Read Online The Heart of the Family by Annie Groves - Free Book Online
Authors: Annie Groves
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them.
Marriage was all very well, and something that a chap naturally had to do at some stage, especially with the country being at war, and a chap’s parents making a fuss, but lying here in hospital with pretty nurses everywhere made a chap think, it really did, and what it had made Charlie think was that he wasn’t sure he was quite ready to get married yet.
The fact of the matter was that he’d actually been thinking about suggesting that he and Daphne put things off for a while. They could stay engaged, of course, but as he’d planned to remind Daphne, her own mother had originally suggested that they should wait. However, when he’d outlined this plan to his mother a few minutes ago, she’d opposed it immediately,getting herself into one of her states, and protesting that it was far too late for him to talk about delaying the wedding now, and reminding him of how lucky he was to have such a sweet girl to marry as Daphne Wrighton-Bude, and how generous his father had been on account of him marrying her.
Listening to his mother had suddenly brought home to Charlie just what his life would be like if he did leave the army and come back to Wallasey to work for his father, which was why right now he was actually feeling rather relieved that his discharge had been refused, and that he was to report back to camp as soon as he had been declared medically fit to leave hospital.
The pretty nurse with the good legs and the knowing smile, with whom he’d already indulged in a bit of harmless verbal flirtation, walked past the end of his bed and, after a quick look to make sure that his mother was still deep in conversation with his cousin Grace, he winked at her and congratulated himself mentally on being one of those people for whom life always had a way of working out well.
‘Well, tell your mother that I was asking after her, won’t you?’ Vi reminded Grace, for all the world, Grace thought indignantly, as though her mother was nothing and her auntie Vi was something very special indeed.
They might be twins but her mother and her auntie Vi were as different as chalk and cheese in nature; you’d never even have thought they were sisters, never mind twins. Privately Grace was glad that her mother’s twin lived in Wallasey and not closer at hand, and that they didn’t have to seemuch of her or her family. It might have been through her cousin Bella that she had first met Seb, but she and Bella certainly weren’t close and neither were Luke and Charlie, whilst her dad made no secret of the fact that he had no time for Auntie Vi’s husband, Edwin.
‘Yes, I’ll tell her that, Auntie Vi,’ Grace agreed politely, proud of the nurses’ training that enabled her to keep her composure and not give her real feelings away.
‘I dare say your mother wishes she’d listened to me when I warned her to evacuate into the country, especially now. What are those sisters of yours going to do now that Lewis’s has been bombed?’
‘Lewis’s is still going to be doing business, Auntie Vi. They’re moving across into a warehouse.’ Grace smiled serenely but inwardly she was thoroughly irritated by her auntie’s manner.
What she had said about Lewis’s was true, but it was also true that the twins had been told that the department store would have much less floor space, and that with the combination of the fire and the lack of goods to sell thanks to rationing, Lewis’s wouldn’t be keeping on all of the staff.
She had, Grace decided, had enough of her aunt. Perhaps she felt more irritated by her than she should, because not only had she been on nights throughout the bombings, she had also had to come back on duty after only five hours’ sleep to fill in for a sick colleague. At least when she finished this shift, since she was starting days again tomorrow she could go straight to bed and get some sleep before the Luftwaffe started dropping their bombs again. She consulted the watch she wore pinned on a chain tothe
Marriage was all very well, and something that a chap naturally had to do at some stage, especially with the country being at war, and a chap’s parents making a fuss, but lying here in hospital with pretty nurses everywhere made a chap think, it really did, and what it had made Charlie think was that he wasn’t sure he was quite ready to get married yet.
The fact of the matter was that he’d actually been thinking about suggesting that he and Daphne put things off for a while. They could stay engaged, of course, but as he’d planned to remind Daphne, her own mother had originally suggested that they should wait. However, when he’d outlined this plan to his mother a few minutes ago, she’d opposed it immediately,getting herself into one of her states, and protesting that it was far too late for him to talk about delaying the wedding now, and reminding him of how lucky he was to have such a sweet girl to marry as Daphne Wrighton-Bude, and how generous his father had been on account of him marrying her.
Listening to his mother had suddenly brought home to Charlie just what his life would be like if he did leave the army and come back to Wallasey to work for his father, which was why right now he was actually feeling rather relieved that his discharge had been refused, and that he was to report back to camp as soon as he had been declared medically fit to leave hospital.
The pretty nurse with the good legs and the knowing smile, with whom he’d already indulged in a bit of harmless verbal flirtation, walked past the end of his bed and, after a quick look to make sure that his mother was still deep in conversation with his cousin Grace, he winked at her and congratulated himself mentally on being one of those people for whom life always had a way of working out well.
‘Well, tell your mother that I was asking after her, won’t you?’ Vi reminded Grace, for all the world, Grace thought indignantly, as though her mother was nothing and her auntie Vi was something very special indeed.
They might be twins but her mother and her auntie Vi were as different as chalk and cheese in nature; you’d never even have thought they were sisters, never mind twins. Privately Grace was glad that her mother’s twin lived in Wallasey and not closer at hand, and that they didn’t have to seemuch of her or her family. It might have been through her cousin Bella that she had first met Seb, but she and Bella certainly weren’t close and neither were Luke and Charlie, whilst her dad made no secret of the fact that he had no time for Auntie Vi’s husband, Edwin.
‘Yes, I’ll tell her that, Auntie Vi,’ Grace agreed politely, proud of the nurses’ training that enabled her to keep her composure and not give her real feelings away.
‘I dare say your mother wishes she’d listened to me when I warned her to evacuate into the country, especially now. What are those sisters of yours going to do now that Lewis’s has been bombed?’
‘Lewis’s is still going to be doing business, Auntie Vi. They’re moving across into a warehouse.’ Grace smiled serenely but inwardly she was thoroughly irritated by her auntie’s manner.
What she had said about Lewis’s was true, but it was also true that the twins had been told that the department store would have much less floor space, and that with the combination of the fire and the lack of goods to sell thanks to rationing, Lewis’s wouldn’t be keeping on all of the staff.
She had, Grace decided, had enough of her aunt. Perhaps she felt more irritated by her than she should, because not only had she been on nights throughout the bombings, she had also had to come back on duty after only five hours’ sleep to fill in for a sick colleague. At least when she finished this shift, since she was starting days again tomorrow she could go straight to bed and get some sleep before the Luftwaffe started dropping their bombs again. She consulted the watch she wore pinned on a chain tothe
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