The first face Kitty saw as they lifted her out of the rubble was Frank’s. He had been brought out just minutes before her – she’d heard the rescue party reach him and free him from the weight of the rubble. He had refused to go for treatment until he saw Kitty with his own eyes.
She was helped from the shattered remains of the building by an ARP warden, both of them covered in dust, but she was able to walk. Frank stepped towards her, took one look and then enveloped her in the hug he had promised her when they’d lain trapped under the weight of the collapsed block. ‘Kitty,’ he murmured, breathing in her hair, not caring about the dust. ‘You’re safe, you’re safe. See, I said you would be.’
She rested her face against his chest, ignoring the smears of earth and blood and dust. ‘You did. You were right. Oh, Frank, I thought we might die in there.’
He pulled back a little. ‘But we didn’t. And even if we had, yours would have been the last voice I’d have heard. The most beautiful sound in the world. My darling Kitty.’ He hugged her again, very carefully angling himself away from her left arm.
‘Now then, sir, this young lady has to go for treatment at once.’ The ARP warden spoke with sympathy but he wasn’t about to brook any objection. ‘And you need a transfusion, you’ve lost blood. Time enough for all of that when she’s been given the all-clear by the doctor. You’re still bleeding from your temple; you’re to go and get that sorted out.’
Frank reluctantly let Kitty go, but before the ARP warden could direct them to the first-aiders, there was a minor commotion and somebody in a Wren uniform pushed through the crowd. ‘There you are. Hoped I’d be in time. You’re to come with me, admiral’s orders.’
‘Laura!’ Kitty exclaimed. ‘How did you know where we were?’
‘Miss, these people are to go to the first-aid post,’ the warden said sternly, but Laura was having none of it.
‘Which will no doubt be completely overwhelmed with the number of injured from this site, so I’m here to take these two to somewhere less crowded,’ she said blithely. ‘Don’t worry, they’ll get the best possible medical treatment. The admiral’s car is over there, waiting specially.’ The warden stood back, too busy to argue the point, and Laura swiftly ushered them across the remains of the road to where a smart black limousine was parked. ‘Get in and I’ll explain,’ she said.
Frank helped Kitty get into the back seat and then followed her, resting his arm around her uninjured shoulder to make sure she sat upright and didn’t jar her damaged arm. ‘So you’re Laura,’ he said.
‘And you must be Frank,’ she said, pulling away from the kerb, meeting his eyes in the rear-view mirror. ‘I’ve heard so much about you.’ She smiled wickedly.
Kitty couldn’t keep up the pretence of light-heartedness any longer. ‘But how did you know we were there?’
‘Oh, well.’ Laura swerved neatly around a pothole. ‘What’s the point of being Peter’s girlfriend if I don’t make use of the connections? To hell with lying low. When you didn’t turn up this evening, I thought something must be up, so I rang the admiral and he rang some other people and found you’d been at that extra meeting earlier, and that a V2 had hit there just after it finished. I put two and two together, he lent me the car, and Bob’s your uncle.’
‘I see,’ said Frank, slightly overwhelmed by his first encounter with Laura.
‘Anyway, I’m taking you to his doctor and then back to his flat. You’ll need to rest up.’
‘We’re back on duty tomorrow,’ Kitty said, her voice faint; the movement of the car was jolting her arm, even though Frank was shielding her. ‘We’re going back to Liverpool.’
‘No you’re not,’ said Laura. ‘Not till you’re better. That goes for both of you. Don’t worry, the admiral’s cleared it. You’re to have an extra night or two at the flat, which I should say you’ll find very acceptable, it’s a jolly nice place.’ She grew serious again. ‘Honestly, it’s all right. You did the service a favour by attending the other meeting, and then you got caught up in all this – so this is the least they can do. Peter’s uncle was adamant, and you don’t say no to him when he’s in that kind of mood.’
‘Won’t the doctor mind? It’s the middle of the night,’ Kitty protested.
‘Don’t you worry,’ Laura predicted. ‘He works shifts like all of us. Didn’t you say Frank’s sisters were nurses? Then you’ll know all about it,’ she went on. But silence greeted her remark and, looking in the mirror again, Laura realised her passengers had fallen asleep in each other’s arms, worn out by the strain of the evening, but able to let go now they were finally, against the odds, safe.
Nancy felt numb. She couldn’t even cry. She sat on the early morning bus as the dawn rose, the devastated city centre stark in the pale light. It looked as cold as the chip of ice now buried in her heart.
The evening had started so well. Gary had bought her the best food there was to be found, almost as if there wasn’t a war on: delicious beef, followed by a fruit pudding with an unbelievable amount of sugar whipped into fancy swirls all around it. Then they’d ordered drinks in their room, before sinking into the soft bed with its gorgeous linen sheets, and she’d showed him how much she loved him and how a real hero was to be treated. Her body had hummed with delight, and when they’d finished she felt as if she was floating on air. What he’d said next, however, had brought her down with a bump.
‘So, it’s time to say goodbye.’
She’d thought he was referring to his return to active service, but it soon became clear he meant it for good.
‘But why?’ Nancy couldn’t understand it. They were meant for each other, and he should be asking her to come back to America with him, not dumping her as if she’d been some toy he’d been playing with. ‘Don’t you want us to be together for ever?’
Gary had leant back against the pillows and stretched his arms above his head. ‘Now what makes you think that? Sure, we’ve had a swell time while I’ve been here in Liverpool. But anyone can see the fighting’s drawing to a close. I’ll be back home in America with my wife—’
‘Your wife?’ Nancy had exclaimed, going white.
‘Sure, my wife. What, did you think I didn’t have one?’
‘You’ve taken your time mentioning her,’ Nancy said, stung into asperity.
‘Never said I wasn’t married though,’ Gary replied evenly. ‘I didn’t promise you anything, did I? And anyway, you aren’t exactly free yourself.’
‘What do you mean?’
Gary had shaken his head and given a short bark of a laugh. ‘Oh, come on. That first night we met, you said you had a little boy. So I reckon you’re as married as I am.’
Nancy had felt sick. She’d spent so long pushing Sid to the back of her mind that she’d almost managed to convince herself that he didn’t exist, and had reassured herself that Gary would make the inconvenient problem go away somehow. In a matter of moments, her ticket to future happiness had disappeared in a puff of smoke. She couldn’t bring herself to believe it.
Now she sat on the almost empty bus as it slowly drove back to Bootle and knew that the dream was over. Damn Gary for his good looks and charming ways. He was no better than the rest of them. Gloria had been right – he had been too good to be true, but Nancy had been so dazzled by him she hadn’t been able to see it. How she longed for her best friend at a time like this. Gloria was away with ENSA, though, and not due to return to England any time soon, much less come to Merseyside. Nancy was back on her own.
Wearily she dragged herself off the bus when it reached her stop, the cold wind chilling her through her best clothes, worn for glamour and not to keep out the weather. She sucked in her cheeks in order not to give in to the mounting need to sob out loud. She wouldn’t. He wasn’t worth it. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. He certainly wouldn’t be crying, setting off with his men, leading them back to the final and decisive fight that he was sure was just over the horizon. He’d be laughing, thinking about going back to his accommodating wife at home. A fat lot of use he’d turned out to be.
Nancy thought this was just about as low as she’d ever felt, that life couldn’t throw anything more at her to make things worse. Then she rounded the corner into Empire Street and saw the gathering of people outside her parents’ front door, and two policemen.
‘Do you think you can sleep now?’ Laura asked anxiously as Kitty propped herself against the dark oak headboard. Her arm had been strapped and put in a sling, and she’d been told not to lie down fully as her ribs were bruised. The spare room at the admiral’s flat was the most luxurious she’d ever seen, with its plush furnishings and little touches of comfort, added to by Laura. A glass of water and some tablets were left on the bedside table in case she felt pain on waking.
‘Yes, I’ll be all right.’ Kitty was beginning to feel guilty at all the attention she was getting, even though she told herself not to be stupid. ‘What about you? Where will you go?’
‘I’ve got the admiral’s room – no, he’s not going to be in there,’ Laura said hurriedly. ‘He rang his housekeeper and had her make up the bed for me.’
‘So what about Frank?’ Kitty fretted, unable to accept he might have drawn the short straw after all he’d just been through.
‘He’ll take the sofa. No, don’t worry, it’s a very big and comfortable sofa,’ Laura assured her. ‘He wants to come in to see you now you’re settled. Is that all right?’
Kitty’s face broke into a smile. ‘Oh, yes.’
‘So I was right about him all along, was I?’ Laura asked, just a little smugly. ‘I’ll leave you two in peace, then. Night night. Or what’s left of it. It’s pretty well morning, but we won’t worry about that just now.’ She slipped from the room and Frank came in.
He sat carefully on the edge of the bed and took Kitty’s right hand.
‘How are you now?’ he asked.
‘Not too bad at all,’ said Kitty staunchly. ‘The doctor was marvellous, wasn’t he? Staying up for us like that. He’s patched me up good and proper. What about you, though? That was a nasty cut on the side of your head and you didn’t say a thing about it. I was a bit worried when you kept fading away.’
‘It’s nothing.’ Frank grinned. ‘Believe me, I’ve had worse.’ He tapped his leg. ‘Now that was pretty bad, I don’t mind admitting, after all this time. What a good job I had the false leg though. The ARP man took one look at it and noticed how crushed it was – if it had been my other good leg, I could have bled to death from the injury. So, in a strange way, it saved me.’
Kitty squeezed his hand. ‘Then I’m glad too. I couldn’t have borne it if you hadn’t survived, Frank. You mean the world to me, I see that now.’ She sighed but her eyes were bright, full of the knowledge that what was happening between them was exactly right. ‘Thank you for all you said when we were trapped down there. I might have given up hope without you.’
‘Nonsense.’ He squeezed her hand back. ‘You’re made of steel, Kitty Callaghan. You might not look tough but I know you are. You weren’t going to give up, not for a minute.’ He gazed into her deep blue eyes. ‘I just wish I could lie down here with you and take you in my arms like I’ve longed to do for so long.’
She grinned at him. ‘Well, you can’t. Doctor’s orders. Or at least,’ she added, ‘only if you’re very careful.’
‘As long as I know you want to as well,’ he breathed. She shuffled cautiously and he stretched out beside her.
Kitty looked at him seriously. ‘Frank, you’re the man I’ve wanted ever since I was old enough to know what these feelings meant. I can’t wait to be with you properly. You are my only love, and the thought of being without you is more than I can bear.’
He moved towards her and kissed her gently, careful not to jolt her arm. ‘There, that’s just for starters,’ he said. ‘We need never be separated again, Kitty. When you’re well again we can celebrate properly. Make up for lost time.’ He folded her into his arms, stroking her back, breathing against her neck, closing his eyes, and taking in all the sensations that were pulsing through him.
Kitty sighed and stroked him back with her good arm, burrowing her forehead against his chest, where she fitted as if she was made to be there. Finally she gave a little sigh. ‘Frank … I’m sorry, I can’t keep my eyes open any longer.’
‘Then sleep tight, my darling Kitty,’ he said softly, carefully releasing her, but she was already asleep. He curled around her, vowing that this would be the beginning of many years of their lives together. Slowly he too fell asleep on top of the covers, one arm resting around Kitty’s waist, protecting her from whatever the fates could send her way, for ever.
‘So you are the little boy’s mother, Mrs … Mrs …’
‘Kerrigan,’ Nancy said between gritted teeth to the policeman. She thought she really was going to be sick. Never in her wildest dreams did she think this would ever happen to her, that her little Georgie would go missing. She was trembling with shock as she sat on her mother’s settee. Violet had gone to fetch her a cup of tea.
‘And you were not at home last night?’
‘I’ve told you already,’ she gasped. ‘I was with a friend in town and Georgie was staying with his cousin Tommy for a treat. Well, they’re as good as cousins. He’d been going on about it for ages, but we only decided he could do it a couple of days ago.’
The policeman nodded. He’d been over and over the story to see if anyone’s statement didn’t match, but they had all said the same thing. Nobody outside the immediate families would have known the boy was there. It made no sense that someone could have planned to snatch him in advance. The family members themselves seemed very unlikely suspects; he’d been surrounded by anxious enquiries and offers of hot drinks and biscuits since he arrived, everyone clearly desperate to find the little boy. The grandfather had wanted to stay home from his salvage job, but the policeman had persuaded him to go, with a promise of getting a message to him if anything changed.
‘And there’s no likelihood he would have gone home and your mother-in-law has him?’ he asked.
Nancy shook her head vehemently. ‘No, there’s no likelihood of that at all.’
The policeman nodded again. His colleague had gone to check that for himself, but he’d wanted to hear the mother’s answer nonetheless.
‘So do you have any idea of who would have wanted to take him?’ he persisted.
Nancy looked up to the heavens. Years ago, before Sid had joined up, he’d run with a pretty rough crowd, and had even had the local gangland boss Harry Calendar’s sister as his fancy piece. But that was all water under the bridge. None of his old mates had bothered calling by to see if there had been any news about him since he’d been taken prisoner after Dunkirk. They probably didn’t even know of Georgie’s existence.
‘No, I can’t think of anyone.’ She accepted the tea from Violet and sipped it, but it made her feel sicker than ever.
‘Well, it looks as if he was frightened by this burglar who attacked your sister. We’ll enquire at every house to see if they know anything,’ the policeman said reassuringly, but Nancy’s mind was not put at rest by this. Everyone on Empire Street knew what was going on in everyone else’s houses. There wasn’t much of a chance Georgie could be anywhere nearby.
She bent forward, hunching her shoulders, her head in her hands. Georgie, her little boy. She knew she’d been selfish and taken advantage of her family’s willingness to look after him whenever she fancied going out, which was often. She hadn’t been the best mother to him, in all honesty, but he was the centre of her world. Without him her life had no purpose. The hurt and humiliation of the last twelve hours had been stripped away, leaving one clear fact: Georgie mattered more than anything. She had to get him back.
The policeman was still talking to her, she realised, and she looked up at him with a tear-stained face. ‘Try not to worry, Mrs Kerrigan,’ he said as he moved to leave.
Nancy watched him go with no faith that he would find her child. He gave her the impression he thought Georgie had run away and was hiding somewhere close, but she knew he’d been looking forward to staying with Tommy for ages, and wouldn’t have left voluntarily in a month of Sundays. Even if he had been scared he would have gone to Tommy for comfort, or to Dolly and Pop’s house.
Violet came and sat beside her, passing her a hanky. ‘Here, take this.’
Nancy nodded gratefully and wiped her face. ‘Thank you.’ She sat up straight again. ‘What really happened, Violet? How can my boy have run off?’
Violet shook her head. ‘I don’t believe he did. He wouldn’t leave us, even if he was scared by a burglar.’
‘Where’s Sarah now?’ Nancy wondered, realising she hadn’t seen her younger sister that morning in all the chaos.
‘She’s sleeping. She looks awful; she got beaten up quite badly. She can’t remember much about it.’ Violet bit her lip. ‘I think Rita gave her something to help her sleep.’
‘What about Tommy?’
‘He’s sleeping too, he’s been up half the night,’ Violet explained, but even as she spoke the door opened and Tommy came in, looking white-faced but determined.
‘Tommy!’ Nancy stood up and went over to him. ‘What happened?’
‘Are you all right?’ Violet broke in. ‘You’re meant to be in bed.’
Tommy shook his head. ‘I can’t sleep. I keep thinking and thinking. What if it’s my fault? I forgot to bolt the back door.’
‘Don’t be daft, you aren’t to blame,’ Violet said hurriedly. The boy had enough to worry about, without that extra burden of guilt. ‘You locked it, the policeman checked and saw it had been broken.’
‘So tell me what happened,’ Nancy insisted.
Tommy drew a deep breath and tried as best he could to explain. He’d been asleep with Georgie in his room and had woken up when he heard a noise – he wasn’t sure what it was. He’d had a nightmare, but now he reckoned that was the back door being forced open and all the activity beyond his bedroom door. Then there was another noise, which he now realised was Sarah stumbling on the stairs. He’d got up and found Georgie’s little camp bed was empty – then gone out and seen Sarah on the stairs, blood on her nightdress. They’d checked the house together and found no Georgie but a broken lock on the back door.
‘Sarah didn’t see who broke in, but she sort of recognised the voice,’ Tommy added. ‘Whoever it was thought she was Kitty; he kept calling her Kitty.’
‘But who would want to hurt Kitty?’ Nancy wondered aloud. Kitty was one of those people who simply didn’t have enemies. If it had been Danny, that would have been another matter – then again, nobody who knew Danny would be likely to risk breaking into his house like that. ‘Can we wake Sarah up and ask her to try to remember some more?’
‘I think we’ll have to wait,’ Violet cautioned her. ‘She was in a pretty bad way and, like I said, Rita gave her a sedative or something.’
Tommy balled his fists in frustration. ‘We’ve got to do something.’
‘I can’t sit here till she wakes up,’ Nancy burst out. ‘Every second counts. He could be freezing to death somewhere. He’ll be frightened. We have to find him. Think, who could have done this?’ She paced across the room, holding her arms tight across her stomach as if to keep in the pain. She still hadn’t taken off her coat.
Violet sat on the edge of the settee and screwed up her face. ‘I don’t know … but there was something odd, back before Christmas. I don’t rightly remember, I was so near my time and I wasn’t quite thinking straight.’ She took a breath, trying desperately to recall the stray comment over breakfast one day. ‘Pop was coming home from his ARP round and he said he’d seen someone hanging around your front door, Tommy. He didn’t do anything official about it because the fellow scarpered as soon as he saw him. He thought it was someone he knew.’ She paused again, then her expression changed as the name came to her. ‘Alfie Delaney. He said it looked like Alfie Delaney.’
Tommy gave a gasp of recognition. ‘Alfie. It has to be him. You know when he conned me into getting drunk that time? I remember now. He kept wanting to talk about our Kitty. It struck me as odd at the time, but I got in so much trouble for going to the pub that I didn’t say anything. He wouldn’t shut up though. Wanted to know if she had a boyfriend, what she did, where she went, who with. His voice went all funny when he spoke about her.’ He shivered in disgust at the memory.
‘Right, I’m going to tell one of those policemen who must still be on our street,’ said Violet, getting up, full of purpose. ‘They can go round his mother’s house and see if he was in last night. That’s a start.’
‘Tell him to check if his car’s there,’ Tommy said suddenly. ‘He loves his car.’
Violet nodded. ‘Right, I’m off. Mam is with the twins upstairs, but you’ll keep an ear out for them, won’t you?’ She ran out before either of them could answer.
Nancy looked at Tommy. ‘We don’t need to stay here for the twins. Mam can cope fine without our help. We should go and see if we can find that Alfie.’
For a moment Tommy looked dubious, and terribly young. Then he nodded. ‘Come on then.’