The news that Giles would soon be returning home worked better than a tonic on John. Thankfully because the last stroke had not been as severe as the first one, he was now pottering about, although everyone was making sure that he didn’t overdo things.
‘I wish you women wouldn’t keep fussing over me,’ he groaned in frustration, but they simply smiled and took no notice. Already people was chipping in with ideas for Giles and Livvy’s wedding and although Livvy had stated they only wanted a very quiet, simple do it looked in danger of spiralling into a much bigger affair.
Kathy, David and the twins were now happily settled into the lodge and if their bright eyes and smiling faces were anything to go by married life was suiting them very well. Immediately after they had married, David had applied to legally adopt the twins and, because there was no opposition from their birth father, they had been assured that permission should be granted very soon. There was absolutely nothing to stand in his way and already the twins were happily addressing him as ‘Daddy’, so all in all Sunday felt that had worked out very well.
A little over a week later, an ambulance drew up outside Treetops and as Livvy helped Giles down from the back of it they found a welcoming committee standing on the doorstep.
There was Sunday and John, Cissie, George, Edith and Peggy. Kathy had also taken a day off from the hospital and David was beside her with the twins on either side of him and Skippy leaping about in his usual madcap manner.
‘Welcome home,’ they chorused joyfully as he stood at the bottom of the steps leaning heavily on a stick with Livvy supporting him. He was still very weak, but the doctors were certain that with love and care he would eventually make a full recovery.
Giles felt tears sting at the back of his eyes. There had been times when he was locked away in the camp that he had truly thought he would never see their beloved faces again but here they all were.
‘Come along in,’ Cissie said bossily. ‘You look tired and you’re all skin an’ bone. I can see I ’ave some serious fattening up to do wi’ you, young man.’
They headed to the kitchen where the kettle was singing on the hob and the delicious smell of roast chicken filled the air. For at least half an hour one or another of them chatted non-stop as they caught up on everything, but it was Sunday who eventually said, ‘And now we have another wedding to plan, how wonderful.’
Giles and Livvy exchanged a guilty glance and the room became silent as everyone stopped talking and looked quizzically towards them.
‘Have I said something wrong?’ Sunday asked with a frown. ‘I wasn’t trying to rush you if that’s what you’re thinking, only I—’
‘Mum, it isn’t that,’ Livvy interrupted as she took Giles’s hand. ‘It’s just that … Well, I’m not sure how you’re going to take this, so I’ll just come out and tell you … Giles and I were married three days ago in the hospital chapel in Plymouth. I’m so sorry to spring it on you like this, we both are, but Giles still has a long way to go before he’s fully well again and we just couldn’t face a big fuss.’
Sunday looked astounded and for the first time she noticed the thin, gold band on Livvy’s left hand glinting in the sun that shone through the window.
‘B-but how did you manage that?’
Livvy gave another guilty grin. ‘We had a long chat to the matron there – she’s such a dear soul – and we told her how we felt and, bless her, she organised everything from the licence to the service. She even stood as one of our witnesses. But you didn’t miss a lot, really! It was a very, very quiet affair, I promise you … Do you all forgive us?’
She held her breath as she glanced at each of them in turn. For a moment there was a stunned silence, but then they surged forward to shake Giles’s hand and kiss Livvy.
‘Of course we forgive you,’ her mother told her with tears in her eyes. ‘If you’re happy then we’re happy. You’re both home safe and sound and that’s all that matters. Congratulations. I know you’re both going to be very happy, my darling. And, John, you wouldn’t happen to have another bottle of champagne, would you? We might have missed the wedding but there’s nothing to stop us drinking a toast to the happy couple, is there?’
‘Indeed, there isn’t,’ he agreed. ‘I shall go down into the cellar this very minute, just carry on chatting without me. I’m not as quick on my pins as I used to be.’ He pottered away with a wide smile on his face. It wasn’t the sort of wedding he’d always envisaged for his only grandson, admittedly, but he couldn’t have been happier with his choice of bride and that was all that mattered.
Much later that evening when the newlyweds had retired to bed, Sunday and John sat in the kitchen enjoying a last hot drink together when suddenly, to Sunday’s surprise, he reached across the table and tenderly took her hand.
‘Now don’t get going all soppy on me again just because we’ve got the newlyweds home,’ she warned with a little grin. Since the night John had made the marriage proposal to her so long ago, he had behaved like the perfect gentleman. But she needn’t have worried.
‘I wasn’t about to,’ he assured her with a grin. ‘But what I do want to do is let you know that you and your family – or our family I should say now, shouldn’t I? – have come to mean a very great deal to me. I’m thrilled with the way things have turned out for all our children and I want to thank you most sincerely for all you’ve done for me.’
‘I think it’s more a case of what you have done for me,’ Sunday told him. ‘But why are you getting all sentimental on me?’ That strange sense of foreboding that sometimes came over her had crept up on her again and it was unsettling.
‘I just wanted you to know that I think of you as my dearest friend. And now we shall change the subject, my dear.’
Soon after, they both retired to bed but for some reason Sunday’s mind was working overtime and she tossed and turned all night.
She rose at dawn the following morning and for no reason that Sunday could explain she went to tap on John’s door.
‘John … John are you awake?’ There was no answer, so she tapped again, slightly louder this time.
She paused before inching the door open and peeping into the room. John was lying in bed with a peaceful smile on his face and she knew before she reached him that he was dead. He had said his goodbyes to her in his own inimitable way the night before. Leaning over him she bent to kiss his cold forehead as a tear slid down her cheek.
‘Goodbye, dear friend. And thank you,’ she whispered and then turning she quietly tiptoed from the room.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
July 1946
‘Do you really have to go into town today, darling?’
Kathy glanced at her mother in the mirror as she brushed her hair. She had only popped in to Treetops to check on Sunday on her way into town.
‘Yes, I do,’ she said. ‘And I wish you’d stop fussing over me, Mum. I’m pregnant, not ill.’
‘Well, I don’t think anyone could doubt that looking at you,’ her mother quipped. In actual fact Kathy was positively glowing with health. ‘But you are very close to your time and I don’t like you going out alone.’
‘Oh, Mum, do stop fussing.’ Kathy grinned. ‘If I felt anything happening in town, I wouldn’t have to go far to the hospital now, would I? And I have a few last-minute things that I need to pick up before this little one – or should I say not so little one – makes an appearance. Honestly it can’t happen soon enough for me now. I feel like a beached whale and I’ve forgotten what my feet look like! But don’t get worrying, I shall be back in plenty of time to meet the children from school. I think Giles is taking the twins and Peggy swimming this evening. Meantime you just take your time and put your feet up.’
‘I’m perfectly all right, thank you,’ Sunday said.
‘Oh yes, so why did the doctor call round to see you again on Friday?’
‘I just asked him to call to prescribe me a tonic,’ her mother said a little too quickly and Kathy frowned.
‘You would tell me if something were wrong, wouldn’t you?’ she persisted, and Sunday scowled.
‘Oh, get away with you if you’re going. Didn’t I say I was fine? Or at least as fine as a woman of seventy-six can hope to be. You’d hardly expect me to be leaping about like a spring chicken now, would you?’
Kathy grinned and, snatching up her bag, she headed for the door, stopping on her way to plant a kiss on her mother’s cheek and tell her, ‘I love you, Mum.’
‘I love you too, now shoo!’ Sunday watched Kathy waddle off down the drive where she would wait in the lane for the next bus into town. Very soon now Sunday would have two new grandchildren, for Livvy was also expecting her first baby in September and she and Giles could hardly wait.
It had been a terrible shock for Giles when his grandfather had died the very day he returned, and it had put back his recovery quite some time. She shook her head, not wanting to dwell on those sad memories. It had been a shock to all of them, coming after so many happy events. She sighed. But that was how life worked, as she knew all too well. Still, gradually, with Livvy’s loving care, Giles had recovered and now he was building their stud business back up with horses from tried and trusted breeders.
Sunday stared across the lawns through the open window. She felt every year of her age now and often she wished she could just go to sleep and not wake up. She had felt that way ever since John had died. It was only after he had gone that she’d realised how much she had come to care for him. Not in the way she had cared for her Tom, admittedly, but they had been very close all the same. And now there were times when she felt almost redundant. Both of the girls had their own lives to lead and she dreaded becoming a burden to them. And Livvy and Edith had Treetops running like clockwork with the help of a woman from the village who came in three times a week to do the laundry and help with the cleaning.
Cissie and George had eventually retired shortly after last Christmas, but they were still living in the cottage close by, and every afternoon Cissie would come and the two of them would sit with a cup of tea and their feet up talking about times past.
‘We’re a right old pair o’ biddies now, ain’t we?’ Cissie had chuckled only the day before and Sunday could only agree with her.
‘You’re right, if we were horses, we’d be put out to grass.’
Sunday smiled slightly at the memory. She loved the quiet times she spent with Cissie – she was her oldest friend after all – but today, once again, the bad feeling was on her and rising slowly from her chair she leaned towards the window and peered down the drive for a sign of Kathy, but she had long gone from view, so Sunday headed for the kitchen to see if there was a cup of tea going and to keep herself occupied.
Cissie was already there enjoying a tea break with Edith when she entered the room and she asked instantly, ‘What’s up wi’ your face then? Yer look like you’ve lost a bob an’ found a sixpence!’
‘Oh, it’s just me being silly really, I suppose.’ Sunday plonked herself down beside her old friend. ‘I was just the same when Kathy was having the twins but now that she’s getting close to her time I’m fretting again. I keep thinking about what happened to her poor mother when she gave birth to our Kathy.’
‘That was a long time ago,’ Cissie pointed out. ‘And Kathy is the picture o’ health so get this cup o’ tea inside yer an’ stop bein’ so daft.’
Sunday smiled but the bad feeling remained.
On a whim, Kathy decided to get off the bus at the end of Manor Court Road and walk to the hospital to see if David was about. She wanted to talk to him about her mother because she was sure there was something Sunday wasn’t telling her, and she was worried. She knew it would be no good asking the doctor why he had been visiting her more frequently of late, patient confidentiality would mean he wasn’t allowed to say anything, even though he had known Kathy all her life, but there was something wrong, she just knew it!
It was a beautiful day with the sun riding high in a cloudless blue sky, but Kathy was so lost in thought she hardly noticed it until suddenly she heard a woman scream and, glancing up, she saw a car careering along the road towards her. The driver appeared to be slumped across the steering wheel, but she had no time to register anything else because as it drew closer it mounted the pavement and suddenly she had the sensation of flying as it hit her full on. Seconds later she hit the ground with a resounding thud and a pain tore through her stomach as her hand dropped to protectively cover her unborn child. And then thankfully a welcoming darkness claimed her, and she knew no more.
‘Get the theatre ready immediately. We have a heavily pregnant woman coming in who has been hit by a car. It seems the driver of the car had a heart attack and lost control.’
David had been coming out of his office when he heard the ambulance screech to a halt outside and heard the nurse’s voice.
Two ambulance men were lifting a prone figure on a stretcher from the back of the ambulance and as they dashed inside with it, David felt his heart turn over. It was Kathy … his Kathy!
Matron had run from her office and taking stock of the situation immediately, she ordered David, ‘Go back into your office, Dr Deacon. Dr Greaves will handle this.’
Dr Greaves, the other surgeon who worked at the hospital, was there that day, thankfully. Matron knew it would be far too hard for David to have to operate on his own wife.
‘I think the baby is on the way,’ a grim-faced ambulance man informed her as they hurried past.
‘Very well, get her into that side ward so we can see the extent of the injuries.’
David was still standing as if he had been turned to stone and everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.
‘Nurse, get Dr Deacon a cup of hot, sweet tea,’ Matron ordered as she swept past at Kathy’s side. And still David stood there as if he had been rooted to the spot. Suddenly he seemed to come to his senses and sprang forward to follow them only to be stopped by a restraining hand on his arm.
‘Come on, David.’ He glanced up to see one of the ward sisters looking at him sympathetically. ‘Let them assess her before you go in.’
He allowed himself to be led away, still in a state of deep shock and minutes later there was a steaming cup in front of him.
‘Get that down you. It will make you feel better,’ the kindly sister urged but he shook his head numbly.
This wasn’t how he and Kathy had planned the birth of their baby to be at all and he felt completely useless. The minutes dragged by, each one feeling like an hour. After what seemed an eternity, Matron reappeared in the doorway.
‘Kathy is in theatre,’ she told him gravely. ‘Dr Greaves is going to deliver the baby then see what we can do for Kathy, but I should warn you it appears that she has serious injuries. I’m so sorry.’
He sat on until the door opened again.
‘You have a very beautiful little son,’ Matron informed him.
His head snapped up. ‘And Kathy …?’
Gravely she shook her head and as his heart began to thump painfully, he saw that there were tears in her eyes. ‘I’m so sorry, there was nothing that could be done for her.’
As David’s whole world collapsed around him, he lowered his head and wept.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Sunday muttered brokenly to Cissie later that evening. ‘We lived all through the war and then we lose my girl to a car accident! Didn’t I tell you this morning that I had a bad feeling? It’s like losing my Kitty all over again.’
Cissie squeezed her arm gently. ‘It’s tragic what’s happened, but we have to stay strong for David and the new baby now, love. And the twins. They’re going to need us all to stay strong for them. It’s what Kathy would have wanted. We’ve lived through enough heartache in our time, we’ll come through this, you’ll see.’
And yet as she stared at her beloved friend, she wasn’t so sure. This latest tragedy seemed to have broken Sunday completely and Cissie was concerned for her. She was also worried about how the news h
ad affected Livvy. She was close to the birth of her own baby now and heartbroken at the loss of the girl who had been brought up as her sister.
The funeral took place two weeks later on just the sort of day Kathy would have loved – bright and sunny – which made it all the harder. She was laid to rest not far from Tom and Ben, with all the people she loved gathered around, and the next day the baby was allowed home from hospital. David named him Edward and, having taken indefinite leave from work, insisted on caring for all the children himself. His parents had travelled from Yorkshire to help and they fell in love with their new grandchildren immediately. And so, it was no surprise when David visited Sunday one bright, sunny morning to tell her, ‘I, er … I’ve made a decision and I need to speak to you about it.’
Sunday stared at him from dull eyes.
‘The thing is … I’ve spoken to my parents and they’ve asked me to go back to Yorkshire so that the children and I can live with them. Mum will take care of them when I go back to work. I hope you can understand, there are just too many memories here for me and we’ll have a fresh start there.’
Sunday sighed; she had half expected this. The twins’ adoption had been finalised some months ago and so Daisy and Thomas were now legally his.
‘Don’t worry, I shall bring all the children to see you as often as I can,’ David rushed on, feeling guilty. Poor Sunday had lost her daughter and now she was about to lose her grandchildren too. But surprisingly she nodded.
‘It might be for the best. We old codgers are past caring for them properly now and, as you say, they’ll have a fresh new start there.’ And then suddenly they were in each other’s arms crying for the beautiful young woman they had both loved so much.
Two weeks later, on the day before they were due to leave, David took the children to place flowers on their mother’s grave.
‘I miss Mummy,’ Daisy said tearfully.
Time to Say Goodbye Page 34
