The Glory Girls by June Gadsby Page B

reaching into her innermost being. She felt a deep sorrow for all the men and boys who were going out to fight for their country in a foreign land. Many of them, she knew, would never come back. But what she felt for this youngdoctor was something she could not explain, except to say that when she regarded Walter, that special feeling wasn’t there.
    ‘And you say Walter’s not going to join us today, pet?’ Jenny asked for the umpteenth time. ‘There’s nothing wrong between you and him, is there?’
    Mary blanched, picked up two plates without looking her mother in the eye, and headed for the table.
    ‘Of course there isn’t, Mam,’ she said over her shoulder. ‘He just felt he should spend his last Christmas with his mother before going off to Catterick.’
    ‘Here, come back. You’ve forgotten the sprouts.’
    She went back for the missing vegetables and saw her mother looking at her in an oddly wise and penetrating way.
    ‘What’s up with you, our Mary?’ Jenny said. ‘You’ve been acting funny ever since the benefit. I know you were a bit put out because Walter came so late and then wouldn’t dance with you, but … No, there’s something else, isn’t there? You’re not getting all het up over that Dr Craig, are you?’
    ‘Mam! You do say the daftest things.’
    ‘Do I?’ Jenny was wearing her concerned mother’s expression. ‘Maybe it’s daft, maybe it’s not, but I saw the way he looked at you on Saturday night.’
    ‘Oh, Mam, stop it. He was just being pleasant.’
    ‘Aye, and you were lapping it up, my girl. I don’t want any daughter of mine going out of her way to flirt with a married man. Do you hear me, Mary?’
    ‘Yes, Mam, but you don’t have to worry. Anyway, Alex comes from a very different background.’
    ‘So, it’s Alex now, is it? And never mind the different background. Men are men the whole world over and if a girl shows herself to be willing , well … you know what can happen. Just look at that Sadie Hurst. What a disgrace. Saddled with a bairn and no man to support her because he was already married with a family of his own. Just you think about that, hinny.’
    ‘Yes, Mam.’ Mary felt her cheeks burning hotly. ‘Is that it? Can I take these plates in now before everybody starves with hunger?’
    ‘Oh, go on with you.’ Jenny tapped her daughter’s behind as she walked away. ‘I know you’re a good girl, really. You’ll always do the right thing.’
    ‘I hope so, Mam,’ Mary muttered under her breath as she handed out the plates and went back for more to shouts of ‘Where’s mine?’ and ‘ThatWalter doesn’t know what he’s missing, the daft begger!’
    Mary joined them at the table as they pulled their crackers, donned silly paper-hats, blew on plastic whistles and generally acted like children. She enjoyed the fun, but her mind kept wandering. She didn’t think that Walter would ever excite her the way Alex Craig had in that briefest of moments. And she couldn’t suppress the burning desire to do something more challenging than keeping the ledgers up to date at the War Pensions Office. Both issues would have to be addressed, and soon.
     
    In the Graham household the atmosphere wasn’t quite so jovial. Alex did his best to pretend that all was well, but he wasn’t fooling anybody, least of all himself. A part of him couldn’t wait to leave. The sooner he removed himself from his flawed marriage the better. He regretted leaving his uncle in the lurch, alone to cope with a busy practice; and Aunt Maggie was like a second mother to him. Neither of them wanted him to go, although they said very little on the subject, which meant they probably understood more about his situation than he had given them credit for.
    Fiona had said little to him, other than ‘Brave old you!’ when he told her he had enlisted. They hadn’t spoken of it again in private. In the company of others she tended to keep her own counsel and replied to enquiries on how she