Wartime Blues for the Harpers Girls

by Rosie Clarke

  Where had the excitement and joy gone from her own marriage? Rachel wondered why things had gone wrong between her and William these past few months. For a start, they’d seemed to be truly happy and Rachel had longed for him to come back from the war. When he’d returned injured, he’d seemed to be as loving as before, but, recently, she’d noticed a change. He seldom had much to say when she got home in the evenings and several times recently, he’d told her he was dining at his club with friends.

  Rachel was aware that men of William’s class did dine at their clubs sometimes. However, he’d broken with his family and had seemed to have no interest in them or his club until recently. It was unlike him and she was worried, because she’d never known him to be so reserved. Had she done something to anger him without realising?

  Her thoughts were recalled to the present as Sally Harper entered the department and walked to greet her. ‘Rachel, how are you?’ her employer asked. ‘I see this department is still busy…’

  ‘We’re fortunate that our stock hasn’t been much affected by the shortages,’ Rachel replied and smiled. ‘Perhaps the Government knows the ladies need a new hat to keep them happy.’

  ‘I think it’s more a matter of what needs to be imported,’ Sally told her. ‘Hats are easily sourced and supplied here, most of the materials are home-made, of course. The silks and velvets we got from abroad are in short supply, but the English felts and straws seem quite adequate for now – I just wish we had more of the raw materials we need for other goods here. I’ve always bought as much made-in-England produce as I could, but some metals and hardwoods are in short supply and I miss the Venetian glass we used to stock.’

  ‘Yes, it must be so difficult for you,’ Rachel sympathised.

  ‘Oh, I shouldn’t moan,’ Sally Harper said and smiled. ‘I’m lucky. Ben isn’t fighting and he’s been home for a few days – and I have good friends and my lovely daughter.’

  ‘Yes, you are lucky in those things,’ Rachel agreed and something in her voice made Sally look at her and ask her if anything was wrong. ‘Oh no,’ she lied. ‘I’m perfectly fine… Have you heard from Maggie recently? I wrote to her last week, but I haven’t heard a word.’

  Her question diverted Sally’s curiosity. ‘Perhaps you sent it to the hospital and she didn’t get it before they moved her to the convalescent home. I had a letter just this morning. Maggie says she’s getting up and spending some time in the rose gardens. She says it is lovely there and she feels she ought to be looking after the men, who are far more seriously ill than she is.’

  ‘That sounds like our Maggie,’ Rachel said and nodded. ‘Yes, I did write to her at the hospital, but I thought she would’ve got it before she moved. Perhaps I’ll write again to the convalescent home.’

  ‘Yes – though there may be a letter waiting for you when you get home this evening.’

  A customer headed for the counter then and Sally moved away to speak to Marion Jackson. She was smiling and agreeing with whatever Sally was saying and Rachel turned her attention to her customer, who was a gentleman she’d served before.

  He smiled at her. ‘I bought my wife a bag and a gold bracelet for her birthday here and she was delighted. I wondered if you could help me find a suitable present for our ninth wedding anniversary please…’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Rachel replied smiling. ‘What would you like to see?’

  She was busy serving him for the next twenty minutes, after which he bought a gold locket and chain and departed looking pleased. Rachel tidied her counter and noted the sale in her stock book just as Marion Jackson came up to her.

  ‘Mrs Harper asked me about the new window display. I told her what I’d thought of and also that I would be taking my holiday from Friday if it was possible, so she asked me to change the window on Thursday and explain my idea to the team this afternoon at three – when she will be holding a meeting.’

  Rachel nodded. ‘You’d best have your lunch now then so you’ll be back in time to get ready for the meeting.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Marion said and went off clearly happy.

  Rachel frowned to herself. She wished Mr Marco was still in charge of the window displays, because it took up more and more of Marion Jackson’s time. Not that she begrudged the young woman the pleasure of helping with the window displays, but it made her short-handed on the department floor. Perhaps she would speak to Mr Stockbridge about getting an extra salesgirl on the floor. After all, they were one of the busier departments these days and it was foolish to risk losing sales because there was no one on a counter.

  Rachel sent Shirley Jones to the hats counter and the new junior to scarves. Her next customer was an older lady, who spent an hour looking at bags and jewellery and bought nothing. By the time Marion Jackson returned and the younger girls had gone to lunch, Rachel had forgotten the mood of sadness that had possessed her earlier. Perhaps she was just imagining it and she would try talking to William over dinner that evening.

  10

  Marco read the message he’d decoded again and frowned. London was recalling him. They were sending his replacement out and he was to organise the reception party to introduce the new agent to the group he’d set up and led for the past eighteen months or more. He felt a flicker of frustration. Why was he being recalled? He’d done everything his London contacts had asked, causing mayhem for the German patrols that tried to cross the border at the dead of night and get behind the Allied lines; they’d even managed to sabotage an enemy ammunition dump – so why order him back to England?

  Marco looked up as Sadie entered the room. He smiled at her because she looked lovely with her young son struggling in her arms. She set little Pierre on his feet and he made a beeline for Marco.

  ‘Pap … pap…’ he said and held out his arms.

  Marco bent to pick the chubby little boy up and set him on his lap. He smelled delightfully of soap and a powder Sadie put on his skin and he chuckled as Marco lifted him. It still gave him pain in his side, but he gritted his teeth and ignored it as the little boy patted his face.

  ‘You’re getting heavy,’ Marco told the little boy but swung him high in the air, holding him above his head for a few moments as he giggled with glee. ‘What has Mummy been feeding you?’ He put the child down and Pierre clung to his leg.

  ‘Marie’s bread and honey,’ Sadie said and then frowned. ‘Is something wrong? Marie said you were annoyed by the message that came through today?’

  ‘You’re not supposed to know about secret things like a message from London,’ Marco told her, but he knew there were no secrets between Sadie and Marie. ‘Not that it matters, because I was going to tell you – they have ordered me back to England and I’ll be leaving next week when my replacement arrives.’

  Sadie looked devastated. ‘Why – why do you have to go back? We’ll miss you, Pierre and I—’

  ‘You could come with me,’ Marco said. ‘I know you don’t want to marry me so I’ll set you up in a decent home of your own.’

  ‘I told you I didn’t want that—’ She hesitated, then, as he frowned, ‘—I’ll live with you as my husband if you like… Pierre thinks you’re his father. I don’t know where he got the word from, but he calls you Papa or pap pap…’

  ‘You want me to be your husband?’ Marco grinned. ‘You know I love Pierre and I can do the father bit. I’m not sure I can make you happy in bed…’

  ‘It doesn’t matter about that,’ Sadie said and blushed. ‘You told me the truth, Marco, but you also said we could live as husband and wife in other ways…’

  ‘I thought you said no,’ Marco remembered it quite clearly a few days after his initial offer. ‘I don’t want to make you unhappy…’

  ‘I know I said no for a start, but I’ve thought it over, and I think it could work. I may be able do my nursing part-time, if I can find a clinic willing to take on a married nurse – my mother would look after Pierre for a few hours a day.’

  ‘I told you, there’s no need for you
to work,’ Marco frowned. ‘I don’t know why I’m being recalled. They may send me somewhere else.’

  ‘Yes, I know – but I do want to go home and this is the only way I have a chance of a decent life.’ Her cheeks were hot. ‘I’m sorry, Marco. You’ve been kind to me and that sounds as if I’m just using you – but you know I like you a lot…’

  ‘Yes. I’m fond of you and the boy, Sadie. And I owe this to Pierre even if I didn’t think you were a good person who deserved a better life. We’ll have a civil marriage and if you ever meet someone you could love, I’ll give you your freedom.’

  ‘I don’t deserve your kindness,’ Sadie said. ‘You didn’t force Pierre to give his life to save yours. He had a choice and so do I – my son adores you and I’m comfortable with you. I said no at the start, because I thought it unfair to you. Why should you be saddled with me and a child you didn’t father?’

  ‘I thought it was something like that,’ Marco said and smiled wryly. ‘Don’t bother about me, Sadie. If I can do something for you, it makes my life worthwhile.’

  ‘Your life is worth a great deal. You’ve done so much out here – Marie and the others think the world of you…’

  Marco shrugged, dismissing the praise. ‘Then we’ll be married and I’ll take you back with me.’

  The wedding ceremony was brief, but the reception was a big family party that was held under the trees in the orchard as a fierce July sun blazed overhead. Marie invited all her friends and also Marco’s group.

  ‘It is a farewell to you and my Sadie,’ she told him, tears in her eyes. ‘I shall miss you all – and the little one will leave a hole in my heart. Sadie will come back to see us once the war is over, she has promised – and you must too, Marcel. You are family…’ She kissed both cheeks and he gave her a warm hug.

  ‘You are family to me too,’ Marco told her. Sometimes he felt as if he were her cousin Marcel. ‘I’ll come whenever I can, I promise – whether it’s before the war ends or afterwards.’

  Marie had fed them and the party had drunk the rich red local wine, many of them a little unsteady on their feet as they went off to bed later. Sadie and Marco shared a bedroom that night, but he slept on top of the covers and when Pierre woke and cried in the night, it was Marco who comforted him. Sadie watched him sleepily and thanked him.

  In the morning, they left with Andre in the lorry he’d brought to take them to the rendezvous. As expected, the British sailors waiting to take them on board a small rowing boat baulked at the idea of a woman and child, but Marco insisted.

  ‘She is the widow of a war hero and her life is in danger if she stays,’ he told them. ‘Give her and the child my cabin when we get to the ship and I’ll stay on deck… it’s either that or I stay here to protect her.’

  The threat worked and after Marco had introduced Andre and the others to his replacement, he shook hands with him and boarded the boat, which was anxious to leave for the ship anchored off-shore. Lingering in these waters was dangerous because they were vulnerable to attack both from the air and German U-boats.

  Marco left France without a backward glance, his gaze on Sadie, who was nervously holding tight to Pierre. He was fortunately sleeping and when it came to climbing the rope ladder, Marco took the boy and tucked him inside his greatcoat, fastening his belt around himself and the child to keep him secure as he climbed. Once on board, Sadie and the child were taken below and Marco went to speak to the captain, who looked annoyed because his orders hadn’t included a woman and child. However, he just grunted that Marco should stay out of the crew’s way and barked an order to get underway.

  Fortunately, the journey back to England was a fast safe one, unendangered by storms or enemy shipping. Some clouds looked heavy in the skies but served only to help them hide from any lurking hunters and the summer storm held off. On disembarking, Marco thanked the crew and gave one of them a bottle of French brandy for helping Sadie by giving her some food for the child. He took them on to the quayside where he was looking for some form of transport when a man dressed in a dark suit tapped him on the shoulder.

  ‘Your car is waiting, Captain Marco. I’ve been told to take you straight to headquarters in London.’

  ‘You can drop my wife and child off on the way,’ Marco said. He looked at Sadie. ‘I’ll give you my keys and money. You go to my place and make yourself comfortable until I come. Take a taxi after we drop you off and wait until I return…’ He’d explained where he lived and given her the written address. Sadie was a resourceful young woman and he had no doubt she would settle in easily enough by herself, though he would have gone with her had his orders not been otherwise.

  The official frowned. ‘This is most irregular, sir. I wasn’t told about this.’

  ‘What I’ve been doing for the past two years or more is irregular,’ Marco said. ‘I had to get my wife out of France, so I brought her back with me.’

  The official nodded and led the way to a black car, opening the back door for them to get in.

  Marco let Sadie slide in and then gave her Pierre, who was awake and grizzling. When he was in the car and the door shut, he took Pierre and started to tickle him. The grizzling stopped and he started giggling.

  ‘Get some food before you go home,’ Marco told Sadie. ‘You’ll need milk and a few things. I’ll get you whatever else you need once we’re settled, though you’ll miss Marie’s food. I’m not sure that you will find as much as you’d like here…’

  ‘I’ve still got my nursing cards,’ Sadie said. ‘I think the shops will let me have food once I show them what I was doing before Pierre was born.’

  Marco nodded. He’d kept abreast of things while he was in France and though there was no rationing here as yet, he understood that some foods were difficult to buy. The bread was different to what they’d been used to pre-war and pretty awful, he’d been told. On the farm, they’d been self-sufficient and were used to good ham, cheese and milk, as well as Marie’s own honey, wine and the preserves she made from fruit grown locally. Sadie was unlikely to find food as good here in the city at present.

  Once in London, Marco handed over the keys to his apartment, made sure Sadie had the address and gave her a generous supply of money, before dropping her off. She was carrying a rucksack with a few of her own and Pierre’s things. Marco would need to buy her new clothes and the boy, too, as soon as he’d been briefed and allowed to return to his home. He just wished he knew what was so urgent!

  ‘We brought you back because we were informed your cover had been breached,’ Marco’s liaison officer told him half an hour later. ‘We needed to get you out fast for the sake of the group – and the people at the farm.’

  ‘If they know about me, they will know that Marie and her mother have been helping me…’ Marco frowned. ‘Why didn’t you tell me so that I could warn them?’

  ‘You would have tried to get them away and we needed them to stay until you were safely away,’ Major Bryant told him. ‘Andre will get them out and the group will reform elsewhere.’

  Marco glared at him. ‘I should’ve been told.’ His thoughts were dark. If the enemy arrived at the farm to find him gone, their anger would fall on the defenceless women. ‘You had no right to risk their lives.’

  ‘They know the risks and Andre is still there. After he picked you up, his men would have moved the family to safety.’

  ‘They will lose their home and their living!’

  ‘That’s war,’ the major said. ‘Someone out there betrayed them – and you. You’re lucky we got wind of it and moved you out.’ He frowned. ‘Look here, Pershing is demanding upwards of three million men to prosecute this war. Think of all the lives that will be at risk and then you’ll understand that one family couldn’t be allowed to get in the way of things. You know too much to let the enemy take you alive. Don’t say you wouldn’t break under torture – most do.’

  Marco bit his tongue. There was a lot he could say, but what was the use? Either Andre had got the family aw
ay or he hadn’t; Marco could do nothing. He felt like telling Bryant to go to Hell, but that would get him nowhere.

  ‘What do you want from me now?’

  ‘We feel you’ve done enough for now,’ Major Bryant said and stared at him hard. ‘If we have a job for you, we’ll know where you are.’

  ‘And where is that?’ Marco was puzzled.

  ‘At Harpers store, I imagine. You may be asked to work with Ben Harper in the future and it is far better that you return to your old job until we decide what to do with you.’

  ‘I would prefer to be sent to a fighting unit,’ Marco protested.

  ‘Unfortunately, your preferences are not of paramount importance,’ Major Bryant said and glared at him. ‘You risked your life once too often, Captain, and we wanted you back here. To be frank, you could have been a liability with all your contacts. However, you have been useful in the past and we may need you again. So, you will damn well stay here until we decide if we can use you elsewhere. Oh, by the way, you’re being given a distinguished medal, though I’m damned if I know why.’

  Marco was seething inside. For two pins he would have launched himself at the sneering major, but he held the anger inside, aware that he was being provoked. They wanted to see if his tour of duty had changed him, made him less reliable – if he’d lost his nerve. He said nothing and saw a smile of satisfaction on the major’s face.

  Finding himself dismissed, Marco left the office and caught a taxi. He went to Harpers and asked to see either Ben or Sally Harper. Sally was in the office and she gave a scream of delight as she saw him.

  ‘Marco! You’re back! Thank God.’

  ‘Is Ben anywhere around?’

  ‘He’s away, but he rang this morning and said he’ll be home tonight.’ She smiled at him. ‘You look tired – are you all right?’