The Long Road Ahead

Alice nearly choked on her bun. She didn’t need anyone saying things like that! ‘Oh, we don’t really know the date yet,’ she said, crossing her fingers against the little white lie. But she’d made up her mind that it was better to say nothing about when she might be leaving…for all sorts of reasons. And one of the lesser reasons was that she knew Valerie would be really upset. The girl had said, so often, that she had never been happier than working here with Alice…because the days never seemed long since they were usually so busy, and that they always got on well together and sometimes had fits of the giggles about some of the clients…and that for the first time in her life she always looked forward to coming to work. Her enthusiasm had been quite touching, Alice had often thought. She shrugged inwardly. Disruptions usually cause someone some upset, but there was no need to upset Valerie just yet. ‘I’m sure we’ll discuss dates…things like that,’ she said airily, ‘when Sam comes down. There’s no rush.’

When Alice got back home that evening – quite late thanks to the couple who kept on and on about what they were looking for, and who insisted on telling her their life story while they were about it – there were two letters on the mat which had arrived in the afternoon post.

Alice picked them up, shrugged off her coat, and as usual went straight into the kitchen to put the kettle on. Then she switched on the light and sat down on the stool to examine the writing on the envelopes. And smiled. The first one had Eve’s neat, precise handwriting on it, and the other one was from Fay. Her bold scrawl, taking up nearly all the space on the envelope, was unmistakable. How funny that they should both be writing to her on the same day, Alice thought briefly. They hadn’t been in touch for a while. (And neither had she, to be fair.)

She opened Eve’s first.

Dearest Alice

Look, spring is almost here and we still haven’t arranged to meet! My offer of afternoon tea at the Royal still stands – I’m dying to tell you everything that’s been going on, and I’m wondering if Sunday week is any good for you? The thirteenth? I rang Fay at Miss Downs’s place, and that day is OK for her…so will you please ring me at home, and let me know? You have our number. I would love to contact you at your office, but I know that personal calls in business are always frowned upon – even though you are the boss! And I’m sure that whatever time of day I chose to ring would be the most inconvenient and that I would probably ruin the best deal you’d had for ages! I do hope you can make it. It’s over three months since we’ve been together, and I promise I shall be much more jolly this time!

With my love, Alice – Evie.

Alice put the letter aside, smiling. Evie was such a patent little thing, and her happiness was bubbling right over, you could feel it. And straightaway Alice knew that Sunday week would be all right for her, too, because just before leaving work, she’d phoned the Clifton house and spoken to Sam about his visit to Dorchester.

This coming Saturday, he was going to slip a ring on her finger! They were going to choose it together…and Alice knew that it was going to be beautiful…sparkling…glamorous…special…

But it wouldn’t have mattered to her if it was an old curtain ring he picked up from the gutter. All that mattered was the promise it held.

By now, the kettle had boiled for her cup of tea, and Alice decided to wait a few more minutes before opening the letter from Fay. To hold off the moment. To look forward to it for just a bit longer. Why had her letters always meant so much to her, she asked herself? Well, she knew the answer to that. It was because they’d been thought about, touched, handled and written by people – loved people – who had taken the trouble to sit down and think about her…who had taken the time to say what had been on their minds and hearts. Surely the time would never come when letter-writing became a thing of the past? When you had no reason to look forward to seeing the postman come up the path? Surely not?

It was a relief to Alice that, after a spell of unexplained loss of appetite, it had started to return…that she actually felt hungry at the appropriate times. And today was no exception. She’d seen a lovely pork chop for tenpence in the window of the small butcher’s on the corner, and she was going to grill it with some mushrooms, and have it with potato chips. There was enough lard in the cupboard to do that. Alice loved chips, especially straight out of newspaper and eaten with your fingers. With plenty of salt and a good splash of vinegar. She smiled to herself as she remembered her birthday last year when, as a complete surprise, Fay and Evie and Rex had all come down from Bristol for the occasion. And Valerie and her brother Ronnie were there, too, and they’d all walked along a very chilly Weymouth sea front, enjoying the traditional seaside treat together.

Presently, with her meal cooked and ready on the plate, Alice poured herself a glass of Corona, then took everything into the dining room and sat down at the table. The letter from Fay was there on the side, but she wouldn’t read it until she’d finished her meal. It could wait just a few more minutes.

Watcher, my old lover! (Alice’s smile broadened.)

What’s been going on with you, then? I hope you haven’t disappeared altogether, because to me, you looked proper skinny just before Christmas. (To the point, as usual.)

Now, there’s things to sort out. First, Evie wants to buy us tea at the Royal on the 13th – I’ve told her that’s no problem for me, and I hope it’s not for you, either, Alice. Make sure it isn’t, because Evie is so excited about the turn of events at home, that if she doesn’t tell us, soon, in person, I’m afraid she might explode. I’ve spoken to her on the phone, of course, but what I want to do is give her a great big hug. Or several great big hugs. I think she deserves her happiness, don’t you, and we should be there to tell her, as soon as possible.

The other thing is – Roger rang me up a few days ago to ask a favour. It’s his mother’s 65th birthday on Saturday the 26th of the month – and he said it would be her very best present if the three of us went to the farm to be there on the day. It would be a complete surprise if we all just turned up, say late afternoon after milking, and then he was going to book the Wheatsheaf for supper for us all. Mind you, knowing Mabel, I don’t think she’d appreciate that bit very much, because I’m sure she’d rather be the one providing the food – but that wasn’t for me to say, was it. Anyway I really think we should be there if we can – don’t you? I feel a bit bad, sometimes, that we haven’t made the effort to see the Foulkeses, but for one reason or another it just hasn’t happened, has it. And anyway, how did we know they’d really want us to? The war’s over, a thing of the past. Their life is back to where it was before we three turned up.

Anyway, Rog left me in no doubt that he would love us to come to his mother’s birthday treat, so I hope you agree with me and Evie that we should be there. Oh, and by the way…I can take us there in my car! I didn’t tell you at Christmas (I was keeping it as a surprise) that Miss Downs has been giving me driving lessons in her car for some time, and I’ve just passed my test. First time! I was pretty relieved, I must say, because my landlady was quite a fierce instructor! And then the mechanic who looks after her car found this second-hand Austin for me – which is a bit of a banger, obviously, but he says it’ll do me fine until I can afford something better. So we wouldn’t need to look for any other form of transport to get us to Home Farm on the 26th. Do ring and say you can come, Alice.

Lots of love to you, me ol’ dear – Fay

Chapter Three

On Saturday afternoon, as she stood on the platform waiting for Sam’s train to pull in, Alice could feel her heart gathering pace. Because this felt like a first date! And in some ways it was, because this was the first time she and Sam were going to be together, alone, somewhere other than in Clifton. And she knew it was ridiculous, but she was actually feeling a bit shy. How could you possibly be shy with someone you’d known, and who’d known you, for almost all your lives?

But they were two different people now, weren’t they? They were two people who had finally declared their love for each other, and soon, very soon, he would place a ring on her finger to seal the fact which would tell the whole world that they had committed themselves to the promise of sharing their lives for ever.

Even as these thoughts filtered in and out of Alice’s mind, she still couldn’t really take it in. She still couldn’t believe that her dream, her dearest wish, had actually come true. She was going to be Sam’s wife.

She had already started practising her new signature…should it be just A. Carmichael, sort of dashed off carelessly, perhaps with a flourish somewhere? Or just A. Carmichael, neat and tidy, with no squiggles at all? She had always signed herself just Alice Watts, and she didn’t have a second name to add a bit of interest to her signature. Still, she was as proud to be a Watts as she was going to be as a Carmichael – and she knew that her mother would be happy for her. Ada would be so, so happy that her daughter was to have as good a life with the man she loved, as she herself had had with her merchant seaman husband Stanley Watts.

Alice automatically reached to touch her necklace which held the tiny, gold anchor, the present her mother had given her at Christmas so long ago, and which Alice had never removed from her neck. Recalling her mother’s words that she should remember her father and how brave he had been at sea, and that she, Alice, must always stay grounded – as an anchor must do – keep on an even keel, and never give up on her hopes and dreams.

Alice glanced around at the other people also waiting there on the platform for the train to arrive. Like her, they were all well wrapped up against the cold wind, though thankfully it had actually stopped raining for a few days. She was wearing her best cherry-red wool coat – the only other one she possessed was a green check plaid, which had seen better days – together with the fluffy white scarf around her neck which Gloria had given her several Christmases ago.

During the week, Alice had done as she’d been told and had contacted Eve and Fay about the dates on their respective letters, confirming that she would come to Bristol on the 13th for afternoon tea at the Royal Hotel, and that so far as Mabel’s birthday was concerned, Alice was to catch the midday train to Bristol, where Fay would be waiting to pick her up before driving the three of them to Home Farm. Eve would have caught the bus in from Bath earlier. And while they’d been talking about it, Fay had suggested that, as it was sure to be late after Mabel’s party, Alice should spend the night with her at Miss Downs’s house before going back to Dorchester the next day.

Alice smiled as she thought about the immediate future. Why was it that happy, exciting, special times crop up all at once, and then, usually after that, nothing much happens at all?

Number one on her present list, of course, was her engagement – absolutely no question that that was number one – but soon she and Fay and Evie were off to the farm! To see Mabel and Walter and Roger…go over old territory and see the animals, and the chickens and the dogs and the geese (though she hoped the farmer wouldn’t ask them to dig some potatoes while they were there). It was going to be lovely to see the Foulkes family again.

Finally, a sound like thunder, and a huge cloud of steam, announced the arrival of the train, and everyone stood back slightly, waiting for it to come to a hissing stop. Then, almost at once, the doors opened and all the passengers began getting off…and where was he? Where was Sam?

Alice peered around, waiting for him to materialize, and suddenly – there he was. Walking towards her with that easy, measured stride she knew so well. And Alice’s heart missed a beat. This man was hers – or soon going to be. Now he was close, looking down at her, and for a few seconds neither of them spoke. Then, in an instant, his arms were around her, pulling her into him, enveloping her, his face warm against her cold cheeks.

And for the second time, Alice felt that she was on a first date with a new lover.

What was it going to be like for them now, today? Was it going to be a comfortable, confident relationship, or a more wary one of not quite knowing what was in the other’s mind, of what was expected, or of exactly how to act? Although their feelings for each other were not a new thing, their newly established love certainly was! And in many ways there was still a lot to learn about each other. The pattern of their lives which lay ahead couldn’t possibly resemble anything that had gone before…this was going to be new territory. And that’s why she was feeling so excited – but also rather frightened. Their past was there, indelible, their future yet to come, unknowing, unknown, waiting to unfold… Was it going to turn out like a fairy tale where everything just fits neatly in place, or…

Sam had tucked her arm into his, and now they walked together towards the exit. And what do you say to a new lover, Alice wondered? Did you ask if the journey had been good, or if the heating had worked? This was so silly, she told herself…this is Sam! Just be yourself! Just say what you would have said if you’d been together last year, or the one before that! But the thing was, last year he’d been a friend, just a friend who didn’t realize how much Alice loved him, and she’d had no idea, no inkling, that he loved her. Not in that special way. The few hours they’d had together at the weekend had not been long enough to completely convince Alice that her wish had actually come true. For perhaps the first time in her life, Alice was unsure of how, or what to say.

She looked up at him, and realized that he must have been gazing at her all the time.

‘I love you,’ he said simply.

Of course! Why hadn’t she thought of that herself!

She leaned her head right into his shoulder. ‘Not as much as I love you,’ she murmured.

‘So this is where you’ve been hiding.’ Sam took off his coat and scarf and glanced around him.

‘Yes, for the last eighteen months,’ Alice said, taking his things and hanging them up with hers in the hall. ‘And I’ve been very lucky to have been given the use of this house. It belongs to the firm, of course, and is the perfect size for me – big enough, but still cosy. I’ve been able to have friends to stay because there are two spare bedrooms.’

In the bigger of the spare rooms she had made up the two single beds, making sure that both were well-aired, the covers freshly laundered and carefully ironed – well, she always made a point of doing that as a matter of course in case someone turned up unexpectedly and wanted to stay. But she’d made sure that the room Sam would be using was especially lovely – they’d not mentioned anything about him staying the night, but she’d noticed that he had an overnight bag with him, so he probably was, she’d thought.

He followed her into the sitting room, and went over to the fire which was crackling brightly over the coals. And now she came over, and he put his arms around her again. ‘I’ve got my own ideas about your engagement ring,’ he murmured, his lips close to her ear, ‘but I won’t say what they are until you tell me what you would like. It must be your choice.’

She looked up at him and smiled, and he lowered his head to close his mouth over hers. And Alice thought – if the world came to an end at this very moment, she would die happy. She would be happy for this to be the last thing which happened to her. Nothing else could ever come close.

Presently, after they’d had the coffee she’d prepared for them, they put on their coats and left the house. A weak sun filtered through the clouds as they strolled along the streets, glancing in at all the shops – especially the jewellers’ shops. And suddenly Sam said, ‘Let’s go in here. They seem to have a good display.’

Inside, the male assistant – who turned out to be the owner – was more than happy to bring every one of his rings out from the locked cabinets for them to examine. None was priced, Alice noticed, but they all looked extremely expensive to her as they gleamed and glittered against the black velvet on the display panels. Then, encouraged by the man, she began trying them on, one by one.

After a few minutes, Sam looked down at Alice. ‘I know the one I would like to see on your finger,’ he said softly, ‘but you choose, Alice. I’ll look the other way for a moment while you decide.’

Alice didn’t need any time at all to decide. It was a solitaire diamond, set in a gold and platinum ring. It was bold, yet delicate at the same time, and had been the first one which had caught her eye. And as it was slipped onto her finger, it felt exactly right.

Sam had moved aside slightly, looking at something else in another cabinet, and she nudged him, holding out her hand for him to see which one she had chosen.

And at once a broad grin spread over his features. ‘Snap,’ was all he said.

Now that the best sale he’d had for weeks was about to happen, the owner insisted on making sure that the ring fitted perfectly before he very carefully placed it into a small red velvet box, wrapped it up, and passed it to Sam – who put it into his pocket.

Then they left the shop, and resumed their stroll along the streets.

Alice snuggled into him. ‘Thank you, Sam – for such a beautiful engagement ring,’ she said softly. ‘I shall be so proud to wear it.’

‘And I shall be so proud that you have agreed to wear it,’ he said. ‘That you have agreed – that you are prepared – to link your life with mine, Alice.’

For quite a few minutes neither of them spoke, both wrapped up in the significance of the occasion – an occasion which would never come again. Then –

‘I’ve booked a table for dinner at the French restaurant at the top of the town,’ he said, looking down at her. ‘I hope that suits Madam… I’ve asked that we have a quiet corner all to ourselves,’ he added.

Alice smiled. Was she ever going to stop smiling! ‘That will be just perfect,’ she said. ‘I’ve glanced in at the place once or twice – but it’s rather posh, and very expensive! Far too expensive for me to have tried.’

‘But not too expensive for us,’ he replied, returning her smile. ‘I’ve booked it for 7 o’clock – and it’s already gone 5.30. So perhaps we should go back and smarten up a bit.’

Presently, upstairs in her bedroom, Alice decided to wear the simple dress she had worn at Gloria’s wedding. It had been one of Helena’s which she’d admired – and which Helena had insisted Alice should have. ‘It’s a very youthful style,’ she’d said, ‘and it will look so much nicer on you, Alice.’

Now, as Alice slipped it on, she knew at once that it was right for this very special evening…her very special evening. The pale grey cashmere with its gently flowing style seemed to have been made especially for her figure, the small purple wool flower on the shoulder exactly right as its only addition to its simplicity. Alice owned very little jewellery, but she did decide that perhaps her drop earrings with the small amethyst stone would look good. And what about her hair? Tonight she was going to leave it loose.

She undid the thick, coiled plait which she always dressed on top, then let her hair fall in long waves which reached down to her shoulders. Then she began to brush it out carefully.

After a few seconds she stopped what she was doing, and glanced at her reflection in the dressing table mirror. And remembered that other time she’d loosened her hair…had loosened it for that other man whom fate had decided should cross her path, if only for a few hours. Marvin. The American preparing for the D-Day landings. He had been so, so sad…

A lump rose in Alice’s throat, now, as she remembered the expression on his face when he’d gently run his fingers through her hair and looked down into her eyes. And told her that she was the double of his long-time girl, Patsy, whom he adored, and who, just before his unit was shipped out, had told him she had found someone else and that she no longer loved him. Even though they had been devoted to each other for a very long time.

As, presumably, had Max and his wife been before she left him for someone else, Alice thought instinctively.

She sat down on the edge of the bed for a moment. Was love really as frail as that, she asked herself. That temporary separation and loss of continuity could so easily fracture, ruin, what had once been thought so happy and secure? So unassailable? She shivered inwardly, then gave herself a good telling-off. It was different for her and Sam…nothing would, or could, ever shake their love…

She thought again about the American, her eyes misting. There had been no chance for him to try and save his relationship before embarkation, and as they’d slipped out of harbour his sense of helplessness must have been overwhelming.

And had he even made it safely back home, Alice wondered? Or had he been killed, or horribly wounded like so many of the allied soldiers had?

She brushed her hair more vigorously. The wretched war had such a lot to answer for…even now, for so many people the ripples were still spreading…still hurting…

When Alice went downstairs, Sam was already in the sitting room and he turned to look at her, his eyes softening.

‘You look adorable,’ he said simply.

She smiled briefly in response. His suit, as usual, was immaculate, and he had put on a clean white shirt and blue silk tie. He was obviously freshly shaved, and had shampooed his hair…those glorious locks, which had always set him apart, were shining like dark, polished copper. And Alice hugged herself again. Lady Luck was still shadowing her…

Presently, hand in hand, they strolled along the streets, glancing around them casually. It wasn’t quite dark, but all the street and shop lights were on as they made their way towards the restaurant. Sam looked down at her.

‘I know there are many months before our wedding,’ he began, ‘but for a start, we should have some idea of how many guests we might want to invite.’

Alice paused before replying. Tonight was the night of her engagement. The wedding, and all the complicated details connected with it could surely wait. She looked up at him, her eyes moist. ‘Let’s not talk about wedding plans tonight,’ she murmured. ‘Can I please get used to being engaged first?’

‘Of course, if you like,’ he said casually, ‘but we’ll soon need to think about the venue for the reception – and the number of guests we envisage.’

Alice smiled. ‘Well, as far as that’s concerned, my list is not going to be as long as yours,’ she said lightly.

He grinned down at her. ‘And mine won’t be as long as another couple’s I could mention,’ he said.

‘Who’s that?’ Alice said curiously.

‘Well, the royal couple’s,’ he said. ‘I’ve heard it on the grapevine – you hear most things in London, believe me – I’ve heard that Princess Elizabeth is to become engaged to Prince Philip of Greece. And that the nuptials are likely to take place in November in Westminster Abbey.’

Alice’s eyes shone. A royal wedding! How exciting!

But not as exciting as hers! As theirs!

‘And luckily for us,’ Sam went on, ‘we shan’t have to invite a lot of boring dignitaries to ours. Our guests will be our friends. People we like. We are going to enjoy our wedding.’

Alice looked away. As long as she could calm down about all the planning beforehand – and on the great day stop herself from tripping over her dress and falling flat on her face…

The restaurant was seductively lit, and exquisite – just full enough to be relaxed and congenial. Their table in the corner was beautifully laid, the white linen immaculate, the cutlery and glassware shining – reflecting the light from the flickering candle in the centre.