Thoughts of the teashop made her realize that she should have been at work, as it was a Saturday. She should at least be prepared to go in to check for damage once the all-clear sounded. Checking the gas was working and water ran from the tap, she put on a kettle to boil and rinsed out the mugs. Filling the thermos with cocoa and adding a little milk, she placed it into a shopping basket along with the food before making a pot of tea. There was just time to pop to the toilet while it brewed, and to wash her face in cold water. Feeling refreshed, she poured the tea into the mugs and took one through to where Mildred was hammering lengths of wood on the door frame to keep the heavy wooden door from falling.
‘There’s a hot cup of tea here,’ she said. ‘Can I give you a hand?’
‘Best not to,’ Mildred smiled while holding a couple of nails in her mouth. ‘Take a look over there.’ She nodded out towards the sea.
‘Oh my . . .’ Rose said as she spotted five planes getting closer.
‘They’re not ours. Look like Messerschmitts to me, heading towards Ramsgate. Get yourself back down the shelter. I’ll be there with you in a minute or two.’
Rose picked up Mildred’s drink and hurried to the kitchen, where she placed the steaming mugs of tea onto a tray. Slinging the shopping basket over her spare arm, she hurried down the garden to the Anderson shelter, thankful her training meant she could carry a laden tray almost anywhere without dropping it.
Shouting to Katie to open the door, she passed through the tray and basket before hurrying inside.
‘Any chance I can go to the house and use the loo?’ Lily asked before the sound of enemy aircraft silenced her. ‘Perhaps not,’ she answered herself. ‘Where’s Mildred?’
‘I’m right here,’ Mildred answered, jumping down the few steps into the shelter and pulling the door closed behind her. ‘Where’s that cup of tea?’
Rose handed out the tea and explained to the girls what had happened to the house. ‘Mildred has made some repairs to the door, but we’ll have to find a builder to fix the windows and put the slates back on the roof.’
‘Don’t we have to get in touch with the council for help?’ Katie asked. ‘We’ve not had to think about this before.’
Mildred finished her tea and wiped her mouth. ‘That went down a treat. There’s something to be said about being stuck in an air-raid shelter with a group of Nippies. At least they make a decent cup of tea,’ she grinned. ‘It beats being down those tunnels in Ramsgate with Miss Tibbs wittering away nineteen to the dozen.’
‘Wasn’t she supposed to be going to stay with her niece in Guildford, away from danger?’
‘She refused. Told Flora she’d not be able to sleep nights worrying about everyone at Sea View. Flora’s moved her and Anya downstairs and they are sleeping in the living room, although they both refused the use of the Morrison shelter. Flora must have the patience of a saint when those two start bickering.’
Katie, who had taken it upon herself to keep the candles alight, blew out a match and looked thoughtful. ‘I wonder if Henio is safe? It feels as though I know the man, with us all wondering if Anya will ever see her husband again. I wonder if he is anything like we imagine him? I do hope he is safe.’
Rose nodded, thinking not only of her mum and the residents of Sea View but of the brave Royal Air Force staff over at Manston, especially Henio, the Polish pilot they all so wanted to meet. She looked towards Mildred, and even in the dimly lit shelter she could see the older woman was thinking the same.
‘I want to go and see how my stepfather is coping,’ Lily exclaimed, getting to her feet from where she had been resting on the sofa with her feet up as her friends cleaned up the mess in Captain’s Cottage. ‘Mum would never forgive me if something happened to him.’
Mildred was aghast. ‘After what he’s done to you?’
‘I still hate the man, but I’d not wish anyone to be suffering after the night we’ve had. I’d just like to check, if that’s all right with you all?’
Mildred nodded. ‘But you aren’t going alone.’
They had all finally staggered out into the late afternoon sunlight a couple of hours after the all-clear sounded. The air had tasted of dust, and there had been an acrid smell of burning that just didn’t seem to clear. The girls had looked about them and agreed they’d been bloody lucky that their house had withstood more than others nearby.
‘This house has been standing for a few centuries. It would take more than the Luftwaffe to damage it. The walls are two foot deep in places,’ Mildred had said, patting the back wall as if it were a pet dog. ‘I’ll get as much repaired as I can myself and call in a builder to do the rest. You’ve not to worry about anything, or that little one is going to arrive red-faced and angry,’ she’d told Lily. After this, Lily had slept soundly until she awoke and made her announcement.
‘I’d like to go and see how everyone is down at Sea View,’ Rose said. ‘I can’t help but worry about them,’ she added, seeing a smile appear on Mildred’s dirty face.
‘I wonder how the teashops fared? We could all be out of jobs if they took a hit,’ Katie said as she dragged a rug out the back door to give it a beating in order to remove the layer of thick dust. ‘Wherever did this all come from?’
‘The house took a bit of a pounding, and with the broken window and front door knocked off its hinges, debris would have blown in from the other houses,’ Mildred explained. ‘We’ll soon have it spick and span, so don’t you go worrying yourselves. As I said before, this could have been worse. We are alive, and that’s all that counts right now. As for going through to Ramsgate, I don’t know . . .’
‘I could check on George at the same time,’ Lily suggested. ‘It would only take a few minutes. God knows if he even got down the shelter.’
‘Knowing your stepfather, he was so drunk he would have slept through the whole day and not heard a thing. As for God, let’s leave him out of it, shall we?’
Rose frowned. That was the second time she’d heard Mildred take offence when God was mentioned. Perhaps while others clung to their faith, she’d lost hers. People could be strange at times. ‘Couldn’t we at least try to see if we can get through to the outskirts of the town? We could walk the rest of the way,’ she said, hoping that Mildred would agree.
Lily opened her mouth to say she didn’t think she could walk very far. Too long sitting in one place down the shelter had made her legs ache. If she was honest, she’d prefer just to go to bed; but first she needed to put her mind at rest and know the old bastard was all right. She silently cursed her mum for giving her a conscience about someone she shouldn’t care about.
Mildred looked between the three girls. ‘I’m not going to get any peace until we’ve been to see that everyone is all right, am I?’
‘I can stay here if there isn’t much room in your van. It’s not as if I have anyone to check up on, is there? I’d probably be in the way,’ Katie said sadly. She wished she did have family to care for. The residents of the children’s home had been evacuated away from the seaside town for the duration, so she didn’t even need to check up on the little ones either. ‘Although I am worried about everyone,’ she quickly added.
‘There’s room for you all. Lily will have to sit up front, and you two can climb into the back. You’ll end up smelling a bit on the fishy side, but needs must.’
‘You could check on the Ramsgate teashop while I look in on everyone at Sea View,’ Rose said. ‘I’ll have to go into Margate later to see how my flat and the tearoom have fared. I do hope we’ll be able to open up on Monday, if there isn’t another air raid.’
Mildred looked up at the clock on the wall. ‘I say we get cracking soon – then we can be back here by sunset, in case there’s another raid.’
Lily groaned. ‘Not another night down the shelter – please, not that. We’ve had months with nothing happening, then the bloody Luftwaffe can’t keep away.’
‘Give me ten minutes to tidy the shelter, then it will be ready for next
time it’s required,’ Rose said, collecting the clean mugs along with a box of candles and matches to take down the garden to the Anderson shelter.
Mildred pulled out a drawer in the sideboard. ‘You’d best take this piece of oilcloth to wrap the matches in. It’ll stop them getting damp. There should be a piece of linoleum under the stairs. We could put it down on the floor of the shelter, and it would help control the dust,’ she said, pulling out the rolled-up piece of faded flooring and following Rose out the back door.
Lily watched the pair of them leave. ‘You know, there’s something strange about Mildred owning this house and not living here.’
‘Perhaps she enjoys the company of the people at Sea View. I’m not sure I’d want to live alone all the time. It must get very lonely,’ Katie said. ‘At least when I had my room over the chip shop, I could hear people most of the time. I found it reassuring.’
Lily was thoughtful. ‘Then she gave the house to us, when she could have sold it and made a bob or two. I wonder if she thinks it’s haunted or something?’ She shivered and looked about her.
‘I don’t think so. She seems happy enough spending time here with us,’ Katie said, picking up the carpet beater and starting to drag another large rug from the room.
‘Then it must be something else, you mark my words.’
16
‘Well, I’ll be . . .’ Mildred said as she stopped the van and looked up ahead. Their journey had taken some time, as she’d had to weave her way around large potholes in the road. At one point they had stopped to help a woman whose chickens had escaped from her garden. Halfway round Wellington Crescent, Mildred came to a sudden halt.
‘What’s the problem?’ Rose asked from the back of the van.
‘We can’t get any further forward. There are houses damaged at the far end and the road’s a mess. Even to try and get through would mean us getting in the way for the rescue workers and Fire Service. I’m going to back up a bit and find somewhere to leave the van. We’ll have to walk the rest of the way. Will you be all right with that, Lily?’
‘I’ll manage,’ Lily said. ‘Don’t worry about me. I’m more concerned that Sea View isn’t far from here, and it could have bomb damage too,’ she said, looking ahead at the smoke spiralling from the back of the Georgian houses.
‘We will soon know what’s going on. Don’t any of you start worrying just yet, will you?’
They all called out, ‘No,’ but the tension in the vehicle could have been cut with a knife.
‘I hope you’ve all got your gas masks with you?’ Katie said, after they’d climbed from the van and straightened their clothing. ‘This might be the time we need them,’ she added before nodding her approval as her friends slung the masks, packed inside small boxes, over their shoulders.
‘If you don’t mind, I’m going to walk through to Mum’s – I mean George’s house. I’ll meet you all back at Sea View,’ Lily said, turning to walk away down a side street.
‘Wait, I’m coming with you,’ Katie said, receiving a nod of approval from Mildred and Rose as she hurried to catch up with Lily. She linked arms with her friend as they took a short stroll past a row of Georgian houses that didn’t seem to have been touched by the destruction of the past days.
Turning a corner into the narrow road of small terraced houses, they stopped dead. ‘Oh my dear God,’ Lily screamed, and began to run as fast as her legs would carry her. ‘There’s nothing left . . .’
Katie grabbed hold of the sleeve of Lily’s cardigan, trying to hold her back. ‘Careful – it looks as though that part of the wall is going to come down at any minute,’ she said, looking to where the front wall of the house had crumbled away, showing each room with hardly a stick of furniture out of place. It reminded her of a doll’s house, opened up for all to look inside.
‘Why is there no one helping?’ Lily screamed, climbing over what had been the front wall.
‘Most of them was down the tunnels,’ a woman said from further down the road. ‘A bloody good job they was too, or they’d all be stone dead if they’d stayed at home.’
Lily looked hopeful. ‘Did you see my stepfather, George Jacobs, down there?’ she asked, knowing that although the tunnels were like the catacombs of old, with smaller tunnels branching off the major one, neighbours were allocated places and small bunk beds close to each other.
The woman walked closer and peered at Lily. ‘You look different to how you used to look when you lived here,’ she said, staring at Lily’s protruding stomach. ‘’Ere – are you expecting? Where’s your husband? I don’t remember any mention of a wedding. Your mum would have invited me if she was still here, God bless her soul,’ she said, crossing herself.
‘It was a very quick affair,’ Lily muttered, not wanting to explain herself to this meddling busybody.
‘In the army, is he? Our Daphne’s young man was called up before we could arrange an engagement. I see you must have had time for a honeymoon,’ she said again, looking at Lily’s obvious pregnancy. ‘Was it a nice wedding? Let me see your ring.’
Katie held her breath. This would be where the nosy woman found out that Lily wasn’t married. If Katie had been able to without the woman seeing, she would have slipped her own wedding band onto her friend’s finger.
‘Here you are, you nosy old cow,’ Lily said, pulling her left hand out of her pocket and waving it into the woman’s face. ‘Are you satisfied now you can see I’m legal? There’s no gossip to be found here, so if you can’t tell me where my stepfather is, would you please sod off up your own end of the street?’
‘Well, I never. I was only trying to help. Your mother would never have spoken to me like that,’ the woman stuttered, not knowing which way to look. ‘If you must know, he wasn’t down the tunnel. I know that as our Stevie slept on his bunk, seeing as he wasn’t using it. He’s probably lying drunk somewhere. We all know what he’s like, so you don’t need to put your airs and graces on in front of me like your mother used to. All of us up this road know she was no better than she ought to be.’
Katie sucked in her breath. Lily’s mum had been the salt of the earth. There had never been any gossip about her in all the years Katie had known her.
Lily’s face turned bright red, and she took a step closer to the woman. ‘Why, you old cow,’ she said, swinging her right hand back before punching her squarely on the chin. The woman stood looking puzzled for a few seconds before tottering backwards against a lamppost that was just about standing upright, then sliding down the post onto her backside.
‘She’ll be out cold for a while. Come on, let’s go in and find George.’
‘I don’t think we should go in there,’ Katie said as she watched Lily hitch up her skirt and climb over the pile of rubble that had once formed part of the front wall of the house. Lily didn’t take any notice, but started to disappear into the building. Katie looked left and right to make sure no one was watching her before lifting her own skirts and following her friend into what was left of her former home.
Rose looked up at the building that had been her home for so many years and where she had been born. She was relieved to see that Sea View was still standing, but it had certainly suffered. The gabled window of the attic was missing and most windows on the second floor had lost their glass. Plaster had come away in places and the beautiful tiled front path was cracked and pitted. Across the grassed area to the front of the guesthouse, she could see a large gap where two similar houses had stood. Her relief turned to sadness as she spotted an ambulance and men taking away a body covered with a blanket. That could so easily have been her mum. She could have died before they’d made their peace, Rose thought to herself.
‘Mum, are you in?’ she called as she carefully stepped over the cracked pathway and banged on the front door, which swung open on her touch. Treading carefully, she went into the hall, still calling out to Flora.
‘Mind how you go, there’s no knowing what damage has been done,’ Mildred said from close behind h
er.
‘I just want to know that Mum is all right,’ she called back as fear gripped her stomach.
‘I’m here, love,’ Flora said as she appeared at the end of the hall and hurried to hug Rose and then Mildred. ‘We’ve been so worried about you all. Where are Lily and Katie?’
‘They’ve gone to check up on George. You didn’t happen to see him, did you?’ Mildred asked.
Flora shook her head, looking concerned. ‘No, but then he would go down the tunnels by a different route to us. There’s no knowing where he was when the air-raid siren went off.’
‘He could be sleeping it off somewhere,’ Mildred said, and Rose and Flora agreed. They followed Flora down the few steps at the end of the hall into the kitchen, where they spotted Joyce, Anya and Miss Tibbs preparing a meal. ‘There’s no knowing with that man, but after what’s gone on today it’s only right that Lily checks he’s not injured. I just hope she’s careful. We don’t want any harm to come to her or the baby. Now sit yourself down, and help yourself to tea. You look tired out. What’s it been like over your way?’
Mildred filled the ladies in on how they had fared at Captain’s Cottage and what damage they’d sustained. ‘I’ll give you a hand patching up here once I’ve finished this,’ she said, tucking into the sardines on toast that had been put in front of her. ‘I know a chap that’ll sort out the damage, and he won’t diddle you.’
‘That’s very good of you, Mildred, but I’m wondering if we’d do as well to just board the windows over for now. It’s likely Hitler will send his bully boys back again tomorrow, and we can’t keep patching up Sea View.’
‘But what about the bedrooms, Mum?’ Rose said, concerned for Flora’s income, as she couldn’t very well rent out rooms with boarded-over windows.
‘I’ve moved downstairs,’ Joyce said. ‘There’s no need for me to have that big room now that Pearl’s been evacuated. Flora’s put three beds in the living room, and it’s been quite fun mucking in together with Anya and Miss Tibbs. It reminds me of when I went to boarding school,’ she grinned.
The Teashop Girls Page 28