Read Online We'll Meet Again by Lily Baxter - Free Book Online Page B

forgotten now, darling.’ Josie selected a cut-glass decanter and was about to pour the sherry when Adele entered the room with Frank.
    Meg was quick to note that they were holding hands, and she could tell by the glow on Adele’s cheeks and the sparkle in her dark eyes that something momentous had occurred amongst the potted palms and Boston ferns.
    ‘Aunt Josie, Meg, Walter,’ Adele said breathlessly. ‘We’ve got something to tell you.’
    ‘What’s going on?’ David demanded when he joined them in the drawing room moments later. ‘Yesterday everyone was gloomy and now you’re all grinning like idiots, except you, of course, Aunt Josie. You could never look anything but perfect. Have I missed something?’
    ‘You’re just in time,’ Josie said happily. ‘Adele and Frank have just become engaged – unofficially of course, my dear, until Frank has spoken to your father.’
    Meg held her breath, willing David to say something nice. She watched warily as he strode across the floor towards the newly engaged couple, and she sighed with relief when he kissed Adele on both cheeks and shook Frank’s hand. ‘Congratulations, old boy. I’m very happy for you.’
    Josie clapped her hands. ‘This is a marvellous end to the girls’ holiday, especially after the slight contretemps at the ball, but that’s all forgotten now. We’re having a small celebration, David. Freda’s just gone to fetch the champagne.’
    ‘Shouldn’t we wait until Uncle Paul gets home?’ Adele asked anxiously. ‘He might be upset if we start without him.’
    Josie’s smile faded and Meg saw that her aunt’s fingers shook slightly as she attempted to fix a cigarette into an onyx holder. ‘Paul telephoned to say he’d be a little late. Pressure of work, you know. But there’s no law against opening another bottle when he gets home, is there?’
    They opened two more bottles of champagne when Paul arrived, and the events at the May Ball seemed to have been forgotten, but as Meg glanced at their happy faces she could not help thinking that no one seemed to care that Rayner was absent and excluded from the celebrations. The family had apparently written him off like a bad debt and he was forgotten. It seemed terribly unfair that she was not even allowed to say goodbye to him. She sipped herchampagne but it tasted sour and the bubbles shot up her nose making her want to cry. Perhaps Rayner did not care that she was returning home in disgrace tomorrow; after all, he had made no attempt to see her. He had not even sent a message with Walter or Frank. Maybe he thought she was a tiresome young girl who was simply not worth bothering about, and that the attention he had paid her at the ball had merely been an attempt to while away a boring evening.
    ‘Cheer up, Meg, it may never happen,’ David said, refilling her glass.
    David and Walter were quite drunk by the end of the evening, and they were waiting for Frank to drive them back to their lodgings, but he had taken Adele for a moonlit walk in the garden and they had been gone for a very long time. Meg stood in the doorway, hugging her arms about her chest and shivering in her thin cotton dress. Aunt Josie had gone to find Frank and Addie and Uncle Paul had retired to his study to make an important telephone call. Walter had managed to stagger down the front steps, but was now sitting with his head held in his hands, groaning.
    ‘Goodbye, Meg,’ David said, leaning casually against the door jamb. ‘Try to behave yourself on the way home.’
    She chose to ignore this unfair jibe. ‘Have you seen Rayner since the other night, David? It really wasn’t his fault.’
    ‘I know that.’ Suddenly sober, he put his arms round her. ‘Listen to me. There’s going to be a war whether we like it or not. Rayner knows that too, and he also knows that we’ll be on different sides. He’s going back to Germany at the end of term. Forget him, Meg. Go home and put all this behind you. You’ll never