Page 109 of War Comes to the Dales
‘I’m very glad I kept my nerve up enough to go through with it. When you sounded so happy about my supposed engagement, I almost changed my mind. I thought perhaps you’d stopped caring about me.’
‘Your machinations nearly had the same effect on me. I’d already realised I’d made a mistake when Topsy told me about your engagement. Then I thought you’d moved on and it was too late. If it wasn’t for Lilian persuading me, I never would have telegrammed at all. I’d have left you to be happy with your new love.’ She leaned over to kiss him. ‘I hope that’s taught you a lesson about telling fibs.’
‘From now on, I’ll be as honest as a magistrate.’ He idly twirled a loose strand of her hair around his finger while they watched the sun paint the sky orange and pink. ‘What changed your mind, Bobby? You sounded so certain when we said goodbye.’
‘Like I said, it was partly Piotr and Jolka. They showed me that there isn’t just one type of marriage – that a marriage is as unique as the people in it, and you can still have goals and ambitions of your own even if you are a mother. She’s a sort of a bluestocking, which a lot of men would find intimidating, but Piotr loves and respects her for it. And it was partly the Parry girls, making me realise how much I wanted children of my own. But mainly it was something Jolka said to me.’
‘What did she say?’
‘She made me realise… that night we climbed up here, and I saw what I saw in the plane, I thought it would be torture to me to know that the man I loved was up there in the skies. I knew I’d see that burning body in my nightmares and be terrified that the next time it would be you.’ She turned to him. ‘But that’s going to happen anyhow, Charlie. What Jolka helped me to understand was that telling you I didn’t want to be with you wasn’t going to stop me worrying about you. It wasn’t going to stop me loving you. I’ll always love you, whether I’m with you or not.’
Charlie smiled and cuddled her closer.
‘What about your job at the magazine?’ he asked. ‘You know, the other great love of your life.’
‘Reg wouldn’t expect me to leave until I was actually married. After that… I don’t know. Don Sykes said he’d always have a job at theCourierfor me, married or single, but I really don’t want to leaveThe Tyke.’ She kissed him. ‘But I don’t intend to lose you again either.’
‘You won’t. I wouldn’t let you.’ He drew her closer. ‘I love you very much, Bobby,’ he whispered. ‘One day soon the war will end and I’ll come home for good, I promise.’
‘Every prayer I say that isn’t for you is for the end of this filthy war.’ She took his hand and pressed it to her lips. ‘I do love you, Charlie. And I’m sorry.’
‘No you’re not. I can’t allow you to be sorry. You’ve never done anything wrong in your whole life except for loving me.’
She smiled. ‘If that’s a sin, I’ll never feel the need to confess it.’
A joyous silence reigned as they looked down from the summit at the little villages and hamlets in the valley below them, the beck meandering through like a ribbon of gold in the dying sunlight. A sheep occasionally gave a mellow bleat, and somewhere in the distance, a red grouse let out its chuckle call. Elsewhere the storm clouds of war might roll on, but that August evening the Dales were peaceful, calm and serene. Bobby snuggled into her lover’s arms, content for the moment to be content. And still the grouse called and the sheep bleated, like the promise of a world to come that would be at peace once more.
