Authors: Ellie Dean
She walked into the kitchen and did her best to mask her shock and disappointment at seeing Doris firmly ensconced at the kitchen table. She avoided looking at her and went straight to Peggy. ‘Welcome home,’ she murmured as she took her hand. ‘I see you managed to escape all right. How’s it feel to be home again?’
‘It feels just right,’ replied Peggy with a soft smile. ‘Now, you must be starving after being at work all day. I’ve put your plate to keep warm in the slow oven, so you sit down and tuck in before it spoils.’ She chuckled. ‘Alf’s wife, Lil, popped round earlier with a treat for us all to celebrate my homecoming – even though poor Fred got it in the neck for getting his van scratched by Harvey.’
Ruby fetched a tea towel and gingerly lifted out her supper, removed the plate on top of it and gasped with delight. There were two lovely fat sausages and a pile of mashed potato all covered in thick onion gravy. ‘Cor,’ she breathed. ‘It’s a right feast and no mistake.’
There was a tut of disapproval from Doris. She was also glaring furiously at Jane, who was bathing Daisy in the kitchen sink. Ruby shot Rita and Sarah a conspiratorial grin and tucked into her food. Doris could tut all she liked, but it was clear that with Peggy at home, she was no longer in charge.
Jane wrapped Daisy in a large towel and carefully handed her over to Peggy to be dried, while Sarah took the water down to the garden butt and Rita disposed of the soiled nappy and baby clothes. Cordelia was wittering on about how she’d sidetracked Matron so Peggy could escape, and Fran was making appropriate noises as she tried to read the evening paper.
Ruby ate her meal and, to Doris’s disgust, mopped up the last of the gravy with bread and then licked her fingers clean. ‘That were the best bangers and mash I’ve had in an age,’ she sighed as she sat back and patted her full stomach. ‘Now I’m fit to bust.’
Rita set a cup of tea in front of her and reached for her jacket and goggles. ‘I’m off on fire-watch,’ she said. ‘See you in the morning.’ She softly tickled Daisy under her chin and made her giggle before giving Peggy a kiss on the cheek. ‘It’s lovely to have you back again, Auntie Peg,’ she murmured before she stomped past Doris, down the cellar steps and slammed the back door behind her.
Peggy continued to struggle to put a wriggling, gurgling Daisy into her nightdress, and had to pass her to Doris when it became clear that she couldn’t cope. ‘She’s too strong for me at the moment,’ she murmured, ‘and far too heavy to lift. Be a dear and tuck her into her cot, will you? And then leave my door open so I can hear her if she gets fractious.’
Doris planted Daisy on her hip and looked down in disapproval at Peggy. ‘I told you it was too soon to come home,’ she said flatly.
Peggy smiled up at her. ‘Then it’s a very good thing I still have you to help me, isn’t it?’
Doris took Daisy into the bedroom and Peggy lit a cigarette. ‘Have you girls got any plans for the rest of the evening?’ she asked casually.
‘Jane and I have both got early starts,’ said Sarah, ‘so we thought we’d keep Fran company and listen to the concert and the late news on the wireless.’
‘No doubt Lord Haw-Haw will be throwing in his tuppence-worth on “Germany Calling”, said Peggy with a grimace. ‘Detestable little man.’
‘Detestable, yes,’ said Fran as she folded the newspaper, ‘but he tells us more about what’s happening in Europe than our government do.’
There was a short moment of silence following this statement, for although everyone found the man loathsome, he did indeed reveal much more about the war in Europe than their own newspapers.
‘Well,’ said Ruby to break the awkward moment, ‘I don’t have to be in until eleven tomorrow, but it’s been a long day, so I got no plans to go out.’ She glanced across at Peggy, who was slumped in her chair. ‘Why don’t you go to bed, Peggy? You look all in.’
‘I’m enjoying sitting by my own fire in my own kitchen,’ she said firmly as she sat straighter and glanced up at the clock. ‘I’ll sit up for a bit longer, I think.’
Doris came back into the kitchen and sat down at the far end of the table as Sarah twiddled the knobs on the wireless. She lit a cigarette and opened her book, but Ruby noticed that she wasn’t really reading it, and that her gaze frequently went to the clock. She and Peggy were waiting for something – or someone, and although they were both trying hard not to show it, they were both tense.
Ruby shot a glance at Jane, who gave a small shrug to acknowledge that she had felt it too.
The concert had just started when there was a knock on the front door. ‘I’ll go,’ said Doris, and hurried out of the room, closing the kitchen door firmly behind her.
‘That’s the quickest I’ve seen that woman move since she arrived here,’ muttered Cordelia with a grimace. ‘I hope to goodness it isn’t that ghastly Lady whatnot. I can’t stand
her
either.’
Peggy slowly got out of her chair and eased her back. ‘I think I’ll just pop in and check on Daisy. Enjoy the concert, girls,’ she added just before she too closed the kitchen door firmly behind her.
‘It’s not like Peggy to shut the door,’ said Cordelia as she peered over her half-moon glasses. ‘In all the years I’ve lived here, I don’t ever remember her doing that. Something’s going on.’
‘You’re right, Aunt Cordelia,’ whispered Jane. ‘But I’m blowed if I can figure out what it might be – and I could have sworn I heard Anthony’s voice when Peggy opened that door.’
Cordelia fiddled with her hearing aid. ‘Blowing a wig in the hall out of choice? Oh, I don’t think Anthony wears a wig, dear.’
Fran giggled and leaned closer to Cordelia to carefully repeat what had been said.
‘I thought I heard his voice too,’ murmured Sarah. ‘But Suzy would have said if he was coming over tonight, and it’s not like him to call in if she’s on night shift.’ She shook her head and sighed. ‘No doubt we’ll find out what’s going on sooner or later, but I agree, it is all a bit mysterious.’
‘It’s probably something to do with Doris still being here after Peggy swore she was leaving,’ whispered Jane. ‘If that is Anthony out there, perhaps Peggy’s wheeled him in to help get rid of her.’
‘But why
is
she still here?’ asked Ruby.
‘That’s what we’d all like to know,’ said Cordelia rather sourly.
‘They went into a huddle just after Peggy got back from the hospital,’ said Fran. ‘Peggy shooed us all out of the kitchen and shut the door, so none of us knew what they were talking about.’ She leaned across the table towards the other girls. ‘But they were in here for ages, so it must have been something serious.’
They sat, each with their own thoughts, until Sarah finally broke the silence. ‘Let’s listen to the concert and leave them to it,’ she said. ‘It’s really none of our business, and I feel a bit uncomfortable talking about Peggy behind her back.’
Ruby and Jane eyed one another shamefacedly, as Fran picked up her knitting and Cordelia settled more comfortably in her chair and closed her eyes. They all tried very hard to concentrate on the beautiful music and not on whatever might be going on in the room across the hall – but it was almost impossible.
Peggy felt rather awkward sitting there in her dining room while Doris poured out her sorrows and hurt and fell sobbing into Anthony’s arms. She could tell that her nephew was deeply shaken by his mother’s revelation, and she silently blessed him for being so patient with her, but Peggy knew she wasn’t really needed by either of them and wondered if she could just quietly slip out and leave them to it.
Anthony caught her eye over his mother’s head, and he looked so woebegone that Peggy realised she couldn’t desert him, so she hunted out an old bottle of sherry from the back of one of the cupboards. ‘Come along, Doris,’ she soothed. ‘Dry your eyes and have a little drink. You’ll make yourself ill with all this crying.’
Doris bravely tried to gather her wits as she blew her nose, settled into a chair, and finally reached for the sherry. She took a sip and grimaced. ‘Don’t you have any decent drinks in the house, Margaret? This is no better than vinegar.’
Peggy took umbrage at being called Margaret after the tentative closeness they’d shared earlier that day, for Doris knew how much it wound her up. ‘There’s a war on, Doris,’ she said wearily. ‘And I don’t have the money to buy gin and whisky, even if they were available.’
Anthony pushed his glasses over the bridge of his nose and gamely sipped the revolting sherry as his mother abandoned her glass and lit another cigarette. ‘I really don’t know what to do for the best,’ he said into the heavy silence. ‘If Father is determined to make a fool of himself, then I think it would be wise if Mother went back home.’
‘I can’t go back there,’ sniffed Doris. ‘The house is so empty and I shall feel very alone.’
Anthony reached for her hand as he leaned towards her. ‘But you won’t be alone, Mother. I shall be there. It’s your home – our home – and possession is nine tenths of the law. If Father is that besotted, and the house stands empty for too long, what’s to stop this woman from persuading him to move back in and take her with him?’
Doris stared at him in horror. ‘He wouldn’t,’ she gasped. ‘He’s not that sort of man.’
The hurt was clear in Anthony’s expression. ‘We might have been certain of that three years ago, Mother. But who’s to say what sort of influence that woman has had on him?’
Doris sat bolt upright, her gaze steely as she absorbed this unpalatable truth. ‘I’d rather die than let either of them over the threshold ever again,’ she breathed.
He squeezed her fingers and gave her a loving smile. ‘You’re in shock, Mother, but I’m sure that once you’ve settled back at home and had time to think about things more clearly, you’ll see that all is not lost.’ He hurried on as she was about to interrupt. ‘You and Father have been married for over thirty years, and although it appears to be the end, there is still a chance you could both sit down and talk things through – and see if there’s a way to repair things between you and even, perhaps, start again.’
A flash of something akin to hope lit in her eyes and then her shoulders slumped and she dipped her chin. ‘I could never take him back,’ she murmured. ‘Not after this.’
‘Give it time, Doris,’ pleaded Peggy. ‘It’s all still too raw to make hasty decisions, and I’m sure Ted regrets the hurt he’s caused you.’
‘Hurt?’ Doris’s tear-swollen eyes widened and her lips thinned. ‘There isn’t a word strong enough to describe what that man has done to me – and if he thinks I’ll just—’
‘Mother, you’re getting upset again,’ said Anthony as he clasped her hands. His voice softened. ‘You’ve been a marvellous wife and supportive mother, and now it’s my turn to look after you. But I can’t do that here. As lovely and homely as it is, it isn’t
our
home. Why don’t you let me take you back to Havelock Gardens, and we’ll see this through together?’
Doris regarded him in silence and then reached up to touch his face. ‘My darling boy,’ she murmured. ‘I knew I could count on you to know what to do for the best. I’ll go and pack.’ She rose from the armchair and moved in stately fashion across the room and into the hall.
‘I hope you realise what you’ve taken on, Anthony,’ said Peggy.
His smile was of weary acceptance. ‘I’m fully aware of how demanding she can be, Aunt Peg, but I love her, and wouldn’t be any sort of honourable chap if I deserted her when she needs me the most.’ He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a battered cigarette case, which he stared at for a long moment. ‘Whether things can be fixed between them is debatable, but after all the years they’ve been together, I think it’s worth trying, don’t you?’
‘She’s been horribly betrayed,’ said Peggy, ‘and for a woman like Doris, the shame may prove too much.’ She gave a deep sigh. ‘It’s all terribly sad, but if there’s no love or respect any more, then perhaps divorce is better than living a lie.’
He opened the silver cigarette case and offered one to Peggy. Having lit them both, he rested back in his chair and watched the smoke curl towards the ceiling. ‘Only time will tell, Aunt Peg, but in hindsight, I can see now that the marriage has been in trouble for many years. In a way, I can almost understand why Father had to leave – it’s just the manner of it I’m finding hard to forgive.’
Peggy said nothing, for she could see how deeply this was wounding Anthony. It couldn’t be easy for any son to see his parents in such a glaring, unflattering light.
Anthony smoked his cigarette and then stubbed it out in the ashtray. ‘Suzy didn’t say it in so many words, but I know how insufferable Mother has been while living here.’ His smile was weary. ‘It’s time she came home, for her own sake, as well as yours.’
‘But what about your work at Cliffe Fortress?’
‘I can cycle back and forth. It isn’t that far.’
‘And you and Suzy? It won’t be easy to carry on courting if you’re living at home again.’
His slow, sweet smile lit up his face. ‘We’ll manage somehow – and once things have settled down, I shall ask her to marry me.’
‘Oh, Anthony,’ she breathed. ‘I’m delighted for you both – but you do realise that Suzy and Doris will never be able to live under the same roof?’
He chuckled as he brushed ash from the lapel of his tweed jacket. ‘I’m not as daft as egg-looking,’ he said. ‘There’s a lovely little house for sale near Badger’s Wood, and the owners have accepted my offer. I shall rent it out until things are resolved with Mother and Father, then, if Suzy will still have me, we’ll start our lives together there.’
Peggy grinned at him in delight. ‘You’re a dark horse, Anthony Williams, and I can’t wait to see the house.’
He grinned back at her. ‘Suzy doesn’t know anything about it yet. It’s to be a surprise on our engagement, so don’t say anything, please.’
‘So when’s the engagement?’ she asked breathlessly.
‘I was going to ask her on her birthday in June, but with everything that’s happened, I don’t think it would be very tactful.’ He frowned and fiddled with his shirt-cuffs. ‘What about Christmas Day? Does that sound better?’
Peggy thought that another seven months was a bit too long, but she smiled and patted his hand. ‘It sounds perfect,’ she said.