Authors: Ellie Dean
Peggy reached out and cupped her chin. ‘I take people as I find them, Ruby, and don’t judge – and if you think I’ll turf you out of my home because of anything you might tell me, then be assured I would never do that.’
‘Thanks, Peggy, you’re a real diamond.’ Ruby could hardly see her for the tears as she nestled her cheek in the warm, soft hand and was reminded of her mother. She sniffed back the tears and gripped Peggy’s hand. ‘If there’s anything I can do for you, then you only gotta ask. I owe you and Ron so much.’
Peggy smiled and handed her a clean handkerchief. ‘As it happens, there is something you could do for me, Ruby, but you must promise not to tell anyone.’
Ruby dried her eyes and leaned closer, her curiosity piqued. ‘That sounds mysterious,’ she murmured with a tentative smile. ‘What are you up to?’
Peggy told her about her planned escape. ‘But I need you to get me some outdoor clothes. I can’t possibly leave here in a nightdress.’
Ruby frowned. ‘Are you sure you’re well enough to come ’ome?’
‘Ruby, don’t be tiresome, love,’ she said on a sigh. ‘I’ve only had a hysterectomy. Just get me some clean underwear, a skirt, jumper, shoes and a coat. It wouldn’t occur to Ron and I doubt Cordelia will think of it either, she’s too busy plotting how to distract Matron.’
‘Just how many people are involved in this?’ asked Ruby with a grin.
‘Alf, Ron and Cordelia – now you. And not a word to Fran, she’s already suspicious about the amount of walking I do every day.’
Ruby thought about this task for a moment and realised it could be quite tricky. ‘I’ll have to wait until Doris is out of the way. She’s moved into your bedroom, and if she catches me going through your things there’ll be hell to pay. She’s already made it clear she don’t like me.’
Peggy grimaced. ‘My sister doesn’t like anyone very much. I wouldn’t let it bother you, Ruby. Just do what you can to get her out of the way long enough to put together some clothes before visiting time tomorrow night. Can you manage that, do you think?’
Ruby chuckled. ‘I’ll do me best, I promise.’ She peeked round the curtain as the doors opened and the visitors came pouring in. ‘There’s Sarah, Jane and Rita. I’d better be off. I’m supposed to be going to the pictures with my mate Lucy, and if I don’t hurry up, I won’t have time to change out of this lot before the last show starts.’
Peggy kept hold of her hand. ‘Remember, Ruby, I’m on your side, and if you need someone to talk to, then don’t be afraid to come to me.’
Ruby kissed the soft cheek. ‘I know, thanks for everything, Peggy,’ she murmured.
Ron was already at the Anchor with Harvey, Ruby had dashed in to get changed before she’d charged out again, and Suzy was getting ready for her evening with Anthony while Doris remained in Peggy’s bedroom with Daisy. Cordelia had been left in charge of keeping the evening meal hot for when the other girls came back from visiting Peggy.
Cordelia found she could stir the soup with one hand, and lay the table, but what she couldn’t do was keep secrets, and that really bothered her. She’d never managed to keep her thoughts from showing on her face and would have been a terrible poker player, which was why she was finding it so hard not to blurt everything out to Suzy as she came downstairs, refreshed from her sleep.
‘You look a bit on edge, Grandma Finch,’ Suzy said with a frown. ‘Is your arm hurting? Would you like an aspirin?’
‘No, dear, my arm’s fine,’ she said hurriedly. ‘It itches a bit, but my knitting needle soon sorts that out.’
Suzy didn’t look terribly convinced, but before she could continue this minor inquisition there was a knock on the front door. ‘Anthony,’ she breathed, her face lighting up as she dashed into the hall.
Cordelia could hear the murmuring of sweet nothings, and not wanting to eavesdrop, she went across the kitchen to turn up the wireless. But her fingers never reached the knob, for Doris had come out of Peggy’s bedroom and all but pushed Suzy out of the way to fervently embrace her son.
‘Anthony, my dearest boy,’ she said as she hugged him fiercely and smoothed back his hair. ‘I’m so thankful you’re back in one piece.’
Anthony didn’t look at all delighted as he disentangled himself and pushed his glasses back up his nose. ‘I haven’t actually been involved in anything at all dangerous,’ he said, ‘so I don’t really see why you have to make such a fuss.’ He frowned as he looked down at her. ‘What on earth are you doing here, anyway, Mother?’
‘I’ve come to help out while Peggy is in hospital,’ she said stiffly. ‘I left a note on the kitchen table. Haven’t you been home yet?’
‘No. I came straight here to see Suzy.’
‘I see.’ Her expression was stony. ‘So you aren’t in the least concerned about your mother’s welfare now you’ve had your head turned by this . . . this . . . girl.’
He kept his hand firmly clasped in Suzy’s. ‘Why should I be concerned about you?’ he asked, genuinely puzzled. ‘You seem to be healthy and robust as usual, and I’m sure that Father is quite capable of dealing with any other problems.’ He put his arm round Suzy’s shoulders. ‘Suzy’s my girl, and of course I want to be with her as much as possible. I thought you understood that.’
Doris made a strange noise in her throat. ‘Oh, I understand well enough,’ she rasped as she reached for the front door and swung it open. ‘Don’t let me stop you,’ she said coldly. ‘I’d hate for you to miss a second alone with your precious Suzy.’
‘Mother, don’t be like that,’ he sighed in exasperation, his glasses once more slipping down his nose. ‘It’s really unbecoming and rather embarrassing, if the truth be told.’
Doris turned on her heel and went back to Peggy’s bedroom, the door clicking shut behind her.
In the heavy silence she left behind, Anthony gave Suzy a hug. ‘I can’t seem to do anything right, just lately,’ he muttered. ‘Do you think I should try and talk to her? Would it do any good?’
Suzy kissed his cheek before reaching for her coat. ‘I don’t really think anything would appease her at the moment,’ she said softly. ‘She’s jealous, Anthony, and nothing you can say will change that.’
‘But that’s ridiculous,’ he hissed. ‘She’s my mother, for heaven’s sake.’
‘Mothers can be horribly possessive,’ she murmured as he helped her on with her coat. ‘Especially when they have only one, very clever, handsome son to cherish, and some girl happens along to whisk him away.’
Anthony pulled Suzy into his arms and held her tightly, his chin softly resting on her fair head. ‘I’m not handsome, or particularly clever, but I am a lucky man – and that’s because of you, Suzy.’ He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her lips. ‘You can whisk me away to anywhere you like. Come on, let’s get out of here.’
Cordelia returned to stirring the soup as the front door closed behind them. What a fool Doris was, she thought, for if she carried on like that, she would lose the son she adored, and become even more bitter in the process.
She let her thoughts wander as she pottered about collecting plates and bowls and checking that she’d remembered to put the bread and salt on the table. The girls would be back just after seven, probably starving hungry after a long day at work, and she didn’t want anything to spoil their enjoyment of this rather late evening meal. But her mind kept returning to the problem of Doris.
Cordelia had only met her husband Edward on one occasion, and he’d seemed a quiet sort of man – a real gentleman – but Doris had almost been dismissive of him. Suzy had said much the same thing after the dinner party the other week, so things clearly hadn’t changed. What was the matter with the woman? Couldn’t she see the damage she was doing?
The vast assembly hall behind St Saviour’s Church now served as the local cinema, thanks to the generosity of the Americans billeted at Cliffe estate. They had provided a projector and one of their corporals to run it until a couple of the local men learned enough to take over, and they were also the source of many of the latest Hollywood films and cartoons which they’d had flown in from America. It seemed the Americans could perform miracles even in these troubled times, and the residents of Cliffehaven were extremely grateful, for going to the pictures was an escape – a chance to forget the war and become lost for just a few hours in the fantasy of another world.
The large white screen had been set up on the stage and chairs of varying shapes and sizes had been scavenged from every corner of Cliffehaven, and the distributors who’d once serviced the Odeon now provided this makeshift cinema with a seemingly endless supply of newsreels and old films as well as the latest releases from the British studios. An enthusiastic army of women swept the hall clean every day, and beat the dust from the heavy velvet curtains that hung on either side of the stage, and then served the tea and biscuits that were sold during the interval in support of the local Spitfire Fund.
Ruby had dressed quickly in her lovely new skirt and jumper, and although she didn’t possess any stockings, the soft leather shoes didn’t rub her bare feet. She’d applied powder, lipstick and mascara and had brushed her hair so it fell to her shoulders in a rich brown sheen. With her freshly cleaned coat over her arm, she’d run all the way to St Saviour’s and was out of breath by the time she reached the queue that stretched all the way down the street.
Lucy waved and called to her from near the front, and she hurried towards her. ‘I thought I were going to be late,’ she panted, ‘and I’ve missed me tea. Luckily, Grandma Finch made me a couple of sandwiches to keep me going.’
‘We’ll treat ourselves to a fish supper after the show,’ said Lucy, who was looking very pretty in a pink sweater and grey skirt. Her face lit up with a smile. ‘You look very smart, Ruby, and I love those shoes.’
Ruby felt a glow of happiness as they stood and chatted while the queue grew even longer. And then the double doors were flung open and they slowly shuffled up the steps, bought their tickets and found two spaces to sit. Ruby fidgeted a bit on the rather rickety kitchen chair while Lucy folded her coat on the seat of another so she could see over the heads of the people in front. Ruby pulled the packet of sandwiches out of her gas-mask box. ‘Do you want one?’
Lucy shook her head. ‘I’ll wait for the fish supper, but thanks, anyway.’
Ruby sank her teeth into the meat paste sandwich and munched happily as the hall began to fill up and the noise level rose along with the cigarette smoke. She loved going to the pictures, and as it had been a treat denied her by Ray, who thought it was a waste of money, she’d made sure she went at least twice a week now she was free to do what she wanted.
‘Hi there, Ruby. Is it okay if we sit here?’
The soft burr of the Canadian voice startled her and she almost choked on her sandwich as she looked round to find Michael Taylor standing beside her. She hurriedly finished the mouthful and dabbed her finger along her lips to make sure there were no crumbs or smears of paste left behind. ‘Hello, Michael,’ she said awkwardly. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Waiting for the film to start,’ he said with a twinkle in his very blue eyes as he settled onto the chair beside her. ‘I love the movies, don’t you?’
She nodded, unable to think of a thing to say as his bright gaze and wide smile held her enthralled. And then she felt a soft nudge in her ribs and realised Lucy was feeling a bit left out of things. ‘This is my friend, Lucy,’ she told him. ‘We work together at the tool factory.’
Michael was all smiles as he introduced himself and then turned back to the equally handsome young officer sitting beside him. ‘This is my buddy, Steve Cameron.’
Ruby saw Lucy blush as her hand was enveloped in the large Canadian’s paw, and couldn’t blame her, for both men were quite something to look at and their manners were impeccable. And yet she felt awkward sitting beside Michael, whose broad shoulders and long legs seemed to take up too much space – whose wide smile and blue eyes were far too close for comfort. She felt a subtle change in the light-hearted mood she’d been in, for her senses had sharpened and her heart beat a little faster as his arm brushed against hers.
‘I guess these chairs weren’t built for us big guys,’ he said as he and his friend tried to get comfortable.
Despite all her misgivings, Ruby giggled. ‘It strikes me all you Canadians are twice the size of normal blokes. What do they feed you on over there?’
He chuckled. ‘I guess we eat the same as you, but Canada’s a big, empty country, and I suppose we have to grow tall and broad to fill it.’
Ruby was saved from replying to this, for the room was plunged into darkness and the beam of the projector’s light flashed onto the screen as the familiar cockerel crowed to announce the Pathé News. She tried to concentrate on the battles being fought in the Coral Sea, and on the North African front, but she was all too aware of the man sitting beside her and couldn’t resist taking surreptitious peeks at him.
He was dressed in the scarlet tunic and black trousers that were so reminiscent of the guards who protected Buckingham Palace. His boots were highly polished, and the brass buttons and gold braid on his jacket gleamed in the flickering light which enhanced the sculptured planes of his face. Now he’d removed the peaked hat, she could see that his fair hair was cut brutally short, and that his brows were several shades darker above the blue eyes, long, straight nose and chiselled chin. He could certainly have passed as a Hollywood star with those looks, she mused, but if he thought she was an easy sort of girl who could be flattered by his attention, then he had another think coming.
He seemed to realise she was watching him and turned his head with a questioning smile.
Ruby blushed and quickly turned back to the screen. She’d have to watch herself with this one and no mistake, for he unsettled her, and that wasn’t at all what she wanted or needed right now. She’d had enough of men to last her a lifetime, and if Michael Taylor thought he could change her mind, then he was sorely mistaken.
When the lights went up half an hour later she realised with a jolt that she hadn’t taken in a single thing, and she silently cursed Michael for ruining what should have been a relaxing, pleasant evening. And yet she couldn’t be cross with him, for he and his fellow officer showed no sign of getting fresh as they bought tea and biscuits and asked about their work at the factory and life in Cliffehaven.