Alice's Long Road Home

by Rosie James

  Valerie was immediately interested. ‘Why? What did you do? Quick – tell me!’

  Alice swallowed, still almost unable to believe the words she was going to utter. ‘It’s just that…I’ve become engaged, Valerie,’ she said. ‘The man I love – the man I have always loved – asked me to marry him. And I’ve accepted.’

  Valerie’s eyes shone with excitement. Who doesn’t like engagements and weddings! ‘Show me the ring!’ she demanded, moving over to take Alice’s hand.

  Alice shook her head, laughing. ‘There isn’t a ring yet,’ she said, ‘because he wasn’t sure I would accept him! But he’s coming down to Dorchester soon – probably on Saturday – and we shall choose it together.’

  Valerie’s excitement seemed to reverberate around the room. ‘Oh how exciting, Alice! Have you known him long? And if so – why haven’t you brought him here to show us? Come on – tell me all about it…did he go down on one knee? Did you keep him waiting – as if he might be number two or three on your list of possible suitors?’ Valerie was a hopeless romantic. ‘What’s his name…and is he tall and handsome – and have you got a photo? You must have a photo!’

  Alice held up her hands in mock surrender. ‘Hang on a minute, Valerie,’ she said. ‘and I’ll start from the beginning. Well…his name is Sam – Samuel Carmichael, and I’ve known him for most of my life because we lived in the same house in Bristol when we were young…my mother was employed as nanny to his younger siblings – two sets of twins, David and John, and Rose and Margaret. Those little girls were a real handful! And then, when my mother died, that became my job until I left to start my office career at nineteen – I’d learned shorthand and typing at Pitman’s college.’ Alice paused to take a breath. ‘And yes, he is tall and handsome – but he didn’t go down on one knee…actually he went down on both. Because I was sitting on the sofa at the time.’

  ‘Where were you when he proposed?’ Valerie was going to have all the details. ‘Whose sofa were you sitting on?’

  ‘His. Well, theirs. The Carmichaels’. I’d gone to their house in Clifton to talk about a business matter – or so I’d thought – but it didn’t exactly turn out to be the sort of business I’d imagined!’

  Valerie folded her arms and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. ‘Oh, how romantic,’ she breathed. ‘He’s tall, and handsome…and is he rich as well?’

  Alice looked Valerie fondly. The girl seemed as excited as if all this had happened to her. ‘You said you’d always loved him, Alice,’ Valerie went on slowly. ‘And did you know, from the very beginning, that you really, really did love him? And that you were meant for each other?’

  Alice waited before answering. Wasn’t that the identical question she had asked her mother all that time ago? And Alice would give exactly the same answer she’d heard that night. ‘Yes, Valerie,’ she said, ‘I have always loved him, from the very beginning, and I knew we were meant for each other. But I couldn’t be sure if he felt the same about me. It was only three days ago that he revealed his true feelings. And I’d never dared to hope that the day would come,’ she added truthfully.

  By this time Valerie was almost overcome with emotion. This was like something from the pictures! She went across to Alice and hugged her.

  ‘Well, I think he’s the luckiest man in the whole, wide world, whoever he is!’ she said flatly. ‘Because you say that he’s handsome – but you are beautiful, Alice…I can see people, men, take a second glance at you every time they come in here, or when we’ve been out together. And Rex – from the Bristol branch where you used to work – is mad about you…yes, he is, Alice,’ she declared, as Alice made to disagree. ‘I can see it every time he comes down here – that’s why he keeps making excuses to drive all the way from Bristol and take us out to lunch and stuff. He can’t take his eyes off you!’

  ‘Well, anyway, I think I’ve answered all your questions, Valerie,’ Alice said quickly – ‘except the one about whether Sam is rich. And I honestly don’t think he can be. It’s true he comes from a well-established family in Bristol – his father is a professor of medicine – a surgeon – and the Clifton house is very nice. But that doesn’t belong to Sam who’s training to be a surgeon himself,’ she added. ‘He’s got a long way to go to reach the same status as his father.’

  This was becoming all too much for Valerie. ‘Oh Alice,’ she murmured, ‘you are going to marry a very tall, very handsome, very clever man who you’ve always loved and who loves you… I’m going to start crying in a minute…’

  Alice stood up. ‘Don’t do that, Valerie,’ she said, ‘because we’ve got our first customer. He’s looking in the window and he’s coming in now…’

  Thanks to the fact that they had one or two genuine enquiries about house purchases and flat lettings, the day was passing quite quickly. Though it was difficult to concentrate because every time they had a quiet spell, all Valerie wanted to do was talk about the engagement.

  ‘Have you fixed a date yet?’ the girl wanted to know as she tucked into one of the fresh currant buns with the sugary tops which she’d bought for them to celebrate. ‘I don’t expect it’ll be until next year, will it,’ she added, licking her fingers, ‘because weddings take ages and ages to arrange, don’t they…there’s always so much to decide! I remember when my brother was getting married – the first time, I mean – it nearly gave Joan a nervous breakdown!’

  Alice nearly choked on her bun. She didn’t need anyone saying things like that! ‘Oh, we don’t really know the date yet,’ she said, crossing her fingers against the little white lie. But she’d made up her mind that it was better to say nothing about when she might be leaving…for all sorts of reasons. And one of the lesser reasons was that she knew Valerie would be really upset. The girl had said, so often, that she had never been happier than working here with Alice…because the days never seemed long since they were usually so busy, and that they always got on well together and sometimes had fits of the giggles about some of the clients…and that for the first time in her life she always looked forward to coming to work. Her enthusiasm had been quite touching, Alice had often thought. She shrugged inwardly. Disruptions usually cause someone some upset, but there was no need to upset Valerie just yet. ‘I’m sure we’ll discuss dates…things like that,’ she said airily, ‘when Sam comes down. There’s no rush.’

  When Alice got back home that evening – quite late thanks to the couple who kept on and on about what they were looking for, and who insisted on telling her their life story while they were about it – there were two letters on the mat which had arrived in the afternoon post.

  Alice picked them up, shrugged off her coat, and as usual went straight into the kitchen to put the kettle on. Then she switched on the light and sat down on the stool to examine the writing on the envelopes. And smiled. The first one had Eve’s neat, precise handwriting on it, and the other one was from Fay. Her bold scrawl, taking up nearly all the space on the envelope, was unmistakable. How funny that they should both be writing to her on the same day, Alice thought briefly. They hadn’t been in touch for a while. (And neither had she, to be fair.)

  She opened Eve’s first.

  Dearest Alice

  Look, spring is almost here and we still haven’t arranged to meet! My offer of afternoon tea at the Royal still stands – I’m dying to tell you everything that’s been going on, and I’m wondering if Sunday week is any good for you? The thirteenth? I rang Fay at Miss Downs’s place, and that day is OK for her…so will you please ring me at home, and let me know? You have our number. I would love to contact you at your office, but I know that personal calls in business are always frowned upon – even though you are the boss! And I’m sure that whatever time of day I chose to ring would be the most inconvenient and that I would probably ruin the best deal you’d had for ages! I do hope you can make it. It’s over three months since we’ve been together, and I promise I shall be much more jolly this time!

  With my love, Alice – Evie.
<
br />   Alice put the letter aside, smiling. Evie was such a patent little thing, and her happiness was bubbling right over, you could feel it. And straightaway Alice knew that Sunday week would be all right for her, too, because just before leaving work, she’d phoned the Clifton house and spoken to Sam about his visit to Dorchester.

  This coming Saturday, he was going to slip a ring on her finger! They were going to choose it together…and Alice knew that it was going to be beautiful…sparkling…glamorous…special…

  But it wouldn’t have mattered to her if it was an old curtain ring he picked up from the gutter. All that mattered was the promise it held.

  By now, the kettle had boiled for her cup of tea, and Alice decided to wait a few more minutes before opening the letter from Fay. To hold off the moment. To look forward to it for just a bit longer. Why had her letters always meant so much to her, she asked herself? Well, she knew the answer to that. It was because they’d been thought about, touched, handled and written by people – loved people – who had taken the trouble to sit down and think about her…who had taken the time to say what had been on their minds and hearts. Surely the time would never come when letter-writing became a thing of the past? When you had no reason to look forward to seeing the postman come up the path? Surely not?

  It was a relief to Alice that, after a spell of unexplained loss of appetite, it had started to return…that she actually felt hungry at the appropriate times. And today was no exception. She’d seen a lovely pork chop for tenpence in the window of the small butcher’s on the corner, and she was going to grill it with some mushrooms, and have it with potato chips. There was enough lard in the cupboard to do that. Alice loved chips, especially straight out of newspaper and eaten with your fingers. With plenty of salt and a good splash of vinegar. She smiled to herself as she remembered her birthday last year when, as a complete surprise, Fay and Evie and Rex had all come down from Bristol for the occasion. And Valerie and her brother Ronnie were there, too, and they’d all walked along a very chilly Weymouth sea front, enjoying the traditional seaside treat together.

  Presently, with her meal cooked and ready on the plate, Alice poured herself a glass of Corona, then took everything into the dining room and sat down at the table. The letter from Fay was there on the side, but she wouldn’t read it until she’d finished her meal. It could wait just a few more minutes.

  Watcher, my old lover! (Alice’s smile broadened.)

  What’s been going on with you, then? I hope you haven’t disappeared altogether, because to me, you looked proper skinny just before Christmas. (To the point, as usual.)

  Now, there’s things to sort out. First, Evie wants to buy us tea at the Royal on the 13th – I’ve told her that’s no problem for me, and I hope it’s not for you, either, Alice. Make sure it isn’t, because Evie is so excited about the turn of events at home, that if she doesn’t tell us, soon, in person, I’m afraid she might explode. I’ve spoken to her on the phone, of course, but what I want to do is give her a great big hug. Or several great big hugs. I think she deserves her happiness, don’t you, and we should be there to tell her, as soon as possible.

  The other thing is – Roger rang me up a few days ago to ask a favour. It’s his mother’s 65th birthday on Saturday the 26th of the month – and he said it would be her very best present if the three of us went to the farm to be there on the day. It would be a complete surprise if we all just turned up, say late afternoon after milking, and then he was going to book the Wheatsheaf for supper for us all. Mind you, knowing Mabel, I don’t think she’d appreciate that bit very much, because I’m sure she’d rather be the one providing the food – but that wasn’t for me to say, was it. Anyway I really think we should be there if we can – don’t you? I feel a bit bad, sometimes, that we haven’t made the effort to see the Foulkeses, but for one reason or another it just hasn’t happened, has it. And anyway, how did we know they’d really want us to? The war’s over, a thing of the past. Their life is back to where it was before we three turned up.

  Anyway, Rog left me in no doubt that he would love us to come to his mother’s birthday treat, so I hope you agree with me and Evie that we should be there. Oh, and by the way…I can take us there in my car! I didn’t tell you at Christmas (I was keeping it as a surprise) that Miss Downs has been giving me driving lessons in her car for some time, and I’ve just passed my test. First time! I was pretty relieved, I must say, because my landlady was quite a fierce instructor! And then the mechanic who looks after her car found this second-hand Austin for me – which is a bit of a banger, obviously, but he says it’ll do me fine until I can afford something better. So we wouldn’t need to look for any other form of transport to get us to Home Farm on the 26th. Do ring and say you can come, Alice.

  Lots of love to you, me ol’ dear – Fay

  Chapter Three

  On Saturday afternoon, as she stood on the platform waiting for Sam’s train to pull in, Alice could feel her heart gathering pace. Because this felt like a first date! And in some ways it was, because this was the first time she and Sam were going to be together, alone, somewhere other than in Clifton. And she knew it was ridiculous, but she was actually feeling a bit shy. How could you possibly be shy with someone you’d known, and who’d known you, for almost all your lives?

  But they were two different people now, weren’t they? They were two people who had finally declared their love for each other, and soon, very soon, he would place a ring on her finger to seal the fact which would tell the whole world that they had committed themselves to the promise of sharing their lives for ever.

  Even as these thoughts filtered in and out of Alice’s mind, she still couldn’t really take it in. She still couldn’t believe that her dream, her dearest wish, had actually come true. She was going to be Sam’s wife.

  She had already started practising her new signature…should it be just A. Carmichael, sort of dashed off carelessly, perhaps with a flourish somewhere? Or just A. Carmichael, neat and tidy, with no squiggles at all? She had always signed herself just Alice Watts, and she didn’t have a second name to add a bit of interest to her signature. Still, she was as proud to be a Watts as she was going to be as a Carmichael – and she knew that her mother would be happy for her. Ada would be so, so happy that her daughter was to have as good a life with the man she loved, as she herself had had with her merchant seaman husband Stanley Watts.

  Alice automatically reached to touch her necklace which held the tiny, gold anchor, the present her mother had given her at Christmas so long ago, and which Alice had never removed from her neck. Recalling her mother’s words that she should remember her father and how brave he had been at sea, and that she, Alice, must always stay grounded – as an anchor must do – keep on an even keel, and never give up on her hopes and dreams.

  Alice glanced around at the other people also waiting there on the platform for the train to arrive. Like her, they were all well wrapped up against the cold wind, though thankfully it had actually stopped raining for a few days. She was wearing her best cherry-red wool coat – the only other one she possessed was a green check plaid, which had seen better days – together with the fluffy white scarf around her neck which Gloria had given her several Christmases ago.

  During the week, Alice had done as she’d been told and had contacted Eve and Fay about the dates on their respective letters, confirming that she would come to Bristol on the 13th for afternoon tea at the Royal Hotel, and that so far as Mabel’s birthday was concerned, Alice was to catch the midday train to Bristol, where Fay would be waiting to pick her up before driving the three of them to Home Farm. Eve would have caught the bus in from Bath earlier. And while they’d been talking about it, Fay had suggested that, as it was sure to be late after Mabel’s party, Alice should spend the night with her at Miss Downs’s house before going back to Dorchester the next day.

  Alice smiled as she thought about the immediate future. Why was it that happy, exciting, special times crop up all at once, a
nd then, usually after that, nothing much happens at all?

  Number one on her present list, of course, was her engagement – absolutely no question that that was number one – but soon she and Fay and Evie were off to the farm! To see Mabel and Walter and Roger…go over old territory and see the animals, and the chickens and the dogs and the geese (though she hoped the farmer wouldn’t ask them to dig some potatoes while they were there). It was going to be lovely to see the Foulkes family again.

  Finally, a sound like thunder, and a huge cloud of steam, announced the arrival of the train, and everyone stood back slightly, waiting for it to come to a hissing stop. Then, almost at once, the doors opened and all the passengers began getting off…and where was he? Where was Sam?

  Alice peered around, waiting for him to materialize, and suddenly – there he was. Walking towards her with that easy, measured stride she knew so well. And Alice’s heart missed a beat. This man was hers – or soon going to be. Now he was close, looking down at her, and for a few seconds neither of them spoke. Then, in an instant, his arms were around her, pulling her into him, enveloping her, his face warm against her cold cheeks.

  And for the second time, Alice felt that she was on a first date with a new lover.

  What was it going to be like for them now, today? Was it going to be a comfortable, confident relationship, or a more wary one of not quite knowing what was in the other’s mind, of what was expected, or of exactly how to act? Although their feelings for each other were not a new thing, their newly established love certainly was! And in many ways there was still a lot to learn about each other. The pattern of their lives which lay ahead couldn’t possibly resemble anything that had gone before…this was going to be new territory. And that’s why she was feeling so excited – but also rather frightened. Their past was there, indelible, their future yet to come, unknowing, unknown, waiting to unfold… Was it going to turn out like a fairy tale where everything just fits neatly in place, or…