The House by the Fjord (17 page)

‘I should like that,' she said, nodding approvingly. ‘One would never feel lonely at that time of year.'

He thought it an odd remark to make about a waterfall, but he was glad that he had aroused her interest. ‘Don't forget that once I offered to take you to see the house. That offer still stands.'

‘Thank you, Alex. I have not forgotten. More coffee?'

He refused, glancing at his watch. ‘I must find my way to the Svensens' house. It was good of them to offer me accommodation.'

Anna was glad that he had accepted without question that he would not be staying with her. After her experience with Karl, she wanted to keep sex out of her life for the foreseeable future. She gave Alex directions, and his headlights went sweeping away down the lane. Then she went to take out her green silk dress and put it ready.

Alex came on time to collect her. They arrived at the mess hall to find it transformed by sunshine colours in the garlands around the walls, which were echoed in the decorations and lighted candles on the buffet supper table. There was some skilful draping of orange net that one of the Norwegian wives had discovered in her grandmother's attic during the Christmas holiday. Two of the husbands had made palm trees out of plywood with paper leaves, and these, set against the walls, were very effective. Already the band had started to play as people were arriving early, and very soon talk and laughter and South American music filled the air.

Sally wore one of the two dresses that had caused all the trouble. It was black silk and elegantly cut, suiting her slim figure, with narrow pleats swirling out at knee level and the neckline cut low, revealing her beautiful cleavage. She looked sensational. Anna noticed that Jacques, who was presiding over the buffet table, followed Sally with his gaze whenever it was possible.

During the dancing, a couple of British wartime dances were included, everybody lining up merrily for the Palais Glide and the Lambeth Walk, but mostly the band kept to the theme of the evening. Sally, seductively dancing a tango with one of the younger officers, caused other dancers to drift from the floor and stand to watch and applaud. Anna had the impression that Sally's uninhibited display was as much to torment Jacques as it was to please others watching her.

Eventually, it was the last dance of the evening and the band surprised all the British brides by playing ‘Goodnight, sweetheart', which had closed countless dances in Britain during the war. As Alex held Anna close to him, he said how well he remembered the song.

‘So you had time to go dancing in England,' she said lightly.

He smiled, looking down into her eyes. ‘Yes. Sometimes.'

‘I wonder if our paths ever crossed without us being aware of it.'

‘I doubt it. I would have known.'

She was unsure of the significance of his words, but there was the realization that his presence had been a pleasure to her ever since he had been compassionate in his understanding after the shock she had experienced on seeing the concentration camp. She said no more and gave herself up to the sheer enjoyment of dancing with him to such a nostalgic tune.

Soon afterwards they were parting company in the porch of her present home.

‘I'll have to make an early start back to Molde in the morning,' he said, holding her lightly by the arms. ‘So I'll not see you again this time, but it's not long until the Spring. I can be patient when I need to be.'

She knew now that he was not just referring to the time until her return to the west coast, but she did not acknowledge it in any way. Yet when he drew her to him, she thought how pleasurable it was to have a man's passionate mouth on hers and, losing all inhibitions, she responded almost with a kind of joy. As they drew apart, they smiled at each other, aware that their relationship had taken a new turn. She waved to him as he left her, but as she entered the house she shook her head regretfully, for the kiss he had given her was one very close to loving. She did not want him to waste his time waiting for her.

At the first coffee gathering of the British brides after the party, the talk was centred almost entirely on its success. Sally was radiant, having whispered to Anna that her delayed allowance had come through together with the one presently due.

‘Have you settled what is owed to Jacques?' Anna asked at once.

‘Not yet. He knows that I'm getting cash in Oslo tomorrow. I don't want Arvid to see by chance that the money has come from my personal account instead of the one for the party funds.' Sally glanced about to make sure no one was listening. ‘I had thought of asking you to hand the money over to Jacques, but I think I have to do it. He does deserve a word of thanks.'

‘Let me do it,' Anna said firmly. ‘I'll thank him on behalf of all the wives – Norwegian and British.'

Sally shook her head determinedly. ‘No, it's only right that I should be the one.'

‘Then deliver the money to him next Sunday at the family luncheon in the mess and thank him publicly for giving up his time to prepare that delicious buffet supper. Nobody will know that the money is not from the lost party funds.'

‘Yes,' Sally answered vaguely. ‘I could do that.'

Anna hoped that Sally would keep her word. Yet when Sunday came, there was no vote of thanks from Sally, but after the luncheon was finished her husband, a tall, straight-backed and serious-looking man, stood up as Jacques was summoned from the kitchen.

‘On behalf of all of us who were at the party,' Arvid began, ‘I want to thank you, Jacques, for everything you did to help the ladies give us such a memorable evening. I understand that we are no longer in your debt financially, but we are certainly still indebted to you for being responsible for much of the pleasure of the evening.
Vive la France!
'

Everybody clapped so heartily that one of the babies woke and began to cry. Jacques acknowledged the applause, bowing and spreading his hands as he encompassed everybody in his smile. Anna looked across at Sally, wondering how she could have let her unsuspecting husband make the speech. But Sally deliberately avoided her eyes, which at least suggested she was feeling some shame about it, although that would be an entirely new experience for her. Anna hoped that Sally would never again commit such a folly.

For a while it seemed to Anna that all was well and everything had drifted back to normal. She had not opened Ingrid Harvik's journal since the day that Sally had burst in on her. She knew it was foolish to associate the book with a hysterical woman's intrusion, but in the aftermath the feeling remained and grew steadily stronger until she began to wonder if Ingrid did not want a stranger to read her words.

One afternoon, when Anna was playing a light-hearted game of cards with Molly, Jane and Wendy, the conversation turned during a break for tea to the topic of serious bridge playing, for Jane was known to be an experienced player. Molly looked at her appraisingly.

‘I don't know how you can endure playing this silly whist-type game with us. Not when you are such an expert bridge player.'

Jane laughed. ‘This is just a fun afternoon and I enjoy it, but I do take playing bridge seriously. That's why I joined the Norwegian wives' bridge club when they invited any of us war brides to become members. They are all excellent players and there's no laughter there until the game is finished.'

‘It's quite a distance to come home from there.'

‘It doesn't take long if I cut across the airfield on my
spark
, but I've been reprimanded twice for being seen on the runway. Sally was with me the second time and so I expect she got a second ticking off from Arvid if he had heard about it.'

‘Has Sally become a member?' Anna asked in surprise.

‘No. I overtook her just after I had left my Norwegian bridge friends. She was on her way home too.'

Molly, ever curious, raised her eyebrows. ‘Wherever had she been right over there?'

‘She said something about calling in on a Norwegian friend.'

Anna was seized by a terrible suspicion. Jacques's lodgings were in that region. Surely Sally had learned her lesson and was not playing with fire again. Then, a few days later and from a far distance, she saw Sally standing in close conversation with Jacques. Neither of them saw her. Afterwards she hoped it had only been a chance encounter, but not long afterwards Rosemary commented on seeing them walking together near the mess.

‘She was laughing and seemed in no hurry to walk away,' she said to Helen, Anna and Pat when the four of them were playing cards again, ‘and yet I thought she was supposed to dislike him so much.'

‘She probably still does,' Helen answered, ‘but she can't be rude to him when he did that wonderful buffet at the party.'

‘Then that must have changed her attitude towards him.'

Anna made no comment, but she despaired that Sally seemed to have become careless of being seen with the Frenchman. There was no one with whom she could discuss her concern, but she was now having a regular correspondence with Alex and was able to disclose to him her worry about Sally's foolhardiness, for he had met her at the party. She also exchanged letters with Gudrun, who kept her informed of Steffan's state of health and gave her news of happenings in Molde.

Winter began to ease its grip and there were snowdrops in Fru Dahl's garden where the snow had receded. Soon the little white windflowers, which Alex had told her about, began to spread their carpet throughout the forest. Anna was glad that she was able to see this lovely sight and began to think of a trip to the west coast to see the waterfall by the old house, which she thought of now as Ingrid's home.

Then at one of the war brides' gatherings Sally made a startling announcement. She was very white-faced, her eyes stark, and there was a hint of defiance in her voice as her words came in a rush.

‘I'm going back to Canada, taking Tom with me. Arvid is going to leave the RNAF as soon as he is able and will join me there.'

A stunned silence followed. There had been rumours that Sally and Arvid were having problems in their marriage, but nobody had supposed that it would come to this state of affairs. Anna sat silent and at a loss for words. It was what she had feared. Then Jane spoke in a joking voice to ease the sadness and dismay that they all felt.

‘Those Olympic medals that Tom is going to win will be for Canada now instead of Norway.'

Sally gave a tight smile. ‘Yes, you're right.'

Rosemary spoke up in concern. ‘But what will Arvid
do
in Canada?'

‘My father will find him a good position in his company,' Sally answered.

‘But will he care for that? Stuck in an office all day? He's like my Henrik and loves flying.'

Sally shrugged. ‘Commercial airlines are starting to get underway. He could fly for one of those perhaps.'

‘It would not be the same,' Pat insisted, wanting to have her say. ‘The Squadron and the RNAF itself are part of his life.'

‘Then he will have to adapt, won't he?' Sally answered coldly, no compassion in her voice.

‘How do you feel about going home?' Rosemary wanted to know.

‘I know my parents will be overjoyed. They have never seen Tom and they will love him. As for myself, I'll be glad to have life easier. At home we have very cold weather too, but I'll have my own car, which my Pa has promised me. There'll be no more waiting in freezing weather for a lift in a milk truck or standing in line with a ration book. Best of all, we'll have a house with everything we need.' Then her voice softened slightly. ‘But I'll miss every one of you.'

All except Anna rose to their feet and gathered around her with reassuring words that she would be missed by them and that they could write and keep in touch. Then they parted to let Anna through to her. Sally looked at her in appeal.

‘Don't be angry with me for going home, Anna. I have tried to do what's right, but this is the only way.'

None of the others knew what lay behind her words, but Anna understood. Unless Sally was half the world away from Jacques, her marriage, already in tatters, would not survive.

‘I wish you all the best,' Anna said. ‘At least Arvid knows and likes Canada from the time he spent training there, but he'll miss Norway and – as Pat said to me once – Norwegians are like homing pigeons, not just for Christmas as she mentioned, but for their beloved mountains and fjords. When Bjornstein, their greatest poet, died in France his last words were “I turn my face to Norway”.'

For a matter of seconds there was an awed silence. Then Pat said, ‘You're a marvel, Anna. I sometimes think that you, who were the last of us to come, know more about this country and its history than any of us.'

Anna smiled. ‘After I met Johan I read everything about Norway that the local library could get for me, including a book of Bjornstein's translated poems and a wartime collection of Nordahl Grieg's too.' She had even read her way through all the sagas, but that she kept to herself, not wanting them to feel even more neglectful of their new heritage.

Everybody wanted to give Sally a farewell party, while knowing instinctively that Arvid would prefer not to be included. Yet he came to every one of them, nothing in his face or manner to show that the departure of his son and his selfish wife was tearing him apart. Anna was sure that gossip about Sally and Jacques had reached his ears, or else he would have opposed her leaving and tried to sort out their marital problems here in Norway.

‘Yes, I liked Canada very much when I was there,' he said to a query from Jane at the final party before Sally's departure. ‘It's a beautiful country, and I found people to be very kind and generous to those of us in uniform. Yet,' he added wisely, ‘I'm well aware that these are different times now. It will be starting a new life completely.'