‘This should do the trick. Do you like it?’ Rita pulled a big checked shirt from her wardrobe. ‘It used to be Jack’s but he hardly ever wore it because he doesn’t like anything too baggy. It was just the ticket for my last couple of months.’
Violet took it and noticed that it was a lovely soft flannel. ‘Are you sure? Won’t he want it when he comes home on leave?’
Rita laughed and shook her head. ‘You must be joking. It won’t fit under his pilot’s jacket and he’ll want to wear that all the time, if I know Jack. No, you take it and put it away somewhere for when you need it.’
‘That won’t be for a while,’ replied Violet, touching her belly self-consciously. She reckoned she was five months gone but there was little to show in the way of a bump as yet. At least the constant sickness had stopped, and she wasn’t quite as tired. Now it had become clear what had been causing her symptoms, she had far more energy, and she was determined to give her baby the best possible start, war or no war.
‘You’ll be surprised,’ predicted Rita. ‘Once you start to swell you keep on ballooning at a proper old pace. You’ll be due in January, won’t you? So this will keep you nice and cosy too.’
‘It will,’ said Violet. ‘I’m ever so grateful, Rita. You’ve all been so good to me, more than I deserve.’
‘Stuff and nonsense,’ said Rita robustly. ‘You’ve more than pulled your weight helping out everyone, so it’s our turn now.’ She knew that Violet didn’t have any real family of her own. Her father had died many years ago, her mother had died in a raid quite early in the war, and she’d always hated her drunken stepfather. The Feenys were her family now. Rita for one didn’t know how she’d cope without her sister-in-law.
Rita’s mind then turned to her other sister-in-law, even though she never called her that, since Ruby had never been acknowledged as Winnie’s daughter while the vile old woman had been alive. Now, though, Ruby had stepped up to help out in the shop, not just to mind it for a moment or two when nobody else was around, or behind the scenes with the bookkeeping. She was down there now, holding the fort, and with none of her former crises of confidence.
‘I hope Ruby’s all right,’ she said, going to the door so she could hear if the young woman should call up the stairs for assistance.
‘Oh, I think she will be,’ said Violet with a grin, looking almost like her old self. ‘As I was coming in, I could see she had a visitor.’
‘A visitor? Ruby? Are you sure?’
Violet tapped the side of her nose. ‘And it won’t be the first time. I’d meant to mention it before, but, you know … it went out of my mind, what with everything else that’s happened.’
‘And no wonder,’ said Rita forcefully. ‘Who is it?’
‘Mr James.’
‘What, the old fellow down at the allotments?’
‘No, not him.’ Violet tilted back her head and gave one of her horsy laughs, which, even though it was a sound that took some getting used to, gladdened Rita’s heart, as she hadn’t heard it since before the dreadful day when the telegram had come. ‘His son. Reggie. Have you met him? You must have, he often brings the vegetables.’
‘Oh, him. The one who limps a bit,’ said Rita, remembering now. ‘Are you sure he isn’t just delivering more boxes of tomatoes?’
‘If you ask me, Rita,’ said Violet wickedly, ‘Ruby’s getting more than tomatoes from him.’
Rita gasped. ‘No! Surely not! Not Ruby.’
Violet shrugged. ‘All right, maybe I’m making more of it than there really is. But it’s more than bringing the vegetables, just you mark my words.’
‘So you don’t think I should pop down and see if she’s all right?’
‘No,’ said Violet firmly. ‘Most definitely not. She’ll call if she wants our help. And she’s got to get used to being down there on her own as you’re going back to nursing. How are you feeling about that?’
‘Honestly? I’m looking forward to it,’ said Rita. ‘It will be hard to leave Ellen’ – she glanced at the baby asleep in her basket, tucked beneath the windowsill – ‘but Mam will look after her and she’s old enough to have her bottle. I’d rather do that than send her to one of those nurseries.’
‘We’ll all help with her,’ said Violet. ‘They’ll need you back on the wards.’
‘I’m sure it will all work out,’ said Rita, hoping fervently that she was right. ‘Let’s go over and see what Nancy’s brought round. I’m glad she offered to dig out some of Georgie’s baby clothes. It’s only right, the time you’ve spent looking after him over the past few years.’
Nancy was holding forth about the filthy state of the city centre as they reached Dolly’s kitchen. She’d arrived back from her WVS shift to find her white sandals were more like grey and their little daisy decorations like withered weeds. ‘And my poor collar!’ She was wearing a neat broderie-anglaise blouse, the hem and collar of which were visibly the worse for wear. ‘I’ll have to spend ages scrubbing it. It’ll ruin my nails.’
Rita shook her head. ‘Never mind, Nance. Look on the bright side. You could dye it grey and be done with it.’ She had little sympathy – her own nails were always kept trimmed short because lifting stock in the shop always wrecked them, let alone what she would encounter when back on duty as a nursing sister.
Nancy tossed her head. ‘I might have known you wouldn’t understand. Anyway, Violet, here’s those clothes I told you about. I don’t know what you’ll want as you don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl, but help yourself.’ She handed over a bulging canvas bag.
‘So many, Nancy! Are you sure?’ Violet lifted the top ones out. ‘They’re really good quality. Thank you.’
‘It’s the one good thing about Misery Guts,’ said Nancy with asperity. ‘She likes to see her little grandson looking right, or else he’ll reflect badly on her. So she spent her coupons on him whenever she could. Then I got a few things in town when I was able to. Doesn’t look like I’ll be giving him a little brother or sister any time soon, so you might as well make use of them.’
‘I should hope not!’ said Dolly hotly, coming in from the back yard. ‘Don’t you be bringing disgrace upon this household.’
‘Joke, Mam,’ said Nancy. Then quickly, to distract her mother, ‘See this little top – you knitted that. He wore that all the time when he was tiny.’
‘So he did,’ said Dolly, her face creasing fondly at the memory. ‘Sure, he was a little angel, that he was.’
‘And where is he today?’ asked Rita, not taken in by Nancy’s tactics for one moment.
Nancy’s expression changed to one of worry. ‘His chest is bad again. I didn’t like to take him to the Parkers’ in case he gave it to them, so I’ve left him in with Misery Guts. In fact I’d best be off.’ She pulled a face. ‘I know she can’t do much to harm him now he’s that bit older, but I still don’t trust her an inch. She’ll probably be telling him how unlucky he is to have such a bad mother.’
‘Now don’t take on so. I’m sure she isn’t,’ said Dolly, always suspicious that Nancy denigrated Sid’s mother’s method of babysitting so she could bring Georgie round to her more often.
‘Well, I’m not going to risk it,’ Nancy said, picking up her white handbag, which looked too small to hold anything useful. ‘You sort through those things, Violet, and keep what you like. Actually, Rita, you might find something to suit Ellen in there as well. You might as well take anything that fits, I know they grow like mad at that stage.’ She glanced fondly at her niece, asleep in the Moses basket that Rita had carried her over in. ‘There should be some romper suits for a six month old in the pile somewhere.’
She gave a little wave and flounced out.
‘What’s got into her?’ Rita wondered out loud, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Nancy had never offered before, and Rita had resorted to hunting around for anything that Megan might have grown out of all those years ago. ‘Oh, now, look at this. Didn’t Georgie wear it for his first birthday? I might take that and put it to one side for when she’s big enough.’ She carefully set the brick-red chunky cardigan on the edge of the Moses basket. ‘And this little siren suit. Let’s hope we don’t have to use it down the shelters again.’
‘Amen to that,’ said Dolly at once. ‘It’s very kind of Nancy, but don’t you have to see to the shop? Have you got the time to go through the whole bag? It can always stay here, Rita, and you check the rest when you have the time.’
Rita dropped another small cardigan in soft cream on top of the other two baby garments. ‘We’re grand, Mam. Ruby’s taking care of it all.’
‘Is she now?’ Dolly looked concerned.
‘Yes, she’s making a very thorough check of a big delivery of tomatoes,’ Violet told her solemnly.
Nancy almost skipped down the street, despite the pain in her feet from wearing impractical sandals for a busy shift. She knew she should wear more sensible ones, and had told herself off time and time again, but she’d felt like dressing up this morning. The miracle had happened. Gary had managed to get a message to her. One of the GIs under him had been shipped home wounded, but had recovered enough to come back to the WVS canteen. He had been told to seek out ‘the lady who looks like Rita Hayworth’ and pass on the news that Staff Sergeant Trenton was alive and well, fighting fit but looking forward to coming back to Liverpool. That was all. He didn’t know any details, such as when that might be, and he’d been wounded so early on in the proceedings that he couldn’t really say where Gary was now. However Nancy didn’t care.
Gary had survived the first onslaught, which everyone was saying would be the most dangerous part, and had thought so highly of her that he’d arranged this way of telling her how he was. She knew the young GI couldn’t have been expected to say he sent his love or anything as sentimental as that. Still, he’d cared enough to take the trouble, and that had made her day. It was only yesterday that she’d heard. Since then she had been on cloud nine and had struggled to hide her joy from her inquisitive mother-in-law.
Then on top of it all she had all the brownie points from her family, sharing out the baby clothes like she had. It was no skin off her nose, and in fact it might even annoy her mother-in-law if she found out, except she wouldn’t be able to say anything without sounding extremely mean. It just got better and better. Nancy was fond of baby Ellen, and knew that she’d look even more adorable in the clothes; Rita simply didn’t have the time to go out and hunt down new ones. As for Violet, Nancy couldn’t begrudge her the loan of anything, seeing as she’d been so good with Georgie and had gone through the hell of losing Eddy. Nancy sometimes was taken aback when Georgie spontaneously asked for Violet before anyone else, including her, if anything went wrong, but she found it hard to resent her sister-in-law. She was too sunny-tempered to fall out with. On a day like today, Nancy felt she might not ever fall out with anyone ever again. Even the prospect of hand-washing her delicate blouse and treating it with Reckitt’s Blue didn’t quench her joy. Despite everything, life was good.
Kitty looked around at the station as they drew in, recognising it as Crewe. She had changed here on several occasions and it was always crowded, its platforms thronged with servicemen and -women in all sorts of uniforms, many with big kitbags. There were often wounded personnel being escorted to hospitals around the country. No wonder the one on Linacre Lane in Bootle was so keen for Rita to return. The knock-on effect of D-day and the ongoing campaign in France meant a steady stream of injured Allies returning for treatment, and everywhere was feeling the strain.
It was also the station where she’d first met Laura, she thought, and laughed at the memory. Kitty had been nervous about leaving home for the first time, shut in a carriage with some young and impudent soldiers, when a very posh voice had asked her to shove up, then the young woman – Laura, as it transpired – had handed round cake. Now Kitty was meeting her here again, but she was unsure what the urgency was. Still, she knew Laura wasn’t given to panicking or hare-brained schemes, so she must really need to see her about something. Kitty had been happy to give up one of her precious days of leave to learn what it was all about.
She checked her watch as she left the train. Laura should be arriving in a few minutes if her train was on time, but Kitty didn’t hold out much hope of that. She wandered along to the end of the platform to get some fresh air, away from the milling crowd. A small group of young women in civvies stood anxiously waiting, and Kitty wondered if they were expecting the arrival of wounded loved ones. How hard that must be. Yet at least they wouldn’t be left high and dry like poor Violet.
By a miracle only twenty minutes late the London train was announced, and Kitty positioned herself for a good view of everyone getting off. It was bound to be busy and she didn’t want to miss her friend. As it turned out there was little chance of that, as Laura had chosen her most colourful dress in a bright geometric print in red, white and blue.
‘Do you think I look terrifically patriotic?’ she greeted Kitty, swinging a neat leather weekend bag by its handle. ‘I chose it specially. I like to think I bring a little cheer into the travelling public’s life. What do you say?’ She twirled theatrically and several more dowdily clad women turned and frowned.
‘I bet you do that all right,’ grinned Kitty. ‘And there was I wondering if I’d be able to spot you. Come on, let’s grab a cuppa, there’s a counter over there.’
They made their way to a neighbouring platform where a queue of people was waiting for refreshments. The buffet was large and airy, with an intricately patterned tiled floor, and in peacetime had probably been a pleasant place in which to unwind between journeys, but today it was bursting at the seams.
‘Do you mind if we don’t?’ asked Laura, peering dubiously into the big room. ‘I’d like a smidgeon of privacy if at all possible. There’s a hotel next to the station – maybe we could go there.’
‘Of course,’ said Kitty, happy to go along with Laura’s suggestion.
She followed her friend as she swiftly wove her way through the exit and round to the hotel, which was indeed directly next to the station, and watched as Laura with her trademark combination of charm and determination secured them a quiet table in the bar area, next to a window. ‘There, you see,’ she said. ‘Peace and quiet and a bit of a breeze. Just what we need.’
Kitty nodded. ‘Let’s get a lemonade,’ she suggested. Keeping up with Laura was hot work. They ordered their drinks and she settled down to find out what all this was about.
‘So …’ she said.
Laura pushed a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear, then opened her weekend bag and drew out a book. ‘I’m not quite sure how to begin,’ she admitted. ‘I’m so glad you agreed to meet me, Kitty. You might think I’m going crazy, but at least you’ll understand.’
‘Whatever is it?’ asked Kitty, slightly worried now. ‘Are you in trouble of some kind?’
‘No, nothing like that. Well, no more than usual. My fellow drivers hate me now they’ve found out about Peter, but it’s just silly jealousy,’ Laura sighed. ‘Makes me realise how lucky you and I were to find each other and Marjorie. Kindred spirits, that’s what we were. There’s rather a lack of harmony in the current crew. Anyway, that’s by the bye.’ She opened the book and a scrappy piece of paper fell out. ‘Take a look at that.’
Kitty leant forward and picked it up, reading the brief message and turning it over. ‘Back soon. Safe and well. Don’t worry.’ She looked up at Laura with a puzzled frown. ‘Is that it? That’s all there is? Who’s it from?’
Laura told her of the strange man in the park and how she’d thought it was one of Peter’s little jokes to begin with. ‘It isn’t, though,’ she said. ‘I actually asked him – his uncle’s flat has a telephone and I managed to make a call to his base. Fearfully lucky to have got through, and of course I couldn’t stay on the line for long, but I would have felt like a proper twit if I hadn’t asked him. I just laughed and said it didn’t matter, there’s no point in worrying him.’
‘No,’ said Kitty, thinking hard. ‘But if it wasn’t him, then who has sent this?’
‘Exactly,’ said Laura. ‘Who do I know who is away from home?
‘Plenty of people we’ve trained or worked with, or people Peter knows,’ Kitty pointed out.
‘Yes, but who would go to the trouble?’ Laura asked. She paused. ‘Someone who thinks I might believe they’re sick or dead. Someone who wants me to know they’re all right.’ She raised her hands in the air and let them fall again and then blew out a long breath. ‘I’m trying not to get my hopes up …’
‘Oh.’ Kitty suddenly understood. She stared directly at her friend, trying to read her expression. ‘You think it could be Freddy.’
Laura wouldn’t meet her eye. ‘I know it’s unlikely – highly unlikely. But who else do I know who is far from home and cut off and would want to get a message to me like that?’
Kitty knew what she meant and yet didn’t want to give her friend false hope. ‘Laura, it’s been ages. He disappeared before we even met, didn’t he? It’ll be coming on for—’
‘Four years,’ said Laura dully. ‘Autumn 1940, it was. Look, I realise that’s a long time for anyone to be missing and then to suddenly communicate.’
Kitty reached across and took her friend’s hand. ‘It is, Laura. It really is. I suppose anything could happen, but it’s such a long shot.’
Laura shook her head, her usually carefree face now full of desperation. ‘But it might be, mightn’t it? In theory it’s possible, isn’t it? You see why I think I’m going crazy. I’ve been tormenting myself from the moment I saw it. It could just, just be him, alive after all that time.’
Kitty felt unbearably sorry for her friend, and yet she still didn’t feel convinced. ‘Then why now? Why wait for years? It doesn’t really make sense, does it?’
‘I agree – but then I can’t help wondering what if …?’ Laura said. ‘What if he’s been captured and brainwashed or something, what if he’s been held somewhere against his will all this time? And then I thought – with D-day and us gaining more and more territory in France – whether he might be there, whether circumstances have changed somehow, and he’s finally been able to communicate … Oh, I don’t know. You’re not convinced, I can see it on your face.’
Kitty bit her lip. ‘Maybe, but it’s still such a long shot.’
Laura slumped in her chair, all the fight leaving her. ‘It is, you’re right. It’s probably those beastly drivers ganging up and playing a cruel prank.’
‘They don’t know about Freddy, do they?’ Kitty asked. She thought it highly unlikely that Laura would have made her situation generally known, given how painful her brother’s disappearance was for her.
‘No, I wouldn’t tell anyone I wasn’t close to,’ Laura confirmed. ‘It’s too awful to explain over and over again. Really it’s just you, Marjorie, Peter and now his uncle who know all the details. Naturally I was going to jump to the conclusion it was from Freddy, but I suppose it could be from someone I haven’t thought of, or it’s possible that it was delivered to me by mistake. I have no idea who the man was, and he could have handed it to the wrong person – it could have been meant for someone else entirely.’
‘Yes, that’s the problem,’ Kitty said gently but firmly. ‘There’s just not enough evidence to go on at the moment. You don’t want to be adding two and two and making five.’
‘But how about the paper?’ Laura tried one last shot. ‘Don’t you think it looks a bit French?’
‘Well, it’s a tatty piece of paper that looks as if it’s been scrunched up and unscrunched scores of times,’ Kitty said carefully. ‘But … French paper? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any.’
‘Oh, you know. The lines are a bit closer together. All right, I’ll stop, I can see you don’t believe me.’
‘I’d love to,’ Kitty assured her. ‘There’s nothing I’d love more than for this note to be from your brother, except I can’t honestly say I think it is. If it was, it would be nothing short of miraculous.’ She took a long sip of her lemonade, which was blissfully cool on the hot summer day.
‘That’s why I needed to talk to you,’ Laura said. ‘I knew you’d listen to my muddled theory but be kind about it. Thank you, Kitty, and for giving up your day off when I’m sure you could have found plenty of other more fun things to do.’ She sat up and took a drink from her own glass. ‘So, tell me, what is it like being home? Are you finding new ways to have fun? I do hope so. It has to be livelier than where you were before, surely.’
Kitty smiled and ran her finger through the drops of condensation forming on the outside of her glass. ‘Not fun like we used to have, if that’s what you mean. I’m working too hard, but it’s lovely being back and seeing my family. I wrote to you about Tommy, didn’t I?’ She described the trouble she and Danny had had with him before he agreed to become a telegraph boy. ‘Then there’s Rita’s new baby, who’s lovely, although I’m a bit biased as she’s my goddaughter. And now Violet is having a baby too, which is the best thing that could happen after losing Eddy.’
‘I was so sorry to hear about that,’ said Laura sincerely. ‘You’re close to all that family, aren’t you?’
Kitty nodded. ‘Mind you, the older brother, Frank, is driving me mad. He works at Derby House and so I see him all the time. He’s an officer now and he’s so strict, a real stickler for detail, and he drives me round the bend. Even though I should be grateful to him as he’s found a bike for Tommy, he just has this way of getting my goat every time I see him.’ She finished the rest of her drink in one go, suddenly feeling far too hot.
Laura raised her eyebrows and gave a lopsided grin. ‘Well, well. Seems as if he really has got under your skin. Surely he can’t be that bad? Haven’t you known him all your life – is it only now that you see a different side to him?’
‘Maybe,’ said Kitty. ‘Or else, I’ve grown up and he can’t treat me like a little kid any more.’ She blotted out the few times in the past when she’d thought he saw her potentially as something else. ‘He’s too annoying for words.’
‘Interesting,’ said Laura mildly. ‘I’ve never seen you get het up like this about a man before. Are you sure that’s all there is to it?’
Kitty frowned. ‘Absolutely. Don’t go looking at me like that. You’re deliberately getting the wrong end of the stick. Anyway, he’s spoken for – he’s got a Wren girlfriend and she works at Derby House too.’
‘A regular family business, that place,’ said Laura, more cheerful now. ‘Isn’t another of your brothers there too, some super-sleuth type?’
Kitty, as ever, looked around before answering. She hated talking about what Danny actually did, even when there was nobody else about. Walls had ears.
‘That kind of thing,’ she said warily.
‘We should introduce him to Marjorie one day,’ mused Laura. ‘She might have outgrown her preference for Canadian pilots and be ready to settle down with a nice British boffin type.’
Kitty had to laugh. ‘He’s the least boffin-like boffin you could ever meet. Anyway, she wouldn’t like him. His hair’s too dark. She always likes them fair-haired.’
‘So she does.’ Laura nodded sagely. ‘I wonder where she is now.’
‘Don’t suppose we’ll find out for a very long time,’ said Kitty. ‘I wasn’t expecting to get any letters from her and I haven’t. I don’t think that should worry us too much, though.’
‘No, I suppose not. No news is good news when it comes to Marjorie. She’ll be doing a good job, whatever it is,’ Laura said fervently. ‘Oh, blast, look at the time. My train is due in fifteen minutes – not that I think it’ll be on time, but I’d better be getting back to the station. Can’t have Pa hanging around waiting for me, wondering where I’ve got to.’
They reached the platform and Kitty impulsively leant forward and hugged her friend. ‘I’m so glad we managed to meet up like this, Laura. You must let me know what happens. If I have any bright ideas, I’ll let you know too.’
Laura hugged her back. ‘Thank you so much for coming out of your way like this. I feel miles better. Don’t suppose you have any access to a phone? You being a telephone operator and all that?’
‘No, you’d better not start calling Derby House, you’ll start an international incident,’ Kitty warned her. ‘I wish we could take social calls, but it’s out of the question. Rita was talking about getting a telephone for the shop but, what with Ellen arriving, nothing has happened.’
Laura picked up her bag. ‘Well, see to it that you tell me if that changes. Meanwhile, don’t go killing your annoying friend of the family. I’m sure he’s far too valuable for the war effort.’
‘I’ll try,’ said Kitty wryly as her friend stepped towards the approaching train for the north. She waved as Laura turned at the door and did the same. Trust Laura to pick up on the underlying reason she was so annoyed with him. She’d just have to work harder at resisting the effect he always seemed to have on her.