Oh no, thought Paul, the stupid fool has cast her aside. He got ready to rush over to comfort Edie but then when she turned in his direction he saw she was triumphant, her eyes filled with everything she had ever hoped for. She took out her notebook and wrote something and then she rushed over to him.
‘Oh Papa, it’s like I’m walking on a sunbeam, can you see it? Can you see all the pieces of me just floating around in the sun?’
He looked hard at her. Excitement was building and twirling in her head and her heart; it was bubbling so furiously it was threatening to spill out in front of everyone. She reached out as if to catch the sun, to catch her dreams and hold them tightly in her hands forever.
‘Steady, steady,’ he said.
Edie took a deep breath. ‘He didn’t kiss me but that doesn’t change anything. Not really, does it?’ Paul saw her tuck away that first tiny disappointment. ‘He’s going to ask, Papa,’ she said. ‘That’s all that matters. He’s going to ask you.’
‘What’s he going to ask me?’
Edie twirled around. ‘Look. I wrote in my notebook.’ She held the book open and he saw she had written:
Fifth November Five
Plan — Papa will give permission.
‘What shall I say? Not on your sweet Nellie, I suppose.’
Edie dug him in the ribs.
Then she burst into laughter and ran, triumphant, in front of Missus Blackmarsh and Missus Turnbull and twirled in front of Missus Whitlock and they all tutted and glared at Paul as if it was his fault that his daughter had finally lost her marbles, and Theo, who was watching her from where he stood with some of the men, smiled. She was everything he wasn’t.
Edie ran to Beth and grabbed her hands and jumped on the spot; soon she’d be an engaged woman. She turned to her mother and threw her arms around her, and her mother held her tight. Lucy was still not sure what all the excitement was about and looked questioningly at Paul as he walked over to them.
‘We’re off home now, girls, we’re not staying for morning tea this week,’ he said. ‘It’s time that scandalous skirt was put back in a cupboard where I hope it will spend the rest of its life. It’s done enough damage for today. Maud Blackmarsh will be telling stories about it for many years to come and the skirt will get shorter every time she tells it.’
‘Oh no,’ said Edie, ‘this is the best skirt I’ve ever had.’
All the way home they tried to keep up with Edie but failed, so she was waiting at the front door for them.
Paul stopped to catch his breath and reached into his pocket for his key. He looked at Lucy, who was pale and winded.
‘You look done in,’ he said as he helped her through the door. She leant against the cool wall. ‘It was probably the brisk walk home,’ he added with no conviction. If only it was just a brisk walk that was causing Lucy to look so ashen. He stood in the rainbow beam and wished Lucy would be all right; only then would he be able to breathe properly again and lose the constant constriction he felt in his chest.
Lucy took deep gasping breaths. ‘I’m just going to have forty winks. I won’t have lunch, Beth.’
‘Beth can bring you in a tray,’ Paul said, hoping she would eat.
‘No, thank you all the same. I don’t think I can eat.’
‘But you must eat, you must keep up your energy.’ Paul felt his chest getting tighter and the air becoming heavier. Lucy didn’t reply, she took another deep breath and walked to her room, using the wall for support.
‘I’ll come and check on you in a while,’ he said after her.
‘Mama’s all right, isn’t she?’
Paul looked at Edie. He knew there was something important happening with Edie but for a moment he couldn’t remember what.
‘Papa? Mama’s all right? She’s not sick or anything?’
‘She’s just a little tired, nothing to worry about; the vigorous walk home from church has done her in. She’s just having forty winks.’
Paul took Edie by the arm and walked her into the dining room, and they sat at the oval blackwood table. Beth made several trips to the dining room, carrying the lamb, then the potatoes and gravy, and finally the peas and carrots.
Edie lifted the lid covering the roast lamb and it seemed a live thing staring back at her; it looked just like Missus Blackmarsh who had said she was Too Plain. He won’t come, he won’t come, the Blackmarsh lamb taunted as its heat hit her face and she quickly put the lid back on to shut it up.
‘I can’t eat — when do you think he’ll come to ask, Papa?’
‘I expect given his age — what, he must be thirty at least — I’d say he’s as eager as you are, dear,’ said Paul. ‘Now pass me the vegetables.’ He didn’t want to bother with this fellow wanting his daughter at the moment.
‘You’ll be the bridesmaid, won’t you Beth?’ Edie asked, ignoring her father’s jibe at Theo’s age.
‘I don’t have a dress,’ said Beth.
‘That’s easily fixed,’ said Edie. ‘Besides, you have to be my bridesmaid, you’re practically my sister.’ Edie grinned at her father and kicked her feet feeling her skirt brush against her ankles. She put her hand in her pocket and felt her notebook resting snugly there. Her plan had worked. Without a little extra incentive Theo might have spent the rest of his life considering whether or not to ask her. She may not be pretty but she knew how to make plans and solve problems.
Just as well I pushed her into him, thought Beth as she tried to avoid the peas and only pick up carrots, or he’d never have had the courage to take her by her arm and ask.
Paul sliced up the lamb as though he was slicing up
