‘I really wish I could see you sing again tonight,’ said Nancy ruefully, sipping a cup of tea as Gloria brushed a slight crease out of the gown hanging in her dressing room. ‘I can’t manage it though. I’ve asked everyone if they can take Georgie, but they’re all too busy.’ She knew she’d been pushing it recently and now Dolly had told her firmly that this was taking advantage and it had to stop.
‘Never mind, you came to the first concert and cheered me on,’ said Gloria. ‘It’s always good to have a friendly face in the front row. Gives me confidence.’ She flashed her big smile.
‘You don’t need that, Glor, you must be used to it all by now,’ exclaimed Nancy, surprised. ‘You’ve been doing it for years.’
‘Still get those last-minute nerves though,’ admitted Gloria, patting her tummy. ‘I wouldn’t perform as well without them, but I do appreciate it when you’re there, clapping.’
‘Well, me and Gary,’ said Nancy.
Gloria sat down opposite her. ‘Oh yes, Gary. How is he? Have you seen him over Christmas?’
Nancy’s eyes brightened. ‘Yes, we had a wonderful afternoon at this gorgeous little hotel right near the station. It wasn’t as swish as the Adelphi’s rooms but it wasn’t far off. It was my extra present, he said.’ Her expression grew dreamy as she remembered just how exciting the afternoon had been.
‘You’re taking a bit of a risk doing something like that,’ Gloria pointed out as she reached for a nail file.
Nancy shrugged. ‘Not really. The place was deserted, quiet as the grave it was. Anyway, it shows how much he cares for me.’
Gloria gave her a quizzical look. ‘Suppose so. He seems too good to be true, your Gary.’
‘Oh, he is.’ Nancy’s face lit up. ‘He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Gloria. Well, apart from Georgie,’ she added quickly. ‘He keeps telling me about his home and how lovely it is. I think he’s preparing the way.’
‘What for?’ asked Gloria.
Nancy shrugged. ‘Well, I think he’s going to ask me to go back there with him.’
Gloria shook her head. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You know. Like one of those GI brides.’
Gloria gave her friend a sharp look. ‘Hang on there, Nancy. Wait a minute. You can’t marry him. You’re married already – never mind that there’s Georgie to consider as well.’
Nancy shook her hair, which she was wearing loose today, clipped back with a glittery grip that Gary had given her. ‘I’m sure he’ll find a way somehow. That’s how much he cares for me, Glor. Anyway we don’t know if Sid is coming home or not, do we? All those years he’s been away, anything could happen.’
Gloria raised her eyebrows. It was true she didn’t have much time for Sid Kerrigan, the cheater and would-be Mr Big, but the man had served all these years as a POW, and after enduring Dunkirk too. He couldn’t be erased from Nancy’s life quite so conveniently. Also, her initial distrust on first meeting Gary was growing by the minute.
‘Nancy,’ she said steadily, ‘don’t take this the wrong way, but are you sure he’s not married? Older man, good-looking, knows how to please women … doesn’t that give you pause for thought?’
‘God, Gloria, I thought you were my friend!’ Nancy exclaimed hotly. ‘What do you want to say a thing like that for? Of course he’s not married, he’d have said. He’s a good man, Gary is. That’s exactly the kind of remark Mam would make. Fine sort of friend you are.’
‘That’s why I’m saying it,’ Gloria told her. ‘I’m not judging you, Nancy. You know me better than that. I’m just asking the obvious question. He might still be a good man – people keep secrets, that’s all. You do.’
Nancy puffed angrily. ‘You’re only saying that because you’re jealous. You don’t have anyone like him.’ Then her hand flew to her mouth as she realised what she’d said.
Gloria simply looked at her for a long moment. Then she stood up. ‘No, as you so rightly say, I don’t have anyone like him. I did, though. Giles died saving me and I never forget it, not for one single day. He’s gone and I can’t change that. Doesn’t mean I can’t see what’s going on right under my nose though.’ She turned and put the nail file back in the little pearly pink case with a gold clasp that contained the rest of her neatly organised manicure set. ‘I don’t want to quarrel with you, Nancy. You’re my best and oldest friend. Be careful, that’s all. Don’t let your dreams take you too far from what you’ve already got.’
Nancy stood as well, pushing the little dressing stool under the shabby counter, littered with make-up and brushes. ‘No. I know. I’m sorry I said that, Glor. I didn’t mean nothing by it.’ She hung her head and her beautiful Titian hair swung down like a glossy curtain, obscuring her features. She couldn’t bear to catch sight of herself in the speckled mirror. How could she have flung that at her best friend, who’d quietly mourned Giles ever since that dreadful night when the bomb had killed him as he’d shielded Gloria from the blast.
‘I know. Come here.’ Gloria opened her arms and Nancy fell into them, hugging her friend tightly. ‘Wish me luck for later, then you’re going to have to go. I’ve got to speak to the Liverpool Post and then get ready properly. Just be careful, won’t you?’
‘Break a leg,’ said Nancy as brightly as she could. She hated it when Gloria left her behind. ‘And I’ll be careful, course I will.’ She gave her one last hug and then left the little room, making her way to the stage door and out into the sharp winter air. She’d hurry back and rescue Georgie from his detested Granny Kerrigan, because she really needed her family to do her a favour at New Year’s Eve, which she planned to spend with Gary. Her mind flew again to the wonderful hours they’d spent together in the discreet hotel. In fact they’d had such a marvellous time that for once they had forgotten to be quite as careful as usual. But she wasn’t going to worry about that now. Gary would look after her, no matter what, of that she was completely convinced.
Rita stood at the sink in the kitchen behind the shop and rinsed out her cup. She had dearly wanted to spend New Year’s Eve with all her children, but she’d been called in to do a night shift and she couldn’t let the hospital down. At least Maeve would be on duty too, and so they could spend the time cheering up the patients, saying goodbye to 1944 and welcoming in 1945. She couldn’t begin to guess what this year would bring.
Ruby came into the room behind her, a big ledger under her arm. Rita turned and smiled.
‘Don’t tell me you’re going to see in the new year by doing the accounts, Ruby,’ she said. ‘Let them go for once.’
Ruby shook her heard, her pale blonde hair bobbing as she did so. ‘No, they are all up to date now. Everything tallies.’ She put the ledger down proudly. ‘We made a profit this year, Rita. You don’t have to worry like you used to.’
Rita let out a breath she hadn’t even realised she’d been holding, but the very sight of the ledger always made her anxious, ever since that awful time when the shop had nearly gone bust. They’d have lost their main source of income and maybe the roof over their heads as well. Now, even though she knew she didn’t have to panic – Jack’s wages would always provide for them – the deep instinct was still there. ‘Ruby, you are a marvel,’ she said with real feeling. ‘I can’t begin to think how we managed without you.’ Badly, she recalled. It was Ruby’s unexpected gift for reading columns of figures that had set them on the right road. ‘So, if you aren’t balancing the books, how are you spending the evening? Are you going over to Mam’s with the children?’
Ruby’s face took on a bashful expression. ‘She’s very kind. She asked me.’
‘Of course,’ said Rita. ‘You’re part of the family and Michael and Megan would love you to be there.’
Ruby nodded. ‘I know. They asked me. It’s been so lovely spending Christmas with them, they’ve grown so big. All the same …’ She looked away.
‘You don’t have to say, I’m only teasing,’ Rita assured her, wondering what could be so important that Ruby would turn down the chance to spend the last evening with the children before Joan and Seth arrived tomorrow to take them back to the farm. She hoped Ruby wasn’t intending to go out and return late, unlikely though it seemed. The children would have to sleep upstairs, as there would be no room with Dolly and Pop, especially as they had agreed yet again to have Georgie to stay.
Ruby bit her lip and looked at the ceiling. ‘I’m having a visitor.’
‘A visitor?’ Rita asked with interest.
‘Yes.’ Ruby’s voice grew a little more confident. ‘Mr James asked me to spend this evening with him and I said no, I can’t go out because I’m looking after Michael and Megan later. That’s right, isn’t it?’
‘Well, yes, that’s what I’d hoped,’ said Rita.
‘So I asked him to come round for the evening,’ Ruby went on, ‘and he said yes. He’s going to teach me to play chess. He promised ages ago, but his father was sick and he couldn’t come before now. Old Mr James is better now so Reggie can come after all.’ Her face glowed with excitement.
‘Chess?’ Rita echoed in astonishment. If only Winnie could see the young woman now, she thought. Her late mother-in-law had treated Ruby with nothing but meanness. She’d been horrible to Rita too, but Rita had had the support of her family to fall back on. Ruby had had nobody, no reason to disbelieve the common opinion that she was soft in the head and good for nothing. Maybe Winnie could indeed see her, from wherever she had been consigned to in the afterlife. Rita remonstrated with herself – Winnie must have had her good points once, she supposed; it was just by the time Rita had met her, they’d been well hidden. For years Rita had blamed herself for the failure of her own first marriage, but the cruelty Winnie had shown Ruby, never admitting that she was her daughter, palming her off to endure being raised by spiteful Elsie Lowe, then putting it about that Ruby was simple once she had come back into her life, never ceased to amaze Rita every time she thought about it. She could not understand how a mother could treat her own child like that – Michael, Megan and Ellen were worth more than life itself to her.
Even so, how would Ruby take to chess? The only person Rita knew who could play was Danny, and he’d taken it up only recently. You had to have a certain sort of mind, people said. Yet perhaps Ruby did. While she still struggled with plenty of everyday activities, she was strangely talented in many other ways, and so perhaps this would be another one of them.
‘Yes, he said it’s all about seeing patterns, and I can do that,’ Ruby said, growing more assured by the minute. ‘I’m really looking forward to it.’
Rita nodded in astonishment but in admiration too. ‘Make sure you get out the special Christmas biscuits that Kitty made,’ she said. Impulsively she leant forward and gave Ruby a hug. ‘I hope you have a lovely evening. I’ll take Michael and Megan over to Mam’s and then go straight to the hospital. I’ll see you in the morning.’
Ruby smiled, even though she had never really taken to being hugged. ‘Happy New Year, Rita.’
Sarah drew her nurse’s cloak around her as she headed along the dock road, battling against the wind. Just when she could have done with getting off shift early, there had been an emergency and she’d had to stay late. It was thankfully nothing to do with the war, but a young boy who’d come in with appendicitis. The surgeon had caught it in the nick of time. Then again, she thought, even this relatively common incident had been affected by the war after all, as the boy’s father was away fighting in France, his mother had been killed in the Liverpool Blitz and the aunt who was caring for him had had to find somebody to look after her own two younger children before she could come to visit. So it had fallen to Sarah to sit with the young patient as he regained consciousness, and reassure him that he would soon be well again and that a familiar face would be with him any minute.
As she neared her front door, Tommy and Danny emerged from theirs.
‘Happy New Year, Sarah!’ Tommy called, his new scarf blowing behind him in the strong breeze. Dolly had knitted it for him for Christmas, as he’d confessed to losing his other one. ‘I’m coming over to yours for the evening. Aunty Dolly said I could.’
‘Of course you are,’ said Sarah. ‘How about you, Danny? Where are you off to?’ She hadn’t seen him to speak to properly since that incident in the kitchen on Christmas Day, what with working at the hospital and helping with the chaos the twins’ arrival had brought. ‘Are you going to see in the New Year with us?’ She tried to keep the hope out of her voice. She didn’t want to sound desperate, and it was a perfectly reasonable assumption that he’d come with Tommy, after all. She grinned at him; she’d make time to see him on his own, and find out if he was still in the same frame of mind as on that momentous night.
Danny looked at her, and she was sure that she wasn’t imagining it when he took a second longer than usual to reply. ‘No, I’ve got to go into town,’ he said.
‘Big party, is it?’ she asked lightly, trying to mask her disappointment. Who would have asked him? Who would be there?
He laughed. ‘No, not quite as exciting as that,’ he said. ‘I’ve got to go to work. Something’s up and they need me overnight. Not quite what I’d planned, but nobody else can do this particular task and so they’ve asked me.’
‘Oh, of course you have to go,’ said Sarah, at once sad that he wouldn’t be with them for the clock striking midnight, relieved that he wouldn’t be spending it with an unknown group of friends, and proud that he’d answered the call of duty without a quibble.
‘I’d rather spend it with you folks,’ Danny said, but it was impossible to read his face in the near-darkness. Did his voice carry an extra layer of meaning, or was it wishful thinking on her part? She couldn’t tell.
‘Come on, our Danny, it’s perishing out here.’ Tommy was all but jumping up and down on the spot.
‘All right, you go on in then,’ said Danny. ‘Er … how are the twins? I’ve scarcely had a chance to ask.’
‘They’re doing well. Violet’s managing to feed them and we got a special delivery of goodies from Joan and Seth, so she’s able to eat as much as she likes herself. She’s going to call the little girl Barbara.’
‘Oh, that’s a new one,’ said Danny. ‘Is that after anyone in her family? You haven’t got any Barbaras, have you?’
Sarah shivered in the cold air but tried not to let it show. ‘No, we haven’t, and Violet hasn’t either. She said she wanted something different, sort of a new beginning. But the middle name is to be Rita. Isn’t that lovely?’
Danny chuckled. ‘Well, that’s only right. She and Rita have been thick as thieves. Barbara Rita. Has a nice ring to it.’
Again, from the dim outline of his face, she thought he was gazing at her in a new way, but she couldn’t be sure, and wouldn’t put herself out on a limb by asking. She found herself tongue-tied. Part of her said this was ridiculous – here was the person she’d been able to tell anything, with whom she’d been totally relaxed for as long as she could remember. But suddenly the words just wouldn’t flow. ‘I’d … I’d best get in, they’ll be wondering where I am,’ she said. ‘Will I see you tomorrow?’
He shook his head. ‘Afraid not. I’m due back at Bletchley so I’ll have to start out first thing. One of the others whose parents live over in the Wirral is giving me a lift.’
‘Oh.’ Sarah didn’t know what to say. What was foremost in her mind felt too big, too important, to be rushed in a few seconds on a freezing cold street.
‘So, anyway, Happy New Year,’ said Danny, stepping towards her a little.
‘Yes. Yes, and to you too.’ She looked up at him and for a moment thought he was going to come even closer. But he reached out, touched her arm briefly and turned away.
Confused, disappointed, and yet sure that he’d meant something more than the simple words themselves, she took out her key and let herself in to the warm comfort of her noisy family home.
Kitty paused to look out of her office window at the darkening sky and what was visible of the city skyline. She’d been working in the Tactical Unit, allied to Derby House, and was the last to leave. New Year’s Eve. She cast her mind back to the previous one, when she’d still been down at the south coast. She’d had the afternoon off and had managed to meet up with Marjorie, and they’d had a chilly but bracing walk along the coast before finding a café serving an amazingly luxurious real hot chocolate, rich and sweet. She savoured the memory of the taste, better by far than any champagne or cocktail. Though maybe if Laura had been there she wouldn’t have agreed.
Kitty sighed as she straightened the small pile of paper; it would need to be attended to as soon as possible. She and Laura had exchanged Christmas cards, but neither of them had heard from Marjorie. They’d again reassured each other that no news was good news, but Kitty was beginning to lose faith in the phrase. She dreaded that the worst had happened. And how dreadful it was for Laura, to have finally come out of the horrible limbo of not knowing Freddy’s fate, only to be faced with an almost identical situation with one of her closest friends.
Nothing to be done about it, thought Kitty grimly, putting on her overcoat and picking up her bag. She didn’t particularly feel like celebrating with Marjorie’s fate hanging unresolved, but Tommy would expect her to join in the fun. After all, she told herself firmly, she should be glad of everything that had gone well in the past year. The course of the war, for one. The tide had well and truly turned and the Allies had continued to sweep through France. The end might finally be in sight. She wanted that more than anything, so that if Tommy did suddenly change his mind and sign up with the Merchant Navy, at least his life wouldn’t be in danger, or no more than it would normally be in peacetime.
She could be proud of herself too, for taking on this position and doing it well. It wasn’t big-headed to say so; she’d been praised by her superior officer only this last week, and she knew she commanded the respect of her colleagues. She and Danny had made a safe home for Tommy, and guided him into a relatively safe job; that was a very big thing to be thankful for. Rita had had her baby safely, Jack had had a few shore leaves in the last year, and he and Rita were happy at last, against all the odds. Violet had had twins and they were thriving, despite the tragedy of Eddy’s death, which they had all felt so deeply. So there was much to be thankful for.
If only Danny didn’t have to go back to his residential course. It wasn’t for ever, but they evidently thought so highly of him that he’d been selected to continue working on a special project. She would never have admitted it to him but, after that night when Alfie Delaney had tried to get into her house, she kept expecting him to try again. He wouldn’t dare if he knew Danny was there. Perhaps he didn’t know Danny was going away again. She would have to hope that was the case.
If Frank had still been living across the road she’d have felt much safer, but he’d gone back to his billet and she hadn’t seen him since Christmas, as their shifts hadn’t coincided. She paused as she drew her scarf around her neck – a soft, warm one in elegant royal blue, a present from Laura. Heaven only knew how she’d come by such a gorgeous thing. For a second Kitty imagined Frank draping the scarf around her neck, tying it gently, tucking it into her collar. She shook her head to dismiss the image. There was no point. Frank had Sylvia, and anyway, when all was said and done, Kitty was nothing to him but a kid sister, no matter what her professional ranking. All the same, that look in his eyes as he’d sat by her fire at Christmas, as they waited for news of the birth – and then the stolen dance to the gramophone record … She took a deep breath, checked the blackout blinds were in place, and left the office. She knew what her midnight wish would be, no matter how fanciful it seemed. It was just that she couldn’t see any way that it would come true in the next year.