by Ellie Dean
Ron made a great show of being put upon, but as no one was taken in by it, he grinned. ‘Of course. I’ll see to it all tomorrow,’ he said before making his escape down the steps and out of the back door with Harvey at his heels.
Peggy was warmed by all the good news, but she still had Doris to sort out – and as there was no sign of her in the kitchen, she could only assume she was in her room. Not wanting to spoil the mood, she sipped her tea and lit a cigarette. ‘I do so love weddings,’ she said to no one in particular, ‘even though I cry all the way through them and positively ruin my make-up.’
‘You and Cordelia are completely hopeless,’ teased Rita. ‘I’ve never seen anyone get through quite so many handkerchiefs as you both did when Kitty married Roger.’
Peggy grinned and gently patted her face. ‘You wait, young lady. When you get to my age and see a beloved girl walking down the aisle, you’ll turn on the waterworks too.’
Rita grinned. ‘If you say so, Aunty Peg. But I’ve decided that if I ever get married it will be at the registry office with as little fuss as possible.’
‘Over my dead body,’ said Peggy. ‘When you get married, you’ll have the whole works, or I’m not Peggy Reilly.’ She shot a look at Fran and the other girls. ‘And that goes for all of my chicks.’
She saw the stricken look on Sarah’s face and felt a pang of remorse for not thinking before speaking. ‘How’s Cordelia?’ she asked the room in general, hastily changing the subject.
‘The Friars’ Balsam is really helping, and the doctor’s very pleased with her,’ said Fran. ‘Her temperature is down and she’s breathing much more easily.’ She shot a loving look at Robert. ‘We went up to tell her our news and she was all for coming downstairs.’ She giggled. ‘We had the devil’s own job of persuading her it wouldn’t be wise, and had to promise we’d take her up a glass of sherry to help her celebrate.’
‘It was a big glass, an’ all,’ said Ivy, frowning. ‘She knocked it back and was asleep within seconds. I don’t reckon it went too well with them pills she’s on.’
‘She’s fine,’ soothed Fran. ‘And sleeping like a baby. She probably won’t wake until morning now, and feel all the better for it.’
Sarah took the plate out of the warming oven and placed it on the table. ‘I checked Daisy just before you got home, and she’s fast asleep too. So you sit down, Aunt Peg, and eat. You must be hungry after your long day.’
‘Bless you, dear, yes, I am.’ She sat down at the table and regarded the stew, which looked quite appetising, even though Ivy had been in charge of the cooking. She was about to tuck in when she suddenly remembered Doris. ‘Oh, lawks,’ she breathed. ‘Where’s my sister?’
‘She’s been banging about upstairs most of the day,’ said Rita, ‘and I only saw her when she came down to fetch her plate of supper.’
‘Banging about?’ Peggy was bewildered.
‘I don’t know what she was up to,’ said Fran, ‘but she did ask Robert to help her with something earlier. In all the excitement, I forgot to ask him what she’d wanted him to do.’
As Robert had gone upstairs to the bathroom, Peggy was unable to question him. ‘What sort of mood was she in?’ she asked warily.
Ivy shrugged. ‘Hard to tell. She didn’t say nothing to me, just swanned in, took her portion of stew and swanned out again, nose in the air like she could smell something ’orrid.’
Peggy groaned. ‘That doesn’t bode well.’
‘Leave her to get on with it, I say,’ Ivy retorted. ‘You eat your tea and don’t let her upset you. It were time she were taken down a peg or two.’ She nudged Peggy and gave a cackle of laughter. ‘A peg or two! Get it? A Peg certainly sorted her out this morning, and no mistake.’
Peggy’s smile was polite as the others tittered. She hadn’t found Ivy’s joke at all funny, and could only hope that when she went upstairs to see Doris there wouldn’t be a repeat of the earlier unpleasantness.
Robert came back into the room just as Ron returned with a bottle of gin and a crate of beer, which he deposited on the table. ‘Rosie said congratulations, and there’s a drink for you both behind the bar the next time you drop in.’ He shot Robert a wink before heading off for fire-watch duty with Harvey.
Peggy decided she’d find out for herself what Doris had been up to. Once she’d finished the stew, she went to check on Daisy, who was indeed fast asleep and cuddling the knitted toy Lil had given her some time ago. With a longing look at the telephone, she slowly went upstairs, promising herself she’d ring Cissy as soon as she’d dealt with Doris.
Cordelia was asleep and breathing much easier, her silver hair glistening like frost in the light from the bedside lamp, her little face slightly flushed with the remains of her fever. Peggy carefully placed her library book and glasses on the table and softly kissed her forehead before switching off the light. Leaving the door open so they could hear if she called out, Peggy made her way along to the large front bedroom which had provided a brief home and respite to so many of her chicks during these past five war-torn years.
She tapped on the door.
‘What do you want?’
‘It’s me,’ said Peggy. She heard footsteps cross the room and the key turn in the lock before the door was opened.
‘I’m in no mood for an argument,’ said Doris.
‘Neither am I.’ Peggy noted she was wearing the tweed skirt and twinset she’d taken back that morning, and which had been her favourite outfit for when she’d gone out to somewhere special. ‘Can I come in?’
‘I don’t really have a say in the matter, do I?’ Doris said tartly. ‘You made it very plain this morning that this is your house, and you therefore have a right to come and go as you please.’
Refusing to rise to the bait, Peggy stepped in and closed the door behind her, fully intending to be pleasant. However, a swift glance round the room showed her exactly what Doris had been doing all day, and it set her seething.
The furniture had been shifted and added to from other parts of the house with little thought of how inconvenient that might be to everyone else. The heavy brocade curtains from the dining room had replaced the sprigged cotton ones over the bay window; the stool and kidney-shaped dressing table had been brought from Cissy’s room; and one of the armchairs from the dining room was now placed by the gas fire, above which hung a large mirror, also from the dining room. The standard lamp from Ivy and Rita’s room now stood in a corner; the rug from Fran and Sarah’s room lay before the hearth; Peggy’s linen cupboard had been raided of embroidered tablecloths which now covered the bedside tables; and Cordelia’s spare eiderdown and lace-edged linen pillowcases and sheets adorned Doris’s double bed.
To cap it all, Jim’s dressing gown was hanging on the back of the door and the lovely, expensive nightdress he’d bought her the last Christmas he’d been home was draped over the foot of the bed.
She regarded her sister coldly. ‘I came up to try and mend things between us – to actually apologise for what I said this morning and ask you to stay. But seeing what you’ve done has changed all that.’
She snatched the dressing gown from the door and gathered up the precious nightdress she’d been saving for Jim’s homecoming. ‘Your arrogance is unbelievable, Doris, and I’m lost for words.’
Doris had the grace to look uncomfortable. ‘I didn’t think you’d really mind,’ she muttered.
‘Which part of “you’re not having this” didn’t you understand, Doris?’ Peggy hissed, clutching the nightwear to her chest. ‘And what right have you to help yourself to other people’s things without bothering to even ask?’
‘You never use the dining room, and those curtains cut out the draught much better than those thin cotton things. I assumed the bedding and tablecloths were going spare. As for the bedroom furniture, Cissy hasn’t lived here for at least two years, so she’s hardly going to miss it, is she?’
Whilst Peggy stood dumbfounded, Doris lit a cigarette. ‘I’d appreciate it
if Ron would remove that ugly old dressing table. It’s too heavy for me to shift.’
Peggy was trembling with rage. ‘I tell you what, Doris. Ron will come tomorrow morning and take back Cissy’s things as well as the standard lamp and rug. You can keep the damn chair and the bedclothes unless Cordelia needs them – they are hers, you know, not mine.’
‘I wondered where you’d got the money to buy such good quality bedding,’ said Doris. ‘Look, Mar— Peggy, I know you’re cross, but—’
‘Cross?’ snapped Peggy. ‘Oh, I’m way beyond blooming cross! I’m bloody furious.’
Doris grimaced. ‘I don’t know what all the fuss is about, but language like that is most unbecoming – especially from a woman.’
Peggy clutched the nightwear in an attempt to cool down and resist hitting her sister again. ‘Danuta is coming home next week and will go into Cissy’s room, so that furniture is needed. And if you go into my room again and take things which you know damned well you shouldn’t have, I really will show you the bloody door.’
Before Doris could say anything, she’d turned on her heel, stomped along the landing and run down the stairs, blinded with tears.
Reaching the sanctuary of her room, she quietly closed the door so she wouldn’t wake Daisy, and then slumped onto the bed, the dressing gown held to her face so she could breathe in the essence of Jim which still lingered in the fabric.
‘I’ll kill her if she stays much longer,’ she muttered to his photograph. ‘Honestly, Jim, that woman is driving me demented.’
The light tap on the door roused her from her dark thoughts and she swiped back her tears as she went to answer it, hoping it wasn’t Doris come to torment her again.
But it wasn’t Doris. Peggy gasped in delight as Cissy gathered her into her arms.
‘Cissy? Oh, darling,’ Peggy sighed tremulously. ‘What a wonderful surprise! I was going to call you tonight.’
‘What’s the matter, Mum? Are you still in shock after that V-1?’
‘How did you hear about that?’ Peggy asked in dismay.
‘It was hardly a secret, Mum, which is why I managed to persuade the Chief WAAF to let me come and visit.’
‘I’m fine, really. Still a bit shaken, but it’ll pass.’
Peggy looked at her beautiful daughter, with her radiant skin and worried expression. At twenty-two, Cissy had turned into a sophisticated young woman who looked quite wonderful in her WAAF uniform, her fair hair curled back in victory rolls beneath the perky little cap, her make-up flawless.
‘Are you sure, Mum? Only I can tell you’ve been crying.’
‘It’s just Doris,’ she said lightly. ‘You know how we’re always falling out.’ She hugged Cissy to her, breathing in the scent of her, delighted to see her after so long.
‘Doris has always been a cow,’ said Cissy with feeling. ‘I’d tell her straight what I think of her if it didn’t upset you – but it’s Ted who should step up and sort her out really. He must know of somewhere she could go.’
Peggy dredged up a smile and closed the door on the noise coming from the celebrations in the kitchen. ‘Don’t let’s waste this precious time we have talking about Doris,’ she said, keeping tight hold of her daughter’s hand as she sat on the bed. ‘How are you? Are you coping with things? Have you heard from Randolph – and how long have I got you for?’
Cissy sat down beside her on the bed. She watched Daisy sleeping for a moment, then turned back to her mother. ‘It’s pretty hair-raising, with so many ops going on day and night,’ she murmured. ‘But the sheer force of our air power seems to be having an effect. There are fewer Jerry planes going up and our losses are at last slowing down.’
She stroked the dressing gown. ‘This is Dad’s, isn’t it?’ At Peggy’s nod she rubbed her cheek against the fabric and gave a little sigh. ‘I wish I had something of Randy’s, but all his stuff went into storage on the American base when he was taken prisoner.’ She held the dressing gown to her cheek for a moment more whilst she gazed at her father’s photograph, and then set it tenderly aside.
‘I’ve got two hours before I have to be back, but at least I won’t have to walk. The Chief WAAF let me borrow a car from the pool.’
Peggy saw how she bit her lip and knotted her hands in her lap. ‘What is it, Cissy?’ she asked fearfully.
‘I got a notification from the American airbase this morning,’ she said. ‘The Red Cross have reported that Randy’s been moved to another Stalag, which I’ve since learnt is near the Polish border. Why he’s been moved, I have no idea, and I did wonder if Martin, Roger and Freddy had been moved with him. But I phoned Kitty earlier and she’s heard nothing. Has Anne called you about Martin?’
‘No, darling, I’m sorry. But I’m sure if she had any news she’d tell us straight away.’
Cissy nodded. ‘That’s what I thought.’ She took a tremulous breath. ‘I wonder why he was singled out. Was it because he’s an American, do you think?’
‘I have no idea,’ said Peggy, aching for her daughter’s dilemma. ‘But at least you know where he is. That’s German efficiency for you – which is more than one can say about the Japs. Poor Sarah still doesn’t know what’s happened to her father and Philip.’
A burst of laughter from the kitchen brought a wan smile to Cissy’s face and she made a concerted effort to dismiss her worries and appear cheerful. ‘The celebrations seem to be going well. It’s lovely those two have finally got engaged – lovely too that Danuta’s at last coming home, and Grandpa has made it up with Rosie. Shall we join them?’
Peggy didn’t really want to share her with everyone else, but it seemed churlish to refuse. ‘Why not?’ she said. ‘I could certainly do with a large gin after dealing with Doris.’
‘Then let’s hope they’ve left us some,’ said Cissy. ‘But if they haven’t,’ she added with an impish grin, ‘I’ve got another bottle from the mess that I managed to smuggle out courtesy of a rather smitten rear gunner.’
‘Cissy Reilly, you are a naughty girl,’ teased Peggy, giving her a nudge towards the door. ‘You’re as bad as your dad and granddad.’
‘They taught me everything I know,’ she replied with a giggle.
The crate of beers had been raided and the first bottle of gin was almost empty, so there were shouts of glee as Cissy produced the second bottle and poured drinks all round. The noise level rose; the cat beat a hasty retreat and the girls started dancing as Fran struck up a jig on the violin.
Peggy wondered momentarily what Doris must be thinking to hear her expensive violin being played so exuberantly, and then dismissed all thoughts of her selfish and utterly maddening sister, and joined in the fun.
As the level in the gin bottle went down and the noise level rose, Peggy had little fear of either Daisy or Cordelia being disturbed, for Cordelia’s hearing aid had been taken out, and Daisy could sleep through countless numbers of fighters and bombers roaring overhead. As for Doris, she could stew.
Peggy watched her daughter’s every move throughout what was left of their precious two hours together. She had evolved into a lovely young woman, far removed from the young girl who’d had ambitions to be a star of stage and screen despite her lowly job as a sales girl in Woolworths. She’d found love with Randy Stevens, and had witnessed things no girl should ever witness, but her posting at Cliffe aerodrome had given her strength of purpose and a maturity she might not have had if it hadn’t been for this blasted war.
Cissy finally had to leave, and Peggy followed her out to the front step. She enfolded her in her arms and held her tight, knowing that every day she was on that airfield she was in danger of coming under enemy fire. ‘Be careful,’ she whispered against her cheek. ‘And try to ring when you can. I do worry about you.’
‘I worry about you too,’ Cissy replied, hugging her back. ‘And if Doris winds you up like a clock, just walk away from her. She’s not worth it, Mum. Really she’s not.’
‘I know. But she’s still my sister, and I fe
el responsible for her.’
Cissy chuckled. ‘You’re too soft, that’s your trouble, Mum. But none of us would have it any other way.’ She hitched the strap of her service issue handbag over her shoulder. ‘If you hear anything from the others about their men, you will let me know, won’t you?’
‘Of course I will, but I’m sure if Kitty gets anything through she’ll be able to wangle her way into the aerodrome to tell you.’
Cissy hugged and kissed her one last time then ran down the steps and climbed into the car. ‘I love you, Mum,’ she called through the open window.
‘I love you too,’ Peggy called back. But her endearment was lost in the roar of the car’s powerful engine and the screech of tyres as Cissy shot out of the cul-de-sac, up the hill and out of sight.
Peggy folded her arms tightly about her waist, took a shaky breath and looked up at the starlit sky. There was a golden ring hazed around the moon, and she could only pray that it augured well.
6
Ron had planned to surprise Rosie this morning by taking her warm fresh bread straight from the bakery and an egg from his hens to make her breakfast before he walked the dogs. However, as he stepped into the kitchen to make the early morning tea and stoke the fire, he found Peggy bright-eyed and far too bushy-tailed for a woman who’d helped sink two bottles of gin the previous night. He eyed her warily as she placed a long list on the table.
‘I realise it’s a bit early, but this can’t wait,’ she said. ‘These are the things I want removed from Doris’s room and put back where they belong. And while you’re at it, you can go up into the attic and look for those old velvet curtains I used to have in the dining room.’ Her mouth formed a thin line. ‘Doris has commandeered the heavy brocade ones, so they’ll need to be taken back down and replaced with the velvets, seeing as how my cotton curtains are deemed far too inferior.’
Ron frowned as he read down the list. ‘What’s all this doing in her room in the first place?’