It was mid-August and preparations for Maggie and George’s wedding were well under way. Audrey had organised the food and planned to make small ‘finger’ sandwiches with three different fillings: fish paste, mock crab (reconstituted dried eggs, a tiny bit of cheese, salad dressing and a few drops of vinegar) and carrot (grated carrot and cabbage bound with sweet pickle and a dash of vinegar), as well as savoury splits (scones stuffed with diced beetroot and horseradish), spice cake, carrot cookies and rosehip jellies. There would be home-made lemonade to drink and glasses of sherry. The men would want beer, of course, but there was such a beer shortage at the moment, they’d have to go without. Even the public houses were having to shut up shop, though the Carpenter’s Arms seemed to keep going! Wasn’t much of a wedding feast, she knew that, but rationing meant feasts just weren’t possible. With even potatoes hard to get hold of, putting a meal on the table was difficult; just last week when a greengrocer advertised he’d sell potatoes at 9.30 a.m., women started queuing at 7.30 – four of the older ladies fainting in the street.

‘Poor old dears,’ said Audrey, thinking of those women who were just trying to feed their families. She had planned to ask Sid the butcher for any ham offcuts he might have for Maggie’s big day, but he’d gone on such a rant before she’d even opened her mouth, complaining ‘them that try to wangle an extra bit to the ration are downright selfish and downright unpatriotic’, she’d stopped before she started. What she had planned would have to do.

‘Maggie, love,’ she said, at the end of a busy day in the bakery. ‘Will you close up the shop for me while I check the takings?’

Maggie nodded and went to turn the shop sign to closed when a uniformed man came in. He was in his late twenties, with cropped dark hair, electric blue eyes and a lovely smile, with deep dimples each side of his mouth. Audrey smoothed down her apron and, when he fixed her with his blue eyes, was horrified to feel herself blush. She held a hand up to her cheek and wondered what on earth was wrong with herself.

‘Can I help you, sir?’ she said. ‘We’re just about to close up. There’s nothing left on the shelves now. We’ll be open first thing with fresh bread, rolls and all the counter goods we can manage in rationing.’

‘Could you tell me who runs this bakery, please?’ he asked. ‘I’ve got a complaint.’

‘I do,’ she replied, her heart hammering – there had never been a complaint before and her mind trailed through everything she might have done wrong. ‘Oh, my goodness, what’s the complaint?’

‘Well, I was biting into a slice of bread this morning,’ he said, ‘when I bit into this.’

He held up Audrey’s wedding ring. She slapped her hand over her mouth and rushed out from behind the counter.

‘Oh!’ she said, taking the ring and pushing it straight onto her finger. ‘I am so happy, I mean, I’m so sorry!’

She threw her arms around the stranger and gave him a quick hug.

‘Thank you, thank you, thank you,’ she said. ‘I thought it was gone forever.’

‘My teeth were nearly gone forever,’ he said. ‘But the ring is fine.’

‘Audrey!’ said Pat from the doorway. ‘What on earth is going on here? Why are you draped all over this poor man?’

Audrey turned to see her mother-in-law and noted the disapproving expression on her face. Quickly moving away from the man, she clasped her hands in sudden embarrassment.

‘I’m not draped all over him!’ Audrey said. ‘I lost my ring. My wedding ring – and this gentleman, he just came in and said he’d found it in one of our loaves. I lost it the evening John went into hospital and I worked on the dough.

‘I don’t know how to thank you. I don’t even know your name,’ she added, turning to him.

‘It’s fine,’ he said, holding out his hand. ‘I’m Arthur. Your bread is really very good, apart from the gold content.’

‘Well, I never,’ said Pat, tutting. ‘Thank goodness you didn’t choke on it!’

‘Why don’t you come in for your dinner?’ Audrey said. ‘We’re just about to shut up shop and eat. Maggie, Pat, why don’t you come in for your dinner too? Mary, can you set the table and set places for eight of us?’

‘Eight?’ said Arthur. ‘Sounds like you already have your hands full. There’s no need—’

‘There’s always room at my table,’ Audrey interrupted. ‘It would be a pleasure. A way to thank you for returning my ring.’

---

Audrey placed a steaming dish of Lancashire hotpot down on the table, and when she ladled the meat, carrots, onions and potato onto the plates, accompanied by a thick slice of bread to mop up the gravy, everyone made appreciative noises.

‘You always do us proud,’ said Uncle John, tucking his napkin into the collar of his shirt. ‘Even in rationing you manage to serve up a lovely supper. It’s like a magic trick.’

Pat cleared her throat before picking up her cutlery and getting stuck in. ‘It’s not magic,’ she said. ‘It’s careful planning and making what you have got last. Us women are good at that – we have to be, mind.’

‘Oh, I might have known you’d have an answer!’ laughed Uncle John.

Pat glared at him and Audrey smiled at Arthur, in apology.

‘There’s Prune Roly for afters,’ Audrey said, quickly interjecting. ‘Bit of an experiment, mind, since I’m almost out of prunes and I’ve no idea when a new consignment will make it through.’

‘Merchant Navy’s suffering an awful battering,’ said John. ‘It’s no surprise stocks aren’t making it through.’

For a moment, everyone ate in silence, reflecting on the strategy Hitler and his army were trying to put into place, to sink ships transporting food into the country and starve Britain into surrender. That’s why everyone was ‘digging for victory’, turning every piece of available land into allotments, and why nothing was allowed to go to waste. Even the fat that collected in the bottom of the bakery ovens when they cooked the neighbours’ roast dinners on a Sunday morning could be scraped up and kept for cooking. Today’s scraps were tomorrow’s savouries.

‘Anyway, Arthur, what brought you to Bournemouth? I don’t believe you’re local?’ said Audrey, breaking the silence. ‘I don’t recognise your face.’

‘I’m an engineer, originally from Norfolk. I’m involved with the radar station that’s been set up near here,’ he explained. ‘The radar helps to detect and track aircraft.’

‘Interesting work,’ said Pat. ‘And where are you staying? I have a spare room if you need a billet – I make a very good stew.’

‘I’m staying in a local hotel at the moment, but thank you for the offer,’ Arthur said. ‘Bournemouth seems to be a fine town, with generous people. I’m staying near to Swanmore Gardens. Have you seen the roses there? They’re quite spectacular.’

Audrey smiled, thinking of the roses of Swanmore that she and Charlie used to visit once a year. The fragrance of those flowers was like nothing she’d ever known. It heartened her to think they were still blooming, despite the war.

‘Haven’t got time for roses, there’s a war on!’ laughed John, raising his cup of tea. ‘I’m just jokin’, young man, but I believe you found Audrey’s ring in the bread? That’ll be a first. Don’t go tellin’ the regulars, or they’ll all be wantin’ one!’

He laughed again and then broke down into yet another coughing fit, though it didn’t last too long. Audrey fetched him a glass of water and patted his back, before returning to her seat and smiling at Arthur.

‘Yes, thank you for bringing it back to me,’ she said. Picking up her mug, she said. ‘Here’s to Arthur, and to our absent friends and loved ones.’

She glanced at her ring and smiled sadly, her thoughts going out to Charlie, wherever he was. Then William banged the side of his cup with a fork.

‘I’ve got an announcement to make,’ he said. ‘It’s not been easy lately, with my leg and all, and the way I’ve been carrying on… But I’ve seen sense and I’ve asked Elsie to marry me. Again.’

‘Hurrah!’ said John, with another laugh. ‘Good for you, lad, good for you.’

‘Thank you,’ he replied. ‘Elsie wants to keep it small, but as long as we’re married, properly this time, I don’t mind.’

Audrey pushed back her chair and hugged her brother. ‘That’s wonderful news,’ she said. ‘Two weddings! Mary, we better sort through those cake toppers, hadn’t we, love?’

---

When dinner was over and the dishes were washed, Arthur thanked Audrey once again, gently taking her hand and kissing it lightly.

‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘You should visit those rose gardens near me, they’re truly special, as I can see you are too.’

‘Get away with you!’ said Audrey, feeling her cheeks flame. ‘As John said, there’s no time for rose gardens, but it heartens me to hear they’re in bloom, offering some beauty in these dark times.’

Arthur winked at her and walked away into the street, leaving her standing in the doorway, her arms folded, a warm sensation in her heart.