A Silver Lining

by Anne Douglas

  As soon as he saw her face, Ross leaped towards her, his hands outstretched, while Mabel stared, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide.

  ‘Jinny, what is it?’ cried Ross. ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘He’s back, Ross. He’s in our office …’

  ‘Who? Who’s back?’

  ‘Viktor.’

  There was a brief, trembling silence. ‘Oh, God,’ said Ross.

  After a moment they all went into Accounts, Jinny and Mabel following Ross, who had managed to recover his poise as he shook Viktor’s hand.

  ‘This is amazing, Viktor! To see you back here, when we thought – well, we didn’t know what to think.’

  ‘I’ve been in a Russian prisoner of war camp since 1942.’ Viktor’s voice faltered. ‘I only just got back to Vienna a few weeks ago.’

  ‘They let you out? That was lucky.’

  ‘Luckier that they took me in the first place.’

  ‘I’m sure that’s right. We heard a lot about what happened in Russia. You … know about your uncle?’

  ‘I do now. When I first came back, I didn’t. Didn’t even think of him, when I found—’ Viktor stopped, couldn’t speak.

  Ross said gently, ‘I can’t even imagine how it was for you.’

  ‘Yes, well, when I could, I thought of him and was planning to get in touch, of course. It was only when I saw the lawyers’ notice that I discovered he was dead.’

  ‘Notice?’

  ‘They put a German notice in all the main papers, asking Viktor Linden to get in touch regarding his late uncle’s estate and then gave their details.’ Viktor put his hand to his head for a moment. ‘I couldn’t believe it at first, but then I knew I should come over. I borrowed the money for the air fare and managed to get a flight. I saw Mr Dixon this morning and he told me about my uncle.’

  ‘And the will?’

  Viktor’s face was impassive. ‘And the will.’

  ‘Let us welcome you as the new owner, then.’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ said Jinny, as Mabel nodded with enthusiasm. ‘We wish you all the best, Viktor.’

  He turned his shadowed, reddened eyes upon her. ‘There are some things I’d like to discuss with you, Jinny. Would it be convenient for you to come for lunch with me – at Logie’s, say?’

  She glanced immediately at Ross, whose anxious eyes had instantly found hers. ‘I expect that’d be all right, wouldn’t it, Ross?’

  ‘Perfectly all right,’ he said hoarsely.

  ‘We’ll get our coats, then.’

  Trying not to show how strange she found it to be with Viktor again, how fiercely gripped she felt by memories of the past, Jinny walked beside him from the shop, not looking at Mrs Arrow or her assistants, just keeping on through the falling sleet to Logie’s.

  ‘A table for two, please,’ Viktor said to a waitress, and when she had escorted them to window seats and taken their coats, they looked at each other but did not smile.

  ‘Like old times?’ asked Viktor. ‘Or perhaps not?’

  Jinny did not reply.

  Seventy-Three

  They ordered the vegetarian cottage pie, as the waitress said it was better than the beef version, with just coffee to follow.

  ‘I shan’t eat much of whatever we have,’ Viktor remarked. ‘I eat only very little.’

  ‘Why is that? We eat anything we can get.’

  He shrugged. ‘After years of cabbage soup they say it will take time to get back to ordinary food.’

  ‘Oh, Viktor, how awful! You’re so very thin.’

  ‘Never mind about me.’ His eyes were steady on her face. ‘I wanted to speak to you to tell you I am sorry that, once the war came, I was never able to write to you. I knew you would be hurt, wondering where I was, but there was no way of letting you know.’

  ‘I did realize that.’

  ‘That’s good, then. But once the years began to stretch out, I never expected you to wait for me, you know. That would have been unreasonable.’

  She flushed a little. ‘I did wait – I mean, for a long time—’

  ‘Quite. But then you forgot me.’

  ‘Viktor—’

  ‘It’s all right, I understand. I became unreal. It happens.’

  ‘Wasn’t it the same for you with me?’

  ‘Perhaps. Where I was, everything outside became unreal.’

  The waitress came with their order, and while Jinny began to eat, Viktor took a mouthful, then played with his fork. ‘That’s the way it was, you see,’ he went on. ‘Only my life in the army seemed real to me. And it was the same in the camp. Life centred on what happened there – there was nothing beyond.’

  ‘Try to eat something,’ she urged, but he shook his head.

  ‘Even my parents went from my mind,’ he said in a low voice. ‘They only returned to me when I got home. But by then, they were dead.’ His fingers clenched around his fork. ‘Both dead. Like Vienna. It’s in ruins, Jinny. A dead city. All is gone.’

  She put down her knife and fork, her eyes filling with tears for him. ‘I’m so sorry, Viktor, so sorry. If only there was something I could do—’

  ‘For me?’ His mouth twisted. ‘There’s nothing anyone can do for me. I must accept what’s happened to my parents and think of Vienna, the people of Vienna.’

  He shook his head, suddenly touching Jinny’s hand. ‘But I didn’t ask you to see me to talk of my troubles.’

  ‘Viktor, it’s all right, you can talk to me. I want to hear—’

  ‘No, there are other things I want to say.’ His gaze on her was deeply intense. ‘The first is that I’m happy for you, now I’ve seen you with Ross.’ He lifted his hand as she tried to speak. ‘No, he’s right for you, and it’s plain from just seeing you together that you love each other.’

  She was silent, wanting to say it was true, but not finding the words.

  ‘The second thing,’ he went on, ‘is that I’m not going to keep the bakery or my uncle’s house. I’m going to sell them both and return to Vienna.’

  ‘Vienna.’

  ‘Yes. I’m going to help in the rebuilding of the city, but first it will be necessary to help those who are struggling now as though they are refugees. No homes, no money, no jobs. All they had, taken. That charity I mentioned to you does excellent work for all who need it and I’m going to work for them. It has been arranged.’

  ‘That’s wonderful, Viktor, but what about your career? Your cake-making?’

  ‘My cake-making.’ His smile was bitter. ‘I can’t imagine anything less needed than Sachertorte at the moment. I have found other things to do, now that my life has been spared.’

  She could say no more.

  When they’d had coffee, she asked diffidently if she might pay for the lunch, Viktor having no money, but he was dismissive.

  ‘That will not be necessary. I’ve been given something in advance from the estate by the kind Mr Dixon. And to give you lunch again, just this once, has given me great pleasure.’

  ‘Thank you, then. I appreciate it.’

  When they had put on their coats and left the restaurant for the ground floor, Viktor put his hand on Jinny’s arm. ‘Before we go back, Jinny, may I tell you something?’

  His eyes were suddenly as blue as she remembered them and, for a moment, gazing up at him, she saw beyond the gaunt façade of the returned soldier to the man she had once loved. It was true, that love was over and she had a new love that would always be hers, but she would not forget Viktor, just as, it seemed, he would not forget her. For, in those last moments they had together, he put a promise into words.

  ‘I want you to know, Jinny, that I will always remember you, my Scottish love. The war drove us apart and now you have a new future with someone else, but I’ll remember what we had – and maybe you will, too, I hope, with some affection?’

  ‘I will,’ she said quietly. ‘I still have my Edelweiss brooch, but I won’t need it to remember you.’

  He was silent, studying her face, then b
ent and kissed her cheek. ‘Good luck, Jinny, and also to Ross.’

  ‘And to you, Viktor. You’ll let us know how things go for you?’

  He smiled. ‘Perhaps.’

  When they returned to Accounts, it was to find Ross waiting with every appearance of anxiety, but as soon as Jinny went to him and pressed his hand, he relaxed and smiled.

  ‘Had a good lunch? Logie’s seem to do better than most places for food.’

  ‘Never mind the lunch, Ross, Viktor has some news,’ Jinny said quickly. ‘He‘s going to sell Comrie’s and his uncle’s house and go back to Vienna.’

  Ross for a moment said nothing, his gaze resting on Viktor. ‘Sell Comrie’s?’ he repeated. ‘Is that definite?’

  ‘Quite decided, Ross. I have other plans than running a bakery. I have been telling Jinny I want to do something for the people of my city. They’ve been affected badly by the war and now that I’m all right – or will be, soon – my plan is to help them rebuild their lives.’ Viktor sighed. ‘Then perhaps we can rebuild Vienna.’

  ‘I see. That sounds admirable.’ Ross appeared thoughtful. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve any idea yet of an asking price? I mean, for the bakery, not your uncle’s house.’

  ‘Nothing is arranged yet. I have to see Mr Dixon again soon to discuss the matter.’

  ‘You will, of course, be hoping for a good offer. Money is always useful.’

  ‘I am not looking for too much,’ Viktor answered cautiously. ‘I shall need money for what I want to do; otherwise, I don’t any longer consider it important.’

  Ross folded his arms and fixed Viktor with a long, serious gaze. ‘May I ask you, then, if you would consider me as a purchaser?’

  ‘Ross!’ cried Jinny, her dark eyes enormous, ‘what are you saying? You can’t afford to buy Comrie’s!’

  ‘Perhaps not by myself, but I know that Arthur Whyte would be interested in joining with me. He has money that came to him recently and we sort of discussed a purchase before we knew that you’d inherited, Viktor. As I have what my father left me, depending on the price, I think we might just manage it.’

  ‘I can’t believe it!’ Jinny cried. ‘It seems impossible.’

  ‘Not at all,’ Viktor declared. ‘I think Ross’s suggestion is just what my uncle would have wanted. He’d believe that Ross and Arthur would be the right people to run Comrie’s, as I do also.’

  ‘You mean that?’ asked Ross.

  ‘I do. In fact, it would relieve my mind if I thought someone like you would take on my uncle’s business, Ross. It meant so much to him.’

  ‘It would mean a lot to me, too, and to Arthur Whyte.’

  ‘Shall we see Mr Dixon, then, and see what can be arranged?’

  ‘If you’re sure.’

  ‘I am sure,’ Viktor said steadily.

  And the two shook hands.

  ‘I’m in another dream,’ Jinny whispered when Viktor had taken his leave, promising to meet Ross at Mr Dixon’s the next day. ‘I never knew you had any money, Ross!’

  ‘You’d have found out one day, wouldn’t you? When I stood up at the altar and said something about ‘with all my worldly goods I thee endow’?

  She stared at him, a light taking over her face as her lips parted and her eyes shone. ‘This isn’t a proposal, is it?’

  ‘What else?’ He drew her to him. ‘We’ve never spelled it out, what we’d do, but we always knew, didn’t we? Now I think I should buy the ring before all my money goes on Comrie’s. Shall we go shopping on Saturday?’

  When Mabel came in and found them kissing, she blushed deeply. ‘Oh, dear, I’m sorry, I’m sure … just had your letters to sign, Ross. Has Viktor gone, then?’

  ‘Yes, but I’ll be seeing him tomorrow,’ Ross told her. ‘We have something to discuss.’

  ‘Do you think it will really happen?’ Jinny whispered.

  ‘I’ve every hope that it will.’

  And so it proved. Ross and Arthur Whyte’s offer was accepted by Viktor to much celebration at Comrie’s, while Viktor returned home to regain his health and to work, as he’d promised, for those in need in Vienna.

  ‘Take care,’ he’d told Jinny and Ross on his last morning. ‘Be happy. Keep in touch.’

  ‘We will,’ said Ross, ‘but mind you do the same.’

  When the final embraces had been made and the taxi bearing Viktor had driven away, Ross turned to Jinny and stood with her in silence for a little while. Then they moved into each other’s arms, content.

  Seventy-Four

  It was some weeks later that the Hendries gathered, together with Ross, Allan and three godparents, for the christening of baby Victoria at the local kirk, and afterwards for tea at a small café, which had even managed to provide an iced cake. The meal was over, the cake sliced and served, and now Josh was on his feet, ready to say a few words and call for a toast.

  ‘First, I want to say a few words about myself,’ he began as Victoria slept peacefully in her carrycot. ‘There was a time when I was all for my girls staying at home with me. I couldn’t imagine a time without them, but after what we’ve all been through, I managed to learn a valuable lesson. What’s important is that whatever happens we come through the bad times, we still love each other, and if there are new people in the family it just expands, that’s all, and there’s still room for everybody.

  ‘So, I want to give my blessing to Jinny and Ross, who are going to be married, as I’ve already given it to May and Allan, who’s doing so well with his shop again, and to Vi and her Barry, who is no longer with us. She’ll forgive me for saying that I’ve been worrying about her, but she says she has plans to make people’s lives better and will be happy in her own way. Maybe she’ll try for the council, and – who knows – parliament. Isn’t that right, Vi?’

  ‘That’s right,’ Vi agreed and managed a smile as people tapped their approval. ‘But get on with the toasts, Dad, eh?’

  ‘Aye, I’ve talked long enough. I’m proud of you, my family and friends, and the new little lassie as well – may she grow up in a better world. Shall we drink to that?’

  They drank to that and then to Barry, to all those who had gone before, and finally to the future.

  ‘May there be peace in the world,’ said May, speaking distinctly as she turned to look at Allan, who smiled and bent to pick up Victoria, as Jinny and Ross led the kisses and hugs and joined with everyone’s hope: that one day May’s wish might be realized.