‘Miss Tibbs remind me of my husband. He snores too,’ Anya exclaimed, giving the older woman a glare.
‘Then swap with me,’ Flora said, trying to stop the argument that was bound to start if the women bickered. ‘You can move into the dining room and share with Mildred.’
‘She snores louder,’ Anya answered.
‘Oh dear,’ was all Flora could think to say.
Rose looked around the large kitchen. ‘You could always move out Miss Tibbs’ armchair and put Pearl’s small single bed in here. I would think it would be warm and cosy on colder nights. That’s if you aren’t expecting Pearl back anytime soon?’ she asked Joyce.
‘I’m missing Pearl dreadfully, but she’s safe in Tunbridge Wells with my sister and having a wonderful time with her cousin. I was invited to go with her, but I like working at the grocery shop with Mrs Peabody, and it means I can put in extra hours and do some volunteer work. If Pearl should come back, we can always top and tail in my bed – there’s plenty of room. I don’t want to put anyone out.’
‘That’s extremely generous of you,’ Flora said. ‘I must say, I miss young Pearl, as she brightened up the place and was such good company,’ she added, looking to where Anya and Miss Tibbs were bickering over who snored and who didn’t. ‘Now, before we set to and do any more cleaning I say we have a cup of tea and something to eat. We can move that bed at the same time, while there are plenty of willing hands. Miss Tibbs, perhaps you’d like to get started while we move the furniture, and then we will all be down here on the ground floor? I’ll sleep much happier knowing no one is upstairs, where the most damage seems to have happened.’
‘I should think we’ll be spending more and more time in the tunnels if these air raids continue. Do you know, I overheard someone in the shop saying they were going to move lock, stock and barrel into the tunnel as it was safer.’
‘I’m not sure the authorities will allow that. Mind you, so many people have been inventive, using curtains and things to partition off a small area for their families. I’ve heard there are church services as well. Life in Ramsgate seems to be continuing underground just as it did out in the fresh air.’
‘Talking of fresh air, I’m going to take those lavender bags I made with me next time we have to go down there,’ Miss Tibbs said as she filled the kettle. ‘What with the lavvies only curtained off by a piece of sacking and then those men a bit down the tunnel from us not seeming to bother about burping and passing wind, it can get right smelly at times. A few lavender bags just might just do the trick.’
Flora looked at Rose and they both giggled. ‘I would think it will take more than a bit of lavender, Miss Tibbs, but no harm in trying. Rose, would you help me collect the blankets for the bed?’
Rose followed her mum, knowing that they would be alone and perhaps it was time to have a word and clear the air. ‘Mum, about what we fell out over . . .’ she said as they pulled the blankets and sheet from what had been Pearl’s bed.
‘We didn’t really fall out, dear, did we?’
Rose looked ashamed. ‘Well, I got upset after what I found.’
‘And I was annoyed that you had pried into my private papers.’
‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been looking,’ she said, biting her lip.
‘It’s quite understandable. I should have told you the truth about Sea View, and how I came to own it.’
Rose shook a pillowcase and folded it neatly. ‘That’s what confused me. Dad’s name wasn’t mentioned, and it was an old document. It named you and me, but I’d have only been a child, going by the date. And why was General Sykes handing it over to us, when I thought he’d just been one of your lodgers? I was upset to see such things, and you never having told me. As for my birth certificate only having your name on it – why would that be?’
‘Wait for me, Lily, and be careful,’ Katie said as she followed her friend into what would have been the living room, if there had been a front wall and more than half a ceiling remaining. What wasn’t covered in dust had a layer of soot from where the chimney place had crumbled away from the supporting wall. If the girls had wanted to, they could have poked their heads through the hole in the brickwork and seen into next door.
‘Here, I didn’t know you had a wedding ring,’ Katie added with a laugh. ‘That wiped the smile off that nosy woman’s face, but I’m not sure you should have thumped her like that.’
Lily waved her hand in the air. ‘Good old Woolies. I bought it the other day, thinking I was bound to have problems with some old trout before too long. As for walloping her like I did, well, perhaps it was wrong; but she was asking for it, telling stories about my mum like that. It’s a bit of a mess here, isn’t it?’ she added, seeming more worried about the house than the neighbour.
‘Listen – what’s that?’ Katie said as the sound of a groan came from the back of the house.
‘It sounds like George,’ Lily said as she pulled an armchair aside and cleared a path to the kitchen. ‘Here, give me a hand – this door seems to be stuck.’
Katie put her shoulder to the door and gave it a hefty shove, causing it to groan as it opened halfway. ‘It won’t go any further, but I think I can squeeze through,’ she said as she forced herself through the gap. ‘I can see the problem; there’s some rubble on the floor. Hang on a minute,’ she added, kicking the mess out of the way. Grabbing the door with both hands, she pulled, and it opened enough for Lily to get herself into the kitchen.
‘George, where are you?’ Lily called as she carefully stepped over the brick rubble. A groan led her to the pantry, where he was lying on the floor of the walk-in stone cupboard.
‘Get me some help. I can’t move me legs,’ he said.
‘It looks as though the stone shelf came loose in the air raid and trapped him,’ Katie said.
George glared at her. ‘Stop with stating the bloody obvious and get me some help,’ he growled.
Lily, who was about to lean in to help her stepfather, backed away as a wave of stale beer fumes hit her in the face. Putting her hand over her mouth, she heaved, but managed not to be sick. ‘No wonder you weren’t down the tunnels. You were blind drunk and probably didn’t even hear the siren,’ she shouted at him. ‘We ought to leave you here to die,’ she said as a wave of anger flooded over her.
‘I’ll go and get some help,’ Katie said. ‘There were some soldiers up the road – one of them might just be able to come and give a hand. Don’t you go lifting him, not in your condition. You might hurt the baby,’ she said sternly before hurrying from the house.
George wiped a hand across his eyes, trying to clear a layer of dust. ‘So you’ve got yourself in the club, have you? You always did have the morals of an alley cat.’
‘Just shut up,’ Lily spat back at him. ‘Once Katie brings some help, I’m off, and I don’t ever want to see your ugly face ever again. I only came as Mum would have wanted me to make sure you were all right. I owe you nothing after the way you’ve treated me.’
‘I gave you a good home,’ he muttered, wincing as pain shot through him. ‘When I took on your mother and put a roof over her head, I never expected to be landed with a young kid as well She kept that quiet.’
Lily was livid. She felt the blood pump through her head as she digested his words. ‘You put a roof over our heads? I think you’ll find Mum was already renting this place and putting food on the table. What she did wrong was to fall in love with you and become blind to what you was up to,’ she shouted, kicking the stone slab lying over his legs, causing him to scream in pain. ‘She paid for your booze, and your gambling, and got nothing in return – not even another child, which she always wanted. I’ve lost count of the number of times she’d promised me a baby brother or sister when I was growing up.’
‘So you’ve had to provide a kid for yourself, have you? What poor sucker got tied up with you?’ he snarled back, wiping a drop of blood from his nose. It left a pale red streak across his dust-covered face.
Lily couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘But this is yours. Don’t you remember . . .?’
George laughed loudly, prompting a fit of coughing. ‘Me put you in the club?’ he said, laughing again. ‘Chance would be a fine thing. You picked the wrong mug, darling. I’ve been firing blanks since I was injured in the last war. If everything worked as it should, your mother would have had a dozen or more – and they’d have a few brothers and sisters wandering about this town with different mothers,’ he chuckled. ‘So don’t you go blaming that on me,’ he added, his voice growing weaker before he rallied with a little more strength. ‘Not through want of trying though, eh?’
Lily couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘You mean all those years of Mum waiting for her monthlies and thinking there was something wrong with her, and you knew this all along? That was the one thing she wanted, and you couldn’t even tell her the truth, you filthy piece of shit,’ she screamed, kicking at his head until her feet grew numb and he stopped whimpering. ‘You bloody bastard,’ she spit out as she staggered back against the wall, panting. It seemed as if everything around her started to move, and she felt as if she might be about to faint. Grabbing at the damaged edge of the wall, she felt it shift in her hand – and then it crashed down around her, bringing down lath and plaster from the ceiling along with some large planks of wood. ‘Not now,’ Lily cried out, falling alongside George as everything went black.
‘It’s just up here,’ Katie called out to the group of soldiers who had stopped clearing a collapsed wall from the road to help her. ‘That house right there,’ she said, stopping to catch her breath. As they hurried past her, there was a crash of falling masonry from inside.
‘Oh no – Lily!’ Katie cried.
‘It’s Katie, isn’t it?’ one of the soldiers asked.
She frowned. ‘Yes, but . . .’
‘I’m Captain Hargreaves . . . Ben,’ he added, as she looked puzzled. ‘We met at a dance when you were with Rose.’
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you in the overalls,’ she said, her focus still on the front of Lily’s building. ‘You all looked the same.’
‘Guv, there’s two of ’em in here. One’s a goner and the other, well, she’s in a bad way.’
‘That’s Lily. Please – you’ve got to help her. She’s expecting a baby,’ Katie explained, not knowing what to do.
‘We will do all we can,’ he reassured her. ‘Don’t you live not far from here?’
‘Not anymore – we moved to Broadstairs. We’re here to see if Flora – Rose’s mum – is all right after the bashing the town’s taken today. Lily wanted to check on her stepfather. That’s him in there with her.’
Ben nodded as he listened to what Katie had to say. ‘It might be a good idea for you to go to Flora’s house and tell them what has happened. Lily may want people she knows to be with her.’ And I don’t want you to see anything that will upset you, he thought to himself.
‘Yes, I’ll go this instant.’ Katie turned and started to run as fast as she could. It felt an age before she spotted Sea View and put a spurt on for the last few yards. As she banged loudly on the door, her legs gave way, and she sank to her knees on the step as the door opened. ‘Please, you’ve got to come with me. It’s Lily. I think she’s dying.’
Mildred shouted to the other women for help as she lifted Katie to her feet and assisted her into the front room, laying her on Miss Tibbs’ bed. ‘Calm down, love, and tell me slowly what has happened,’ she said as Rose appeared with a glass of water. Katie took a sip, and did her best to breathe slowly until she was able to speak.
‘The army are helping, and I was told to come and tell you all as quickly as I could,’ she added, after explaining what had occurred since they’d left Mildred and Rose. ‘I thought she was all right, because I could hear her shouting at George as I left to find help for him. Something terrible must have happened to her. What if she’s lost the baby?’ Katie added, looking fearfully at the worried faces of her friends.
17
For Rose, what followed was a nightmare. They reached the remains of Lily’s old home just as a stretcher was being loaded into the back of an army lorry. She froze, numbed by the horror of the scene, and it was only as someone shouted, ‘We’ve found her,’ that she realized the body under the blanket was not that of her dear friend Lily. She recognized the white-faced Lily as the ambulance crew, along with concerned soldiers, carried her away from the rubble and gently placed her into the waiting ambulance.
‘This war’s a bastard,’ an older soldier said to no one in particular as he stood watching the ambulance head away.
‘Where will they take her?’ Rose asked. ‘She’s my friend,’ she explained to the soldier, as he gave her a look that implied she was another nosy neighbour. He’d already had to see off one woman with a bloody nose wanting to know the ins and outs of the situation.
‘I’ve no idea, love, but I’ll find out for you. It might be a good idea if you let her husband know what’s happened.’
‘She doesn’t have a husband, and her only family was her stepfather – who you brought out just before her. We, her friends, are all she has now,’ Rose said as her eyes started to fill with tears. ‘We need to be with her in case she wakes up.’
The soldier looked at the small group of women standing close by, the youngest woman sobbing on the shoulder of an elderly woman, while two middle-aged women hung on to each other, looking upset. Another woman he’d seen talking to his captain had just marched off at some speed, as if she had some kind of plan hatching. ‘I’ll go and find out,’ he said as he patted her arm in a fatherly manner. No husband, eh? he thought to himself as he went over to his captain, who had gone into that house with his men, not thinking of his own safety. He thought of his own daughter safely at home and gave a shudder, hoping that she never found herself with child and without a man to stand by her.
‘Mildred’s gone to fetch the van,’ Joyce said as she scrubbed her eyes with a balled up-handkerchief. ‘She seems to know where they are taking Lily. I just hope we’re in time to . . .’ She couldn’t speak any more.
Rose nodded, unable to speak, as if she’d done so she knew it would be to talk about her friend being close to death – and most likely the baby, who they’d all looked forward to welcoming into their close-knit group, losing its life before it had taken one breath.
Flora looked at Rose, and they could see each other’s thoughts. No words were needed. ‘I’ll see to Miss Tibbs,’ she said, and went to help the old lady console Katie.
‘I’m so grateful my Pearl is away from here and out of danger,’ Joyce gulped. ‘She wrote to me to say she was knitting a pair of bootees for Lily’s child, and said it would be like having a baby brother or sister. I don’t know how she is going to take the news . . .’ she said, before breaking into fresh tears.
‘No one has died yet,’ Rose said sharply. ‘Lily wouldn’t want us standing here talking about her as if she were dead. We need to be with her,’ she added, looking to see where the soldier had gone. There was no sign of Mildred, either. Why was everything happening so slowly?
‘Miss, the Captain said I could take you to the ’ospital in his car. He’s tied up at the minute, but sends his regards.’
‘That’s very kind of him,’ Rose said as she hurried to tell the others.
‘I’ll wait for Mildred,’ Flora said when she was given the news. ‘You go with the others, and let’s hope we are there in time,’ she added, looking sad. ‘I’ve never taken to that George Jacobs. That’s why I’m none too upset about him meeting his maker like he has.’
Rose felt the same, and not knowing what to say, she hugged her mother tightly. ‘I’ll see you at the hospital,’ she said before hurrying to join the others, who’d by now climbed into the army vehicle. As they sped up the road they passed Mildred in her van, and Rose breathed a sigh of relief that her mum would soon be joining them. If only they’d had time to talk properly before Katie had come rushing b
ack, and things were as they used to be before she opened that attaché case and found her childhood had been a lie. She would need to know the whole story before she could consider forgiving her mum for not sharing her secrets.
She leant back in the seat and tried to relax, knowing it would be a long day as they waited and prayed for Lily and her unborn child. Taking deep breaths and trying to ignore her nagging thoughts, she scanned the interior of the army vehicle. With Miss Tibbs, Katie and Joyce in the back, it was getting warm. She reached for the handle to open the window and noticed a card stuck to the dashboard showing the details of the army unit and the registered user. Her heart fluttered as she saw the name: Captain Benjamin Hargreaves.
Why was this man forever turning up in her life? With thousands of army personnel on Thanet, why was it that Ben was the one to keep crossing her path? Her life was more than complicated enough, with poor Lily at death’s door and her mother having secrets. She didn’t need the man she had fallen in love with, who had a wife and children, coming back into the picture. At that moment she could have stopped the car and run as fast as her legs would carry her, so she could leave her worries and fears far behind.
‘If you head through those doors, you’ll find out where your friend has been taken,’ the soldier said. With grateful thanks ringing in his ears, he headed off, honking the horn of the vehicle as it sped out of the hospital grounds just as Mildred entered. Spotting her friends, she waved for them to wait for her.
‘Look who I found,’ she said as Anya climbed out of the back of the van, helped by Flora as the Polish woman moaned about the smell of fish in the vehicle.
Mildred ignored her and looked at the worried faces of her friends. ‘Right, let’s go and find out what’s happening, shall we?’ she said as she took charge of the worried group of women. Heading down a long passageway, she stopped by a desk where a nurse sat writing notes. ‘Excuse me, miss; we want to know about our friend Lily Douglas. She was brought in a few minutes ago. She’s injured and is expecting a baby,’ Mildred added, hoping it would help the nurse to find her.
The Teashop Girls Page 29