The Mersey Angels

by Sheila Riley

  ‘Anybody would think he had a gun in his back,’ Ellie whispered, causing Anna to give a small cough to cover up the burst of sudden laughter that threatened to escape.

  There was a decent spread of a boiled ham salad with trifle for afterwards. The tea was poured into dainty porcelain cups by a neighbour who had come to ‘wait-on’. And each place had a glass of sherry for the ladies and a whisky for Jerky and his best man, who looked as if he was itching to get out of there. Izzy had paid for everything, knowing her son did not have the means or the inclination.

  ‘I hope you ladies don’t mind if me and Spike, ’ere, go and wet the horse’s head,’ Jerky Woods said, standing up. ‘We’re off to jolly old Flanders on Monday and want to say our goodbyes.’

  Anna lifted her chin, silently thinking that if Jerky Woods ever set foot on French soil, she would eat her best new hat.

  Everybody complimented Izzy on a good spread, and she took the compliments with a nod, knowing it was what was expected. Dockside women were prepared to give their all, no matter how or where they got the money from, and Izzy was no different.

  Hospitality was her middle name, Izzy thought, and luckily, she was relatively prosperous these days, being in regular employment in the busy pawnshop, as well as being in receipt of money sent to the post office each week from Nipper. For the first time in her life, she was in a much better position to splash out than most of her neighbours.

  ‘I hope he doesn’t come back steaming drunk,’ Izzy said. Dressed in a huge hat with a scarlet feather, she looked every inch the proud mother.

  ‘Anyone would think she was Lottie’s mother – they would have no idea Izzy was the mother of the groom,’ Anna whispered to Ellie, who nodded in agreement. ‘Poor Lottie.’

  ‘I see what you mean about the husband,’ said Ellie, who had never met Lottie’s intended before today.

  ‘This has been such a wonderful day,’ Ruby told Izzy and Lottie, who had invited a few of the more respectable neighbours into the flat, ‘but unfortunately, we have to head back to Ashland Hall. We had a new intake of soldiers come in late last night.’

  ‘No rest for the wicked,’ Anna gave a false, half-hearted, laugh and everybody joined in.

  ‘Tell your son he must look after Lottie.’ Ruby told Izzy as they headed towards the door and Izzy nodded, feeling relieved he was doing his duty for his country, at last. ‘And I do hope all goes well for your son and Lottie,’ added Ruby, rarely using Jerky’s name if she could help it. ‘Did you say where they were going to live?’

  ‘Aye,’ said Lizzy, knowing Ruby would not give houseroom to her eldest son, and she didn’t blame her. Izzy would have been like a cat curled up near a hot fender, worrying that Ruby’s beautiful possessions would tempt her light-fingered son. ‘They have a cellar dwelling in Primrose Cottage.’

  ‘I really can’t understand why those ugly cramped courts were given such pretty names,’ said Ruby, relieved Izzy didn’t ask if her son could come and live here over the shops. ‘But nevertheless, you will have bigger worries to add to your burden come Monday when he goes off to war.’

  ‘I’m sure the Hun have more to worry about when they hear he’s on his way,’ Izzy laughed and Anna could see she must have had more than one sherry to talk so flippantly about Jerry, who, even though he had brought her nothing but trouble, was still her son.

  ‘Will Lottie move back in with you?’ Ruby asked and Izzy shook her head.

  ‘Jerky won’t hear tell of Lottie coming back here now they’re married,’ Izzy informed the three women in hushed tones. ‘He also made her leave the charity shop and she loved that job.’

  ‘I know,’ said Ruby, ‘but given the circumstances, she is better off her feet in her condition and there are plenty of volunteers willing to take her place.’

  ‘She’s not ill,’ Izzy said, her eyes widening in astonishment. ‘Women round here don’t get to put their feet up when they’re in the family way, they have to get on with it. I suppose Lottie will be back and forth when Jerky goes overseas.’ And even though Izzy had little time for her eldest son, she did feel a pang of regret that he too was going to France with his battalion so soon after getting wed.

  ‘I only wish my Nipper could have been here to be best man for his brother. I would have been so proud to see them both standing at the altar in their uniform.’ Izzy’s nostrils flared and she sniffed, like she had a bad smell under her nose. ‘Not like that daft ha’porth he chose to be his best man – I haven’t got a clue where he dug him up from.’ Neither Izzy or Ruby had any idea that Nipper was back in the country and so close by.

  17

  ‘You smell like a rose garden, Nurse,’ Nipper gasped. His chest tight from the phosgene gas he had breathed in and his lungs felt like they were going to burst out of his chest, as if he were breathing through a tiny hole and not getting enough oxygen. Stretching his upper body, he was desperate to catch more air, but it was no good. His lungs were exhausted.

  Anna took in his ashy blue-grey complexion, his voice barely audible, and she could see he was becoming more distressed, his lungs gurgling, his breathing extremely laboured and noisy as he fought to cough up the gluey mucous.

  Putting a white enamel bowl under his chin, Anna was relieved to see him bring up copious amounts of stubborn yellow-green froth that had been threatening to drown him and when he could expel no more, he lay back on his pillow, exhausted.

  His eyes were re-covered in bandages to give them a chance to heal when the light caused him so much discomfort and pain, and the morphia jab Anna gave him to ease his pain made him sleepy.

  ‘You rest now and get your strength back, Soldier.’ Anna felt sorry for these young men who went to France mere boys and came back heroic men. She was angry they were patched up and sent straight back into battle when pronounced fit for duty. But this soldier would be going nowhere near the battlefield again given his injuries. ‘I appreciate the compliment.’ She said about to take the bowl to the sluice room.

  Although they had been advised not to get too friendly with the patients, or side-tracked by sugar-coated words, she liked to let them know their praise was appreciated, otherwise what would be the point.

  ‘But make sure Matron doesn’t hear you saying such nice things to the nurses, she’ll confine you to bed.’

  Anna knew some young soldiers would tenaciously survive no matter what they had been through. And she hoped this young fellow was one of them, for his mother’s sake if nothing else. Despite the bandages covering his eyes, Anna thought she recognised this young soldier as Izzy’s youngest son.

  He gave her a weak thumbs-up, and Anna sighed.

  Nipper was far too young to fight in battle. Hell, he wasn’t old enough to vote, or drink, or even marry without his parents’ permission, but he was expected to die for a cause he probably knew little about. Anna wondered at the thought processes of the recruiting officers who could obviously see a boy, no matter how eager, was too young to serve his country. Simply, boys who came back – if they were lucky – after seeing things no man should ever see, and her heart swelled with compassion for what he must have been through.

  ‘I know you. You’re Anna?’ he said, his voice was barely audible, so Anna had to lean forward to listen, looking at him closely for the first time, her brow pleating.

  ‘I am, yes, and you’re Izzy’s lad.’

  ‘Your… Sam… said… Hi,’ Nipper whispered, making Anna’s heart lurch so hard she almost dropped the bowl she was holding.

  ‘Sam! My brother, Sam?’ Anna desperately wanted to know more. But Nipper did not answer, he had drifted into oblivion once more, so she continued to gently remove the bandages that covered his eyes, which were changed daily. He winced when the dressing was removed completely and half-opened his painfully swollen eyes.

  He lifted his thumb as if the effort to do so was almost more than he could manage, and his eyes closed once more.

  ‘Nipper says he saw Sam in the field hospital,’
Anna told Ruby and Archie when they sat down to afternoon tea later.

  ‘Never!’ said Ruby, her eyes wide with wonder. ‘Although it’s not impossible, I imagine,’ she offered when she saw Anna’s expression change from hopeful to dejected.

  ‘What are the chances of that happening?’ Archie asked, and Anna nodded.

  ‘Do you think he would be in France?’ she asked hesitantly, knowing she didn’t want an answer.

  They were all silent for a moment and then Ruby, who could not abide what she called library atmospheres, poured more tea, and said: ‘I almost forgot to tell you about poor Lottie.’ Ruby was trying to take Anna’s mind off her worries. ‘That rapscallion, Jerky Woods has gone AWOL…’

  ‘Nothing surprises me about him,’ Anna said, not really interested in anything he was up to, but her concern for Lottie made her curious. ‘How did you find out.?’

  ‘Izzy told Archie when he went to fetch her to come and see Nipper.’

  Anna shook her head wondering what Lottie saw in Jerky Woods that persuaded her to marry him. Because as far as she could see, he had no love in that cold black heart of his. If he did, he would not put his wife and his mother through the agony of worry and conflict.

  ‘Izzy’s with Nipper now,’ Anna said, remembering the shy boy who always seemed to be in the shadow of his obnoxious brother, knowing the burns injury caused by the gas exposure would last for an awfully long time, maybe years, but one thing was for sure, his fighting days were over. ‘Izzy is so thrilled Nipper is home.’

  ‘I don’t think she expected him to be in such a perilous state, though,’ Archie said.

  ‘At least you’re home safe,’ Izzy whispered in the quietude of the ward, where men were reading or sleeping, and chilled to the bone at her much-loved son’s appearance. Please, Lord, she silently prayed, let my boy live and grow strong, but not too strong before this bloody war is over!

  ‘I’m not sure about safe,’ Nipper whispered, the burning in his throat making it hard for him to be understood, ‘not the way my chest hurts.’

  The ghost of a smile spread across Nipper’s parched lips and Izzy dipped her fingers into the glass of water on the bedside cabinet and gently wet them.

  Suddenly he was gasping for air. The gas that damaged his lungs was still working and he could feel his chest heaving.

  ‘Nurse! Anna! Please help him!’ Izzy cried and although Anna felt her own heart race at Izzy’s distress, she remained outwardly calm and composed. Putting her arms around Izzy’s shoulder she led her to Matron’s office at the end of the ward while Doctor Bea tended to Nipper.

  ‘Let’s make you a nice cup of tea while doctor does her work,’ Anna said when she saw Doctor Bea attaching an oxygen mask to Nipper to try and give him some ease.

  ‘I remember your face,’ Nipper said in the small hours when everybody else was asleep. Anna had sat by his bedside all night in case his health should deteriorate, and Nipper whispered as if he had only just seen her for the first time. ‘I know you, don’t I?’

  Anna nodded, realising that the lack of oxygen had made him forgetful, as she wet his lips with a sponge.

  ‘You’re Anna,’ he gasped, obviously needing to get his words out. ‘Your family… perished in a fire?’

  Again, Anna nodded, still unable to bear the memory that always came with the stab of despair. She was the girl who was not strong enough to save her family.

  ‘I was ten years old…’ Young Nipper was fighting valiantly to make her understand, struggling for every breath, and Anna could see the deep hollow under the laryngeal prominence, known as his Adam’s apple.

  ‘Shh, just relax.’ Anna put the oxygen to his face and stroked his hand, easing his distress with soothing words. ‘Just breathe slowly. In… and out. In… and out. That’s it. Much better,’ she whispered, her words allowing him to ease a little more.

  ‘Is anything the matter, Sister Cassidy?’ Matron Meredith asked, nearing the bed.

  ‘No, Matron,’ Anna answered with a smile, ‘he’s fine now.’

  ‘I will take over. You go and get a cup of tea and ask Nurse Weston to assist me.’ Matron, like Anna and Ellie, was a dedicated regular nurse, while Nurse Weston was a VAD, who, although vigorously eager, was not qualified to tend the severely wounded alone, no matter who her politically ministerial husband, father or brothers were.

  ‘Are you sure, Matron?’ Anna did not like leaving Nipper like this. ‘I can finish off here.’

  ‘You have been on those feet since yesterday.’ Matron gave a tolerant smile, ‘So go and rest them before your arches fall.’

  ‘Yes, Matron,’ Anna smiled, knowing she could do no good with fallen arches.

  ‘An empty sack can’t stand, Nurse,’ a young soldier, in the opposite bed, said gruffly, lifting his thumb.

  ‘Do you need anything?’ Anna asked him in hushed tones so as not to wake the other patients.

  ‘How about a goodnight kiss?’ He grinned when she gave a gentle tut.

  18

  September 1916

  ‘Ned’s coming home!’ Anna’s eyes lit up the following day when she opened the letter which had been delivered to the Lodge that morning and, hardly able to get the words out, she breathed, ‘He is getting leave!’ Her eyes scanning the room, she tilted her head, as if listening to music only she could hear, and then closed her eyes, imagining her Ned walking into the lodge where she would run into his arms and welcome him home.

  Ned’s coming home. The words that had been so long coming kept going round inside her head. The news was like a miracle. It was a miracle. Better than her birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. Slapping her hand over her mouth, Anna tried to stifle the giggle that was bursting to break free. Her one true love was coming home.

  ‘Oh, darling, that is good news,’ said Ruby, ‘I hope he’s home for his birthday.’

  ‘His birthday! Of course.’ Anna’s excited eyes widened, and she laughed. ‘I must go into town and collect his birthday present.’

  ‘Is it all right if we eat breakfast first?’ Ellie asked, delighted in her friend’s good news.

  ‘We could go to Lord Street.’ Lord Street was the main shopping street in fashionable Southport, once home for a brief period to Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte before he became the French Emperor, and it was rumoured that Lord Street was the inspiration behind the tree-lined boulevards of Paris, yet today was more likely to see fundraising women who had once rallied for the emancipation of women’s suffrage. An avenue of exclusive stores where neither Anna, nor her family, would have been able to afford to shop in days gone by, but given the generous allowance from Ruby and Archie, when she first moved into their home above the pawnshop, Anna had managed to save enough to ensure she could shop in select stores.

  The thought brought a pang of guilt when she remembered her brother, Sam, hovering round the doorways of magnificent stores waiting for the grand ladies who would be laden with bags and boxes and would pay him coppers to carry their purchases to their carriages or even down to the pier head and the ferry terminal.

  She was so deep in thought she only caught the latter end of Ellie’s words. ‘…Shall we go in the motor, you can drive.’

  ‘Rather!’ Anna brightened immediately. Archie had taught her to drive in the grounds of Ashland Hall and before the war she liked nothing better than getting the car out for a leisurely ride. ‘We’ll be back in plenty of time for Ned’s arrival.’ His birthday present was ready for collection and she was thrilled she could now give it to him in person, instead of posting it in the hope it would reach him. ‘I love driving,’ Anna said, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of driving Ellie’s beautiful motor.

  Anna took the wheel and drove with the hood down in the glorious September sunshine. Winding down narrow lanes with the golden beaches bordering the Irish sea on her left and the Lancashire countryside on her right, she imagined Ned’s homecoming and sang at the top of her voice. Ellie joined in, too. A world away from war and sh
attered bodies.

  Anna’s first stop was the jewellers, along Lord Street’s fashionable boulevard where she had something put away for Ned’s birthday. Collecting her parcel, she arrived back to where Ellie was drooling over a peacock-blue cocktail dress in a shop window near the parked car, noting the glances of passers-by, who openly admired the gleaming motor.

  Anna slipped into the driver’s seat, enjoying the disbelieving expressions from people, seeing two women in the front seat of the car and one actually behind the wheel. Women drivers had been practically unheard of before the war. Nevertheless, it was becoming more common now, as the chauffeurs were all at the Front. The thought of war filled her with trepidation. All those young lives, gone.

  ‘Sam would be old enough to fight,’ Anna said, feeling sad, wondering, as she did so often, if he would ever come home again. ‘Nipper said he saw him in France.’ Quickly brushing away a stray tear, Anna checked there was nothing coming up behind her as she pulled away from the kerb.

  ‘Nipper has been through so much, he could be mistaken,’ Ellie said. ‘I pray he will grow stronger.

  Later that evening after finishing her afternoon duties and relaxing with Ruby, Archie, May and Ellie in the sitting room of the lodge, Anna heard the distant rumbling of an engine. It grew louder and Ruby put a hand on her arm. Anna took a deep breath, trying to keep her composure. However, no matter how she tried, she could not keep still. In moments she was hurrying outside.

  A nurse opened the door to the hall, momentarily shining a dim light on three trucks, like shadows, rolling up the drive. But all too soon, the blackout blinds were pulled way down, and it was hard to see whom she was addressing. A shadowy figure emerged from the first truck and went round the back. He may have been unrecognisable in the blackness, but the voice was as familiar as her own. ‘Are you going to stand there all night?’