The Gingerbread Girl by Sheila Newberry

Author:Sheila Newberry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction

There is great relief that VJ Day is here at last.

We are going to California to celebrate.

Best of all, Jimmy will be there.

‘Keep an eye on Dede,’ Eliza reminded Cora.

The girls were accompanying Mal, Helen and other young people to a special ceremony. At midnight bonfires blazed all along the cliffs at California, sparks flew; the beach below and the rolling sea were illuminated by the reflected light. Potatoes roasted in the embers, to be split when cooked; precious butter melted on the floury halves, running down chins to spot clothes with grease. A simple feast, but one never to be forgotten. Thermos flasks of milky tea and Bakelite cups were produced from rucksacks; a couple of hip flasks containing something stronger were secretively passed around. Courting couples lurked among the scrubby bushes; children danced about, singing, and waved improvised ‘sparklers’ – thin, dry sticks with smouldering tips.

Helen rested against a hummock of grass, with Mal’s arm round her shoulders.

He scooped out some potato and fed her with it from a spoon.

‘You’re spoiling me,’ she said.

‘They’re still too hot to handle.’

‘My hands are as tough as yours after doing the same jobs as you on the farm.’

‘Maybe,’ he conceded. He took a quick look round, then gave her a quick kiss on the lips. He lightly caressed the slight swell of her stomach. ‘Think they’ve guessed?’

‘Of course they – if you mean the crowd here – have.’

‘Has Jimmy realized?’

‘Like you, I haven’t spoken much to him since he came home. He . . . he’s turned in on himself. Who knows what he’s thinking?’

‘He could be wondering why you didn’t wait – why you married me, Helen.’

‘You know what he wrote . . .’

‘Yes, but did he really mean it?’

Helen stood up. ‘We’d better see where Cora and Dede have got to. It’s getting on for two a.m. – time to drive home, I reckon.’

Eliza and Ginny stayed up until the early hours too, at the farm, stirring a cauldron of soup to warm the revellers on their return. Jimmy remained in his room. The Kelly family had arrived the day before for a long weekend, but had not yet seen him.

A sleepy Dede was carried off to her bed in her little room. Now that Cora was older, she shared with Eliza.

She yawned, carried her empty soup plate to the sink. ‘Mind if I go up?’

Ginny patted her arm. ‘Sweet dreams, Cora. We’ll try not to wake you later.’

They want to talk, I reckon, Cora said to herself, about the baby and that. Ginny doesn’t realize I’m sixteen years old, and know it all.

There was a light showing under Jimmy’s door, next to the guest bedroom. Cora couldn’t help herself: she tapped on the door. She didn’t expect an answer, certainly not the invitation: ‘Come in!’

Slowly, she turned the handle, ventured inside. Jimmy was sitting, still fully clothed, on top of the covers, hunched against the pillows piled on his bed.

‘I guessed it was you,’ he said. ‘Well, take a seat, and let me look at you.

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