‘I was hoping you’d come early,’ she greeted her. ‘You must have heard the kettle boil – I’ve just made a brew. Come on in out of the cold!’
Dotty gratefully did as she was told to find Mary playing on the rug in front of the fire with a new teddy that Lucy had bought her. Even though she had already bought the child her new clothes, she had purchased the teddy bear from the toy department at the last minute and Mary had barely put it down. She was muttering away to it but none of the sounds made sense, and once again Dotty thought what a shame it was that such a beautiful child should be so afflicted. There was a delicious smell issuing from the oven and she sniffed appreciatively.
‘Hm, something smells good. Is that a turkey in there?’
‘It is indeed,’ Lucy chuckled as Dotty took her coat off. ‘And we’ve got Brussels sprouts, stuffing, roast potatoes and all the trimmings to go with it. I decided to push the boat out. After all, once the rationing comes in, we might be on bread and water.’
They exchanged gifts. Lucy had bought Dotty a pair of woollen gloves and a matching scarf in a deep amber colour. It was very bright compared to the drab colours that Dotty usually favoured, but she blushed with pleasure all the same when she opened the parcel. She had bought Lucy a cardigan in a wonderful emerald green that matched her eyes to perfection, and a beautifully illustrated book of fairy stories for Mary – two perfect presents. The friends hugged each other.
Christmas dinner was great fun. The girls giggled and gossiped, and made sure that Mary had plenty to eat. But Dotty sensed that behind Lucy’s smile, she was missing her brother very much. Brother and sister had apparently never spent a Christmas apart before, and it must be hard for her, Dotty thought.
Once the meal was over and the table cleared, Lucy made the fire up and they turned the wireless on to listen to the king’s Christmas speech. It was a very old radio that Joel had picked up second-hand from the Coventry indoor market, and it made crackling noises before gurgling into life.
Dotty loved the royal family, and while they waited for the announcer to introduce the king, she told Lucy, ‘The king is supposed to be very shy, you know. He has a terrible stammer, poor thing.’
‘I daresay he never expected to be king,’ Lucy replied. ‘Poor Prince Albert had no choice but to take the throne when Edward abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, and it must have been a huge leap from being the Duke of York to king. When he was simply a duke he could stay in the background up to a point, but after Edward met Wallis . . .’ She remembered how the newspapers had been full of it. ‘That certainly caused an outcry, didn’t it? I mean, who would think that a king would do something like that? Just goes to show, they’re only flesh and blood at the end of the day, the same as us.’
‘Yes, you can’t help who you fall in love with,’ Dotty remarked dreamily as her romantic mind took flight. ‘Just imagine caring enough for someone to give up the throne for them. And she’s an American divorcée too!’ Then she asked, ‘What sort of man would you like to marry, Lucy?’
Lucy’s face instantly hardened. ‘I shall never get married,’ she said shortly. ‘Not to anyone!’ She looked slightly embarrassed then as she noted Dotty’s shocked expression. ‘Well, what I mean is, I don’t get much chance to meet anyone, do I? What with looking after Mary and everything.’
‘But if someone loved you enough, they would take to Mary too,’ Dotty pointed out. She just couldn’t imagine Lucy never marrying; she was far too pretty to be a spinster, whereas she herself was so plain that she doubted anyone would ever want to marry her.
Much to Lucy’s relief the announcer’s voice brought the conversation to an end, and both girls listened to the king stammer his way through the speech.
When it was over, Dotty sighed and they sat and watched Mary playing contentedly with her new teddy. She had refused to put it down all day, even throughout dinner, but then Lucy suggested, ‘How about we wrap up and go to the phone box at the end of the road to give Annabelle a ring?’
‘Good idea,’ Dotty agreed as she hurried away to fetch her coat, and soon after they were in the phone box and the operator was connecting them to Annabelle’s number.
‘Hello.’ It was Annabelle who answered the phone and when Lucy spoke she sounded pleased to hear from her. ‘I’m having a dreadful day,’ she complained. ‘Mummy has hardly stopped crying because she’s never been parted from Daddy on Christmas Day before and I’m so bored! I shall almost be glad to get back to work – and we still have Boxing Day to get through yet.’
Both girls chuckled as they fed their pennies into the slot and took it in turns to speak to her.
‘I never thought I’d hear you say that,’ Dotty teased, and was met with a groan from Annabelle’s end.
‘Well, there’s nothing to do, is there, but eat. I shall be the size of a house at this rate.’
‘I don’t think there’s much danger of that happening any time soon,’ Lucy responded. ‘You’re so skinny you’d slip down a crack in the pavement if you turned sideways.’
Five minutes later the girls came out of the phone box.
‘Poor Annabelle,’ Dotty said. ‘I’m afraid this war is affecting her far more than you or me. We’re used to staying in, but I think she is missing a more exciting way of life now that most of her male friends have joined up. She’s asked me to go to the cinema with her in the New Year to see Goodbye Mr Chips and I’m quite looking forward to it. Why don’t you ask Mrs P if she would mind Mary and then you could come with us too?’
‘It would be fun,’ Lucy admitted. ‘And I do love Robert Donat. He’s just so handsome, isn’t he? Leave it with me and I’ll see what I can do.’
They then hastened back to the warmth of Lucy’s little terraced house, swinging Mary between them. There were constant reminders of the war all about them, like the grey barrage balloons that floated in the sky above them. It was daunting to know that now only a strip of water divided them from the wrath of Hitler’s army. Rumour still had it that he was only waiting for the better weather next spring before he instructed his army to attack, and the girls could only pray that the rumour was wrong. The alternative was just too frightening to contemplate.
‘Blimey, I thought we’d have an easy day today, now that the Christmas rush is over.’ Lucy eased her feet carefully out of her shoes beneath the table and wriggled her toes.
It was the day after Boxing Day and ever since arriving at work all three girls had been rushing around like headless chickens. There were nowhere near as many customers in the store admittedly, but even so each head of department had had them all marking down goods ready for the January sales.
‘I know what you mean,’ Annabelle answered as she took out her compact and powdered her nose. ‘I was busily working away behind my counter and didn’t notice a customer waiting to be served when Miss Goode swept over to me like a battleship in full sail. She gave me a real roasting, I don’t mind telling you, but how are we supposed to do two things at once?’
‘Perhaps we should all sprout another pair of hands?’ Dotty suggested with a wry grin. ‘It’s no better in my department. There are so many different rolls of material and if I get the price wrong on one of them I reckon I’ll be for the high jump.’
‘I doubt that would happen,’ Annabelle said stoically. ‘We’re understaffed as it is, and they can’t afford to lose any more – though if what Mummy heard was true, then things are going to get a whole lot worse soon. They’re saying that in January all men between the ages of nineteen and twenty-seven will be liable for service. It won’t be a matter any more of them signing up if they have a mind to, they won’t have a say in the matter unless they’re flat-footed or suffer from some other ailment.’
They each lifted their cup as the hum of the store canteen went on around them.
A royal proclamation made on New Year’s Day declared that two million young men were about to be called up, thus proving Miranda Smythe to be right. People’s spirits dropped still furth
er as young men went in hordes to the recruiting offices.
‘There soon won’t be a bloke worth looking at left in Coventry,’ Annabelle moaned. She and Dotty were at Lucy’s house and they were all feeling a bit sorry for themselves, especially Annabelle. ‘Fancy,’ she said, ‘I actually stayed in on New Year’s Eve. No party, no dance, nothing!’
‘I don’t think anyone was really in the mood for celebrating this year,’ Lucy said.
Dotty nodded in agreement. ‘You’re right, and the weather isn’t helping either. I’m sure it’s trying to snow and it’s absolutely bitter out.’
‘Oh super, that’s all we need.’ Annabelle rolled her eyes skywards. ‘Everything seems to be doom and gloom at the moment.’ Her eyes then rested on an envelope on the mantelshelf and suddenly forgetting all her gripes, she asked, ‘Is that a letter from Joel?’ Just thinking about him made her heart beat faster.
‘Yes, it is.’ Lucy had read it so many times in the two days since it had arrived that she almost knew it word for word. ‘He’s going to be shipped out within the next two weeks, but the good news is he’s hoping to get another two days’ leave before they go.’
‘Oh, and when will that be? And I thought he was being shipped out straight after his last leave.’ Annabelle was doing her best not to sound too interested and failing dismally.
‘So did we,’ Lucy agreed. ‘And I have no idea why the plans were changed. But he could be coming home on leave any day now.’ Her face lit up at the thought of seeing her brother again, although she was worried sick about him being posted abroad. But then he was only one of thousands and she knew that all across the country, wives, mothers, sisters and lovers must be feeling exactly the same.
Annabelle felt a little bubble of excitement form in her stomach. ‘You shall have to ask us round to say goodbye to him and wish him well,’ she remarked casually, but she didn’t fool Lucy for a second.
‘Of course you’re always welcome,’ the girl answered winking at Dotty. ‘And I’m sure Joel would like to see you too.’
The January sales started the next day and when the girls arrived at Owen Owen they were shocked to see people queuing along the street.
‘Looks like we’re going to be busy again if the crowd outside is anything to go by,’ Annabelle declared as they trudged towards the staff cloakroom. ‘I’ve never seen such a queue! Do they think we’re going to be giving the stuff away or something?’
‘Well, you know what they say – the early bird catches the worm, and according to the Home Service, some people have been queuing all night in London to get the best bargains,’ Lucy said. ‘Think of it this way – if we’re busy, the time will go quicker.’
‘Trust you to look on the bright side,’ Annabelle bridled as she hung her coat up and checked her hair in the mirror above the sink. They then all darted off on their separate ways, wondering if they would even have time for their breaks or their lunch-hours.
‘Miss Smythe, there is another customer waiting to be served,’ the head of the perfume department barked at Annabelle an hour later.
‘I am well aware of that fact,’ Annabelle snapped back. ‘But unfortunately I haven’t yet mastered the art of serving more than one customer at a time!’
‘Why, really!’ The woman was enraged. ‘I shall be reporting you to Mrs Broadstairs,’ she sputtered.
‘Well, before you do that, why don’t you get behind the counter and help me to serve?’ Annabelle suggested tartly, enraging the irate woman even more. Even so, she joined Annabelle and between them the queue of people waiting to be served did start to go down a little more quickly.
There was no chance of a morning break but at last the girls were given permission to go for a shortened lunch break and they all met up in the staff dining room.
‘My God, I’ve never seen anything like it,’ Dotty said as they stood at the counter waiting to be served with beans on toast. ‘I’ve actually had two ladies almost come to blows over a length of reduced material that they both made a beeline for this morning. I had to use all my wits to calm them down.’
‘It hasn’t been much better in the children’s department,’ Lucy said.
‘Nor in perfumes and cosmetics,’ Annabelle chipped in. ‘I ran out of Elizabeth Arden’s Blue Grass within an hour and the customers have really been having a go at me, as if it was my fault! I’ll tell you, at one point I was ready to walk out – and blow the job!’
They all saw the funny side of it then and carried their trays to the table with grins on their faces. After all, the worst of the sales rush should be over now, shouldn’t it?
It was on the third day back at work that Lucy informed them that Joel was home.
‘He’s meeting me from work this evening so we could all go for a cup of tea again, if you like,’ she suggested.
‘Unfortunately I can’t,’ Dotty apologised. ‘I have Miss Timms coming to see me at the flat tonight and I don’t want her to arrive and for me not to be there.’
‘But I could come – I don’t have anything planned,’ Annabelle told Lucy hastily.
‘Right, we’ll do that then,’ Lucy agreed, and for the rest of the day Annabelle found that she could think of nothing else.
When they left the store they found Joel waiting for them with a worried frown on his face. ‘I’ve had to leave Mary with Mrs P,’ he informed Lucy. ‘She’s got a terrible cough on her so I think we should head straight home.’
‘But I invited Annabelle to come to the café with us.’ Lucy said, then a thought occurred to her and she turned to her friend. ‘Why don’t you come home with us and have dinner? That would be all right, wouldn’t it, Joel?’
‘Of course it would.’ He was painfully aware of Annabelle standing next to him and was secretly thrilled at Lucy’s suggestion. ‘I’m sure we can rustle up enough for another mouth.’
And so they set off side by side for the bus station and when their bus came in Lucy watched Joel slip into the seat next to Annabelle.
‘So, Lucy tells me that you’ll be off soon then?’ Annabelle couldn’t keep the concern from her voice and Joel stared at her in the dim light. Could it be that Annabelle was as attracted to him as he was to her? But then he dismissed that idea. What would a girl like her want to waste time on the likes of him for? She was from a different class. The way she spoke, the way she dressed, the way she held herself, and everything else about her told him so – and yet . . .
He nodded and cleared his throat. ‘Yes, I will. We haven’t been told officially, but it looks like we’re going to be shipped out to either Norway or France – and then God knows when I’ll get home again.’ He refrained from saying if ever – but it was a fear he had. What would happen to Lucy and Mary if he was killed? He and Annabelle both fell silent then as the bus trundled on through the darkened streets.
Once back at home, Joel headed for the kitchen where he had a rabbit stew simmering in the oven. Mrs P was sitting at the side of the fire with Mary on her lap.
‘Poor little lamb,’ she said. ‘Proper under the weather so she is, but then it’s hardly suprisin’, is it, wi’ the weather as it is? That’s why I told Joel I’d come round here to watch ’er till yer got back. Saves takin’ her out in the cold, don’t it? But now as you are back I’ll be off. My Fred’ll be shoutin’ fer his dinner soon.’ She stood up and handed Mary to Lucy, then with a friendly nod in Annabelle’s direction, she headed for the door.
Whilst Lucy got Mary undressed in front of the fire, Annabelle asked, ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’
‘No, thanks, but you could stay and keep me company while I dish this up,’ he responded as he lifted some plates down from the dresser.
‘It must be a comfort to you to know that Lucy has Mrs P next door,’ Annabelle said. ‘She’s lovely, isn’t she?’
‘She is that,’ he agreed. ‘Salt of the earth, is our Mrs P. But I do worry about how Lucy will cope when Mary is evacuated. You’ve probably noticed that she adores her, and t
here are only a few weeks to go now.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll keep my eye on her for you,’ Annabelle promised and was shocked to hear herself say it. Since when had she worried about anyone but herself? She was even more shocked to realise that she meant it. ‘You just worry about keeping yourself safe,’ she went on, and again she could hardly believe that she had said it. She might just as well have come right out and said that she cared about him.
Joel paused to stare at her and their eyes locked, but then Lucy broke the spell when she asked, ‘So how is this dinner coming along? I’m starving and I’m sure you must be hungry too, Annabelle. We didn’t get to have much of a break at lunch-time, did we?’
They all carried their plates to the table, and once they had eaten Annabelle helped Joel with the pots while Lucy put Mary to bed.
Crikey, I really am getting domesticated, Annabelle thought as she dried the dishes, yet strangely she didn’t mind so long as it meant being with Joel.
‘Will you be able to write to Lucy from wherever you’re posted to?’ she asked.
He nodded. ‘I dare say so, though the letters will be heavily censored, and of course there’s no saying how long they’ll take to get through.’ Then shyly, ‘If you were to give me your address I could write to you too, if you like.’
‘I would like that.’ Annabelle smiled at him and they finished the rest of the washing and drying up in a harmonious silence, content just to be in each other’s company.
Later that evening, Joel walked her to the bus stop and they stood facing each other awkwardly as they waited for the bus to come.
‘Take care of yourself then,’ Annabelle said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.
They heard the bus coming along the road, and leaning forward, he suddenly self-consciously pecked her on the cheek. ‘You too,’ he muttered, and then he was striding away with his hands tucked deep in his pockets.
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