Miss Timms led her into an enormous kitchen, and Dotty’s eyes goggled. It was like a picture she had seen of a kitchen in the last century, but once more everything was as neat as a new pin with not a single thing out of place.
‘I got some fish from the stall in the market,’ Miss Timms told her, ‘and I’ve done you some potatoes that I grew in the vegetable patch in the garden and broccoli to go with them. You do like cod, don’t you, Dotty? I seemed to remember you did when you were at the orphanage.’
‘I love fish,’ Dotty assured her, touched at how hard the woman was trying to please her. ‘But you really don’t have to go to all this trouble every day. I can get a meal in the staff dining room at work.’
Miss Timms sniffed disapprovingly. ‘That isn’t the same as having a good home-cooked meal,’ she said. ‘And you’re so thin. But never mind, now that you’re here I shall soon get you fattened up a little.’
Dotty grinned, thinking that Miss Timms had made her sound like a Christmas turkey, but she didn’t object because she knew that the dear soul only meant well.
The meal was actually delicious, and Dotty cleared her plate – much to Miss Timms’s delight.
‘And now I must show you your room,’ she said when she had plied the girl with soft stewed fruit from the garden and thick custard.
Dotty followed her upstairs where Miss Timms showed her into a very pretty bedroom. A chintz bedspread lay across a large brass bed and matching curtains hung at the window, which overlooked a very neat garden, most of which was clearly being used to grow fruit and vegetables. There was a heavy oak wardrobe, a chest of drawers and a thick wool rug on the floor at the side of the bed.
‘Why, it’s lovely!’ Dotty exclaimed and Miss Timms beamed.
‘Then I’ll leave you to unpack,’ she chirped merrily. ‘The bathroom is the third door on the right along the landing. I’ve put you some fresh towels in there but do let me know if there’s anything else you need.’
‘I will,’ Dotty promised as the woman backed out of the room looking very happy. She must be very lonely if she’s so pleased to have me here, Dotty thought and then set about unpacking her case.
Later that evening, Robert telephoned Miss Timms and asked if he could speak to Dotty. The woman tactfully left Dotty to speak to him in private, then came back into the hall when she heard the receiver go down.
‘Are you all right, Dotty?’ she asked, seeing the girl’s glum face.
‘Oh yes, I’m fine,’ Dotty assured her a little too quickly.
Miss Timms stared at her thoughtfully. ‘You love that young man, don’t you?’ she asked bluntly, and when Dotty immediately lowered her eyes, her suspicion was confirmed. For months Dotty had talked of little else but Robert, but recently she had seemed very subdued and had scarcely mentioned him.
‘Of course I don’t,’ Dotty responded rather heatedly. ‘We have to stay in touch because of my writing, but that’s all there is to it. Robert regards me as nothing more than a friend – I think.’
‘And how do you regard him?’
Dotty squirmed uncomfortably. ‘As a wonderful man,’ she admitted. ‘But we live in different worlds. And Robert is older than me too. I think he sees me as just a silly kid who has a flair for writing.’
‘I doubt that very much,’ Miss Timms said quietly. ‘And age and class between two people who care about each other should be no barrier at all.’
Dotty sighed and moved away, and as the older woman watched her go her heart was heavy. Poor Dotty, life had not been kind to her, but Alice Timms hoped that from now on, she could make things a little easier for the girl.
Chapter Twenty-Six
During the autumn air raids continued on a regular basis, although thankfully many of them turned out to be false alarms. And then they were into November, with Christmas racing towards them again.
‘Crikey, it’s enough to freeze the hairs off a brass monkey out there,’ Mrs P shivered one night when Lucy called to collect Harry after work. Lucy couldn’t imagine being without him now and blessed the day she had found him. Apart from when she went to work they were inseparable, and Mrs P loved him too, although she still hadn’t got herself another dog.
‘An’ how were things at work today?’ she asked now as Lucy ruffled Harry’s silky ears.
‘Well, depending on how you look at it, Annabelle and her mother have had some good news. They had a telegram saying that Mr Smythe has been taken prisoner of war.’
‘An’ that’s good news?’ Mrs P said uncertainly.
‘Well, it’s better than being told that he’s been killed, isn’t it?’ Lucy instantly felt guilty as she thought of Mrs P’s son and added hastily, ‘At least he won’t be in the firing line any more. And hopefully when the war is over he’ll return home. I think Miranda is quite relieved. She’s been going out of her mind with worry because she hadn’t heard from him.’
‘Aye, well I know what that feels like,’ Mrs P said sadly. ‘An’ so do you, love, wi’ still no news from your Joel.’
‘Joel will survive,’ Lucy answered determinedly. ‘He has to, because he’s all I’ve got left in the world now apart from Harry.’
Mrs P nodded and gave her a hug. ‘An’ how’s Dotty? I ain’t seen her fer a while neither. Nice girl she is.’
‘Oh, she’s fine and still living with Miss Timms. She reckons she wants a place of her own again now but I don’t think she likes to leave her.’
‘Well, her short story in Woman’s Heart were brilliant last week,’ Mrs P commented. ‘I reckon she’s gettin’ better all the time, an’ I can’t wait fer her book to come out. I shall be at the front of the queue to buy that, I don’t mind tellin’ yer. An’ what’s more, I reckon in the not too distant future she’ll be earnin’ a livin’ writin’ full-time. But what’s goin’ on between her an’ that London bloke now?’
‘Not a lot, as far as I can gather.’ Lucy stifled a yawn. They’d spent half of last night in the shelter again, and she was worn out. ‘And I think it’s a real shame because I believe Dotty loves him even if she hasn’t admitted it to herself yet. Suddenly she’s stopped going to London, and between you and me she’s as miserable as sin half the time. I just don’t understand it.’
‘Hmm . . . Well, no doubt it’ll sort itself out. They do say the path of true love never runs smooth,’ Mrs P commented.
Lucy yawned again. ‘I dare say you’re right, but now if you don’t mind I’m going to take Harry round home and get an early night. I could do with matchsticks to prop my eyes open at the minute. In fact, today during a quiet spell I almost fell asleep at work. I dread to think what Mrs Broadstairs would have said if she’d found me snoozing.’
Mrs P chuckled as she envisaged the scene. She loved to hear about the staff that Lucy worked with, and some of the customers she served. Mrs Broadstairs was now apparently making no secret of the fact that she and Mr Bradley were finally a couple.
Once back in her own home, Lucy fed Harry then warmed up some soup she had made the day before for herself. She was just too tired to bother to cook tonight, and praying that she would get an unbroken night’s sleep – but it wasn’t to be. She was just washing up her dishes when the air-raid sirens began to wail. Glancing at the clock she saw that it was only just gone 7 p.m. and she groaned as Harry rushed over to her and hid his head in her skirt. He hated the sirens. Grabbing him by the collar, Lucy led him out into the yard where Mr and Mrs P were emerging from their back door.
‘I reckon it’s gonna be a bad ’un tonight,’ Mrs P told the girl as she ushered her towards the Anderson shelter. ‘Our Fred’s just had the wireless on an’ they reckon the first wave o’ bombers have just flown across the coast at Dorset. They’re headin’ our way an’ all, God help us.’ Glancing up at the sky, she sighed. ‘An’ on such a beautiful night an’ all! Would yer just look at that moon an’ them stars. There must be at least a million of ’em.’
But even as she spoke, the drone of the planes sounded ab
ove the sirens. ‘Christ Almighty, they’re droppin’ incendiaries. Get into the shelter quick!’ Mrs P pushed Lucy ahead of her but not before the girl had time to see the first bomb float down towards the city. The sight was followed by the sound of a deafening explosion and Harry began to whimper pathetically as Lucy sat down and pulled him to her.
‘Bastards!’ Mrs P shouted as her husband managed to slam the door shut, and then the shelter shook as another bomb dropped dangerously close to them. Lucy felt about for the candles and matches that Mrs P always kept in there, and once she had located them she lit two candles with trembling fingers. She had never known the bombs to drop so close before. Normally the Germans targeted the factories, but tonight it appeared that they were aiming for the city centre. Once, when Fred dared to peek outside, he saw wave after wave of bombers flying overhead and dropping their loads with terrifying regularity. Within minutes the smell of fires reached them and he could see flames licking up into the sky. The Bofors and the ack-acks had growled into life now and searchlights probed the sky as they swept this way and that, but the attack was so severe that the guns on the ground were having little effect. They heard the bells on the fire engines as the men raced to do what they could, but somehow they all knew that whilst so many bombs were dropping, the firemen would be fighting a losing battle.
Then came the sound of the high-explosive bombs, and Mr P said worriedly. ‘If they hit the water-pipes, the firemen will have nothin’ to fight the fires with. They’re droppin’ them to make holes in the roofs. Then it sounds like they’re droppin’ the incendiaries to light the fires.’
He placed his arm protectively around his wife’s shaking shoulders and they sat there feeling totally useless as the lovely city of Coventry was destroyed around their ears.
Over at Primrose Lodge, Annabelle and her mother were down in the cellar.
‘Here, put this round your shoulders to keep you warm,’ Miranda told her daughter.
The girl took the blanket from her without a word, showing no emotion whatsoever. But then Miranda was not surprised. Annabelle had been like this ever since the disclosure about her birth at her twenty-first party.
‘Don’t worry, darling, it will be over soon,’ Miranda told her as they listened to the terrifying drone overhead, followed by a loud bang.
Annabelle shrugged. She wasn’t much bothered how long it went on now; in fact, she wasn’t much bothered about anything any more. Admittedly her mother still treated her exactly the same as she had before, but as far as Annabelle was concerned nothing was the same now that she knew about her true parentage. And so they sat on in silence as Miranda desperately tried to think of something to say that would bring her daughter back to her. At last, however, Miranda rose, saying apologetically, ‘I shall have to leave you now, sweetheart. I shall be needed tonight and I must get to the church hall. But you should be quite safe here.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ Annabelle said dully. ‘Anything is better than just sitting here not knowing what’s going on, and I dare say it will be a case of the more hands the merrier if the bombing continues.’
Miranda chewed on her lips, hating the thought of this precious girl being out on the streets during a raid. But she knew better than to argue with Annabelle once she had made her mind up, so she allowed the girl to follow her up the cellar steps.
Over on the Kenilworth Road Miss Timms and Dotty were also sheltering in their cellar. Dotty was almost beside herself with fear as she thought of Robert in London. Was he safe? And then she finally had to admit to herself that she loved him, truly loved him, and she knew that if anything should happen to him there would be no point in living. It was funny when she came to think of it; she had seen so many hurdles between them – his age, his upbringing – and yet none of that mattered now, and had he been there, she would have told him how she felt even if she risked learning that her feelings were not returned.
When she began to cry, Miss Timms cuddled her.
‘Don’t cry, sweetheart,’ she urged tenderly. ‘I’ve got you safe and I won’t let anything happen to you.’
‘I – I wasn’t crying for me,’ Dotty whimpered. ‘I was crying for Robert. Oh Miss Timms, I’ve been such a fool. I think I’ve loved him since the first second I set eyes on him, but I was too afraid to tell him. I felt that I wasn’t good enough for him so I’ve deliberately backed off and held him at arm’s length. And now I may never get the chance to tell him. What shall I do if anything happens to him?’
‘Oh, my poor Dotty.’ The woman was distressed to see the dear girl so upset. ‘If it’s God’s will he’ll survive,’ she murmured, and Dotty could only pray that she was right. And then the very room trembled and they both cowered as lumps of plaster rained down on them.
‘I think the house has taken a hit,’ Miss Timms murmured as she spat out plaster dust.
Dotty’s eyes stretched wide with panic. ‘Then that means that we are trapped down here,’ she breathed.
‘If we are, they’ll dig us out,’ Miss Timms said calmly, although her own heart was beating fast now. But then if she was to die she could think of no one she would rather be with, and suddenly the time for the truth was upon her. She didn’t want to take her secret to the grave with her.
‘Dotty . . . I have something that I must tell you,’ she began. ‘And I fear that once I have told you, if we get out of here alive you may never want to see me again.’
Dotty peeped up at her, her face pale in the light from the flickering candle.
‘The thing is . . .’ the woman went on, ‘I know how much you have always wanted to know who your mother was – and well, I happen to know. You see, I am your mother.’
‘What?’ Dotty eyes were transfixed on the woman now and Miss Timms squirmed uncomfortably.
‘B-but you can’t be,’ Dotty breathed, feeling as if she was caught up in some sort of a dream. ‘And if you really are my mother, why did you abandon me and leave me in the orphanage all those years?’
‘I – I had no choice,’ the woman informed her brokenly above the roar of explosions. ‘But please let me at least explain and then you might understand.’
When Dotty did not object she took a deep breath before going on. ‘My mother was a very strict religious woman, as I think I may have told you,’ she began. ‘I was her and Father’s only child and I had the best education that money could buy. I went to a private convent school as Mother wanted me to make something of myself and marry well.’ She snorted then. ‘Unfortunately, although I had the brains, I was somewhat of a plain Jane, so the last part might have proved to be somewhat difficult. Anyway, I left school and enrolled at a secretarial college. I quite enjoyed it, and when I had completed the course I found a job as a receptionist in an office. I soon developed a crush on one of the bosses there. I had never been in love before and was sadly lacking in confidence, but amazingly he found me attractive and before I knew it we were having an affair.’ Miss Timms sighed. ‘He was some years older than me and before too long I discovered that he was a married man and my whole world fell apart. The problem was, he kept telling me that he was going to leave his wife so that we could be together. Young and naïve as I was, I believed him.’
She shook her head as memories rushed back. ‘Then another woman in the office began to suspect that there was something going on between us, and she privately tried to warn me off him. She said I was a fool and that nothing could ever come of it, but I wouldn’t listen to her. Of course, I was furious and told her to mind her own business. I know now that she was only trying to help me. Perhaps she had been in a similar situation herself, once. You think you know it all at that age, don’t you? And then one day I came home to find a very attractive woman in the kitchen with Mother. She was his wife and she’d gotten wind of our affair. Mother was absolutely furious and forbade me from ever seeing him again. She even locked me in my room for a few days until I agreed. But of course, she couldn’t lock me away forever, and as soon as she let me out I h
eaded back to the office to find him. That was a big mistake. He told me that he did love me, but found he couldn’t bring himself to leave his wife because of the children. I was totally devastated, and yet I admired him for putting his children first. He was a good man, you see? And then I missed my next period.’
Miss Timms gulped deep in her throat as a tear plopped off the end of her nose. ‘I’m ashamed to admit that I thought of getting rid of the baby but I didn’t know who to go to or who to ask for help, so I just said nothing and foolishly believed I could keep it a secret. Eventually Mother confronted me and I had to admit that I was pregnant. We had lost Father by then and she had taken his loss badly, so although I wanted to keep my baby I knew that I couldn’t leave Mother all alone. I never stepped out of the house again after that for months. And I didn’t tell your father about you either. It wouldn’t have been fair on him.
‘On the night that you were born, Mother paid someone to come to the house to deliver you. I never knew who it was, but you were such a beautiful baby and I realised then that I couldn’t bear to part with you. I told her so. And then a couple of days later I woke up one morning to find that you were missing from your crib. I begged Mother to tell me what she had done with you, but she refused to say. She just said that you were safe and that I must put it all behind me now. And then a few days later I read in the newspaper about a baby being abandoned on the steps of the orphanage and I guessed that it could only be you. So I went and applied for a job there. I knew that I could never bring you home, Mother would never have allowed that and it would have caused a terrible scandal if I had admitted that you were mine. But at least by working there I could see you and be near you every day.’
Home Front Girls Page 26