Connie’s Courage

by Groves, Annie

  She could barely recognise her friend in the woman lying in the bed. Her belly was huge with advanced pregnancy, but her face was sunken and waxen, death already staring from her eyes, as rigours shook her body.

  ‘Vera it’s all right,’ Connie tried to soothe her.

  There’s no need to lie to me, Connie. I’m dying, and I know it. That’s why I came here. It’s the baby … I knew if I could get mesel’ here it ‘ud have some chance. I’m full term, and from the way ‘e’s been kicking at me he’s a healthy little varmint. Even if I don’t go into labour before … well, I know what it’s all about, Connie. I’ve heard as how they’re tekkin’ the little ‘uns from their dead mothers to save ‘em like …’

  She flinched as a convulsion suddenly seized her, her belly going rigid.

  See. He knows himself.’ She gasped as a birth pang gripped her. ‘Not that the poor little sod is going to ‘ave much of a life. A bloody orphan that’s what ‘e’s going to be!’

  ‘What about Bert and your family?’ Connie protested, as she monitored Vera’s pains.

  Cast me off they ‘av. Anyway, this ‘un ain’t Bert’s.’

  She was growing weaker in front of Connie’s eyes.

  Very few of the mothers lived long enough to see their child born, most of the babies being taken, as Vera herself had just said, from their bodies.

  Connie,’ Vera was gripping her hand so tightly that Connie’s fingers had gone white.

  I want yer to promise me that you’ll look after the little ‘un for me. I heard as how you’ve got one of your own … Promise me, Connie. We was good friends once.

  ‘Vera. You should be saving your strength, Connie urged her, but Vera was refusing to be placated or sidetracked.

  ‘Promise me!

  ‘Very well, Connie gave in helplessly. ‘I promise.

  TWENTY-SIX

  Numbly Connie looked at the sleeping baby in her arms. It was just over a week now since he had been born; just over a week since his mother had died; just over a week since she had promised Vera that she would look after him for her.

  Unlike her own Lydia, he was the ugliest baby Connie had ever seen, thin as a skinned rabbit, blue-white, with a sheen of carrot-coloured hair.

  He was also angry, noisy, and constantly hungry. The only reason he was asleep now was because the one way to get him to sleep was to walk up and down carrying him, and Connie had walked virtually all the way from the hospital to Nora’s with him.

  ‘Bloody ‘ell, we’ll be glad to be rid of ‘im!’ one of the nurses in the nursery had told Connie bluntly, ‘a right little bugger he is. Upsets all the other babies with is crying an sets them off as well!

  ‘What will happen to them all? Connie had asked her tentatively, as she had looked round the rows and rows of cribs, each containing a motherless child.

  To know the full horror of the influenza epidemic one only had to walk into this room, and learn that not a single one of the mothers of these babies had survived the epidemic.

  The nurse had given an exhausted dismissive shrug.

  Well they’ve all got families of one sort or another, and I suppose they will be taken in and brung up by them. We’ve had a fair few wimen in who ‘aven’t got husbands – it ‘appens all the time, but we’ve had more of them recently on account of the War. Mind you, even if they ‘ave got a dad, like as not he’ll have to farm ‘em out to someone who can look after them, if he can afford to. Them as can’t will probably end up in the poorhouse orphanage. I could make mesel a fortune tekkin ‘em in, if I was of a mind to do it.’

  Listening to her had banished Connie’s hope of trying to find a respectable woman who could take charge of Vera’s son, which was why she had had to take him home with her, having already warned Nora of the addition to their household.

  Fortunately Nora had been delighted by the news that there was going to be another child in the house. I miss your Lyddy so much …’

  Connie was missing her desperately herself, but whilst the influenza was raging through the city she was not going to risk her daughter’s health by going to visit her.

  As she had known she would, she found Nora in the kitchen, ‘Well, here he is Nora, she announced wryly. ‘Little Georgie, and a real little … Nora, what is it? What’s wrong? she demanded with concern as she saw Nora’s tear-swollen eyes. ‘Is it Davie? Have those men …?’

  Blowing her nose, Nora nodded her head. ‘They came round late last night, Connie, after you’d gone to work. Banged so hard on the door, they did, I thought they were going to put it through, never mind waking up half the street.

  She gave a deep shudder. ‘Davie was that scared.

  ‘What did they want? Connie asked her.

  ‘Same thing as always! This house! Only this time …’ Fresh tears filled her eyes. ‘Oh, Connie, I ve never said anything about this to you, and perhaps I should have done, but I was that pleased to have you lodging here, and I thought that if you knew you’d want to leave.

  ‘You know how Davie is … he doesn’t mean any harm. But folks will torment him like, and he’s a big strong lad.

  Connie’s heart was beginning to sink. ‘What are you trying to say?

  ‘There was this man … posh chap … been in the Army. I don’t know the ins and outs of it, but someone did tell me as how they had seen him speaking to Davie, and having a bit of a go at him, like. Davie never said anything to me … but seemingly … Nora was crying so hard she could hardly speak, and Connie put a comforting hand on her arm.

  ‘Nora, whatever Davie’s done I know it wouldn’t have been done out of malice. If someone’s been tormenting him.’

  ‘Well, that’s what I’ve been thinking. But I was that shocked when they told me, Connie. I’d no idea … I’d heard about this Captain being found dead, like, but it was a while back now, and I never imagined that Davie could have had anything to do with it.’

  Connie clutched the baby more tightly, as her heart started to beat too heavily.

  Whether or not it’s true … Last night … Well, when I said I wouldn’t sell them this house no matter what, they said as how they knew about what Davie had done. How he’d started yelling something about murdering the Captain to them. Connie, I don’t know if what they’re saying is true or not, but what I do know is that they could get my poor Davie into a lot of trouble. “Mr Connolly said to tell you that iffen you don’t sell him this house, he’ll see to it that your Davie hangs for the Captain’s murder,” those were their very words to me!’

  Two things hit Connie one after the other; both equally shocking in their different ways. The first was the realisation that Davie could well have been bullied by the Captain to the point where he had attacked him, and the second was the acid fear that the Mr Connolly Nora was referring to, might be Kieron’s Uncle Bill.

  ‘Mr Connolly?’ she repeated through stiff lips. You’ve never mentioned him before. Who is he, Nora?’

  ‘Bill Connolly! Everyone around here is afraid of him, Connie, even the menfolk. A real nasty piece of work he is … There’s tales of all sorts of goings on to do wi’ folks who’ve crossed him disappearing and never being found. No one will say so, but it’s since he took up with the landlord that these bully boys have started coming round making decent folk pay money over, so as they won’t have their shops and property attacked. Our Davie is terrified of him.’

  Connie had to sit down.

  Bill Connolly … A chill of icy horror shot down Connie’s spine.

  She did her best to reassure and calm Nora, but the truth was that she herself felt almost as sick with fear as she could see her landlady was.

  She knew that it was illogical for her to fear that somehow Bill Connolly could harm her now; after all she wasn’t the vulnerable, abandoned girl she had been when he had hurt and threatened her. But still she was afraid.

  ‘It’s no good, Connie. I’m going to have to let him have the house. I’ll get no peace until I do, and I’ve got Davie to think of. Oh,
Connie, if Davie did kill that man …

  ‘You mustn’t think about that, Connie told her sharply. ‘Try not to worry, Nora.

  But inwardly Connie was equally as worried herself. Worried and afraid.

  Bill Connolly! Anger and fear gripped her. Why hadn’t she ended his life when she had had the opportunity? She paced the floor with Georgie, trying to stop him crying, whilst she worried exhaustedly at the problems confronting her.

  She would never find another landlady as accommodating as Nora, nor one whom she liked so much. And she wasn’t just responsible for finding a home for herself now, she had Lydia and Georgie to think about. And then there was Nora herself, where would she go and what would she do? And Davie, what about him …?

  Her head was aching with the effort of trying to think. What would happen if she couldn’t look after Georgie? She had promised Vera after all, that he would not end up in an orphanage with no one to care for him.

  Connie frowned as an idea suddenly occurred to her. Thoughts and the plans formed swiftly inside her head.

  By morning, after a virtually sleepless night, she felt both exhausted and yet, at the same time, dizzily elated.

  ‘You mean you’d look after other people’s babies whilst they was working, and they’d pay you for it, like?’ Nora demanded in disbelief when Connie told her what she was planning over breakfast.

  Yes,’ Connie agreed eagerly. I thought I’d never want to do anything but nursing, Nora, but somehow having Lydia changed that. I still want to work, that’s the way I am, but seeing all those motherless babies at the hospital … She paused and shook her head. ‘I sort of thought then that it was a shame that the poor little souls couldn’t have someone like you to look after them.

  ‘Like me?

  ‘Yes … If I was to do this, Nora, I’d need you to be part of it with me. You see what I was thinking was that, if we could get hold of a decent-sized house with plenty of room and a decent-sized garden, then we could take in a fair number of little ‘uns. We wouldn’t need to charge their families very much, and if we had enough paying then we could take in a few whose families couldn’t afford to pay. Give them a bit of proper mothering, and feed them up a bit. You’d be good at that,’ she added coaxingly.

  Nora’s jaw had dropped and she was staring at Connie as though she had never seen her before.

  ‘Well, I never did, she exclaimed breathlessly. ‘What on earth made you think of a thing like that!

  Desperation, Connie wanted to reply, that and the feeling the sight of all those small cribs had given her.

  ‘Well, it’s all very well to talk of it, Connie, but if I have to give up this place, I can’t see how we could ever afford to find somewhere else.’

  ‘You can leave that to me,’ Connie assured her briskly. ‘I just want you to promise me that you and Davie will help me.’

  ‘Davie?’

  We’ll need someone strong to help out, especially if we get somewhere with a garden,’ Connie told her briskly, deliberately pretending not to notice the tears springing up in Nora’s eyes.

  ‘Well, I don’t know, Connie. Of course me and Davie will help, but I have to say that I can’t see folks paying someone else to mind their little ‘uns.’

  ‘Yes, they will,’ Connie assured her firmly. ‘This War has changed things, Nora. Women go out to work now just like men, and they’ll be glad to pay someone a few pennies a week to take care of their babies. We can charge the better off ones a little bit more, and that way we’ll have enough to take in some of those whose families can’t afford to pay.’

  Well I can see the sense in what you’re saying, but we’ll never be able to afford to rent the kind of place you’re talking about.’

  We may not, but I know someone who can and will,’ Connie informed her confidently.

  She would talk to Iris first, and then, once she had her support, she would take her plan to Ellie and ask her sister to approach her husband for her.

  In the meantime she had work to do! Josie was as nutty about children as Nora and might be tempted to join them; Gideon owned property himself and would be able to put them in the right direction to find the right place …

  ‘Oh, Connie what a wonderful idea! Isn’t it Gideon? Ellie appealed to her husband excitedly.

  They, Connie, Iris, Ellie and Gideon were all sitting in Gideon’s study, Connie having asked her brother-in-law if she might discuss a business proposition with him.

  ‘It could be, he agreed cautiously.

  Ellie and Gideon with their family and, of course, baby Lyddy, had now returned to Preston. However, they were still taking every precaution against being infected by the influenza – as instructed by Connie. Connie and Iris too had taken steps to ensure they were not carrying infection with them on their visit.

  ‘I think it’s an excellent idea, Iris said now. ‘And it will certainly have my support in as many ways as I can give it. You are a budding philanthropist I think, Connie!

  ‘She’d better not be too much of one if this is going to be a business venture I’m investing my money in, Gideon mock-growled.

  ‘Oh, your money will be safe enough, Gideon, Iris assured him firmly. ‘There’s a real need for what Connie wants to provide. And as for her plan to take in some babies at no cost, that is most generous of you, Connie, she added warmly.

  ‘I shall certainly want to sponsor some of those places myself!

  ‘Well what I was hoping Iris is that when you are in Liverpool, if you have time, you could call at the nursery and look at the little ones, just to be sure that none of them have anything contagious. I know the symptoms for some things of course, but I am not a doctor, and after what I saw at the Maternity Hospital …’

  ‘Wait, Connie, you re trying to run before you can walk, Gideon protested. ‘You re going to need somewhere to house this business before you go taking on a doctor.

  ‘Well of course she does, Gideon, and that is where you come in, isn’t it, Connie? Ellie put in. ‘After all, you already own a good deal of property, Gideon, so you will know what to look for and what to avoid. And once you have found one for Connie, your men can do whatever work needs to be done on it for her.

  ‘Can they now! Gideon said drily, but Connie could see that there was a definite twinkle in his eye.

  ‘It is a wonderful idea, Connie, Ellie told Connie when Iris had left, ‘and for all that he pretends to be so stern, I know that Gideon feels the same way. After all, she said quietly, ‘all three of us know what it is like not to have a mother. And anything you can do to give those poor little motherless mites some love will always have mine and Gideon’s support, isn’t that true, Gideon?

  Gideon looked at them both.

  Yes,’ he agreed. But,’ he warned them both, this is a business venture and must be treated as such!’

  I wouldn’t want it any other way, Gideon,’ Connie assured him – and meant it.

  ‘Right then, we’d better start looking round for a suitable property for you, hadn’t we!’ Gideon responded calmly.

  ‘By Connie, when you first told me what you was thinking I never thought it ‘ud be like this,’ Nora confessed admiringly.

  They had opened just over a week ago, and already they had enough fee-paying babies for Connie to have been able to take in six babies for free, much to the relief of their desperate families.

  It had helped of course that Gideon had generously bought the house outright for them, as well as agreeing to sponsor at least two of the babies whose families could not afford to pay anything for their first year. But Connie still felt justifiably proud of herself as she surveyed the sparkling clean room filled with cribs of clean and fed babies.

  Ellie had protested at first when Connie had told her where she planned to open her nursery, asking her if it wouldn’t be better and healthier to find a house that wasn’t in the heart of the city; but Connie had shaken her head pointing out firmly that people going out to work would want to leave their babies somewhere within eas
y reach of their workplace, and to her relief Gideon had immediately backed her up.

  Connie had her own rooms on the second floor of the large house, whilst Davie and Nora shared the large attic floor.

  Josie, who Connie had persuaded to come and work for them, had kept her own house and Connie was already thinking about looking for another trained nurse to help out on a part-time basis.

  ‘Eeh, I still can’t believe that the War is really over, Nora continued.

  Connie looked at her. The War had officially ended on the 11th of November, the week after they had opened the nursery.

  ‘For some people it will never truly be over, Connie told her quietly.

  The War was over and he was back in England. He and the Baron had parted more as friends than enemies, and Harry had left the older man looking forward to the return of his son.

  The grim faces of the other men around him told him that they, like him, whilst thankful to be home, were thinking of their fallen comrades. He had been lucky, Harry told himself determinedly, even if England’s damp weather was already making him aware of the dull ache in his injured arm.

  Liverpool looked dirty and shabby after the green freshness of the mountains, but he still took an appreciative and deep gulp of its salty, sooty air, already searching the busy crowds just in case he might somehow see Connie. It was ridiculous, of course, but ridiculous or not he could not help himself.

  He had thought of her constantly on his way home, wishing beyond anything else, that he might be going home to her. If he had been, what a homecoming that would have been! But he had no right to have such thoughts, he reminded himself sharply. No right, at all! He had a wife and a child. The thought of having to spend the rest of his life with Rosa filled him with despair, and with guilt.

  His natural inclination was to go first to New Brighton to see his family, but of course he must see Rosa first. He had heard nothing from Rosa himself, but Mavis had written to him to tell him that his wife and child were living with Rosa’s cousins in Manchester.