A Wing and a Prayer by M. W. Arnold

Author:M. W. Arnold [Arnold, M W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 1940s; Family Saga; Friendship; Historical Fiction; Historical Romance; Intrigue; Mystery; Romance; War
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2020-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

The sound of laughter rang clear as a bell through the open window of Betty’s lounge.

“Could that be them?” Ruth asked the room in general, twitching the curtain aside as quickly as she could.

The unmistakable timbre of Doris’s voice shouting, “I never said you had two left feet!” at the top of her voice gave them their answer.

“I’ll go and put on the kettle and warm up some stew,” volunteered Mary.

“Achoo!” put in Penny. “Sorry. Wasn’t expecting that one,” she added, blowing her nose before settling back under a blanket on the sofa.

The sound of a key in the front door perked everyone’s ears up, and their eyes nearly went out on stalks when Doris and Walter tumbled through. One of Doris’s arms was draped around Walter’s waist, one of his around her shoulders, and both their faces were decidedly flushed. Upon closer inspection, Walter’s face was marked with kiss outlines that perfectly matched Doris’s shade of lipstick.

Mary came in behind them with a tray of cups and the teapot. “Excuse me,” she said, pushing gently past the two and placing it on the table in front of Penny. Upon seeing the state of the newcomers, she promptly flopped down onto the sofa, barely missing her friend’s feet. “Oh, my God! Well, I guess that explains the laughter.”

This prompted Doris and Walter to start laughing again, and Doris grabbed Walter’s face between her hands and planted a huge, wet kiss upon his face before pulling away and taking a seat.

At this point, Betty and Ruth gave up trying to keep straight faces, and before long the whole room seemed to radiate happiness. Eventually, everyone managed to settle, and Mary handed the two newcomers a cup each. “Still not as good as coffee,” Doris announced to no one’s particular surprise, scrunching up a little so Walter could perch on the edge of her seat.

“So we can assume the two of you are a couple now,” decided Betty, barely waiting for the two to exchange knowing looks and lean their foreheads together. “Would you care to tell us what happened in London? Did you have any luck?”

“I managed to persuade this beautiful lady to step out with me,” Walter said and managed to duck in time to avoid the cushion Penny threw at his head.

“I think we’d all surmised that,” Ruth told him, though as her lips were twitching at the edges, everyone knew she wasn’t really annoyed. Indeed, she reached across and patted his knee.

“What can I say?” Doris chipped in, replacing Ruth’s hand with her own. “We went dancing and he swept me off my feet, my badly bruised feet.”

“Hey!”

Doris pecked his cheek. “He can be very persuasive when he wants to be.”

“Aw,” issued from Betty’s lips, “now I don’t mean to toss water onto a fire, but we’ll celebrate this later. Can you tell us what happened? Did you meet your friend, Doris?”

Everyone could see that Doris had to tear her attention away from Walter before she was able to answer.

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