Lily’s face dropped. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘My dear, you wouldn’t, because you are an innocent who doesn’t know what goes on in this horrid world. Women like the one you met today are just after your money. Once she put dirty instruments inside you and cut your body, God only knows what would have happened to you. In a way I was lucky, because I survived when so many poor women don’t.’
‘I thought they wanted to help me and people like me,’ Lily said, shaking her head. ‘This is so hard to understand. The Nippy who guessed my problem and gave me that woman’s details said she was a good person who helped girls who were in trouble.’
Mildred looked across to Rose, who sat stony-faced, and raised her eyebrows. Rose nodded slowly, knowing what the older woman was trying to convey without words. Rose knew she would have to track this girl down and have her removed from the employ of the Lyons company, for God only knew how many other young women she’d sent to the abortionist. Time enough to find out who this person was. First, she must make everything right in Lily’s world.
‘Lily, there are people who do help women – and not just because they’ve made a mistake with a young man they’ve only just met,’ Mildred explained sympathetically. ‘Some wives just can’t bear to have another child when they have so many mouths to feed, and hardly any money coming into the house. They know who to go to for help. Sadly, for the likes of us, we chose the wrong person to turn to. You were lucky you had Rose to stop you from going through with this. I like to think someone was looking down on you today in your hour of need. I’m not a religious woman, but we all need a guardian angel at some time in our lives. Yours could have been your mum stepping in to help,’ she smiled gently, not expecting Lily to all but explode.
‘My mum?’ she cried. ‘You think my mum helped me? Bloody hell, Mildred, she could have done it sooner than this if she wanted to help. For some reason she loved that old bastard, and wouldn’t listen to the stories of his womanizing. After she died he thought I was an easy target. I should have killed him when I had the chance. That poker was inches from my hand. I could have ended it – but like a silly cow, I thought it was doing wrong, not knowing his rotten seed was already inside me and ruining my life. Oh no, I went on thinking I could keep out of his way through some stupid misguided loyalty to my dead mum, who on her deathbed begged me to keep a roof over his head after she’d gone.’ Lily collapsed back into the chair she’d leapt from in anger only seconds before. ‘What a bloody, bloody fool I’ve been,’ she sobbed into her hands. ‘A bloody, bloody fool.’
‘Perhaps your mum didn’t know what he was like?’ Mildred soothed her as she rocked Lily in her arms. The look Rose gave her told her that they both knew the man was a drunk and a troublemaker.
The distraught girl gave a shuddering breath as she tried to stop her heartrending sobs before hiccuping a hysterical laugh. ‘Good try, Mildred, but Mum knew what he was like. She even paid off a few women who banged on our door, as she said they were telling lies. She didn’t want anyone blackening our family name. I’m surprised an angry husband never bumped him off one dark night and threw him into the harbour. He deserved it.’
Rose didn’t know what to say to help her friend. Her own mum had warned her more than once not to go to Lily’s home, and now she knew why. ‘Perhaps the baby isn’t his?’ she suggested, knowing that regardless of Lily’s home life, she liked a laugh with the men.
‘Thanks for that,’ Lily said, cuffing her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘What do you think I’m like? I’ve only ever been with one bloke, and he laughed at me when I said I hadn’t done it before. He made me feel like a dirty tart. I didn’t even know until then that what that bastard had done to me meant I’d not be able to walk up the aisle in a white dress.’
Rose enveloped her friend in her arms and they both cried together. ‘Can I tell you something, Lily?’
Lily raised her swollen, tear-stained face and looked at Rose without saying a thing.
Rose felt embarrassed as Mildred was in the room and listening intently. ‘I can’t wear white at my wedding either, so we are a right pair, aren’t we?’ She tried to smile, but also felt saddened by what she’d said. She wasn’t a churchgoer, but she’d never lie in church, and wearing a white gown with all it meant was as good as a lie any day.
Mildred wiped her red face with a handkerchief. ‘Well, we are a right trio, aren’t we? Not a white frock to be worn between us. Think of the old girls tittle-tattling about this,’ she smiled. ‘What I can’t understand is how the pair of you didn’t know what you were doing. Don’t you read books? Even those women’s magazines mention what goes on during the wedding night.’
‘I only look at the fashion pages,’ Lily said with a weak smile, ‘and the last book I read was when I was at school.’
‘But Flora would have explained what was what, wouldn’t she?’ Mildred asked, looking at Rose’s red face.
‘No, she just told me I wasn’t to go bringing shame on her by doing things I oughtn’t to.’
‘Well, I’ll be . . .’ Mildred said, shaking her head. ‘What about when you go to the pictures?’ she asked, turning back to Lily.
‘Clive Danvers is too much of a gentleman to take advantage of his lady friends. It has to be true love. And then all we see is him smoking a cigarette afterwards,’ Lily said seriously.
‘He is the spy from the films we like to watch. Johnny Johnson is our favourite actor,’ Rose explained.
Mildred was lost for words until she started to see a small smile pass between the two girls. ‘Oh, you two. You had me going there for a minute,’ she huffed. ‘Can’t you take anything seriously?’
‘I’m sorry,’ Rose said. ‘We shouldn’t have done that. I know I don’t want to make light of the situation. However, I’ll say this now: whatever happens, I’ll welcome this baby – whoever its father is – because it is your baby, Lily, and we are like sisters. Let’s make some plans and have no more talk about getting rid of it, shall we? I reckon Katie will say the same as well.’
Mildred went out to the kitchen to put the kettle on, but called out, ‘This war will do you a favour. With you being over here away from Ramsgate, we can make up a bit of a story to explain the baby.’
‘But I won’t be able to work before too long, and I wouldn’t expect Rose to support me or put me up here. It wouldn’t be right, what with her a manageress at the teashop. Perhaps I should move away and make a fresh start rather than bring shame on you all,’ Lily said with a resolute look on her face.
‘Oh no you won’t,’ Rose and Mildred said at the same time.
‘I’ve got an idea,’ Mildred continued, ‘and once you’ve drunk this tea I’ve just made, you are both going for a short ride with me.’
‘Not to Ramsgate,’ Rose said quickly. ‘I’m not ready to speak to Mum yet and I don’t want to bump into her too soon.’
‘No, I’m not taking you to Sea View. I’m going to show you my little secret. It’s something I’ve kept to myself for many years now. It’s time I helped you girls out. You’d know soon enough if anything happened to me. I’ve been putting my house in order for a while now, and it’s about time I explained everything.’
Rose and Lily looked puzzled at Mildred’s words, but didn’t argue with her as she raised her hand to indicate it wasn’t open for discussion.
‘Do you mind if I just pop down to the teashop? I told them I’d only be gone a couple of hours, and it’s about that now,’ Rose asked. It felt much longer, what with everything that had happened, but she wanted to check all was well before she left the shop again. She had capable staff, and knew it would be in good hands for a while.
‘Be off with you now, and we’ll be waiting when you get back,’ Mildred said as she carried a tea tray into the room.
‘Miss Neville,’ one of the Nippies called as Rose entered the teashop. ‘Miss Neville, there’s a message on your desk to contact head office as soon as possible.’
‘Than
k you Janet; have there been any problems while I’ve been out?’ she asked as she took off her coat and hurried to her office, nodding hello to a few of the people enjoying afternoon tea. It wasn’t usual for head office to make a telephone call to the tearooms, especially when Mr Grant had been there earlier that day. He would normally have been the person to impart information from head office.
Rose waited patiently as the person on the other end of the telephone line went to find a Mrs Burgess who wished to speak with her. She flicked through the few letters that had arrived in the afternoon post. There was nothing that couldn’t wait to be dealt with in the morning.
‘Ah, Miss Neville, thank you for your patience,’ a pleasant and efficient older voice said down the phone line. ‘I thought I would let you know about something important that has been decided here at head office.’
‘That’s very kind of you,’ Rose said, her interest at once piqued by the idea of something out of the ordinary happening.
‘You’ve probably seen the newspaper headlines over the past few days about our lads over the Channel?’
Rose had to agree she’d seen the news reports, although she wasn’t one for reading the newspapers; anything important typically reached her by way of her customers or the Nippies. She’d caught part of the Pathé News when she’d been to the pictures with Lily the other night and been shocked to see the enemy had invaded Holland and Belgium, and were bombing all the airports. It made her think of Anya and how she had escaped to England – and then, of course, Ben . . .
‘Are you there?’ Mrs Burgess asked with an edge of impatience.
Rose came back to the present with a start. ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you for a minute,’ she apologized. ‘You asked if I’d seen the newspapers? Yes, it’s awful, isn’t it?’ she said, trying to show she was aware of what was going on even though she hadn’t seen today’s paper.
‘Terrible, but at least we can now help the war effort, and that is why I wanted to speak with you rather than send a letter. Speed is of the essence if we are to be ready to help our brave lads.’
Rose, trying hard to keep up, was confused by what was being said. How could they help the war effort down here in Margate – apart from helping to raise money for the troops’ parcel fund that the girls all supported at the teashop?
‘Our vans should be with you some time tomorrow. It will mean your teashop as well as the Ramsgate branch being short-staffed, but what else can we do at a time like this? I just wanted to warn you before I clock off and head home for the night. I’ll be back in touch once I have more information. Goodbye . . .’
Rose bid the woman goodbye, not understanding a word of what she was talking about. ‘Oh well, I’ll find out tomorrow,’ she said aloud. ‘Now to see what Mildred is up to.’ After speaking to the senior Nippies, she checked her handbag and hurried off to meet her friends, who she found standing by Mildred’s vehicle waiting for her to arrive.
Rose climbed in beside Lily and they headed eastwards along the coastline. ‘Are you sure we aren’t going to Ramsgate?’ she asked, a worried expression crossing her face.
‘I said we weren’t, and you are going to have to trust me,’ Mildred replied as she changed gears, causing the ageing vehicle to complain and shudder.
The two girls sat quietly as Mildred continued the journey, heading through Cliftonville and inland before joining the North Foreland Road. Lily gazed out of the window with unseeing eyes, her head resting on the cool glass, thinking about the future and how she would cope with a child and no means of support – not to mention the stigma of being unmarried. Meanwhile, Rose went over the telephone conversation she’d just had, wondering what Mrs Burgess had been talking about. They both came to with a start when Mildred pulled up beside a small flint-fronted house and told them to jump out.
‘Why are we in Broadstairs?’ Rose asked. ‘Do you have friends living here?’
‘It is my house,’ Mildred laughed, seeing the looks on their faces but not explaining. ‘Welcome to Captain’s Cottage.’
‘Have you moved out of Sea View?’ Rose asked, wondering if there had been another falling out with her mum.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Lily said, looking over the low brick wall at the garden bursting with colour, and then to the mullioned windows. ‘I can see why you moved here. This is the kind of home I’ve dreamt about. I could live my days out in a place like this.’
‘I never thought you were one for dreaming about lovely houses and living happily ever after,’ Rose said, giving her friend a sad look. ‘Not many people get to live their dreams.’
‘Well, this here house has been a nightmare for me since I was a young girl,’ Mildred said, digging into the pocket of her duffle coat and pulling out a large rusty key. ‘And I don’t live here,’ she corrected Lily. ‘Come along indoors and I’ll tell you about it. If we stand here much longer, the nosy neighbours will be out asking us what we are up to.’
Rose and Lily followed the older woman up a winding path and waited as she struggled with the stiff lock. ‘This is the first time the house has been empty in ten years. It was left to me by my father and I had no wish ever to live here,’ she said, giving the door a hefty shove before beckoning them in. ‘I have no idea what we will find . . .’
‘Oh, it’s wonderful,’ Lily exclaimed as she stepped through the storm porch straight into a small living room and turned around, taking in the open fireplace and blackened beams. ‘With a little tender care this could be a very comfortable home. May I . . .?’ she asked, looking towards two closed doors.
‘Be my guest,’ Mildred said as she pulled the front door closed with a bang. ‘These hinges need a drop of oil.’
Lily pulled back the first door to find a steep oak staircase. She turned to the next door, which took her down two stone steps to a room with a flagstone floor and a small bay window that overlooked a garden. She threw herself down onto the wooden window seat and gazed out. ‘I could be happy in a house like this. You are so lucky, Mildred,’ she sighed.
‘Why would I be lucky? I hate the place and wish it had never been left to me. Why do you think I’ve lived at Sea View all these years with people I consider to be my friends? The lucky person is you, Lily, as I hope you will both be my new tenants and bring the baby up here?’
The two girls looked at Mildred in surprise.
‘This war has had me thinking about my future, so I’ve been to see my solicitor and put my affairs in order. Oh, no, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m as fit and healthy as I’ve always been – but what with being out on the boat so much and not knowing what that monster Adolf Hitler has in store for us, I’ve had to think carefully about my life. I don’t have any relatives who will inherit my belongings, and being so fond of the three of you, it made sense for me to consider you as the beneficiaries of my will. And to make sure you can enjoy part of it while I’m still around to watch.’
‘The three of us?’ Rose asked.
‘The two of you, and Katie.’
The girls rushed to hug the older woman, who opened her arms and accepted their grateful thanks. ‘I wish the house had been available earlier, so Katie could have made use of it as soon as she was married – but who was to know my tenant would give back her lease? She’s headed north to join her son and daughter, as they feared for her down here on the coast,’ Mildred explained. ‘Let’s go upstairs and see the bedrooms.’
The girls didn’t need a second bidding and rushed up to the floor above, followed by Mildred, who was beaming from cheek to cheek. ‘Who knew this house could bring joy again?’ she muttered to herself.
‘Look, there are three bedrooms,’ Rose said, pushing open the doors – not wanting to point out that one was no more than a cupboard, as it would make her sound ungrateful.
‘Don’t be daft – that one’s no use to man nor beast,’ Mildred said as she caught them up. ‘The previous tenant had some notion of me putting a bath in there. I wasn’t going to do it for her, but for yo
u girls it’s a different matter completely.’
‘An indoor bathroom!’ Lily sighed. She had lived most of her life in a two-up, two-down where they’d had to drag a tin bath indoors and boil a kettle for hot water. It had only been for the few months she’d lived at Sea View, and then with Rose, that she’d enjoyed such luxury.
‘I know a man who can get it done for me. There’s a loo downstairs past the scullery and the outhouse,’ Mildred said.
‘You’ve got an outhouse indoors?’
Mildred laughed. ‘The tenant before last bricked up the outside doors, and the attached outhouse and loo became inside rooms. Clever, eh? You’ll have to take a look to appreciate it,’ she said, seeing the girls’ confused faces. ‘Now I have one more surprise for you,’ she grinned.
‘It wouldn’t be a millionaire looking for a Nippy wife, would it?’ Lily laughed.
‘If it was I’d be fighting you for him,’ Rose said, as they watched Mildred open what they’d thought was a cupboard door. It was painted black, unlike the others, which were plain oak. Mildred disappeared inside. ‘Follow me,’ her muffled voice called back.
The girls went up a wooden spiral staircase and found themselves in a light and airy attic room with windows on three sides.
‘The view is wonderful,’ Rose exclaimed. ‘I can see out to sea and over much of Broadstairs as well. It’s like our own private lookout tower. What can you see?’ she asked, joining Lily.
‘It’s the garden. Look at the flower beds – and is that a vegetable plot?’ she asked Mildred, who nodded. ‘The baby will be able to lie out there in the pram and enjoy the lovely weather,’ she sighed.
Rose and Mildred couldn’t speak. What a difference a few hours had made to Lily’s state of mind. Her life suddenly had a bright future.
‘There’s an Anderson shelter down the end of the garden. I know as I got the bill for it,’ Mildred said as Lily went to look out at the sea, which was sparkling in the bright May sunshine.
The Teashop Girls Page 22