The Kirilov Star by Mary Nichols

Author:Mary Nichols [Mary Nichols]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780749040062
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2011-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

They were married in St Mary’s Church in Upstone six weeks later. It was an austerity wedding; few people were free to travel and many were in the forces and could not get leave. Robert was in uniform and Lydia wore Margaret’s wedding dress, which fitted her surprisingly well. They had flowers from the garden, but rationing meant catering was a problem. But somehow Margaret coped and even managed a small cake.

Edward, who was giving her away, had questioned her closely on her reasons for wanting to marry Robert. ‘He’s a good man,’ he had said. ‘None better. But are you sure you’re not marrying him out of gratitude? It wouldn’t be fair on him if you were.’

‘No, Papa. I really love him. Alex belongs in the past and that has become a kind of dream. It’s not real anymore. Today is real and Robert is real, and I must get on with a life that is real.’

‘So long as you are sure.’

‘I am sure.’

They had a short honeymoon in the Lake District and then it was back to their wartime jobs, long weeks apart, punctuated by leaves that were all too short and rarely coincided.

In 1943 the tide of war seemed to turn. The Russian army drove the Germans out of Stalingrad, the city which symbolised the Russian character in its determination not to surrender. It was a city in ruins where thousands upon thousands had died. And that was only the beginning. Russian troops were victorious all along the line and the Germans were retreating. The Battle of El Alamein had been the turning point in the West; Italy was invaded, surrendered and changed sides, and the Royal Air Force used bouncing bombs to destroy the Möhne and Eder dams in the Ruhr, causing massive flooding and destruction. In November Winston Churchill, President Roosevelt and Stalin met at Teheran to talk about the second front, something the Russians had long been lobbying for.

Lydia and Robert’s marriage was a calm and peaceful oasis in the midst of noise and confusion, death and destruction. They had no marital home, having decided to leave looking for a house until after the war. Whenever they could get a few hours off together, they spent it either in London at Balfour Place or at Upstone Hall. It was here that Bobby was born in May 1943, ten months after they were married. His birth had not been planned but he was welcomed all the same. He was nothing like Yuri to look at, being more like Robert, after whom he was named. Robert was at sea, but as soon as he docked, he managed a forty-eight hour pass and came home to see his month-old son. He was ecstatic and kept going into the nursery to look at him, a wide grin on his face.

Margaret and Edward were equally pleased. ‘Our first grandchild,’ Margaret said, walking about with him in her arms to shush his crying. She seemed to have forgotten that Lydia was not her flesh and blood.

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