‘We’ll keep in touch,’ she said gently. ‘I’ll write to you every single week and after the war is over we’ll meet again. I’ll come back to see you and Mum an’ Dad, I promise.’
‘Of course you will.’ Adina returned the hug but her heart was heavy.
Beryl sat down beside her. ‘Me an’ Tye are goin’ see the vicar at Saint Nicholas Church on Saturday an’ we’re goin’ to get married as soon as possible. I’d have liked to get married at Coton, but it ain’t quite finished yet. Mam’s in a right old flap, I don’t mind tellin’ you. She’s insistin’ that we have a proper do even if it is a rushed affair. She’s already ordered a cake from the baker’s shop in town but they’ve told her that she’s got to supply the eggs, flour an’ fruit for it herself. She’s been buyin’ ration coupons off the neighbours left right an’ centre, but the shop is still chargin’ her six pounds six shillin’s to make it. Then me bouquet is costin’ another three quid. It’s daylight robbery, ain’t it? I told her about the lovely dress you’ve made me an’ she were thrilled to bits that that’s one thing she won’t have to worry about, but on Friday she’s takin’ me over to Husselby’s in Primrose Hill Street in Coventry to get me a headdress.’ Beryl gave her friend’s hand a squeeze. ‘I’d have loved to have you as a bridesmaid, Dina, but they’re askin’ seven clothin’ coupons each for a bridesmaid dress, an’ I don’t think we’ll have enough time to rustle that many up on top of everythin’ else.’
‘Oh, don’t get worrying about that,’ Adina assured her quickly. In actual fact, it was a blessing in disguise. She couldn’t see her father approving of her taking part in a Christian service, and if he were ever to discover that her friend was pregnant to boot . . .
‘Will you be having a reception?’ she asked now.
Beryl sighed. ‘Well, we’ll just be havin’ a little one,’ she said. ‘The Rose Inn have told me mam they’ll put a spread on for six shillin’s an’ fourpence per head, though Lord knows what they’ll manage to rustle up, wi’ rationin’ bein’ as it is.’
‘You don’t look very excited,’ Adina said quietly as she studied Beryl’s sombre face.
Beryl instantly forced a smile to her lips. ‘I suppose I’m just feelin’ a bit nervous about leavin’ everyone I know behind, now that it’s actually goin’ to happen.’
‘I dare say you are,’ Adina agreed, but something deep down told her that there was more to Beryl’s mood than she was letting on.
As she hurried home through the darkened strees later that evening, her own heart was heavy. Karl had avoided her yet again that lunchtime. Adina couldn’t understand it. His ring lay in the cleft of her breasts, warm against her heart, so why was he suddenly choosing to ignore her? On her way home that day she had seen him in the distance heaving a great metal girder from the back of an Army jeep, but he had studiously kept his eyes fixed on what he was doing and had not even acknowledged her. The rest of the day had passed in a blur of depression, made no better by her visit to Beryl’s.
Adina’s own wedding gown was well under way, but she was beginning to wonder now if she would ever get the chance to wear it – and even if she did, wouldn’t her own feelings be much as Beryl’s were now? If anything, they would be even worse because she knew that if she did marry Karl, her family would disown her for ever. Glancing up and down the deserted streets, she shuddered. Not a glimmer of light showed through the blackout curtains and she might have been walking through a ghost town. But at least it was quiet, and she hoped that she might get to spend a night in her own bed rather than in the inky darkness of the neighbour’s air-raid shelter.
Chapter Seventeen
On 14 October 1944, as British troops were returning to Greece intent on liberating Athens, Beryl and Tyrone were married in St Nicholas parish church. Behind her smile, the bride seemed to be somewhat subdued, Adina thought, and the groom, too, seemed strangely on edge, but then she supposed it was to be expected. The wedding had been a rushed affair, to say the least, and Beryl was no doubt fretting about the fact that she was soon to fly out to a new life in America. She had confided to Adina that the thought of going on an aeroplane filled her with dread.
In fact, unbeknownst to Adina, Tyrone had been intending to travel back to the USA alone, until all of Beryl’s necessary travelling visas were in place. However, he had soon abandoned that idea, following a tantrum from his fiancée, who had told him in no uncertain terms that if he even attempted to go without her she would tell her father and his superior about the baby. And now here they were leaving the church as husband and wife as Adina showered them with rice.
‘How does it feel to be an old married woman Mrs Hughes?’ she whispered in Beryl’s ear as she slipped her a horseshoe made of silver paper suspended from a white satin ribbon.
‘Ask me in about another fifty years,’ Beryl answered as she looked up at her new husband. Tyrone was dressed in full uniform and Beryl was convinced he was the most handsome man she had ever set eyes on. She just wished that he could have shown a little more enthusiasm in the lead-up to the wedding. But then, she tried to convince herself that he was merely nervous. Far better to believe that, than consider the alternative – that he felt he was being trapped into marriage, which in truth he had been. Deep down she had a terrible suspicion that, had she not allowed him to have sex with her after she had insisted he put a ring on her finger, he would have been long gone, but she had loved him so much she would have done anything to keep him – and this was the consequence.
Mrs Tait was sniffing into her handkerchief and Adina gave her a reassuring hug.
‘Your daughter looks truly beautiful,’ she told her with a gentle smile.
‘Well, luvvie, I reckon we have you to thank for that,’ the woman replied. ‘That dress is stunnin’. Lord knows what we’d have done if you hadn’t made that for her. I reckon she’d have had to get wed in a two-piece.’
Adina watched Tyrone guide her friend to the taxi that was waiting for them at the church gates. She herself had trimmed it with ribbons, and now she set off on foot to follow the couple to the Rose Inn.
When she arrived she found about fifteen people present and Beryl and Tyrone waiting at the door of the back room to greet them. A buffet of sorts had been set out on a long trestle table that was covered in a snow-white damask tablecloth, and Adina thought the landlady of the pub had done them proud, considering the shortages.
There were paste and cucumber sandwiches, sausage rolls and pork pies and a number of small fancy cakes. On a separate table the wedding cake took pride of place and after everyone had eaten their fill and raised their glasses in a toast to the newlyweds, they duly cut it.
‘I notice you steered clear o’ the pork pies, love,’ Mr Tait said teasingly to Adina as he raised yet another glass of ale to his lips. It wasn’t every day his youngest child got wed and he intended to make the most of every second of it.
‘If my father thought I’d so much as looked at anything containing pork, I think he’d keel over in horror,’ Adina rejoined with a twinkle in her eye, and then she followed her friend who was heading for the ladies. Once inside, Beryl let out a relieved breath and leaned back against the sink.
‘Phew, I’m glad that bit’s over,’ she muttered as she fumbled in her bag for her lipstick. ‘What time is it? We’ll have to be off to catch our train soon – if they’re runnin’, that is. It would be just my luck to have to miss me honeymoon – not that three nights in Stratford-on-Avon is much o’ one.’
‘It’s better than nothing and there is a war on,’ Adina pointed out.
Beryl looked suitably shamefaced. ‘I know, I shouldn’t grumble should I? I mean, most girls ’ud snap me hand off to be in my shoes, wouldn’t they?’ Chewing on her lip she suddenly blurted out, ‘Tyrone does love me, doesn’t he?’
‘Why . . . what a question to ask on your wedding day! Of course he does, you silly goose. He wouldn’t have married you if he didn’t, would he? It stands to reason.’
‘No, o’ course he wouldn’t. Just ignore me, eh? I’m bein’ daft. Me an’ Tyrone are goin’ to live happily ever after.’ Beryl quickly applied a layer of lipstick before catching Adina to her in a bear hug. ‘I’m really goin’ to miss you,’ she said, her voice thick with unshed tears.
‘Now don’t start that or you’ll set me off as well,’ Adina warned as she returned the hug.
‘An’ what about you an’ Karl? Seen anythin’ of him, have you?’
‘I’ve seen him as I’ve passed the church but I haven’t really spoken to him,’ Adina answered guardedly. She had no wish to get into a conversation about him, today of all days. It hurt too much to talk about it and she didn’t want to spoil Beryl’s day. It was then that a noisy rendition of ‘Roll Out the Barrel’ floated from the back room and Beryl sighed.
‘Oh dear, it sounds like me dad’s gettin’ into his stride,’ she grinned. ‘There’ll be no stoppin’ him now. I suppose we’d better go back an’ join ’em, eh? Otherwise Tyrone will think I’ve run out on him already.’
Arm in arm, the two young women made their way back to the party until it was time for Beryl to leave to get changed back at her mother’s home. She and Tyrone would be living there for the next few weeks until they flew to America.
When she finally departed Adina watched her go with a lump in her throat. She was pleased that her friend had married the man of her dreams, but wondered if it would ever happen to her. Karl was still going out of his way to avoid her, and his sudden coldness had hurt her far more than she could say.
When the bride and groom had left, Adina said goodbye to Mr and Mrs Tait and slowly walked along Coton Road. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that when a familiar voice spoke her name, she almost jumped out of her skin. Her head snapped up and she found Karl not an arm’s length away, staring at her.
‘Wh . . . what are you doing here?’ she stuttered.
He bowed his head, unable to look her in the eye. ‘I knew that Beryl was getting married today and guessed that I would find you on the way home from the reception if I hung about for long enough.’
‘Well, you certainly haven’t been so eager to see me for the last few weeks,’ she retorted haughtily, as all the hurt he had caused her bubbled up inside. ‘I had made my mind up that you didn’t wish to see me again.’
‘I didn’t,’ he told her, stunning her into silence. ‘But I can’t keep away from you – that is the trouble. I told myself that for your sake I should end it, have no more to do with you. But you see I can’t. You are here in my heart and I can’t stop thinking about you. I’m so sorry if I have caused you pain but I was doing it with the best of intentions.’
Adina’s anger melted like an icicle in the sunshine. She wanted to stay angry with him but it was impossible. She knew that what he had said was true, but was no more able to end it than he was, even if it meant losing her family.
‘What are we going to do?’ she asked miserably, and now he looked her straight in the eye.
‘I do not know, mein Liebling. All I do know is that we were meant to be together. When the war is over I shall have to return to Germany, but as soon as it is humanly possible I shall return and then somehow we will be together. We will go somewhere far away where no one knows us and we will get by. That is, if you can forgive me for the way I have treated you.’
‘Of course I forgive you,’ she gasped, strongly resisting the urge to throw herself into his arms there and then.
‘So when can I see you again?’
‘Well, we could go for a stroll in the park right now if you don’t have to get back to the camp,’ she suggested. It was only five o’clock in the afternoon but it was already getting dark so there was little chance of them being seen.
He nodded and strode ahead of her, and without another word she followed at a discreet distance until they came to the tunnel that would lead them into Riversley Park.
It was pitch black inside and Adina had to feel her way along the cold damp walls until he suddenly stopped and drew her into his arms. And then as he kissed her, all the pain of the last weeks fell away and she gave herself up to the pleasure of being in his arms again. Nothing else mattered. She was back where she felt she was destined to be.
An hour later, she let herself into the cosy kitchen at the back of the shop, only to stop abruptly when she found herself walking into what appeared to be a battle zone.
Ariel was facing her father, her eyes blazing and her hands clenched into fists. ‘I love him, do you hear?’ she shouted. ‘And we’re going to be together whether you give us your blessing or not!’
‘You cannot be with him. You are too young to marry without my consent and you will never have that,’ Ezra roared. ‘We have brought you up to be a good Jewish girl. How could you even consider marrying an English boy – and a Catholic at that!’
‘Oh Papa, you are so old-fashioned,’ Ariel groaned as her mother looked on, wringing her hands in despair. ‘Times are changing and there is a war on. What difference does it make, what nationality he is, or what religion? I love Brian and that’s an end to it . . . and if you won’t give us your blessing then I will live in sin with him!’
Ezra clutched at his heart. ‘You would do such a thing and bring shame on our family?’
‘Yes, I would!’ Ariel tossed her head defiantly and banged away upstairs as her father gazed after her in stunned disbelief.
‘What’s going on?’ Adina asked as she glanced from one to the other.
‘Ariel has met a young man called Brian. He is going into the Army in four weeks’ time and she is saying that she wishes to marry him before he leaves,’ her mother told her tearfully.
‘Oh.’ Shock coursed through Adina’s veins. If they were reacting like this about Ariel having a relationship with an English boy, what would they say if they were to find out that she was in love with Karl? She shuddered at the thought. Her father was stamping up and down the kitchen like a man obsessed, with profanities in German and Yiddish spewing out of his mouth. Adina had never heard him swear before, and for the first time she felt afraid of him although he had never so much as raised a finger to her or her siblings in his whole life. This was a side of him that she didn’t like, and she felt as if she had been doused in cold water. Her lips were still tender from Karl’s kisses, and should her father find out, she wondered what he might be capable of.
‘I’ll go up and talk to her, shall I?’ Adina scuttled towards the door and, not waiting for a reply, she shot off up the stairs. On the landing she tapped lightly on the bedroom door but only the sound of muffled sobs answered, so she cautiously pushed it open. Ariel was curled into a tight ball on her bed sobbing uncontrollably and Adina’s heart went out to her. How could she be annoyed with her, when she herself was no better?
‘Come on, bubbeleh,’ she said soothingly, closing the door behind her. ‘Things cannot be that bad. I’m sure we’ll find a way around this.’
‘How?’ Ariel shot back scathingly. ‘I can’t help it if I’ve fallen in love, can I? I never planned it, but we can’t choose who we fall in love with, can we? It just happens.’
‘Yes, it does,’ Ariel agreed as she took her sister in her arms and rocked her to and fro. She of all people knew that. It suddenly felt as if the whole family was falling apart. Not so long ago they had been united. Now, Dovi was in hospital, which had turned her mother into a nervous wreck with worry, Ariel was threatening to run away with her English boyfriend, and she herself was in love with a German prisoner of war. She wondered if things could get any worse but seriously doubted it.
The following morning, as the family sat at breakfast, Ezra tried to be reasonable.
‘Ariel,’ he said solemnly as he laid his knife and fork down in a regimentally straight line. ‘Your mother and I have talked about this issue and think we may have come up with a solution. We realise that you think you are in love with this young man, but we do not wish you to jump into anything that you might later regret.’ When A
riel opened her mouth to protest he held his hand up. ‘Please . . . hear me out. We realise that we cannot forcibly stop you from seeing him, but what we are going to suggest is that you allow him to go off to war, and if you still feel the same about him in one year’s time, we will reconsider the position.’
Ariel glared at him as if he had lost his senses. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, Papa,’ she said rudely, ‘a lot of the young men that go away to fight never come back. If I don’t go to Brian now before he leaves, I might never get the chance to – and I would rather spend one week with him than a whole lifetime with somebody else.’
‘I fear that you have been watching too many romantic films,’ Ezra told her, as if he was talking to a two year old. ‘And that, I am afraid, is all I am willing to say on the subject. The discussion is closed.’
Without another word, Ariel got up from the table, her breakfast untouched, and then she snatched up her coat and slammed out of the door.
Ezra lifted his knife and fork and continued to eat as if nothing untoward had happened, and as Adina silently watched him, a cold hand closed around her heart.
Chapter Eighteen
It was almost a week later when Ariel didn’t come down to breakfast one morning.
‘Run up and fetch her, would you, bubbeleh?’ her mother asked.
‘I thought she was already up,’ said Adina taking the stairs two at a time. She was running late this morning, and needed to get a move on.
‘Ariel, hurry up, your porridge is going cold!’ she shouted as she tapped at the door before flinging it open. She then stopped dead in her tracks as she spotted the empty wardrobe. The bed hadn’t been slept in and the suitcase they had used when they moved from London was missing from under the window. If Adina had still been sleeping in their room she would have known that Ariel was missing.
Her sister must have sneaked off in the early hours, whilst they were all asleep. What on earth was she going to tell her mother? Freyde had been living on her nerves ever since the day they had received the telegram telling them that Dovi was missing – and Adina was afraid that this latest blow might just tip her over the edge. Not that she could blame Ariel for making a stand to be with the boy she loved; she herself might have to do exactly the same thing very shortly.
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