With Hope and Love

by Ellie Dean

  With the wireless on to keep her company, she set to and began to collect the lightweight curtains from the bedrooms and bathroom which she dumped into the outside sink to soak. The ones in the sitting room were heavy, faded velvet, and full of dust, and she spluttered and sneezed as she struggled to get them down. Collecting the three small rugs, she carried them all outside to the washing line, where she proceeded to give them a good bashing with the back of a heavy brush.

  Half an hour later her arms were aching, dust stuck to her sweaty face and there was grit in her mouth and eyes from beating the rugs. But everything was as clean as she could get it, and once she’d brought it all back in and dumped it on the settee, she felt she’d earnt a cup of tea and a fag before she tackled the washing, the bathroom and the windows.

  Ruby drank the hot, strong, reviving tea, smoked a roll-up and then hummed along to the music on the wireless as she washed and rinsed and wrung out the cotton curtains and hung them on the line. There was enough of a wind to get them dry before she had to be back at the Anchor, so she’d iron and re-hang them ready for tonight.

  It didn’t take long to clean the pocket-handkerchief bathroom and sweep the floors, and having washed the kitchen floor and polished up the back windows, she filled her bucket with fresh water and went out to the front to do the tiny bathroom window and then the big sitting room bay which was exposed to all the elements and needed cleaning at least once a week – which didn’t always happen as she was so busy trying to pack up her things in readiness to move to Stan’s, do her hours at the factory and her shifts at the pub.

  Ruby really didn’t want to leave the bungalow and move in with Stan and April, for she felt right at home here, and would happily stay until Mike came home and they got married. But Shirley had gone back to London, and she couldn’t find anyone else she wanted to share with to help pay the rent – and she wasn’t about to accept charity from Cordelia who’d already been so kind to her.

  She attacked the wet glass with added vigour, the crumpled newspaper drying it to a most satisfyingly squeaky-clean shine. Standing back and admiring the effect, she ran a damp cloth over the sill to rid it of bird droppings and general muck and considered the afternoon’s effort as a job well done, even if it had left her filthy.

  ‘Now that’s what I call a sight to gladden any man’s heart.’

  Ruby whipped round as Mike strode through the gate, his eyepatch and dress uniform making him more handsome than ever. Her foot caught the bucket, tipping it over so the handle got entangled in her feet, which sent her stumbling to land with a thump on her bottom in the dirty puddle.

  ‘Mike. Oh, Mike,’ she gasped, going red with embarrassment. ‘This wasn’t how I wanted to welcome you home.’

  He grinned and dropped his heavy kitbag on the garden path. ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ he drawled. ‘That was kinda neat, the way you did that and still stayed beautiful.’

  Ruby erupted into giggles. ‘Don’t talk daft, you silly bugger. I look a right mess and now I’ve got a wet arse and all.’

  He took her hand, pulled her to her feet and into his arms. ‘It’s a lovely arse, as you so delicately put it,’ he murmured, gently cupping her buttocks in his large hands to pull her closer. ‘And I look forward to inspecting it for bruises later,’ he teased. ‘For now, I’d like a kiss.’

  Ruby sank against him and kissed him long and hard, not caring what the neighbours thought, or how much damage her dirty, damp dungarees were doing to his pristine uniform. When they finally drew apart they smiled at one another in the knowledge that the magic was still there and nothing had changed between them despite the two-year separation.

  ‘We’d better go in,’ she chuckled, catching sight of the neighbour across the road who was avidly watching them around her net curtains. ‘Old Ma Henley’s nose is glued to her window and if her eyes get much wider, they’ll pop out altogether.’

  Mike turned, smiling to smartly salute the nosy woman who looked askance at his eyepatch and hastily withdrew from her window. He was still smiling as he took Ruby’s hand. ‘If she only knew what my plans are for you, she’d probably faint,’ he said with a naughty twinkle in his good eye.

  Ruby went a deep scarlet, fetched the bucket and led him into the house. Once the door was closed behind them, Mike dropped his kitbag, relieved Ruby of the bucket, swept her up into his arms and, between kisses, asked where the bedroom was.

  Ruby pointed, too busy returning his kisses to talk, and he carried her along the hall and closed the bedroom door behind them.

  It was a long while later that Ruby sleepily shifted in Mike’s arms and peered at the bedside clock. With an exclamation of horror, she leapt from the bed. ‘I’ve got ten minutes to get to the Anchor,’ she gasped, stumbling over their discarded clothes strewn across the floor to get to the bathroom for a wash, and to clean her teeth.

  ‘Do you have to go tonight?’ he asked, sitting up in bed as she dashed back into the room, minutes later, still as naked as the day she was born. ‘I thought we’d spend it together.’

  ‘Ron and Rosie are away on honeymoon and Saturday nights are always busy. I can’t leave Brenda to cope on her own.’ She found fresh underwear and the skirt and blouse Rosie had bought for her to wear behind the bar. She finished fastening the fiddly buttons on the blouse and slipped her bare feet into her best shoes. ‘Besides, I wasn’t expecting you back until next week,’ she reminded him.

  ‘They let me go earlier than planned,’ he replied, the sheet slipping down to expose his torso and the scars of the wounds he’d suffered along with a blinded eye during the disastrous Dieppe Raid back in 1942. ‘Telephone Brenda and tell her you’ll be a bit late,’ he suggested. ‘There are important things I need to discuss with you tonight, Ruby.’

  ‘I don’t have a telephone,’ she replied, reaching for her hairbrush. ‘Why don’t you come with me, and we can talk during my break?’

  He got out of bed, adjusted his eyepatch, and swiftly began to dress. ‘I guess I should have sent a telegram warning you I was on my way, but I wanted to surprise you,’ he said, his voice muffled by the shirt he was pulling over his head. ‘So it’s my fault we have to spend my first night back in a crowded pub.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Mike,’ she said, brushing her hair and swiftly pinning it roughly into victory rolls on either side of her head. ‘It’s not the way I want to spend it either, but Ron and Rosie were good enough to give me some shifts after the factory cut my hours, and I can’t let them down.’

  ‘Well, at least we won’t have to run all the way down there,’ he said, fastening the brass buttons on his brown uniform jacket and buckling the Sam Browne belt. ‘I hired a car, so we can arrive in style.’

  ‘A car? But are you allowed to drive with …’

  ‘I can see just as well with one eye,’ he said evenly. ‘It’s just a case of adjusting to things, and I’ve had plenty of time to practise.’

  Ruby put her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. ‘Of course you have, and I was daft to mention it.’ She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. ‘Come on, or we’ll be late, even with the car.’

  The Anchor was packed. Brenda was barely coping, and Ruby realised guiltily that there’d be little chance of any intimate conversation with Mike before closing time. It seemed a number of local men had been demobbed and were celebrating their return home, including Rita’s father who was introduced to her the minute Rita saw her come in.

  Ruby quickly greeted Cordelia, Cissy, Sarah and her sister, introduced Mike, asked after Peggy who was at home with Daisy, and then hurried behind the bar to begin serving. Mike bought them all a round of drinks, and eventually gravitated towards a group of other Canadians.

  The time passed swiftly as Ruby and Brenda were kept on the go until closing time, and Ruby’s stomach was growling with hunger, for she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Jack Smith was leaning heavily on Rita as he weaved like a sailor towards Beach View, she noted as she closed the door on the last cus
tomer, and Mike didn’t exactly look sober either.

  ‘I think we’d better leave the car here and walk home,’ she said wearily, helping him off the bar stool. ‘The fresh air will do you good.’

  ‘Not as much good as you do me,’ he said with a soppy smile.

  Ruby rolled her eyes and exchanged knowing looks with Brenda, for they both recognised the signs of the drink talking, but at least Mike was gentle in his cups, not like her brutish late husband who liked using his fists. The three of them left by the side door, and Ruby steadied Mike as they circumnavigated the rented Austin parked at the kerb and began the long uphill walk to Mafeking Terrace.

  She was tired after the long day and her feet hurt, but the fresh air had the desired effect, and by the time they reached the bungalow, Mike was almost sober and Ruby’s head had cleared.

  ‘Do you want a cuppa and a sandwich? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.’ She kicked off her shoes and flexed her aching feet before going into the kitchen to find something to eat and put the kettle on.

  Her spirits plummeted as she realised her larder was almost bare, but for the end of a stale loaf and a scrap of margarine. ‘Sorry,’ she said ruefully. ‘It looks like we’ll have to make do with tea and toast.’

  ‘Do you often go without, Ruby?’ Mike came to stand beside her, his brow creased with concern.

  ‘Not at all,’ she fibbed, keeping an eye on the bread under the grill while she loaded up a tin tray with cups and plates. ‘But things have been tight lately,’ she admitted.

  ‘Then you should have written and told me,’ he said sternly. ‘I offered to send you money to help out, but you always said you were coping okay.’

  ‘I was. I am,’ she insisted, not looking at him as she smeared the last of the margarine on the toast and filled the teapot. ‘I just forgot it was early closing today and didn’t get stuff in for the weekend.’

  Mike sighed deeply and took the tray from her, leading the way into the sitting room where the lack of curtains meant the street light shone straight in and they were fully exposed to the neighbours. He placed the tray on a side table, removed the curtains and rugs, and drew her down beside him on the couch. ‘We’ll eat out tomorrow,’ he said firmly, ‘and on Monday, I’ll go and do the shopping.’

  ‘You really don’t have to do that,’ she protested through a mouthful of toast. ‘I’ve got money and plenty of ration stamps. Besides,’ she added, ‘the queues are endless, and you have to know the right one to join because you can’t buy anything if you’re not registered to shop there.’

  He remained silent as he poured out the weak tea, adding just a couple of drops of milk from the half-empty bottle. ‘I’m an officer in the Canadian Army and have a tongue in my head, so I’m sure I can navigate my way around rules and regulations,’ he murmured.

  Ruby felt awful as he sipped the sugarless tea and then bit unenthusiastically into the toast. She’d let things slide, and he must think she was absolutely hopeless at housekeeping. Eyeing the heap of curtains on the armchair and the bare windows, she remembered she’d left the other curtains on the line. If only Mike had warned her he was coming early she’d have made sure everything was perfect – as it was, he had to put up with toast and evil-tasting marge, and tea the colour of gnat’s …

  ‘Stop worrying,’ he said, interrupting her thoughts. ‘I came home for you, not fancy meals and a place so tidy I’d feel awkward.’ He drew her close and kissed the top of her head. ‘All I want is time with my girl, to hold her and love her and tell her all the things I’ve been wanting to say since I got here.’

  Ruby realised nothing really mattered but the fact he was here, and that he still loved her despite her failings, and she relaxed against him as he took her hand and looked at the ruby and diamond engagement ring he’d given her before he’d been sent to Scotland.

  ‘It feels like a lifetime since I put that ring on your finger, Ruby,’ he said softly. ‘Do you still want to marry me and come to Canada?’

  ‘Of course I do,’ she breathed. ‘I’ve never stopped loving you, Mike, from the moment we met at the Memorial Hospital.’

  ‘I feel the same way, and today has proved to me that we were meant for one another.’ He drew back and smiled down at her. ‘I know my turning up today has thrown you a bit, but things have moved on much quicker than I expected, and it means my leave has been cut short.’

  She sat up and regarded him fearfully. ‘But you wrote and told me you got permission for us to marry before you were shipped home,’ she said breathlessly.

  ‘And we will do just that,’ he replied firmly. He gripped her hands. ‘Just a bit sooner than we expected. We’re due at the Town Hall on Wednesday at two o’clock.’

  ‘To arrange our wedding?’

  He grinned and shook his head. ‘To have our wedding.’

  She thought she’d burst with happiness as she threw herself into his arms – and then reality hit, and she gasped in shock. ‘This Wednesday? But that’s only four days away and I haven’t got a frock, or sorted out my hours at work or any kind of reception.’

  She wrung her hands as her thoughts whirled. ‘Then there’s the invitations. We can’t just get married without Peggy and Cordelia, and Stan, Ron and Rosie. They’d never forgive us.’ She was close to tears as she looked back at him. ‘It’s too much of a rush, Mike. Can’t we at least put it off until next week?’

  ‘I’m sorry, honey, it has to be this Wednesday. We leave for Canada on Saturday.’

  Ruby almost fainted with shock and could only stare at him. ‘Saturday? Canada?’ she managed.

  He kissed her softly on the lips and cupped her face in his hands. ‘I know it’s very short notice and that it has come as a huge shock, but the Canadian Wives’ Bureau have pulled out all the stops and arranged everything. We go by train to Liverpool, and will be sailing on the hospital troop ship SS Lady Nelson for Halifax, Nova Scotia early Monday morning.’

  It was all too much to absorb and she could only stare at him helplessly.

  ‘There’s really nothing to panic about, Ruby,’ he soothed. ‘You told me you’d already packed most of your things to leave for Stan’s, so we can take it all with us on the ship. As for the reception and invitations, leave them to me.’

  Ruby was still stunned, and could think of nothing to say as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope.

  Handing it to her, he smiled. ‘This is for a frock and flowers and anything else you might want for our special day. Spend it all on yourself, darling. You deserve it.’

  Ruby’s hand trembled with shock at the speed things were going as she opened the envelope and gasped at the amount of money inside. ‘It’s too much,’ she protested. ‘Much too much. And we’ll need all the money we can get when we arrive in Canada.’

  Mike folded her fingers around the thickly filled envelope. ‘This is my wedding gift to you, Ruby,’ he said, his tone brooking no argument. ‘It’s my way of apologising for turning your life upside down in such a rush. Please use it.’

  Ruby realised it was useless to protest further so she snuggled into his embrace, her mind in a whirl of excitement that was tinged with fear, and a nub of resentment for being rushed into things. She was about to marry the man she adored, and set sail for a new life in a country where she’d be regarded as different, with her English ways and Cockney accent. She was sure Mike’s family were lovely people, but they were strangers to her and she’d be ignorant of how things were done over there. Would they like her? Would she like them – or more importantly, would Canada live up to the high expectations that had been instilled in her by Mike and his mother’s enthusiastic letters?

  She’d known this moment would come, but had expected time to make reasoned decisions about her wedding day, and to really prepare for the journey. The original plan had been for them to marry and Mike to leave shortly after for Canada, and she would follow him at a later date. But now it had all changed, and she suddenly felt adrift fr
om reality in an ocean of confusion.

  Ruby closed her eyes and listened to the drum of Mike’s steady heartbeat. She’d have to give in her notice at the tool factory first thing Monday morning and warn Ron and Rosie she wouldn’t be doing any more shifts. Cordelia would have to be told she’d be leaving the bungalow earlier than planned, and of course she had to tell Peggy and Stan about the wedding and not leave such important things entirely to Mike.

  She didn’t know how long she’d been lying against him, but she was getting stiff with cold and the street light had gone out. She became aware that Mike’s breathing had changed and realised that the long day of travelling, the beer and the excitement of this homecoming had finally taken its toll, and he’d fallen asleep.

  She inched away from him, drew his legs up so he was full length on the couch, eased off his shoes and put a cushion beneath his head. Covering him with the blanket she used on cold nights when the fire had gone out, she stood for a moment looking down at him, her heart full of love, the thrill of their imminent wedding and voyage across the Atlantic overriding her fear of the unknown.

  Softly kissing his forehead, she switched off the light and took the abandoned tray of tea and toast into the kitchen, then went to have a bath in the hope it would help her to sleep. However, the few inches of water were tepid and her over-active mind refused to let her relax, and when she finally climbed into bed, she lay there staring into the darkness wondering how on earth they could manage everything in such a short space of time.

  13

  It was Sunday morning and Peggy made no comment when a smiling Cissy came into the kitchen, kissed her fondly, made a fuss of Harvey and took over the cooking. Her daughter had clearly decided to mend her ways and Peggy was much relieved, for things had reached the point where a quiet ticking-off had definitely been on the cards.