“Mother, Father, Annie. May I introduce Mr. Vernon Singleton and his sister, Miss Joselyn Singleton. Friends from London.”
Her family made no attempt to move to welcome the visitors. Evelyn pressed on, undaunted. “They’ve driven down to visit. Vernon, Jos, these are my mother and father and my sister, Annie.”
“Delighted to meet you all,” Vernon said. Even he seemed slightly off his stride in the face of such stalwart disapproval.
“Yes, it’s lovely to meet Evelyn’s family,” Jos added. “She said so many nice things about you.”
“Funny, we were under the impression she was so busy having a good time with the likes of you that she’d forgotten all about us,” Annie said bitterly.
“Annie, that’s not fair. I wrote letters so you’d know I was thinking about you.” Evelyn was hurt by Annie’s ongoing resentment. Part of her began to think Annie envied her newfound freedom, the experiences she’d had in London. Annie had never expressed an interest in any life other than West Coombe offered, but then she had never really considered the alternatives. And now she was married. Evelyn wondered how happy her sister’s marriage really was.
“A letter’s nothing though, not when you didn’t even say you were leaving.”
“I’ve said I’m sorry, Annie. I can’t do much else.”
“I assure you that Evelyn’s mentioned you all on many occasions, always with loving sentiments,” Jos said. Evelyn silently thanked her.
“So, who are you and how did Evelyn come to be your friend?” This was Evelyn’s father, who was looking at Vernon with barely disguised suspicion.
“Well, I run a small…dining establishment, in Mayfair. Evelyn spent an evening as one of my patrons and I was introduced through a mutual friend.” Evelyn was impressed at just how respectable and conservative Vernon contrived to make the occasion sound. “And naturally, after that, I was very drawn to her. Evelyn’s a beautiful woman, Mrs. Hopkins. That’s why I proposed marriage.”
Evelyn drew a deep breath as her family’s collective eyes widened. This had been the agreed plan, as it seemed to be what her family were most likely to accept. Introduce Vernon as the man she loved in London, claim they were engaged to be married, and then leave before too many questions could be asked.
“You’re the man she loves?” Annie asked, staring at Vernon incredulously. Evelyn almost wanted to laugh at her astonishment.
“Yes. Why do you find that so unlikely?” Vernon asked. “With respect.”
“I don’t recall you asking for my permission, young man,” Mr. Hopkins interrupted.
Vernon was caught off guard for a moment. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here now,” he said brightly, clearly pleased that he’d thought of an answer that sounded reasonable.
Evelyn listened to Vernon, realising just how ridiculous it was to pretend she was in love with him. He was giving a superb performance, but it was not the truth. The person she loved was standing to her other side. That love was pure and, whatever the consequences, her family would know about it.
“Vernon, it’s all right, thank you,” she said, pressing Vernon’s arm. “I’m going to tell them the truth.”
Vernon looked at her with a combination of surprise and approval and stepped back a pace. Evelyn took a deep breath. “You see, I’m not going to marry Vernon,” she began.
“But you have to!” Annie asked. “We won’t have a…a loose woman in the family.”
“I’ve done nothing loose with Vernon, Annie,” Evelyn replied, causing a stunned expression to overtake her sister’s face. “Although, if I had, it’d be none of your business. I’m not going to marry Vernon because it’s not Vernon that I love.”
“I assume he knows this,” her father said, still glaring at Vernon.
“Yes, Father. He was just trying to protect me. But it’s time to be honest.” Evelyn could not stop now, even if she wanted to. Every part of her was filled with the need to tell them the truth and damn the consequences. “I don’t love Vernon. The person I love is someone I can’t marry, even though I wish I could. I love Jos.” To confirm they had not misheard her, she grasped Jos’s hand in her own.
Her declaration was met with stunned silence. It was Annie who eventually broke it. “Are you implying that you love a woman in the same way as you could love a man?” she said. “Impossible! It’s unnatural.”
“Just look at the woman though,” her father said. “Hardly looks natural, does she? Not right, a woman in man’s trousers like that.” He was looking Jos up and down now, as though he’d not really noticed her before.
“I won’t stand for that, Father. Jos is the woman I love and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. I know Eddie would have been proud of me. I always said I would fly away from here and be happy. Well, he can see me and he knows that what I’m about to do now, I’m doing for him because he can’t. I love you all, as my family, but I will not stay here until I die of the misery of it all. Come on, Jos, Vernon. Take me back to London.”
“Now, young lady—” Evelyn’s father began.
But Evelyn was not listening. Her hand in Jos’s, Vernon following them, she turned and walked from the house, without looking back.
*
Evelyn lay on her side, looking at Jos, who was on her back in the bed at her side. She twined a naked leg between Jos’s, just wanting to be closer, to feel Jos’s skin on her own. She reached out a hand and placed it on Jos’s chest, near her heart, and knew she’d found real happiness.
Jos smiled. She was clearly tired from the long drive, but apparently not ready to sleep. “Are you all right, Evie?”
“Oh yes,” Evie replied. “I hope it doesn’t make me seem heartless. I do miss my family. But I don’t feel like I’m part of their world. You saw what they’re like. Eddie was the only one who understood me, really. I do miss him.”
Jos pulled her closer. “I know, Evie. And you can take all the time you need to grieve for him.”
“I’m so pleased I didn’t destroy everything,” Evelyn said. “When I was in West Coombe, I was thinking of the mess I’d made in London. I feel awful, really.”
“If you mean Lilian and James, I think they’ll recover. You know, now she knows why Lilian’s been so erratic, Dorothy’s trying to help her. Of course, I think being away from Vernon will help too. He’s not a healthy influence, really. As for James, well, he’s young. He’ll find other infatuations. I think you were just convenient for him—he didn’t have to go looking for you.”
“I’m sad to have lost their friendship. When I think of Eddie and Frank in the war, being good friends, I wish it had worked out differently.” In some ways, Evelyn felt it was a disservice to her brother and his captain to have not worked harder on continuing a friendship with the Graingers.
“Perhaps you’ll be friends with them again. Although I don’t know how they’ll cope with your choice of bedfellow.”
Evelyn smiled. “I don’t care how they cope with it, really.”
Jos smiled in return. “I’m pleased. I was awfully frightened you wouldn’t like being different, you know. Disapproved of by so many people.”
“I think I’ve always been disapproved of,” Evelyn replied. “At least now I get to be with you when it happens.”
“You know, I don’t think it matters that much that you’re not friends with Lilian. Your Eddie and Frank, their friendship was sparked by the war. And that’s over now,” Jos said reflectively.
“It’s funny though, isn’t it?” Evelyn replied. “In some ways it seems like it’s never over. It’s still claiming people. It’s still driving us all crazy with the desire to fill our lives before they’re snatched away. In some ways, it’s made us all dream of something more than we have.”
“Well, I’m tired of being so awfully modern,” Jos said, with a grin. “I don’t need to dream about anything and pursue the next thrill. I have you, Evie.”
Evelyn was filled with pure joy. Now, finally, she was flying high. “You
think I’m thrilling?” she teased.
“Yes, I do,” Jos said. “In oh-so-many ways. And I look forward to next thrill.”
“Me too,” said Evelyn, resting her head on Jos’s shoulder, knowing there was so much more to come.
Author’s Note
All the characters in this novel are from my imagination. However, the world in which they live draws very heavily on the reality of inter-war London. The places are fictionalised versions of real places—you should be able to follow Evie’s route around London on a street map. I won’t claim I’ve represented a minutely accurate picture of London in the Roaring Twenties, but I’ve tried to be as faithful to the details as possible. The Park Lane Hotel existed—and still does—as, of course, do the attractions of London and the streets of Mayfair, much the same then, outwardly, as they are today.
The publications referred to are all real. These include The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, discussed at Clara and Courtney’s party, which was indeed published in 1928 and then prosecuted for obscenity for daring to portray a lesbian relationship. Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique is a real self-help sex manual by Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde published in 1926, with revised editions in 1965 and 2000.
My story refers to the real events of the First World War—the Great War, as it was known—such as the battle at Valenciennes, which really took place in November 1918. In the four years between 1914 and 1918, there were approximately 888,000 British and Commonwealth military deaths and 124,000 British and Commonwealth civilian deaths. Over one and a half million soldiers returned wounded, a large number of them suffering, as Edward did, from shell shock. Today this ill-defined condition is usually acknowledged to be a form of post-traumatic stress disorder, but at the time was generally seen as a form of insanity or symptom of underlying weakness or cowardice.
The huge impact of the Great War on all levels of British society was undoubtedly a significant turning point and a cataclysm which was still causing tremors at the end of the next decade. A generation of young men had been lost, their families and lovers left grieving. Soldiers were still dying of the after-effects of the conflict, or living with the disabilities it caused, throughout the 1920s. Although the British experience of the 1920s took many of its cues from the American jazz age, the liberated, decadent pursuit of happiness is also the flip side of a country that thought it knew itself attempting to recover and questioning itself for the first time in generations. The old certainties of the class system and Empire were fading with memories of the Victorian age, separated from the new generation by the horror of the war.
About the Author
Born in Nottingham, England, Rebecca S. Buck now lives just outside the city with her partner, slowly renovating their Victorian house. Her day job is in the museums and heritage sector, where she specializes in education and engagement. Her first novel, Truths, was published in 2010. Her second, Ghosts of Winter, was shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award. History is her passion, but she’s also a big fan of travel, where every new place visited presents a new setting for a story.
Find her on Twitter: @rsbuck
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