The Shipyard Girls on the Home Front

by Nancy Revell

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Friday 31 March

  ‘Knock, knock!’ Marie-Anne said as she walked through the open doorway of Helen’s office carrying a tea tray.

  ‘Thanks, Marie-Anne. You know you can always get one of the office juniors to do the tea?’

  ‘That’s all right, Miss Crawford. It’s no bother at all.’ Marie-Anne had, in fact, got the office junior to make the tea – only she’d taken the tray off her and brought it to Helen herself. ‘Did you hear about the bomber coming down near Ryhope pit last night – well, early hours, by the sounds of it?’

  ‘No, what happened? Was anyone hurt?’ Helen immediately thought of Dr Parker.

  ‘It was one of our own – a Halifax. The pilot died, and some poor bloke on his way to work at the colliery got hit by debris and died.’

  ‘Goodness, that’s terrible. But that was it, no one else was hurt?’ Helen needed reassurance.

  ‘I think three of the crew were injured, but I didn’t hear of any others,’ Marie-Anne said, turning to go. She knew Helen would want shot of her so she could ring the Ryhope Emergency Hospital. She wouldn’t rest until she knew that Dr Parker was alive and well.

  ‘Thanks, Marie-Anne. Will you shut the door on the way out?’ She smiled. Marie-Anne was already doing it.

  Grabbing her cigarettes, Helen dialled the hospital. God only knew how Rosie, Polly and Gloria managed to keep sane worrying about the men they loved.

  ‘Hi, Denise,’ Helen said, pausing to light a cigarette.

  ‘Ah, Miss Crawford, how are you?’

  ‘I’m good, thank you, Denise.’ Helen blew out smoke. ‘I’m sure you can guess why I’m calling.’

  ‘I can,’ Denise said, ‘and I can assure you that Dr Parker is well. Let me see if I can put you straight through. He should be on the ward now.’

  Helen listened to a succession of clicking noises before she heard John’s voice.

  ‘Helen, wait there, I’m just going to put you through to the office so the whole ward doesn’t hear our conversation.’ Helen heard men’s voices in the background, which she guessed were John’s ‘new recruits’. She could tell they were giving John gyp after hearing that there was a woman on the phone. The spirit of the men John treated never ceased to amaze her. There was a click, followed by dead air, before another click.

  ‘I’m back,’ he said.

  ‘I’m so glad I managed to get through to you,’ Helen said. ‘Denise is being very helpful of late.’

  ‘I know,’ Dr Parker said. ‘I think it’s been since her “forgetfulness” the other day.’

  ‘I think she might have been forgetful a few times before.’ Helen took a drag on her cigarette. ‘Maybe her mind’s been elsewhere. Maybe she’s in love.’

  Dr Parker chuckled, although there might have been some truth in Helen’s diagnosis. He had heard on the hospital grapevine that Denise had been on a few dates with a doctor from the Royal.

  ‘Marie-Anne just told me the awful news about last night’s crash,’ Helen said, her tone now sombre.

  ‘I know. Awful. Tragic. But thank goodness the pilot managed to avoid the miners’ cottages and crash-land on the colliery instead, otherwise it would have been much worse.’

  ‘Where was he going – or coming from?’ Helen asked.

  ‘From what I’ve heard, the plane got damaged en route to Nuremberg, just about managed to limp back, but deviated off course, ran out of fuel and had to make an emergency landing.’

  They were both quiet for a moment, thinking of all the families that might have died if the pilot hadn’t managed to avoid the rows of houses next to the village’s coal mine.

  ‘Everything all right at your end?’ Dr Parker asked. As always, his concern was genuine.

  ‘Yes, yes,’ Helen said. ‘Well, actually, I’ve got an apology to make.’

  ‘Why’s that?’

  ‘I should have told you earlier, but I just completely forgot. You’ve been invited to Pearl and Bill’s wedding reception. Bel asked me to invite you when I was round there the other week – and then it just totally slipped my mind.’

  ‘That’s understandable, you’ve got a lot going on, what with work and everything …’ Dr Parker’s thoughts automatically went to Matthew.

  ‘That’s very forgiving of you, John, but the thing is, I really do have to apologise as the wedding’s next Saturday,’ Helen said, guiltily.

  ‘What – a week on Saturday?’

  ‘Yes, but don’t worry if you can’t make it. I’m sure Pearl and Bill won’t mind in the least.’

  ‘No, it’ll be a perfect chance for me to see our godson. You know, I’ve not seen him since his christening?’

  ‘Oh, I wouldn’t worry, Polly understands. She knows what you do is really important and that you barely step over the hospital boundaries these days,’ Helen said. Not unless it’s to take Claire to some fancy restaurant in town.

  ‘No, I’ll definitely come,’ Dr Parker said. Helen could hear pages being turned. ‘I’m just checking the rota and I’ve got that Saturday off, so I won’t even have to twist any arms.’

  ‘Oh, all right.’ Helen tried to sound chirpy. ‘You’re sure Claire will want to come? It won’t be particularly fancy. The usual knees-up at the Tatham.’

  ‘I’m sure that won’t put Claire off. And I can always take her somewhere more fancy afterwards if she wants.’ He wasn’t going to pretend that Claire would be clicking her heels at the prospect of spending Easter Saturday in the east end. Taking her to the Palatine afterwards would even the score.

  ‘Everyone else all right?’ Dr Parker asked.

  ‘Yes, all good here. Busy. Getting ready for our nation’s very own big day. Did you see they’ve been appealing for lorry drivers for the second front?’ Helen asked.

  ‘I did – you’re not thinking of applying?’ Dr Parker asked, half joking.

  ‘No,’ Helen laughed. ‘But I did tell Gloria to make sure Rosie didn’t read about it for fear of her running off and signing up.’

  ‘Can she drive?’

  ‘No, but I’m sure that wouldn’t stop her.’ Helen’s laughter was sad.

  ‘She still working like a trooper?’

  ‘Oh yes, she’s very determined. Mind you, everyone is. It’s in the air. That sense of anticipation. A kind of nervous excitement.’

  ‘It’s been a bit like that here. We’ve been told to make sure we’re prepared. To free up as many spare beds as possible.’

  Dr Parker wasn’t sure how much they should be chatting about the impending push to reclaim Europe and changed the subject.

  ‘Are all the women at the yard all right?’ He paused. ‘Gloria?’

  ‘Oh, well … yes … yes and no.’ She sighed. ‘I do feel for her and Dad – they finally get to be together and then there’s this awkwardness with Bobby.’

  ‘Anything happened?’

  ‘No, but that’s just it – it’s the underlying tension, what’s left unsaid.’ Another sigh. ‘Although Dorothy reckons that she’s talked Bobby round.’

  ‘But you’re not quite so sure?’

  ‘I really hope she has,’ Helen said, ‘but I have my reservations. I think this goes deeper.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘I’m not sure, just a feeling,’ Helen mused.

  ‘And are Gloria and Jack coping with it all right?’ Dr Parker asked.

  ‘Yes, they’re both pretty hardy. And they think it’s sweet what Dorothy’s doing. They know that it doesn’t matter what they say, they won’t stop her in her determination to see them all become one big happy family.’

  ‘I suppose there’s no harm in trying,’ said Dr Parker.

  ‘Well, she’ll find out tonight if she’s succeeded or not,’ Helen said. ‘She popped in before the start of the shift to tell me she can’t wait to see Gloria’s face when Bobby goes round there tonight.’

  ‘So, she’s not told Gloria that she reckons she’s talked Bobby round?’

  ‘Nope,�
� Helen said. ‘Apparently, it’s going to be a surprise.’

  At seven o’clock that evening, three days after their tête-à-tête by the banks of the Wear, Dorothy left Gloria’s flat with Bobby, having spent the last hour with Hope. She was spitting feathers.

  ‘I cannot believe you, Bobby!’ she hissed as soon as Gloria had said her goodbyes and shut the door.

  ‘Why?’ Bobby asked, putting his hand out for Dorothy to go first.

  She gave him a look of fury before she stomped up the stone steps.

  ‘Because,’ she said, turning when she got to the top and looking daggers at him, ‘everything’s meant to be all right now.’

  ‘How come?’ he asked, automatically stepping round to her left so that he was walking by the side of the road.

  ‘How come?’ Dorothy forced herself not to scream the words. ‘Because we chatted about it on Tuesday night? Outside the Admiral? Remember?’

  Bobby laughed. ‘Yes, I remember.’

  ‘So?’ Dorothy demanded.

  ‘I don’t know what you expected, Dorothy,’ Bobby said as they turned into Foyle Street.

  ‘I expected …’ Dorothy gasped ‘… that you would be fine with your mam now – normal, loving.’

  When they reached her flat, Dorothy turned and looked at Bobby.

  ‘I’m so very disappointed.’

  Bobby looked at Dorothy and thought he’d never seen anyone look so beautiful and yet so sad. He wished he could make her happy, but he couldn’t. What she wanted of him had to come from the heart. It had to be true. And at the moment there was a part of his heart that felt very stony, very cold and unfeeling, and there was nothing he could do about it. He’d tried to make himself feel different, like Dorothy wanted, but he couldn’t.

  He stood with a heavy heart and watched as she gave him one final, hate-filled glare before letting herself in and slamming the door behind her.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Good Friday

  Friday 7 April

  For the first time since the war began, the children of Sunderland gathered in the town centre for a Good Friday celebration. Bel and Joe took Lucille and the twins, and Polly and Gloria, who had taken a rare day off work, took Artie and Hope. Thousands of Sunday-school children sang hymns, after which they all left in a procession that led them back to their various churches. Polly then took Artie to visit his great granddad’s grave, where she told him all about his namesake, and also about his uncle Teddy, whose grave they couldn’t visit as it was on the other side of the world in a place called Sidi Barrani. As they made their way back home, her voice lifted as she told her sleepy little baby boy all about his daddy, whom he would be seeing soon. Hopefully.

  Hannah, Rina and Olly enjoyed a different religious celebration as it was the start of the Jewish Passover, which officially began at sunset, but the preparations had started earlier in the day. For the first time, Olly mentioned to Hannah’s rabbi his desire to convert. The rabbi had smiled and said he would teach him all about Judaism, after which, if he still felt the same, they could talk further.

  Following the afternoon shift at the Tatham, Pearl hurried off to West Lawn. She had given in to Vivian’s bullying that she be allowed to cut and dye Pearl’s hair. It also meant that Pearl would be able to see Maisie in her home environment – a place she had only visited once before, just hours before the showdown with Charles Havelock on Christmas Day. Pearl would never judge her daughter for the work she did, but she had been pleased when Maisie had confided that Lily had given them the go-ahead to develop the Gentlemen’s Club and the ‘escorting’ side of the business.

  En route to the bordello, Pearl took the opportunity to pop in to see Gracie’s parents, Mr and Mrs Evans. Since she had first gone to see them both at Christmas, she had visited them regularly. They had been disappointed to hear that Bel had decided not to bring Charles Havelock to justice, but they had agreed that at least something good had come of it all. Every time Pearl visited them thereafter, they would remind her that they were prepared to help in any way, if and when needed. The couple’s hatred for the man who, they said, might as well have put the noose around their daughter’s neck himself, was very much alive and it easily matched Pearl’s hatred for the man who had changed the course of her life.

  Meanwhile, Helen was spending time with her grandmother, having let the office workers leave work early as today would have been classed as a common-law holiday, were they not at war.

  ‘You haven’t that glow about you today,’ Henrietta commented as Helen sat down to read another chapter of Persuasion. ‘Which means,’ she added as she poured them both a glass of water, which she liked to pretend was her Russian vodka, ‘you didn’t see your doctor friend before you came here.’ Helen smiled and told her grandmama that she was indeed right, but she would be seeing him tomorrow at the wedding of Henrietta’s ‘Little Match Girl’. Helen had told her grandmother about Pearl’s upcoming nuptials, and Henrietta had declared how fabulous it would be if she were able to attend. Something, Helen thought, Pearl might not be so keen on, even if Henrietta was allowed out.

  At the same time that Helen was visiting her grandmother, Bobby was heading off to see their little sister. On arrival he was gutted to find that Dorothy wasn’t there. Gloria told him that she was staying in and washing her hair in anticipation of a hectic weekend. Dorothy had made it known to anyone who would listen that this was a particularly important couple of days as not only was there a wedding to attend, but she was taking Toby to meet her parents. Gloria didn’t have to say it, but the inference was clear. If Toby wanted to meet Mr and Mrs Williams, it could only mean one thing – marriage was on the cards. Dorothy’s prediction at the start of the year was coming true, although Gloria couldn’t help but wonder if this was still what Dorothy really wanted. There was undeniable chemistry between her and her son. Just looking at Bobby now and seeing the fleeting look of deep disappointment on his face, it was clear that her eldest had been struck by Cupid’s arrow. She felt for him. And Toby. Someone was going to end up with a broken heart. The path to true love was never an easy one, as she knew only too well.

  Gloria would have loved to talk to her son about this, as well as what was causing the tension between them, instead of the usual superficial chit-chat she’d had to endure since his return. She had an idea of what really lay beneath the surface of Bobby’s suppressed ire towards her, which she believed didn’t concern her living arrangements, regardless of how scandalous they might be. But much as she wanted to give Bobby the opportunity to air his grievances and tell her what was really bothering him, she knew now wasn’t the right time. Her son was distracted by a love that looked destined to be unrequited. She would have to wait and hope that in the meantime the frostiness Bobby felt towards her – and Jack – might start to thaw.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Saturday 8 April

  Rosie looked around the small registry office as people started to make their way in from the main foyer to take their seats. The room was small and felt smaller still due to the dark wooden panelling on the walls, but the windows were open, which was allowing in a fresh breeze. The last time she’d been here was for Bel’s wedding to Joe. She smiled to herself. She would never have guessed back then that the next time she’d be here would be for Pearl’s wedding – Bel’s ma was the last person she’d have believed would be getting married. It was another example, Rosie thought, of how unpredictable life could be.

  Charlotte shuffled as she straightened her new summer dress, fighting the urge to rub her eyes. She managed to stop herself. Rosie had allowed her to put on some mascara and a smudge of blue eyeshadow and she did not want to end up looking like a panda. She was sitting in between the two people she loved and adored more than anyone else in the world – Rosie and Lily. Looking at them both, she saw that Rosie had on the minimum of make-up, just enough to hide the smattering of facial scars their uncle had left her with, whereas Lily had, as usual, plastered enough on for all
three of them.

  ‘Is Miss Crawford not coming with Mr Dishy?’ Charlotte asked.

  Rosie looked at her. It hadn’t escaped her notice that her not-so-little sister had started to show an interest in the opposite sex. She’d learnt from Lily that a group of boys from a school nearby were walking Charlotte and some of her friends part of the way home. Rosie had felt a little put out that Charlie had confided in Lily about the boys and not her. Sitting back, she sighed. If Pearl’s wedding was a turn-up for the books, then it was trumped by the fact that Lily – the madam of a bordello – had become a surrogate mother to her little sister. The world really had become topsy-turvy.

  ‘Bill looks nervous,’ Charlotte said.

  Bill, it had to be said, was indeed looking tense, as well as uncomfortable, in a hired black suit that was a fraction too small for him, causing him to tug at the cuffs every now and again. He was standing by the registrar’s large, polished cherry-wood desk and was chatting to Joe, his best man.

  ‘He has good reason to be,’ Lily chuckled, causing Rosie to give her a ‘be-on-your-best-behaviour-or-else’ scowl.

  George, who was sitting next to Lily, was also wearing a black suit, only his had been tailor-made to fit and did not feel uncomfortable. Leaning forward in his seat with both hands on top of his ornately carved walking stick, he was mulling over a conversation he’d had the previous evening with the Brigadier about the state of play on the other side of the Channel. Tactics of military deception were presently being employed with the aim of misleading the Germans about the date and location of the Allied landings. Peter and his circuit would likely be part of the spreading of any misinformation, as well as preparing acts of sabotage for when the invasion was imminent. Rosie’s husband was well and truly in the thick of it. Looking at Rosie, he could see that she was tired. She was working herself into the ground, convinced that by doing so it would help to bring about a victory that would see her husband return to her. He hoped to God all her hard work and extra hours made her wish come true. He dreaded the state she’d be in if Peter did not come back.