by Sheila Riley
‘Oh, and nurse,’ said Doctor Bea, ‘make sure that dressing is kept spotlessly clean and change it every day, no matter how much he assures you there is no need.’
‘Yes, Doctor,’ said a young volunteer nurse who had done nothing more strenuous than written party invitations before the war.
For some of the men, being injured was a blessing. A Blighty wound allowed them to escape the death and devastation of the battlefields. For others, their injuries meant a lifetime of pain and disfigurement. The prospect of never walking or never working again. They had suffered long and agonising journeys, having been scooped up from the battlefield by regimental stretcher bearers. Sometimes, after lying abandoned for hours in no-man’s land before being shuttled back to casualty posts in tents and dugouts for basic first aid, a shot of morphine and perhaps a hurried operation. They had been transported in ambulance trains to one of the French ports, crammed into a hospital ship to cross the channel, then packed into Red Cross trains bound for any hospital where there was room. And Anna’s heart wept for every single one of them.
13
Lottie took out her writing pad and a pencil from the sideboard drawer. Izzy was down in the pawnshop so she decided to close the charity shop and, it being her dinner hour, she would write to Jerry and tell him of her predicament.
Dear Jerry,
Please don’t be angry with me, but I have got something to tell you…
Lottie placed a protective hand on her stomach. It had been several weeks since Jerry had joined training camp awaiting orders to be called overseas and knew, without any shadow of a doubt, that she was expecting. He would have to marry her now.
Lottie’s words seemed to bounce round the page. Every muscle in Jerky Woods body was rigid. Expecting? She was expecting! Panic, like a balloon swelling up inside him, threatened to swallow him belly-first. He had never given a moment’s thought to the consequences of his actions. A small click of his tongue on the roof of his mouth clipped the silence and Jerky swallowed bitter bile.
She planned this, he thought. She’s been trying to get me down the aisle for years. And in a moment of weakness, he had finally been tricked into a wedding he wanted no part of.
If we apply for a special licence, we could be married in no time, she wrote. And he could hear her scratchy, high-pitched voice raking incessantly inside of his head. We will say the child is premature. There is nothing else we can do.
‘Bloody woman!’ he hissed under his breath and did not hear the sound of the barracks door closing.
‘Trouble?’ his oppo asked and Jerky could not help but blurt out the whole sorry tale. ‘You lucky Barsted,’ said his Cockney pal, ‘you get special leave to marry, and while you wait for orders to go overseas, the army let married men go ’ome each night. And they pay you for the pleasure.’
‘Never?’ Jerky’s mind began to work overtime, maybe Lottie had done him a favour after all. He could have his cake and eat it. He didn’t give a stuff about fighting for his country. All he wanted was to go home and get paid for doing so.
Jerky Woods was given permission to wed his girl, and he sent a telegram immediately.
Lottie reluctantly accepted the telegram with a heavy heart, ignoring the look of sympathy from the woman who had taken the place of the postman fighting overseas. She read the words written, and then read them again to Izzy.
‘Get the banns up. Buy a ring. I’m on my way home.’ Lottie jumped on the spot, hindered only by her swollen abdomen. ‘He’s making an honest woman of me after all.’ Lottie threw her arms round her future mother-in-law and hugged her.
‘There, there,’ Izzy said. She could hardly believe her eldest lad would do the decent thing and assumed Jerky would only do so if there was something in it for him. He’s up to something. She could tell. Having got out of marrying Lottie once before, Izzy could not think why he was so eager to marry the poor girl now.
‘Didn’t I say he would do the right thing by me…?’ There were tears of elation running down Lottie’s pale cheeks as she hugged Izzy. ‘Didn’t I say he loved me…?’
Lottie’s excitement oozed from every pore, and Izzy’s sorrowful eyes gazed out over the River Mersey. Sadly, she shook her head, knowing Lottie’s life from now on was not going to be the fairytale she expected it to be. Not when she was going to marry the second coming of Splinter Woods, and it was only Lottie’s approaching motherhood, and the fact that she would not want any grandchild of hers born out of wedlock and Lottie’s name dragged through the mud, that Izzy did not persuade the girl to run as far away from Jerky as it was possible to go.
The loosely tied apron covering Lottie’s black dress did not hide the fact that she was pregnant. But it would be of no use trying to persuade the girl not to marry her son. Lottie was obviously besotted. So, there was no point in wasting her breath, thought Izzy. But of one thing she was certain, a life with Jerky Woods was not going to be easy for Lottie.
‘Sometimes I wonder if this child is mine.’ Woods told Lottie. ‘Some girls try and trick soldiers into marrying them, so I’ve heard.’
Lottie’s voice sounded like a strangled whimper when she said, ‘Of course, this child is yours, who’s else would it be? I have never looked at another man. You know you are the only man I have ever loved.’
But judging by his bleached pallor, the news seemed as welcome as rain at a picnic. Why would he tell her to get the banns up and buy a ring, if he felt that way?
‘What about when I was inside, or away at training camp? Who was walking out with you, then?’ He stepped forward and Lottie flinched, shrinking back from him when he put his hand out towards her.
‘I wasn’t walking out with anybody, you know how much I love you,’ Lottie’s tone held a pleading note, she didn’t like it when he was in this mood. And suddenly he touched her cheek and his voice softened.
‘Here,’ he said as her subservient nature caused a stirring in his loins, and the frisson of power her anxiety gave him made him feel virile. It was time to do his bit. Show her that she could depend on him. ‘It was just a bit of a shock, that’s all. I’ll look after you, girl.’ He gave a half-shrug, watching her shoulders relax, then, putting his arm round her, he smiled when she leaned into him, knowing he had her gratitude. He liked his woman to be grateful. ‘And I’ll tell you what else I will do,’ he said, brightening. ‘As soon as we’re wed, I’ll ask for special permission to come home every night to look after you. What about that then?’
‘You’d do that for me, Jerry?’ Lottie jumped up and down with glee and then, standing on the tip of her toes, she threw her arms round his neck and kissed him full on the lips in a rare show of unconfined excitement.
‘O’ course I will.’ He felt the power surging through his loins. ‘There ain’t nobody telling me I can’t look after my missus.’
‘Oh, Jerry, do you think they will let you come home each night?’
‘Let me? Let me!’ His eyes speared her with indignation and he obviously felt he had been insulted. ‘I’ll tell them straight, I will.’
‘Oh, Jerry, you are so good to me. I don’t know what to say.’
14
‘Why don’t we turn part of the house into sewing rooms,’ May said. She was made to feel comfortable airing her thoughts, without fear of being shot down in flames. As she had been when Giles was alive. These days, she felt more like her old self and loved getting to know her sister all over again. It was like old times, she discovered. They still shared the same sense of humour. They combined the same ideas, rarely having to explain as each understood the other perfectly. They used the kind of mental telepathy they shared as children when they wanted to do something Nanny would disapprove of, like picking blackberries and distributing them to the Children’s Home next door. The place her husband had lied about, when he told Ruby all those years ago that her child had been sent away to another country, knowing the information would be forbidden to public scrutiny and, more importantly, Ruby and Archie’s ten
acious investigations.
But now, Nanny and the governesses had gone, and so too the malevolent influence of Giles Harrington. And, for the first time since she naively married Giles believing he truly loved her, May, feeling the warmth of a loving family, was now living her own life on her own terms, and she was loving every moment.
‘Yes, workrooms, what a good idea,’ Ruby said enthusiastically. ‘Seamstresses can make shirts and quilts for the soldiers.’ Ruby was glad they were all living here in the Lodge, thrilled her family were all back together again, and glad to see the great hall was now being used to its full potential.
Part of the house and grounds were enjoyed by recovering servicemen: who played tennis, or bowls, rowed on the lake, painted down on the shore, sat writing letters, poetry or any of the other pastimes that aided their recuperation, while the rest of the house was used as a busy auxiliary hospital run by Doctor Bea, Anna, Ellie and the Red Cross VAD nurses.
‘We could use the stables now that most of the horses have been requisitioned by the military.’ Ruby, happy and relaxed in her sister’s company, had encouraged May to take up fundraising for the troops and May had thrown herself wholeheartedly into every venture. Ruby was proud May had finally found her voice and was not afraid to use it.
‘I was thinking that very same thing,’ May replied, ‘even a place where ladies can cut and roll bandages for the hospitals and for the Front.’
‘Most certainly,’ Ruby said, putting down her embroidery on the polished mahogany table, and realised, not for the first time, that her sister was much brighter and more creative than she had given her credit for in latter years.
‘That way, Doctor Bea will have no room to complain about threads of material being walked all over her nice clean wards.’ May’s tone was a little constricted, but she was suddenly pleased to hear Ruby’s easy laugh at her indignant observation fill the room. This was the sound May had longed to hear for years.
‘If she replaced Doctor with Queen that would give you some idea of how she sees herself.’ The two women laughed again, something they had done so much in the past when they were younger. ‘Why don’t we hop to it, and see what can be done,’ said Ruby. ‘I like the idea of these workshops.’
‘I am so glad,’ May said, ‘because I was thinking, so many women feel the need to do something useful, they will be happy to do their bit too.’
‘This will be the first time some of the well-to-do women will experience the taste of gainful employment – on a strictly voluntary basis of course,’ Ruby said. ‘I would never insult the wives and mothers of influential businessmen with offers of money for their endeavours, as if they were kitchen staff or housekeepers.’
‘The paid help, in other words.’ May gave a knowing smile, aware that her sister would always be able to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Ruby squeezed her money so tightly it screamed. But she never slowed in her determination to gain what was needed for her boys, her hospital, or her nursing staff.
Ruby’s eagerness to be at the vanguard of every charitable event kept May busy since she had returned to Ashland Hall Lodge. And May was only too glad to throw herself into the fund raising and the charitable events that Ruby had organised for her. All of the collection money went into helping those in need, unlike Giles whose charitable collections went straight into the pockets of his bookmakers and left May almost destitute. Her sister had a heart of gold, which was in contrast to her husband’s heart of stone.
Later Ellie and Anna joined the two sisters before leaving for their night shift in Ashland Hall.
‘I was just thinking how easily you have settled into life here,’ said May.
‘I enjoy nursing and have made a good friend in Anna,’ Ellie answered. ‘It was such a pity Father could not find a church nearer.’ Given her mother’s financial plight in the wake of his death, Ellie was not surprised Giles Harrington favoured a sleepy village where his absences in order to attend gambling dens, while using the excuse of visiting the sick or dying in outlying farms, could be explained away more easily than they would if he were part of a larger more easily accessible community.
‘It was not to be,’ May said, casting off grey wool from her knitting needles that contained another pair of mittens for the troops.
‘At the time it did upset me that you had to go through the whole funeral ordeal without any of your family present,’ continued Ellie.
‘These things are becoming a common occurrence in wartime,’ May answered. And Ellie nodded being practical, she knew they must accept these unavoidable changes.
Ruby, missing Giles’s ceremony by hours, was glad. If there was one thing she could not abide it was hypocrisy, and the thought of standing at Giles’s graveside pretending to appear sad at his passing made her bones jangle with discomfort and was relieved she had been spared the pretence.
After Giles was buried in a little graveyard near the cliffs at Scarborough, May made no secret of the fact she was eager to return to Ashland Hall. More than happy to share the yellow sandstone lodge set back in the grounds away from the ‘big house’. The lodge was surrounded by what had once been a pretty flower garden, but which had now been turned into a vegetable allotment overlooked on all sides by the arched mullioned windows.
‘See you both tomorrow morning.’ Ellie and Anna gave the two women a peck on the cheek and a hug before making their way over to Ashland Hall auxiliary hospital for their night shift.
‘You have done a wonderful job of bringing Ellie up,’ Ruby said staring out of the window watching the two girls chattering and hurrying through the grounds; her heart was now overflowing with gratitude towards her sister, knowing she would not have lived the kind of life she had over the years, if she’d had a baby to raise. ‘If anything, May, you did me the greatest kindness by bringing up my little girl while suffering an overbearing, grasping husband.’
‘It was not a chore, I assure you,’ May answered ‘Ellie is my life, and I love her as if she were truly my own daughter.’
‘I doubt Giles appreciated the effort you put in,’ Ruby said, ‘especially after he discovered Father had not left you this house in his Will.’
‘I was so glad and very relieved,’ said May, ‘with such a large estate comes large responsibilities, and I do not feel I have the emotional wherewithal to run Ashland Hall.’
‘You are growing stronger by the day,’ Ruby declared. ‘And I have an idea for the war effort, May?’ Ruby had a gleam in her eye when she suggested that May might be happy to offer her sewing expertise. Sizing up blankets, sheets, and pillowcases for the narrow iron beds and nodding to the picture of the vast Ashland hallway hung here in the lodge. ‘We could turn the mezzanine into another ward,’ Ruby said as she gazed at the picture gallery shown in the painting. ‘What do you think?’
May was genuinely taken aback her sister had asked her advice, even though she did not wait for an answer.
‘I knew you would agree,’ Ruby said. ‘Did I tell you the mayor said Ashland Hall is one of the finest auxiliary hospitals on the coast?’
Gushing with ideas, Ruby reminded May of when they were young, remembering that Ruby always took charge, making May feel safe and secure. Especially in the days when they had only nannies and governesses to care for them. Ruby was her mainstay. Her protector. Her ally. The very reasons Giles would not allow her to see her older sister during the years of their marriage. Taking May and Ellie as far away as he could, so she was completely under his spell. But since moving to the lodge and for the first time in years, May experienced a complete lack of self-consciousness, which she had not felt for twenty years and she hugged her sister. Her heart was so full of love and deep appreciation for this wonderful woman who had been everything to her. And had been so cruelly betrayed by their father and her husband.
Ruby gave a small clearing of her throat, raised her chin, her shoulders went back, and her colour deepened before that familiar gleam of shared history shone from her eyes. ‘Our brave boys w
ill recover much faster in the sea air, don’t you agree, May?’
‘I certainly do,’ said May, who knew Ruby’s remark was a statement not a question. ‘But I suspect they will not want to recover too quickly, and return to battle.’
‘Maybe you’re right,’ Ruby said, ‘in which case, they should have at least six weeks of rest and recuperation after being declared fit for duty. So, they can recover fully before returning to their units. I will have a word with Doctor Bea.’ The doctor was a feisty woman who had offered her services in France at the start of war and was promptly told by the commanding officer that the battlefield was no place for a woman, to which she had replied that maybe he should tell that to Florence Nightingale, a pioneer who had nursed the wounded and dying soldiers of the Crimean War and had organised better conditions in Constantinople.
‘I think that’s best, my dear.’ May nodded, knowing nothing deterred Ruby when she put her mind to something. Being busy sometimes kept her out of mischief.
‘The billiard room is being put to good use by the recuperating patients,’ Ruby said. ‘When I see the room being used, it reminds me of the days when father played host to the Empire builders.’ Her eyes danced with excitement now.
‘Those days are a lifetime away, but I remember them as if they were yesterday,’ May answered, caught up in her sister’s enthusiasm. ‘Do you remember watching Archie train father’s horses along the coastline?’ May asked, relaxing in a way she had not done for many a long year. ‘Then there was the weekend pheasant shoots in the summer.’
Ruby sighed. ‘And the times when we used to go down to the shore and paint?’