Wartime on Coronation Street

by Maggie Sullivan

  It wasn’t until she heard the clanging of the ambulance bell that had been called to take him to the local hospital that Vera found out the extent of Pietro’s injuries. She was told that the flaming beam had caught him as it had crashed down, badly burning his right arm and side, his injuries so extensive they didn’t know at first whether he would survive.

  Several of the farmworkers were also taken to the hospital, with less severe injuries, but it was some time before it was confirmed, to everyone’s relief, that no one had actually died.

  When it was clear that all the fires had been extinguished and they were eventually able to check the extent of the damage, everyone seemed to gravitate naturally towards the kitchen which became the centre for the latest news. Mrs Temple provided endless cups of weak Camp coffee and, at Lady Edgefield’s request, even dug into some of the precious tea rations. People were milling about, no one sure what they should be doing or where they should be going when Mr Abbott appeared. He raised his hand for silence.

  ‘I know you’re all exhausted and would probably like to go back to bed to start this unfortunate day again,’ he began, ‘but I’m afraid that won’t be possible for many of you.’ There was a low buzz of muttered reaction to this news, then silence prevailed once more.

  ‘Fortunately, there weren’t too many casualties, the worst being one of the Italian POWs, though we are hoping that he’ll pull through. As far as the farm goes, thanks to people’s prompt actions we’ve managed to save a large part of the structure of the outbuildings, even though much of the content has been destroyed. Thankfully there were only minimal casualties among the livestock. So if you’ll please report to wherever it is that you normally work, you’ll soon see what needs to be done to patch things up temporarily. But you must make the animals your top priority. By tonight, hopefully, we might begin to have a bigger picture.’ He paused, as if expecting interruptions, but when no one said anything he went on, ‘Sadly, the land girls’ sleeping quarters have been damaged beyond repair so we will let you know a little later about the necessary emergency arrangements.’

  Chapter 34

  Life settled back into some sort of routine after the fire but it had changed. The land girls still worked as hard during the day, sometimes working even longer hours so that they could have more leisure time at the weekends because there was more on offer now, different ways in which they could spend their spare time.

  The main outer structure of the barn was quickly resurrected but the fixtures and fittings that had been destroyed were not replaced. This meant that the large downstairs area was ideal for hosting a series of social events. These were significantly smaller than the ‘Social’ they had enjoyed several weeks earlier in the main house, but these smaller occasions were held more frequently and were free from the restraints of the drawing room. The land girls, airmen, locals and farmworkers and the POWs were now regularly invited to take part in sing-songs or to dance to the gramophone records that could be played on the old wind-up gramophone. These get-togethers were held as often as they could be arranged and occasionally the more technically-minded airmen hired a cine projector and showed films on a large white sheet. Then rations would be pooled to provide some cinema-style snacks and refreshments.

  The sleeping area of the barn had been too badly damaged to be restored so it was decided that the land girls should be accommodated in the old servants’ quarters of the main house. Vera thought it felt strange to be sleeping in a proper bed, albeit a narrow one, but it stood more than a foot off the ground and had its own individual mattress. She had been allocated to share a room with Lily and the two enjoyed being able to chat together before they fell into an exhausted sleep. What they hadn’t realized was that they were in Tucker’s old room and they weren’t told for several days that she had been dismissed.

  Lily was not so surprised. ‘I told you she had early morning sickness,’ she said to Vera, ‘and you know what that means.’ She tried hard to keep the triumphant note out of her voice. ‘All I can say is, I’m extremely thankful that it wasn’t me this time.’ Lily shivered. ‘That young marquis has a lot to answer for.’

  Vera looked shocked. ‘Do you really think …?’

  ‘At least I’m presuming it was him,’ Lily said quickly, ‘although that’s strictly between you and me,’ and she actually shuddered thinking of her own near miss. ‘I do feel sorry for her, though. I like to think I’ve grown up a bit since my … little problem. I’m a lot smarter now and I know something about protection at least and how not to get caught.’

  ‘Doesn’t sound like you’re ready to think of settling down,’ Vera said.

  ‘Goodness, no,’ Lily said. ‘I’m far too young.’ And she smiled, thinking about some of the good times she’d been having recently with some of the young airmen she’d met since they’d been at the manor. She hated to think of them flying off so soon and that so many of them would not be coming back, but she liked to think she had been able to help some of them to enjoy life while they could. It had been a silly, childish dream to even think of getting tangled up with someone like Duncan Edgefield.

  ‘Are you ready to go back home, yet?’ Vera asked. ‘I know that we can’t until the war is over, but wouldn’t it be nice to see people we know?’

  Lily thought for a moment. ‘No, I don’t think I am, ready to go home, not even for a visit! I’ve enjoyed these last few months and I’m happy to be a land girl until Herr Hitler is sorted. I wonder if I’ll be ready to go back to Weatherfield even then. There’s certainly no one I want to settle down with there!’

  Vera’s eyes suddenly filled. ‘There was for me …’ she said despondently.

  ‘Oops, sorry,’ Lily said and she went over and put her arm round her friend.

  Vera felt unsettled and miserable after the fire because all her regular routines had been disrupted. She liked having a proper bed in the big house and she enjoyed sharing the room with Lily, but she still found it too painful to think of Bob and how he had humiliated her and she wondered if she’d ever be able to forgive him. There had been an unopened letter from him that had gone up in the flames but she didn’t imagine it had said anything new.

  She also badly missed Pietro, for he was still in the hospital, and especially she missed trying to sneak time to talk to him. She was greatly relieved to hear that he was making good progress and the thought struck her that she might be able to visit him in the hospital and so one morning when she was alone with Mrs Temple in the kitchen she plucked up the courage to ask.

  To her surprise, Mrs Temple did not dismiss the idea out of hand. ‘I could have a word with Lady Edgefield,’ she offered and when Vera unwittingly raised her eyebrows, added with a laugh, ‘She’s not a total dragon, you know.’

  ‘I never thought she was,’ Vera said hastily and then involuntarily she burst into tears.

  ‘Come and see me tomorrow morning and we’ll see what she says.’ Mrs Temple patted Vera’s arm. ‘And whether the hospital will allow it.’

  Vera was so delighted to see Pietro that all she wanted to do was to throw her arms around him and squeeze him tight, but the pain that was etched onto his face when he made the slightest movement made her realize how impossible that would be. Instead, she brought a chair up to his bedside and they talked quietly with no attempt at making any kind of physical contact.

  ‘It’s wonderful to see you looking so well,’ Vera said.

  Pietro smiled weakly, as if sharing a joke. ‘Good to see you,’ he said. ‘How long you stay?’

  ‘We don’t have long, I believe the hospital rules are very strict,’ Vera said. ‘Besides, Mr Abbott’s taking the marquis back to his regiment – he had leave to see the bomb damage – and he’ll pick me up on his way home. But I’m so pleased to see you for however little time we’ve got,’ she said. ‘How are you feeling?’ she asked and she couldn’t stop smiling.

  ‘Wonderful to see you, everybody so kind.’ Pietro tried to smile back though his lips were strained
and grey. He glanced over to the top of the little cupboard that was beside his bed and with his eyes indicated a letter with an Italian postmark.

  ‘My Sophia,’ he said with a different kind of smile. ‘I get letter from her through Red Cross. She never get letter from me so she worry. She tell me she is waiting for me. I tell her I am OK. The nurse, she write for me in Italian. And you, dear Vera? The fire hurt you?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, thankfully. Not much.’ She indicated the small bandage on her right arm. ‘You and me, and some of your fellow POWs managed between us to save all the horses.’

  ‘Very good.’ Pietro looked pleased. ‘And Bob, he know? He worry about you?’ Pietro asked.

  Vera had never had a chance to tell him about Bob’s betrayal and she hadn’t intended to tell him now, but suddenly she found the whole sorry story about her mother’s letter and the heartbreaking end of her engagement was pouring out.

  Pietro listened carefully and, when she had finished, said, ‘And you, my poor Vera? How you feel?’ She suddenly felt uncomfortable at the way he was looking so directly at her.

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘I hear about feelings of your mother, but what about your feelings and feelings of Bob?’

  Vera skipped the first part of his question. ‘I don’t know about Bob’s feelings,’ she said. ‘I haven’t heard from him.’ She thought guiltily of the letter she had never read that had been swallowed by the fire.

  ‘Then how he break engagement?’

  ‘It was me. I broke it off as soon as I received the letter from my mother.’

  Pietro looked shocked, though it seemed to pain him to frown so hard. ‘You not talk to him but you do that? Remember what I tell you? How you know what is in his heart?’ He painfully clutched at his chest with his good hand. ‘He need chance to explain.’

  ‘Explain what? My mother said—’

  ‘You marry your mother? Or Bob?’ Pietro actually looked angry and Vera was shocked.

  ‘You believe everything your mother say?’ he asked, his voice still sounding cross.

  Vera stopped. ‘N-no, I don’t,’ she said.

  ‘Then stop talking of mother now. Instead, think,’ he said, gesturing to his forehead. ‘You learn very important lesson. You go home to Weatherfield soon, yes? You talk to Bob.’

  Vera squirmed uncomfortably. ‘I don’t know. Since the fire we’ve been told at the manor that we can go home on leave if we want, but what will I be going back to? Bob won’t want me.’

  ‘And you? You want him?’

  ‘I … I don’t know. He cheated on me.’

  ‘I know. But you away a long time. Like me. But me? Can’t wait to get home to my Sophia.’ He winced as he moved his heavily bandaged arm and he closed his eyes as if in prayer. ‘Maybe they send me back to Italy soon …’

  ‘And what would you do if you found out Sophia had been cheating on you?’ Vera asked, though she felt mean for even suggesting it because he was obviously so much in love.

  ‘I love her enough to forgive her – and we have been apart very long time,’ he said simply. ‘I still have dream. Many children, my own vineyard. We must learn to forgive.’ He sank back onto his pillows.

  ‘I think I’d better leave you now, Pietro,’ Vera said sadly.

  ‘Goodbye, my dear friend. One day you come and visit me and Sophia in Italy. You and Bob.’ He smiled at her and then closed his eyes, falling instantly into a calm sleep.

  Vera sat for several more minutes, thinking of her own dreams that had once been focussed on Bob and she suddenly felt a stab of guilt as she began to wonder about what it was that she felt for this humble Italian man. Who was she to sit in judgement of Bob? Hadn’t she, in her mind at least, often betrayed her fiancé? When she felt the tears drip slowly onto her cheeks she kissed his forehead and left, casting a look back at the dear Italian man she felt so fondly for now.

  Vera felt disturbed the whole of the next week after her visit to Pietro, for he had certainly made her stop and think. She felt she had grown up since becoming a land girl and she had welcomed the freedom it had given her to live without being under the constant scrutiny of her mother. But despite what she had said to Lily, she wasn’t sure she was ready to face the prospect of going back to Weatherfield, even for a visit. But she knew for certain that she wasn’t prepared for a life with the likes of Eric Bowman – or any other young man her mother might try to foist on her. She and Lily discussed it often and Lily was adamant she was not ready to go back on the leave they were being offered, but Vera really couldn’t decide what to do.

  One afternoon she was mucking out the temporary stalls that had been rigged up to house the horses until the new stable block was built, when, to her astonishment, Lady Edgefield appeared, whip in hand, wearing highly polished leather riding boots and a smart navy velvet jacket with matching cap over her khaki jodhpurs.

  ‘It’s Vera, isn’t it?’ she said, coming into the provisional stables.

  ‘Yes, it is ma’am,’ Vera said, feeling bemused and wondering if she should drop a curtsy. But the family dogs had followed their mistress into the yard and were yapping excitedly around Vera’s legs so that it felt more natural to drop down and give them a stroke and a hug.

  ‘I’ve come to see if I can get out for a ride this afternoon,’ she said, ‘while the rain holds off. Perhaps you could harness up Nellie for me?’ Lady Edgefield gave a tinkly sort of laugh as she held out her hand full of carrots to her favourite horse. ‘And then you might want to get up to the house. You have a visitor.’ She looked down at Vera’s muddy gumboots. ‘I directed him to the kitchen, I thought it best if you meet him there,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, of course I can – and thank you!’ Vera said, wondering how Pietro had made such a quick recovery from the time she had seen him in the hospital. ‘It won’t take long to get Nellie ready then I’ll go up to the kitchen straightaway.’

  ‘I thought it would be good for the dogs to have a lengthy run; they need the exercise as much as I do, although from the looks of it they might prefer to go with you,’ Lady Edgefield said and she laughed. But when Vera had saddled up Nellie the dogs seemed to have changed their minds and went tearing off after the young horse as she cantered away.

  Vera practically ran back to the courtyard, looking for Pietro, and remembered just in time to remove her muddy boots before she entered the kitchen. But as she went inside she was astonished to see that the only person sitting on one of the benches at the table was Bob! He had already taken off his cap and he stood up as she entered, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot.

  ‘Surprised to see me?’ he said.

  ‘Yes, of course I am. I didn’t expect you. You never said anything, you didn’t write,’ Vera said, her feelings in turmoil.

  ‘Well, after you didn’t reply to my last letter, I wasn’t sure what to do,’ Bob said.

  Vera quickly explained.

  ‘So we both have things to apologize for …’ he said. ‘That letter was an apology.’

  Vera could feel her cheeks reddening but she didn’t say anything.

  ‘I had to get special leave to come here from the fire-watch crew.’ Bob eventually spoke into the silence.

  ‘That’s very good of them to give you time off. How are things at home?’

  ‘Everyone’s well,’ he said.

  ‘What did my mother say when she knew you were coming?’ Vera was curious.

  ‘Nothing. She doesn’t know I’m here,’ he said. ‘I thought it best not to tell her.’

  Vera gave a guffaw. ‘I’d love to see her face when she finds out.’

  ‘Me too,’ he said. ‘I was hoping perhaps that we might be able to tell her together.’

  Vera stared at him and frowned. ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Well, about all that Dolly stuff.’ He waved his arms in the air. ‘I think your mother made more of a meal of that whole episode than was fair. After all, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Dolly meant nothing to me. It
was really the fault of the lads at the Field. It was stupid, I admit and I should never have gone along with it, but it was a sort of a dare …’

  ‘The fact was you did hurt me, Bob,’ Vera said quietly. ‘I’m sure Mam was only trying to protect me.’

  ‘Of course, I realize that now, and that’s why I’ve come to apologize. And to promise never to do anything like that again.’

  He sounded so sincere that Vera suddenly felt overcome and had to blink hard.

  ‘I realized, part way through that whole sorry day with her, what a stupid mistake I’d made,’ Bob said. ‘She meant nothing to me.’ He paused and looked down into his lap as he said, ‘Not like you. I knew then that I really loved you, Vera, and that I’d made a terrible mistake.’ He looked up once more and, as the tone of his voice changed, Vera examined his face carefully. ‘I wish you could come home, Vera,’ he said. ‘I’m no good on my own. As you can see, I get into real trouble without you there to keep me steady. But it would be so much easier if we were officially engaged and you were wearing my ring …’

  And he put his hand into his jacket and from the inside pocket pulled out a small leather box. When he opened it, Vera gasped. Inside was a small gold ring with a ruby-coloured stone in the centre, surrounded by gold petals and tiny pearls.

  ‘Oh, Bob! It’s lovely,’ Vera exclaimed.

  ‘Try it on. It’s the real thing, so they can alter it if it doesn’t fit,’ he said.

  ‘You put it on.’ Vera suddenly became diffident and she held out her hand as she had practised so often. Bob slipped the dainty ring on the appropriate finger and she held her hand up as she had always longed to do to show it off.

  ‘It fits perfectly,’ she announced.