Hanna stood in front of the long mirror, hardly able to believe that the reflection was of her. ‘Can I really wear this?’ she whispered.
‘You’ve become like a daughter to us, Hanna, and we would be very proud to see you walking down the aisle in the dress I wore on my wedding day.’
‘And I would be proud to wear it.’ Hanna gulped back the emotion. ‘I don’t know what to say. Thank you seems so inadequate.’
‘It will do just fine.’ Jane began to remove the veil. ‘Alan wants the wedding day to be special for you, and so do Sam and I. Now, are you going to be married from here or the farm?’
‘I don’t know yet. We’ve never discussed any details.’
‘Well, if you decide on the farm, then Alan’s parents can stay with us, and I’ll see that the dress is safely delivered there. Once you’ve decided on a date, Sam will do everything he can to be there.’
‘Do you think Mr and Mrs Freeman will come? That would mean so much to Jack and myself.’
‘I know they would be delighted. Now, you had better get back. I promised Alan’s parents that I wouldn’t keep you long.’
It was another two days before Alan finally arrived home, and Hanna stood back while his parents joyfully greeted him. Then he saw her and held out his arms.
She rushed to him and was engulfed in a bear hug. ‘Oh, darling, where have you been?’
‘Playing hide and seek with a bunch of young German soldiers.’ He laughed, standing back to take a good look at her. ‘But I’ll tell you about it later. We’ve got a wedding to plan first. We’ve waited long enough, and we mustn’t waste another moment.’
They talked well into the night, and when Hanna told Alan about the cottage he was delighted. After much discussion, it was agreed that the wedding should be in the village church, if it could be arranged.
Hanna was pleased about that because the farm felt like her home, and everyone there her family. Alan had been determined to have all the arrangements for the wedding settled, not wanting to wait any longer before they were married, and hadn’t said a word about what had happened to him. Hanna wouldn’t ask, as she was all too aware that he might not be ready to talk about it yet.
However, his father wanted to know, and finally asked, ‘Are you going to tell us what happened to you?’
Alan lit another cigarette and sat back. ‘We were on patrol the day of the official announcement that the war was over. There were two isolated houses and they looked empty, but we decided to check them out. When we went round the back German soldiers suddenly surrounded us. We told them the war was over, but they didn’t believe us. Fortunately they weren’t battle-hardened soldiers, but a group of very young men. A couple of them spoke quite good English and we eventually managed to convince them that the fighting was over. They had a big discussion amongst themselves, and then told us that they would only surrender to the Americans, and we were to be their hostages. We spent our time looking for the American lines. When we eventually found them the Germans sent me out to talk to them. I explained our situation and two came back with me. One spoke good German, and the youngsters surrendered without any fuss. It seems they were terrified of being captured, and thought they would have more chance of surviving with the Americans.’ Alan shook his head. ‘I’m sorry you had the worry, but we were never in danger. Those young men just wanted to surrender and go home safely, just like all of us.’
After all the talking, Alan could hardly keep his eyes open, and was looking drained. He had made light of his experiences, but Hanna could see the strain. She clasped his hand. ‘I think it’s time we all had some sleep, and tomorrow you can decide if you would like to come to the farm for a rest, or stay here. Jane said your mother and father can come as well.’
‘Did she? Oh, I’d like that. We could go and see the vicar at the church, and get some of the arrangements in place.’ Alan turned to his parents. ‘What about it? Do you fancy a few days in the country?’
‘We’d love to come,’ they both agreed, smiling happily.
With that settled, they all slept soundly that night.
Thirty-Two
Early the next morning Hanna went to see if Jane had returned to the farm. Mrs Potter was there and told her that Mrs Harcourt had only stayed for a day, and she wouldn’t let Hanna go until she heard all the news. After staying to talk to the elderly housekeeper for an hour, she returned to the Rogers house and found them all ready and waiting to catch the train.
When they reached the farm everyone was overjoyed to see them, and excited that the wedding was going to take place there. Mildred was immediately making plans for the food, and insisted on making the wedding cake herself with some ingredients she had saved for a special occasion. ‘I’ve even got some icing,’ she told them proudly. ‘So you’ll have a proper wedding cake.’
Jack brought Beth back after she had finished work, and when Hanna asked her to be her bridesmaid, she was thrilled. Then Jack, Alan and Jane spent some time trying to fix a date when they would all be home. It wasn’t easy with the captain and Jack so often at sea, but they finally managed to settle on a date in six weeks’ time. After dinner they went to the village pub for a celebration, leaving the twins in the capable care of Mildred.
The next morning Hanna and Alan went to see the vicar, and as Hanna had lived in the village for five years he was quite happy to marry them. He understood about them wanting the sailors in the family to be present, and gave them the date they asked for, saying that they could change it if any problems arose.
Jack was waiting to see how they got on when they came out of the church, and as Hanna wanted her brother to take their father’s place and give her away, she was still concerned in case he was unable to get home.
‘I’ll be here,’ he told her, when she voiced her worry to him again. ‘Nothing will keep me away.’
There was such certainty in his voice that Hanna knew he meant what he said and smiled in relief. ‘Beth will make a lovely bridesmaid, so I’ll have to talk to her about her dress, and what colour she would like. I’ll only have the one. I don’t think the twins would care to be pageboys.’
This produced roars of laughter, and Alan mopped his brow in mock horror. ‘I can just imagine the chaos they could cause.’
‘The boys aren’t that bad!’ she protested, trying to keep a straight face. ‘But we must find a role for them or they’ll be upset to be left out.’
‘Hmm.’ Alan murmured thoughtfully. ‘They could stand at the door and hand out buttonhole flowers to anyone who hasn’t got one.’
‘That should do,’ Jack nodded. ‘But we’ll need someone to keep an eye on them. Can I invite Bill and Frank from the ship, with their families, of course? Bill will keep them in line.’
‘Of course you can. It would be lovely if they could come, wouldn’t it, Alan?’
‘Absolutely. We’d all love to meet your friends, Jack.’
The time flew by, and by the end of the week everything was in place for the wedding. Once that was done Alan started to think about his future. ‘I’m just going to the village police station to have a word with them.’
Hanna wished him luck, praying that this would be possible for him, because she knew how much he wanted to live and work in the village.
He was only gone about an hour, and when he came into the garden to see her, he was smiling. ‘There will soon be a vacancy, because the constable stayed on beyond retirement to help out during the war, as you already know, and will be leaving within the next month. I’ve got to put in for the position, of course, but with my record in the London police force there shouldn’t be any problems. They are going to keep the job open for me.’
‘That’s wonderful! I’ve got more good news. Jane said that we can live here until the cottage is ready.’
‘That’s good of her.’ They sat on the garden seat in the sunshine, and he nodded with satisfaction. ‘Well, I’d say everything is set. Now all I’ve got to do is get out of this khaki unifo
rm and back into my navy blue.’
Two days later Alan left to report back and get demobbed. Jack would also be leaving early the next morning, and Hanna was up before dawn to see her brother had a good breakfast before he left.
They walked outside and stood in the tranquil garden, drinking in the peace of the moment. Jack draped an arm around Hanna’s shoulder, and gazed up at the sky just beginning to show a touch of light. ‘I remember when we did this at the docks before I boarded my first ship.’
Hanna nodded. ‘We welcomed that dawn as a new day and a new life ahead of us.’
‘Little did we know,’ Jack sighed, ‘just what a long and perilous day it was going to be. But we made it through, Hanna.’
‘Yes we did, and it has been a hard road to travel, but we are in a very different position now. Then we had nothing – no home, no family, and only the clothes we stood up in. Now I have Alan, you have Beth and a way of life you love, and friends surround us. It has been a long hard day, as you said, but I couldn’t ask for more, Jack.’
‘Neither could I. Look, there’s the sun coming to shine on another new day for us.’ He smiled down at his sister. ‘It won’t be perfect; in with the good times we’ll still have problems to face in the future, but I think we’re up to it, don’t you?’
‘Without a doubt.’ She lifted her face to catch the first rays of the sun, and said softly, ‘Welcome to our new day, and a new beginning.’
A New Day Page 25
