CHAPTER 98
I sat basking in my smug satisfaction in seeing two girls, who had arrived at the House so utterly broken, now standing up and making the world their own, along with a future. Charlie then dropped a bombshell to match Marlene’s.

“Got my own news, as well! Got a letter on Friday, from the clinic. All sort of fits together with last night”

I had noticed some of her own smugness that day, even though it had almost evaporated in the heat of her time with Seb. Unfortunately, she then started spraying tea as she struggled with laughter,

Tiff, naturally, was plating up to Charlie’s lead.

“Yeah? And? AND?”

“Got a date, isn’t it? March after next!”

Blake got it just as I did, and he was smiling cheekily.

“Don’t you get it, woman? ‘Fits together’, aye?”

“No”

That was when Blake really impressed me, so gentle for such a big man. The cheekiness faded into real concern, gentle affection, as he confirmed his guess with my girl.

“Have I got it right, love? Where will it be?”

She smiled, and it was finally a simple, happy one.

“Brighton, place called Nuffield Health”

Diane was sitting open-mouthed, while Tiff continued to tease.

“Gem is gonna be, like, SO pissed off, girl! Wonderful news!”

I decided to leave the details till later, especially the hard questions concerning her actual plan on telling me, but left it alone. There was fear lurking behind the brashness. Play it cool, Petrie. Diane put her own comment in, easing my struggle to keep a smug expression from leaving my face.

“Charlie?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you”

“What for?”

“Blake and I were really worried we were bringing a pile of shit to you both, and at Christmas. You’ve just made our day”

“Well, they’ll make my day in March, along with a new vajayjay. You going to visit me in hospital? I will want satsumas and choccies, not grapes”

The hollowness of Charlie’s façade of confidence was still obvious to me, even as she played caring sister to Tiff.

“Don’t worry, Tiff. You and Gem will be along soon. Gives me the test drive, yeah? So I can tell you all what you need to know before your turn”

Charlie broke out laughing, and Tiff simply held up a hand to stall any other comments.

“Di, just ignore her. She just wants to make some stupid joke about test driving or fitting in when she gets back. Don’t encourage her”

Blake and Di dropped us off at the House, and once I had the remnants of the flask sorted, I took both girls to the airlock and shut the inner door.

“I need to check a couple of things here, girls. The first is an obvious one: Joe Evans. I…”

The words drained away from me, and I shook my head a couple of times as I sought better ones.

“Cooper. Di told me about Cooper first, and I got floored. Literally, girls. I ended up sat on the floor. All my life, he’s been there, ghost at the wedding sort of thing. When Di told me, it was like I was lost. I can only guess, about you two, and, well, what Tiff said. About people around you. They might see issues before you realise yourself, so come to me, okay?”

They both nodded, and I turned to Charlie.

“I am going to include Tiff in this chat for the same reasons I have just spoken about. Charlie, I am not going to ask about when you intended letting us know, but there’s more. I can tell. What is worrying you? Is it about what the op involves? If that’s it, I can talk you through it”

Tiff shuffled across to put an arm around Charlie’s shoulder, as that girl fought back tears.

“Nana?”

“Yes, love?”

“It’s in Brighton. In England”

“I know”

“Who do we know over there? Nobody! I mean, it’s such a trip to bloody Exeter! What do I do on my own?”

I understood instantly, as a young girl shuddered before me. Dumped in the street, taken in by me, so many months spent entirely within the walls of the House, and her only time away at any meaningful distance limited to our time in the hills.

“Charlie?”

“Yeah?”

“Make a deal with me? Don’t turn this chance down, and I will do my best to sort something out. If we have to, I can take some holiday time and go with you”

“You’d do that?”

Before I could answer, she shook her head.

“Sorry, Nana. That was a really stupid question, wasn’t it?”

We made it a three-way hug, as I confirmed that, yes, it had indeed been the most stupid of questions. I resolved to tackle Bert about it a little closer to the day.

New Year’s Eve was an unusual one, the Clubhouse still being off-limits as the place slowly settled down after their war, so we ended up in Harry’s, various dirty stop-outs heading back to college digs or parental homes, the latter including Charlie and Tiff, who actually took a decent coat each that time. I spent part of the evening away from Frank, as I grilled two younger men about their intentions towards my girls. Ye gods, but I was becoming a straight!

I suppose that was the first time I had really encountered the much greater openness about sex and sexuality that was prevalent in twenty-first century youth. Sebastian, in particular, was an incredibly self-assured lad. Not cocky, but simply happy in who he was. Jake was a little less so, following behind his friend, but not that far. He let Seb do the talking, and that lad was straight to the point.

“Yes, we know, Ms Wells. Charlie and Tiff told us early on”

“How early?”

He glanced at Jake, who nodded.

“Day we first asked them out, really, Charlie said…”

He gave the most theatrical of sniffs, throwing his head back.

“You need to read the papers about rape trials, sonny!”

Jake was chuckling away.

“What we said about them, me and Seb, that they weren’t all looking to stop lads coming between them, more to stop them coming AT them. Attacking, like. All defensive, but between themselves, always happy. You want to tell it, Seb?”

“What? Oh, yeah! Was in the canteen. They’d got some puddings out, little squares of choc sponge, and we’d, well, made sure we were next in the queue behind them, and Charlie, she makes some comment about Gemma doing better stuff, and I thought she was going to snort half the food up, it was that loud a sniff, so I offered her a pack of tissues, and Tiff says to Jake, ‘Has he got a death wish or what?’, so he starts teasing her about Gemma’s stuff, that their friend had been bringing in, and I’m still holding out the pack of tissues with Charlie staring at me”

Jake was laughing out loud by then, as Seb continued.

“So she looks me up and down, and I can see she wants to sniff again, but she doesn’t, and she says ‘You two have been watching us for ages’, and I nod, and then she points at the tissues and asks how long I’ve been carrying them around and waiting for the right moment, and I say about a fortnight, and that’s when she just grins, holds her hand out and asks my name”

He shrugged.

“And we sit down to eat together, and she is onto what they are, as soon as we’ve sat down. Wasted no time”

I fixed his eyes with mine.

“And what are they, son?”

Jake answered that time.

“Anyone can see what they are, Ms Wells. Girls, no more, no less, and girls the two of us really like. We are finding out who they are, and that is all we need. Is that okay?”

It was more than ‘okay’, but there was no way I was going to tell him that.

“It’ll do for starters, Jake. Now, where’s my man gone to?”

Seb pointed to Frank, who was surrounded by the rest of my girls, and as I made my way across, I was stopped dead in my tracks by Maisie and Nicky. In response to my raised eyebrows, Maisie pointed back to the rest of the crew, where Alun was grinning at me as he stood beside his daughter. Maisie was as direct as ever.

“We’ve had a vote, Nana”

“What do you mean ‘we’?”

“All of us in the House”

“Who said it was a democracy?”

“We just declared one, Nana. Change of House rules for tonight was put to the vote, and it was nem con. We’ve cancelled Frank’s taxi”

“What?”

Nicky stepped in.

“We know what news you had this week, and we think we can cope with someone leaving the toilet seat up for one night, and…”

She tailed off for a few seconds before speaking again.

“We all know what you have done for us all, Nana. We all know what happened to you. We can all---none of us are blind, is it? Look over there, where Marty’s sucking Gem’s face off, and you’ve just been putting the frighteners on Seb and Jake, we all saw that, and none of us… Some of us wouldn’t be breathing without you. None of us would have hope, or even a home, without you. We can see what you feel for him, so tonight, at least, we can have a man in the House. No argument”

Hours later, I was still awake, as Frank slept beside me, his initial passion followed by a far more detailed confession about how he had abandoned Marlene, and, and, until I was left with his soft snoring and the warmth of his body, and the realisation that life was actually rather sweet. I doubt Frank thought that once we got to breakfast, as the girls teased him incessantly, while I looked around the dining room, adding up my obs.

That was the start of a bloody good year, highlighted by a double event in April. I needed the hired minibus once more, but Phil and Marty fitted spare bodies into their cars. A convoy to Aberystwyth left very early on the morning in question, and I have no idea what strings had been pulled, but there was a raft of spare beds at our disposal, both in vacant student Hall rooms and in the houses of various friends, climbing mates, dance partners, whatever. Frank had declined all of those options, having spotted a basic hotel almost next door to the Registrar’s place, so after we had dropped off the others at odd rendezvous points, we settled our stuff in our room and changed ready for the main event.

For once, I had decided that I needed to blend in with the straights, so I was in a lilac suit with court heels, hair up, while Frank was in a charcoal suit I hadn’t seen, shoes polished enough to see my face in. Once suited and booted, we walked hand in hand to the Office, where there was a small group awaiting us. As we walked, I had found myself musing on how natural it now felt, my man beside me, and of course that thought left me considering my future, which then brought the words ‘our future’ to stand in front of everything else. Life was looking up.

Cathy and Scott were the first in line, and I was introduced to two sets of parents before we got underway. David and Natalie Denholm were Scott’s, Thomaso and Sylvia Mascagni Leo’s. As I shook Thomaso’s hand, he smiled, and in very good English said, “Unfortunately, we are not relatives. Not related”

Nell, who was looking utterly gorgeous in a cream dress, started to laugh.

“Papa, Debbie won’t understand! She is a fan of more modern music. Deb, they share the surname of a classical composer. Sorry”

She chuckled once more.

“It was actually what got me and Leo talking, his surname. Now, we are going to need you a couple of times. Not a full ceremony, this sort of thing, no bridesmaids and that, but Cathy and me, we want to push that a little. You’ve got a job, and it’s giving Cathy away”

I shook my head.

“Why me? Bloke’s job, anyway”

David interrupted, looking at Thomaso for agreement.

“Debbie, we have all had some very detailed conversation with the two young ladies. We know their background, and, well, while it wasn’t… We all took a little time to understand, but knowing Cathy and Nell as we do made that all academic. We understand their issues with their original families, just as we all recognise who gave them a new one, a home and a future. We would all be honoured if you undertook this task”

Cathy then spoke up.

“Not just that, Debbie. It’s our way of sating thanks. Both of us, Nell and me, we remember each moment, and---ah!”

She was looking over my shoulder, and I turned to find a grinning Pat.

“Sorry, all! Had a flat tyre. We all set?”

Nell hugged her, careful not to crease Pat’s own posh frock, and then grinned at me.

“Those photos, Debbie, us up on the tops. Pat has given us our own copies, and she has got her camera with her”

I pointed to the obvious pro photographer standing by the door, and Nell grinned.

“Yes, but how does it go? Blackmail raw material from later? Now, you ready? Cathy’s up!”

It was a quick process, for both of them, each husband-to-be supported by a college friend, and I walked Cathy in and stood by her as vows were exchanged, and I was followed by Pat and Nell, and I cried, as did almost all of my girls, the only exception being Cathy. As she and Scott posed for photos outside, I spotted another late arrival, also in tears, and that was Peggy Hughes. I made my way over to her as I was called in and out of various set groups for the pro snapper, and then swapped hugs. She was beaming, despite her tears.

“Debbie, I am thinking back, yes? What I said when we first met?”

“We said a lot of things, Peggy”

“Oh, I know, and I spoke about this when you and Cathy came back to visit us. I remember saying how I did not understand this sort of thing, but I simply wanted what was best for… for a boy I thought I had in my care. This now, this here: how can anyone fail to see how right this is for both of them?”

As an arm slipped around my waist, she began to chuckle, and made a number or other remarks that chimed well with my own thoughts. We went off in a fleet of hired buses to the University, where there was a hall with a stage, and a dance floor, and after we had eaten for Wales, England and Italy, a folk band took the stage, complete with caller, and we danced.

My thoughts were still clear, even as we settled into a refreshed state: it was so, so good to be alive.