Authors: Ellie Dean
Daisy gurgled and he looked down into the smiling little face and grinned back, remembering all the times he’d carried Frank’s sons against his heart. The memories were warm and happy, but the reality of knowing that only one of the three had survived this awful war, and that his own sons were now back in the army, was quite sobering.
‘You realise, of course, that you look quite ridiculous,’ Cordelia said with a twinkle in her eyes.
‘Aye, and you don’t look much better,’ he replied with a wink. ‘Can I get you anything before I go?’
She shook her head. ‘I have my book to read, and there’s always the wireless to keep me company.’ She gave a great sigh. ‘It’s such a nuisance being helpless like this,’ she muttered as she eyed the plaster on her arm.
‘You enjoy being lazy while you can,’ he said. ‘To be sure, there’ll be work for you enough when that’s taken off.’ He pulled on his long, heavy coat and yanked the knitted cap over his ears. ‘I’ll be back in time to help cook tea,’ he said before he turned and clumped down the cellar steps.
Harvey was already waiting impatiently by the back door, and as Ron waved him on ahead, he dashed off, jumping over the gate and disappearing along the alleyway that ran between the backs of the houses.
Ron felt the weight of his granddaughter tug round his neck, and heard her babbling happily as he plodded after the dog. It had been years since he’d done this, but with Rosie home and the whole glorious afternoon ahead of him, he felt as if he’d been given a new lease of life.
‘Ronan Reilly, what
do
you think you’re doing?’
‘Uh oh,’ he murmured to Daisy. ‘Looks like we’ve been rumbled.’ He kept his head down and lengthened his stride as Doris shouted from the bedroom window.
‘Come back
immediately
. I know you can hear me, Reilly. Don’t you
dare
pretend you can’t.’
Ron heard the slam of the sash window which had only just been repaired and hoped to goodness she hadn’t cracked the new glass in her temper. He quickened his pace again and was at the far end of the alleyway and starting the steep climb onto the hills by the time she could shout at him from the garden gate.
He ignored her furious demands and continued up the hill as Harvey raced ahead of him. Freedom was in the tough, windblown grass and gorse – in the sweep of the clear blue sky – and the sough of the breeze in the trees. This was a part of Daisy’s heritage, and although she was far too young to take much notice of it, he knew it was important to show it to her.
He reached the top and stood for a moment to catch his breath. The colours were bright on this early summer’s day, the air sweet with the smell of wild garlic and thyme and the salty sea which glittered in dazzling beauty beyond the white cliffs. The delicate blossom of apple and wild cherry drifted like confetti along with the feathery dandelion seeds, and the white heads of the cow parsley bobbed beside the Michaelmas daisies underneath the elderflower trees, which were almost in full bloom now.
From his vantage point above the valley, Ron could see fields of rippling green shoots of wheat, and a swathe of magnificent scarlet where the early poppies had taken over the fallow land. He turned away from this glorious sight, for it was a sharp reminder of his fallen comrades who hadn’t come home from the last war.
He looked down at his small granddaughter, and discovered that she’d fallen asleep against his chest, a tiny thumb plugged into her rosebud mouth. His smile was soft as he headed down into the valley towards the line of dark trees and the high wire fence that marked the boundaries of the Cliffe estate. Daisy might not realise it, but the air she breathed and the scents she could smell would be instilled in her, and maybe, one day, she would bring her own children up here.
‘It’s disgraceful the way he conducts himself,’ snapped Doris as she came back into the kitchen. ‘I know he heard me.’
‘I should think half of Cliffehaven could hear you,’ said Cordelia mildly as she looked up from her book. ‘As for being disgraceful, I think that’s going a bit far.’
‘Surely you don’t approve of him taking a baby up there in such a dangerous manner?’
‘Why not? He evidently did it with all his other grandchildren, and she’ll be safe with him, I assure you.’
‘But he’s taken the ferrets and that blessed dog with him,’ she said, her fists tight at her sides. ‘Goodness only knows what he’s planning to do up there.’
‘He’ll be hunting for rabbits, I expect,’ said Cordelia, who was getting a bit tired of this and wanted to get on with her very exciting book. She reached up to turn off her hearing aid.
‘Don’t you
dare
turn that thing off when I’m talking to you,’ snapped Doris. ‘I’m sick and tired of having everyone ignore me – and I will
not
stand for it any more.’
Cordelia didn’t appreciate being talked to in such a way, and she gave up on the book with a sigh. ‘If you had something interesting to say, then I’m sure we’d all listen quite happily,’ she said. ‘But no one appreciates being bullied and bossed about, and there are times, Doris, when you can be most unpleasant.’
Doris went pale beneath the carefully applied make-up. ‘You have no right to say such things when you aren’t even part of this family.’
‘I have as much right as you to express my feelings,’ said Cordelia calmly, ‘and this family has embraced me as one of their own for many years, so I feel quite justified.’
Doris glared at her and then lit a cigarette. ‘One would have thought that after all I’ve done for this household, I’d be shown at least a modicum of courtesy and gratitude – even from you.’
‘I’m sure we all appreciate your good intentions,’ said Cordelia, ‘but what exactly is it that you’ve done for us that must earn this gratitude?’ She held Doris’s gaze unflinchingly. ‘Suzy and Fran take it in turns to help me wash and dress, Ron and the girls organise the shopping, the cooking, cleaning and Daisy’s care throughout the day.’
‘I bathe and feed Daisy and tend her through the night,’ she said stiffly. ‘At least she isn’t bathed in the kitchen sink any more, and I take great care to see that the dog does not slobber all over her, and that her food is wholesome.’
‘Her food is the same as ours, and the milk comes out of a tin,’ said Cordelia. ‘As for bathing her in the sink, it’s practical and much warmer than that icebox of a bathroom.’ She relented a little, knowing that Doris really did have Daisy’s welfare at heart. ‘I agree, Harvey can be a bit of a nuisance at times, but that’s all part of the rough and tumble of life in this house. A peck of dirt never hurt anyone, Doris.’
Doris seemed to run out of steam, for she plumped down onto a kitchen chair and silently smoked her cigarette, her gaze fixed on the flickering flames in the range.
Cordelia regarded her over the top of her half-moon glasses and realised that the other woman was having some sort of inner battle. It had to be galling to be ignored all the time, and to realise that she really wasn’t wanted here, and although Cordelia didn’t like her, she felt a twinge of conscience. Perhaps she’d been a little harsh – but then Doris’s manner was aggressive and unkind at times, and she was old enough to know that was not the way to treat people if she wanted them to like and appreciate her.
‘It will be nice to see Anthony again,’ Cordelia murmured in an attempt to placate her. ‘Where has he been these past couple of weeks?’
Doris stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray. ‘Anthony has a very important job with the MOD, and his whereabouts are top secret.’ She squared her shoulders. ‘Aye shall, of course, not question him when he comes here tonight – but Aye am disappointed that he didn’t see fit to telephone me instead of that silly, thoughtless girl.’
‘Suzy is neither silly nor thoughtless,’ said Cordelia, rushing to her defence. ‘You know, Doris, it is a mother’s burden to watch our children grow and become independent. It’s a bit different with daughters, who seem to stay closer to home, especially when they start a family of their own. But they all leave in the end to make their own way. And that is how it should be. Anthony is no longer a boy and dependent upon you or his father. He has his own life, and I believe that, whether you like it or not, Suzy is an important part of it.’
Doris’s expression was stony as she picked up her gold cigarette case and lighter and pushed back the chair. ‘I hardly think you’re in a position to offer homespun advice on raising children,’ she said coldly. ‘From what I understand, your sons couldn’t wait to get as far away from you as possible, and now you’re all but forgotten – just a lonely old woman living out her last years feeding off the kindness of strangers. I hardly think that is a template for a lecture on motherhood.’
Cordelia felt the barbed words strike her heart, but determinedly kept her expression blank. ‘I don’t know why you feel you have to lash out at everyone like that,’ she said flatly, ‘but it strikes me you’re a very bitter, angry woman – and it makes me wonder why that is, when you seem to have everything you could possibly want.’
Doris didn’t reply as she strode out of the kitchen and slammed the bedroom door.
Cordelia dipped her chin and looked down at the plaster cast on her arm and the hands gnarled with arthritis that lay on the open pages of the book. Doris’s cruel words still rang in her head, and although she rarely heard from her sons and their families, it had been she who’d encouraged them to find new lives in Canada. She who’d tearfully stood on the quayside and waved them off as they’d sailed away, knowing she would probably never see them again.
They had written regularly at first, long, interesting letters full of their trials and triumphs of settling in, but as the years had passed and they’d married and had families of their own, the letters had become fewer. She knew she hadn’t been forgotten, but hoped that the birthday cards and letters at Christmas were sent with love and not out of a sense of duty.
Cordelia blinked away tears and sat for a moment in the peaceful silence of the house that had become her home. She knew she was loved here, knew she was an intrinsic part of this family and didn’t feel sad. Life was a challenge, especially when you were a mother, and she’d learned to accept the way of things. But she sensed that Doris, for all her money and pretentions, was a deeply unhappy woman, and Cordelia wondered why that was.
Chapter Eighteen
RUBY DIDN’T HAVE
any flowers to take to Peggy today, but she had managed to buy some sherbet lemons from her stash of illicit food stamps. It was still a few minutes to visiting time, but seeing Fran on duty, she pushed through the doors.
‘I know I’m early, but I just wanted to speak to Peggy before the others arrive,’ she said before the other girl could order her back outside.
‘Well, seeing as it’s you, I’ll let you in, just don’t let Matron catch you,’ whispered Fran.
Ruby saw Peggy’s welcoming smile as she hurried down the ward. ‘You look ever so much brighter today,’ she said as she handed over the little bag of sweets. ‘I just come to say thank you for what you and Ron and Stan done fer me yesterday.’
‘Bless you,’ said Peggy warmly as she took her hand. ‘You didn’t have to bring me anything, or even thank me. I’m just glad you’re safely home at Beach View.’
Ruby sat on the edge of the chair by the bed and tweaked the curtains a bit so she couldn’t be seen from the door. ‘But I do, Peggy, ’cos without your help, I’d’ve been in real trouble last night and no mistake.’ She saw the alarm on Peggy’s face, felt the warm, encouraging pressure of her hand round her fingers and slowly, hesitantly, told Peggy what had happened at Mon Repos.
There were tears in Peggy’s eyes. ‘Oh, my dear, I didn’t realise . . .’
‘Men like Fraser are clever at ’iding what they’re really like,’ said Ruby flatly. She grinned back at Peggy. ‘Ron give him a bloody nose and told ’im he had a week to get out of town. Harvey were snarling and growling like he was about to rip his face off, and Fraser was sobbing like a baby.’
‘I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Marjory arrived home. I wonder how he explained everything to her.’ Peggy looked sharply at Ruby. ‘You don’t think she had some idea of what kind of man he was?’
Ruby shrugged. ‘Gawd knows, but if she’s got any sense she’ll leave him, ’cos he’ll do it again, you can bet on that.’
‘Do you think so? Oh dear, perhaps it would be better if Ron reports him to the police. At least then he’d be locked away and other girls would be safe.’
‘I already told Ron I don’t want the police involved,’ she said hurriedly. ‘He’s been found out and has to face his wife with a broken nose, which he’ll find very hard to explain – and then have to come up with some reason for leaving the town in an ’urry. I reckon that’s enough.’
Peggy’s expression sharpened. ‘But the police will . . .’
Ruby felt a stab of alarm. ‘Nah, Peggy, I don’t want to have nothing to do with them. Best we leave them out of it.’
‘Is there another reason you don’t want the police involved, Ruby?’ she asked softly. ‘Did something happen before you came down here? Is that why you were covered in bruises and had that cut on your head?’
She stared at Peggy in confusion. ‘Who told you about them?’
‘Stan told Ron and he told me,’ said Peggy. She held tightly onto Ruby’s hand, her expression concerned. ‘You can tell me, Ruby, and it will go no further, I promise. Whatever it is you’ve done – or witnessed – or had done to you, will stay between us. This is a new start for you, and it’s always better to clear the air before you begin again.’
Ruby saw the honesty in her eyes and was drawn to her gentle, motherly concern. She wanted so very much to confide in her, but was terrified that if she did, Peggy would not want her living in her home. ‘We don’t trust the police where I come from,’ she muttered instead. ‘And we got our own way of dealing with things what need sorting out.’
Peggy patted her hand, her warm smile understanding. ‘It’s all right, Ruby, you don’t have to say anything more. But if you ever do want to confide in me, then I’ll be happy to listen.’
Ruby nodded, unable to speak through the lump in her throat.