by Anne Baker
‘This is a magnificent room,’ Elsie said, ‘a bed sitting-room.’
‘Would you be happy living here?’ Millie asked. ‘I’d want you to spend most of your time downstairs with us, but if the boys get too boisterous for you, you can come up here and find peace. I’ve asked Andrew to make this his home when we’re married, but we’d both be worried about leaving you on your own, so I’m inviting you to come too.’
‘Oh Millie you are so kind! Are you sure?’ Elsie was blinking back tears of emotion. ‘I’m so pleased. I didn’t dare hope … You are so thoughtful. I know Andrew will be happy with you. Did he put you up to this?’
‘No,’ Andrew said, ‘it’s entirely Millie’s idea. Thank you.’ Andrew’s eyes too were glistening with unshed tears. He put an arm round Millie’s waist and kissed her cheek. ‘I told you she was one in a million.’
Millie had started holding monthly senior staff meetings again so they all knew what was going on in the company. Four months later, she and Andrew announced their engagement at one of them. They received hearty congratulations and several said they’d make a good team. They were all happy to see the business settling into the new regime and continuing to increase its profits. The office had settled down and everyone was pulling their weight. They’d all recovered from a bad patch.
Millie felt equally happy about how things were going at home. Andrew was developing an interest in the city of Liverpool, its history and how it had grown and developed. He’d found books about how the slave trade had been carried on in the old days, and gave them to Simon and Kenny to read. He took the whole family on expeditions to see places of interest in the city, and swept Valerie and Helen and their families along too.
Sylvie, too, seemed to be on an even keel. ‘I’ve decided it would be better if I didn’t work for you,’ she told Andrew. ‘The other secretaries are saying it’s a very cushy number for me as you’d have to make excuses for any mistakes I make.’
Millie asked Miss Franklin to switch her to someone else. She became Tom Bedford’s secretary, while Andrew was allotted Connie Grey’s services in her stead. Sylvie was living in a fever of anticipation and continuing to write to Denis every day and it seemed they were making plans for a big wedding.
Millie was more than content with the way things were turning out but she was longing to be married and have her own affairs settled.
One Sunday, Andrew took all the family out on a visit to Speke Hall and they returned home tired and hungry after a long day out to yet another pre-cooked casserole. Andrew had stayed to eat supper with them before going home, and afterwards Sylvie had sent them out on to the terrace to enjoy the last of the sun while she and the boys washed up.
Stretched out in the garden chair, Millie said, ‘Andrew, you’ve practically made yourself one of the family, I don’t think we need to wait any longer for our wedding.’
He jerked upright in his chair and felt for her hand. ‘That’s wonderful. It can’t come soon enough for me. I’ve had to make a big effort to be patient.’
‘I know you have and so have I. Let’s go ahead and set the date.’ Millie felt a thrill of anticipation akin to what Sylvie was showing. ‘It’s time we thought of ourselves and what we want.’
He pulled her to her feet. ‘I want to kiss you but I can’t show any passion here, we’re too near this family of yours. Let’s walk round the garden, find a more private spot.’
Millie had to laugh as he led her behind the bushes. ‘Fancy having to do this at our age.’
They’d had plenty of time to discuss and agree on what they wanted. It was to be a quiet church wedding, with just the immediate family on both sides. Valerie had offered to put on the wedding breakfast and had been collecting items of food for that for some time. Simon, as the man of the family, was to walk her down the aisle and give her away, and there was to be as little fuss as possible.
‘No,’ Sylvie objected, when she heard what was planned, ‘you can’t do that, it would be too quiet. I want to be your bridesmaid and wear a long frock. I want you to look like a bride in a white gown.’
‘Hold on,’ Millie told her, ‘you can be my bridesmaid but I can’t wear a white gown.’
‘Yes, you can, clothes rationing finished long ago.’
‘No,’ Millie insisted, ‘absolutely not. I’m past all that. I’m a widow marrying for the second time, I’ve had three children and we’re all going to wear ordinary clothes.’
‘Not too ordinary,’ Helen said. ‘Let me make your outfit, it can be my wedding present to you. You need a really stunning dress, it’s got to be New Look at the very least.’
Since it had first burst on the fashion scene the style had become somewhat modified, the waist was not quite so cinched, the skirt not quite so full and long, but it was still radically different to wartime fashions and more people were wearing it. It had changed women’s wear for good.
‘But first,’ Helen went on, ‘I’m going to take you out to choose a hat that suits you and fits the occasion. Then we can choose a pattern for the dress and look for the right material.’
Millie took an afternoon off the following week to go shopping with her, and chose a blue hat.
‘No,’ Helen said, ‘it suits you but it’s too plain and serviceable.’ They went to another shop where Millie tried on a dozen hats. Helen picked out one in a soft peach organza with a wide floppy brim. ‘This is more a wedding hat, try it on.’
Millie looked at herself in the mirror and thought the hat was a revelation. It added a warm tint to her face. ‘I love it,’ she said. ‘How clever of you to know it would suit me.’
‘The pattern next,’ Helen said, and it took Millie a long time to decide on that. ‘Now we need some filmy material in the same shade as your hat, georgette or chiffon, I think.’ Helen was not satisfied until she had an exact match in soft silk chiffon.
‘That’s terribly extravagant,’ Millie protested, ‘especially as it will need lining.’
Helen was already buying taffeta in a similar shade, ‘It can’t be too extravagant for a wedding dress. What about Sylvie? She must have a dress that tones with yours, and as she’ll be making it up herself, it needs to be easier material to manage than silk chiffon.’
They eventually bought Sylvie a dress length of fine cotton cambric, with a flower pattern on a peach background.
‘Once I’ve cut your dress out I can adjust the pattern to Sylvie’s size so you’ll look like a bride and bridesmaid.’
‘I love the full skirt,’ Millie told Helen when she tried it on during a later weekend visit, ‘and I’ll be a very fashionable bride.’
Helen stood back to view her handiwork. ‘The material drapes beautifully across this narrow bodice.’
‘I shall be able to wear my dress for parties afterwards,’ Sylvie said. ‘I love it.’
Valerie had come upstairs to help. ‘You’ll both look very elegant and summery,’ she told them.
They were still discussing the dress when they rejoined the family downstairs. ‘What about me?’ Kenny wailed. ‘I don’t want to be left out of this wedding. What can I do?’
‘You could be a page,’ Sylvie suggested.
Kenny was suspicious. ‘Would I have to dress up in silly clothes?’
‘Yes, of course,’ Sylvie told him. ‘A white satin shirt and velvet breeches.’
‘No, I’m too old for all that, it’s baby stuff. I want to wear a smart new suit.’
‘That won’t do,’ Sylvie was scornful, ‘you wouldn’t look anything like a page.’
Kenny looked hurt. ‘What does a page have to do?’ he asked.
Andrew smiled at Millie and said, ‘Kenny, I need to find a best man. Do you feel you could manage that? You’d have to stand at the front of the church with me, and look after the wedding ring until the vicar says it’s time to p
ut it on your mother’s finger.’
‘You could do that in a smart new suit,’ Millie agreed.
His face screwed up with delight. ‘Yes, I’d like that,’ he said. ‘Is it a more important job than Simon’s?’
Millie chose to be married in the Maynard family church in Mossley Hill. She told the vicar that she wanted a quiet, simple wedding but he thought that with her Maynard connections she should have the organ and the choir.
The guest list was growing beyond her first estimate as Millie remembered friends and distant relatives, so the venue for the wedding breakfast was changed to Helen’s house, because it was nearer to the church and a more suitable size to hold a large party. After all the planning and the waiting, the day seemed suddenly to be on them.
At eleven o’clock on a sunny June morning, it all began to take place as Millie had planned. Dressed in her finery, Millie felt strangely nervous and half afraid something might go wrong to spoil the occasion, but she felt heady with excitement too.
She arrived at the church on time with Simon who suddenly seemed almost grown up. It calmed the butterflies in her stomach to see Sylvie, her bridesmaid, looking very elegant, waiting in the porch for her. They paused until the music changed before Simon led her forward. The congregation stood and all the way down the aisle friendly faces were turning to smile at her. She was surprised to find the church almost full although Andrew had predicted it would be, because all those working in the business had been told they could take time off in order to come if they wanted to.
When she saw Andrew waiting for her, smiling encouragingly and looking handsome and his usual confident self, she had no doubts that she was doing the right thing and they would both be happy. She was able to give her attention to the age-old traditional service after that, knowing she was making her promises with all her friends and family round her, and they would be kept.
Coming out of church into the bright sunlight with her wedding entourage crowding behind her, there were the photographs to be taken. After that Millie led the way across the churchyard to the Maynard family grave, where she wanted to leave her flowers. She’d found it impossible not to think of Pete, but she knew he’d approve of her new husband. He’d wish her well if he could. She was touched when Sylvie laid down her little nosegay of flowers too, and all his family followed suit, laying down the flowers they’d worn.
Then Valerie and Helen were leading the bridal pair to Eric’s car, decorated with white satin ribbons. He drove them to his home so that they could stand beside the steps leading to their front door to greet their guests who were walking the two hundred yards or so along the pavement. Hattie and her sister had come and Jeff Willis and his wife. Denis had managed to get leave and brought his mother, and of course the four managers who ran the company had been invited with their wives.
Later that afternoon, the bridal couple drove to Hafod for their honeymoon. Millie felt supremely happy; as far as she was concerned, she had everything the world had to offer.
Fifteen months later, Denis was demobbed from the army, having completed his National Service. Sylvie had been looking forward to this moment for a long time and had been growing increasingly excited. She’d been building up a bottom drawer, making herself a whole new wardrobe, and was also planning a honeymoon at Hafod.
On his first evening home, she’d brought Denis round to see Millie. She thought his shoulders had broadened, his skin was tanned and he’d matured into a handsome young man. She kissed him. ‘Welcome home,’ she said.
‘I’ve come to ask if my job is still open,’ he told her. ‘Sylvie and I want to get married and I have to be able to support her.’
‘Of course it is.’ Millie smiled. ‘I’ve been half afraid you’d decide you preferred working in a hospital laboratory.’
‘No, perfumes are in my blood.’
‘Good, business is burgeoning here, we really need you.’
Denis started work in the lab almost immediately and preparations for their wedding went into top gear.
‘He’ll need six months to get back into the routine,’ Millie said to Andrew, ‘and then I’ll move out and hand responsibility for the lab over to him.’
‘And will you make your office in the boardroom then?’ he asked. Andrew had moved into the turret when they’d taken on another accountant.
‘It’s the only available space.’ She laughed. ‘Such a grand room, but it’ll have to be there. Fancy me having that as my office.’
‘Why not? You’ve been running this business very successfully for years, and you own it too. Pete would be proud of what you’ve achieved. And by the way,’ Andrew dropped a kiss on her forehead, ‘I’m proud of what you’ve achieved too.’
‘I think it’s time I started bringing the boys in during their school holidays,’ she said. ‘They’re old enough to start learning what we do here. I’d like them to carry the firm on in their turn.’
‘Spoken like a true Maynard.’ Andrew laughed. Millie laughed with him, she’d never told him that there were no Maynards left. Eleanor’s last notebook was back in its hiding place in her roll-top desk. It was a secret she intended to keep for the time being. Perhaps she’d tell her boys when they were old enough.
By the time Denis had been working for six months, he and Sylvie had found a small house being built on a nearby estate. They proposed to buy it on a mortgage and start their married life there.
Sylvie walked down the aisle in a white lace bridal gown. She had asked Andrew, as her stepfather, to give her away, and had insisted that he, and all the other gentlemen in the wedding party, wear full morning dress. Andrew gave a very apt and amusing speech at the hotel reception that Geraldine had arranged.
As the clapping died away, he sat down next to Millie. ‘I do love you,’ he whispered. ‘I hope they’ll be as happy as we are.’
‘There’s something I need to tell you that might make you even happier, she said. ‘We’re going to have a baby. Let’s keep it a secret for now, as I wouldn’t want to steal Sylvie’s thunder today.’
As Andrew hugged her, Millie felt truly blessed to see her entire family so happy in the present, and with so much to look forward to in the future.