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Izzy recovered from her surprise at the proposal of marriage very quickly, and replied, “Yes, of course.” The rest of the table burst into cheers, which quickly turned to applause, and the surrounding tables, seeing what was happening, all joined in. Izzy threw her arms around George and kissed him, which brought more applause. The waiter and commis waiter jumped to work, and an extra place for George was quickly added to the table next to Izzy, and a chair appeared out of nowhere.
Jinnie caught the wine waiter’s eye and ordered three bottles of champagne and Seven Up Zero for the twins, as it looked rather like champagne. With the champagne in flutes, James proposed a toast to George and Izzy, which everyone echoed. Izzy wanted to know how George had come to be on board and how he had found them amongst the thousands of people on board. George explained that although he had been working on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, he was scheduled to be off on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Consequently, he had added in the extra leave days he had earned for working at Christmas, and a couple of leave days he was owed, and had scraped together enough days to fly out for the second week of the cruise.
He explained he had flown out to Antigua yesterday with the intention of proposing last night, but then he had used his police skills to find what sitting the family was on, which dining room they were in, and finally what table they were on. He had turned up last night only to be told by their waiter that the whole party was on the shore dining excursion. He had told the waiter what he had planned, and the waiter had agreed to keep everything secret so he could switch the plan to tonight.
George told them that he had spent all day trying to avoid them and had been relieved when he had seen them all go out on an excursion. Izzy said, “I thought I saw you come on board yesterday. But Jinnie and I decided that it was your doppelgänger.” “What’s a doppelgänger?” asked Willie. His mother said, “It’s a German word for someone who looks like someone else but is not related. So, it doesn’t apply to identical twins.” “I think I understand,” replied Willie, who went very quiet while he processed what he had learnt.
After dinner, everyone, including the twins, went to the Crow’s Nest for a drink. They found a space near the huge windows and managed to bring two tables together and drag over sufficient chairs for everyone. It wasn’t dark yet, and the twins watched, fascinated, sipping their Pepsi Max, as the ship ploughed through the calm sea. Jinnie told them that as this was a special occasion, they could stay up an hour later than usual, and then she would take them back to their cabin so Izzy and George could be together.
Willie suddenly turned to George and asked in a loud voice, “Is your gun in your cabin?” which caused several people on neighbouring tables to turn round. George grinned and replied loudly enough for the nearby tables to hear, “No, they don’t let you bring guns on the plane or on the ship. So I checked my rifle into the firearms store in Borehamwood Police Station.” “But I thought you slept with it,” replied Willie. “Only in the UK,” answered George, “but I’m on holiday, so I’m not a policeman in the Caribbean or on the ship — they have their own.”
Jinnie took the twins off to bed, and while she was tucking them up, Millie said, “Mummy, when Izzy gets married, will she leave us, and we have to get a new nanny?” “I really don’t know,” replied Jinnie. “I hope not, but she and George might want to buy their own house and have their own children.” “I hope she doesn’t leave. It’s hard changing nannies,” said Millie as she snuggled down under her lightweight duvet. As Jinnie turned out the light, she decided to try to find out Izzy’s plans.
***
New Year’s Eve was a sea day, and as usual, the family assembled for breakfast in the Epicurean. After being shown to their regular table, Millie suddenly asked, “Where is George?” Izzy said, “He’s not entitled to eat in here, as he is not in a suite.” “But neither are you,” replied Millie. “Ah, that’s because your mummy made a special arrangement when she booked the holiday last year,” answered Izzy. “He told me he is going to the main dining room for breakfast. The menu there is exactly the same as here. He will come and find us by the pool later.”
The twins demolished their normal cereal, boiled eggs and glasses of milk. For once, they asked for toast and marmalade. Jinnie asked, “Why are you two having toast and marmalade today?” Willie replied, “You and Daddy and Granddad have it every day, so we thought we would try it. We like it.” Millie joined in, saying, “We might have it again tomorrow.” After breakfast, they all headed for the twin pools and were early enough to get loungers together, including reserving one next to Izzy for George.
It was easily an hour later when George slid onto the lounger next to Izzy and kissed her gently on the cheek. When the twins, Penny and Granny got back from the pool and dried off, Millie said to Izzy, “When are you getting married, and will you be leaving us?” Izzy looked at George before replying, “We haven’t talked about it yet, but I don’t think the wedding will be for a year or more, and then we will have to find somewhere nearby to live. George has a single person’s room in the police accommodation block, and he will still be a policeman, and I want to keep working with you two, if your mummy still wants me.”
“Of course, I want you,” said Jinnie. “You are part of the family. Have you thought about George moving in with you in the nanny flat? There is room and it would be convenient for both of you.” Izzy looked at George, who nodded, before asking, “Do you really mean that?” “Of course we do, the twins would miss you awfully if you left us.” “And I would miss them, they are like my own children. So that’s a provisional yes. But we may have to sort out a few things like parking for George’s car.” George smiled and added, “That really is kind of you, Dame Jinnie. There is one small but important point — would you object if I had a ‘gun safe’ installed? The firearms people would have to check out the house’s security, but with the 24-hour security on the road because of Sir Nigel, that should be a formality.” Jinnie replied, “George, please call me Jinnie, and of course we don’t have a problem with a gun safe. As for a security check, I would welcome it. I have been thinking about upgrading the alarms now that the house has been extended. I think we could do with something in the garden like Nigel has.”
Izzy turned to the twins and said, “I’ve just had an idea — will you two be a bridesmaid and page boy? I have a niece who is younger than you who could be another bridesmaid, but I don’t know if George has anyone who could be a page boy or bridesmaid. And Jinnie, will you be matron of honour?” “Willingly,” answered Jinnie, “but isn’t there a member of your family you should ask?” “Not really,” said Izzy. “I’ve never told you this, but my parents were killed in a car accident when my sister and I were young, and we were brought up by our grandparents, who are now dead. I’ve only got my sister and niece, and I am not very close to them as they moved to Yorkshire. In fact, you are much more of a family to me.”
“OK then,” said Jinnie, “I accept, but on one condition — you let Paolo and me do many of the things that your mother and father would have done. As you know, I have a company that makes bespoke wedding clothes — dresses, suits, you name it, we can supply it — and of course, as your stand-in parents, Paolo and I will pay for everything, including the church, if you want a church wedding, and the reception. How do you fancy the Trattoria Trevi?”
Jinnie noticed that Izzy was crying and put her arm around her. “You are too kind,” sobbed Izzy. “It’s only money,” replied Jinnie, “and it should be the most memorable day of your life. Well, maybe not,” continued Jinnie, “on second thoughts I think the birth of your children beats it.” “Well, that’s another thing only George knows — I can’t have children, so I think that’s why yours are so important to me. I have watched them grow just as if they were mine.” “Oh dear,” said Jinnie, “I nearly forgot — I also have an investment in a company that organises weddings, and as soon as we get home, I will get Miranda around, and she will do everything — from making all the bookings to sorting out the menus and invitations. While her sister Melissa, who runs the Wedding Dress Bargains business, is also an amazing hair and makeup artist — she did both mine and Penny’s for our weddings.” “She really is talented,” chipped in Penny.
The twins were itching to get back in the pool, and this time it was Daddy and Dan who went with them. While Paolo was missing, Izzy said to Jinnie, “If I asked Paolo to give me away, do you think he would agree? I am a bit reluctant to ask him as you have already been so good to us.” “I think he would be delighted to accept,” replied Jinnie. “Ask him when he comes back — I’m certain he will say yes.”
After lunch, the twins went off to the Reef for the afternoon session. There was to be a “swimming gala” in the rear pool, and the twins were certain they could win some of the events for their age group, as they now knew the breaststroke, backstroke, freestyle, how to do a racing turn, and they could dive to the bottom with their eyes open. Jinnie was a bit concerned they were overconfident and might not be as good as they clearly thought they were.
The rest of the family had an easy afternoon without the twins constantly needing to be accompanied by an adult in the pool. Jinnie, Izzy and Penny sat on the edge of the pool with their feet in the water and chatted. Penny said, “That was so romantic how George went down on one knee to propose.” Jinnie giggled and said, “When Paolo proposed to me, he didn’t have a ring and he used the ring pull from a can of soft drink — I still have it.” “Wow,” said Izzy, “that is so lovely.” “As you know, we met in Berlin before the ‘War of Liberation’ parted us, and I guess I knew I loved him then, but we were separated by the war. Me in the British Resistance and him in the Italian Resistance. It was only after Italy was free and I was sent there to work as a translator by Sir Nigel, when he was PM, that President Berlusconi reunited us.”
“Gosh, I didn’t know any of this and I’ve worked for you a long time now,” exclaimed Izzy. “There are a lot you don’t know,” replied Jinnie, “and probably never will, but you must have guessed that I worked for the Government and still do occasionally.” “Yes, I did,” said Izzy, “but I never asked as I assumed it was probably secret.” “Some of the stuff I did during the war for the Government is still secret,” continued Jinnie, “but some is not, remind me to tell you about the German HQ next time we are at Mum’s house, it will make more sense when you can see the place I’m talking about.” “I was still at junior school when the War of Liberation happened,” said Izzy, “and we lived in London. I remember Grandpa listening on the radio as the Allies got nearer and nearer and how happy he was when London was declared an open city, and the Germans pulled out. Granny took me out on the street to wave to the soldiers when the first column of British tanks rolled through Swiss Cottage. Mind you, I could hardly believe what we were taught at school about the German atrocities once we had the new Government. Sir Nigel was one of Granddad’s heroes, it is such a pity that he didn’t live long enough to know that he lived next door, he would have been thrilled.”
***
Of course, George was invited to join the family pre-dinner drinks in Jinnie’s suite, and looked very smart in his dinner suit, dress shirt and purple bow tie. The twins rather liked George, and Millie told her mother that she was happy that he was going to marry Izzy, as she had told Izzy he fancied her the first time he had been on duty at the barrier. Izzy, who was nearby, said, “That’s true, and she wanted me to ask him on a date. I told her that it was the man’s job to ask for a date, not the girl’s. In the end he did ask me, and it has all worked out fine.”
As had become their normal practice, the twins raced off as soon as the restaurant doors opened and when the rest of the party arrived they were busy telling the waiters about their day and how they had won certificates for swimming and diving. When the adults had taken their seats, and the menus had been passed out, Willie said, “No tomato soup again.” Jinnie laughed and said, “Well, you can choose either cream of chicken or Scotch broth tonight for a change, and I know you like chicken.” “We do,” replied Willie, “but we like tomato more.”
The menu had a number of Scottish things on it and the twins had several of the dishes explained to them. There was haggis, kir-flavoured sorbet, Highland venison, and clootie dumplings. The twins turned their noses up at haggis and instead had duck terrine for their starter. Jinnie was delighted because it was only a small serving and there were lots more courses to come. They agreed on the chicken soup, which they were happy with, and had the kir sorbet when Izzy said it was blackcurrant flavour just like Ribena. They had salt marsh lamb rack for their mains and said it was yummy and asked if they could pick up the bones to get all the meat off. For their dessert, Jinnie talked them into trying raspberry crème brûlée, saying if they didn’t like it they could have ice cream. The commis waiter heard the conversation and brought them both a scoop of vanilla ice cream with their crème brûlée, which they loved.
After coffee, Jinnie said to the twins that they could stay up and see in the British New Year, and they headed to Brodie’s Bar where they could see and hear Big Ben strike midnight on the TV and see the London fireworks. At first they were a little confused about the time difference, and Jinnie and Izzy did their best to explain time zones. It helped that they remembered the time changing when they flew into Barbados, but Jinnie wasn’t convinced they totally understood until, once back in the cabin and getting ready for bed, Izzy showed them the world clock app on her iPad with its world map and the times in various cities. But it was the shaded area that showed where was dark that intrigued them, and later Izzy told Jinnie that she was fairly sure they had got it.
***
New Year’s Day dawned yet another warm and sunny day, and the ship was docked at the pier in St George’s, Grenada, when Jinnie woke and looked out. The family had discussed what to do, as it was a bank holiday, and they didn’t expect much to be open. So, they had decided to have a beach day and had searched Google for somewhere appropriate. They had agreed that Grand Anse Beach looked suitable — 1.5 miles of white sand fringed with palm trees and sea grapes. After breakfast, the party strolled down the pier and joined the quickly moving taxi queue. The grey-haired taxi marshal advised that it might be a long wait for a minibus taxi, so they eventually split the party into three taxis, having negotiated a fixed return price.
Grand Anse Beach was only a few kilometres from St George’s, and was stunning, if a little busy. The driver of the lead taxi chatted to his fellow drivers in the convoy over the radio and they were dropped a little further down the beach where it was far less busy, but all the facilities were available. The adults all hired sunbeds but didn’t bother with umbrellas as there was ample shade under the trees. The twins were soon busy digging in the wet sand at the water’s edge and after an hour or so came asking if they could go into the sea as they were so hot.
Jinnie, Izzy and George ventured into the warm water with the twins and were soon happily throwing a beach ball around. George proved to be a powerful swimmer, but the twins pulled his leg because compared to everyone else he was very pale. Eventually the twins wanted to know if it was lunchtime yet and George told them that it was quarter to one, so they rushed to get dry using the blue ship’s pool towels they had brought in their Christmas backpacks. Paolo called over a waiter who was lurking to supply food and drink from a nearby beach bar. He handed around several laminated picture menus and everyone picked their lunch. The twins went through the pictures and decided they wanted a hot dog, fries and a cola, the men all went for grilled chicken sandwiches and a bottle of the local Carib beer, Jinnie and her sister had a cheeseburger which came with lettuce, onion rings and bacon, while Granny and Izzy had plain cheeseburgers. All the ladies joined the twins in drinking sugar-free cola.
The food came quickly, and the twins said their hot dogs were good but the ones on the ship were better, while Jinnie rather liked her burger and thought it better than the ship’s, probably because of the onion rings and bacon. The twins wanted to get back into the warm sea straight after lunch, but Jinnie told them to wait until their lunch had gone down, so they set about making a sandcastle with the help of Dan and George. When Jinnie finally told them they could go back in the sea, nearly everyone else joined them except for Granny, and they had an epic game of piggy in the middle with the beach ball.
As promised, the taxi fleet arrived at the appointed time and they were back on board well before the ‘all on board’ time. It was an ordinary night in the MDR, there only being two formal nights on this cruise and they had already gone. The twins were happy because they knew their favourite tomato soup would be back on the menu.
When Izzy and Jinnie saw the twins into bed that evening, Millie asked how many days were left of their holiday and Jinnie explained that the next day they were in Martinique, the day after that it was a sea day and the day after that they were back in Barbados for their overnight flight home. Izzy explained that like the flight out they had been on, they were on one plane and Granny and Granddad, Auntie Penny and Uncle Dan were on one an hour later. Willie wanted to know about George and Izzy said he was on the same plane as them but because he was a late booking he was in the economy section while they were in premium.
The twins let all that sink in for a bit and just as they were settling down Willie said, “Mummy, one of the Reef Rangers heard us talking to each other in French and said they speak French in Martinique, is that right.” “Yes, it is,” answered Jinnie. “Good,” said Millie, “we want to talk French to French people.”
***
Once again it was a beautiful sunny Caribbean day in Martinique and the party joined the rapidly moving taxi queue. As a group got to the head of the queue the taxi marshal was asking how many were in the party and where they were going, before calling up a taxi with a blast of his whistle and pointing to the next taxi or minibus in the queue. When they reached the head of the queue Jinnie spoke to the marshal in her perfect Parisian accent and asked a minibus for 10 to take them to a good, safe beach. The marshal replied in French that for a French family he recommended Anse Figuier as it was a beautiful beach, a little farther away and not used much by people from the ship.
In the end the marshal whistled up a 10-seater minibus and after a bit of haggling it was agreed the driver would take the whole party to the beach, and because it was not worth him driving back to town and then back to the beach later to pick them up, he would stay at the beach. The charge was $320 and lunch for the driver, which they thought reasonable. The twins chatted to the driver in their best French and once again were delighted that he understood them, and they understood him. Jinnie, of course, listened to the conversation and helped out translating the occasional phrase.
Jinnie and Penny kept up the pretence, speaking to him in their perfect French, until he asked what district of Paris they were from, and they had to admit they were English. The shocked driver said he would never have guessed and that even the children had Parisian accents. Jinnie explained that she had worked with the Resistance in Nice and her cover had been that of a rich Parisian heiress. The driver had replied that he now knew the perfect place on the beach for them.
As they neared the beach the driver asked Jinnie if all young English children spoke such good French and she explained that no, few did, but the twins had been brought up speaking Italian and English because their father was Italian, and she was English. But they both also spoke French and German, so when they wanted to communicate in private it had usually been in French, as German was not well received in Britain since the end of the war. The children had started to pick up French and their first schoolteacher had encouraged them to be multilingual. The driver nodded and said he spoke some English and a little German, as it had been taught in school before France was liberated.
Jinnie suddenly remembered that Martinique was considered a French department and elected members to the French Parliament. She quickly told Denis the driver that she had been involved in the liberation of France and had been in Nice working with the Resistance to help the Allies land. He quickly became much more friendly and even tried to speak a little English, explaining that the French hated the Germans and how delighted he had been listening to the news of the Allied landings in France. The German administration on the island had tried to keep it quiet, but so many people listened to the BBC World Service it had been impossible to suppress the news. With the fighting in France nearly over, the Allies had issued an ultimatum to the German forces on the island: withdraw or face an invasion. The Germans had withdrawn, the Allies had arrived, and shortly after that Free French paratroopers had been flown into the airport near Fort-de-France to help set up the new administration.
The minibus drove past the busier part of the beach and pulled into a very large, mostly deserted rough earth car park. Through the trees the beach and sea were just visible, but the driver led them to an open door in what looked to be a large building built in the tree line. The door was the back entrance to an extremely pleasant beach bar and the driver led them through the bar and on to a terrace in front of which was the most perfect soft white sand beach with palm trees and loungers. As they stood on the terrace a man appeared, and the driver introduced him as Remi, the owner of the bar.
Denis, the driver, told Remi that Jinnie was English but had worked with the French Resistance during the war to free France. Remi smiled broadly and said “I too was in the Resistance down in the south of France at Menton near to Italy. I had a bar there too but I moved here, the weather is better.” Jinnie replied “My sister and I were in the south of France, in Nice, where we worked with the Resistance and assisted the Allied landings.” Remi scratched his head and thought for a moment before saying “I knew many of the leaders of the Resistance in Nice and after the fighting stopped one became Mayor; I owe her my life.” “Do you mean Simone?” asked Jinnie. “Yes, that’s exactly who I mean,” replied Remi.
He continued “Her group broke me and a lot of my colleagues out of prison and killed lots of Germans just before the Allies landed.” “I remember the incident very well,” said Jinnie. Nodding towards Penny she added “My sister and I took part in that raid.” Remi burst into tears and hugged first Jinnie and then Penny before saying “After the war I heard stories of two English girls who were remarkable snipers and worked with Simone’s group. I never expected to meet them, especially when I moved here. Please use my bar and beach today, everything is free to the Resistance fighters, their family and friends. It is the least I can do to show you my gratitude. We will have a steak lunch; I will go and talk to the chef. You make yourselves at home on the loungers and I will send a waiter to get you drinks. I will come and chat in a while, but first I must call my wife.”
The family had a wonderful last beach day on the idyllic beach that shelved gently into the warm, clear water. Although it got a little busier with mainly locals, it never got crowded and the twins were able to dig extensively in the damp sand as first the tide went out and then returned. The whole family had steak, salad and pomme frites for lunch with Remi and his wife Aurélie. Remi revealed that both he and his wife spoke quite good English and German and, having lived close to the Italian border, also had a smattering of Italian.
Jinnie explained that being married to an Italian she also spoke Italian and had, like Remi, learnt German at school, as had been the norm throughout the Third Reich. The twins listened to the conversation intrigued, learning new things about their parents. They tried their Italian on Remi and discovered that his Italian was far better than he had said. After lunch the family lazed in the dappled shade under the palm trees before having a swim in the warm water and using the bar/restaurant’s changing rooms to get out of their wet things.
Denis returned at the appointed time and the twins chatted to him in French all the way back to the ship. Just before arriving back at the ship, he asked Jinnie how old they were and she said they were 6 and a half. Denis shook his head and said, “They are going to be hard work when they get older.” Jinnie laughed and replied, “They are hard work now.”
Jinnie joined Izzy in putting the twins to bed that evening and as it was still a ‘French’ day they insisted on still talking in French. Izzy was finding that her evening classes were paying off as she now could keep up with the rapid French they spoke with their mother. The twins said they had a wonderful day and could they come back to the same beach next year. Jinnie said did they want to go on a cruise next Christmas, and they said, “Of course it’s fun.” Jinnie replied, “That’s good, because I have been to the future cruise desk and we all booked again for next year. I can’t remember if we are calling at Martinique, I will have to look at the itinerary.” Just before settling down Millie said, “Mummy, we have decided we want to learn to speak German.” A surprised Jinnie asked, “Why on earth would you want to learn German?” Willie replied, “We have decided that when we leave school we are going to be spies like you.”
In Chapter 9 – Home again
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