Victory for the East End Angels

by Rosie Hendry

  ‘I am, but it took a shock like this to make me realise that I do want this baby, very much. I will do everything I can to protect it and keep it safe.’

  ‘Even leave Station 75?’ The boss raised her eyebrows.

  ‘Even that.’ Winnie sighed. ‘It’s all right, you don’t need to sack me, I’ll go quietly, obey the rules.’

  Station Officer Steele began to laugh.

  ‘What’s so funny?’

  ‘I never thought I’d hear you say that . . . ’ The older woman paused. ‘I must admit you shocked and disappointed me this morning. I didn’t know whether to be angry or sad that you hid your condition from me; you’ve put not only your own life at risk going out on calls but also the life of your unborn child. I can’t think what Mac was doing, letting you stay working here. He knows what it’s like and with the doodlebugs and then the V2s targeting London, it’s been hellish at times.’

  Winnie bit her bottom lip. ‘Mac doesn’t know I’m expecting. I haven’t told him because I knew he’d tell me to leave.’

  Station Officer Steele looked astonished. ‘You haven’t told your husband that he’s going to be a father? I can’t believe you’d do that! He has every right to know.’

  Winnie looked away from the boss’s gaze. ‘I know, but it’s only because I wanted to keep working at Station 75. And I have been extra careful . . . until this morning, and it was only because I was in such a rush.’

  ‘Who have you told besides Frankie and Bella?’

  ‘Rose knows and my godmother, Connie, but they promised not to say anything.’

  ‘So, you haven’t told your parents either?’

  ‘No, definitely not.’

  The boss considered for a few moments. ‘I know how much working at Station 75 means to you and understand why you want to stay. The war will be over soon and you’ve played a huge role at Station 75 so it would be a shame to have to go so close to the end.’ She paused. ‘I shouldn’t do this as it’s going against all regulations but . . . I’m prepared to let you stay, as things are quiet and there isn’t the same danger as before, but it’s only on these conditions, and these are strictly unbendable and non-negotiable. If you aren’t prepared to stick to them exactly, then I’ll have no option but to ask you to leave.’

  Winnie nodded, biting her bottom lip to stem the tears that were threatening to spill over.

  ‘Firstly, you are to tell Mac that he is to be a father and explain why you haven’t done it before; and secondly, I think you should tell your parents. I appreciate that you haven’t always seen eye to eye with them, especially your mother, but I think with Mac being away you might need their support.’

  Winnie couldn’t help pulling a face. Telling Mac she agreed with, but telling her parents would be like opening up a can of worms. They would want to interfere and that was exactly why she hadn’t told them already. ‘But I’ve got Connie!’

  ‘Even so, I think it’s a good idea. You can never be sure how things will go, and you may be glad of their help . . . and it is their grandchild you are expecting, don’t forget that.’ The boss waited for a moment to let that sink in before continuing. ‘Lastly, if you are to stay at Station 75 then you must only do the lightest of duties: no call-outs, no cleaning ambulances, understand? If you can’t agree to all of those then you can leave now.’

  Winnie sighed. There was no way out of this, it was either do exactly as Station Officer Steele said or go now, leaving Station 75 and the job she loved. There was no way of wriggling out of any of the conditions, especially the one that irked the most.

  ‘All right then, yes, I promise I’ll do what you ask. Even tell my parents, though what sort of maelstrom that will unleash I dread to think, but if that’s what I’ve got to do to stay at Station 75 . . . then I will.’ Winnie stopped as a dam holding back tears burst and she began to cry, taking the neatly ironed handkerchief the boss handed her to wipe her eyes. ‘Thank you, I appreciate you bending the rules for me.’

  ‘A bit more than bending in this case, more like snapping them in half.’ The boss smiled warmly at her. ‘I think in this case it’s worth it.’

  ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this for me.’

  The boss laughed. ‘You’ve told me enough times that rules are there to be broken. I’m sticking my neck out for you, so don’t let me down.’

  ‘I won’t, I promise.’

  ‘Good.’ Station Officer Steele patted her arm. ‘I’m glad you’ve seen sense. You can start with that first condition right away. After we get you home, you can write to Mac and your parents to let them know and make sure you rest for twenty-four hours as the doctor ordered. You haven’t got any other surprises for me, have you?’

  ‘No.’ Winnie rested her hand on her belly. ‘This one’s big enough, there aren’t any more, I promise you.’

  Chapter 57

  Bella was in the library of Connie’s house, working on a story, when the insistent ringing of the front doorbell pulled her out of her imaginary world. Sighing, she put down her pen and went to answer it, hoping that whoever was there wouldn’t ring again in case they woke up Winnie who’d gone upstairs for a nap, her advancing pregnancy making her more tired. On days when she wasn’t on duty at Station 75, Winnie usually disappeared off to her room for a sleep in the afternoon. Connie was out working at the Red Cross relatives’ parcel packing centre so unless it was someone who wanted to see her, Bella thought, whoever it was would be disappointed.

  Before Bella got to the library door leading out to the hallway, the doorbell rang again, whoever was there pressing down on it three times as if in irritation that their first ring had gone unanswered – their impatience made her cross. Stepping out into the hallway where she could see a figure shadowed through the glass panes of the front door, Bella’s stomach suddenly sank. Unless she was very much mistaken, the visitor was Cynthia Churchill, Winnie’s mother and the last person that her friend, or she, wanted to see. Bella hadn’t forgotten how the stuck-up woman had treated her before in this very hallway, telling her that, being a former housemaid, she wasn’t suitable for her son, James, or the sort of person who was socially acceptable. The memory stoked the flame of anger that was burning inside her and, as Bella approached the door, she was in no mood to put up with any of Cynthia Churchill’s nonsense.

  Taking a deep breath and steeling herself for battle, she opened the door.

  A look of displeasure settled on the older woman’s face; she’d clearly been expecting Winnie or Connie. ‘I’ve come to see my daughter.’ She went to step inside, but Bella swiftly moved in front of her, blocking her entrance, and closed the door towards her, narrowing the gap so that she couldn’t get in.

  ‘She’s not here,’ Bella lied. ‘She’s had to go into work.’

  ‘Then I’ll just have to wait for her then.’ Again, the woman stepped forwards, trying to intimidate Bella so that she’d let her in, the smell of her Chanel No. 5 perfume irritating Bella’s nose.

  Bella held out her hand to stop her. ‘There’s no point, she’s on a twenty-four-hour shift, so won’t be back till tomorrow. You could always go and see her, it’s down in the East End, you should be all right there if you’re careful.’ Bella played on the fact that Cynthia Churchill was such a snob that she’d never venture to the East End of London, preferring to stick to the wealthier areas around the West End.

  ‘No, I haven’t time to go all the way down there, I have a train back to Oxford to catch.’ Winnie’s mother paused, her immaculately powdered forehead creasing in a frown. ‘You can give her a message for me: tell my daughter that I’ve arranged for her to have the baby in a maternity home in Oxford where she will receive the best care.’

  ‘Is that what Winnie wants?’ Bella asked, knowing full well that her friend would hate the idea and was planning on having the baby here in London. It was typical of Cynthia Churchill to try and take over and ignore anything that Winnie wanted, steamrollering her beliefs and decisions over her daughter’s. Bella kn
ew that her friend would refuse to do as her mother wanted, but it would still annoy Winnie that her mother was trying to push things onto her when she should be keeping as calm as she could. After all the battles that Winnie had had with her mother, the woman still tried to dominate her – would she never accept that Winnie would only do what she herself wanted?

  ‘It’s the best place. I only want the best for my daughter and grandchild,’ Cynthia Churchill said, smoothly.

  ‘But it might not be what I think is best for me!’ Winnie’s voice called out across the hall.

  Bella turned around in surprise as her friend strode across the black and white tiled floor of the hall towards them, dressed in her blue silk dressing gown, her blonde hair tousled from sleep. ‘Winnie, did the doorbell wake you?’

  With Bella’s attention on Winnie, Cynthia took the opportunity to slip inside like an unwanted door-to-door salesman, making Trixie, who was close by her mistress’s side, growl, baring her teeth.

  ‘It’s all right, Trix.’ Winnie patted the little dog’s head. ‘What do you want, Mother?’

  ‘That is not the way I expect to be greeted by my daughter, Margot!’ Cynthia snapped. ‘I’ve come to speak to you about the arrangements I’ve made for your confinement.’ Her eyes rested briefly on Winnie’s rounded belly which was accentuated by the shimmering smooth silk. ‘Perhaps your . . . friend here could go and make us some tea while we talk.’

  ‘No. Bella’s going nowhere. What you have to say you can say now and be quick because I need to go back to sleep.’ Winnie folded her arms.

  Bella had to bite on her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling at the look on the older woman’s face. She wasn’t happy but had the sense to pick up on the hostile mood which was coming off Winnie in waves – she wasn’t happy at being woken up by her mother’s arrival.

  ‘Let’s go into the drawing room and sit down, shall we?’ Cynthia started to move across the hall.

  ‘No need, I have already decided where I’m going to have my baby,’ Winnie said. ‘Right here in London where I live.’

  Cynthia’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’m your mother, Margot. I really do know best about these things. The maternity home I’ve booked you into in Oxford is excellent, comes highly recommended. Then you can come and stay with your father and me. We’ll hire a nanny to look after the baby.’

  ‘Absolutely not!’ Winnie’s face reddened with anger. ‘I’m going to look after my child, I’m not going to palm it off on a nanny like you did to us. And I will be living here till Mac comes home and we can get a home of our own together.’

  ‘Well, really!’ Cynthia sniffed. ‘I don’t know what your father is going to say about this.’

  ‘I don’t suppose Father’s really bothered about where I have my baby, or live. He was never very interested in any of his own children when we were small, and not that much now either. You didn’t interfere with Harry and Meredith when they had their son.’

  ‘Well, they live a long way away, and are not so easy to help.’ Cynthia smoothed her carefully styled hair.

  ‘More like Harry would have told you to mind your own business if you did. He and Meredith knew what they wanted and so do I. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get some sleep. Goodbye, Mother.’ Not waiting for a reply, Winnie turned around and winked at Bella before going back upstairs.

  ‘Shall I show you out?’ Bella asked.

  Cynthia glared at her.

  ‘No, I know the way.’

  ‘“No, thank you”, I think you mean,’ Bella couldn’t help herself from saying, looking the older woman directly in her cold, pale-blue eyes. ‘I was brought up to have good manners.’

  Cynthia’s face flushed and, without saying another word, she hurried across the hall and out the front door, slamming it loudly behind her and making the panes of glass in it shake.

  ‘Bravo, Bella!’ Winnie called from the dogleg corner of the stairs where she stood peering down at her.

  Bella went to the foot of the stairs. ‘I’m sorry she woke you up.’

  ‘It’s not your fault. You know, I’m rather glad she came and I’ve had my say. It’s been long overdue. It’s about time she finally accepted that I know my own mind. I thought something like this might happen after the boss made me write and tell them I was expecting.’ She sighed. ‘That’s precisely why I didn’t want to tell them before, or I’d have had months of being told to do this and that. The idea of my child being brought up by a nanny instead of me is horrible. It made my blood boil.’

  ‘I think she got the message you didn’t want that. You were fearsome, Winnie.’

  Her friend laughed. ‘I’ve never been so rude to her before . . . I rather enjoyed it.’

  ‘So, you’re not going to the best place in Oxford to have your baby, then?’ Bella asked, fighting to keep a smile off her face. ‘Not even tempted just a little bit?’

  ‘What do you think?’

  Bella laughed. ‘Absolutely not!’

  ‘Exactly.’ She put her hand on her swollen belly. ‘This baby is going to be born here in London, where I live. The maternity hospitals here are perfectly fine and my mother won’t be on hand to interfere.’ She suddenly frowned. ‘I’ve never known you tell a lie before, Bella, telling her I was at work. I heard you when I was coming downstairs.’

  ‘Needs must, as they say. I didn’t want her coming in to wait. I thought if I pretended you were at work and not back until tomorrow that would stop her waiting for you. It was a bit of a gamble in case she decided to go to Station 75 but playing up its East End location did the trick – she didn’t like that.’

  ‘I nearly burst out laughing when you said that, but I thought it was best to face her or she’d only have come back another time.’

  Bella glanced at her watch. ‘You’d better go and get some sleep. Remember we’re meeting Frankie and Rose at the pictures tonight, you don’t want to be falling asleep during the film.’

  ‘I’m bound to if I don’t have a proper nap. Thank you again for fending her off, you’re my gallant knight against the terrible dragon.’

  Bella bowed. ‘At your service, my lady. Now go and get some sleep.’

  Chapter 58

  ‘Hurry along now, the film’s about to start,’ the woman in the ticket office said as she handed out the tickets. Frankie, Rose and Rose’s American cousin, John, hurried inside to meet Winnie and Bella who were already there waiting for them as arranged.

  ‘Sorry, the bus was late,’ Frankie said. ‘I hope you don’t mind some company. This is Rose’s cousin John, he’s in London on a forty-eight-hour pass. I invited him to join us.’

  ‘Glad to meet you,’ John said, shaking first Bella’s and then Winnie’s hand. ‘I hope you don’t mind me tagging along with you guys.’

  ‘Not at all,’ Winnie said. ‘We’ve heard lots about you from Rose, so it’s lovely to meet you. Are you staying at the Eagle Club?’

  ‘Come on, you can talk about that later,’ Frankie said. ‘We’d better go in or they’ll start without us.’

  Inside the picture house auditorium, the lights had already gone down and the beam from the projector shone out through the darkness, dancing with thick cigarette smoke, onto the screen at the front.

  ‘There’s five seats ’ere.’ The usherette shone her torch at the end of a row halfway down and they quickly sat, aware that the Pathé newsreel was about to start.

  Frankie always liked the newsreels; she, like many people who came to the pictures, was glad to see what was going on in the war both at home and in distant lands. Hearing about it on the wireless or reading in the newspaper wasn’t nearly as good as actually seeing it on film where you could take in the tiny details that were overlooked in print or the spoken news on the BBC. And then after that there would be the film. Today’s was The Keys of the Kingdom, starring Gregory Peck, which sounded like it should be very entertaining and a world away from wartime London.

  As the familiar Pathé News opening title began, sh
e settled back in her seat and watched the image of British troops marching along a dusty track somewhere in Germany with a tank moving in the background. Then the scene switched to a camp, one of the concentration camps that she’d read about in the newspaper. She sensed Rose, who was sitting beside her, suddenly stiffen and reached out and grabbed her friend’s hand as shocking images played out before them. Stick-thin people dressed in what looked like striped pyjamas, their heads shaven, eyes huge in their gaunt faces, cheekbones jutting out. The people shuffled around or sat on the ground, too weak to move. Even worse were the images of piles of corpses, many of them naked, their pale bodies emaciated with their bones showing under their skin.

  She heard Rose gasp and, glancing at her, could see the light from the screen illuminating the tears running down her cheeks. She wasn’t the only one crying, others were doing it but more loudly. The atmosphere of the auditorium had changed as everyone stared at the incomprehensible cruelty before them. Frankie felt sick but couldn’t tear her eyes away from the screen – these people had been treated worse than animals, starved, humiliated, left where they’d dropped dead. How could people treat others so horrifically? What sort of person could do this to another? Silent tears rolled down Frankie’s cheeks.

  ‘Do it to them . . . bastards!’ a man’s voice shouted out.

  ‘Kill the bastard Nazis!’ another called out.

  Their sentiment was echoed by others, who shouted their thoughts at the screen, wanting to vent the feelings the images were arousing in them.

  As the Pathé News reel came to an end, Rose got up. ‘I need to get out.’

  Frankie grabbed hold of her hand and together they stumbled out towards the doorway. She was glad to leave too as she couldn’t sit and watch some flighty Hollywood film after seeing what had happened to those poor people in that camp in real life.