Home Front Girls

big do. Why don’t we just go to the Register Office and have Laura and Paul as witnesses?’
    ‘But what about Annabelle and Lucy?’ he asked. ‘I know how much you think of them. Surely you’d want them to be there?’
    ‘I’d love them to be there,’ she said. ‘But with Annabelle so busy at Haslar and Lucy working in the munitions factory, it wouldn’t be easy for them to get time off and I wouldn’t want them to feel pressured.’
    He nodded understandingly. ‘Then if that’s how you want it, that’s how it shall be,’ he promised. ‘Although I think you may have a bit of a battle on your hands when we tell Laura. She’s a sucker for a white wedding and she won’t approve of a Register Office do at all, if I know her.’
    ‘You just leave Laura to me,’ Dotty said as she snuggled into his side feeling like the happiest girl in the world.
    Robert’s remark proved to be correct when they marched into Laura’s front parlour a short time later and broke the happy news to her.
    ‘Oh, this is wonderful,’ she declared, clapping her hands with delight, then: ‘Paul, let’s open that bottle of champagne we’ve been saving for a special occasion, shall we, darling? They don’t get more special than this.’ She picked up Dotty’s hand then to admire her ring.
    ‘It was Robert’s mother’s,’ Dotty told her and Laura nodded.
    ‘Yes – I never saw her without it on her finger whilst she was alive, God rest her soul. But I know she would have fully approved of Robert’s choice of a wife and would have been thrilled to know that you will be wearing it from now on. We must all go out tomorrow evening to celebrate your engagement properly, or better still we could go on New Year’s Eve and make it a double celebration. I have a wonderful dress that you could borrow, Dotty – it would look just lovely on you. And of course, we must start to make some plans. When were you thinking of? June is always a lovely time for a wedding and that would give us time to book the church and a venue for the reception. Oh, and of course we shall have to start to look around for your wedding dress straight away. And there are the flowers and the photographer to organise, and—’
    ‘Whoa!’ Dotty held up her hand to stop her flow. ‘To be honest, Laura, Robert and I were thinking of getting married within the next few weeks – just as soon as I can get this plaster off, in fact. And then we’re going to have a very quiet affair. I’ve never been one for a lot of fuss and palaver, and what with the war and everything . . . it just doesn’t seem right to go overboard when people are having it so hard.’
    ‘Oh!’ Laura seemed to deflate like a balloon, but then as Paul came back into the room on his crutches, the champagne tucked under one arm, she brightened again. She hadn’t entirely given up on getting her own way – not yet.
    ‘Well, we have plenty of time to talk about the arrangements,’ she declared warmly as she fetched some glasses from the cocktail cabinet and Paul popped the cork noisily. ‘For now let’s just celebrate your engagement. I really couldn’t be happier. I’m sure you two were made for each other, although over the last months I did sometimes wonder if either of you would ever acknowledge it.’ She gave them a mock-stern glance. ‘I don’t mind admitting there were times when I felt like banging your heads together. You couldn’t seem to see what was staring you straight in the eye. Still, all’s well that ends well. Here’s to you both, wishing you a long and happy future together with lots of squalling babies and lots of love.’
    ‘I’ll drink to that,’ Robert answered as he raised his glass and pulled Dotty into his side. Surely things couldn’t get much better than this?
    They never did get to go out and celebrate New Year’s Eve because the city was targeted yet again, and they all had to hasten down into Laura’s cellar to take shelter in their finery as the sirens wailed.
    ‘That’s it!’ Laura said crossly as she ushered them all ahead of her, Mrs Wiggins included. The woman had come to babysit and there was no way Laura was going to allow her to walk home until the raid was over. ‘I am going to get one of those Morrison shelters and put it in the drawing room. We could use it as a table for the children to play on during the day, and at least then when the sirens go we can stay upstairs in the warm. It’s so damp and dismal down here. And