Wartime Blues for the Harpers Girls

by Rosie Clarke

  19

  When Marion had been wretchedly sick for the fourth morning in a row, she acknowledged to herself what she had known in the back of her mind for a week or two now. Perhaps if everyone at Harpers hadn’t been so worried for Mrs Harper, she would have taken more notice of the signs before now, but all Marion had been able to think about as she got ready for work each day had been what would happen to the store if they lost their chief buyer. They all knew who the driving force behind the store’s success was and although Miss Jenni – as Jenni Harper preferred to be known now that she had left her husband – was liked, Sally Harper was generally loved by her staff. She’d been in their shoes and knew what it was like to work on the shop floor and she never forgot that when she spoke to her staff, greeting them all in her open, friendly way. Yet discipline was not forgotten either and even the cheeky young ones, straight out of school, soon learned to respect the way things were run.

  Wiping her mouth after rinsing with cold water, Marion looked at herself in the mirror. She looked a bit pale and, now she thought about it, her breasts were a little tender. That didn’t prove anything, of course, but there was something that told her she was carrying her first child. She would wait a few days to see if her period came, though counting back she realised that she was more than three weeks overdue, perhaps longer. How could she not have noticed that sooner? It could only be that she’d had too much on her mind.

  Everyone had thought that Mrs Harper would die from her mystery illness. Fevers could start so suddenly and the doctors sometimes had no idea what started them and they could kill as swiftly as they came. Fortunately, Mrs Harper’s fever had broken and after a two-week stay in hospital, her family was finally being allowed to bring her home. Miss Jenni had found a special doctor for her and she was being nursed by her friend and employee Pearl, who also looked after the Harpers’ daughter. The staff at Harpers understood that their employer’s wife was still weak and would need bed rest, but she was recovering and everyone had felt a sense of relief.

  Marion hadn’t yet begun to think about her own future. Reggie would, she knew, be over the moon when she told him that they were having a baby. He wanted a big family and his business plans for after the war showed that he would provide well for his wife and children. He wouldn’t be like Marion’s father had been, always drinking his wages away and then beating his wife. She smiled as she thought of Reggie’s pleasure in the coming birth. His face would light up like a candle when she told him.

  Marion had seen both her mother and Sarah give birth. There would be pain, she understood that, but it would be a small price to pay to hold a child of her own. Her one regret was that in the later stages of her pregnancy she would have to leave Harpers and she did not expect to return. Once they had a family, Reggie would expect her to stay at home and look after the house, her child and him. If she wanted extra work, there would be his bookkeeping and he was fair enough to see that she had money of her own in return – but she would miss the magic of being at Harpers

  Shaking her head, she put her foolish regrets from her mind. Reggie was a loving husband and she loved him. Working in that lovely place, serving customers with beautiful hats was a real pleasure and Marion felt a pang of regret that it would end soon. She’d loved being a part of the window display team, but she must forget that and look to the future and the start of her family. She would love her child and she could always visit Harpers as a customer and see her old friends now and then. The future was exciting.

  When she went down to the kitchen, Kathy and Sarah were talking. They both looked at her and then Sarah asked, ‘Are you all right, Marion love? We thought you might be feeling a little unwell…’

  ‘I was sick,’ Marion said and smiled because they were so obviously curious. ‘I’m not sure, but I might be pregnant.’

  ‘That’s wonderful,’ Sarah said and rushed to hug her. ‘I’m so pleased for you, Marion. Once the baby is born, we’ll be able to do so much more together.’

  ‘Yes, we shall,’ she said and suddenly happiness flooded through her. She was lucky. Many women had to struggle to do menial work like scrubbing floors to survive, even though they had children at home. It was a hard life for so many and she had a caring husband who would make sure she had all he could provide. That meant far more than a career in window dressing.

  Mrs Bailey seemed very serious that morning when Marion arrived just a minute before time. She’d lingered on the ground floor looking at things she might need once the baby was born and had nearly been late. For a moment she considered telling Mrs Bailey her wonderful news but held back because she suddenly realised how sad her supervisor’s eyes were. She hadn’t noticed it before and a chill touched her nape. Something must be upsetting her.

  ‘Is Mrs Harper any worse?’ she asked and then flushed as her supervisor turned a frowning look on her.

  ‘Mrs Harper? No, not as far as I’ve been told – why do you ask?’

  ‘You looked sad…’ Marion said and then bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry, I had no right to say.’

  ‘Thank you for your concern, Mrs Jackson,’ Mrs Bailey replied. ‘Please get to your counter. We shall soon have customers.’

  Marion went quickly to remove the flimsy covers they draped over the hats to keep off the dust. There was definitely something wrong with Mrs Bailey, but she dared not push things further as even her gentle questioning had upset her supervisor. She wondered what it could be but did not know who to speak to about it. If Mrs Harper had been at work, she might have noticed, but she wasn’t and the only other person at Harpers who knew Mrs Bailey well enough to ask what was wrong was Mrs Burrows. She was at home expecting the birth of her second child any day now and Marion didn’t know her well enough to visit her house.

  Giving herself a mental shake, she smiled as a customer approached. Marion couldn’t ask Mrs Bailey what was worrying her and she certainly couldn’t tell her her own news at the moment. She felt unable to confide in Mr Stockbridge, and even Mr Marco had been unusually quiet of late, so for the moment she would simply have to keep her condition to herself.

  Rachel kept busy at work, checking stock whenever there were no customers to occupy her mind. She felt as if her heart would break and there was no one she could talk to about her husband’s illness. Marion Jackson was a thoughtful girl, but the bonds Rachel had forged with Sally, Beth and Maggie just weren’t there with any of the younger girls she supervised now. Somehow, there had been a special feeling amongst the original Harpers’ girls when they first started to work on the shop floor and, of course, she’d lived with them. They had all shared their hopes and dreams and Rachel was missing them terribly now.

  Beth hadn’t been in for a week. She was very close to giving birth and she spent what time she could spare sitting by Sally Harper’s side, encouraging her to get well. Obviously, she had more than enough to occupy her time and thoughts.

  Rachel didn’t feel she could visit her employers’ home without an invitation. She’d visited Sally at the hospital a couple of times before she was taken home, but Miss Jenni was in charge, because Captain Harper had been called away again. He’d stayed by his wife’s side until she was over the dangerous period and then given into repeated requests for his presence elsewhere. Miss Jenni didn’t see Rachel in the same light as Sally always had. To her, she was just an employee, respected and valued, but not a friend. Whenever Rachel enquired about Sally’s health, she was met with polite but brief information that made her feel left out – and she certainly couldn’t go and unburden her troubles on Sally and Beth. Sally was still too ill and Beth was feeling under the weather as the birth of her second child approached; it must surely be any day now as September neared its close. Rachel had visited her at home, managing to catch her before she left for Sally’s one Sunday morning, but Beth was clearly too wrapped up in her family to have time for her friend’s worries. Maggie, of course, was still away in hospital and she’d heard nothing from her for some weeks.


  Minnie was always busy with her work for Harpers and being a wife to Mr Stockbridge, and, despite their long-standing friendship, Rachel didn’t like to intrude into their weekends together. When Minnie had been so lonely after her sister’s death, Rachel had been there for her, but now Minnie was happily married. So, there was no one she could turn to, but Hazel, her first husband’s mother, and she’d never been the most sympathetic listener. She was full of complaints, looking to Rachel to solve her problems for her. Normally, Rachel was happy to do anything she wanted, but now, she needed a shoulder to cry on herself.

  Wrenching her thoughts back to the present as a customer asked to see silver jewellery, Rachel knew she must stand on her own feet. However, she missed Sally so much and wished that she was back at Harpers so that they could sit and have coffee together. She would not have needed to tell Sally something was wrong, she would have sensed it and asked straight out in her no-nonsense way.

  Rachel prayed that Sally would soon be well enough to return to work. The department heads were coping as well as they could, but there was no denying that some of the new stock was not quite up to Sally Harper’s standards and, the longer she was away, the more it would show.

  20

  Sally sat up in bed and looked at the doctor. He was an elderly man with a gentle bedside manner, but he’d proved himself to be strict with his instructions to stay in bed and not move a muscle. She was not at home to start work; she was home to convalesce from a serious illness, being cared for and looked after by her family and friends, and there she must stop until he gave her the all-clear. Yet the news was good despite all, because she’d been told that she was to have another child.

  ‘How much longer, Doctor Symonds?’ she asked as he looked at the thermometer. ‘I don’t have a fever now, do I?’ Impatience had crept into her tone, because she was tired of being in bed with nothing to do.

  ‘You were very lucky young woman,’ Doctor Symonds informed her with a shake of his head. ‘You had a toxic inflammation of your organs and you could quite easily have died. Fortunately, you have a strong constitution and you have fought the poisoning and are now recovering. However, your condition was almost certainly caused by your pregnancy and that means you will need to rest more than you did the last time.’ He shook his head at her. ‘If you push yourself too hard too soon, it could cause untold harm.’

  ‘Yes, but surely I can get up – and talk to people on the telephone?’ Sally reasoned. Why couldn’t he understand that lying here fretting was doing her more harm than if she was allowed to get up and sit by the window?

  ‘Not if those people are to do with Harpers and might cause your blood pressure to rise. Let me be clear, Mrs Harper. It is possible that if your body becomes overstressed, the condition may return and you could lose the child and die yourself.’

  Sally sighed and lay back against her pillows. She couldn’t risk losing her second child, but she felt restless. ‘It’s boring just lying here…’

  ‘Now, that’s not kind, is it? I know that you have lots of visitors to sit with you.’

  ‘Yes, and I love them for it,’ Sally said, ‘but I’ve always worked, doctor. I miss it!’

  ‘You have your own health and your unborn child to think of. You may return to work when I think you are strong enough. For the moment, I do not believe you are.’ He felt her pulse. ‘Do not distress yourself. You may start to get up in the afternoons, providing you sit quietly or just play with your daughter for a while.’

  Sally nodded. For all his gentle manners, he was a martinet and both Jenni and Beth had forbidden her to disobey his orders, as had Ben, before he reluctantly left her to travel to the South Coast.

  ‘I’ll ring every day and I’ll be back as soon as I can,’ he’d told her as he kissed her goodbye. ‘Promise me you’ll do as the doctor and nurses say, Sally. I thought I was going to lose you and I couldn’t bear that so please don’t make yourself ill again.’

  ‘Yes, I promise,’ Sally had said, swayed by his obvious emotion. However, lying in bed day after day, her frustration grew. She and Jenny were being well cared for – but what of Harpers? Jenni would do her best, she knew that, but many of her suppliers only came up with extras for Sally because they had known her for ages and liked her. She knew she pulled in favours and made sure of rewarding them.

  Yet, it wasn’t Harpers that was playing on her mind the most – it was her mother, or the woman who had claimed to be Sheila Ross, and claimed to have left Sally with one set of nuns, who had then sent her mother away to another convent, making it impossible for her to find her. And then they’d lied to Sally, telling her that her mother had died. Such unnecessary cruelty!

  However, the fact that her mother had said she had asked where she was implied that she had wanted to find her, perhaps to reclaim her once she was on her feet. Sally knew that things like that happened – children were taken from their mothers, women deemed unfit to have the care of them, even though they tried to get them back once they were able, often with no hope of ever seeing the child again. It was unfair and Sally felt angry that she’d been denied her mother for the whole of her life. But why had it taken her so long to come forward? Sally wanted to know more.

  She’d spoken to both Jenni and Beth about it, but they shook their heads, looking as if they disbelieved her. She understood they thought she’d imagined the incident in the park, but she knew it was real. She remembered clearly the woman following her for a while and rushing up to help when Jenny was frightened by a big dog – and then, when, the woman had finally plucked up courage to speak to Sally, she’d fallen into that awful fever and been carted off to hospital by Mr Marco. She couldn’t quite remember, but she thought he’d sought her out in the park to either tell or ask her something.

  Sighing, she picked up a magazine Jenni had bought for her, flicked through it and threw it down again. The doctor had gone and neither Jenni nor Beth was there, so it ought to be safe.

  Getting up cautiously, she stood up for the first time in ages, her feet planted on the soft Persian rug beside the bed. For a moment the room swayed and she felt she might fall, but then her head cleared and she took a step towards the telephone, which had been placed out of reach to stop her using it.

  She smiled as she negotiated the short distance and sat on her dressing table stool, catching her breath. The doctor was right; she wasn’t ready to return to work just yet, but she knew someone who would bring work to her.

  Rachel saw Ruth, Sally’s secretary, coming towards her in the department and smiled. ‘What can I do for you?’ she asked, not sure of the reason for the visit.

  ‘Mrs Harper wants you to visit,’ Ruth said. ‘The doctor has forbidden her to work, but she wants the latest accounts from this department and as many others as I have ready for her. You’ll have to smuggle them in, because Miss Jenni and the nurse will take them away if they see you carrying them.’

  ‘Should she have them?’ Rachel asked doubtfully. ‘I don’t want to do anything that might make her ill again.’

  ‘Perhaps she ought not,’ Ruth replied, ‘but you know she won’t be kept in bed for long and she said if I didn’t ask you to bring them, she would get up and come in.’ She pulled a wry face. ‘I think she means it.’

  ‘That sounds as if she is on the mend,’ Rachel said and smiled. ‘Give me the accounts for my department and the ladies clothing. That should be enough to keep her busy for a while and it will give you time to copy up others she needs to see.’

  ‘Yes, that’s what I thought,’ Ruth said. ‘I haven’t visited, because the hospital wouldn’t let me and I don’t like to go to her home…’

  ‘I told the hospital I was Sally’s sister,’ Rachel admitted. ‘When I rang them, they said only close family, so I’m afraid I told a small lie.’

  ‘Good for you…’ Ruth frowned. ‘She didn’t know you then, did she?’

  ‘For a moment now and then she seemed a little better but slipped back again,’ Rachel replied t
houghtfully. ‘She certainly wasn’t truly with us for several days and then she was very tired – but she sounds restless now!’

  ‘Oh yes, I can confirm she is restless,’ Ruth said with a grin. ‘I’ll leave you to get on then, Mrs Bailey.’

  Rachel nodded and smiled. Sally was never going to be an easy patient, but she wouldn’t mind betting she would escape her well-meaning jailors quite soon.

  Rachel went armed with flowers, fruit, fashion magazines and, hidden between them, the lists Sally had asked for. When she first saw how tired and pale her friend looked, she wondered if she ought to give them to her, but Sally leaned forward with a smile.

  ‘I knew you wouldn’t let me down, Rachel,’ she said. ‘That’s why I asked Ruth to give the lists to you. I just can’t lie here twiddling my thumbs any longer.’ She relaxed back against her pillows as Rachel handed the magazines over and told her the lists were tucked inside. ‘Wonderful! I’ll go through them later and ring Ruth again tomorrow.’

  ‘Don’t overdo things,’ Rachel advised. ‘I know you must be bored – but we need you back. We all miss you…’

  Sally nodded, her eyes on Rachel’s face. ‘What is wrong? I can see something is upsetting you. Have they given you dire news about me?’

  ‘No—’ Rachel gulped back the tears that were too close. ‘No. They tell me you’re getting better, thank goodness…’ She paused. ‘I shouldn’t tell you, because I know how ill you’ve been, but… William has TB and he’s gone to an isolation hospital on the coast. He wouldn’t tell me exactly where because I can’t visit until they let him out into the gardens, by which time he should be over the worst… if he survives…’

  ‘Oh, Rachel dearest!’ Sally exclaimed and leaned forward to catch her hand. ‘I’m so sorry. That is terribly unfair. You’ve been through so much – and William doesn’t deserve this either.’