A Ration Book Daughter

by Jean Fullerton

  A moment later they were embracing as if they’d know each other for years. Everyone was introduced to everyone else. Cathy nudged Peter into giving Kirsty the ration-size bar of Cadbury’s Dairy along with a latest copy of School Friend she’d bought as a present. In return, Kirsty handed Peter a Ladybird Book of British Trains and a packet of Fruit Pastilles.

  Jeremiah, who had been waiting a little way away until the introductions were done, came over to take Aggie and Kirsty’s luggage to the lorry. A few minutes later Cathy and Aggie, with Kirsty between them and Peter on Cathy’s lap, were in the driver’s cab of the Bedford. With Peter sucking his sweets and Kirsty nibbling her chocolate, she and Aggie chatted all the way as Jeremiah drove them to Alderney Street.

  They’d arrived home an hour ago and Cathy had set off to fetch Archie, leaving Archie’s family to settle in. So eager was she to see his face when he walked in and found them waiting for him, she’d nearly let the cat out of the bag when they’d got off the bus and he’d spotted the telephone box. She was glad she’d stopped herself just in time as seeing his tearful happiness now brought a lump to Cathy’s throat.

  After several rounds of hugging and kissing in the hallway, Archie lifted his head and his blue eyes returned to Cathy.

  Untangling himself from his womenfolk’s embrace, he took a step towards her but as he did, Kirsty grabbed his arm.

  ‘Da, Da,’ she begged, dragging him to the stairs. ‘Come and see ma room.’

  ‘Kirsty, where are your manners, child?’ remonstrated her grandmother.

  ‘No, it’s all right,’ Cathy said, smiling at the young girl, who looked a little crestfallen as she stood beside Archie. ‘Go ahead, Kirsty. I’m sure your dad will want to see it.’

  Taking her father’s hand and chattering ten to the dozen, Kirsty practically dragged Archie up the stairs, leaving Cathy and his mother standing in the hallway looking at each other.

  ‘You mustn’t mind her,’ said Aggie. ‘It’s been such an age since she’s seen him and—’

  ‘I don’t mind at all,’ Cathy replied, bending down to take off her son’s coat. ‘I know how much she must have missed him, and I’d have been the same at that age if I hadn’t seen my dad for months.’

  Free of his outer clothing, Peter toddled off into the front room.

  Cathy glanced at the hall clock.

  ‘Goodness, is it midday already? The dinner must be almost ready,’ she said.

  ‘I’ll see to it,’ said Aggie as Peter returned carrying his toy train.

  ‘That’s good of you,’ said Cathy, ‘but you don’t have to—’

  ‘Aye, I ken,’ said Aggie comfortably. ‘But I’m not one to sit idle while there’s chores need doing.’

  The sound of running footsteps clattered above their heads and Aggie glanced up then looked back at Cathy.

  ‘You go up and I’ll put a light under the carrots. And, Peter . . . ?’ The boy paused rolling his train back and forth on the floor and looked up. ‘Shall we see if there’s a wee biscuit in the barrel?’ Aggie asked, smiling at him and Cathy in turn.

  Scrambling to his feet and clutching his train, Peter followed the older woman into the kitchen.

  Leaving Aggie to potter around in the kitchen, Cathy made her way upstairs and found Archie and Kirsty standing in front of his easel and art equipment, set up and ready to go in the bay of their bedroom.

  He was gazing fondly at his daughter as she flipped through his canvases stacked under the window sill.

  ‘Dad’s showing me his pictures,’ said Kirsty, as Cathy walked into the room.

  ‘They’re very good, aren’t they?’ said Cathy.

  Kirsty nodded, her long pigtails bobbing up and down her back as she did.

  ‘Did he tell you that three of his paintings are in an exhibition, travelling around the whole country so lots of people can see them?’ Cathy asked.

  ‘Are they, Da?’ asked Kirsty, looking up at her father with wide-eyed adoration.

  ‘Och, well,’ Archie replied, looking oddly boyish for a six-foot-two man with size-eleven shoes.

  Turning back to her father’s artwork, Kirsty looked at a couple of others then her face lit up. ‘Aunt Cathy, there’s a drawing of you.’

  A look of horror flashed across Archie’s face.

  ‘Look,’ said Kirsty, pulling out a small head-and-shoulders line drawing from among the canvases and sketchpads.

  Archie took it from her, and his relief was palpable.

  ‘I was surprised to find it when I packed up your work,’ Cathy said, not bothering to conceal her amusement. ‘As I’d never seen that one before.’

  ‘I drew it just after I met you at the rest centre the first time,’ he said.

  ‘Da does that all the time,’ giggled Kirsty, handing it to her. ‘Draws you when you’re not watching. He did one of Gran asleep once when her top teeth had slipped.’

  ‘Well, luckily I haven’t got dentures, but thanks for warning me,’ said Cathy.

  ‘Kirsty!’ shouted Aggie from the bottom up the stairs.

  Archie’s daughter walked across the room to the door.

  ‘Yes, Nana.’

  ‘Come and set the table.’

  ‘But I’m with Da,’ Kirsty called back.

  ‘I know full well where you are, child,’ her grandmother shouted back.

  Kirsty looked at Archie.

  ‘You heard your gran,’ he said. ‘Me and Aunt Cathy will be down presently.’

  The corners of Kirsty’s mouth turned down.

  ‘Kirsty,’ said Cathy, ‘I was thinking of getting a few chickens, so perhaps after dinner you could help your dad decide where to build the coop.’

  Kirsty’s face brightened immediately.

  ‘Can I, Da?’

  ‘I was counting on it.’ Putting his arm around his daughter, Archie kissed her on the forehead. ‘Now go and help Nana.’

  ‘Kirsty!’ shouted Aggie.

  ‘Coming,’ Kirsty shouted back, tearing out of the room.

  ‘Honestly, Cathy,’ said Archie as his daughter’s footsteps faded, ‘when she dived in to get that picture, I nearly had a heart attack.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she laughed. ‘I’m not going to be caught like that twice. I’ve tucked the other one away for now on top of the wardrobe.’

  ‘It seems to me you’ve been busy while I’ve been away,’ he said, taking her hands and drawing her into his embrace.

  ‘I wanted you to have a proper home to come back to,’ Cathy replied, placing her hands on his hard chest then sliding them up and around his neck.

  ‘Well, you’ve certainly done that, Cathy, and more.’ He kissed her. ‘Because I’ve come home to a family.’

  He placed his hand on her still flat stomach. ‘A growing one, too.’

  ‘Archie, don’t tell Kirsty about the baby just yet.’

  He looked concerned. ‘Is there something wrong?’

  ‘No,’ she laughed, ‘nothing at all. In fact, I’m going to book in with the midwives at Munroe House next week. But Kirsty’s obviously missed you very much. I don’t want her to feel pushed out by me or the baby. She’s going to have to adjust to lots of new things, so let’s wait a few weeks until we’ve all got to know each other a bit and she’s settled into her new school.’

  Archie’s arms tightened around her.

  ‘You know, Cathy,’ he said, his captivating blue eyes filled with love as he gazed down, ‘every morning I wake up and think I can’t possibly love you any more than I do, and each day you do something that makes me love you even more.’

  His gaze locked with hers for a moment then, lowering his head, Archie’s lips pressed against hers. His splayed hands anchored her to him as Cathy moulded herself into the hard contours of his body. His kiss deepened and her mouth opened under his, igniting want and desire deep within her.

  The sound of feet thumping up the stairs cut through the thoughts swirling in Cathy’s mind.

  Tearing her lips from Archie
’s, Cathy stepped back just as Kirsty ran into the room.

  ‘Dinner’s ready, Da!’ she said breathlessly.

  Archie cleared his throat.

  ‘Is it now?’ he said, straightening his tie.

  Kirsty nodded.

  ‘It’s on the table.’ She grabbed his arm. ‘Come on, Da.’

  He shrugged and looked across at Cathy.

  ‘I’ll follow you down,’ she laughed, as his daughter dragged him to the door.

  Alone, Cathy looked around. Seeing her sketched portrait lying on the bed, she picked it up.

  She was wearing her WVS uniform and her hair was pinned back and, even though done from memory, Archie had captured the shape of her mouth and the tilt of her nose exactly. He’d even caught the sadness in her eyes.

  She had hoped that tomorrow, Good Friday, would be the day she’d finally be free of Stanley. Sadly she wouldn’t be, and the saints above only knew when she would be, but although legally she was still tied to him, her heart and soul were free.

  As a still-married woman living with another man, and a man of a different colour, Cathy knew life wouldn’t be easy. She knew what people would call both her and their children born out of wedlock.

  In the years to come, Archie would probably sketch and paint her from time to time, but this small line drawing would be the only one showing her looking sad. Because Archie had replaced that sadness and emptiness within her with a love that would last all of this life and the next. He’d given her a happiness that she’d never even imagined existed.

  So let the gossips do their worst. With Archie’s love surrounding her, she could face anything and, as her dad always said, if it wasn’t for the Brogans, people would have nothing to talk about.

  Acknowledgements

  AS ALWAYS, I would like to mention a few books, authors and people, to whom I am particularly indebted.

  In order to set my characters thoughts and worldview authentically in the harsh reality of winter 1942 and spring 1943, I returned to Wartime Britain 1939–1945 (Gardiner), The East End at War (Taylor & Lloyd), The Blitz (Gardiner), Living Through the Blitz (Harrison) and The Blitz (Madden).

  As before in the Ration Book series, I’ve dipped into Wartime Women: A Mass-Observation Anthology (Sheridan), Voices from the Home Front: Personal Experiences of Wartime Britain 1939–45 (Goodall) and The Wartime House: Home Life in Wartime Britain 1939–1945 (Brown & Harris), plus this time, to give me the right feel and context of Cathy’s work in the WVS, I used Women at the Ready: The Remarkable Story of the Women’s Voluntary Service on the Home Front (Malcolmson & Malcolmson).

  As always I like to return to primary sources if possible, and so I was delighted to discover My London Bomb Squad by Captain C. Nevil Newitt to help me bring to life Archie’s role in the Bomb Disposal section of the Royal Engineers. In addition, Danger UXB (Owen) provided me with much of the technical details around the fuse types, explosives and the equipment developed to deal with unexploded bombs. I also took copious notes while I watched the whole 1970s ITV series Danger UXB, starring a very young Anthony Andrews. I also found ‘Cyberwar Before there was Cyber: Hacking WWII Electronic Bomb Fuse’ as a PowerPoint presentation by Peter Gutmann from University of Auckland online, which was very helpful.

  The first-hand account of the Bethnal Green Tube disaster by Dr Joan Martin, https://bbc.in/3jU0UM2, vividly describes the events of 3 March 1943. In addition, I had my mother’s memories of being trapped underground as a sixteen-year-old caught up in that terrible night and how she and her sister were finally brought to the surface.

  For Stanley Wheeler and the background of Hitler’s British Free Corps, I delved into Renegades: Hitler’s Englishmen (Wheale), and I will be returning to it again for A Ration Book Victory, the last in the Ration Book series.

  I would also like to thank a few more people. Firstly, my very own Hero-at-Home, Kelvin, for his unwavering support, and my three daughters, Janet, Fiona and Amy, who listen patiently as I explain the endless twists and turns of the plot.

  Once again, a big thanks goes to my lovely agent Laura Longrigg, whose encouragement and incisive editorial mind helped me to see the wood for the trees. My lovely editor Susannah Hamilton, who again turned my 400+ page manuscript into a beautiful book, and last, but by no means least, a big thank-you to the wonderful team at Atlantic Books, Karen Duffy, Poppy Mostyn-Owen, Jamie Forrest, Patrick Hunter, Sophie Walker and Hanna Kenne, for all their support and innovation.