CHAPTER VIII

REVEALATIONS

When they were alone in the cottage kitchen Titty and Nancy faced each other across the table. Titty, had she'd been pushed to reveal her true feelings at that moment, was angry, and though she and Nancy had clashed on a number of occasions through the years she was far too fond of her to give way to such thoughts as they all often did with each other. She was concerned, not having contact with Nancy, and nobody else having so either, she had worried and now to find her seemingly in no danger or trouble at all was difficult to deal with. Nancy realised this, she knew she had been what she would call a 'galoot' and no doubt when she next spoke with Peggy that is what she would call her. But it was difficult, and even more difficult to explain.

She broke the silence.

"Titty, I am sorry, I never wanted to upset anyone or cause trouble, but sometimes you have to do things for the best of reasons."

"But what reasons?"

"I can't say at the moment, but you have to trust me they were, and I needed to protect Daisy. Do you understand how much she means to me?" This, Titty thought, was a rather silly question and Nancy knew it the moment she said it. Only it was Nancy talking Titty thought before she spoke.

"Of course I do, I told Peggy all those years ago in Wales I knew there was something about you the others couldn't see and I knew when you first met Daisy the two of you were connected in some way, it just took everyone else so long to catch up!"

This changed the atmosphere between them, Nancy had long ago realised they all supported her and Daisy, even Roger despite his jokes, but Titty was the most understanding. "But you still worried us, you didn't even tell us you had moved. Did you tell Captain Flint?" Nancy looked sheepish.

"No, well yes, I told him we would probably have to leave the croft at some point, but not where and when."

"But what about your mother?"

"No, she worries so much and now her health is not great Uncle Jim thought it better I didn't."

"Yes, I can understand that, it would be the same with mother. Does Uncle Jim see much of her?"

"I think they do quite often, he's still disappointed." Titty had always thought that though a strong friendship between Captain Flint and her mother was always there, marriage would never happen as he had hoped.

"She loved father so much nobody could replace him."

"I know, nobody could Daisy for me." Titty realised that for Nancy this was quite an admission. She also realised that Nancy was not ready to say more about her move from Scotland to the Backwaters and there was little point in trying to press her further.

Titty decided it was best to let the subject drop, when the time was right and there was more to tell Nancy she was sure would do so.

"What I can't believe is that the two of you have ended up living here!"

"It was a surprise for us, especially for Daisy, she had no idea who the cottage belonged to or that they were relatives of hers!"

"Are you going to change anything?"

"No! We can't afford to and we'd probably not be allowed. We'll just make the garden a bit bigger I suspect, then we can grow more vegetables. Do you want more tea?" Titty was impressed at the offer, she couldn't think of a time when she had seen Nancy do something in a kitchen she hadn't been asked to.

"Please." Nancy set too refilling the kettle and rinsing out the teapot.

"Titty," Nancy paused, "can I ask you something?"

"Of course." Though she agreed she did wondered for a moment what it might be.

"You and Dick, are you…" Her question drifted in to silence.

"Are we a couple?" Titty thought it was time to tell anyone who asked about it the truth, even though she had not really talked with Dick about what they were to say to anyone. Nancy would be a good person to start with given the trouble she had about telling them all of her relationship with Daisy. "I think we are, when we went to the Albion to get rooms for the night it just seemed right to share one and a bed, it did for Dick too, we didn't discuss it we just did it. You know I've got 'history' and of course Dot had told him, but he's not bothered, he's not interested in what people do together as long as nobody gets hurt."

As Nancy made a new pot of tea she nodded.

"He's a good man, what Daisy said is true, in some ways he has always meant more to me than John, sorry to have to say that about your brother."

"That's alright, I know what you mean, I'm closer to Dot than I am Susan or Bridget in some ways. Since John married Peggy it seems much easier between the three of you."

"Yes, during all those years up to the war you all thought I'd marry him."

"I never did, it was so obvious to me, what wasn't obvious was Dick, it's taken me all this time to realise." Nancy put a fresh mug of tea on the table in front of her. "Thanks, so yes we are a couple, but what that means and what we are going to do about it I don't know. We've only just found each other, was it like that for you?"

"No! As you realised we both knew when we met, but who could we tell, we were quite young; turns out both of us had already realised we were attracted to women but had no idea what we could do about it. We wrote to each other every week, in the beginning they must have been such boring letters, you know I'm not that good at letters, so it was years before either of us actually started to drop hints and then wait and see what the other replied. But you and Dick, your best friend's brother, a bit obvious in some ways!"

This was true, but it was good for Titty to hear Nancy admit that she knew Dot was special to her, all the years they had been friends it seemed wrong for any of them to have favourites.