Chapter Text
Jenny Alderson coasted her bicycle down the hill and into the town of Darrowby, her dog Scruff racing beside her. She knew that if she got there in a few minutes she’d be right on time.
It was at first hard for Jenny to explain to herself why she was feeling this way. She never had before. It was a tingling feeling inside when she thought she might see him again. Her heart rate rose when she thought she might speak to him again. And in her dreams she imagined what it would be like to kiss him and she got light headed. Jenny knew she had it bad. She was in love.
Jenny talked with Doris about falling in love. And while Doris was able to explain a lot, Jenny longed for opening up to her sister who had not only fallen in love but enjoyed a good marriage as the outcome of it.
It was hard to open up to anyone about her feelings and all the details about him that she had collected in her heart because things were complicated, to say the least. It was wartime, the whole world upside down. And Jenny was in love with a soldier. She saw firsthand the worry in her sister’s eyes when her husband went away to war, not knowing if he’d return. She saw the longing of Helen when James was there on leave but knowing he’d have to go away again so soon.
It wasn’t easy to be in love with someone off fighting in the war. But Jenny rationalized that her situation might be different. The man she loved lived here and wasn’t overseas.
Then there was the other matter of an age difference. It hadn’t bothered her any but wondered what he might think once she told him her true feelings. Surely he’d understand because he viewed her as the woman she had grown up to be. Helen saw how she had changed and matured; why not him?
The biggest problem in Jenny’s mind was that he didn’t know how she really felt about him. Neither did anyone else and she didn’t know how to breach that subject. She did know that she’d take one thing at a time and it would all fall into place. She’d make sure of it, because once she set her mind to something, she’d see to it that it would happen.
Jenny came rolling to a stop as she neared the bus stop. Her sister Helen and her brother-in-law James were standing by, with baby Jimmy in the pram. Jenny waved hello and got off her bike. Then she saw him get off the bus, uniform and all. Was it the uniform that originally started the spark of love inside of her? Or was it his good sense of humor? Maybe it was the way that he treated her as an adult, an equal. Whatever it was, there was that feeling again. Jenny’s hands felt clammy against the handlebars of her bike as she pushed it closer to her family.
“Hello Tristan!” she called out.
Tristan turned to Jenny and smiled. “Hello Jenny! What do I owe the pleasure of this welcoming community?” He bent down and gave Scruff a scratch behind the ears.
“I was just coming into town to drop off this parcel for Helen. She left it behind earlier,” Jenny replied. It wasn’t the full truth but it worked for the situation.
Helen took the parcel from Jenny. “I could have gotten it tomorrow, you needn’t have brought it all the way down. But thank you Love.” She gave Jenny a hug. “Since you’re here, why don’t you stop in for a brew?”
Jenny nodded. She looked over at Tristan and suddenly felt as if she couldn’t think of what else to say. So she stepped in place beside Helen, who was pushing the pram, and James and Tristan walked behind them.
All through tea Jenny couldn’t help but wonder why she never noticed Tristan in this way before. She hadn’t counted on her heart flip flopping the way that it did back in the church and it hadn’t stopped since at each thought of him. She wished she could be alone with him to talk it over, instead of listening to James’s description of their newest escapade with the devilish cat Georgina.
Soon enough it was time for Jenny to head home. After bidding her family goodbye, she glanced at Tristan who waved back at her. She raised her hand to wave goodbye in return and off she went, her heart giddy with the anticipation of seeing him again.