Home Front Girls (25 page)

‘All right then, you get off and I’ll keep my eye on them,’ she promised. ‘I’ll pop down every fifteen minutes or so to check that they’re all right.’

For a moment she was afraid that the woman was going to burst into tears as her heavily mascaraed eyes welled up. She seemed to be a bag of nerves, but then pulling herself together with an enormous effort, she forced a smile.

‘You’re a good girl, Dotty,’ she said quietly, and then she was clattering away down the stairs in her high heels, making enough racket to waken the dead.

Dotty shook her head in bewilderment. I wonder what all that was about? she wondered, then she hurried on inside her flat. Thankfully, the noise travelled up to her flat from Mrs Cousins’s rooms and if one of the children should wake and cry she had no doubt that she would hear them.

For the rest of the evening she crept into the children’s bedrooms at regular intervals, but luckily each time she found them fast asleep. At eleven o’clock she went downstairs yet again, and she was just leaving when she almost collided with Mrs Cousins.

‘Oh – so you’re here then, Dotty.’ The woman looked acutely embarrassed and as Dotty made to pass her she saw the reason why. Mrs Cousins had a man with her and from the way he was looking at her he hadn’t come for tea and cake. As his eyes raked up and down Dotty she saw that he was in uniform and her stomach tightened. She knew how hard things had been for Mrs Cousins, but surely she hadn’t resorted to bringing men back to make ends meet?

Mrs Cousins met her eye and she seemed to be silently imploring her not to judge her.

‘Right, I’ll be off now then,’ Dotty forced herself to say in as normal a voice as she could manage. ‘They’re all asleep, Mrs Cousins. Goodnight.’

Once back out on the landing, she let out a deep breath as she pulled Mrs Cousins’s door firmly shut. And then when the initial shock had worn off, she felt sad. Perhaps this was the only way the poor woman could think of to put food on the table for her children. She certainly wouldn’t be the first to resort to walking the streets, and servicemen on leave were making whoopee with the local girls and women. They wanted to have a good time, and were prepared to pay for it. Dotty made her way back up the stairs with a heavy heart.

When she got in from work the next evening, Mrs Cousins was waiting for her again but this time she was in her usual clothes with the baby in her arms. ‘Look, lass,’ she said in a choked voice, ‘I just wanted to say – please don’t think too badly of me. I had no money for food, see, an’ the kids were hungry, so—’

‘I don’t think badly of you,’ Dotty butted in, sensing the woman’s shame. ‘I know how much you love your children and what a rotten go you’ve had of it. Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.’ And with that she patted the woman’s arm and shot away, thinking how unfair life could be.

It was now well into June and the weather was so glorious that the girls had taken to leaving the department store during their lunch break to enjoy a little sunshine. They didn’t usually venture far and today was no exception as they strolled around the city centre, window shopping.

Lucy was quiet as usual. She seemed to have lost all her sparkle since her mother’s death, and the other two had quickly discovered that even mentioning the poor woman was still strictly taboo.

Dotty, on the other hand, was bubbling over with excitement. ‘I can’t wait to go to London again next week,’ she said. ‘Robert is going to take me to meet the editor who is interested in my novel. I can hardly believe this is happening to me – but then he hasn’t actually said that he’ll be publishing it,’ she had told them this about ten times in as many days, ‘only that he’s very interested and wants to talk to me. But Robert will tell me more when he comes to visit me on Thursday.’ She stopped to admire a leather handbag in a shop window. ‘I don’t know what he’s going to think of my poky little flat though,’ she confided anxiously. ‘Last time I went to London he took me to see his flat and I think his lounge alone is bigger than the whole top floor of the house where I live. And it’s so beautifully furnished. It’s full of antiques that his mother collected over the years. I imagine they’d be worth a king’s ransom, as she had impeccable taste. He might be selling it soon though,’ she burbled on. ‘He says it’s too big for him, but I have a sneaky feeling he might be getting a place with Laura.’ The thought of it made her throat tighten.

The girls had also heard all this before too and they grinned at each other behind Dotty’s back. They didn’t say anything though; it was nice to hear her so excited about the possibility of her book being published and they hoped that it would be.

‘So what are you doing tonight then?’ Annabelle asked them when they had managed to drag Dotty away from the shop window.

‘Nothing much. I might wash my hair and have an early night,’ Lucy answered. She hardly ever went anywhere any more except to work, but she was looking forward to a week off early in July when she was planning on visiting Mary in Folkestone. The kindly lady who was looking after the child had invited Lucy to stay for a few days if she wished, and the thought of seeing the little girl again was just about all that was keeping Lucy’s spirits up at the moment. She wrote to her regularly and her kindly carer, Mrs Manners, assured her that she read the letters to Mary, not that the child would understand them, but the act obviously made Lucy feel a little better.

‘And what about you?’ Annabelle now looked Missquestioningly at Dotty.

‘I’m meeting Miss Timms after work for tea and so she can have a quick look at my book, then I shall be going home to carry on working on it. I want to try and get it finished for when Robert comes. But don’t worry – I haven’t forgotten that we’re going to the pictures later this week.’

Annabelle sighed dramatically. ‘You two are just no fun at all,’ she drawled. ‘So I dare say I shall have to stay in as well.’ She checked the line she had drawn up the back of her leg with an eyebrow pencil then to make sure that it hadn’t rubbed off.

‘I really don’t know how you manage to get those lines so straight,’ Dotty commented. ‘When I tried to do it, the lines were all over the place. And your legs are such a lovely colour!’

‘I wash them in cold tea,’ Annabelle told her. ‘I get Mum to save the tea leaves now but it’s a terrible palaver to get them this colour, I don’t mind admitting. It was so much easier when you could just take a new pair of stockings out of the drawer.’

The girls then hurried back to work and the rest of the day passed uneventfully.

When they parted outside Owen Owen that evening, Dotty went back into the city centre where she had agreed to meet Miss Timms. The woman’s face lit up as Dotty came towards her and she asked, ‘How about we go into that little restaurant over there for tea? I’ve looked at the menu while I was waiting for you, and some of the meals seem quite nice. My treat, of course.’

Dotty felt embarrassed. She would much sooner have paid for her own meal, but not wishing to hurt the kindly woman’s feelings or appear ungrateful she said, ‘That would be lovely.’

Once inside they settled themselves at a table and ordered their food, which didn’t take long as there wasn’t a huge variety of dishes to choose from. While they were waiting for their sardines on toast to be served, Dotty took her manuscript out of her bag and handed it to Miss Timms to look at.

Miss Timms began to read, and was soon so enthralled that she almost forgot that Dotty was there.

‘Miss Timms,’ Dotty whispered after a time, ‘our food is here.’

The woman shuffled the pages back together, looking flustered. ‘I’m so sorry, my dear. I got quite carried away there and didn’t want to stop. This is really excellent.’

Dotty blushed at the praise. She put a lot of store on what Miss Timms thought. They ate their sardines and then finished the meal off with home-made apple pie and custard, which was delicious.

‘I don’t think I shall be able to eat another thing for at least a month,’ Dotty declared as she rubbed her full stomach.

Miss Timms smiled, making her appear years younger. ‘I’m rather full too,’ she beamed. ‘But now I’m afraid I shall have to love you and leave you. I’ve left our neighbour with Mother, and no doubt the dear soul will be tearing her hair out by the roots by now. I’m afraid Mother isn’t the easiest of patients.’

She insisted on paying the bill, and once outside she asked, ‘Will you be all right getting home by yourself, dear?’

‘Of course. You get off, I shall be fine, and thanks for the treat,’ Dotty answered as she leaned forward to kiss the woman on the cheek.

The woman raised her hand and touched the spot that Dotty had kissed and a wave of tenderness shot through the girl. Miss Timms really was so kind and Dotty knew that she owed her a lot. Without Miss Timms her childhood would have been very lonely and sad. She watched the woman stride away, her back as straight as a broom handle, and then she hurried off to the stationer’s, which was open until 7 p.m., to get some more ribbons for her typewriter. She just prayed that Mrs Cousins wouldn’t want her to babysit tonight as she hoped to get some serious writing done.

Lucy arrived home to find a wonderful surprise waiting for her. It was a letter from Joel; albeit short and heavily censored, it helped her to believe that he was still safe. Or at least he had been when he wrote the letter, which she saw was well over a month ago. Without even waiting to take her cardigan off she sat down to read it, and as she saw his dear familiar writing he suddenly seemed a little closer.

Dear Lucy,

I hope you, Mother and Mary are all well. I am bearing up although I miss you all terribly. I am now in Dunkirk,
(she only just managed to decipher this word as that and the next couple of lines had been blanked out, but then he went on),
things are pretty grim here but try not to worry, one day we’ll all be together again and we’ll try and put this blasted war behind us. Old Hitler has a lot to answer for and the conditions we are living in are pretty harsh, but then it can’t go on forever, can it? Will you remember me to Mr and Mrs P and give Mary and Mum a big kiss from me and tell them that I think about them all the time. It’s only the thought of coming home that keeps us lads going. I have written to Belle too and will write again to you both as soon as I can. Till then look after yourselves.

Love,

Joel x

Annabelle also received a letter saying much the same and it threw her into a complete muddle.

My dear Belle,

I am hoping this letter will reach you as I may not be able to write again for some time. Me and the other chaps are going to the front tomorrow and who knows what might happen? I never realised what it would be like to have to point a gun at someone and pull the trigger but it’s a case of kill or be killed. May God forgive me. I can’t help but think that some of the Germans are probably only here because they have to be, like our lads, and the thought doesn’t make it any easier. They are all someone’s son, boyfriend, brother or husband after all, aren’t they? I am sorry to be so morbid but I can’t write my feelings to Lucy, she has enough on her plate. Bless her. You will keep an eye out for her if anything should happen to me won’t you? I know this is a lot to ask but I feel that you, Lucy and Dotty have grown to be very close and she may have need of your friendship in the days ahead.

We are living in tents at the moment and the food is atrocious. If I come home I intend to take us all out for a slapup meal! They are setting up the Army medical tents tonight for those that will no doubt be injured tomorrow and it’s a daunting sight as you can imagine.

Anyway, that’s enough from me. Stay safe, pray for me and know that I am thinking of you too.

With much love

Joel x

Annabelle shuddered as she folded the sheet of paper and pictured the conditions that Joel must be living in and what was before him. His life was in God’s hands now and she could only pray that he would survive to return home.

Recently she had been able to push him to the back of her mind, but now she was forced to think of him again and she found herself wondering if their friendship might have turned into something more had he been able to stay around. In a way she was glad that he was gone. He wasn’t at all the sort of chap she usually went out with, and nothing like the sort of husband she had always envisaged for herself. She wanted someone tall, dark, handsome and
very, very
rich – and Joel was none of those things. And yet she was forced to admit to herself that there had been an attraction between them from the start.

She read the letter through twice more before stuffing it into the back of a drawer. There was no point in thinking about it now. Joel might never come home for all she knew, so it was perhaps as well they hadn’t grown too close. But still it was hard to forget him as she tried to turn her thoughts to other things.