Authors: Ellie Dean
Peggy was intrigued. ‘So what made you go round there this morning?’
Dorothy leaned closer so they couldn’t be overheard. ‘We had a telephone call accusing us of turning a blind eye to Doris’s spare rooms and treating her differently to everyone else. The caller threatened to make a formal complaint if something wasn’t done about it, so I had no option but to go to Havelock Gardens and find out what was going on there.’
‘Did you answer the call? Could you recognise the voice?’
‘It was a woman, certainly, but her voice was muffled, probably by a handkerchief. The call came from a telephone box, because I heard the pips as the money went in.’
Peggy suspected it was Ted’s discarded mistress – there was certainly nothing more dangerous and vengeful than a woman scorned. But she didn’t mention this to Dotty. ‘Well, whoever it was certainly wanted to cause trouble. But then Doris upsets so many people with her uppity ways, it’s hardly surprising.’
‘Anyway, I’ve found four nice friendly girls to share the two rooms. They had to leave their billet when the house next door was demolished and took half of the hostel with it. I’ve just come back from taking them round to Doris, and although she was very po-faced about it, she was polite enough. I warned her of the consequences should the rooms become vacant again, so hopefully things will work out all right.’
Peggy smiled. ‘Poor old Doris, she’s her own worst enemy, isn’t she?’
Dorothy grinned. ‘She is indeed. Have you got time for a cuppa before you go home? It’s been ages since we managed to have a proper gossip.’
‘I’ve always got time for a cuppa and a sit down,’ said Peggy. ‘Let me check on Daisy, and I’ll be right with you.’
Peggy arrived back at Beach View almost two hours later, but as she pushed the pram into the basement, she was met by the reek of boiled eel. Lifting Daisy out of the pram, she carried her up the concrete steps into the kitchen.
‘Ron’s been boiling eels and vinegar,’ said Cordelia the moment Peggy stepped through the open door. ‘The stink is nearly as unpleasant as the sight of them sitting there in their jelly.’ She shuddered delicately. ‘I’ve had to open all the doors and windows, but the smell is still lingering.’
Peggy eyed the thick rings of jellied eels that lay in a grey mess in a bowl on the table. She put Daisy in her high chair and gave her a rusk to chew on. ‘Where’s Ron?’ she asked.
‘Said he had some things to do for Rosie,’ Cordelia replied with a knowing smile. ‘Shot out of here like a scalded cat when it was time for you to come home.’
‘I just bet he did,’ Peggy said fiercely. ‘He said nothing about eels when he brought Daisy home. Just slapped a couple of rabbits on the draining board and began to gut them.’
Cordelia giggled. ‘He waited until you’d gone to the Town Hall to cook the eels,’ she said. ‘He knew you wouldn’t approve, you see.’
‘He was certainly right about that,’ snapped Peggy as she picked up the bowl of eels and deposited it on the marble slab in her larder then shut the door. ‘I’ll be having a word with Mr Ronan Reilly about taking my daughter poaching,’ she said ominously.
‘Oh, dear,’ Cordelia twittered. ‘Don’t be too cross with him, Peggy. He only meant well, and Daisy didn’t come to any harm.’
Peggy patted her softly on the shoulder and set about cutting up the rabbits for a stew. If Ron dared to show his face any time soon, he was likely to get a piece of her mind, and no mistake.
The stew was simmering with barley, onions and potatoes in the slow oven, and Peggy had taken Daisy out into the garden to join Cordelia in the last of the sun. Cordelia was dozing in the newest, sturdiest deckchair, but after what had happened this morning, Peggy was unwilling to put any of the others to the test, so she kicked off her sandals and sat on the sun-warmed doorstep.
She had just lit a cigarette when the latch clicked on the back gate. Expecting to see Ron, she stiffened, ready for a set-to, but it was Sarah who came down the path towards her, looking far too hot in her WTC uniform of thick shirt, heavy plus-fours and sturdy boots.
‘Hello, dear. You’re home nice and early.’ Her welcoming smile faded as she noted the fretful expression on the girl’s face. ‘Is something wrong, Sarah? You’re not ill, are you?’
‘No, nothing like that,’ she replied as she flicked back her fair hair from her damp face. ‘I just asked for permission to leave early today. Is Fran back from the hospital yet?’
Peggy shook her head. ‘She’s not due home for another hour. Why?’
Sarah twisted her hands together and shuffled her feet, darting an anxious glance at the sleeping Cordelia. ‘It’s a bit awkward, actually,’ she confessed. ‘I don’t want to cause trouble, but . . .’
Peggy shifted on the doorstep. ‘Come and sit down. Now,’ she said when the girl had settled beside her, ‘what is it that might cause trouble?’
‘The Americans were having a bit of a celebration up at the big house today,’ Sarah began hesitantly. ‘It got rather noisy and boisterous and they must have been drinking quite heavily, because they were soon racing along the woodland tracks in their jeeps, yelling like a tribe of marauding red Indians on the warpath. It was a miracle no one got hurt, but someone reported them to their commanding officer and he soon put a stop to it.’
‘Youthful high spirits,’ said Peggy. ‘But if nobody was hurt, why has it bothered you so much, Sarah? And what has all this to do with Fran?’
‘It didn’t bother me, not really. Like you, I’d put it down to high spirits, but I was concerned for the safety of the girls who work down those tracks. Once it had quietened down, I thought no more of it.’
Peggy waited while Sarah lit a cigarette. ‘But something else happened after that, which did bother you?’
Sarah nodded, and delicately picked a thread of tobacco from her lip. ‘Their commanding officer came to my office to apologise for the noise and the bad behaviour. He said they’d all been confined to quarters and were on kitchen duty for the next week.’
‘So what were they celebrating to get them into such trouble?’ Peggy still couldn’t see where this was leading, or how it could possibly have anything to do with Fran.
‘One of the young officers had just learned he’d become a father to a bouncing baby boy weighing seven pounds nine ounces,’ said Sarah. ‘He and his wife already have two daughters, so he was thrilled to have a son at last.’ Sarah paused and looked directly at Peggy. ‘The officer’s name was Chuck Hoskins.’
‘Oh, no,’ breathed Peggy. ‘Are you sure?’
Sarah nodded. ‘Positive. I’ve seen him round the estate, and I was at the party where he and Fran met for the first time.’ She finished her cigarette and squashed it out beneath her heavy WTC boot.
‘Poor little Fran,’ murmured Peggy. ‘I hope you told his commanding officer what a rat that man is,’ she said crossly.
‘I didn’t think it was appropriate,’ Sarah confessed. ‘After all, it wasn’t me that Chuck had been lying to, and I doubt the American army could do anything. But the General seemed happy to discuss the new father and his family when I asked about him over a cup of tea.’
Sarah gave a deep sigh. ‘It turns out Chuck’s from Milwaukee and used to work on a production line in a biscuit factory. His mother cleans office blocks, his father disappeared while he was still a baby and Chuck left school at fourteen. He’s been married to Loretta for five years, and she works evenings in a local bar.’
Peggy’s anger rose as she remembered Fran’s face lighting up when she’d talked about him. ‘So the whole thing was a filthy, rotten lie,’ she said flatly. ‘What a mean trick to play on our poor little Fran. If he walked through that gate at this moment I’d kill him, and that’s a fact.’
‘I don’t know what to do for the best,’ said Sarah. ‘Fran’s fallen hard for that lying toerag and she’ll be terribly hurt. Perhaps I could just tell her he’s been posted to another camp?’
Peggy took Sarah’s hand in her own. ‘You leave Fran to me. I’ve dealt with broken hearts before with my two girls – and although it’s not easy to break such news, it’s amazing how quick the recovery can be. But Fran must know the truth, Sarah. It wouldn’t be fair to add another lie to all the others she’s been told.’
‘Yes,’ said Sarah. ‘You’re right, as always, Peggy.’ She put her arm around her and rested her head on Peggy’s shoulder. ‘We do put you through the wringer with all our troubles, don’t we?’
Peggy smiled and smoothed the silky fair hair back from the girl’s face. ‘That’s what I’m here for,’ she said softly.
PEGGY HAD BEEN
watching the clock anxiously since Sarah’s revelation, and she managed to waylay Fran as she came through the front door, steering her immediately into the cluttered dining room so they could talk in private.
‘Whatever’s the matter?’ the girl asked with a frown.
‘I need to tell you something,’ said Peggy as she closed the door. ‘Don’t worry, it’s nothing to do with your family in Ireland,’ she said hastily as she saw the sudden fear flicker in the girl’s green eyes. ‘It’s about Chuck Hoskins.’
‘He’s not coming tomorrow, is he?’ Fran said with heavy disappointment.
Peggy sat down and patted the chair beside her. ‘No, dear, he won’t be coming to tea tomorrow – or any other day, for that matter.’
‘Has he been posted somewhere else? Did he leave me a note or anything so I can stay in touch?’
Peggy saw the hope in her expression and her heart ached for the girl as she shook her head. ‘He’s still at Cliffe, dear.’ She took Fran’s hand. ‘But it seems he isn’t quite what you thought,’ she said carefully.
She looked into the sweet face, saw the colour drain from her cheeks and knew that bad news had to be told clearly and without any possibility of being misunderstood. ‘I’m so sorry, Fran, but he’s a married man, and today he was celebrating the birth of his third child.’
‘No,’ Fran breathed as her lovely green eyes filled with tears. ‘That can’t be true. He swore he wasn’t married, and I’ve seen photographs of his home and his parents.’
Peggy realised this was going to be as hard as she’d expected, for Chuck Hoskins was clearly a consummate liar who’d carefully prepared his story to get his way with the starry-eyed girls over here. She continued to hold Fran’s hand as she repeated what Sarah had told her and made sure there could be no room for doubt.
There was a long silence after Peggy had finished speaking, and Fran’s tears glistened on her eyelashes and slowly rolled down her pale face. ‘To be sure, Auntie Peg, he’s a lying rat, so he is,’ she said tremulously. ‘How could I have been such a fool to believe him?’
‘Because he made you think he felt the same way as you, Fran. He’s a smooth-talking liar and knew just the right way to make you fall for him.’
‘But I loved him,’ she sobbed. ‘And he promised that when the war was over we’d get married and I’d go back to America with him.’
‘You didn’t let things go too far, did you?’ asked Peggy softly. ‘It’s easy to get carried away when you’re in love.’
‘No,’ Fran breathed. ‘He begged me to take things further, but all of me mam’s warnings were ringing in my head, so they were, and I didn’t dare.’ She covered her face with her hands and collapsed into a storm of tears. ‘But I wanted to, Auntie Peg,’ she wailed.
‘I know, darling,’ Peggy soothed as she put her arm round the girl’s shoulders and held her close. The shattered dreams and broken promises were falling around Fran like splinters of glass, and she could hear the heartbreak in her sobs. It was the end of something Fran had believed was real, but Peggy knew that, like all deaths, the time for mourning would pass, and then the anger would come. This would be followed by acceptance, and with harsh lessons learned, the courage to face a different future.
The tears finally eased and Fran moved out of Peggy’s embrace to blow her nose and regain some composure. She wrung the sodden handkerchief between her fingers. ‘I must look a fright,’ she said with a shaky smile that didn’t reach her eyes. ‘Do the other girls know?’
‘Sarah will say nothing,’ said Peggy as she dipped in her apron pocket for a clean handkerchief. ‘She was very upset for you, Fran, and hated having to bring such horrid news home. But she’s a good friend, and you can trust her to keep things to herself if you need to confide in someone.’
The tears shone in Fran’s eyes once again, but she sniffed them back almost impatiently. ‘There’s no point in keeping it a secret,’ she said bitterly. ‘And to be sure, they’ll guess soon enough when he doesn’t turn up tomorrow. I’ll tell them when they come home for tea.’
She got to her feet, brushed the creases from her starched apron and pulled off her white cap. ‘But first, I’ll have a wash and get out of my uniform.’ She bent and softly kissed Peggy’s cheek. ‘Thanks, Peggy,’ she murmured. ‘To be sure, we’re all very lucky to have you look after us so well.’
Peggy remained in the cluttered dining room for some time after Fran had run upstairs. The five girls in her care had become like daughters, and Peggy had willingly taken on the role of mother to them all. She’d comforted Sarah and Jane through their homesickness and worry over what was happening in Singapore; had helped Rita through the trauma of being made homeless twice after her father had been called up; and supported Suzy as her romance blossomed with Doris’s lovely son Anthony and she had to run the gauntlet of Doris’s disapproval and possessive jealousy.
She regarded the almost forgotten room which had become a storage space and general dumping ground for unwanted furniture and odds and ends. It was a large room, with an ornate fireplace and mantel, a high ceiling and big windows behind the plywood that had been nailed over them.
This had been the guest dining room in the old days, and the scene of many a riotous family gathering, the echoes of which still lingered. But now it needed a good spring clean and a thorough tidy up, and she knew she should really do something more useful with it after deriding her sister over her lack of charity. It would make a lovely big bed-sitting room for some poor homeless family.
But that wasn’t really uppermost in her mind at the moment, for in a sudden burst of clarity, she’d realised that the youngsters in her care were not the only ones who needed a mother to soothe and cuddle them through the dark times.