Raging Sea, Searing Sky

by Christopher Nicole

  And everything was in fact falling into place. Father wrote a rather stiff letter, but Lew felt it was stiff because he had never been told the whole truth of the matter before rather than because of the matter itself, although Father did add that he had felt called upon to write the Grants personally and express his real regret at the calling off of the engagement. But he also gave the go ahead for the marriage, and said how much he was looking forward to meeting his first grandson. Lew was very relieved about that.

  Once Captain Joe McGann had expressed his consent, there were no further delays. Indeed, Lew was informed by Captain Bolder that he could have a two-day furlough the following week, but no longer than that, because the flotilla had been ordered back to the United States. Two days! He took Benny with him, and had already been in touch with Hashimoto; the Japanese was delighted to act as best man, with Benny as a witness. Hashimoto secured the special licence, and Lew and May were married in St James’s, Piccadilly, on 27 November 1918. Lew had left May to provide a witness of her own, whom he had somehow expected to be Rowena, and he was astounded to discover that the church was almost full, of young people of both sexes, all apparently well-heeled, for they wore flowing gowns and morning suits if they were not in uniform, and were very exuberant. He could not help reflecting, although he recognised none of them, that as they were all May’s friends, clearly a good number of them had probably been at that armistice day ball where she had been going to strip for them, and that therefore a good number of them, if the barman was to be believed, had seen her strip before. And one or two of the men might have seen, and done, more than that. Yet he was determined not to worry about it, especially when he saw how blissfully happy May was, squeezing his hand as they were pronounced man and wife.

  Hashimoto had arranged a wedding lunch at the Café Royal, to which the entire party walked; May was wearing her favourite dark blue, a velvet tunic dress with black fur edging, under a black mink cape with sleeves; her hat was a blue velvet with a single white feather, and her black patent leather high-heeled boots had gaberdine uppers. She wore her hair up, and Lew had had time to buy her both an engagement and a wedding ring.

  Hashimoto had also arranged a great deal of champagne, but he hadn’t bargained for the numbers which joined them. Fortunately, most of the guests seemed known to the maitre d’hôtel and the impromptu reception was hastily rearranged in one of the upstairs banqueting halls. The lunch went on a very long time, with toast after toast being drunk. May was on the top of her form, dominating the entire party with her glowing vivacity. ‘I’m so happy, dearest Lew,’ she confided. ‘And about Uncle Clive? He actually seems quite happy about the idea. The fact is,’ she confided, ‘now that he’s in the Lords he finds my goings-on a bit upsetting. I think he’s very relieved to think I’m going to be three thousand miles away. Look what he’s given us as a wedding present.’

  She had already opened the envelope which contained a cheque for five hundred pounds. Lew was amazed at the man’s generosity. But presumably, having made a fortune out of selling the Navy, and no doubt the Army, dud shells, he was now a millionaire. And he was getting rid of a burden.

  It was nearly five when they hailed a taxi and returned to the flat. Benny and Hashimoto said goodbye at the restaurant, but to Lew’s alarm and annoyance some dozen of the guests accompanied them, and insisted upon coming up to the apartment and continuing their drinking; he discovered that May had laid in quite a stock of champagne, apparently in anticipation of this. ‘Can’t we get rid of these people?’ he whispered to her.

  ‘Oh, darling,’ she said. ‘They’re my friends. And I won’t ever see them again.’

  ‘Baby,’ shouted one of the young women. ‘Baby! we want to see baby, now he has a daddy.’

  Her companions cheered and stamped on the floor, and May gave one of her peals of laughter and went into the nursery to bring Clive Lewis out, blinking at the people.

  ‘Let Daddy hold him,’ someone shouted, and the little boy was placed in Lew’s arms; he promptly gave a wail of terror — Lew had never held him before.

  ‘I say, old man, he doesn’t look a bit like you,’ remarked one of the men.

  Lew looked around and found Rowena, hovering anxiously on the edge of the throng. ‘Take Clive, Rowena,’ he said. ‘I don’t think he appreciates all this noise.’ He was keeping his temper with great difficulty.

  ‘Oh, he can’t go yet,’ said one of the women. ‘He hasn’t had a drinkie. Little Clive must celebrate Mummy’s marriage. Mustn’t you, little Clive.’

  She tickled the boy under the chin, and he began to cry; for all his earlier shyness he hid his head in Lew’s collar.

  Lew gave him to Rowena. ‘If anyone attempts to feed that boy a drink,’ he said, ‘I am going to throw him, or her out. Come to think of it, I am going to throw you all out anyway. I happen to be honeymooning.’

  ‘Now, really, old man,’ someone protested.

  ‘Lew, these are my friends,’ May protested.

  ‘That’s why I’m being polite to them,’ Lew told her. ‘Now, are you going to leave? Or am I going to throw you out.’

  They glared at him, and then looked at May, who hesitated, but a crisis was avoided by a knock on the door. The porter stood there, looking very embarrassed. ‘I do apologise, Miss Gerrard, but the neighbours...so much noise...’

  May stamped her foot. ‘Oh, the shitting stuffed shirts,’ she snapped. ‘Oh, well, gang, I suppose we’ll have to call it a day.’

  There were protests, but muted now, and they began to drift through the door, each one carefully ignoring Lew, while they gave May long and loving farewell kisses.

  Lew found himself standing next to Rowena and Clive at the back of the room. ‘I am so terribly sorry, sir,’ Rowena said. ‘Miss May...she don’t mean any harm. She just...sort of likes a good time.’

  Lew had gathered that Rowena was accompanying May and the baby to the States. He had had his doubts about that, but now he was suddenly very relieved. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’ll bear that in mind.’

  The last guest had left, and May was closing the door, then she went to the bar and poured herself a drink.

  ‘May,’ he said. ‘Don’t you think you’ve had enough of that?’

  ‘Oh, Lewis,’ she said. ‘You are such a spectre at the feast. It’s my wedding day. Can’t I be merry? Won’t you join me?’

  ‘Well...’ but it was her wedding day. He took the offered glass.

  ‘I’ll give baby his dinner,’ Rowena said, and took Clive into the kitchen.

  ‘She’s a treasure,’ Lew observed.

  ‘She’s a pain in the ass, a lot of the time,’ May grumbled.

  She clearly was going to need careful handling tonight, for although she didn’t show it, she had to be totally drunk, judging by the amount she had put away.

  ‘Shall we go out to eat?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t want food. I want love. We’re honeymooning.’ She went into the bedroom and began taking off her clothes, throwing them left and right. ‘We don’t have a moment to waste.’

  Lew wished she had thought of that earlier. He followed her in, closed the door. ‘I’m afraid you may find life a little dull, on Long Island, or in Norfolk, Virginia,’ he suggested.

  ‘How could I ever find life dull, with you, my darling boy?’ She had finished undressing, and now she knelt on the bed, her arms outstretched. ‘Oh, Lew, come on to bed. I’ve waited for this moment for so very long.’

  Well, so had he. And he realised that it would be stupid to allow his anger at the behaviour of her friends, or of herself, to upset him now. This afternoon had been a part of her past. But it was the last part of her past. From now on she was in her future, with him. He had completely fallen on his feet, in every way. Or was it on to his stomach? However much May had had to drink, she was more erotically stimulating than ever. They did not get out of bed at all the following day; Rowena brought little Clive in to see them for a while, and it was a thrill to be abl
e to have his own son sitting on his knee. Then she served them lunch on a tray. There was champagne with dinner too, and May sat up in bed drinking from the bottle neck while liquid ran out of her mouth and formed a little rivulet between her breasts.

  He kissed her dry, and they made love again, until he was too exhausted to continue, and then she continued to lick him and kiss him and hug him. He finally fell into a deep sleep and awoke about nine with a severe hangover. ‘God,’ he shouted, when he had looked at his watch. ‘I’ve a train to catch.’

  ‘So soon?’ she asked drowsily.

  ‘So soon. Listen, you’re booked on the Mauretania, leaving next week.’ He grinned. ‘You’ll probably be in New York before we get back to Norfolk. Listen, go to an hotel until I contact you.’

  ‘Oh, Lewis,’ she grumbled, sitting up and pulling hair from her eyes. ‘I really am terrified at the thought of crossing the Atlantic again, without you.’

  He kissed her on the nose. ‘Relax. All the U-boats are surrendered now. So remember, a hotel, and telephone the address to the Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia. I’ll get it there.’

  He bathed and dressed, while she thrashed about the bed in discontent. He held her in his arms a last time, and went to the door, checked, as he heard her say to Rowena. ‘I’m sure there’s another bottle of champagne unopened.’

  He hesitated, then closed the door behind him. It would be no bad thing for her to get it right out of her system before she got to the States. And that was all he wanted to think about, as the train took him back to Portsmouth. That, and the sheer delight of having been in her arms. It truly did not matter what weaknesses she suffered so long as she used such a body to make love like that. He simply had to be the most fortunate man in the world.

  Benny and Pearson had the ship ready to sail when he re-joined, and there was a good deal of mail in his cabin, telegrams of congratulation, beginning with one from Father, and then from a whole host of brother officers.

  At the bottom, there was a letter, and he recognised the hand. With trembling fingers he slit the envelope, but there was no writing inside, just a folded piece of tissue paper. Inside the tissue paper was an emerald and diamond engagement ring.

  Chapter Eight

  Washington, 1922

  ‘The reason we are gathered here today,’ said Rear Admiral Joseph McGann, ‘is so that we can understand fully what we are about.’ He looked over the eager faces in front of him. These officers were the best America had to offer, selected at once for their expertise and their experience. That his own son should be amongst them made Joe extremely proud, however worried he might be about Lew’s domestic problems. He was also proud that it had fallen to his lot, as his last command before retirement, to guide these young men into what could turn out to be the most important assignment of their lives. ‘And what we are about is nothing less than the peace of the world, according to our lights. Now, this is something we all have to be very sure about. I know you all have been cleared for security and every God damn thing else. That’s all very well and good. You know that not a word spoken here today is ever to be repeated outside of this room, to anyone. It is my job to spell out the situation for you.’ Again he paused, and looked from face to face. If his gaze lingered longest on the large form of Lieutenant-Commander Lewis McGann, it might not have been entirely because Lewis McGann was his son — at twenty-three he was also the youngest lieutenant-commander in the United States Navy.

  ‘Tomorrow,’ Admiral McGann said, ‘we shall be meeting our counterparts from Italy and France, and from Japan and Great Britain. Our objective will be to ensure peace, naval peace, in the world for the foreseeable future.’ He leaned forward, his hands on the table in front of him. ‘But that peace must be, and must remain, compatible with the interests and the security of the United States.’

  Another pause, while he checked their reactions. ‘Sure,’ he said, ‘we have just finished a great war, the greatest war in history, the war to end all wars, and right now there is no one in the world, so far as we know, who is contemplating starting another. But there will be, in time. And meanwhile there are a hundred little wars going on right this minute. So we all grew up with the concept of the Pax Britannica, that wherever there is minor trouble the Royal Navy will appear and sort it out. But the Pax Britannica is coming to an end. In fact, it has come to an end. For two reasons. One, the British nation is bankrupt.’ Joe allowed a rustle to pass through his audience. ‘That is not admitted by the British,’ he said, ‘but it is also true. The British are no longer interested, they no longer have the money, to support the kind of shipbuilding programme they were undertaking before the war. Now, that is good for us, because it makes them more amenable than they might otherwise have been to our proposals for limiting ship size over the foreseeable future.’

  ‘Aren’t the British our natural allies, anyway, sir?’ someone asked. ‘After all, we fought shoulder to shoulder against the Germans...’

  ‘Agreed, mister,’ Joe McGann said. ‘Now tell me, where is the German High Seas Fleet at this moment?’

  ‘Well...’ the commander looked right and left, and flushed. ‘At the bottom of Scapa Flow.’

  ‘Right. So at this moment we are the only battle fleet left in the world that the Royal Navy has to worry about, right?’

  ‘Agreed, sir. But to suppose the Royal Navy would ever be used against us...’

  ‘Mister,’ Joe McGann said. ‘Do you know the name of the country to which Great Britain is most closely allied?’

  ‘Well, sir...France?’

  ‘Great Britain’s oldest and closest ally is the Empire of Japan,’ Joe told him. ‘And I would say it is not entirely coincidental that Japan has the third largest navy in the world. Now, I repeat, our objective is peace, but secure peace, and the fact of the matter is that the only two nations who can possibly challenge our legitimate aspirations in this world are Great Britain and Japan, and they are allied. That is a situation which we cannot permit to continue. We are not allied with anyone. Congress, the American people, are determined never to become embroiled in world affairs again. That is an admirable concept. But we in the armed services have to bear in mind that world affairs could very well be forced upon us, whether Congress likes it or not, and it is our business to play for such a contingency.’

  He took a drink of water, again using the opportunity to study their faces, looking for any sign of weakness or disagreement. And again he studied Lew longest. Lew had actually served with the Royal Navy.

  ‘Now as I have said,’ he went on. ‘The British are agreeable to a limitation in naval building. Their reason is mainly financial. Well, ours is too, in a sense. Because of our situation, between Great Britain and Japan, we have to maintain a fleet in both the Atlantic and the Pacific — but we also have to have the facility to transfer ships from one ocean to another at a moment’s notice. You all know how long it took the Oregon to get from San Diego to Cuba, via Cape Horn, during the war with Spain. It is for that reason the Panama Canal was built, and the Canal gives us that facility, with a large but, however: the Canal can only handle ships of up to thirty-five thousand tons. I’m talking about normal displacement, of course. So long as we can get our ships through the Canal, we can fuel and arm them in the Pacific, or vice versa in the Atlantic. Thirty-five thousand tons normal, then, has got to be the absolute upper limit on the size of any warship in any fleet. Not just ours; we can’t afford to have any other guy building larger ships than us. There can be no argument over this. I don’t think there will be. Thirty-five thousand tons is a lot of ship. But of course we are only talking about future construction. The British already have a warship of forty thousand plus tons: HMS Hood. Well, we can’t do anything about her, and she is a battlecruiser, with light armour. But the Japanese are presently building two forty thousand ton ships, the Kaga and the Tosa. These ships are designed to make twenty-six plus knots, and to be armed with ten sixteen-inch guns. Just for example, our latest battleships, such as Ten
nessee, make just over twenty knots and have twelve fourteen-inch. Now that too is a situation we cannot tolerate. And our Maryland class ships are the biggest the Canal can accept.’

  This time the rustle was faintly alarmed; not everyone in the room was familiar with the Japanese building programme.

  ‘So this is what this conference is to be all about,’ Joe told them. ‘Limitation of ships, limitation of size, at least on capital ships, to a scale we have decided, and we must have.’

  ‘Can we do it, sir?’ someone asked. ‘If the others gang up on us...’

  ‘It’s up to us to see that they don’t,’ Joe said. ‘Now our people have done some preliminary negotiating, naturally, and have come up with certain propositions. Their concept is a ratio of five: five: three and a half: one point seven five: one point seven five. This is in tonnage, and it means that for every five tons of battleship we possess, the British will also have five tons, the Japanese will have three and a half tons, and the French and Italians will have one point seven five tons each. Or you can translate that into ships. Now it is our belief that France and Italy will go along with this, and we believe that Great Britain will also accept it, and that they will also accept the thirty-five thousand ton limitation on future building. As I said, all those three “victor” nations in Europe are in financial difficulties, and they owe us one hell of a debt as well, which has to be paid. And if they go along with us, Japan will find herself in a minority of one to four. They won’t like it. But they’ll have to play ball, or become a pariah, and they’ll like that even less. Now, that may seem to sew the matter up, from our point of view. But there is a catch: that Anglo-Japanese alliance.’

  He drank some more water, because this was the crux of his speech. ‘One reason the British are happy to accept parity with us in capital ships is that if it ever did come to shooting, their Pacific and East Indian possessions would be protected by the Japanese fleet. As I said, this is intolerable to us, because it means that we do not have a true five to five situation with Great Britain, or a true five to three and a half with Japan: we have a five to eight and a half with the pair of them. So what we have to do, gentlemen, is break up that alliance. It has to be part and parcel of the deal that there are no naval alliances, outside of European waters.’