Free Magnolia Square by Margaret Pemberton Page A

distinctive, honey-dark voice. It was now Kate’s turn to make hers.
    ‘I will,’ she said quietly, and without the least sign of nervousness.
    Christina twisted her wedding ring round and round on her finger. Why hadn’t Jack written to her with such important news? Had he, perhaps, done so, and had the letter gone astray in the
mail, as Carrie insisted so many of Danny’s letters had done? And even if he
had
written to her with the news, why had he written to Mavis at all? Mavis was a married woman, for
goodness sake. Jealousy flared through her. Was he still continuing his gossip-arousing relationship with Mavis because of what had happened, or rather what had not happened, on their wedding
night?
    She felt sick with apprehension and regret. Why hadn’t Jack been more understanding? Why hadn’t he realized how traumatic the day had been for her, marrying in an Anglican church?
Marrying without one member of her family being there as a witness. Marrying with her heart and mind full of thoughts of her dead and missing loved ones.
    ‘Forasmuch as Katherine and Leon have consented together in holy wedlock,’ Bob Giles was saying sonorously, ‘and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and
thereto have given and pledged their troth either to other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a Ring, and by joining of hands; I pronounce that they be Man and Wife together, In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.’
    Christina became aware that an elderly neighbour, Emily Helliwell, was watching the way she was twisting her wedding ring round and round. Quickly she dropped her hands to her sides. Emily was
Magnolia Square’s local palm-reader and clairvoyant, and Christina knew that it wouldn’t take much to alert her to the fact that things between her and Jack weren’t quite as they
should be.
    ‘Almighty God,’ began Bob Giles, embarking on his final blessing of the happy couple, ‘who at the beginning did create our first parents, Adam and Eve, and did sanctify and
join them together in marriage; Pour upon you the riches of His grace . . .’
    As she stood behind Kate at the altar, tears stung Carrie’s eyes. She, more than anyone else in the church, knew just how much Kate deserved her present happiness. There had been the
anguish she had suffered when, at the outbreak of war, her father had been interned. Then there had been Toby Harvey’s death at Dunkirk. And lastly, but by no means least, there had been the
traumatic years after Leon had been reported missing and she had not known if he had been taken prisoner, or if he had died.
    ‘. . . sanctify and bless you, that ye may please Him both in body and soul, and live together in holy love unto your lives’ end. Amen.’
    And now Kate and Leon were married. And unlike most newly married couples, they already had a family of three children. With every fibre of her being, Carrie wished them well. She had been
married long enough herself to know that marriage wasn’t the fairy tale they had believed it to be when they were schoolgirls. When a house had to be shared with parents, and care had to be
taken that neither love-making nor arguments were overheard, it was hard work. And it was even harder work when a man accustomed to wielding authority as a sergeant had to acclimatize himself to
being just another factory employee.
    Lines of tension etched her mouth. Ever since Danny had been eighteen, he had been a professional soldier. Or he had been until the last few months when, liberated in poor health from his
Italian prison camp, he had been given the opportunity of opting for a Sick Discharge. He hadn’t wanted to take it. He had wanted to return to non-active service – and she had persuaded
him otherwise.
    Ruth Fairbairn began to play the organ again. The hymn was ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’, chosen by Kate because it was her children’s favourite. Carrie sang the