keep my hands, knees and elbows out of the water, while he sponged the rest of me. He wasn’t being entirely sympathetic, as when he had finished playing ‘doctor’ he got in with me, and as a result we were late for dinner again.
Before going to bed that night, Duncan re-dressed my hands and gently rubbed cold cream on my knees and elbows, and then we both cuddled up for the night.
A few days later, the honeymoon was over and we went back to Duncan’s parents house in Perth. When we arrived Bumble gave me a big hug and told me that they had put a new double bed in Celia’s room to replace the two twin beds, so we could sleep in there and Celia would sleep in Duncan’s old bedroom, while we were all in the house together.
After unpacking, we went downstairs to have a cup of tea and Father John then said to Duncan, ‘Your Uncle Freddy is going to give you a cheque son, as he thought that it might be useful once the war is over to help you both set up house.’ He then suggested that Duncan went to his bank the next day to open a joint account, and that he should arrange for some of his pay to be paid into that account in case I needed to draw on it once he was back at sea. I protested, insisting that I was able to support myself with my own money.
‘Yes, dear, I know you will, but the war could drag on and then you may need to leave the Wrens and set up house ready for Duncan’s return,’ Father John explained.
That evening I found Celia alone in the kitchen, filling her hot water bottle, so I took the opportunity to ask her if she had seen her friend, Anthony, since she’d had him to dinner. Celia told me that she hadn’t, but she thought he must be away with his Regiment or on a course, as she hadn’t received a letter from him either. Bumble then came in to fill her hot water bottle too, so I hugged them both goodnight and went up to our room. When Duncan joined me shortly afterwards, I suddenly felt a bit shy, knowing that all his family were in the other bedrooms nearby, and was worried that they would hear us if we made love.
‘What do you mean if?’ Duncan asked grinning at me.
‘I hope the bed won’t rattle,’ I said, so he pulled it well away from the wall, and a little while later we discovered that the bed didn’t rattle at all, it squeaked!
‘Hells bells,’ Duncan exclaimed, ‘it must be the new springs under the mattress. I will have to oil them tomorrow!’
Duncan threw the eiderdown onto the floor and then the pillows, before pulling me out of bed and onto the floor beside him. He then began to kiss me passionately. Suddenly he stopped,
‘My feet are frozen!’ he whispered and then got up to put his socks back on. The sight of my new husband standing naked apart from his sock
s made me laugh so much that the idea of making love to him that night was completely off the agenda. He could see the funny side of the situation too and we both laughed hysterically. I realised at that moment that I not only loved Duncan as my husband and lover but also as my best friend and appreciated just how lucky I was to have him in my life.
After an early breakfast, Duncan went straight upstairs to oil every spring on the bed and then started jumping up and down on the mattress to make sure it wouldn’t squeak that night, while Janet and I hurriedly prepared the food for our reception. There was a lot to do and it took us most of the morning. At midday, the caterers arrived to unpack all the glasses and china that we would need the following day, and helped move the furniture.
That afternoon, Duncan and I walked into Perth to the bank, as we both felt we could do with some fresh air. It was quite a long way from the Ogilvie’s house, but we still arrived on time for our appointment to meet the bank manager to open a joint bank account. When we got home, I washed my hair, while Duncan wrote a few thank-you letters. As I was drying my hair, Duncan sat on our bed and started to bounce up and down on it a few times.
‘Not a squeak!’ he said looking at me with a grin on his face.
‘I know what you’re thinking!’ I said laughing.
‘Well, in that case, my beautiful bride why don’t you come over here and prove your telepathic powers to me!’ he chuckled, so I did.
Some time later, I realised that we would have to get washed and changed very quickly, so that we wouldn’t keep the rest of the family waiting, as this was a special dinner that Father John had arranged at a restaurant. This was one meal we couldn’t be late for.
When we arrived at the restaurant, I was delighted to discover that the main course was roast duck, but as there were no oranges available, the chef had made a sauce using blackberries, apples and elderflowers instead. It was delicious.
While we ate, Celia said that she had been considering making enquiries about a senior teaching post in Gloucestershire. Duncan thought it was an excellent idea, as if she went to a big private school she’d make lots of new friends and would be able to come home in the holidays. I glanced over towards Father John and noticed that he was nodding his approval at the idea too, but Bumble looked a little upset. I then realised that if all her children left home, she would most probably feel rather lonely.
‘I have some lovely relatives in Gloucestershire,’ I told Celia. ‘So if you do go there, I’ll put you in touch with them. They know everyone for miles around, so you would soon make friends through them,’ I assured her.
‘Are they all Lords and Ladies?’ Duncan teased. I had to admit that they were, and everyone laughed.
By the time we got home, we were all more than ready for bed. As we got undressed, Duncan admitted that he was feeling a bit nervous about the Scottish reception, as it would be quite frugal compared with our rather lavish English one, but I reassured him that everything would be perfect, however it turned out.
We decided to have a lazy morning to save our energy for the reception, but by noon, we were all dressed in our finery, the fire was lit to warm the big drawing room and three big chairs from the dining room had now been placed near the fireplace. I thought that they looked rather like three thrones ready to seat the elderly Great Aunts, which made me giggle.
Duncan’s Uncle Freddy and Aunt Daisy were the first to arrive to the reception. I could see why Duncan loved them so much, as it was immediately obvious that they both enjoyed the good things in life. There was no sign of their sons, though, and when I asked where they were Freddy explained that they were busy helping to park the guests cars at the back of the house, ‘They are all in the army,’ he chuckled, ‘so they know how to organise others while doing very little themselves!’
Aunt Daisy came up to me and whispered in my ear that as I was now Duncan’s wife, she would look on me as the daughter she had never had. She told me that if I ever found myself anywhere near Aberdeen I was to invite myself to stay. Duncan’s cousin and best man, Ian, then came in and gave me a big hug. It was so good to see him again. He then introduced me to his brother, Alan, who welcomed me to the family. ‘Ian said you were a pretty, wee lassie’ he smiled, ‘but he didn’t say Duncan had married such a beauty.’ He then bent down and kissed me on both cheeks.
Ian and Alan were both charming, so I wondered whether the other brother James was too. I didn’t have to wait long before finding out. As I looked towards the drawing room door I saw a very tall, dark-haired and striking man wearing a regimental kilt staring at me with a big smile on his face. He came over and gave me a huge bear hug saying ‘Hello Mary, I’m James, the best looking one in our family!’ His dark eyes seemed to flash with life and good humour. Duncan must have spotted James already, as I saw him pushing through all our guests to get to him. The two men greeted one another with deep joy and warmth. I was glad to see that Duncan had an extended family just like I had with my father’s sister’s children.
As I looked around I saw Father John hurrying into the corridor leading from the drawing room. The Great Aunts had arrived, so Duncan left me with James while he went to greet them.
The Great Aunts entered the drawing room majestically, nodding their heads here and there, as they recognised their relatives. Once they were settled in their ‘thrones’ near the fire, Duncan took my hand and guided me over to meet them. I wasn’t quite sure if I was supposed to shake their hands or do a polite bob-curtsey, so I did the latter, first to the eldest, Great Aunt Moira and then to her two sisters. Great Aunt Moira then told me to sit next to her and tell her all about myself. She listened to me talk, but didn’t seem very interested, until I told her that if I had I not joined the Wrens I would not have met Duncan, which made her smile and tell me that she thought that joining one of the women’s services was a brave thing to do.
‘I would have enjoyed doing something exciting like that when I was a girl, but my parents would never have allowed it,’ she confided. I now felt as though I had her approval, so when the trays of food were brought into the room, I left her side to mingle with our other guests.
Despite the rationing, the food was almost pre-war standard, and I greedily had second helpings of everything that the caterers handed round, but I decided to avoid drinking any alcohol, just in case it made me talk too much or say anything inappropriate to the Great Aunts. I also needed to keep my wits about me to remember which relatives belonged to Father John’s family and which ones belonged to Bumble’s. James was a big help and told me who was who. He then asked me if Duncan had told me about his life when he first joined the Navy, so I told him that I knew a little but that he hadn’t said very much about his time on the fishing boats near Wick.
‘The so-called fishing boats, you mean?’ James asked. ‘I can tell you Mary, that your husband is a very brave man.’
I looked at him in amazement and was about to ask him to tell me more when there was a call for silence, as our wedding cake was carried in. Everyone now sat down for the speeches, which, thankfully, were reasonably short and some of them very funny. Janet told the assembled crowd that the cake was a gift from their local baker, whose son Alex had been at kindergarten with Duncan. He and Duncan had remained good friends until they had lost touch when the war started; sadly Alex was now a prisoner of war in a German camp. I immediately thought about our brave servicemen and women and offered up a silent prayer for them all, hoping that the war would come to an end soon.
When it was time for our guests to leave, Uncle Freddy pulled Duncan away to a quiet corner of the drawing room and the two men hugged each another with deep affection. Uncle Freddy then handed his nephew an envelope, which I presumed was our wedding present.
Duncan waited until we were going to bed before opening the envelope, and inside he found an unbelievably generous cheque; it would be enough for us to buy our first home together. Duncan was so overcome with emotions that he burst into tears.
The next day
we all went to church together, and after the service Bertie drove Janet and Celia home, so that they could see to the lunch, while Duncan and I stayed behind for a while to meet some of the congregation, who were all old friends of his family. We then went home for a lovely lunch.
Halfway through our meal, the telephone suddenly rang. We all reacted with surprise, as nobody expected a call on a peaceful Sunday afternoon. When Father John asked who was calling, he was informed that it was the Admiralty and that they needed to talk to Lieutenant Commander Ogilvie urgently.
Ten minutes later Duncan came back into the dining room looking as white as a ghost. He was swaying unsteadily on his feet and having to hold on to the doorframe for support. He looked so shocked and miserable that I immediately knew that something was very wrong indeed.
Duncan then told us that the rest of his leave had been cancelled and that he had been given less than twenty-four hours to pack and get himself to Edinburgh.
‘You remember that I was posted to Wick at the start of the war, to take command of a fishing boat?’ Duncan began to explain. ‘Well the same crew has now been given a very special mission, and they have insisted that I am their skipper.’
No one spoke for a moment, as no one quite knew what to say. Duncan continued, ‘They say it’s my choice, but if I decide not to go and the crew is given another skipper who they don’t know or trust and then they lose their lives, I’d never forgive myself.’
It was clear to us all that there was no choice, Duncan had to go and that was the end of it. The shock of hearing that his leave had been cut short was bad enough, but now that he had explained why he had to go, I felt cold and began to tremble with fear.
Father John stood up and said, ‘I’m very proud of you son. If your old crew need you then as far as I am concerned you have no choice but to go.’
Duncan nodded at his father and then bravely smiled and said, ‘Well then, I’d better go and find my warm jumpers, socks and scarves, as it’s going to be damn cold where I’m going!’