‘Molly!’ As if by magic, she heard Johnny calling out to her as he rushed down the busy path, stopping to say hello to campers who called out to him.
She waited until he caught her up. ‘Did you want something, Johnny?’ she asked pleasantly.
‘Yes, look’ – he ran his hand through his hair distractedly – ‘I wanted to talk to you this morning, before that even, but my notes seem to have gone astray. I could have sworn I placed them in your cubbyhole in reception.’
‘Not to worry. You can tell me in person now you’re here.’ Molly was aware of the pieces of paper in her pocket, but no good would come of telling Johnny that Gloria had taken them and only just passed them on. The troublesome woman was best ignored. ‘Was it important? Would you like me to take on some more duties?’
‘No. I mean yes . . . It’s important, but nothing to do with work. I have a few hours free tomorrow and plan to go over to Spilsby to visit the airfield. I wondered if you would like a lift to visit your newly discovered aunt. We could meet for a meal later. That’s if you want to?’
Molly felt a thrill of excitement course through her. It wouldn’t hurt to go out with Johnny for the afternoon. It wasn’t as if they would be together, as he had business to deal with, and she could visit her mum’s younger sister. ‘I’m owed a few hours’ leave, but there is a small problem.’
‘I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t be overcome,’ Johnny said as he took her arm and guided her away from a family who were cycling towards them.
‘It’s just that I wrote to my aunt and I’ve not yet received a reply. Perhaps she doesn’t want to see me.’
Johnny considered her words for a few seconds before answering. ‘How about I wait to see if you are invited into the house before I leave? If she slams the door in your face, I can drop you in the town and you can visit the shops. I’ll cut short my meetings and get back to you earlier than planned. Perhaps we could meet in the teashop.’
‘Oh, please no. I wouldn’t wish you to miss your meetings on my account. If my aunt doesn’t wish to speak to me, I can make my own way back to Butlins. I’m sure a bus runs back to Skegness.’
Johnny could see that Molly was not going to change her mind and agreed to what she suggested. ‘All right, but I don’t see how anyone could slam the door in such a pretty face.’
Molly laughed. ‘Then you don’t know me very well, do you?’
‘I’m willing to learn,’ he said quietly.
Molly felt her cheeks start to burn. Plum was right: she did wear her heart on her sleeve. Perhaps she should act more like Gloria and toss her hair and lay claim to the man. She giggled as the thought crossed her mind.
‘Is something funny?’ Johnny asked with a frown.
‘No. Sorry – it was something a friend said to me earlier. It’s not important,’ she added as she noticed his frown. ‘I’m on duty at the fancy dress. Are you going my way?’
‘I most certainly am,’ he said, taking her arm. ‘I’m the compère for the event.’
‘Can I ask you something?’ Molly said as they reached the busy entrance to the ballroom, where the fancy-dress parade was taking place.
‘Ask away.’
‘It’s just that I helped a family with their daughter’s fancy-dress outfit. Was it the right thing to do? I hope I haven’t given her an unfair advantage.’
It was Johnny’s turn to laugh. ‘I’ve no doubt that many redcoats have been helping the children. I was called in to advise on a rather nifty Spitfire costume.’
‘You mean the child is going to enter dressed as a plane?’ Molly said in astonishment.
Johnny opened the door and they headed towards their colleagues. ‘You’d be surprised how inventive the families can be. The children’s fancy dress is one of the most hotly contested competitions of the week. How have you missed it for so long?’
‘It’s usually been my afternoon off, but I’ll make sure not to miss it in future.’ She laughed as Johnny took the microphone and got the proceedings under way.
‘That was so much fun,’ Molly said as she joined Plum and Bunty at the bar of the Pig and Whistle Inn. She had to keep refusing drinks from the holidaymakers as she made her way across the pub or she’d have been drunk within the hour.
‘I spotted you with the heart-throb earlier,’ Plum said as she handed Molly her drink and then sipped her half-pint of brown ale. ‘Are things back on?’
Molly nodded. ‘He’s taking me to visit my aunt tomorrow. That is, he’s dropping me off at her house.’
‘What about Gloria? You don’t want to be treading on her toes,’ Bunty said, checking her watch. ‘We’d better hurry – the show is starting soon at the Butlins Theatre and we are supposed to be there mingling with the campers and helping people to their seats.’
Molly finished her shandy and placed her glass on the bar. ‘I do believe she’s been making up the story about her and Johnny being a couple. However, to be on the safe side, I don’t intend to become romantically involved. Hurry up, you two, or we’ll not get a seat, let alone help the campers.’
As Bunty and Plum followed Molly through the busy throng, they raised their eyebrows at each other. They did not believe for one moment that Molly wasn’t already in love with Johnny Johnson.
‘I’m sorry the weather isn’t so good,’ Johnny said as he helped Molly into his car.
‘It’s not your fault it’s raining, Johnny. At least the campers are happy with the indoor competitions,’ Molly said, removing her headscarf and checking her face in the small powder compact she took from her handbag. She watched as he took a cloth from the glove compartment and wiped the car windscreen. Dark hair, dampened by the light rain, flopped over his forehead as he worked at his task. He looked up and grinned at her, brushing his hair back into place with one hand. Even with tousled hair and more than a little wet, he looked as handsome as he had when Molly had watched him on the cinema screen at the Odeon back home in Erith.
‘Right, I think we’re ready to go,’ he said, climbing back into the vehicle and starting the engine. ‘Did you hear from your aunt?’
‘No. I had hoped a letter would come today. I checked again just before I headed over to meet you. I do hope she will see me.’
‘I’m sure she will. Perhaps it’s been a shock and she needed time to think,’ he said, driving carefully out of the camp, careful to avoid a group of cyclists, all of whom were wrapped up in wet-weather clothing and pedalling frantically against the rain, which was beginning to fall more heavily. He steered his car towards a road signposted to Spilsby.
‘I suppose it has. I never imagined after Mum and Dad died and I became an orphan that I’d discover a family, even if some of them are not very pleasant,’ she added as an afterthought, thinking of Harriet and Simon.
‘Which family are these?’ Johnny asked. ‘I was under the impression you hadn’t met any yet.’
‘Two of Dad’s cousins arrived earlier this year. I had no idea they existed, let alone that Dad had left the house to them. That’s why I came to Butlins – to keep out of Simon’s way until the will was sorted out. It became unbearable to live under the same roof, even though I’d lived in that house all my life.’
Johnny was thoughtful for a while as he negotiated the narrow country lanes. ‘Would you like to tell me about it? I’m a good listener.’
‘I’ve nothing to hide from my friends. Plum and Bunty know all about my problem, as do George, Kath and Freda, who are coming to the camp for a holiday. They are almost like family. I don’t know what I’d have done without them after the accident.’
Johnny reached across and squeezed Molly’s hand. ‘I like to think we are friends, more than friends, so please start at the beginning and tell me everything.’
The journey passed quickly as Molly told Johnny of her life in Erith and all that had happened before she arrived at the holiday camp.
‘That’s why I was so nervous at the interview in London. I didn’t intentionally mean to s
pill tea over you or step on your foot. I’m sorry,’ she said, trying not to smile at the memory.
Johnny burst out laughing. ‘Or drown that poor woman I shared a taxi with.’
‘She wasn’t your . . . your—’
‘No, she wasn’t my . . . my . . . so get that idea out of your sweet head. Being who I am means that sometimes I have to escort people and be seen in public at certain events. It doesn’t mean I like doing it. It’s part of the job, and that’s why I want to change my life.’
Molly felt her heart thump in her chest. ‘You do?’
‘Yes, but you will always be a part of my life, if you wish to be.’
‘What about Gloria?’ The words burst out before Molly could stop them.
‘Gloria? There’s nothing going on between Gloria and me. I gave her a lift to London recently. Why? Has she been upsetting you?’
‘She may have said something, but I’m not upset,’ Molly said shyly. Suddenly Gloria and her awful words were a million miles away. She was here with Johnny and that’s all that mattered.
‘Forget Gloria. Listen, I’d like to help with your family problem, but now isn’t the time,’ he said as he parked his car across the road from Molly’s aunt’s house. ‘The sun has come out, and over there are family members you’ve never met. I’ll wait here until I see you are invited into the house. I’ll come back at five to collect you and we can dine somewhere quiet and catch up on each other’s lives.’
Molly leaned over and kissed Johnny’s cheek. ‘I’d like that very much.’
17
Molly turned back to see Johnny still sitting in his car watching her. He raised a hand and waved encouragement as she knocked on the door of the small cottage. It seemed an age before she heard footsteps approach and the door open. She was faced with a younger version of her mum. The shock caused Molly to lose the power of speech as she stared back at what was surely her aunt Sally. The woman, wiping her hands on a tea towel, in turn looked shocked at seeing Molly on her doorstep.
‘Well, bless my soul. You’ve got the look of the Kenyons, that’s no mistake. You must be Molly.’
Molly could only nod in agreement.
‘Come along inside. It looks as though we’re about to have another shower of rain. I had a feeling you’d be on my doorstep before too long.’
Molly was just able to wave to Johnny as her aunt ushered her inside.
‘Sit yourself down, Molly, and I’ll put the kettle on. You’re probably wondering why I never replied to your letter. We’ve been all of a tizzy here, what with my two having the measles. Joe’s working all hours on the farm now the land girls have left, and I’ve just not had time to get into the village and post my reply to your letter.’ She walked over to a dresser that filled one wall of the kitchen and reached up for an envelope. ‘Here you are. Read that while I make us a brew.’
Molly realized she’d not spoken a word since knocking on her aunt’s door. ‘Gosh,’ was all she could think to say, as her aunt burst out laughing and Molly joined in. ‘I thought you didn’t want to know me. I just had this mad idea to knock on your door and find out once and for all,’ she said to her aunt.
‘Why ever would you think that, my love? I’ve waited years to hear from Charlotte and Norman, and to have their daughter turn up out of the blue is wonderful,’ she said as she poured boiling water into a brown earthenware teapot. ‘Receiving your letter and knowing you are working not far away was the answer to my dreams,’ she added, pulling a knitted tea cosy over the pot and settling herself across the table from her niece.
‘You have a very nice home,’ Molly said as she admired the crockery on the dresser and the pretty gingham curtains hanging at the leaded windows.
‘We make do. The cottage comes with the job. Perhaps in time my Joe will have his own farm, but for now we are content.’ She poured tea into two pretty cups and passed one to Molly. ‘By rights this tea set and the china on the dresser should be Charlotte’s, but it was passed to me after Mother died.’ A wistful look appeared on her face. ‘If only we’d had Charlotte here at the time, but no one knew where she was,’ she added, looking sad. ‘I was only seven when she ran away with Norman. I was the surprise baby that Mother never expected. I remember how she would take me to Brownie meetings, where she helped out. In fact, my most vivid memories are of her teaching me the Brownie Promise and the Brownie games. Your dad, Norman, would take me for a drive in his car when he was courting Charlotte. It was such fun for a little girl stuck on a farm with no young friends nearby.’
‘I have the same memories. Mum was Brown Owl and also ran the Girl Guides where we live. So many people have the same memories that you have,’ Molly said. It felt strange to meet someone who had known her mum so many years ago.
‘Whatever happened for them to disappear out of my life I’ll never know. Mother and Father never mentioned Charlotte again. Even at Mother’s funeral, when my sister’s name was mentioned, Father just turned his back and refused to speak about her. His face looked like thunder when someone mentioned Norman. If only they’d kept in touch . . .’ she said again.
‘But they tried . . .’ Molly said. ‘At least, Mum did.’ She reached for her handbag, in which she had the papers that had led to her finding her aunt. ‘I found them recently, after . . .’ Molly faltered. How did you explain to someone that a sister they’d not seen for many years, and had hoped to see again one day, had died at too young an age?
‘Has something happened, Molly?’ Sally asked gently.
‘Mum and Dad died in a car accident almost a year ago,’ she said, knowing of no easier way to break the sad news.
‘Oh my,’ Sally said, placing the teapot back on the table with a thud, causing the pretty cups to rattle and tea to slop into the saucers. ‘That wasn’t what I expected to hear, and that’s no mistake. There was me thinking I would be seeing my sister again before too long, after I heard from you.’ She pulled a handkerchief from the cuff of her cardigan and dabbed her eyes, tears threatening to start.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t want to upset you,’ Molly said, distressed at upsetting her new-found aunt. ‘If there had been any other way of telling you . . .’
Sally left her seat and went to Molly, then hugged her tightly. Both women wept. Molly felt as though it was her mum hugging her. She could smell baked cakes and the faint aroma of lavender water and soap. For a moment, she felt she was with her mum once more. She prayed her mum was happy that her daughter had found her young sister.
When the tears subsided and they’d wiped their eyes, Sally checked the tea. ‘It’s stone cold. I think we need something stronger, don’t you?’ She went to the dresser and took a bottle of sherry from one of the cupboards. ‘This’ll do nicely.’ Pouring a generous amount into each of two small glasses, she handed one to Molly. ‘To Charlotte and Norman, God bless them.’
Molly raised her glass. ‘Mum and Dad,’ she whispered, praying she wouldn’t start to cry again. She must be brave and think of the future now she’d found her family. She hoped her mum would have approved.
A clatter from the staircase announced the arrival of Sally’s two daughters. ‘Come into the kitchen, girls. I have a surprise for you.’
Two little girls entered the room and shyly stood by their mother when they spotted Molly. ‘This is your cousin Molly. Doesn’t she look like your nana Kenyon?’ Sally said. ‘Molly, these are my twins, Avril and Annie. Say hello to your cousin, twinnies.’
The two girls stepped forward. Avril shook hands politely, and Annie curtsied before they both burst into giggles.
‘Oh my, I feel like Princess Elizabeth. No one has ever curtsied to me before. Can I tell you a secret?’ Molly smiled at the two girls.
‘Yes, please,’ Annie said as they both crept nearer.
Molly leaned close to their heads and whispered, ‘I’ve never had a cousin before. Now I have two.’
Both girls’ eyes grew wide as they thought about what Molly had told them.
&nb
sp; ‘We look like each other,’ Avril said. ‘But your hair is darker than ours.’
‘Daddy calls us his blonde bombshells. Mummy’s is mousey.’
Sally laughed loudly. ‘Out of the mouths of babes.’
‘I wouldn’t say you are mousey,’ Molly said, looking at her aunt. ‘It’s just like my mum’s. Light brown.’
‘Is your mummy here?’ one of the girls asked. Molly was having trouble working out which child was Avril and which was Annie.
‘She’s gone to heaven. Perhaps Molly has a photograph she could show you sometime?’
‘I have one here,’ Molly said, delving into her bag, ‘It’s one of when Mum married Dad.’
Sally and her daughters huddled close as they looked at the photograph.
‘Were you a bridesmaid?’ Annie asked.
Sally and Molly grinned at each other. ‘Molly wasn’t even born then, my love. They are rather interested in bridesmaids and weddings, as Dan’s brother is getting married in August and both girls are to be bridesmaids. They talk of nothing else.’
‘Our dresses will be older kneel, and we are going to be carrying flowers,’ Annie announced.
Avril sighed. ‘It’s “eau de Nil”. That’s green,’ she added knowingly to Molly. ‘Will you come to the wedding and watch us be bridesmaids?’
Molly was flustered. ‘I’m not sure. It’s usual to be invited to weddings, and the bride and groom don’t even know me.’ She looked to Sally for help.
Sally shrugged her shoulders. ‘It’s not a posh affair. We will be having the wedding breakfast here. If the rain holds off, we will use the barn and garden so we can spread out. You will be very welcome to join us, I’m sure. After all, you are family.’ Sally’s eyes were drawn to the photograph she was now holding. ‘Your dad was very handsome.’
The Butlins Girls Page 22