a heartwarming WW1 saga about love and friendship (The West End Girls Book 1)

by Elaine Roberts

  ‘No. I don’t want to sound mean, but that’s fine for Joyce. I mean at least it’s to do with food, but I came to London to sing, to be on the stage.’

  ‘And be more than a farmer’s wife.’ Rose scowled. ‘Joyce had big dreams too but you have to do whatever it takes to put food on the table and pay your rent.’

  ‘You do believe my turning Sam down wasn’t about him, don’t you?’ Annie sighed. ‘I just couldn’t give up on my dream.’

  ‘I know.’ Rose shook her head. ‘But not everyone has a choice about what cards they’re dealt in life.’

  Annie stared down at the pavement ahead of them. ‘I sound like a spoilt child, don’t I?’

  ‘You do. You’re lucky I know you well enough to know that’s not the case, but others may judge you on your words, so you might want to think about that.’

  Annie nodded. ‘I will, I’m sorry for making you angry with me.’

  ‘You didn’t make me angry, it was more disappointment, because you sounded like Mr Blake back home.’

  ‘Oh my goodness, that’s definitely not good. You think so little of him, and actually so do I.’ Annie thought for a moment before looking across at Rose. ‘I don’t want to be like him so please tell me if you think that’s happening.’

  Rose laughed. ‘I think you’d have to go some way to be as bad as him.’

  ‘Good, I don’t want to be that person.’ Annie straightened her shoulders. ‘Come on, which ones have we been to so far?’

  They stepped aside so an old lady could shuffle past them, watching her trying to weave in and out of the many people that were going about their business.

  ‘I think it’s getting busier.’ Rose opened her bag and pulled out a piece of paper, snapping the bag shut again.

  ‘I don’t know why you carry such a large bag, Rose, it’s almost like a small suitcase.’

  ‘I like it and it’s nowhere near as big as a suitcase, thank you very much.’ Rose glanced down at the spidery handwriting. ‘We’ve been to the Shaftesbury Theatre, the Garrick and the Savoy as well.’ She folded the paper up and placed it in her skirt pocket. ‘We’ve just done the Aldwych and I believe the Lyceum is just around the corner. I think Joyce said it’s in Wellington Street, which is off the Strand somewhere.’

  ‘I could do with a cup of tea.’ Annie sighed. ‘How does Joyce know where they all are? It’s not like she’s lived here all her life.’

  ‘Stop moaning.’ Rose watched a man sitting on the pavement near a shop doorway begging. ‘I expect that man could as well.’ She nodded in his direction.

  ‘You’re right but I was just saying that’s all, and not moaning.’ Annie delved into the deep pockets of her black skirt. Her fingers fished around for the couple of coins she thought were in there. She pulled out her handkerchief and carefully unfolded the cotton material to find the two silver sixpences. Annie picked them up and held out her hand to the man sitting on the pavement. The stench of his sweating body got worse as she got nearer.

  The man looked up and snatched the coins. ‘Thank you.’

  Annie frowned. ‘I’m sorry it’s not much but I don’t have any more I can give.’

  The man gave Annie a toothless smile. ‘No, thank you, thank you, lady.’

  Rose undid her purse and passed over three penny coins. ‘Stay safe.’

  The man nodded. ‘Thank you, miss.’

  The girls turned to walk away.

  ‘It’s terrible, isn’t it?’ Rose frowned.

  Annie nodded.

  Rose smiled. ‘Anyway, I think the fruit and veg man wrote her out a list of theatres.’

  ‘What, Peter?’

  Rose gave her a sideways glance. ‘That’s right, he seems quite a nice man.’ She paused, waiting for Annie to comment but she remained silent. ‘Anyway, you should be grateful someone does know where they all are, and is happy to help, otherwise you’d be walking even further.’

  ‘You’re right.’ Annie nodded. ‘I’m lucky to have wonderful friends.’ She gave a faint smile. ‘It’s harder than I thought it would be, which I know sounds ridiculous even to my ears, but it hasn’t changed anything. I’m determined to get there, and I’m not giving up.’ Annie tucked her arm through Rose’s. ‘Come on, let’s go to the Lyceum and then we’ll stop to have a cup of tea, or we could have an adventure and go to the Foyles Bookshop that Joyce was telling us about.’

  Rose smiled. ‘First things first, then a cup of tea and we’ll decide what we’re going to do after that.’

  They walked away from the Aldwych Theatre and back to The Strand. A few minutes later they could see the red bricks of the Wellington Public House and the wonderful large bay windows that rounded off the corner of the building. The balconies on the fifth floor added to the magnificent building along with triangle brickwork on the floor above. The outside of the ground floor was covered in brown tiles.

  Rose nudged Annie. ‘Look, that must be Wellington Street next to that public house, or its name is very misleading. I have to say there are some wonderful looking buildings here, it all makes our village seem a bit drab.’

  Annie smiled. ‘Don’t say that, it’s just a small village and it does have some lovely buildings too. Anyway, when did you suddenly start taking notice of your surroundings?’

  ‘Since I started looking at street and theatre names.’

  As Rose spoke the door to the Wellington Public House opened and a couple of middle-aged men came staggering out. One grabbed the other’s arm as he drifted aimlessly across the pavement heading towards the road. The smell of alcohol mingled with cigarette smoke, which the breeze carried in their direction.

  ‘Afternoon, ladies.’ One of the men lifted his cap and bowed while waving his cigarette around with his other hand.

  ‘Afternoon,’ Annie answered politely but grabbed Rose’s arm and dragged her along the street.

  They both stopped at the bottom of Wellington Street and glanced up the road. Their jaws dropped open as they stared at the Lyceum Theatre. Its six cream pillars stood regally holding up the top pyramid bearing its name.

  Annie was the first to speak. ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t believe what I’m looking at. Perhaps we won’t go in this one.’

  ‘It does look very grand.’ Rose took a deep breath. ‘But if you are going to be a singer or an actress you’d better start now and hide your doubts because no one will want to see them.’ She pulled Annie forward and they were soon standing in front of the large cream building. ‘It’s so big.’ Rose craned her neck to look up. ‘Do you think we can just walk in?’

  Annie gave a nervous laugh. ‘We won’t know unless we try. Come on.’

  They slowly wandered round the side to the Stage Door, which was wide open. A man in overalls nodded to them as he made his way to a horse and cart that was nearby. Rose peered in and saw nobody. She gripped Annie’s hand and pulled her through the doorway. ‘Look confident, as though you’re meant to be here.’

  Annie gulped hard. ‘I’m not like you, Rose Spencer. My father would kill me if he could see me now.’

  Rose clasped her hand across her mouth, stifling a giggle that was fighting to be heard. Her voice was muffled as she tried to speak. ‘Well, he can’t see you now, can he?’

  Annie took one look at Rose and roared with laughter. ‘Yes, you look confident and like you should be here.’

  ‘Is everything all right, ladies?’ A grey-haired man squinted at them.

  They had been caught. Annie put on her brightest smile. ‘Sorry, we’re new and appear to have taken a wrong turn somewhere.’

  The man eyed them suspiciously.

  ‘Excuse me, ladies.’ The man in the overalls was suddenly behind them. ‘I’ve got to get these materials down to the costume department, otherwise that old bag is going to have my guts for garters.’

  The grey-haired man waved his arm at him. ‘Hold on.’ He peered at the two boxes. ‘I’ve got to check them in first.’ He picked up some papers before turning to the girls. �
�You two wait there a minute and I’ll be back, there’s something not quite right here.’

  The girls kept a straight face and each of them nodded.

  The man turned his back to talk to the man in the overalls. There was a rustling of papers. Rose nudged Annie to move along and the girls sidled further along the corridor, entering the first doorway they came to.

  Rose gasped. ‘Look at all these threads and sequins, they shine like precious stones in this light.’

  Annie grabbed Rose’s arm. ‘Is that footsteps I hear?’

  They both stood still and listened; the footsteps got louder as they got nearer. There was heavy breathing and a thud outside the door.

  ‘The material man,’ Rose gasped and yanked Annie down as she crawled under the nearest table. ‘Hold your breath, otherwise he might hear us.’

  The man walked in. ‘Good, the miserable old bat ain’t ’ere.’ The table wobbled as a heavy box was dropped on to it. The man began whistling as he went out to collect the second one.

  The girls didn’t have long to wait for the table to shake again as the second box was put down on it.

  Annie grabbed Rose’s arm. She could hear raised voices from outside the room, getting louder as they approached. ‘We’ve got to get out of here.’

  ‘Sorry, excuse me.’ The man’s voice carried into the sewing room.

  Rose pushed Annie and the girls shuffled out from under the table. Rose straightened her jacket. ‘We’ll get out of here as soon as they’ve all moved on.’

  Heavy footsteps moved away from the doorway, the man’s voice bouncing off the walls as he strode away. ‘I don’t know where Miss Hetherington is, but I’ve left the boxes of material on the table in there.’

  A deep voice shouted back. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Look I don’t know who he is, and to be honest I don’t care, but I need someone to fix this problem now!’ a woman’s voice screamed. ‘I don’t think you understand the urgency here.’

  A man’s much calmer deep voice responded. ‘Let me have a look at it.’

  ‘It’s not good enough, Stan, it’s about time I had a dresser and a seamstress should be here for exactly these occasions. I’m the star here and yet I’ve never been treated so badly.’

  Stan coughed. ‘I know you deserve the best – haven’t I always said so – and I’m trying to find you a dresser, but word has got out so it’s proving to be difficult.’

  The woman’s voice went up an octave. ‘What do you mean, “word has got out”? What does that mean?’

  Stan cleared his throat. ‘Please lower your voice. As you say, you are the star.’

  The woman did as she was bid. ‘Well, explain yourself.’

  ‘Look, you sacked the other young girl, accused her of stealing something or other when she hadn’t.’

  ‘Hah.’ The woman’s voice had gone up a notch again. ‘It wasn’t something or other, it was my compact, which used to belong to my mother, and mysteriously reappeared after she’d left.’

  The door was pushed open, hitting the toe of Annie’s shoe. The man looked at ease with his arm around the woman’s waist, clasping it tight. The door slowly closed again leaving the girls wondering how they were going to explain this one away.

  Stan turned around and stared at them both for a few seconds before quickly letting his arm drop from around the woman’s waist. He frowned. ‘I don’t recognise you two. How did you get in here?’

  The woman looked immaculate, not a hair out of place. ‘I don’t recognise them either. What are you doing in here?’

  Stan looked around the room. ‘Never mind that, Kitty, where is everyone?’ He looked back at the girls and sighed. ‘Can either of you sew?’

  Annie pointed her finger towards Rose. ‘She can, she’s brilliant.’

  Kitty gasped. ‘Are you sure, Stan?’ Her voice was shrill. ‘What happens if they ruin it?’

  Stan scowled at them. ‘Well, we’ll soon find out.’ He thrust the garment in front of Rose. ‘You have a matter of minutes to make this fit for Kitty Smythe to wear, she’s the star of our show.’

  Rose stammered. ‘You’ll… you’ll need to put it on so I can pin it.’

  Annie stepped forward. ‘I’ll help, if I can.’

  Stan winked at Kitty before walking towards the door. He stepped through the doorway. ‘Don’t worry everything will be all right. I’ll be back for you in ten minutes.’ The door clicked shut.

  *

  As Annie leant in to finish fastening the material-covered buttons down the front of the blue jacket, she breathed in Kitty Smythe’s wonderful jasmine perfume. She had never smelled anything so fragrant before. Annie stepped back to look at the statuesque star. In anybody’s eyes she was a beautiful woman and looked like someone who had the world at her feet. Annie reached forward and adjusted the cape hanging from her shoulders before nodding. ‘You’ve done a good job, Rose, that sits perfectly now you’ve repaired it.’

  Frowning, Stan marched in puffing and panting. ‘Oh good, you’re ready. I haven’t heard any of the usual raised voices coming from you, so can I assume it’s all been successfully repaired?’

  Annie nodded. ‘Take a look. No one could have done a better job than Rose.’

  Stan eyed Annie for a few seconds.

  Annie pulled herself upright and pushed back her shoulders, trying to ignore the panic that gripped her stomach. Had she spoken out of turn?

  Stan gazed at Kitty, who was looking at herself in a full-length mirror. ‘Are you happy with it?’

  ‘Oh yes, for a slip of a girl she’s done a marvellous job.’

  The sound of heels clicking the tiled floor caught Annie’s attention. An upright, dark-haired woman came trotting into the room. She stopped short and stared at the four people in the sewing room. ‘Oh, is everything all right, Mr Tyler? I would have been here had I realised I was needed but I thought––’

  ‘It doesn’t matter, Dorothy, this young girl has saved the day.’

  Dorothy studied both the girls for a moment; they looked afraid, as if they had been caught with their hands in the biscuit tin. She gave a faint smile. ‘I don’t understand, who are you and what are you doing in here?’

  Both girls stared hard at the floor.

  Stan glanced over at Dorothy. ‘Don’t worry, nothing untoward has happened. I don’t have time to explain it now but we’ll talk later.’ He turned to Kitty and smiled. ‘Right, come on then, put your hat on. I want to go through the dress rehearsal again before tonight’s performance.’ Stan frowned. ‘I want it to be perfect after last night’s mess up.’

  Kitty pulled at her jacket. ‘Don’t look at me, Stan, that was one of the actors behind me.’

  Stan raised one eyebrow, his eyes holding a sparkle of fun. ‘Really, it’s not because you’d had too much brandy in your coffee before you went on?’ He laughed at her indignant expression. ‘Come on.’ Placing his hand in the small of Kitty’s back, he turned to go but stopped just short of the door. ‘Don’t you two go anywhere, I want a word after this mess has been sorted out.’

  Annie and Rose nodded slowly. Panic trampled all over Annie as she wondered if they were going to get arrested. After all, this was London. How was she going to explain that to her family and what if it got in the newspapers? She groaned.

  Stan looked over at Annie and shook his head before beckoning them both to come forward. ‘Second thoughts, come with me, I’m not finished with you two yet. I’m not letting you out of my sight, you can sit next to me in the stalls.’

  The girls gave each other a fearful look. They clung to each other and followed him and Kitty to the side of the stage. People loitered around the wings waiting to be given their instructions, all dressed in various styles of clothing, some ladies wearing very little. Others were pulling on ropes, climbing ladders, moving scenery and shouting instructions to each other. Annie’s eyes widened as she tried to take it all in. While her own excitement grew, she sensed the fear and panic of those around her. Th
e tinkling of piano keys could be heard. As if on cue the loud voices became whispers and the music filled the air around them. Annie took a couple of steps forward and craned her neck to see a dark-haired man sat at the piano. He looked up and she quickly looked away to stare out at the hundreds of plush red seats lined up like soldiers in the auditorium. She gasped as she looked up at the boxes, the dress circle and the upper circle. The dome ceiling held a magnificent glass chandelier. The light sparkled from the many pieces of glass onto the ornate scrollwork and gold and cream decoration. The richness took her breath away as she stood taking it all in.

  ‘Go and sit in the front row where I can see you.’

  Rose pulled at Annie’s arm to move, threading her arm through hers as they walked down the steps together and sat in the nearest seats.

  Annie didn’t take her eyes off the stage, watching the scenery and props being moved to the correct places. ‘Why do you think he wants us to stay? Maybe he’s going to send for the police?’ She gave Rose a quick look before returning to what was happening on the stage. ‘Do you think we’re going to get arrested?’

  Rose shook her head. ‘I’ve been having similar thoughts but I’ve decided he would have sent someone to get the police by now.’

  ‘How do you know he hasn’t?’ Panic gripped Annie, and she stared wide-eyed at her friend. ‘Perhaps we should make a run for it.’

  Rose chuckled. ‘We’re not criminals, we’ve just walked through an open door like nosey children. What can they say? We haven’t stolen anything. If anything, we’ve been helpful.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose that’s true.’ Annie frowned. ‘Do you think that Dorothy is in charge of the seamstresses? She didn’t look happy to see us there.’

  ‘No, she didn’t but then would you if it had been the other way round? I wouldn’t worry, the way the star was shouting in the corridor there would have been a whole lot more trouble for her if we hadn’t been there.’

  Annie nodded and relaxed a little as she stared back at the stage. ‘Isn’t this wonderful to watch? Everyone’s so good.’

  ‘Not according to Stan they’re not.’