The Clippie Girls

by Margaret Dickinson

  ‘Japan has declared war on us – and on America.’

  Myrtle stopped eating and stared at her in surprise. ‘And that’s supposed to be good?’

  ‘It’ll bring America into the war. The Japs have bombed the home base of the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as well as other American bases.’ She shook her head, but was still smiling. ‘How can they have been so silly? And Canada has already declared war on Japan.’

  ‘Oh well, they call it a world war so I suppose everyone’s got to be in it. But who’s fighting who? That’s what I’d like to know.’

  ‘Well, I’ll tell you . . .’ Grace lowered her newspaper.

  ‘Not now, Gran,’ Myrtle said, springing up and gathering her school books together. ‘Must dash. See you tonight.’

  ‘I’ll tell you then,’ Grace called after her.

  ‘Not if I can help it,’ Myrtle muttered as she left by the back door. Though she was interested in world affairs, often read her grandmother’s papers and listened to the news bulletins on the wireless with her, Myrtle didn’t want to sit the whole evening whilst Grace expounded her knowledge and her views.

  There was often band music on after the news, especially if Grace could be persuaded to tune into the programmes for the forces. Myrtle would much prefer to listen to that. Even Myrtle, studious though she was, enjoyed a little relaxation sometimes, especially since there was no fun to be had with either of her sisters now.

  Christmas – the third of the war – was a silent affair in the household of women. Laurence had gone to his brother’s home this year and the Bradshaws had gone to visit Tom’s sister in Rotherham. So, much to everyone’s relief there was no one they felt obliged to ask to join them for Christmas dinner. They exchanged gifts as usual but with little enthusiasm and Mary noticed that the ones Peggy had bought for her grandmother and for Rose lay unopened.

  ‘Mother, may Peggy join us for dinner?’ Mary asked tentatively.

  ‘Certainly not. She’s made her bed, she must lie on it.’

  ‘That’s what’s caused all the trouble in the first place,’ Myrtle said with a smirk.

  Grace rounded on her. ‘It’s no laughing matter, Myrtle, and I hope you’re going to learn from this.’

  Myrtle’s smile faded and her eyes narrowed. ‘I’ll never let any man wreck my life, Gran. You can be sure of that.’

  ‘I’m pleased to hear it. Now, can we please get on with our Christmas dinner – such as it is. I want to listen to the King’s speech on the wireless later.’

  Mary was right. When Bob arrived home on leave early in the New Year, Rose couldn’t wait to tell him just what Peggy – the girl he had believed himself so in love with – had done.

  They were sitting in the back row of the cinema amongst all the other courting couples. Most of the young men were in army uniform like Bob, snatching one and nine’s worth of darkness. When the lights went up in the interval before the big picture started, there was much shuffling and sitting up straight.

  ‘I’ve got summat to tell you,’ Rose whispered. ‘Peggy’s got herself pregnant.’

  Bob turned to stare, open-mouthed, at her. At last, he spluttered. ‘With him? That Terry Price?’

  ‘Of course. Who else? She’s not a whore – although that’s what I call her.’

  Bob sat rigidly still for a moment and then he jumped up and grabbed Rose’s hand. ‘We’re going.’

  ‘But we haven’t seen the big picture yet.’

  ‘Come on,’ he insisted, dragging her to her feet and pulling her along the row, forcing all the other occupants to grab their belongings and stand up quickly.

  ‘Watch where you’re putting your feet, mate. That was my toe.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Bob mumbled.

  ‘What’s the hurry, mate? Is Hitler coming?’

  A titter of laughter rippled along the row, but Bob blundered on until he was standing in the aisle.

  ‘Bob, wait,’ Rose called. ‘I’ve dropped my scarf . . .’

  ‘Never mind that, Rose. Come on.’

  ‘Here it is, love.’

  ‘Ta,’ Rose said and grabbed her scarf, stumbling past the last few seats and joining Bob. As they hurried down the stairs and out into the street, she said, ‘I don’t understand what’s the matter with you. It’s nowt to do with you that our Peggy’s got herself into trouble.’

  ‘She hasn’t “got herself into trouble”, has she? It’s his fault. By heck, wait till I catch up with him. I’ll bloody kill him.’

  Rose stood still on the pavement staring at him, oblivious to the fine drizzle that had begun to fall. She was still holding her coat and was too stunned by what she was hearing to think to put it on. She shivered, but hardly noticed. ‘You’re still in love with her, aren’t you?’ When he didn’t answer her, she screamed at him. ‘Aren’t you?’

  Calmer now, he turned to face her. ‘I’ll be honest with you, Rose.’

  ‘Oh please do,’ she answered, sarcastically.

  ‘I don’t know how I feel. I’ve become very fond of you, Rose. You’ve been a brick.’

  ‘I don’t want to be a brick,’ she snapped, half wanting to stop whatever he was going to say and yet knowing she had to hear it. ‘I want to be the girl you love, the girl you want to marry. There, I’ve said it and no doubt I’ve embarrassed you, because nice girls don’t tell a man that they love them. They wait until he declares his undying love for her. But you’re not going to, are you, Bob? Because you’re still in love with Peggy.’

  ‘I’ve told you – I don’t know how I feel. All I know is that the girl I did love is in trouble and needs help.’

  ‘And what can you do to help her? Marry her?’

  Through the darkness the words came that shattered Rose’s happiness. ‘If he won’t, then, yes, that’s exactly what I’ll do.’

  Thirty-One

  ‘Calm down, Rose, do. I can’t understand a word you’re saying. What’s happened? Is it Bob? Is he hurt?’ Mary was trying, but failing, to get the girl to speak coherently.

  Rose was crying and raging hysterically.

  Grace gave a huge sigh and shook her head. More trouble.

  ‘Sit down. Here, drink this.’ Mary thrust her own cup of tea into the girl’s shaking hands, but the cup rattled so dangerously in the saucer that she took it back again and pushed Rose into the chair by the fire.

  ‘Stop the noise, Rose,’ Grace snapped and, though Rose glanced balefully at her grandmother, her hysterical crying subsided to a miserable hiccuping sob.

  ‘What’s happened? Hasn’t Bob come home on leave?’

  ‘Oh, he’s come home, all right,’ Rose wailed. ‘He’s in the front room right now.’ Her voice rose a pitch higher. ‘Proposing to Peggy.’

  Mary stared at her and even Grace looked up and blinked. ‘What?’ they asked in unison.

  ‘Proposing. He’s asking her to marry him – because he wants to help her.’

  Mary sank into a chair by the table, thinking the same words that Rose now voiced. ‘He’s still in love with her.’

  Grace picked up her newspaper, but the words danced before her eyes. Here’s a way out, she was thinking. If they marry quickly, no one need know.

  ‘She’ll not do it,’ Mary said quietly.

  ‘Oh, she will. What with us all against her – except you.’ Rose cast an accusing glance at her mother. ‘You should have let Gran turn her out, then she wouldn’t have still been here.’

  ‘If he’s that serious, he’d have gone looking for her,’ Mary said softly, unwittingly hurting Rose even more.

  ‘It’s your own fault, Rose,’ Grace said unsympathetically. ‘You shouldn’t have gone blabbing about our family secrets.’

  ‘It’s hardly going to be a secret. The whole street’s going to know soon. She can’t stay hidden for ever – not with a howling baby.’

  There was silence between the three women as they all strained their ears to hear what was happening in the front room. There was the clatter of f
ootsteps on the stairs and Myrtle came into the room, carrying a book.

  She stopped in the doorway and glanced around the room at the three solemn faces. Rose turned her face, red and swollen from her copious tears, away, but not before Myrtle had noticed it. Her eyes widened and her glance went to her mother’s face. She closed the door quietly behind her and sidled up to Mary. ‘What’s happened?’ she whispered, fearful that they’d had bad news.

  Before Mary could open her mouth to reply, Grace said, ‘Rose has been foolish enough to tell Bob about Peggy’s pregnancy. He’s in the front room at this very moment offering to marry her.’

  Myrtle’s mouth dropped open and her remark, ‘He must still love her then,’ prompted further tears from Rose.

  After what seemed an age to those waiting in the living room, they heard the sitting-room door open and then the front door opened and slammed. Rose jumped to her feet. ‘That must be Bob leaving. He might’ve—’

  ‘I’ll find out what’s happened,’ Mary said. Myrtle, too, half-rose out of her seat, but Mary said at once, ‘You stay here.’

  Mary opened the door into the front room quietly to find Peggy, wrapped in a blanket against the chill of the room – Grace had decreed that coal could not be spared for another fire in the house. ‘She can stay in bed,’ Grace had muttered hard-heartedly.

  ‘Peggy, love?’ Mary said softly, a question in her tone. Peggy was staring straight ahead of herself, yet seeing nothing. Mary moved further into the room and closed the door behind her. She crossed the space between them and sat down on the sofa next to Peggy. She took her hand. ‘Oh, darling, you’re as cold as ice. Let’s go back up to your bedroom and you can get into bed.’

  But Peggy didn’t move. Instead she said, ‘He offered to marry me, Mam. To make an honest woman of me and quieten the wagging tongues. He – he said he’d be willing for everyone to think the baby was his.’

  ‘It takes a big man to offer something like that.’ There was a pause before Mary whispered, ‘What – what did you say?’

  ‘I told him that I appreciated his offer – more than he’d ever know – but that I couldn’t possibly do that to him. He – he tried to persuade me, Mam, but it wouldn’t be right. I don’t love him.’

  ‘He obviously still loves you, though.’

  Peggy sighed. ‘I’m not sure if he does now.’

  ‘How d’you mean?’

  ‘I said, “What about Rose?” and he said that he’d grown really fond of her and – if this hadn’t happened – then he thought they might have made a go of it, given time.’

  Mary chafed Peggy’s cold hand. ‘She’s heartbroken.’

  Peggy nodded and said huskily, ‘I guessed as much. Now she’s never going to forgive me, is she? It was bad enough before, but now . . .’ She left the words unspoken for there was no need to say more.

  ‘So – you’ve definitely refused him?’

  Peggy nodded. ‘I couldn’t do that to him, Mam. We’d both have a miserable life. I’d sooner face the disgrace.’

  Mary patted her hand. ‘Well, for what it’s worth, I think you’re right. He might fancy himself as a knight in shining armour riding on a white charger to rescue a damsel in distress, but it wouldn’t last. Marriage is hard enough when two people do love each other. As time went on, he’d become resentful.’

  Peggy nodded and lowered her head. ‘Oh, Mam, I’m so sorry.’

  ‘We’ll get through it,’ Mary said with more positivity in her tone than she felt inside. ‘Come along now, up to bed with you and I’ll bring you a hot drink.’

  In the living room Rose was sitting stony-faced. When she’d heard the front door slam behind a departing Bob, her instinct had been to leap to her feet and run after him, but willpower and an innate sense of pride kept her sitting in the chair.

  Grace cleared her throat. ‘Sounds like that didn’t go the way he wanted then,’ she murmured.

  ‘She wouldn’t refuse him, would she?’ Myrtle asked.

  ‘No,’ Rose said harshly. ‘She’ll not refuse such an offer. She’d not be that daft.’

  ‘But she loves Terry. What if he comes back? He doesn’t even know about the baby yet, does he?’

  Neither Grace nor Rose could answer her.

  All three listened to the sounds outside the room: the front-room door opening and closing, the sound of two pairs of footsteps mounting the stairs and entering the bedroom above them. Mary came downstairs a few moments later and three pairs of eyes looked up at her questioningly as she came into the room.

  ‘She’s said no.’

  ‘Why?’ Rose was the first to ask. ‘It’s the answer to everything.’

  Mary shook her head as she sat down. ‘Not in Peggy’s eyes, it isn’t. Nor – if it comes to that – in mine.’

  ‘I see. So you’d prefer to face the shame and disgrace, would you?’ Grace asked.

  Mary turned to her mother and lifted her chin boldly. Though the older women had now said Peggy could stay, Mary knew very well that she could change her mind at any time.

  ‘Mother – she doesn’t love Bob and he’s only doing it because he once loved her. He thinks it’s the gallant thing to do.’ Swiftly she related all that Peggy had said.

  ‘I don’t believe her – or him,’ Rose said bitterly. ‘If he had any feelings for me, he wouldn’t be asking my sister to marry him, now would he? I bet she’s made it up to try and make me feel better.’

  ‘I don’t think Peggy would do that,’ Mary said quietly.

  Rose glared at her mother as she said slowly and deliberately, ‘You didn’t think Peggy would get herself into trouble, did you?’

  To that even Mary had no answer.

  As they were locking up, banking down the fire and preparing to go upstairs to bed, Mary and Rose were the only ones left downstairs.

  ‘You should go and see Bob,’ Mary said. She was saddened by the dreadful quarrel between her daughters, who had once been so close and loving towards each other. She’d never dreamed anything like this could possibly happen. But it had and, as their mother, she was trying to comfort both of them. ‘Ask him outright why he did it.’

  Rose pouted and wriggled her shoulders. ‘I don’t care if I never see him again.’

  ‘You don’t mean that.’

  ‘Anyway, he’s going back tomorrow.’

  ‘Then you should try to see him before he goes. Don’t part on bad terms. You’re on the late shift tomorrow. You could catch him before he leaves in the morning.’

  When Rose still didn’t answer, Mary added softly, ‘Think about it. You might regret it if you don’t even try.’

  Rose had a sleepless night, but by the time the first light of dawn was creeping through the windows she’d realized her mother was right. Although it hadn’t been put into words, Rose knew her mother was hinting that if anything happened to Bob, she’d spend the rest of her life regretting that she hadn’t at least tried to put things right between them. She knew her dreams of marrying him one day now lay in tatters, but deep down she didn’t want to part on bad terms with him. She’d never forgive herself if he were killed.

  Thirty-Two

  Hester was still up when Bob arrived home at last.

  ‘Where’ve you been? I’ve been so worried. Come near the fire and get warm. Oh, Bob, you’ve been drinking. I can smell it on your breath.’

  ‘Just a pint or two,’ Bob mumbled. He was by no means drunk, but he had had more than the pint or two he was admitting to his mother. He shivered as he slumped down into a chair and held his hands out to the fire. ‘Mam, I think I’ve done something very stupid.’

  Hester’s eyes widened and she couldn’t prevent a little gasp escaping her lips. ‘Oh, Bob, what have you done?’ She scanned his face anxiously. There were no cuts, no bruises. It didn’t look as if he’d got into a fight.

  ‘Peggy’s pregnant,’ he said flatly.

  ‘Oh no! Is – is it yours?’

  Bob shook his head. ‘No – it’s that blasted s
oldier she met. But he’s gone away and never been in touch with her. He’s deserted her, Mam, I’m sure of it. So – I’ve offered to marry her.’

  Hester thought she must be in the middle of a nightmare. Any moment she would wake up and find that this was all a horrible dream. But it wasn’t. ‘But why? If it’s not yours . . .’

  ‘I was very fond of Peggy. I just can’t bear to think of her having to face the shame and disgrace of being an unmarried mother. When Rose told me—’

  ‘Rose told you? She never said a word to me and she’s been round here several times to see if there was a letter from you.’ She paused and then realized exactly what Bob had said. ‘You were fond of her? You mean, you’re not now?’

  Bob ran his hands distractedly through his hair. ‘I don’t know. I was in love with her – at least I thought I was – but when she went off with another man, well, it rather killed a lot of what I felt for her. And yet . . .’ He sighed heavily as if he couldn’t quite analyse what his feelings for Peggy were now. ‘And I’ve become so close to Rose. Oh, Mam, what am I to do?’

  Hester bit her lip. ‘It was a foolish thing to do, but that’s just like you, isn’t it, Bob? You’re too soft-hearted for your own good.’ She sighed. ‘Has Peggy accepted your gallant offer?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then what’s the problem? You’ve been let off the hook. You’ve had a lucky escape.’

  ‘But what about Rose? I must have hurt her terribly.’

  ‘Yes, I’m sure you have, Bob, because if I know nothing else in all this, I know that Rose loves you.’

  Hester Deeton, still in her dressing gown, opened the door to Rose’s frantic knocking the following morning.

  ‘Is he here? Can I see him?’

  As she looked closer at the woman, Rose could see that she had been crying.

  ‘Oh, Rose, he’s gone.’

  ‘Can I come in?’