Graeme surged forward, but Beth clamped a hand on his arm. “You stay right there.”
She stepped up to Colin then, facing him squarely. “What are you doing here?”
“I applied for a transfer right after I received your letter, but it only just came through. I managed forty-eight hours’ leave to come see you.”
“You should have used it to see your parents. We tried, Colin, but I never loved you and you didn’t love me, either.”
“And now you’re engaged.” Colin’s expression darkened. “I didn’t think you meant it. Lots of girls write things they don’t mean.”
She shook her head. “Colin, I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you. I could have told you more about Graeme and how I felt about him, but things moved so fast. But you also have some blame here, Colin. You ambushed me on the phone, asking me to be your girl just as you were leaving to fight. That wasn’t fair.”
He deflated a little. “I thought… I thought we were friends.”
“We were, but that’s all. You just wanted a woman waiting at home for you, and that might have been enough for me in Dorking, but it isn’t enough for me now. I have a life here. I have people who love me.”
“I love you,” he said, but she could see that even he didn’t fully believe it.
“No, Colin, you don’t. You love the idea of having someone.”
“Your letters got me through. Knowing that someone other than Ma was writing helped me,” he said.
“I’m glad for it. I will always care for you, but I don’t love you. I love Graeme,” she said, looking up at her fiancé, who’d edged closer. “I’m going to marry him.”
When Colin didn’t say anything, Ruth patted him on the arm.
“Come on, Private…”—Ruth peered at Colin’s uniform badge—“Colin Eccles. Let’s go buy me a flower.”
Still looking stunned, Colin let Ruth guide him away to the stand.
“Poor chap,” said Graeme.
She raised a brow. “Poor chap? You were about to fight him in the middle of the train station.”
“When I thought he was trying to steal you away.”
“I’m not something to be stolen. I’m a woman whose mind is made up,” she said.
He smiled. “I’d marry you today if you’d have me, Elizabeth Pedley.”
“How long is your leave?” she asked.
“Four days.”
“We’ll marry on Monday, the day after tomorrow.” The moment the words were out of Beth’s mouth, she knew that was what she wanted.
“Do you really mean that?” he asked, touching his hand to her cheek.
She didn’t want to wait for Graeme any longer. She didn’t know what their life would look like, but they would figure those things out. Together.
“I’ll marry you, Graeme, but I want you to know that I’m not going to be happy picking up and blindly following wherever the army sends you,” she said.
“We don’t have to talk about this right now,” he said.
“Yes, we do. I want to be your wife, but I won’t do it unless you promise me that I can have a home. A permanent home.”
He looked down at their joined hands and brushed his thumb over her knuckles, just as he had when he’d first touched her in the winter garden. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“If this matters to you, then we will figure out how to make that happen,” he said.
She let out a breath. “Thank you. Now, we have a wedding to plan.”
“We could go into Warwick,” he said.
She shook her head. “I don’t want a town hall wedding. I want to be married in Highbury.”
“Are you certain?” he asked.
“I think we’ll find the vicar sympathetic.”
“You have Highbury village wrapped around your little finger, don’t you?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “It’s just home. That’s all.”
He gave her a little smile and then nodded. “Understood.”
And she hoped he truly did.
? EMMA ?
AUGUST 2021
Emma sat around a large outdoor table with Mum and Dad on her right and Sydney and Andrew on her left. Charlie should have rounded out their group, but he’d begged off because he had plans to take the boat up to Birmingham that weekend. Instead, Henry—wearing a burnt-orange shirt with an image of the late Bill Withers silk-screened on it—occupied the space across from her and kept grinning as her mother said things like “I suppose the house has some presence, doesn’t it?”