Lost and Found in Lavender Bay (The Lavender Bay Chronicles #2)

18. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

1942

R ain pelted against the windows of the house Laura and Edwin had rented after they were married. May, usually a portent of summer sunshine, was looking like a complete washout. It seemed as if it would never stop raining. The dampness was worse than the cold, and Laura wore a heavy cardigan over her apron and dress.

She looked up briefly from her Photoplay magazine and thought, I wish it would snow, if only for something different .

This was her favorite part of the day, when the girls were down for their nap. Three-year-old Edna and two-year-old Edith were sound asleep upstairs. Both were generally good nappers, and thank God for small favors. Having two babies back-to-back had exhausted her.

She would have loved to put the radio on, but she would never risk waking the girls. The two hours of peace and quiet in the afternoon were too important to her to chance it.

She flipped through the magazine again, not having much else to do. Their house was small: two bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom and a kitchen and parlor downstairs. It was easy to keep clean, especially since Lenore had passed along her old vacuum cleaner when she’d purchased a new one. Two bills had come in the mail, but Laura had set them aside for her husband; he took care of all that. On the menu tonight was chicken and mashed potatoes, but she’d already done all the preparation. She only had to cook it.

Although she wasn’t much of a cook, she did try. With the war on, rationing had begun, and she’d saved up the butter rations because Edwin loved buttery mashed potatoes. Sometimes, she wished she’d spent more time in the kitchen with Lenore and their original housekeeper, Hilda, when she was growing up. Lenore had come over a couple of times to teach Laura how to make some basic dishes. The sisters had been on better terms ever since Lenore showed up unexpectedly on Laura and Edwin’s wedding day. It had been the best gift they had received.

A wail from upstairs interrupted Laura’s peaceful afternoon. She glanced at her wristwatch.

“Drat!”

One of the girls was awake a half hour early. That first wail was joined by a second, and Laura knew they wouldn’t be going back to sleep. She put the magazine up on the top shelf of the cabinet so the girls wouldn’t get a hold of it. They’d torn the last one to pieces. She ran up the stairs to get them.

Edwin was quiet all through dinner that evening. Despite being busy with getting the girls fed, Laura had noticed his lack of chattiness. Edna was a good eater and loved chicken and mashed potatoes, just like her father, but Edith could be fussy and required a lot of coaxing. Finally, Edwin pushed his chair back from the table and stood. He picked Edith up and sat again, setting their younger daughter on his knee. He put a little bit of mashed potato on his fork and swooped it away from himself and then back to his mouth with exaggerated motions, making noises like an airplane. He swirled the fork in front of his face and finally landed it in his mouth and clamped his lips shut, announcing, “Mmm. Yummy!”

He repeated this performance until Edith clapped her hands and said, “Me, me!”

With a nod, Edwin indicated to Laura that she should pass Edith’s plate down to him. It became a game. Two bites for Edwin and one for Edith.

“You’re going to spoil her,” Laura complained.

“Ah, she’s only a baby. You can’t spoil them.”

“She’s not a baby.”

“Can I sit on Daddy’s lap?” asked Edna, all smiles.

“No,” Laura said.

Edna sank in her chair, put her fork down, and rested the side of her head on her hand.

“Come on, Edna.” Edwin turned slightly toward his oldest daughter and patted his vacant knee .

Edna bounded out of her chair and jumped up onto her father’s lap. With his right hand, he pulled her plate over and announced, “We’re all going to eat our dinner.”

Laura stood up from the table and put her hands on her hips. “Really, Edwin, you spoil them both.”

He grinned at her. “You were spoiled, and you turned out all right.”

“Sort of,” she said, suppressing a smile.

“I’ve got plenty of room if you want to sit on my knee too.” Over the heads of their daughters, he winked at her.

She shook her head but couldn’t help but laugh. “I give up.”

The three of them cleaned their plates and when they were finished, Laura excused the girls, and they toddled off.

She made two cups of tea and set them on the table, rejoining her husband. He’d gone quiet again.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Did something happen at work?”

“No,” he said. He brushed the back of his neck with his hand. He left his tea untouched.

After being married for a few years, she knew to wait. It had been a lesson in patience for Laura. He was gathering his thoughts and when he was ready, he would share what was bothering him. As she waited, her mind drifted to other things. What she would cook for dinner tomorrow. Also tomorrow was wash day. She hated wrestling with that wringer washing machine out back.

“I joined up.” Edwin said it so suddenly she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.

“What did you say?”

“I joined up today. ”

“The Army?” She blinked several times in succession. “But you don’t have to go. You’re a married man with dependents.”

“But I do have to go, sweetheart.”

Laura sat there with her mouth open, incredulous. “Edwin, why? Don’t you love us?” She knew that was a selfish thing to say, but it was what popped out of her mouth.

He burst out laughing. “Of course I love you and the girls. That’s why I’m going.”

That made absolutely zero sense to her.

“Why would you think I didn’t?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t know, because you’re running off to war?”

“Honey.” He leaned across the table, reaching for her, but she pulled back and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not going to war to get away from you and the girls, I’m going because it’s my duty. I can’t expect other men to go off and fight while I stay behind.”

“But what about us?” she asked, her voice shrill.

“I’ve thought about that. You can go stay with your parents.”

She didn’t want to do that. She liked the four of them together in their own house. But if he did go off to war, she’d have no choice. Edwin took care of her and the girls, and she wouldn’t be able to manage without him.

“How long have you been thinking about this?” she asked.

“Honestly? Since Pearl,” he replied.

It had been a little more than five months since the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Every evening after dinner, Edwin pulled up a chair right next to the radio in the parlor and listened, anxious for any news at all about the war. And although he mentioned from time to time that he’d go off and fight in a heartbeat, Laura had paid no attention, thinking it was a man’s wishful thinking, that where there was a fight, it was their natural inclination to want to be a part of it.

“What about the garage? What about Uncle Bert?” she asked, hoping to make him see some sense. Uncle Bert wasn’t getting any younger, and one of his mechanics had left last week for boot camp. He couldn’t do it all by himself. Edwin was very fond of his uncle; she couldn’t believe he’d leave him in the lurch.

“I’ve talked it over with him.”

Laura felt wounded. “You talked it over with Uncle Bert? What about me?”

“Honey, it was a man-to-man talk.”

Abruptly, she stood up, the chair scraping against the floor. “Thanks a lot. I’m your wife. You should have discussed it with me first. ”

“You would have tried to talk me out of it,” he said, opening his hands to her, palms out.

“Of course I would. But I would have liked to be included in the discussion.”

She walked over to the sink full of dirty dishes. She eyed the black enamel roasting pan that would need to be scoured, and the urge to throw it out the window was strong. Tears filled her eyes. A gamut of emotions coursed through her. She was angry. She was sad. And most of all, she was afraid. He wasn’t going off to summer camp; he was going off to war. Men got wounded. Men got killed. A knot formed in her stomach. She picked up the dishcloth, threw it back down, and covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

Immediately, Edwin came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, murmuring, “Shh-shh.”

She pulled her hankie from the pocket of her apron and wiped her nose. Edwin turned her around and placed his hands on her upper arms. His voice was low when he spoke. “Laura, honey, don’t cry. I have a job to do, like most American men. I can’t be over there worrying about you.”

She nodded quickly and gave her eyes a wipe with the handkerchief. “I’m afraid, Edwin. Afraid for you.”

“Don’t be. I can take care of myself.”

She looked around the kitchen, her eyes wet, and in the background, she could hear the girls chattering in the other room. “But what will I do? I don’t know how to do anything.”

He was quick to disabuse her of that notion. “That’s not true, Laura. You can do a lot of things.”

She tilted her head and smirked, looking up at him. “Like what? Read Photoplay ?”

He laughed. “And that too. Before I leave, I’ll show you some things, like how to write a check, for instance, and what bills need to be paid when. And how to secure the lids on the garbage cans so the cats don’t get into them.” His thumbs made slow circular motions on her upper arms. “Besides, this war will be over quick. I’ll probably be home in time for Christmas dinner.”

She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around him. She didn’t want to learn to do those things. Edwin took care of all that. She whispered against his shoulder, “Please don’t leave me.”

“You’re going to be fine, honey. ”

With his hands cradling her face, he leaned in and kissed her forehead. Laura closed her eyes, loving the feel of his warm, strong hands. He wrapped her in a hug, and she wished they could stay like that forever.

She loved Edwin with all her heart, but sometimes she wished he wasn’t so noble and good-hearted.