The Londoners
Page 36
‘You’d think Mr Harvey would be too old to be the active boss of a company as big as Harvey’s, wouldn’t you?’ Ruth Fairbairn said to her as she put clean laundry away in a chest of drawers decorated with nursery-rhyme characters and Kate dangled a gurgling Matthew on her knee, ‘but he’s up in London part of every week supervising what he says are colossal rebuilding programmes.’
Lance Merton also visited her with regular frequency. Sometimes he took her and Daisy and Hector into Kent for a picnic, sometimes they simply went for a walk in Greenwich Park or across the Heath. On one occasion he told her he was in love with her. She had crushed his hopes as gently as possible and, believing she had done so only because she was still grieving for Toby, Lance had accepted the rejection with good grace. Unknown to Kate it was not, however, a rejection he regarded as being final.
In October the submarine war in the Atlantic claimed the lives of more than seventy American sailors when a U-boat attacked a US battleship on convoy duty west of Iceland.
‘I didn’t know the Yanks were helping us out in the Atlantic,’ Charlie Robson said to Kate, his collarless shirt stuffed any-old-how into the broad leather belt holding up his trousers.
If there was one aspect of the war that Kate was knowledgeable about it was the war in the Atlantic.
‘They’ve been helping out for a while now, Charlie,’ she said, giving Queenie a friendly pat. ‘Or as much as they can without coming into the war themselves.’
‘And why the ’ell don’t they?’ Charlie asked, mystified. ‘Why the ’ell don’t they get properly pitched in and stop shilly-shallying?’
Two months later all shilly-shallying was over. On 7 December the world woke to the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbour. Four days later Mavis was once again acting as the local town-crier by leaning out of her bedroom window and shouting at the top of her voice, ‘Now I know Hitler’s bloody mad! He’s just declared war on America!’
‘The Yanks will soon sort the Jerries out,’ Nellie said confidently as Kate knelt at her feet and dusted her ulcerated legs with antiseptic powder. ‘I’m rather partial to a Yank meself. Or I am if they all look like Clark Gable!’ She stretched her left leg out so that Kate could begin bandaging it. ‘That boy of Charlie Robson’s looks a lot like Clark Gable, doesn’t ’e? Christina showed me a photograph of ’im in ’is Commando gear. Very tasty, I thought. She said ’is brother was killed in Spain. Did you know ’im, dear?’
‘Yes,’ Kate said, thinking of the teddy bear that sat on her dressing-table and of a sunny, carefree, laughter-filled day on the Heath. A day that now seemed to belong to another lifetime.
‘She’s a nice girl, that Christina,’ Nellie said as Kate fastened the bandage at her knee with a safety-pin. ‘A bit quiet o’ course. She doesn’t ’ave the go about ’er South London girls ’ave. Still, she’s ’ad a lot to put up with, losing ’er family in those terrible camps.’
She paused, looking down at the top of Kate’s head and her long braid of sun-gold hair. ‘I take it you and she ain’t exactly on friendly terms, dear?’ she said at last, her kindly eyes troubled. ‘It’s silly, ain’t it? You’re not a bloody Nazi an’ I don’t suppose your dad is either. Life’s too short to ’old grudges against people who don’t deserve to ’ave grudges ’eld against ’em an’ I told ’er so. Would you like a nice cup o’ tea when you’ve finished bandagin’ me up? Me legs are so much better since you started lookin’ after ’em you’d never believe it. Angel’s ’ands you ’ave, an’ I told Christina so.’
‘I’m going to be home for Christmas,’ Leon wrote in his plain, firm handwriting. ‘Then I’ll be off the Atlantic route and on another ship on the Arctic route to Murmansk and Archangel.’
She knew that convoys had been ferrying precious supplies to the beleaguered Russians ever since September. And she knew that the dangers they faced, being within German air striking distance for much of the way, were even more perilous than the dangers facing them on the Atlantic.
She hugged his letter to her breast. She would worry about the Arctic run to Murmansk and Archangel later. He had written that he was coming home for Christmas! Home! Was that truly how he thought of herself and Magnolia Square? And if it was, did it mean that the guardedness in his letters was merely because he was unsure of what her response might be if he was to be more frank? Was he nervous of saying what was in his heart in case he didn’t meet with a like response, just as she had been nervous in the hours after Matthew was born?
‘Oh, but we’re going to have a wonderful Christmas,’ she said to Daisy, knowing that where she and Leon were concerned, the time for nervousness and caution was at an end. ‘Leon’s coming home and you’re both going to love each other on sight and we’re going to have the best Christmas ever!’
Part of that best Christmas was the Luftwaffe’s continued absence from London. It meant that Matthew need no longer stay in Somerset. He could come home.
‘I don’t agree with you, young lady,’ Joss Harvey said brusquely. ‘The war is far from over and London is far from being out of danger. Matthew is settled here. Disturbing his routine and returning him to London is not in his best interests.’
‘I’m the one who knows what my son’s best interests are,’ Kate retorted, noting with interest that he was now referring to her as ‘young lady’ not ‘young woman’. ‘Our agreement was that Matthew would stay in Somerset until it was safe for him to return to London. At the moment it is safe. And he’s coming home with me.’
Joss Harvey sucked in his breath, his face purpling. For a few seconds he didn’t speak, his inner battle obvious, then he said tightly, ‘If that is your considered decision then of course I can’t overrule it. I would suggest, however, that you wait until after Christmas before taking Matthew back to London. It would be typical of the Germans to make a surprise attack on Christmas Day when they would imagine we would be least prepared for it. And I would appreciate one Christmas at least with my great-grandson.’
It was disconcertingly near to a plea and Kate hesitated. There was a glimmer of sense in what he was saying. It was quite possible that the Luftwaffe would pay London a Christmas visit. And despite all his forcefulness and apparent good health Joss Harvey was an old man. The Christmas coming might be the last Christmas he would be able to spend with Matthew.
‘All right,’ she agreed, knowing that she could afford to be generous. ‘As long as it’s quite understood that when I visit in February I take Matthew home with me.’
‘Absolutely,’ he said, unable to conceal the depth of his relief. ‘Would you like a whisky? Have you seen anything of Lance, lately?’
When Christmas Eve dawned Leon had still not walked into Magnolia Square, his kit-bag on his shoulder. Kate refused to panic. He had said he would be home for Christmas and he was a man who kept his promises.
‘Let’s go down to the market,’ she said to Daisy, wrapping her up warmly in a coat and Fair Isle beret and scarf. ‘If we’re lucky Mr Jennings might have some nice apples on his stall.’
With Hector at their heels they set off, walking down towards the bottom end of the Square and Magnolia Hill. As they reached Miss Helliwell’s magnolia tree Kate’s tummy muscles tensed. Miriam Jennings was walking towards them, Rose and Jenny at either side of her, holding her hands. And with them was Christina.
‘’lo, Auntie Kate!’ Rose called out, letting go of her grandmother’s hand and running towards Kate. ‘It’s Christmas tomorrow and Santa Claus is bringing me a doll’s house!’
Kate’s eyebrows rose. A doll’s house! How on earth had Carrie managed to buy a doll’s house?
‘It ain’t really a doll’s house,’ Miriam said as Rose scampered off to introduce Jenny to Hector. ‘It’s a birdcage Albert found when Cambridge Gardens was bombed in May. Gawd knows what happened to the bird, I don’t. Albert said the cage would come in useful, an’ it ’as. ’E’s covered the sides in cardboard and put a bit of old lino on top as a roof. Me an’ Christina dug
out bits an’ pieces to furnish it. We found bits of old wallpaper for the walls and dyed a bit of hessian for a carpet an’ fringed it. It looks a fair treat.’
‘I bet it does,’ Kate said warmly. It was the first time in eighteen months that Miriam had spoken to her and she had no intention of being childish and snubbing her. If Miriam was prepared to build fences, then so was she.
‘If you’re ’oping to find any fruit dahn the market, you’d best be quick,’ Miriam said, catching hold of Rose’s hand again. ‘Albert ’ad a fair supply in first thing but it’ll soon go. ’Ave a nice Christmas. Ta-ra.’
‘Ta-ra,’ Kate said as Miriam began to walk away from her.
‘Bye,’ Christina said, falling into step beside Miriam.
Kate swung her head round, hardly able to believe her ears, but Christina already had her back towards her. She stared after her, wondering if she had been imagining things. A friendly goodbye? From Christina Frank? It almost beggared belief.
‘If Rose is getting a doll’s house from Santa Claus do you think she’ll let me play with it?’ Daisy asked as they walked past the Lomaxes’ and the Jennings’.
‘Of course she will,’ Kate said confidently, looking forward to the expression on Daisy’s face when she found a doll in her Christmas stocking. It was one she herself had been given when she was four years old and she had made it a magnificent new set of clothes out of an old rose-pink silk blouse.
‘Why is that big army lorry parked there?’ Daisy asked curiously as they turned the corner into Magnolia Hill.
The lorry in question was parked at the very top end of Magnolia Hill, as near to the Square as it was possible for it to get. ‘I don’t know,’ Kate said, wondering if perhaps it was something to do with Ted and if he was home on Christmas leave, and if his rift with Mavis was at an end.
‘Billy shouldn’t be playing in it, should he?’ Daisy said with a three-year-old’s self-importance. ‘I’ve just seen him climbing into it. I ’spect he’s pretending to drive it. Little boys can’t drive big lorries, can they?’
Mr Nibbs was walking up the far side of the street, deep in conversation with Daniel Collins. Kate grinned to herself. If Nibbo spoke to her today it would be a hat trick!
Hettie Collins was walking towards them, her well-worn black coat buttoned high to the throat, her black hat decorated with a seasonal sprig of holly, a shopping-basket over her arm.
At the bottom end of Magnolia Hill, where The Swan dipped steeply into the busy High Street, Queenie could be glimpsed, sitting patiently on the pavement waiting for Charlie.
‘There’s probably someone in the lorry with him,’ Kate said, and then three things happened at once.
Leon swung into Magnolia Hill at the corner opposite to The Swan. The lorry began to move, edging silently forwards. Mavis suddenly appeared, her peroxide-blonde hair in pincurls, slippers on her feet, shouting, ‘Put the bloody brake on, Billy!’
Billy didn’t put the brake on, presumably because he couldn’t reach it. The lorry began to gain momentum. Hettie Collins screamed and dropped her shopping-basket. Mr Nibbs shouted, ‘What the bloody hell. . .’ Daniel Collins sprinted into the middle of the road and began racing after the lorry, trying to catch it up. Mavis began to scream.
Instinctively Kate also began to run. The lorry was thundering loudly over Magnolia Hill’s cobbles now, hurtling suicidally down towards the busy junction with the High Street.
As she ran she saw Charlie and a half a dozen other men tumble out of The Swan. She heard Nibbo shout, ‘Get someone to stop the traffic in the High Street for Christ’s sake!’ She saw Hettie Collins begin to cross herself time and time and time again. And she saw Leon sling his kit-bag to the ground and, as the lorry rocketed towards him, she saw him tense himself and spring.
Her own screams now merged with Mavis’s. For a brief second she saw his uniformed figure cling to the lorry’s nearside door and then he threw himself bodily through the open window.
‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph, they’ll both be killed!’ Hettie sobbed as Kate raced past her, Daisy sobbing in her wake, vainly trying to catch up with her.
There were only yards now between the careening lorry and the buses and vans and horse-drawn carts unsuspectingly plying up and down the High Street.
Suddenly the lorry swerved, heading diagonally across the road towards The Swan, tyres screeching as it did so.
‘He’s got the brakes on!’ Daniel panted to Kate, still running. ‘He’s going to crash it into The Swan rather than let it crash in the High Street!’
Charlie and his mates had already realized the same thing and heavy boots were scattering left and right at high speed.
Kate was in the road now, the cobbles hard beneath her feet. If Leon crashed the lorry into The Swan, lives would no doubt be saved in the High Street but what would happen to him and Billy?
‘It’s slowing down!’ Daniel shouted from behind her. ‘He’s going to make it, thank God.’
The lorry shuddered and lurched on to the pavement and then, a hair’s breadth from the pub’s walls, it rocked to a halt.
From everywhere people began running towards it. Ted Lomax, wearing only a pair of hastily donned trousers, his hair and chest still wet from the bath he had been having, raced like a man demented past Daniel. Bob Giles, his distinctive clerical collar showing above a husky jumper, was running down Magnolia Hill from the direction of the vicarage. Even Hettie was running, her basket of shopping forgotten, tears of relief staining her cheeks.
As Leon flung the driver’s seat door of the lorry’s cab open, Mavis was the first on the scene. ‘You stupid little bleeder!’ she sobbed at Billy as Leon handed him down to her. ‘I’ll bloomin’ killyer when I getyer ’ome!’
Kate didn’t hear Billy’s reply. As Leon sprang agilely down from the cab to the pavement she rocketed towards him, throwing herself into his arms.
If anyone was surprised by her action, they didn’t say so.
‘That was a bloody brave thing to do, mate,’ Daniel Collins was saying as Leon’s arms closed around Kate. ‘If you’d misjudged that leap you’d have likely killed yourself.’
‘You deserve a medal,’ Hettie was saying, one hand pressed against her still palpitating heart, her sprig of holly hanging half off her hat after the exertion of her run. ‘Doesn’t ’e deserve a medal, Nibbo? If it wasn’t for ’im little Billy would most likely be dead now.’
‘And so, very likely, would a lot of other people,’ Nibbo said, thinking of the carnage that could have been caused if the lorry had careered into a two-decker bus.
Leon wasn’t listening to him, or to the other words of admiration flooding over him. Kate was in his arms, where he had always wanted her to be, and he hadn’t the slightest intention of letting her go.
‘Oh God, I thought you were going to be killed!’ she was saying, her voice breaking with emotion.
Her head was against his chest and she was hugging him so tightly he could hardly breathe. He looked down at the shining gold of her hair, knowing that from now on there would be no barriers of shyness or uncertainty between them.
‘Who? Me?’ he asked quizzically, his amber-brown eyes full of love. ‘When I’m about to spend a second Christmas Day with you and Hector? I wouldn’t be so careless.’
‘And Daisy,’ she said thickly, raising her head to his, her eyes shining with happiness. ‘You haven’t met Daisy yet.’
‘No,’ Leon said, looking across the top of her head to where a small figure was running towards them as fast as her little legs would carry her. ‘But I think I’m about to.’
Ted Lomax had been hugging Billy. Now he came across to Leon and held out his hand to him. ‘We haven’t met, but I’m Billy’s dad,’ he said as Leon reluctantly released hold of Kate with one arm in order to accept his proffered handshake. ‘I can’t thank you enough for what you just did. If you hadn’t been there . . .’ he shuddered, and not just because he was half-naked and it was the middle of winter.
‘Not many people would have leapt on a lorry going that speed,’ Ted said frankly, ‘I just want you to know that I appreciate it. And that I won’t forget it.’
‘You both need a strong hot cup of tea down you,’ Hettie said practically. ‘Come on, let’s get back to the Square and I’ll put the kettle on. Are you comin’ with us Nibbo? Charlie?’
‘I don’t think so, ’ettie,’ Charlie said, eyeing the still open door of The Swan. ‘I rather fancy a drop o’ somethin’ a bit stronger.’
‘I dare say Daniel does as well, but he ain’t going to have any,’ Hettie said tartly before her husband should get any similar ideas. ‘Come on, Daniel. And give Ted a lend of your jacket. He must be freezing.’
Daisy had come to a stop a few feet from Kate and Leon. Kate had told her a lot about Leon and she had been fiercely looking forward to meeting him. Now, however, she felt suddenly shy. He looked so different from anyone she had ever seen before, with his dusky skin and crinkly black hair. And he had his arm around her Auntie Kate’s shoulders in a way she wasn’t sure she liked. She was her Auntie Kate, after all, and though she didn’t mind sharing her with baby Matthew she wasn’t sure she wanted to share her with anyone else.
Leon, seeing the doubts and uncertainties flashing across her face, slid his arm from around Kate’s waist and squatted down on his haunches so that he and Daisy were on eye-level.
‘Hello,’ he said with a friendly grin. ‘I’m Leon. Are you Daisy? I’ve heard a lot about you.’
‘And I’ve heard a lot about you, too,’ Daisy said, slightly reassured.
‘I hope we’re going to be friends. I’ve got some oranges and bananas in my kit-bag. Shall we go home and put them in a fruit bowl?’
‘A banana?’ Daisy’s eyes were like saucers. She had heard about bananas but she’d never seen one, much less eaten one. ‘A real banana? Not a pretend one?’