Norma Rogers Ch. 09

He blinked back the tears in his eyes as he looked at Jim and held out his hand. Jim took it and they shook hands, and it was just like a dam broke. All the parents lined up to shake Jim's hand. By the time he had met them all and heard what they had to say, the tears were running down his face. I have never seen or felt so much emotion since.

The King and Queen had long since left, but Henry and Glenda had stayed, along with our parents and Hank and Nancy. Jim's unit had stayed, and he went over to talk to them to wish them well while I talked with Nancy and Hank.

"Is it definitely another baby?" I asked Nancy.

She looked serious, "Yes, and from here we are going up to Nottingham to see my parents and let them know we are off to the States in three weeks."

"So soon?"

"Yes. With the baby coming, it is best to travel as soon as we can; Hank is going back to school as well."

I was surprised. "School?"

"Yes, another thing he didn't tell us was that, when he volunteered, he was in his final year of medical school, so he is going to repeat that year and then intern to be, of all things, a Pediatric Doctor."

I laughed, remembering the condition he was in when Nancy gave birth the first time.

"I'll miss you, Nancy. What will I do for a friend now?"

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be able to come back over once in a while, and you surely have many friends. You still have Jenny and Maisie right with you, and Charles and Penny are only a few hours away."

"Yes, but no one else has shared the experiences we have."

"It would have been much better to have just been friends without some of those experiences."

"At least we can write to each other. You know the address, and you had better write to me once you are settled."

We hugged one last time, and then Glenda came over and hugged me as well. "Take good care of that man of yours. He is healing even better than I thought he might. Between you and his mother, he really seems to be coming around. I think that this ceremony and meeting the families is the best catharsis that he could have had"

"Oh, Glenda, thank you for bringing him back to me. The nightmares and memories of being back in the jungle seem to be subsiding, and I think that the warmth and thanks he felt from the families today have had a tremendous impact on him."

"That is exactly what I hoped. I was really surprised how many came here."

"From what we heard, his men respected him so much that they wouldn't miss it for anything. I'm sure you noticed that some on parade were moving quite stiffly, still. The parents and wives really surprised us though when they thanked us. It was truly amazing in light of all they have been through and the lives they face without their loved ones."

"Well, I have high hopes for you two, and I'm sure that this won't be the last time we will see each other. Now we are going to take your friend Nancy away across the sea and make an American of her."

I laughed, "I wish you luck! In almost five years, I haven't even been able to make her into a Londoner."

She laughed, and bid her farewell. "Well, goodbye, Norma, it has been a pleasure to meet you, and I'm sure that Nancy will keep us in touch."

With that, the four of them left. Darn it, I was going to miss that girl after all we had been through together

As she was leaving, Doug Hathaway came over to Jim and me. He was accompanied by a tall willowy blonde girl. He looked at me, held out his hand and said, "You must be Norma. I have heard so much about you. You must be quite the paragon of virtue, or so this man of yours would have had us believe. I'd like to introduce my fiancée, Diane Roberts. She has had the patience to wait for me to get home, and we are going to marry in September. You two are going to be invited, so keep the second Saturday in September open. After the time we have been apart, neither of us wants to wait long.

Jim said that we would be pleased to attend, and then he asked, "Doug, how much did you have to do with organizing this?"

"Well, I was approached by a Mr. Smith of MI6; he asked if it were possible to arrange the parade. Really, all I had to do was contact the troop officers. They contacted their sergeants, who passed the information along. The men haven't been demobilized yet, so they still had their uniforms and weapons. They were all told it was strictly voluntary and they didn't have to take part, but they volunteered, to a man. It was a day for you and Norma. You taught your officers well, and that teaching reached the lowest ranks. Their respect for you has no bounds."

Jim thanked Doug, and then completely shocking me, he put his fingers to his mouth and gave a piercing whistle. The men dressed in khaki turned toward the sound. Jim stepped up on to a chair and shouted, "Gather round, please, men." They did so in a group around him, and he began to speak. "Men, or should I say friends, I'm very glad that this occasion to get together happened; otherwise, I was going to have to try to get in touch with you individually. We have been together as a unit for a long time, willingly doing a job that was important in an area that could only be called hostile at the least. In addition, when called upon, you all volunteered to go into enemy held territory to save the lives of men you had never met, but whom you regarded as allies. Together, we went through a great deal. What the future has in store, I can't even guess. Many of you will be going home to your families to resume the life that was so badly interrupted; others will be going on to other duties as they continue a career in the Army. Whether we meet again is left in the hands of fate. Before you all leave, I want to say that I have been proud and fortunate to be your commander, and I have never been more proud than I was today when all of you, sick and fit together, stood before your King. Thank you for being here, and thank you for being the best soldiers I have had the good fortune to meet. I salute all of you." He stood at attention, and saluted his men. I was crying as they all saluted him in return.

Doug turned to Diane and me. "See what I mean? The men love him and would do anything for him. That doesn't happen often to officers. Usually, if they get respect, that is about all they can hope for. I've never served under an officer like him, and if I can be half as good, I'll be happy."

A little later, Jim and I stood together. Most of his men had left after making arrangements to keep in contact, and Doug had volunteered to act as a quarterly newsletter editor. We were about to leave with our parents when Mr. Richards and Commander Philips came over. They congratulated us on the awards, and then Richards took an envelope from his pocket. "Norma, here are your demobilization papers. As of today, you are simply Mrs. Norma Rogers, wife of Major James Rogers. All you have to do is send in your identity card. You are welcome to keep the uniform as a souvenir, and I must thank you from a grateful country."

I Introduced Charles to Jim and told Jim that Charles had personally escorted the family home. Charles smiled at us and said, "Norma, it was a pleasure to act as escort for you, and I am inviting you, James and your children to Eastham Manor at any time convenient to you. Penny had a beautiful little girl, and we idolize her. Unfortunately, my father, the squire, passed away 3 months ago, so I will be resigning my commission and undertaking the duties he performed. It means living in the Manor, and Penny and I and our three children are rather rattling about the draughty old barn of a place. The butler and manservants were all called up for service, and the maids were made to take up munitions work, so they have never been replaced. We still have a cook and housekeeper, but any time I mention a Nanny, Penny gathers the children around her and bristles like a mother bear, so I don't dare mention it any more. I'm afraid that, rather than Squire Philips, I'm far more likely to be addressed as Farmer Philips, and I must admit I'm getting far more used to the controls of a tractor than those of a ship.

Jim then asked him, "Charles, are you off home tonight, or are you staying in town?"

"I'm staying at the Army and Navy Club, as I have to go to Admiralty House and formally resign my commission tomorrow."

"Well, if you would like to see how the other half lives, how about eating with us tonight? Then we can hit our local with an ex-Chief Petty Officer and his wife and any number of ex ratings and soldiers. We owe you a good night out! Our larder seems to be pretty much foods from the auld country or care packages from the States, but we do have a really good butcher friend."

Charles took us up on the invitation, and my luck must have been running well that day. Sid had a pork shoulder for me, as we hadn't used up all of our ration coupons, and after a good meal with Charles, Mhairi and John and mum and dad, we all went to the Dog and Duck. As we walked in, Ben, the landlord, who had obviously been told of the day's happenings, in his best 'Time, Gentlemen, Please' voice, called out 'here they come'. All those present stood and sang For He's A Jolly Good fellow, then raised their glasses in a toast to Jim and me. Then the party got started and went on until closing time. Almost everyone had to have a word with us, and Charles met a number of people as an equal that he normally wouldn't have.

Eventually we went home, where Mum and Dad and Mhairi and John left us to go to their hotel. Charles had left earlier, and finally Jim and I were alone. Jim went into the front room and lit a fire with our small supply of coal, while I went through to the kitchen and made tea. I took it through and found that Jim had moved the sofa in front of the fire. We sat there, drinking our tea and basking in the warmth. During the night, I had noticed that Jim was drinking sparingly, and here he was sitting staring into the flames.

I reached for his hand and asked, "Where are those thoughts taking you now?"

He turned to me and replied, "Strangely enough, nowhere at all. I was thinking of this afternoon, and out of all the people that we met, two really stick in my mind."

"I bet I know the ones; Harry and Gertie Ellis, right? They will just be getting the night train to Liverpool."

"Norma, you know me too well. I was just thinking of the sacrifice they made. Knowing the perils of war, yet sending their three sons to war. They had to know the possibility of losing three sons, and were so lucky that two survived. Yet there they were, so proud, Harry wearing his medals, in what to them were their best clothes, honoring their son and his comrades."

"Yes, it's because of people like the Ellises that we won the war, people you might say are the common man. Without their help, we would never have made it, and to me they were anything but common."

"Their son Billy was a true scouser, just irrepressible; no matter how serious the situation, he could always find something funny in it, and he defused many possibly explosive situations. I am one of many people who will always recall his humour and his refusal to let things get him down."

"I never met him, but I'm glad he was with you to ease the tension a little."

"I know that meeting his mother and father and the other parents and relatives really eased my thoughts and worries."

With that, Jim put his cup down, slid across the sofa and took me into his arms. He bent toward me, his mouth covering mine. My cup slipped from my fingers, the remnants of the tea spreading over the new linoleum and rug. I tried to pull away to clean it up, only for Jim to hold me tighter and say "Leave it; we'll clean up in the morning."

He then stood and pulled me up and in to him. "Norma, I feel different; I feel the waiting is over."

He totally surprised me by lifting me up and slinging me over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, taking me upstairs into our bedroom. Standing me back up beside the bed, he took me in his arms and kissed me, far more deeply than he had since he had come home, his tongue tasting the inside of my willing mouth. I decided I could take all that he offered, and was hoping desperately that it would all turn out well. Jim began unfastening my blouse, and I started unfastening his shirt. Pulling it from the waist of his pants, I slid it back over his shoulders, and as it dropped to the floor, I felt him unfasten my bra. I let the straps slide down my arms and then put my hands around his neck, pushing my breasts and erect nipples into his chest, kissing around his neck beneath the angle of his jaw.

His hands slid into the waistband of my skirt, pushing it down, and the waist of my panties went with it as his hands slid down my body. I pulled at his belt, finally opening it and sliding the still too large waistband of his pants down over his still painfully thin body. His undershorts slid down, exposing an erection that had not happened since he had returned home. He laid me down on the bed, saying, "Norma, I've missed you so much. It has been torture to lie beside you, wanting you so much, yet not being able to do anything."

I whispered, "Hush, my love; you are doing just fine now." He had been stroking the lips of my vagina, and his fingers began sliding inside and then out again. I was absolutely soaking wet with desire. He covered me, and I took hold of his erect penis and, opening myself up to him, I slid him into me. We made slow, passionate love, satisfying a hunger that had been growing for years, until we could hold back no longer, speeding our movements, him thrusting into me, and me thrusting up at him. I met his hurried lovemaking as we both reached our orgasms. He lay upon me in my arms till he slid out of me, then moved beside me, breathing as hard as if he had run a mile. I just held him in my arms as he relaxed and began to doze off. "Hey, you," I said, "Just like a typical man, get finished and then doze off whether the wife wants to sleep or not." He didn't say anything, but in answer he lifted his head, grinned at me and then began to kiss my body, slowly moving down over my breasts, button hard nipples and stomach. I tensed as his lips met my pubic hair, then the lips of my vagina; to me this had always seemed dirty, but this time I just relaxed and lay back, letting his lips and tongue thrill me as waves of ecstasy crashed over me. Eventually, I felt Jim's erection slide into me again, moving deeper and faster until we had both had orgasms again and were totally exhausted, drenched with sweat.

I couldn't help asking, "Where and when did you learn to make love like that?"

He grinned "Would you believe from that young barmaid at the Dog and Duck?"

I jerked upright with surprise, "What on earth have you been up to?"

He held me close, "I'm joking. Sure and I would hate to make you think badly of your mother in law, but she was pretty definite when she was talking to me that first night and most of the times she and I talked. She told me of other things I could do that would help, and it really had me wondering about all the noises that John and I grew up hearing. Mam and Dad could be pretty noisy at night, and I don't think she ever held back because of us. Anyway, she made no bones about it that there was more than one way for a man to show his love. Could you not see the red in my ears whenever we came back into the kitchen? I told her she should write a book on it."

I thought to myself, "Mhairi, thank you; I really owe you a lot."

Several days later, I took the train down to Barton Stacey with Jim and stayed in the village pub while he reported in. After he spent that night in camp, he came to the pub where I was staying for lunch. He told me that he had been offered the choice of staying in the Colours as a Captain and doing strictly administrative duties with a training unit, or transferring from the Colours to the Class A reserve as a Major. When I asked him what the reserve service would mean, he told me that he would be basically be working as a civilian, but for eight years he could potentially be called back in an emergency on 12 hours' notice. He was regarded as fit, but arrangements had been made for him to see a consultant in tropical diseases at the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham to see if there were any further problems. We talked it over and felt that Jim should take the transfer, so when he returned to camp, that is what he did.

The next day, with Jim decked out in a civilian suit, we were on the train back to London and Bromley, as Jim put it, to join the unemployed looking for work. For some reason, he was very exuberant about it. As he put it, there was going to be lots of work rebuilding, and he was impatient to try to find work in the building industry.

The next three years were emotional ups and downs for both of us. We wanted so much to have another child, yet no matter how hard we tried, nothing seemed to happen. Eventually both Jim and I saw a consultant. After some tests, the doctor sat us both down and told us, that while I had no problems, the illness that Jim had suffered had apparently adversely affected the amount of active sperm that he produced. The Doctor couldn't say whether this would improve or not. I thought to myself that probably explained why Bert and Jenny had not had any luck starting another baby even though they had been trying as well. It was good that we had the twins, and it was beginning to look as if that was the way life was going to stay.

Jim kept in touch with Dan in Canada, and he also kept in touch with the Rajah of Banar, whose life and family Jim's unit had saved, as well as some of the American airmen who had, as they called it, flown over the Hump, and of course the members of his unit. When India became independent and opened the Indian High Commission in London, the Rajah arranged for Jim and me to be invited to the opening and the dinner. After the dinner, there was a social evening with dancers and Indian performers. During the evening, a Mr. Banerjee approached us, handing Jim a letter that he said was from the Rajah. He opened the envelope, finding a short letter and a key. We read the letter together.

Dear Major Rogers.

My family and I are very grateful for and will never forget the kindness of yourself and your men in saving our lives when we were being pursued by the Japanese Army. Then when I tried to reward you, all that you would accept was the ring that you sent home to your wife. Many of your men were rewarded, but you would not take anything further. The enclosed key is the key to a box at the Bromley branch of the Midland Bank where you will find what I personally feel is a fitting reward for you and your family. Please take this gift in the spirit that it is offered, not seeking any advantage, but strictly between friends. Take it in friendship, as for you to do otherwise would hurt me a great deal. To me it is a small enough thank you for all that you did for us. The note was signed, Changar.

When we went back to Bromley, we paid a visit to the Midland Bank and produced the key to a clerk. We were escorted to a room with locked boxes, like little safes, on both sides. The clerk produced a key and put it in a lock and told Jim to put the other key in the second lock. When they both turned the keys, the door swung open and inside we found another metal box. The clerk took the box out and put it on a small table. Then he told us he would be just outside the door when we were finished. To end the mystery, we opened the box and we found a small sealed packet inside and a letter. Jim got the letter out first and read it.

Dear James,

Please don't be offended by this small gift. By rescuing me and my family, even though doing so put yourself and your men in more danger, you gave us a future. From our many talks, I know that you are a quiet, honest man whose biggest concern is not riches, but his family. As you gave us our future when all seemed bleak, please allow me to return the favour. We both know that life can be wonderful one moment and yet very quickly turn to dire emergency. Keep this gift to use to sustain your family if needed, and for at least the education of your children. This I ask as a mark of our friendship.