In The Name Of Love (20 page)

Joyce looked at him, her face white and strained. She saw
him beckon with his hand and then she saw a middle aged man with gray hair
shuffle into the room, with his eyes firmly on the ground ahead of him. He was
clutching something in his hand.

Joyce stood up and moved closer so she was just a few feet
from him. She tried to see his features, but the man held his face low. From
his stature and demeanour, it did not appear to be Arnold, but a look at his
face would soon tell her.

She heard a sniffing sound, and realised the man was
sniffing deeply, as if trying to smell something.

She saw the man staring at her feet and slowly he lifted his
head so he could see her legs, waist, and body. When his head came up to look
at her face, she held her breath. This looked so much like her Arnold, but
there was so much pain on his face, it was hard to tell.

The man breathed in deeply, then tried to speak.

"Arr..mmm…kud."

He stopped for a moment, looked into her eyes, and then
said, "Joy..Joyce?"

She could hold back no longer and stepped forward to wrap
her arms around him.

"Oh Arnold, what have they done to you, my dear?"

Tears were flowing freely from each person in the room.

Arnold raised his hand and gave the tattered photo to Joyce
and said, "The Germans shot you, but I never forgot your face."

She took her copy of the photograph from her handbag and
gave it to him. She said, "I never forgot you, Arnold, and now you can always
remember me…"

Arnold had a lot of memories lost or damaged, but with careful
nursing from Joyce most of the important ones returned. They spent hours
together in her private sitting room, looking through old photographs and
remembering the happy times.

They had an unspoken agreement that neither would ask the
other about the missing years they'd lost, but would concentrate on their years
ahead. The house in Stockport was sold, and they went to live in Peacehaven,
spending the mornings at home and the afternoons walking along the beaches, and
shopping in the town.

April and Cyril managed to marry exactly two days before
their son was born. Joyce and Arnold were godparents at George's christening,
and promised him many summer holidays with them in Peacehaven.

Worthington Insurance Brokerage became very successful, and
was soon the leading business of its type in Stockport. Their new offices were
fantastic, and although they had a room she could use as a crèche, April did
not go there too often – after all, she was busy growing a sister for George!

Edna mourned the loss of her lover, when she read about him
and Beryl in the Sunday scandal sheets. She found solace in the arms of the
widower next door, who'd been wooing her for five years. They married and
knocked the two homes together and ran a small bed and breakfast business for tourists.
It didn't make a lot of money, but they were tremendously happy together and
when April and George came over for visits, they were treated like royalty.

Beryl insisted on marrying Grant, once his divorce papers
came through. They bought a small restaurant on the Corso in Manly, on the
North Shores of Sydney. Once the last diners had gone home, they cleaned up for
morning and went upstairs to bed.

In the restaurant, the diners all knew who was boss, and
used to smile at the way she ordered her husband around. The Australian wives
frequently looked over at their chauvinistic husband's and wished they could do
the same, but knew all it would get them was a black eye, or even a broken rib
or two.

In the bedroom, Beryl really came into her own and out came
the collection of sex-toys she'd purchased from a room behind a seedy little
shop in Paddington, and for the next hour or two she put Grant through his
paces.

In room 405 of the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, two guests who'd
arrived only that day on holiday were dressing for dinner.

"Do you think they'll be surprised to see us?" said Jack
Morgan, cigarette dangling from his mouth as he spoke.

"Well, if we're not a surprise, I'm pretty sure these
photographs will be," said Raymond Agnew, spreading the large 10" by 8" black
and white photos of Beryl and Grant in the most compromising sexual activities.

"How much do you reckon they'll pay?"

"I don't know, but I suggest we agree a price on the photos
and negatives first, and when we've got that in our hot little hands, we can
show them the movie!"

"I love it," said Jack, lighting yet another cigarette, "I
love it. And if they give us any trouble we'll visit the Sydney Newspapers,
they'll publish anything with a bit of scandal attached to it…