by Maureen Lee
‘Annie! What a terrible thing to say,’ cried Eileen. ‘What would we do without you?’
Annie decided to prove her usefulness there and then by offering to fetch a jug of lemonade from the pub. ‘We should have brought some with us. The kids looked a bit put out when we only gave them water, and I wouldn’t mind a glass meself. I’m parched.’
Eileen walked with her to the gate. ‘I’d come with you, but I don’t like to leave our Sheila on her own in case the kids get out of hand. The pub’s only just down the lane and around the corner.’
Annie departed in the shimmering haze, carrying a big earthenware jug in the crook of her arm and with the yellow flower still in her hair, and Eileen returned to the garden.
‘Look!’ Sheila cried in delight. ‘Our Mary’s crawling!’
Unable to stand the sight of her brothers and sisters having such a good time without her, the nine-month-old baby, wearing only a white cotton bonnet, was making her way towards them on all fours. The children stopped playing and watched the little figure approaching purposefully and Niall kicked the ball gently in her direction. Mary sat up and clutched the ball and tried to throw it back. Although it landed only inches away, the children applauded.
‘My, she’s clever,’ marvelled Eileen.
‘Isn’t she?’ Sheila was close to tears. ‘Jaysus, I love my kids, Eil.’
‘I know you do, luv.’ Eileen felt as if she could cry herself, the sight of Mary making her first independent way in the world had been really touching. ‘Nick and I are going to have lots of babies.’
‘Does Nick know?’
‘Not yet,’ Eileen said fiercely. ‘We’ve got to get through all this haven’t we, before we can decide those sort of things? Me and Nick, you and Cal, Annie and her lads.’
‘I wonder if we will?’ Sheila said in a tight voice. ‘I never let meself think the worst, but sometimes, it doesn’t seem possible that every single person we know and love will still be alive when it all ends. After all, we’ve already lost Charlie Gregson and Mary Flaherty.’
As if to remind them that war wasn’t very far away, two planes seemed to appear out of nowhere and roared low over the house. The windows of the cottage shook.
The older boys watched intently as the planes zoomed out of sight. ‘Did you see them, Mam?’ Dominic shouted. ‘They were Spitfires.’
‘They were Hurricanes,’ Tony argued.
‘Spitfires!’
‘Hurricanes!’
The two boys flung themselves at each other and began to wrestle on the grass.
‘I’ll see to them.’ Eileen laid her hand on Sheila’s arm. ‘Is it any wonder there’s wars, eh? Perhaps it’s about time us women got a chance to run the world, then anybody who even mentioned the word “war” would be shot!’
Just then, a flushed and bright-eyed Annie came back, accompanied by a strange man carrying the earthenware jug.
‘This is Chris Parker,’ Annie announced in a funny, high-pitched voice. ‘The jug turned out to be a bit heavy and he offered to carry it for me. His lad’s in the Royal Warwickshires, the same as our Terry and Joe.’
‘Did he come through Dunkirk?’ Eileen asked as Chris shook hands.
‘He did that. Like Annie’s lads, he only went back yesterday, so’s I understand how she feels right now,’ Chris replied in a strong Lancashire accent. He was a comfortable-looking man of about forty-five with a pleasant, open face and thick wavy brown hair. He smiled as he shook hands with the women, showing even white teeth which contrasted sharply with his sunburnt skin.
‘Would you like some lemonade while you’re here, as a reward, like, for carrying it?’ Annie looked very girlish and coy.
‘I wouldn’t mind a glass, thanks very much.’
‘I don’t know about a glass,’ Annie said darkly. ‘It might have to be a cup, and a cracked one to boot. The house belongs to Eileen’s feller and the contents of his kitchen would make any decent housewife weep.’ With a swing of her narrow hips, she disappeared inside.
It was obvious Annie was rather taken with the visitor. In which case, Eileen had no intention of letting her bury herself in the kitchen. She insisted Chris take a deckchair. ‘Our Sheila will keep you amused, while I give Annie a hand.’ Having spied the arrival of the drink, the children were clamouring for their share.
Annie was rooting through the kitchen cupboards. ‘I’m looking for glasses.’
‘He’s a bit of all right, isn’t he?’ Eileen said. ‘What does he do?’
‘He’s not bad,’ Annie replied with a too obvious pretence at indifference. ‘He’s a fireman, and did you notice his teeth? They’re all his own.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I asked him, of course.’ Annie slammed the cupboard door and opened another. ‘Some of this stuff must have come out of the Ark.’
‘That’s not very romantic! Where’s his wife?’
‘I couldn’t very well ask him that, could I?’ Annie snorted. ‘Well, bugger me if your Nick hasn’t got a whole set of tankards in here.’
‘I dunno. It seems a bit less nosy than asking if he had false teeth.’ Eileen loved the way Annie kept saying, ‘your Nick’.
‘I’ll just give these a rinse and you can take him his drink.’ Annie began to run the glasses under the tap.
‘I’m not taking it! He’d prefer it from you, and you can ask him if he wears a wig at the same time.’
‘Why is this water hot?’ Annie demanded.
‘Search me!’
‘It shouldn’t be hot, there’s no fire lit. I bet it’s one of them immersion heater things and you left it switched on,’ Annie said accusingly as she dried the glasses on a rather grubby teatowel.
‘I left it switched on?’
‘Who was last in here?’
‘Me, but I didn’t know there was an immersion.’
‘Anyroad, it means we can give the kids a bath before we go. Would Nick mind?’
‘’Course he wouldn’t. Nick wouldn’t mind if we bathed the whole of Melling.’
Annie had begun to scrub the sink. Eileen poured lemonade into two glasses and took the scrubbing brush out of her hand. ‘Stop putting it off, and give these to Chris and our Sheila.’
‘Do I look all right?’ Annie smoothed her dark hair. ‘Does this flower look stupid?’
‘Dead stupid, but Chris mustn’t think so, else he wouldn’t have followed you home.’
‘I feel all funny. He’ll think I’m a right nana.’
Eileen watched as Chris leapt to his feet when Annie approached. He gave the deckchair a little nudge for her to sit in. She felt convinced there was that little extra tension in his movements, as if he was as smitten with Annie as she was with him.
‘Now I suppose I’d better see to youse lot,’ she said to the children, who were glaring at her as they waited for their lemonade.
Much to their disappointment, Chris left after about half an hour. ‘Me dinner was ready a while ago. I’ll get a right earful when I get home.’
‘He must have a wife,’ Annie said sadly after he’d gone. Later, as the afternoon wore on, she remarked, ‘I really liked him. He reminded me of my Tom. He had the same reassuring look.’
‘Never mind, Annie!’ Eileen gave her friend’s knee a squeeze. ‘There’s plenty more fish in the sea.’
‘Aye, but he was salmon, the rest are only cod.’ Annie sighed. ‘I’m fed up sitting here. I’ll bath the children if you like, Sheila?’
‘Thanks, Annie. I feel a proper lazybones. I’ve been waited on hand and foot all day.’ Sheila’s nose and cheeks had turned pink where she’d caught the sun.
Annie clapped her hands. ‘Siobhan, Caitlin! Your Auntie Annie’s going to wash you in a proper bath. I hope your Nick’s got some clean towels,’ she said to Eileen.
‘I’ll have a look.’
The towels were folded neatly in the airing cupboard, along with several of Nick’s shirts, all freshly back from the laundry. Eileen touched the
shirts briefly, before taking the towels downstairs.
The girls were already in the big, clawfooted bath in the room which led from the kitchen, both squealing in delight as they splashed water at each other.
‘Mind off, you’ll have me drenched.’ Annie ducked to avoid a cascade of water. ‘Perhaps your Sheila’d like a long cool bath later,’ she said when Eileen came in. ‘In fact, I wouldn’t mind one meself if there’s enough hot water. It’s lovely just running it straight out the tap, ‘stead of having to carry it in by hand.’
Annie plucked the girls out and, before she could dress either, they ran screaming into the garden with nothing on.
‘Oh, well,’ she laughed, ‘if that’s the way they want it. They can get dressed later, though they won’t stay clean for long. Dominic, Niall!’ she shouted. ‘It’s your turn next.’
Before long, all Sheila’s children were running naked around the garden. After bathing himself, Tony modestly insisted on putting his underpants back on.
The sun was no longer directly overhead and the three women moved into a welcome triangle of shade. ‘Shall we have our tea now?’ suggested Annie. ‘There’s plenty of butties left.’
‘Lord preserve us, Annie!’ Eileen protested. ‘You haven’t sat still all day. Go and lie in the bath for half an hour and give us a bit of peace.’
‘All right, I know when I’m not wanted!’
‘She’s only staying busy to keep her mind off the boys,’ Sheila said when Annie had flounced into the house.
‘I know – and I know how she feels, too.’
Mary crawled over, grabbed her mam’s legs and almost pulled herself upright.
‘See that! She’ll be walking any minute.’ Sheila picked the baby up onto her lap, where she promptly fell asleep.
‘I’ll go and put the kettle on, forestall Annie. We’ll have our tea when she comes out.’
When she was inside, Eileen switched the wireless on. Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy were singing We’ll Gather Lilacs. She turned the sound up as loud as it would go so Sheila could hear outside. As she busied herself spreading sandwiches on plates, emptying the remains of the tea in the pot, washing the cracked cups, she thought to herself, ‘One day soon, I’ll be doing this for Nick. This will be my kitchen!’ She wondered if Nick had enough money to buy one of those stoves like Jess had?
The music changed. Eileen stopped what she was doing as Vera Lynn began to sing We’ll Meet Again – their song! Suddenly, she was no longer in the shabby little kitchen. Instead, she was with Nick in London, and he was whirling her round and round and round …
She came to when a shadow fell over the room. The dark form of a man was standing in the doorway, his back to the sun. Eileen’s heart felt as if it was about to burst with happiness.
‘Nick!’
The man stepped forward. ‘It’s Chris. I’m looking for Annie.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry. I couldn’t see you properly. I thought you were someone else.’ She was trembling as she turned away to hide her face and began to put the sandwiches back in the bag, then realised they were supposed to be on the plate and spread them out again. ‘Annie’s in the bath,’ she said, hoping her voice sounded relatively normal. ‘She should be out any minute.’ The water could be heard draining away in the adjoining room.
‘That’s all right.’ Chris folded his sunburnt arms as if he were ready to wait forever for Annie to appear. ‘I’m only in Melling for the day visiting me daughter,’ he was explaining, just as Annie opened the bathroom door and emerged in her bare feet and petticoat and combing her wet hair.
‘That was the gear,’ she said. When she saw Chris, she gave a little scream and fled back in, slamming the door behind her.
Chris took a deep breath and rapped on the door. ‘Annie?’ he said tersely.
‘What?’ came a muffled voice.
‘Have you got a husband?’
‘I’m a widow.’
‘Well, I’m a widower, and I’d like to see you again.’
There was no reply from the bathroom.
‘I think the answer’s probably yes,’ said Eileen. She shouted. ‘That’s right, isn’t it, Annie?’
There was still no answer. ‘Take it from me, it’s definitely yes,’ Eileen assured him.
‘In that case, I want to know if she’ll come to the pictures with me on Monday night.’
A garbled response came from the next room.
‘What did she say?’ demanded Chris.
‘She’s on late shift Monday. It’ll have to be Saturday next.’
‘How about tomorrow?’
‘How about tomorrow, Annie?’ Eileen shouted.
‘Tomorrow’s all right.’
‘Tell her I’ll see her at half past seven outside the Odeon in Lime Street.’
Eileen nodded. ‘I will.’
Chris seemed to relax. ‘In that case, I’ll be off. I expect I’ll be seeing you again sometime.’
‘Aye, I expect you will.’
Eileen watched as Chris said goodbye to Sheila, then disappeared around the side of the house. ‘He’s gone, Annie,’ she called.
The bathroom door opened cautiously and Annie appeared, fully dressed.
‘You’re a stupid idiot, Annie Poulson,’ Eileen cried. ‘Didn’t it cross your mind to tell him you weren’t married?’
Annie burst into tears. ‘I feel so bloody lonely nowadays, I always think it must be obvious to everyone.’
‘Come here, luv!’ Eileen gave Annie a warm hug. ‘He’s a lovely feller. I really liked him, honest.’
‘At least I had me best brassiere on,’ said Annie, sniffing. ‘The one with the rosebud. I hope he noticed.’
After they’d had their tea and the children were dressed, Eileen began to tidy up their belongings from the garden. Annie found a piece of rope and made a line to peg the towels on.
‘I’ll take them home with us and give them a proper wash. Anyroad, we need to get them dry a bit for your Sheila. I’ll switch that immersion off, we don’t need any more water.’
Sheila was at that moment soaking in the bath. Eileen could hear her humming under her breath to the music.
The deckchairs were put away in the tumbledown shed and everyone was lying on the grass, waiting, when Sheila finally emerged, looking the picture of health after her day out in the country.
She came towards them, smiling, then stopped, a surprised look on her pink face, as she bent over and clutched her stomach.
‘Jaysus!’ she groaned.
Annie darted across the grass to catch Sheila before she fell, but Eileen couldn’t move; she just stared, horrified, at the bright red blood which poured down from between her sister’s legs.
‘Are you sure she’s all right?’ Jack Doyle demanded anxiously.
They were in Sheila’s house. Eileen had only just arrived back in Pearl Street from the hospital, and having unearthed her dad from the King’s Arms, relayed the news about his favourite daughter.
‘Honest, Dad, she’s fine,’ she assured him. ‘It was a miscarriage, and she’ll be home in a couple of days. Though I’ll tell you this much, it gave me the fright of me life at the time.’ She’d been convinced her sister was going to die.
‘You didn’t let her do too much, did you, at this Melling place?’
‘Are you trying to tell me it’s all my fault?’ Eileen asked angrily.
‘No, of course I ain’t.’
‘It was something that had to happen, according to the doctor. I was too wrought up to take it in, but apparently the baby was growing in the wrong place, outside the womb or something.’
‘As long as she’s all right.’ He sat down suddenly, relieved. ‘Where’s the kids?’
‘They’re upstairs in bed, all seven of them. I’ll sleep here till our Sheila’s back, and the neighbours will help out while I’m at work. It was Annie who brought the kids home on the bus. I went with Sheila in the ambulance. They were dead good. Apparently, our Tony carried Ryan. He w
as fast asleep by then.’
‘He’s a good lad, Tony,’ her dad said proudly, ‘and Annie Poulson’s worth her weight in gold.’
‘She is, too,’ Eileen agreed fervently. Annie had stayed calm, whilst she herself panicked. She was about to go running to the pub to call for an ambulance, when Annie pointed out a telephone on the hall table which Eileen had never noticed in all the numerous times she’d been there. ‘Annie clicked today. She met this lovely feller.’
‘Not before time. It’s a shame, a good woman like that going to waste.’
‘Women aren’t exactly wasted just because they haven’t got a man,’ Eileen said indignantly. ‘No-one suggests you’re going to waste because you haven’t got a woman.’
‘You’re an awkward bugger, our Eileen,’ he complained.
‘Well, I had a good teacher in you!’
They glared at each other across the room. ‘Anyroad,’ he said eventually, ‘you’ve room to talk. You’ve got two men at the moment; a husband and another one on the side.’
‘I don’t want me husband, do I? All I want is Nick.’ There was a catch in Eileen’s voice as she spoke the last words. It had been an emotional day, what with Annie, then the terrible thing with her sister. She felt too upset for an argument at the moment.
‘Did Sheila tell you about the letter I got from Francis?’ she asked.
‘Aye. Have you seen the solicitor?’
‘Miss Thomas rang up for me and he’s on holiday. She said the best thing to do was post the letter to him.’
‘Well, let’s hope it turns out all right.’
Eileen said in a rush, ‘I can’t wait to marry Nick, Dad!’
Jack Doyle stared at the lovely, flushed face of his eldest daughter. She worried him. The girl was much too highly strung and sensitive, and for all her tough talk she was as soft as a jelly underneath. His other daughter, Sheila, who seemed so pliant, as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, was in reality as hard as nails. If anything happened to Cal, Sheila would get over it. It might take time, but Sheila was a stalwart and she’d square her shoulders and carry on. Another thing, there was no way Sheila would have married a man she didn’t love just to please her dad. But Eileen had, and not only that, she’d put up with the geezer for five whole years before saying a word. Now this Nick chap she was head over heels in love with had joined the Air Force. Everyone said the next stage of the war would be fought in the air, and Jack wasn’t sure if his girl could cope if anything happened to Nick.
