‘That’s a shame. We like them, they’re fun.’
‘We all like them, Andrew.’ Jane smiled at both of her sons. ‘But they’ll still be here for a while yet, I expect.’
The boys nodded and went back to eating. Hanna watched their faces and realized that they were used to people coming for a while and then leaving. All their lives their father had arrived home for a few days, and then left again. Whereas other young children might be upset, they accepted this as normal.
Later that evening when Hanna was alone in the kitchen writing her letters to Alan, Jack and Bob’s parents in America, Sam Harcourt came in and sat at the table with her.
‘Am I disturbing you?’
‘Not at all.’ She put down her pen.
‘How’s Jack?’
‘He’s doing fine. I understand that they’re not losing quite so many ships now.’
‘We’ve been sinking quite a few U-boats and they no longer have it all their own way. But they are still at risk, though not as much as before, and that’s an improvement.’ The captain studied Hanna. ‘At least you have the comfort of knowing that your brother won’t be involved in the invasion, when it comes.’
‘Yes, but I expect Alan will, and the Americans we’ve got to know.’ Hanna took a deep breath before saying, ‘I know you’ll think this is a daft question, but what are the chances that the invasion will be successful and bring an end to the war?’
He was silent for a while, and then looked up. ‘It will be a success because it has to be. We can’t have another Dunkirk, Hanna. But that won’t happen again because this time we’re not facing this alone. I don’t believe for one moment it’s going to be easy, but we will succeed.’ Then he stood up. ‘I’ve disturbed you long enough. Remember me to Jack when you write to him.’
‘I will.’
He paused at the door. ‘I know you must be feeling unsettled now the boys are older and Jane is talking about returning to London, but I would appreciate it if you stayed at the farm for the time being. It’s a great comfort to know you are here with my family, and have been through this long conflict.’ When she nodded, he smiled and said, ‘Thank you. Goodnight, Hanna.’
Her smile turned to a frown as the door closed behind him. He obviously knew what was coming, and that it was going to be a hard fight for all concerned.
Hanna had never been a regular churchgoer, but the boys said their prayers every night before going to sleep, and from now on she would pray for a rapid end to this terrible war, and the safety of all those dear to them.
The next morning Hanna was walking across the yard on her way to the garden, when a car drew up outside the house.
‘Hello, Hanna!’ Rose called, as soon as she stepped out of the car. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m fine, thank you, Mrs Freeman.’ She waited while a man also got out of the car and began to walk towards her. Her breath caught in her throat. Bill Freeman had been impressive enough the first time she had seen him, but towering over her in his officer’s uniform he was something else.
‘How is your brother?’ he asked in his quiet way.
‘Very well, sir. And thank you so much for bringing him home after his ship had been sunk.’
He merely inclined his head in acknowledgement. ‘Is he at sea now?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘I believe I asked you to call me Bill.’
She couldn’t do that! She heard Rose laugh at the look of horror there must be on her face.
‘Bill,’ Rose admonished, ‘stop teasing Hanna. You’ll frighten her.’
‘Me? I couldn’t frighten anyone. I’ve never frightened you.’ There was a look of pure devilment in his eyes.
‘Ah well, I’m different. I can just imagine you on that ship. You never raise your voice, but I’ll bet the crew trip over themselves to carry out your orders.’
A slight smile crossed his face as he looked at Hanna. ‘Don’t take any notice of what Rose says. Everyone runs for cover when they see her coming. She’d have my crew jumping overboard to get away from her.’
Hanna couldn’t help laughing at the teasing going on between them. They obviously cared for and respected each other a great deal.
‘Rose, Bill!’ Jane rushed out of the house with her husband. ‘What a lovely surprise! Did you bring Kate with you?’
‘No, she’s with her grandfather in Wales. This is just a flying visit.’
‘But you must stay for lunch,’ Jane insisted. ‘You can’t come all this way, say hello, and then disappear again.’
After kissing Rose on the cheek, Sam Harcourt shook Bill’s hand, smiling broadly with pleasure. ‘It’s good to see you.’
‘And you, Sam. Have you got a decent pub in the village?’
‘Of course. What time is lunch, Jane?’ he asked his wife.
‘One o’clock.’
‘Make it two. Come on, Bill, let’s leave the women to it.’
Before walking away, Bill smiled at Hanna. ‘Remember me to Jack when you see him again.’
‘I will, s—’ The look on his face stopped her, and she shook with laughter. ‘I will, Bill.’
‘Thank you. That wasn’t so hard, was it?’
She shook her head and watched the two impressive men walk out of the gate. Jane and Rose had already gone back into the house, so Hanna made her way to the garden, still laughing to herself.
Twenty-Eight
‘Ah, there you are.’ George walked into the storage shed, shaking the rain out of his thinning hair. ‘I’ve just been told that troops are moving out. The roads are full of lorries and tanks, so it looks as if the big push might be on.’
Hanna looked through the open door at the lashing rain, and her insides tightened. ‘But the weather is terrible. Surely they can’t cross the Channel in this?’
‘Perhaps not, but I expect they want to be ready to move as soon as it clears. It will take some time to get everyone in place. The Americans left yesterday evidently.’
‘Oh, and we never got a chance to wish them well.’ Hanna shook her head sadly. ‘I must write a long, cheerful letter to Bob’s parents because they’ll be worried when they hear the news.’
‘They’ll appreciate that, but no mention of this. It’s got to be kept a secret, if that is at all possible.’ George patted Hanna’s shoulder. ‘This had to come, and the sooner it starts the better. If all goes well this war could be over by Christmas. At least you know Jack won’t be involved.’
‘I’m relieved about that, of course, but Alan will be and so will many others we know as well.’
George nodded. ‘Mildred was making an apple pie so let’s go and see if we can cadge a piece, and then we’ll see if there is anything on the news. Though I doubt it. Until we actually land in France I don’t think there will even be a whisper from official sources. They won’t want the Germans to know we’re coming, though how an operation of this size can be kept a secret is a mystery to me. Come on, I’m hungry and gasping for a cuppa.’
That brought a smile to Hanna’s face. ‘Tea, the cure for all ills.’
‘Don’t mock it,’ George grinned. ‘There’s a lot of truth in these old wives’ tales.’
It was nearly a week later before they heard that the landings had taken place on 6 June, and that troops were already moving into France. While that news brought a feeling of hope, there was also anxiety for those taking part.
They all listened intently to the news every evening and Hanna kept herself busy on the farm, and spent time with the boys when they wanted her to. They were so insistent on doing everything for themselves now, so she wasn’t needed quite so much, but there was enough work to keep her busy around the farm. Pat and Jean were also concerned about their husbands, and Hanna spent a couple of evenings a week playing cards with them. It helped them all to take their minds off the war for a short time, and she always had a good laugh with the two women from London.
A week after the landings they were all dismayed to hear that flying bom
bs were falling on London, making George swear. ‘He’s going to have one last go at us, isn’t he!’
‘I’m afraid so.’ Jane sat back, a look of disgust on her face. ‘I was thinking of going back to London, but I can’t now. Sam was right to urge me to stay here a while longer.’
The boys smiled at each other, and Hanna thought that at least someone was happy about it. She could understand Jane wanting to go back to her home and friends, but the boys were settled in school, had made lots of friends, and really enjoyed living on the farm. It would be hard to uproot them now.
While they were discussing the new threat, the kitchen door opened and Jack walked in. As usual the boys reached him before Hanna could. When she finally managed to give him a welcome hug, she asked, ‘Isn’t Greg with you?’
‘Not this time.’
‘Sit down, Jack.’ Mildred always made a fuss of him whenever he appeared. ‘You must be hungry.’
‘How did you guess?’ He grinned.
It had been some months since she had seen her brother, and she studied him carefully, rather shocked by what she saw. The young boy she had watched sail away that first time no longer existed. He would be twenty-one in November, and the person sitting at the table was a man who had seen terrible things, and suffered a great deal of hardship. But it had moulded him into the brother she loved and had the greatest admiration for. How proud their parents would have been of him.
‘Don’t look so sad, Hanna,’ Jack told her. ‘The war could be over in a few months, and then Alan will be home for good and you can get married.’
‘I’m not sad. I was just thinking.’
‘About what?’
‘Oh, all sorts of things. How long will you be home for?’ she asked, changing the subject.
‘A whole week this time.’
‘Wonderful!’ Hanna smiled. ‘They’ve got a dance at the village hall tomorrow night. How about being my partner? We’re short of men now the Americans have left, and you’ll be in big demand.’
Jack tipped his head back and laughed. ‘I’ll be all right as long as they keep playing a waltz. I haven’t progressed beyond that.’
‘Now is your chance to learn.’ She gave him a teasing smile. ‘There are some pretty girls in the village, and they’ll be queuing up to be with you. You wait until you see Pat and Jean jive. They’re really good.’
‘I’ll look forward to it.’ He sniffed appreciatively at the shepherd’s pie Mildred placed in front of him. ‘That smells delicious, and it’s just what I need.’
The boys waited patiently while he finished his meal, gazing over at his bag in the corner of the room from time to time. Jack winked at Hanna once, fully aware of the twins’ eagerness to look in his bag, but knowing they mustn’t until Jack said they could. Her brother was building up their excitement by making them wait.
When he had finished eating and had a cup of tea in front of him, he nodded to the twins. ‘You’d better see what you can find, hadn’t you?’
Scrambling off their chairs they pounced on the bag, experts now at getting it open. As usual there were two packets in there, and they sat on the floor to open them, gasping with delight at the beautiful trains each of them held.
‘Wow!’ Two faces turned towards him wreathed in identical smiles. ‘Thank you. They’re wonderful!’
‘I’ll bring you a piece each time I go to America until you have a full set.’
‘Jack.’ Jane sighed. ‘You really are too good to the boys.’
‘I know you’ve told me often enough not to bring them presents, but it gives them such pleasure, and I love to see their expressions. We didn’t have much at the orphanage, and although Hanna was wonderful and did everything she could to see I had as happy a childhood as possible, we never had much to smile about.’ He cast Hanna an affectionate glance. ‘And I don’t think Hanna even had a childhood, and that wasn’t right. It makes me happy to see what it should have been like.’
‘Of course.’ Jane nodded, sadness in her eyes. ‘I never realized.’
Taking a deep breath, Hanna fought to stop the tears from falling. This was the first time she had ever heard her brother talk so frankly about their years in the orphanage. She had told herself many times that it was all behind them and could be forgotten, but now she knew that it would never quite leave them. They had moved on with their lives, but their childhood experiences had moulded them into what they were today. When she saw her brother now she knew they had come out of it well, but a part of the past would always be with them.
When they were alone later in the evening, she said, ‘I’ve never heard you talk about the orphanage before, Jack.’
He gave one of his easy smiles and shrugged. ‘I don’t mind talking about it now, Hanna. I’m not ashamed that we came from there; it wasn’t our fault, and we’ve turned out all right. We could have ended up all bitter inside, but we didn’t, and that’s quite an achievement. And the way we’ve come through that is all down to you. You remained cheerful, sensible and strong, and that rubbed off on me. You sacrificed your childhood to become my protector, and that’s something I’ll never forget.’
‘Oh, Jack, I only did what I thought was best for us, and if you had been the oldest you would have done the same for me.’ She tipped her head to one side, studying him carefully. ‘I only have a vague recollection of our father, but I have watched you grow more and more like him over the last few years.’
‘Do you think so?’ He looked pleased. ‘I’ve tried and tried to remember what they looked like, but I can’t picture them at all.’
‘You definitely take after our father, tall and well built, but I’m smaller and much more like our mother.’
‘It’s nice to know that we’ve both got something of them in us.’ He stood up and held out his arms. ‘If I’m going to this dance then you had better teach me a quickstep or I’ll be stepping on my poor partner’s toes all the time.’
They spent the next hour dancing around the kitchen and laughing. It was lovely to be carefree, even if it was only for a short time. They might now have hope that the war would be over in the not too distant future, but until then there was still danger at sea for Jack.
The village hall was crowded, and everyone was in high spirits, buoyed up by the news of troops liberating parts of France. Pat and Jean waved when they came in, so they joined them.
‘Oh good, you’ve brought a man with you.’ Pat slipped her hand through Jack’s arm. ‘I bags the first dance with our sailor.’
Jack chuckled. ‘I must warn you, Pat, that I’m not much of a dancer.’
‘You’ll do fine. You’re so tall and handsome the girls won’t worry what your feet are doing.’
Shaking his head in amusement, Jack allowed himself to be dragged on to the dance floor. It was a quickstep and Hanna watched to see if he had remembered any of the steps. He had and was managing quite well. ‘Pat’s happy tonight,’ Hanna remarked.
‘Don’t be fooled. Underneath that smile she’s just like the rest of us – worried sick about our men. But we can’t help them, or change what might happen, so we keep smiling, praying for a speedy end to the war, and their safe return.’ Jean took hold of Hanna. ‘Come on, let’s dance. I’ll lead because we’re not going to get many partners tonight now the Americans have moved out.’
Jack danced with the three of them a couple of times, and although he said he wasn’t much of a dancer, Hanna quickly realized that wasn’t so. He had good rhythm, was light on his feet, and picked up the steps quickly.
They had just finished a waltz when her brother whispered in her ear, ‘Who is that girl over there? The one in the blue frock?’
‘You mean the blonde?’ Hanna asked.
He nodded, never taking his eyes off the girl.
‘That’s Beth Grafton. She works in the local shop.’ When she saw how interested Jack was she gave him a little push. ‘Go and ask her to dance.’
He hesitated for a moment, and when the band began to play a
gain, he strode over to her. Hanna watched and smiled when Beth stood up to dance with Jack.
‘Ah,’ said Pat, ‘he’s had his eyes on her ever since he arrived. Glad he’s finally asked her to dance. But that means we’ve lost our partner.’
Pat was right about that because they didn’t see much of Jack for the rest of the evening when he got in with Beth’s friends, and it did Hanna good to see him so relaxed and happy.
After the last dance Jack rushed over. ‘Hanna, are you going back with Jean and Pat? Only I’d like to walk Beth home.’
‘Yes, you go ahead. Have you enjoyed yourself?’
He nodded and grinned. ‘I’m glad I came.’
‘Good, now don’t keep Beth waiting. I’ll see you in the morning.’
During the rest of his leave Jack took Beth out a couple of times, and seemed quite taken with her. And, as always, Hanna, George and the boys went to the station to see him off.
‘Beth said she’ll write to me,’ Jack told Hanna, as they waited for the train to arrive. ‘I hope she does.’
‘I’m sure she will. You like her.’
‘We get on well together.’ Jack shrugged. ‘But it’s early days. We’ve got to get to know each other, and that isn’t going to be easy when I have to keep leaving, but it’s the life I’ve chosen for myself. She seems quite happy with that, but we’ll see.’
‘When you meet the right girl, she will accept that you’re away a lot. If she loves you and knows that the sea means a great deal to you, then she will make that her life as well. Look at Jane. The captain is away more than he’s home, and yet they are very happy together.’
‘You’re right, of course. It’s a case of finding the right one to spend the rest of your life with.’ He smiled down at her. ‘Just like you have in Alan.’
The train rumbled into the station and Jack jumped on, waving all the time until it was out of sight.
As always, Hanna said quietly, ‘Be safe, Jack.’
Twenty-Nine
It wasn’t until after Paris was liberated on August the twenty-fifth that Hanna received three letters at once from Alan, and she read them with relief. He had survived the landings without injury and appeared to be in good spirits. Then in early September rockets began to fall on London, causing more death and destruction, and their joy at the news from Europe took a dip.
A New Day Page 22