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

34. Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

May 1945

L aura had just shut her drill off when the alarms sounded. Toni jumped out of the hull of the plane and said, “Now what?” Laura hoped no one was hurt.

But Buster soon appeared, walking as fast as his mismatched legs would allow, and assured them that all was well. Mr. Treadwell had called an impromptu general meeting, he said, in the main hangar. As he hurried along, he said over his shoulder, “Pass it along.”

Laura and Toni made their way to the meeting point along with a crowd of women, and Toni voiced what Laura was thinking. “I wonder what this is about.”

“We’ll soon find out.”

It was a sea of coveralls and bright headscarves in the main hangar. Benches had been set up hastily in front of a podium. Beyond the podium, the doors to the hangar stood open, letting in the warm breeze .

Laura and Toni slid in along one of the benches toward the front. Laura leaned over and whispered to Toni, “It must be good news, because Mr. Treadwell is all smiles.” Toni’s gaze traveled to the front of the hangar, where their boss was clapping the back of the plant manager with a grin on his face.

Mr. Treadwell stepped up to the podium. “Take your seats, please. This will only be a moment.” And then he laughed.

“Strange,” Toni said.

Once everyone was seated and the room hushed, Mr. Treadwell, still smiling, said to the crowd, “I have great news.” He paused before announcing, “Germany surrendered this morning!”

He barely had the last word out of his mouth when whoops and shouts erupted and everyone jumped to their feet. Headscarves were thrown into the air in jubilation.

The deafening roar that went up echoed through the cavernous space.

Crying, Laura and Toni hugged each other and danced around. When they pulled apart, Laura wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. She was stunned into happy disbelief.

It was over. Finally.

Soon, Edwin could come home.

By the end of the month, all the trees sported young green leaves and the air began to turn warmer. The sun, although weak and watery, added a brightness to everything.

Laura and Joy finally managed to coax Diana outside to sit on the front porch. It had taken months for them to convince her to leave her bedroom to sit in the living room or the kitchen, until she gradually became comfortable with moving around inside the house.

At first, she had balked at stepping outside, shaking her head back and forth, saying everything she needed was within the walls of her home. But Laura and Joy would not take no for an answer. Somehow, Diana needed to get past this and move on with her life.

They sat on the front porch in chairs brought out from inside. Diana situated herself between her friends, with one of them sitting protectively on either side. Diana had put on a colorful turban, complaining that it made her feel like Carmen Miranda and all she needed was to add a bowl of fruit to the top of her head. But Laura had reassured her, telling her the turban accentuated her fabulous cheekbones. This seemed to mollify her.

There was a gentle breeze, and the air smelled of spring: like damp earth with some hope thrown in.

Laura was in a good mood. The war was over in Europe and hopefully winding down in the Pacific. She and Joy were counting down the days until their husbands returned home. The domestic landscape had changed, but she wasn’t worried. They had weathered a depression and a war; certainly there were happier times ahead. And she and Edwin could face anything together.

Joy was in the middle of telling a funny story about something that went on at work. Laura had already heard it during the car ride, but she was content to relax, her legs stretched out, and enjoy the new pink and white blossoms on the cherry trees. She’d always wanted cherry trees, but her mother was against it, saying the petals got all over the place when they blew off and made too much of a mess. Laura felt differently. She thought it was a small price to pay to look at something so beautiful. She decided right then that when she and Edwin bought their own house, she’d plant a couple, right after she bought an electric washing machine.

“Diana, would you consider coming to my house for dinner on Sunday?” Joy asked.

Joy made sauce on Sundays, and Laura had gone over several times with the girls for Sunday dinner. She’d been introduced to the world of spaghetti, baked ziti, manicotti, stuffed shells, and lasagna, and she’d loved all of it. Now it was easy for her to see why Joy’s husband spoke profusely about her cooking. Edna and Edith especially loved spaghetti. She didn’t have to fight with them to clean their plates.

Diana looked panic-stricken.

“I couldn’t.” She shook her head.

“It’ll only be us and the kids,” Joy said. She cast a beseeching glance in Laura’s direction, but Laura said nothing. Her opinion was that Diana shouldn’t be forced. That she should get to the destination—the destination being moving on with her life—in her own way. And in her own time. Besides, they’d only just convinced her that day to step outside the house. Baby steps.

“Thank you, Joy.” There was a tremor in Diana’s voice. “I appreciate everything the two of you have done for me. I couldn’t have asked for better friends. I don’t think I would have made it without you. Everything seemed so bleak and desperate.”

Laura didn’t know what to say to that. Apparently, neither did Joy .

Diana continued. “After the accident and even after Preston and I broke up, I didn’t want to live. I didn’t.”

“You shouldn’t say that,” Joy said. “Life is a gift.”

But Laura added no comment to that. For she, too, had once felt that way. Funny how at the time, you thought it would never get better. That you would never know joy again. But you did. You laughed again. You felt happy again. Diana would have to find that out for herself.

“But it’s the truth, Joy, and I can’t lie about it,” Diana said.

“No, of course you can’t,” Laura said. “Do you still feel like that?”

“Sometimes,” Diana admitted. “But not all the time. Not like before.”

Laura nodded. “Then that’s progress.” She wished her friend could see what she saw: a stunning young woman with beautiful eyes and fine bone structure.

“I wonder if I’ll ever have peace,” Diana said.

“It will come with time. But you have to make the effort.”

On the other side of Diana, Joy slipped a necklace from around her neck, pulling it up and over her dark hair. She reached out and put it in Diana’s hand.

“I want you to have this.”

“I can’t take this,” Diana said, handing it back to her, but Joy pushed her hand away. “Joy—”

Joy put her hand up. “No, Diana, I insist. It’s a St. Anthony medal. It was my grandfather’s.”

“Even more reason not to give it away,” Diana said, attempting again to hand it back to Joy, but she refused to take it.

“No, listen, we pray to him for lost things. ”

“Can he find me a new scalp?” Diana quipped.

They all laughed.

“Seriously, he can help you find those things you’re looking for: peace and happiness. You must trust him and pray to him.” Joy was fierce in her devotion.

Diana struggled to put the chain around her neck. Joy took the medal and stood behind her, adjusting the clasp. Once done, she sat down. Diana touched the medal against her chest.

Joy looked out to the street as she spoke. “My grandfather was from Italy. They were dirt poor. He prayed and prayed, asking St. Anthony for help to get to America. Eventually, he won prize money in a fight, if you can believe that.”

Laura raised her eyebrows.

“Anyway, he made it to America and he never looked back.”

In time and with some gentle coaxing, after Diana had done all of Laura’s and Joy’s mending, they encouraged her to take in sewing projects from other people. At first, Diana was mortified. The thought of people coming to her house to drop off mending caused her to blanche.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Mrs. Quinn chimed in.

“They’ll only come because they’re curious, and I’ll be like some sideshow attraction.” There was bitterness in her voice.

Laura decided to go for honesty. “There will be some people who will do just that. But pay no attention to them. Once they see what fabulous work you do, they’ll be back, and if not, then they will have had their curiosity satisfied.”

Diana considered this. Laura’s honesty had not turned her off.

Laura added, “It’ll be a good way to make some money. There’s only one seamstress in town right now, and she’s getting on in years and won’t be around forever.”

Joy piped in. “It could be an opportunity.”

Diana appeared contemplative. “How would I get customers?”

Laura was buoyed by the fact she hadn’t totally nixed the idea. “That’s easy. Word of mouth. And we can put up an advertisement in the post office.”

“The canteen at work,” Joy said excitedly. “You know, a lot of the girls ask about you.”

“Do they?” Diana seemed genuinely surprised by this.

“Of course.”

Diana bit her lip, and the expression on her face suggested she was struggling with some internal debate. “I wish someone else could handle the people.”

Gently, Laura said, “Diana, it’s a step toward rejoining the land of the living.”

“Honey, you don’t want to spend the rest of your life locked up in your bedroom,” Joy said.

“I’ll be here to help you as much as I can,” Mrs. Quinn said with encouragement.

Diana threw her hands up in surrender. “All right, all right. I’ll do it.”

Laura was so overcome with excitement that she clapped her hands, which led everyone—including Diana—to burst out laughing.

Later, they tacked up notices in the post office and in the canteen at the factory in Cheever, and business began to trickle in. There were some who stopped by with the excuse of needing alterations or something mended when all they wanted was to see Diana’s disfigurement, but Diana developed a toughened exterior, choosing to ignore those who stopped by simply to gawk. But throughout it all, she kept a headscarf on at all times. Once people saw the measure of her work, the trickle turned into a gush. Diana helped Mrs. Quinn convert a spare bedroom into a room where she could work and where customers had privacy to try things on.

She came to be in such demand that it was rare to see her without a tape measure around her neck alongside the St. Anthony medal Joy had given her. It kept her mind so busy she didn’t have time to think about her problems. She still wouldn’t leave the house to go out in public except to go to Joy’s, but Laura figured with time, that would come about.