Blue Smoke (37 page)

‘Oh, but you still can,’ Danny insisted after Daisy had been put to bed, having fallen asleep in her dinner. ‘All she’s done — well, this is according to
her
— is investigate venues and caterers and what have you. Oh, and she’s notified the designer who made my sister’s wedding dresses when they were married, but you don’t have to go there if you don’t want to.’

Bonnie was feeling rather bowled over. She had known, of course, that Danny came from an old and reasonably well-off Philadelphia family, but she hadn’t been at all prepared for this. The Hartmans were clearly rolling in it, and enjoyed a level of comfort and privilege that surpassed even that of her own family.

Cordelia Hartman, Danny’s mother, was a patrician-looking woman with a well-defined nose, lovely skin and dark hair that had a striking sweep of silver at one temple. She dressed impeccably, spoke with a cultured accent, and had very definite opinions about everything. Bonnie and Leila felt compelled to be on their best behaviour in front of her, but they managed quite admirably, and considered that their mother and Tamar would have been
very proud of them. Their father, on the other hand, would have laughed at their exaggerated manners and efforts to not put a foot wrong. Daisy, unfortunately, did not have the skills to maintain her own personal social decorum for long, and during breakfast the following morning yelled at Cordelia’s miniature dachshund to ‘Get in behind!’ when it wandered into the dining room looking for tidbits, while at the same time stuffing a piece of bacon into her pocket for Ginny. Barnard Hartman, a jovial, friendly man considerably older than his wife, roared with laughter — he’d fallen in love with Daisy the moment he’d met her, and Bonnie suspected he rather wished she was his grand child. She could see that there would be pressure before long for her and Danny to start a family.

Danny had tentatively selected a wedding date at the end of July — mainly, Bonnie guessed, to shut his mother up — and Bonnie had agreed. In fact, she would have married Danny tomorrow, but it was clear that nothing less than a big, swish society wedding would satisfy Cordelia, and that sort of event took time to arrange. And then there was the matter of their own home. Danny had purchased (with the help of his parents) a very nice house in the same neighbourhood — but thankfully, Bonnie thought, not too close. It was sitting empty at the moment, except for great heaps of wallpaper, paint and fabric samples, which he hoped Bonnie would have a look at as soon as she felt rested and settled. He would leave it all up to her. While he was poring over books about rare and revolting diseases, and techniques for setting recalcitrant bones, he could rest happy in the knowledge that their new house would be a lovely, welcoming home.

Bonnie was delighted, as she’d always wanted to have a go at interior decorating, but she felt a little guilty at having landed so squarely on her feet when poor Leila hadn’t even seen Jake yet, and was so clearly dying to. So she’d brushed everything else aside,
even Cordelia’s offer to go shopping for fabric for her wedding gown, and made a point of spending as much time with her sister and niece as she could. They went sightseeing, had a good look at downtown Philadelphia and sent postcards to everyone in New Zealand they could think of. Leila bought Daisy two pairs of the cutest little denim dungarees to wear on Jake’s farm, and herself a cowboy hat to keep the sun off her face in case she went riding. She also sent a telegram to Jake to let him know when the train would be arriving.

There had been more tears and hugs as she and Daisy boarded the train, and promises that they would most definitely be back for Bonnie and Danny’s wedding in three months’ Time. But now, as she sat back and watched the city streets turn into suburban roads and then fields, she thought about what Danny had said when he’d taken her aside last night after dinner.

They’d sat down on a bench on the wide stone balcony overlooking the garden, and he’d given her a glass of cognac and lit a cigarette for her.

‘What I said on the day you and Bonnie arrived about Jake being a good man, well, I meant that.’

‘Yes?’ Leila wasn’t quite sure what Danny was getting at.

‘I really did, but, well …’ He ran his fingers through his hair hesitantly, as if he didn’t know how to phrase his next words.

‘What? What are you trying to say?’ Leila demanded, feeling a stab of panic.

‘Don’t worry, it isn’t anything really. It’s just that, well, it was rough on Okinawa, and it sort of affected Jake.’

‘What do you mean? He hasn’t got shell shock, has he?’

‘No, nothing like that, but he was very quiet afterwards though. And he hit the bottle for a while. Mind you, we all did that.’

‘He didn’t go with … well, you know what I mean.’ Leila wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the answer to this.

‘Other women? Hell, no. He talked about you and Daisy all the time. No, it’s more like he lost a bit of his spirit, but I’m sure he’ll be back to normal by now because it’s been almost a year. I just wanted to say that if he seems a little subdued and not like he was when we were in New Zealand, well, that’s probably why. That’s all, nothing serious.’

Leila exhaled in relief. Without being conscious of it she’d been steeling herself against hearing news a lot worse than that. Almost cheerfully, she said, ‘Well, thanks for telling me, Danny. I’m sure he’ll have come right by now, and if not, well, Daisy and I will just have to see what we can do about it, won’t we?’

‘That’s what I thought.’ Danny raised his glass. ‘So here’s to you and Jake, best of luck and may you prosper. And tell him I fully expect him to see him with you and Daisy at the wedding, okay?’

So it hadn’t been bad news, not really. Just something she might have to watch out for.

Daisy fell asleep almost as soon as the train left Philadelphia, and Leila drifted off half an hour later. When she woke it was almost lunchtime and they were both hungry, so they made their way to the dining car. If they had boarded the train from Manhattan they would have had the company of the girls from the
Robert E. Lee
, including Marjorie, who were travelling across country, but now it was just the two of them. The train stopped at regular intervals to let people on and off, and the other passengers in their compartment were friendly, and interested in where the young woman and her pretty daughter were from and where they were heading. Leila thought that was a good sign. And the scenery changed often, so there was always something to look at.

They spent the first night on the train stretched out on the seats, which wasn’t very comfortable, but it was better than having to sit up. When they woke early the next morning they were in Arkansas, according to the signs on the railway stations they went
through. They would be getting off at a city called Alva in Harper County, the nearest railhead to the settlement of Wyman, beyond which Jake lived.

She surreptitiously sniffed her armpit. A bath would be very nice, but all they’d managed was a quick wash in a tiny handbasin in the train’s toilet. At the next stop, she and Daisy dashed off and bought several news papers and a comic to occupy them as the hours and the miles rattled past. It had been exciting at first, heading off across America by train, but now it was merely boring, and all the sitting was very hard on a person’s bottom. Daisy was extremely fidgety, and had been up and down the length of the train many times already.

On the tenth excursion, she came back leading an elderly black man by the hand. Leila could see from his uniform that he worked on the train.

‘Mum, here’s Mr Brakeman,’ Daisy announced.

The man laughed, showing dazzling white teeth in what was probably the blackest face Leila had ever seen.

‘No, Missy, I
am
the brakeman, my name is Jackson T. Phelps.’

‘Oh. Any way,’ Daisy added, ‘he’s never met a lady from New Zealand before.’

Jackson Phelps offered his hand. ‘Pleased to meet you, Missus Daisy’s Mother.’

‘It’s Mrs Kelly, Leila Kelly. Hello, Mr Phelps, I’m very pleased to meet you.’

‘We’ve never met a black man either, have we, Mum?’ Daisy said.

‘Daisy, manners!’

‘But we haven’t!’

‘It’s all right, Missus Kelly, she’s just a child. And ain’t it probably true, with y’all coming from New Zealand?’

‘Well, plenty of people from New Zealand are dark-skinned, but I have to be honest, Mr Phelps, hardly any are as dark as you
are, if you don’t mind me saying so. I think it’s a bit of a novelty for Daisy, so please don’t be offended.’

‘It definitely ain’t no novelty for me, Missus, but no, I ain’t offended, not in the least. In fact I was just sitting on my little stool wondering what to do next when your Daisy appeared in the engine. As we don’t allow no children up in the engine, we thought we’d walk back together. Ain’t that right, Miss Daisy?’

‘Yep, it sure is,’ Daisy replied, having picked up some of the American vernacular already. ‘We’re going to live with my dad in a big house on a big farm, aren’t we, Mum?’

‘War bride?’ Jackson Phelps asked interestedly. ‘Seen a few of those over the last twelve months or so. Quite a few from New Zealand, too. So, where you heading?’

‘Someplace near Wyman. My husband has some land there. He’s meeting us at the railway station tonight.’

‘Is that right? Well, there’s plenty of land out that way, sure enough.’ He took his cap off and scratched the grey stubble on the back of his head. ‘But what I come to ask you was, your Daisy seems mighty bored and my old momma always said idle hands do the Devil’s work, so would you have any objection to me teaching her a few card games? Nothing like poker, just some simple tricks I teach my grandchildren when I’m at home, to give her something to do. I got nothing to do myself ’til we hit the next station.’

‘Whereabouts?’ Leila asked cautiously.

‘Right here, if that’s all right with you, Missus. I ain’t supposed to fraternise with the passengers, but who the hell’s going to see?’

Daisy giggled. ‘Jackson swore, Mum.’

Jackson made exaggerated spitting noises. ‘So I did. Wash ma mouth out with soap!’

Leila giggled herself this time. ‘Well, I suppose so. Just say when you’ve had enough, though. Daisy’s been known to wear down the most patient of people.’

‘Not me, Missus,’ Jackson chuckled. ‘You ain’t met my grandchildren.’

They played cards for two hours without a break, giving Leila the opportunity to doze, then go for a walk up and down the train herself. Outside the scenery was changing yet again. It was starting to look very dry and dusty, and flat for almost as far as the eye could see.

Then it was lunchtime, and Jackson had to go back to work. The afternoon passed just as slowly, although Jackson came back for an hour. Leila asked him about the history of the area, and he told her a rather depressing story about the dust storms that had come during the 1930s and destroyed almost all the crops and forced the landowners and workers to pack up everything they owned and drive away forever. But there were still people working the land, he said, and the federal government was starting to set up programmes to get the fields and the soil back to a state where crops could be grown again, although it was a slow and very expensive business. It was a fascinating and heartbreaking story, and Leila never once connected any of it to where she and Daisy were going to live.

At 10.30 that night, Jackson came through the car to let them know that they were about ten miles outside of Alva. Daisy bounced up and down on her seat excitedly, and Leila got to her feet and set about gathering their things.

Soon, the rhythm of the train changed and began to slow, and the occasional house flashed past in the semi-darkness of the night. It seemed that Alva wasn’t really a city at all, perhaps not even as big as Napier, but by then nothing could dampen their excitement. As the train came to a slow and noisy stop, Leila and Daisy waited at the end of the car to step down onto the station platform.

From the engine, Jackson watched as the woman and the little girl got off, and smiled to himself as a tall man appeared out of
the shadows and stood with his arms spread wide in greeting.

There were no passengers or freight to pick up, so the train pulled out almost immediately.

The engine driver followed his brakeman’s gaze. ‘Where they headed?’

Jackson’s smile disappeared. ‘Wyman.’

‘Oh my Lord.’

Jake helped Leila and Daisy up into the cab of his rickety old truck. He couldn’t stop smiling, and Leila was far more relieved than she wanted to admit to see that he looked exactly as he had in New Zealand, except of course that now he was wearing overalls and an old work shirt, instead of his smart Marine uniform. He’d clearly been in the middle of working when he’d set off to collect them.

Daisy, who had suddenly become uncharacteristically shy the minute her father said hello and picked her up for a big hug, had fallen asleep.

Unexpectedly, Leila felt shy and tongue-tied herself, and almost as if she were sitting in the truck with a stranger. And she was, really; it had been almost four years since she had last seen Jake. She’d looked forward so much to this meeting, and now that it had arrived she didn’t know what to say.

They drove in silence for a while, then he asked her how she was and how things had been since he’d last seen her. So she told him, and then he talked about what he’d done since leaving Auckland, but not about the bit on Okinawa, and how it had been for him coming back home and being demobbed. And she talked about her family, and how most of her cousins were home from the war now, and what they all planned to do now that it was over. And all the while she watched miles and miles of identical, flat fields sweep past in the dark, while snatching glances at Jake when she
thought he wasn’t looking. But he always was, and now and then she thought she caught a hint of sadness in his eyes, as if he were seeing something she couldn’t even begin to imagine.

They talked about Daisy, who was slumped against Leila and snoring her head off, Ginny at her feet. Leila spoke of what she wanted for their daughter, and Jake said nothing, just nodding as she talked.