‘Did you love him?’ Michael studied her.
Ronnie blushed. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think so. But it was the first time I ever felt anything about a boy. I never really bothered with them before. I was always a tomboy.’ She bit her lip. ‘Stupid, really, now I think about it.’
They were silent for a few moments.
‘You mentioned love in your letter to me, Ronnie.’
Michael’s sudden remark made her flinch. ‘It didn’t mean …’ she stopped. Took a jagged breath. ‘It was only the way I’d write to a friend.’
Oh, why did he have to bring up the exact thing she’d been unsure of?
‘That’s a pity. Maybe I got the wrong idea when we danced that night, but I had the distinct feeling we were much more than friends. I thought you felt the same way.’
‘What about Penelope?’
‘Penelope?’ Michael jerked his head back. ‘What makes you think I have any interest in Penelope?’
‘She seems to be very interested in you.’
‘I doubt it.’ Michael’s face was very near hers. ‘The only person she’s interested in is Penelope.’
‘Oh.’
‘As I was saying – I thought we were much more than friends and you felt the same way,’ he repeated.
‘I did,’ she said in a small voice.
‘I still do,’ Michael said firmly. ‘In fact, I’m prepared to go much further.’ He put his finger under her chin and gently turned her face towards him. ‘Ronnie, there’s something I’ve been wanting to say for such a long time. Now is probably a strange time to pick when you’re poorly—’
‘I’m all right,’ Ronnie broke in. ‘I’m not ill. It’s only my hand.’
‘Let me finish, darling,’ he said, smiling.
Darling? Her heart leapt. But then he might be the sort of person who called everyone darling – like Suzy said the actors and actresses did. But no. Michael wasn’t that sort of person at all.
His face was very close now. Her lips parted a little. A thrill of anticipation fizzed through her.
The doorbell rang, echoing up the stairs, and she heard Rusty bark.
‘That’ll be the nurse,’ Ronnie said, drawing back, disappointment flooding her body. ‘I don’t think she should find you in my bedroom, especially in your uniform!’
‘Then I’d better go and let her in,’ he grinned.
After the nurse had attended to her, Ronnie had a quick wash and cleaned her teeth. There wasn’t much she could do about her hair until Maman could help her wash it. Instead, she took up her brush, and with her good hand brushed her hair vigorously to try to get rid of the last of the dust and particles from the explosion. She looked in the dressing-table mirror and was quite shocked to see the pale face that stared back at her, though her eyes had definitely improved.
At the last moment she put the tiniest dab of lipstick on, the movement clumsy as she used her left hand. She smiled and the tired girl in the mirror smiled back. Hurrying downstairs she found her mother at the kitchen sink arranging flowers in a cut-glass vase.
Simone turned. ‘Your very nice young man brought me these. Aren’t they pretty?’ She smiled. ‘He asked to take Rusty for a walk. It was his way to give us time alone.’
‘He’s not my young man,’ Ronnie protested. She groaned inwardly. Maman was always ready to see romance in any possible situation.
‘That is not what I feel ’ere.’ Simone dramatically clasped her hands to her chest. ‘But before we speak of him, you must have breakfast.’
‘I’m not hungry,’ Ronnie said.
‘I have made the porridge. It only has to be heated.’
For once, her mother’s porridge was perfectly edible, but Ronnie still found it hard to swallow. She was conscious Michael would be back any moment and she wanted time to warn her mother not to question him about his motives where her daughter was concerned.
As though reading her thoughts, Simone said, ‘He seems a very nice young man. And a policeman, too. How did you meet him?’
‘When he first came with a sergeant to inspect our boats for stolen goods,’ Ronnie said. She might as well stick to the truth.
Simone’s animated face fell. ‘Oh, that,’ she said. ‘I hope they now have dropped the matter.’
‘I think they have.’ Ronnie childishly crossed her fingers.
‘He is in his uniform, but this is a personal visit, is it not, chérie?’
Ronnie felt her cheeks warm. ‘Yes, I suppose it is.’
‘You have seen him when he is not on duty?’
‘Yes. I bumped into him at a dance that Jess and I went to.’
‘And did you dance with him?’
‘Yes. We did a quickstep.’
‘Ah, très bien.’
‘Thanks for the porridge, Maman,’ Ronnie said, putting her spoon down and hoping to change the subject.
‘Michael will return soon,’ Simone said. ‘I let him go to your bedroom on his own because I trust him as a member of the police force. And he is a little older than you which is good. But I must know how you feel about him and if his feelings for you are honourable.’
‘Maman, we’re in the 1940s, not the eighteenth century.’
‘Maybe I am old-fashioned but I am your maman and I do not have Dad to ask for advice. So will you please tell me the truth, chérie, and I will not ask more questions.’
She had to quieten her mother once and for all. Maman would never be satisfied until she had wrung the truth from her.
‘I love him, Maman,’ she said.
And at that very same moment she heard the front door open and Michael’s footsteps along the hall. She froze as Maman said in her clear ringing tones:
‘Then if you love him as you say you do, I will be most ’appy to welcome Michael into the family.’
Michael stood at the open kitchen door, a broad grin lighting his face.
‘Do you, Véronique? Do you really love me? Because I love you more than anything in the world.’
‘You must go into the front room to talk,’ Simone said, beaming triumphantly, and Ronnie couldn’t help smiling. She knew
