“Lorna, you are so unreliable,” preached Mrs. Urquhart, the minister’s wife, as she tied the ribbons of her starched white apron and proudly brushed some imagined fluff from the Red Cross insignia on the front.
Lorna could feel the other girls and the older village women watching her as they paused in their work filling the care packages in the church hall. It was Wednesday afternoon, and all the women in the village were at the weekly Red Cross meeting.
“I can’t believe you left your scarves at home. And now there’s no time to run back and get them,” Mrs. Urquhart said. “So how many of our fine boys at the front will be left freezing cold because their care parcels are short of knitwear, I wonder?”
Lorna assumed the question was rhetorical, simply part of the telling off, so she didn’t reply.
“Answer my question, please. How many scarves did you leave at home, Lorna?” Apparently not rhetorical. “You certainly were given enough wool last week for three or four.”
“Em … just the one this week,” replied Lorna.
“One?” Mrs. Urquhart sounded scandalized.
“Well, with the lambing, and school …”
Lorna wished she could stand up straight under the older woman’s scrutiny, but really she wanted the ground to swallow her up. Why did Mrs. Urquhart have to do this in front of everyone?
“Please don’t worry, Mrs. Urquhart,” Iris interrupted, stepping forward with a pile of scarves. “I knitted six this week, so Lorna can share mine.”
Lorna knew Iris was trying to help, in her own way, but did she not understand that by showing off for Mrs. Urquhart, she was just making things worse?
Mrs. Urquhart gave another dramatic sigh and laid a bony hand on Iris’s arm.
“At least you won’t be letting down those poor frozen soldiers, Iris dear.”
Mrs. Urquhart seemed cheered enough to stop lecturing Lorna as she began inspecting Iris’s scarves appreciatively. They were lovely, each one intricately patterned and tassled, as beautiful as every piece of knitting or sewing Iris produced.
“Oh, how clever you are,” Mrs. Urquhart gushed, “and how thoughtful and caring. Thank you. You’ll make someone a lovely wife one of these days.”
Mrs. Urquhart gave a tight nasal laugh, and to Lorna’s annoyance, Iris joined in.
“Now, everyone”—Mrs. Urquhart clapped her hands as she addressed the whole group—“Mr. John will be here any moment in his van, so can we get these boxes packed up and sealed? Immediately, please, so we still have time to practice our elbow bandages and slings.”
“I hate that woman so much,” whispered Lorna. “You’d think she was the bloody Queen of Aberlady, not just the minister’s wife.”
“I think you are being rather unfair,” said Iris, without bothering to whisper.
“Shhhhh!” hissed Lorna. “She’ll hear you.”
Iris laid down the scarves and faced Lorna.
“Mrs. Urquhart has a lot of responsibility in the village as the wife of the minister, what with the church flowers, the Sunday school, and leading the Red Cross and the Girl Guides. She needs our support, Lorna, not your sniping.”
Lorna rolled her eyes but said nothing more.
Iris put one scarf into each cardboard box on their table, tucking it carefully on top of the paperback novel, the packets of tea, the soap, and the Capstan cigarettes they had already packed inside.
“Anyway,” Iris said after a moment, “you knew we were packing parcels today, so why didn’t you bring your scarf? Did you even finish it?”
“Yes, I did finish it actually.” Lorna was indignant. “But I was in a rush to get out the door this morning and left it in my knitting bag, that was all.”
“Why were you late, anyway? You looked like you’d run all the way to school.”
“Oh, you know, just chores and whatnot.”
Lorna hoped Iris was busy enough not to notice the flush starting up her neck, because she could not possibly explain that morning’s distraction of watching Paul from the kitchen window.
To move Iris’s mind away from any further questions, Lorna asked one of her own.
“So do you and Prince Charming have more plans to go dancing with the delightful double act of Esther Bell and Craig Buchanan?” Lorna sniggered. “After all, the last outing was such a success.”
Iris had moaned for days about how awful the evening in Tranent had been, with Esther being bitchy about everyone at school, including Lorna, and expecting Iris to join in, and Craig being … well, being Craig, so full of himself, he was chatting up other girls, even though he was there with Esther. Lorna was still so relieved she hadn’t buckled under Iris’s pressure to go with them.
“Stop it, Lorna.” But Iris was giggling too. “You know I’d rather run through Aberlady naked on Easter Sunday than repeat that foursome. And it’s all I can do to stop William suggesting we do it again this weekend. He didn’t even notice there was anything wrong.”
Lorna tucked her hands together in front of her chest and did her best impression of their teacher, Mrs. Murray.
“And what can one learn from this experience, young Iris?” Lorna paused as if considering. “Perhaps that Craig Buchanan is an unbearable cad, Esther Bell is a complete cow, and William Urquhart really isn’t worthy of your attention?”
Iris laughed as she slapped at Lorna’s arm.
“I told you to stop it! Seriously, you can say all you like about Esther and Craig, but you know you must be nice about my William.”
“That’s right, I’d forgotten that Saint William is off-limits now.”
“Lorna, stop it, please, I know you’re just jealous!”
Though Iris was still laughing, a tightness in her voice told Lorna that she wasn’t joking anymore, so Lorna backed off.
“That’s it exactly, dear friend,” Lorna said, allowing only a hint of sarcasm to creep in. “I’m jealous. Perhaps I need to find me a handsome, upright, and highly intelligent chap of my very own right now.”
Iris jabbed Lorna harder, with her fist this time.
“Enough! Grab the string, would you? We need to get these tied up.”
Lorna tossed Iris the ball of string, but before she closed the flaps on the nearest box, she let her fingers play in the soft wool of the scarf Iris had knitted so expertly. It would certainly keep some Allied soldier warm, whether he was at the front or in a prison camp. Perhaps it might bring him some comfort too, knowing it might have been knitted by a pretty girl back at home.
By the time the boxes were packed and sealed, and Lorna and Iris had practiced bandaging each other’s elbows several times, it was well after six. Lorna had to hurry home to get the tea served up.
She was late getting Paul his evening meal, but he didn’t seem to notice. When she opened the lambing shed door, he was sitting in his usual place against the wall. This time it was not a lamb in his hands, but a newspaper. He’d folded it in half and then in half again so it was