‘Of course I will,’ Dana said at once. ‘I’ll be honoured. And now that’s settled we can talk about other things. You’ve never met my Hank. However, that omission is about to be remedied; he’s got a forty-eight coming up in two days and I’ve promised to meet him off the train which gets into Norwich Thorpe at ten forty. He’ll buy us lunch and you’ll be able to meet him.’ She chuckled. ‘You’ll get to know a lot about his home, I fear, because his family own a farm on Prince Edward Island and he adores the place and loves talking about it. Unlike you and Ernie, we’ve always meant to get married when peace breaks out and not a moment before.’
‘Oh, Dana, we could have a double wedding!’ Polly said excitedly. ‘Now that the bridesmaid’s dress is faded it looks just like a wedding dress. Because of the time of year we could both wear a wreath of little white rosebuds in our hair and carry a bouquet of summer flowers. Oh, do say you will! It would make the day perfect.’
Dana laughed but shook her head, ‘No, no, one’s wedding day is something to remember for the rest of one’s life and the bride is – must be – the centre of attraction. Tell you what, though; if you’re marrying on the twenty-first of June, we’ll marry the following day so that you can come to my wedding before going off on your honeymoon.’ This was agreed, and having settled all the salient points the girls proceeded to have a most enjoyable leave. Polly was unable to resist asking Dana
whether she had yet managed to get in touch with Con because, as she pointed out, when the war ended they would surely both return to Castletara and it would be awkward to meet for the first time after so long.
Dana, however, brushed this aside. ‘Don’t forget I shall be a married woman about to set off with my husband to a new life in Canada,’ she said gaily. ‘Didn’t I tell you I went back for a crafty weekend last autumn? Feena and I discussed the situation and Feena said she had implored Con to come home whilst I was there so that we could become aquainted once more. I don’t think it would have worked but since Con couldn’t get leave Feena had to scrub the whole idea. She has explained to Con that I’ll be marrying Hank as soon as peace breaks out and apparently Con will be marrying his Mirrie round about the same time. They will go back to Castletara for a while and Feena and Johnny will probably take them into partnership. Feena says they will send me my share of the profits twice a year so that even when I’m in Canada I shall have a certain independence. It’s good of them, don’t you think? I mean, I shan’t be doing any of the work, so why should I get any money? But that’s the way it has been arranged, and everyone thinks it’s fair.’
The day of Hank’s arrival was heralded by a blizzard, so once more Dana and Polly fled to the buffet though this time with a tall, soft-spoken Canadian airman as their companion. Despite the fact that due to the fearful weather conditions Hank’s leave was cut short, Polly did manage to get to know the Canadian and liked him, though she still thought secretly that no matter how delightful Prince Edward Island might prove to be it
could never hold the place in Dana’s heart occupied by Castletara and Con. But that was Dana’s business, and besides, since Con planned to marry his Mirabelle it seemed pretty clear that even if Dana were secretly pining for him – and she showed no sign of it – Con himself had definitely put Dana completely out of his mind. So Polly turned her thoughts to her own affairs. Back at her station she was far too busy even to think much about her own wedding, far less Dana’s. The two friends kept in close touch however, mostly by telephone and letter, and when peace was declared and Churchill announced that
8
May
1945
would be Victory in Europe Day they returned to Liverpool to join in the celebrations.
The preparations for Dana’s wedding had had to be put on hold, since the Canadians and Americans were being repatriated. Dana and Hank bade one another an affectionate farewell, Hank promising faithfully to return as soon as was humanly possible. ‘Trust me to take care of you,’ Hank said earnestly, as he queued to get aboard the ship which would take him home. ‘I guess we’ll marry in Castletara so’s you can have your people to share your day, but as soon as we’re settled I hope Feena and Johnny will make tracks to Prince Edward Island so’s they can meet my folks. They’ll get along just fine, I know it.’
And then it was Polly’s wedding day. Both girls had been demobbed and were relishing their new-found freedom, though they had had to move in temporarily with friends in Temperance Court, having nowhere else to go until Polly and Ernie were married and took possession of their new flat. So it was in the Hodgkins’ spare bedroom
that the two girls got ready for the most important day of Polly’s life. They began by trying on their dresses and ended by talking over old times and old ambitions, sitting on the bed they had shared the previous night and remembering everything from the dreadful time they had had under Mrs Haggerty’s unpleasant rule to the kindness of the Freeway brothers and the excitements of running a cinema and cafeteria together for the first time. Jake had been killed in
1943
and Ralph, as they had expected, had gone back to South Africa where he had used every penny he possessed to buy not a cinema but a flower farm. He had been invalided out of the air force after he had been badly injured when his Mosquito had crashed, so now, when others were just beginning to relish their new-found freedom from rules, regulations and uniforms, Ralph was already harvesting his first crop and enjoying the thrill of being a husband to Sally-Ann and father to the three-month-old Jake, named of course for Ralph’s beloved brother.
‘If it hadn’t been for the war, I wonder if you and Con might have made up your differences and become friends – or even lovers – once more,’ Polly said thoughtfully, glancing in the mirror to make sure her coronet of white rosebuds was straight. She smiled at her friend. ‘Once you would have jumped down my throat simply because I had dared to mention Con’s name. Now you’ve come to terms with what’s happened and are happily living your life without your old childhood friend. Does he know you’re getting married? Has he sent good wishes – or bad ones for that matter – to be read out on the day? Or has he decided to ignore the whole thing?’ She watched her friend closely, but Dana’s face gave nothing away.
‘I dunno. Feena just said he was getting married as well and would return to Castletara, for a while at any rate. It would have been nice if he could have brought himself to admit our quarrel was a foolish one, but—’
‘Polly? Dana? What the devil are you two girls a-doin of? Don’t you know what the time is? That there feller in uniform what’s going to give you away – heh heh heh – come down from the hotel five minutes ago and he’s a-settled in my parlour tryin’ to stop the kids from muckin’ up his uniform.’
Polly jumped guiltily to her feet. ‘We’d best be going. The car will be arrivin’ any minute and I bet Ernie’s already in his number ones and standing up by the front of the church as frightened as a codfish.’
Dana giggled and dug her friend in the back. ‘Just how frightened is a codfish?’ she began, but Polly was already at the foot of the stairs, flinging the parlour door open and apologising to Wing Commander James for her tardiness.
‘But we’re ready now. The car will arrive any minute so we might as well walk through the arch; then he won’t have to turn round.’
Polly’s dress had a short train, and in view of the state of the cobbles Dana bent to pick it up and held it a foot above the ground as the driver jumped out of the car to hold open the door for the wedding party.
As always happens when a girl is wed from one of the courts, every inhabitant from the oldest to the youngest crowded round to wish her luck and wave her off. They waved at Dana too, knowing that she herself would soon be married, knowing also that she had once lived in the court, and Dana waved back, trying to quiet
the silly little voice inside her which was saying that she did not want Canada or Hank’s farm or Hank himself. She wanted … what did she want? Not Con, not her old life at the Freeway Cinema, not …
Then she pulled herself together, gave herself a shake. It was too late for regrets, she told herself firmly. Live the life you’ve chosen and stop whining, Dana McBride!
Con stood by the rail of the ferry heading across the Irish Sea, bound for England. It felt strange to be coming to Liverpool, because in his mind it was the city he should have searched first when Dana had left. What a fool he had been! He should have realised she would want to get away from himself, from Feena and Johnny, from Castletara … and more than that, she would want to get away from Ireland itself. He had considered London, but thought it too far and probably too expensive, so when he did try England he had searched the small provincial towns, never even considering that she might stop at the port in which she landed. If he had known about Caitlin, how she and Dana had clung together, two runaways wanting to prove themselves independent persons before even thinking about returning to the land of their birth, then he would certainly have searched Liverpool. Even in his self-disgust, however, he had to grin at the thought of Dana working in a commercial kitchen. She had always been a tomboy, a lover of the outdoors. Feena had had a job even to get her to keep her own room tidy, and as for cooking! He chuckled to himself. Most of what she cooked she burnt, and whatever she didn’t burn arrived on the table half raw. His father and hers had often teased her, saying she would
make some man a terrible wife. But Dana had just tossed her red head and said she meant to marry a man who could afford a cook; her place was outdoors, and preferably with the horses.
‘Mind your back, sor. We’ll be dockin’ in ten minutes and you won’t want to get your decent suit covered in dort, ’cos we’ve a load of grand Irish spods to get down the gangway as soon as we dock.’
Con muttered an apology and moved further along the rail. He was here on impulse and was already regretting it, but when Feena had told him so off-handedly that Dana was getting married to some Yank or other he had seen at once that it was an opportunity to take a look at the girl he had once loved without her seeing him, or even knowing he was nearby. She would be far too busy with her new husband to notice Con Devlin, he told himself.
Accordingly he had boarded the ferry, first ascertaining at which church the girl from Temperance Court was getting married, and then whereabouts in Liverpool said church was situated. He had not asked Feena or Johnny for such details, since he could imagine what false hopes this would raise in their breasts. Instead, he had said he needed to visit a member of his crew who was trying to rent some rooms near the factory in which he had obtained a position. Unfortunately, the owner of the rooms seemed determined to let only to the Angel Gabriel or someone of similar ilk, so Freddy had written desperately to Con, his old squadron leader, begging for a reference. Con had forwarded the reference but had said he would come over in person and make sure that the landlord knew how fortunate he would be to have Freddy and his new wife as his tenants.
He meant to go there, too. But first he would take a look at Dana in her bridal finery. Seeing her the property of another man, and happy, he told himself that he would acknowledge at last that they would never have suited, were poles apart. Then he could start to live his own life, as everyone was always urging him to do, as indeed he knew he should.
He reached the church, checked that it was the right one, joined the crowd which had already collected. ‘When’s the bride arriving?’ he hissed to the young woman nearest him and she turned, eyeing him up and down before replying.
‘They’re in already, all of ’em, bride, groom, best man an’ all,’ she said, having to speak loudly to be heard above the hum of the crowd. ‘Ooh, ain’t it grand to see a real weddin’ for a change, instead of all that austerity stuff! She’s in white, of course, wi’ rosebuds in her hair and holdin’ a bunch of ’em, a bouquet they calls it. She’s gorran attendant what held up her train goin’ in … but you’ll see for yourself any time now. Here they come!’
They came out of the shadowy porch into the bright morning sunlight. Con stared and stared, whilst his heart bounced and leaped and his breath came short. He had been told Dana had changed, yet he could see no difference from the red-headed, freckled-faced kid he had once loved. She was exactly the same! He began to push his way through the crowd, his eyes fixed on the tall, slender girl in the long white dress, whose hand was tucked confidingly into the elbow of a well set up man in air force uniform. He never even saw the small blonde nor the fair-haired man whose arm she clutched. He had eyes only for Dana, and as he neared the couple Con realized
that the man with his old love wore the insignia of a wing commander, that his hair was greying at the temples, that he was old enough, dammit, to be her father!
Fury and jealous rage gripped him. He began to push his way through the crowd and the movement must have caught Dana’s eye for she turned, sliding her hand out of the officer’s arm, and then her eyes met Con’s. She shrieked, gathered up her long skirt and headed for him like an arrow from a bow. Watchers were pushed to one side, a child got trodden on and yelled indignantly, but Con had her in his arms and was shaking her, shouting at her, saying that he would thank that dirty old man to find someone his own age because Dana was his … his … his!
‘You shan’t be married! It will have to be – to be cancelled. Annulled! You’re mine, you always were mine, and nothing’s changed!’ Con shouted. ‘Tell your fancy man it was all a mistake; you’re a part of me and I don’t mean to let you go! We’re going back to Castletara, where we belong, the pair of us!’
Dana snuggled against him, feeling a laugh and a sob together bubbling up within her. ‘I’m not married,’ she whispered into his neck. ‘It’s my friend Polly’s wedding. Oh, Con, I’ve spent the last nine years running away, but that’s all over now; and you’ve not said you love me, not once!’
Con laughed, but there was a catch in his voice when he spoke. ‘I love you, Dana McBride,’ he said. ‘Will that do?’