‘Are you feelin’ all right, gel?’ she asked. ‘You’ve got bags under yer eyes that I could do me shoppin’ in.’
‘Oh, I’m just a bit tired,’ Briony assured her, flicking her jet-black hair across her shoulder. ‘But I’ll get to have a bit of a lie-in in the morning, so that’s something to look forward to.’
‘Huh! Yer lucky bugger,’ Ruth muttered as she wrapped her scarf around her neck. ‘Wish I could say the same. But now, are we walkin’ home or should we push the boat out an’ catch the bus?’
‘I reckon we’ll get the bus.’ Briony yawned, and arm in arm they set off for the bus station.
They parted at the end of Church Road to go their separate ways and as Briony trudged down the entry leading to her back door, she wondered what she would be arriving home to today. A peal of laughter reached her as she entered the yard, and she gasped with delight when she went in and saw her father standing at the stove flicking bacon in a pan and looking breathtakingly handsome in his Army uniform.
‘DAD!’ She flew to him and he wrapped her in his strong arms and kissed the top of her head.
‘Hello, sweetheart. How’s my girl?’
‘B-but what are you doing here?’
‘Well, if it upsets you I could always go away again,’ he responded with a twinkle in his eye.
‘Oh no,’ she answered hastily. ‘It was just such a surprise to see you.’
‘We weren’t told we would be getting a few days’ leave till last night,’ he explained, turning his attention back to the stove. It wouldn’t do to let the dinner burn. Briony glanced towards her mother, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
‘Isn’t it just wonderful?’ Lois said. Then she pouted and went on, ‘But he has to go back in four days’ time.’
‘Never mind, we shall have to make the most of every second,’ Briony responded brightly. And that’s just what they did.
The next morning, it was her father who got the children up and prepared their breakfasts for them, and it began to feel like old times.
‘I know it’s a bit early but I thought we could catch the bus into town this morning and get a Christmas tree,’ he suggested as he helped the younger two to get dressed. Sarah and Alfie hooted with delight, but unfortunately Briony knew that Sarah was nowhere near well enough to venture out into the freezing weather just yet.
‘I think the cold would start her coughing again,’ she told her father. ‘But don’t worry. I can stay here with her and while you’re all gone, Sarah and I can get the box of baubles down from the attic, ready for when you bring the tree home. Then you can help me decorate it, can’t you, Sarah?’
The little girl was disappointed at not being able to go with the rest of the family, but the thought of being allowed to help put the baubles and the lights on the tree mollified her a little so she nodded in agreement.
*
It was mid-afternoon and already getting dark by the time the family returned, with Alfie nearly leaping with excitement as his father dragged the tree into the kitchen.
‘We got a smashin’ tree,’ he told Briony. ‘An’ look,’ he showed her a twist of brown paper clutched in his small palm, ‘Dad got us all a quarter o’ sweets each. He got liquorice twists fer Sarah, ’cos they’re her favourites an’ we got pear drops fer you. Yer like them, don’t yer? An’ I had gobstoppers.’
Her father winked at Briony as he disappeared back out into the yard to find a bucket to stand the tree in.
‘Then aren’t we the lucky ones?’ Briony smiled indulgently as she reached for the kettle, which was whistling its head off. She had guessed that her mum and dad would be ready for a hot drink when they got home and she wasn’t far wrong. It seemed that Lois didn’t need anything stronger than tea to keep her happy while she had her husband at her side, and Briony thought how sad that was. It just went to show how much she missed him.
Once her father had returned with a sturdy bucket full of earth, Briony quickly drew the blackout curtain across the windows and the next hour was happily spent dressing the tree while James Valentine cooked the evening meal. He had bought some sausages in the market and they all sat down to a steaming plateful of sausage and mash each.
‘Cor! That were lovely,’ Alfie declared as he rubbed his full stomach once he had cleared his plate. Even Sarah had made an effort to eat something this evening, for which Briony was thankful. The little girl was so frail now that she looked as if one good puff of wind would blow her away. Briony knew that her father was worried about her, but as they were washing the dirty pots together she tried to reassure him.
‘Don’t worry. I try to make sure that she eats,’ she told him.
‘You’re a good girl, Briony,’ he smiled. ‘I really don’t know what we’d all do without you.’
Briony glanced into the little sitting room where her mother was reading a story from a book James had bought the children from the market, and lowering her voice she said, ‘Mum told me about our grandparents in Cornwall.’
‘Did she now? Well, you had to know about them sometime,’ he answered.
‘Mum says that our grandfather has said that if things get bad, we can go and stay with them,’ she added.
‘I know, she told me.’ James grappled with his feelings. Truthfully, he had no love for Lois’s parents after the way they had treated her, but he knew that he would rather his children were somewhere safe if things became too dangerous, so he would just have to bite his tongue. ‘And how do you feel about that?’
Briony sniffed. ‘I feel I’m too old to be evacuated,’ she admitted. ‘And I would have to give my job up. But then I don’t like the thought of the two little ones having to go away on their own. Especially Sarah. She needs someone who knows her to look out for her . . . but what are our grandparents like? Mum won’t say too much about them when I’ve asked her anything.’
Checking to make sure they couldn’t be overheard, his hands became still in the soapy water, and lowering his voice James confided, ‘Actually, I rather liked your grandfather. He was a gentleman and he gave me work in the grounds of the house when I first landed there. It was more your grandmother that was the problem. She’s a bit of a tartar, to be honest, and your grandfather is rather under the thumb if you know what I mean? She ruled him with a rod of iron from what I could see of it, and he was so besotted with her that he allowed it. There wasn’t a problem until I became involved with your mum, and then the trouble started and she made him sack me. I wasn’t good enough for her daughter, you see.’ He grinned ruefully as the memories flooded back. ‘Between you and me, your mum is a lot like her in some ways. She likes to be waited on and looked after, but I put that down to her upbringing. She was used to having servants do everything, and it was a bit of a shock when we first got married and she had to learn to do a few things for herself.’ He chuckled. ‘I don’t think your mum had ever cooked a meal or lifted an iron in her entire life, and we had many burnt offerings and scorched shirts in the early days, but she did try.’ He became serious then. ‘I know she leaves you to do more than you should, lass, but it isn’t because she doesn’t love you – she does, I promise you. She adores all of you.’
‘I know that,’ Briony answered. ‘And I don’t mind helping out, really I don’t. But I’ll be glad when the war is over and you can come home. Mum is no good without you.’ She briefly wondered if she should mention that Lois had taken to drinking to drown her loneliness and heartache, but then thought better of it. Her dad had enough to worry about as it was and she didn’t want to make things worse for him.
‘And what about Mum’s brother, Sebastian – what is he like?’
James’s face darkened as he slapped another dirty plate into the water, sending a shower of suds onto the wooden draining board.
‘I never got on with him from day one,’ he said tersely. ‘And if you do end up going there, I’d suggest you keep your distance. There was something about him that I just couldn’t take to, although he could do no wrong in your grandmother’s eyes. She thought the sun rose and set with him. On the few occasions when our paths did cross he talked to me like I was something dirty stuck to the sole of his shoe – but then he thought he was a cut above everyone, from what I could see of it.’
‘Oh, I see.’ Briony didn’t like the sound of this uncle at all.
Seeing that he’d worried her, James added hastily, ‘Of course, this was all a very long time ago. He will probably have changed and settled down by now, so don’t get worrying about it.’
She managed a weak smile whilst silently praying that she would never have to meet any of them. They went on to speak of the camp where her father had been training.
‘It’s hard work,’ he said, ‘especially the physical training, and you get shouted at as if you’re still at school, but it’s nothing I can’t cope with. The accommodation leaves a lot to be desired as well. It’s certainly not the Ritz. We sleep in Nissen huts and they’re freezing for most of the time but then we’re all in the same boat and you learn to just get on with it.’
Briony thought how brave her father was, but then he had always been her hero.
‘Do you think there will be an invasion?’ she asked.
He hesitated before answering. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten her. She had more than enough on her plate at present, but then he didn’t want to lie to her either so eventually he said, ‘Hopefully not – but we have to be prepared for one, just in case. Up to now we’ve missed the bombing, but I have a horrible feeling that we might cop it eventually because of the local munitions factories. They’re always going to be a target – and if that does happen then I would sooner you lot were away from here.’
The thought was terrifying but Briony plastered on a smile. She was truly her father’s daughter in every way.
On Sunday James cooked them all a wonderful roast-lamb dinner and Briony wished that time could stand still. Her whole family looked so happy – even Sarah seemed to have perked up considerably – and her mum was positively glowing. As she cleared the table after the meal she tried not to think of what it would be like when her father left again. Once the dishes were washed and put away, Mrs Brindley watched Sarah for them while the others all went for a long walk. They took the tow path from the Cock and Bear Bridge and walked along the canal for miles, and by the time they returned their cheeks were glowing and Alfie was hungry again.
‘I swear that lad has hollow legs,’ James commented as he prepared a pile of meat-paste sandwiches and hot buttered crumpets. They were one of the little boy’s favourites and he tucked in as if he hadn’t eaten for a month. It was nice to see him smile again. Many of his friends had been evacuated and he had been feeling miserable, but having his father home again, if only for a short time, had acted like a tonic on him.
‘I saw Mrs Moreton on Friday on me way home from school,’ he informed them, spraying crumbs all over the fringed chenille cloth. ‘An’ she reckons that she’ll be fetchin’ their Jimmy home again soon ’cos they’re sayin’ this is only a phoney war. She says she wishes she hadn’t let him go an’ be ’vacuated now. If that’s true, you’ll be home for good soon, won’t yer, Dad? An’ we won’t have to keep cartin’ our gas masks an’ our identity cards round with us then, will we?’
A silence settled around the table as they all looked at James expectantly.
‘Well, I’m afraid I can’t rightly say, son,’ he said quietly. ‘But let’s all hope that she’s right, eh?’
All too soon, it was almost time for Briony’s father to return to his unit and as she made her way home from work that Monday evening, Briony’s heart was heavy. A freezing fog had descended during the afternoon and it was impossible to see more than a few yards from the window of the bus.
‘Cheer up, mate, it might never happen,’ Ruth prompted.
‘Huh! You’re a right one to talk,’ Briony responded. ‘You’ve had a face like a wet weekend on you ever since Ernie went away.’
‘I suppose I have.’ Ruth sighed and blew on her cold hands. ‘But I don’t half miss him, don’t you?’
‘I suppose I do.’ Briony said carefully. It wouldn’t do to let Ruth know that she too had developed feelings for Ernie that went beyond friendship. ‘But we’re all having to get used to saying goodbye to people we care about because of this damn war.’
The bus swayed to a stop then and the girls clambered down the steep metal staircase and hopped off into the chilly evening air.
‘Right then, I’ll see yer in the mornin’,’ Ruth shouted as she set off for home, and waved as the two girls went their separate ways.
The kitchen was bright and cheery when Briony entered a few moments later and an appetising smell hung on the air.
‘Hello, love, I thought I’d do us all a nice chicken dinner seeing as it’s my last night home for a while,’ her father greeted her as Briony tugged her outer clothes off. There was a fire roaring up the chimney and she noticed that the clothes-horse was heaving with freshly ironed clothes, placed by the fire to air. Her dad had obviously been busy. The lights on the Christmas tree were twinkling and the two younger children were happily engaged in doing a jigsaw on the hearthrug. Lois looked immaculate, her hair freshly waved following a trip to her favourite hairdresser’s that afternoon and there was a broad smile on her face as she watched her husband adoringly. Lois loved looking her best and Archie Carmen, her hairdresser, always ensured that she did. James would often tease her about going all the way down to Coton Road when there were other salons so much closer, but Lois insisted that none of them could hold a candle to Archie. ‘Why do you think all the local businessmen’s wives go to him?’ she would say. ‘It’s because he’s the best, of course.’
James was greatly amused by Archie, who was a well-known local figure and something of a curiosity to the townsfolk as he was the only man they knew who dared to walk out wearing make-up. He could often be seen strolling about the market with his rouged cheeks and his brass-topped walking stick, with not a whisker of his waxed moustache out of place. He was a dapper little man, but as James had found out long ago, his customers adored him pandering to them and he had long since accepted that Lois would go to no one else, even if Archie was considerably more expensive than the rest.