Authors: Ellie Dean
As the Town Hall clock struck five Roger clasped her hands. ‘I’ll telephone every day if at all possible,’ he said earnestly. ‘And come and see you the moment I have a couple of hours off duty.’
‘But I want you to rest between ops,’ she replied, ‘not rush about after me.’
‘Seeing you will be all I’ll need to feel whole and invigorated again,’ he insisted as he softly kissed her. ‘I do wish I didn’t have to go,’ he murmured against her lips. ‘These past few days have been so marvellous, and the thought of not seeing you every day is torture.’
Kitty melted into his embrace as he tenderly gathered her to him. She would miss him too. Miss his kisses and his smiles, his silly sayings and his wonderful ability to make every hour they’d had together special.
‘Come on, old thing,’ he said eventually. ‘We’d better get going, or I’ll be late on parade.’
They went back into the pub, put their dirty glasses on the bar and let themselves out through the side door where a short alleyway led to Camden Road. Roger’s car was parked at the kerb and he handed her in as if she was royalty before he drove back to Beach View.
There were people walking along the pavement, but Kitty didn’t care, and as Roger brought the car to a halt, she threw her arms round his neck and kissed him. ‘Fly safe, Roger, and remember that I love you,’ she whispered tearfully.
‘Now I know I have you to return to I’ll take the greatest care, my darling,’ he murmured before he held her to his heart and kissed her sweetly and deeply.
Kitty emerged from that breathless embrace and reluctantly opened the door. ‘Stay there,’ she said softly as he made to climb out of the car. ‘I hate prolonged goodbyes, and if we go on like this you’ll never get back to the airfield on time.’
‘This isn’t goodbye,’ he replied. ‘Merely au revoir. I’ll be back to see you as soon as I can.’
She smiled through her tears and nodded as she hung the straps of her handbag and gas-mask box round her neck. Grasping her crutches, she set off down the alley, aware that he was watching her every step. When she reached the gate to Beach View she couldn’t resist looking back one last time.
Roger was standing by the car, his expression unreadable in the shadow of his peaked cap as he blew her a kiss.
She returned his kiss and then, before she disgraced herself by bursting into silly tears, she turned away and headed down the garden path to Beach View’s back door.
Almost a week had passed since Roger’s return to duty, and Peggy had been relieved to find that he’d kept his word and telephoned every day. Kitty seemed to have drawn strength from those daily talks and was back into the routine at the Memorial, working hard to conquer the prosthesis. Rita and the lads from the fire station still ferried her back and forth, so Kitty and Peggy had used some of the precious white flour to make some cakes for them all to show their appreciation.
Despite everything she had to do, Peggy found the week had dragged all too slowly towards Saturday and Jim’s expected homecoming. Needing to keep busy, she had finally collared Ron into helping her move out the unwanted furniture from the dining room, and they’d shifted things about in the boys’ basement bedroom to store the chairs, cupboards and tin trunks. Then she’d got him to bring the heavy curtains down so she could shake out the dust before she washed them.
Once the room was cleared, the chimney swept and the ugly boarding taken away from the windows, she’d refused further help and set to with a will to get it presentable before Jim came home. The floor was polished to a gleam, upholstery was beaten to get rid of the dust, the dining table was waxed and a new bulb was screwed into the central light fitting.
Once she was satisfied, she then turned her attention to their bedroom, the hall and the kitchen. She was a veritable whirlwind as she polished and scrubbed, washed and dusted – but it still felt as if Saturday would never come.
By Thursday afternoon Cordelia had had enough. ‘You’ll wear yourself out and be good for nothing by the time Jim comes home,’ she said. ‘For goodness’ sake, Peggy, be still. You’re making me feel quite giddy with all that rushing about.’
‘But I want it to be perfect,’ said Peggy as she washed the kitchen curtains in the sink. ‘He’s been away for so long, and I don’t want him to think I’ve let things slide.’
‘You silly girl,’ said Cordelia fondly. ‘He won’t care about clean curtains or a scrubbed floor. He’ll only have eyes for you and little Daisy.’
Peggy rinsed the curtains and squeezed out the water. ‘I do realise that,’ she admitted, ‘but I’ve needed to keep busy this past week, or I’d have gone mad.’
‘To be sure, we’ve all been driven mad with your cleaning and tidying,’ grumbled Ron. ‘Sit down, woman, for goodness’ sake, and give us all a rest.’
Peggy eyed him with affection. ‘It’s no use you being so grumpy,’ she said. ‘It was your idea for Monty to go to Rosie’s.’
‘Aye, well, I didn’t expect her to take him so soon. I thought he’d stay here until his stitches were out.’
‘Is he happy with Rosie?’ she asked.
‘Oh, aye, spoiled rotten. A proper little prince, so he is.’
Peggy picked up the bowl containing the wet curtains. ‘Well then, you can’t really complain, can you?’ Not waiting for his reply, she went down the steps and into the garden to hang out the curtains.
The bed linen was already dry and ready for ironing, as was her best summer dress. She took them off the line and stood for a moment to hug her happiness to herself and imagine how Jim’s homecoming would be. She’d be dressed in her lovely frock and best white sandals, with her hair all done and her nails polished. Daisy would be adorable in the sweet little cotton dress and bonnet that she’d finished embroidering last night, and Jim would open his arms to them both and hold them tightly.
Her thoughts drifted to the night when they would finally be alone in their great big bed and Jim would reach for her and . . .
‘Peggy, I’m ready to do your hair and nails,’ called Fran from the kitchen window. ‘If we don’t get a wee bit of a move on, I won’t have time to do a really good job before I have to be on shift.’
Peggy’s pleasant reverie was broken and she returned to the house, safe in the knowledge that her dreams of Jim would soon be fulfilled.
‘If you’re about to turn this place into a beauty parlour, Harvey and I are off,’ muttered Ron as he sourly regarded the hair rollers, the brush and comb and all the beauty paraphernalia that Fran was taking out of her vanity case.
‘Ach, Ron. You’ll be sitting for a minute while I trim you up,’ Fran replied determinedly.
‘I’ll not be trimmed,’ he said with a frown.
‘Aye, ye will.’ Fran threw a towel round his shoulders and pressed him back into the kitchen chair. ‘To be sure, Uncle Ron, you’re looking more like a shaggy dog than Harvey ever did,’ and she began to snip at his hair.
Cordelia giggled and Peggy couldn’t help but smile, for Ron was a picture of misery as he sat there with Harvey’s head on his knee while Fran clipped and combed.
‘To be sure ’tis a lot of fuss about nothing,’ he grumbled.
‘You’ll like it when I’ve finished,’ said Fran purposefully. ‘And I’m sure Rosie will appreciate you looking a bit smarter.’
Peggy could see Ron was thinking about that possibility and had already begun to perk up. Fran certainly knew how to get her way with him. Yet, as she regarded the saggy, faded corduroy trousers, the string holding them up and the ragged shirt, she had to accept that Ron would never be dapper.
‘You be minding what ye’re doing, girl,’ he rumbled as Fran carefully began to trim his bushy eyebrows.
‘Aye, I’ll be minding,’ she said with a smile, ‘but if you’d prefer, I could always pull them out with me tweezers.’
‘You’ll do no such thing,’ he snarled. ‘Let me out of this kitchen before ye torture me further.’
Fran had him captured in the chair, her scissors poised close to his eyelids as she continued to snip and comb. ‘Nearly done, then you can go and have a shave.’
‘I had a shave only last week,’ he protested.
Fran giggled and stood back. ‘There, all trim and shipshape, so y’are. A shave, clean shirt, some decent trousers and shoes, and you could almost pass as handsome.’
‘I’ll give you handsome, you cheeky wee girl,’ he muttered with a twinkle in his eye as she took the towel from his shoulders. ‘Let’s get out of here, Harvey, before she takes those scissors to
your
eyebrows.’
The three women laughed and settled down to a pleasant couple of hours of titivating while Daisy crawled about the kitchen floor playing with her brightly coloured building bricks in her nappy and rather grubby vest.
Fran began by doing Peggy’s nails, and while the polish was drying, she combed setting lotion in her clean hair and began to pin it up in rollers. ‘This set will last for four days, so you’ve no fear of spoiling it before Saturday,’ she said. ‘Now, I’ll just be giving you a nice face pack.’
‘I don’t know about that,’ said Peggy as she dubiously regarded the pale green paste that Fran was mixing in a bowl. ‘What if it brings me out in a rash?’
‘To be sure it’ll do no such t’ing,’ Fran said firmly.
Peggy fidgeted in her chair and reached for a cigarette. ‘Well, I hope not. I don’t want Jim coming home to a wife covered in spots.’
‘Now there’s to be no more talking, Auntie Peg. This has to dry and set, and if you move so much as a muscle, you’ll spoil the effect.’
Peggy sat still as the cool green paste was slathered onto her face. It did feel nice, she thought, but lord only knew what she must look like. She caught Cordelia’s amused expression and had to fight hard not to break into giggles. This had to be the daftest thing she’d ever done.
‘There we are,’ said Fran. ‘Now I’ll be putting this cucumber over your eyes so they’ll be all bright and sparkling, and those dark shadows will be all gone.’
‘Cucumber?’ Peggy managed, barely moving her lips. ‘You can’t waste good cucumber . . .’
‘Hush now,’ soothed Fran. ‘To be sure ’tis only the wee bits off the end that are always sour anyway. We’ll not be wasting anything.’
Peggy felt a complete fool sitting there with the goo hardening to concrete on her face and the cucumber freezing her eyelids. She slipped the cigarette between her lips and took a deep drag. ‘How long am I supposed to stay like this?’
‘For about half an hour,’ said Fran. ‘It will make your skin lovely and soft and iron out any creases, so it will.’
Peggy rather took exception to the notion that her face might be creased, but she said nothing, for the girl was only trying to be helpful.
‘I must say,’ said Cordelia with a hitch in her voice. ‘You do look very odd, Peggy. But at least you’re sitting down for once, which can only be a good thing after all the haring about you’ve done this week.’
A rap on the front door startled them all. ‘Can you go, Fran? And for goodness’ sake, whoever it is, don’t bring them in here.’
Peggy heard Fran’s footsteps crossing the hall floor and the rattle of the letter box as she opened the door. There was a murmur of voices and then the door closed again and Fran returned. ‘Who was it?’
‘Peggy, it was something for you.’
She knew from her tone that something was wrong, and a chill swept through her as she ripped off the cucumber. Her gaze fell immediately on the brown envelope in Fran’s hand. ‘A telegram?’ she whispered.
‘Aye, it is,’ said Fran solemnly. ‘Do you want me to read it for you, Auntie Peg?’
She shook her head and reached for the telegram. Her fingers were clumsy as she ripped open the envelope, and her breath was shallow as she steeled herself to read the cruel words that danced before her from the single page.
‘ALL LEAVE CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE * LETTER FOLLOWS * JIMX’
Peggy let the telegram flutter to the floor as she burst into tears and ran for the sanctuary of her bedroom.
Kitty sat down wearily after her fourth session in the physio room. ‘I’m completely exhausted,’ she admitted as she unbuckled the leg and rubbed her aching thigh muscles.
Dr Thorne smiled down at her. ‘I’m not surprised,’ he said. ‘You’ve been working hard today and achieved a great deal.’ He knelt to examine her stump. ‘That’s looking absolutely fine,’ he said, ‘so I think you can have another go at reaching the door tomorrow.’
‘I could try now,’ she said eagerly.
He shook his head. ‘Remember what I said about taking things slowly, Kitty? Tomorrow morning first thing will be much better. You’ll be rested and feeling stronger than now, which will give you a much better chance of achieving your goal.’
She knew he was right, but her impatient nature meant it was hard to accept. ‘There are ten days left until I’m to be a bridesmaid at my friend’s wedding,’ she said as she pulled the thickly padded sock over her stump. ‘Do you think I’ll be able to walk with sticks by then?’
‘I think you’d be pushing yourself too hard,’ he said solemnly. ‘It’s one thing to get from here to the door, but it will be quite another to walk up an aisle and stand for half an hour or more before you have to walk back. Then there’s all the standing about while the photographs are taken and people mingle.’ His expression was kindly regretful. ‘I think you’ll enjoy the day far more if you stick to your trusty crutches.’
Kitty gave a deep sigh of disappointment. ‘When you put it like that, I can see how hopeless it was to even consider it.’ Then she made an effort to look on the bright side of things. ‘Still, at least I won’t have that horrid shoe poking out from beneath my dress.’
‘That’s the spirit.’ He handed her the crutches. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Kitty.’
She went out of the room and along the corridor towards the front door, and saw Rita was already waiting to take her home. ‘Hello, you’re early – or am I late?’
‘I’m a bit early because I need to get back to Beach View as quickly as possible.’
‘Why?’ Kitty asked sharply. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Jim’s leave has been cancelled and poor Auntie Peg is in a terrible state.’
‘Oh, no,’ gasped Kitty. ‘Poor Peggy. What a cruel thing to do at the very last minute.’
‘That’s the flaming army for you,’ snapped Rita as they went out onto the driveway.