by Ellie Dean
It worried her that she was unable to talk to anyone about her dilemma – not even Peggy, who was usually the first person she’d turn to in a crisis – but she soon realised she was waiting for her father to come home, because any decision she reached would affect him the most, and it was only right that he should be the first person she would confide in.
Rita had been on duty all day, so she hadn’t been able to get to the Memorial to see Peter, and now it was too late for visitors. Perhaps it was for the best, she thought dispiritedly, for the news she’d received today wasn’t exactly cheering, and Ivy would probably need a friend tonight if Andy hadn’t taken her off to console her elsewhere.
She trudged up the steps into the kitchen that Monday evening to be greeted enthusiastically by a delighted Harvey. The sight of him made her smile, for Beach View hadn’t felt the same without him.
‘Hello, boy,’ she said, making a huge fuss of him whilst trying to avoid her face being licked. ‘Where did you spring from?’
‘Ron brought him round just after you left for the fire station,’ said Peggy, placing a fresh pot of tea on the table in front of Cissy who was painting her fingernails. ‘He and Rosie went off to Brighton on their honeymoon today, remember?’
She eyed Rita with some concern. ‘Whatever’s the matter, love? You seem to be walking about in a dream just lately.’
‘Nothing,’ Rita replied quickly. ‘I just forgot, that’s all. So much has happened lately it’s all become a bit of a blur.’
‘Sit down and drink a cuppa. Tea’s almost ready.’
‘I need to wash and change first. I’ll be down in a tick.’
Rita escaped the kitchen and Peggy’s attentions and took the stairs two at a time. Shoving through the bedroom door she came to an abrupt halt. Ivy was sitting on her bed, holding the matchbox in one hand, Rita’s ring in the other, a triumphant grin on her face.
‘I knew something were up,’ she crowed. ‘You sly old thing, keeping this beauty to yerself. If my Andy could have afforded to give me such a whopper, I’d be flashing it about all over town.’
Rita finally found her voice. ‘How dare you go through my things, you nosy cow,’ she stormed. ‘If I’d wanted you to see it, I’d’ve shown you. Give it back.’
Ivy jumped to her feet on the bed, holding the ring aloft and out of Rita’s reach. ‘Don’t call me a cow, you cow,’ she yelled. ‘You should’a told me you was engaged. I’m yer best mate, and I tell you everything.’
‘Mates don’t go poking about in other people’s things,’ shouted Rita, grabbing hold of Ivy’s trouser legs and giving them a tug which unbalanced her, making her tumble to her knees on the rumpled bed. ‘Give me back my ring before I slap you so hard you won’t know what day of the week it is.’
Ivy bunched her fists. ‘Oh, yeah? You and whose army?’
Thoroughly riled, Rita went for her, determined to wipe that smug look off Ivy’s face. She made another grab for her ring, but was thwarted by a left hook from Ivy which almost knocked her senseless. ‘Bitch,’ she spat, shoving Ivy so hard, she hit her head on the metal bedframe.
‘Manky mare!’ Ivy leapt up, intent on punching her again.
They grappled and shouted, slapped, punched, clawed and swore, so didn’t hear Peggy hurrying up the stairs, or the excited barking of Harvey who followed closely behind.
‘What on earth is going on in here?’ demanded Peggy from the doorway. ‘Stop this at once.’ She strode over to the bed and grabbed a handful of each girl’s hair to yank them apart.
Both of them howled with pain. ‘What you do that for?’ gasped Ivy, rubbing her head. ‘It was that barmy bint what started it.’
‘It was you going through my things that started it,’ barked Rita. ‘Now give me back my ring.’
Ivy looked in horror at her empty hand. ‘Gawd ’elp me, I ain’t got it no more,’ she gasped. ‘I must’ve dropped it when you shoved me.’
‘I’ll do more than shove you if you’ve lost it,’ Rita snapped.
Ignoring a furious Peggy and the spectators that had gathered outside the door, and accompanied by Harvey’s excited barking, both girls began to frantically search through the bedclothes.
‘I’m so sorry, Rita,’ sobbed Ivy. ‘I never meant for this to ’appen, really I didn’t.’
‘Shut up and keep looking,’ ordered an equally tearful and desperate Rita as she dropped to her knees to search the floor beneath the bed.
‘Is this it?’ Peggy stood by the dressing table, the last of the sunlight flashing fire on the large pink diamond.
‘Yes, oh yes,’ gasped Rita, snatching the ring from her and anxiously examining it to make sure it hadn’t been damaged before slipping it onto her finger.
Peggy turned to the others watching from the landing. ‘The show’s over. Get back to your tea, and take Harvey with you.’
Closing the door, she folded her arms and glared at both girls who were now sitting apart on their single beds. ‘Well, I hope you’re ashamed of yourselves,’ she said. ‘In all the years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen anything like it. You aren’t alley-cats to be scrapping and screeching like banshees, but young women who should know better – and I will have no more of it. Do you hear?’
‘Yes, Aunt Peggy,’ they mumbled in unison, their heads bowed.
Peggy struggled to keep a stern face, for both girls were so doleful, they looked like naughty children caught in the act of mischief. But this was not the time to be soft.
She perched on the dressing stool and eyed them both. ‘Rita. You’d better explain about the ring – and Ivy, you’ll keep quiet until she’s had her say, then it will be your turn. Understood?’
Ivy looked mulish, but nodded in agreement.
Rita lifted her chin but couldn’t quite manage to meet Peggy’s gaze as she explained about Peter’s proposal, the dilemma it had caused and the reason she’d kept it all secret.
‘But why not confide in me?’ Peggy asked, rather hurt that the girl hadn’t trusted her to keep her secret, or come to her for advice and guidance on what was clearly an awful conundrum.
‘I wanted to talk to you about it, really I did,’ Rita said earnestly, ‘but I felt it was only right that I should tell Dad first.’
She glanced over her shoulder at a sulking Ivy. ‘I might have known that nosy cow couldn’t help poking about when I wasn’t here. Nothing’s secret with her around.’
‘That’s not fair,’ protested Ivy, jumping to her feet. ‘I were looking for a match to light me fag, and thought you might have a box stashed away in that junk drawer of yours. How was I to know you’d hidden the bleeding crown jewels in there?’
‘I don’t smoke, as you very well know,’ Rita retorted, ‘so why look in my drawer for matches?’
‘She has a point, Ivy,’ said Peggy, ‘and you admitted to me the other day that you were curious as to what was going on with Rita.’
Ivy wrung her hands in distress. ‘I weren’t being nosy. Not this time, I swear. I really were looking for matches, honest. She’s been in such a funny mood these past few days I thought she must have put the box we use to light the gas in her drawer instead of back on the mantelpiece.’
Peggy regarded the woebegone little face and accepted she was telling the truth. Ivy might be nosy and quick tempered, but she wasn’t a liar. ‘That sounds logical,’ she said. ‘Rita, will you accept her explanation?’
Rita nodded, although reluctantly. ‘If she’d only given me the ring when I asked, I wouldn’t have flown off the handle, and none of this would have happened.’
‘Then I suggest you stop keeping secrets and Ivy asks before she goes rooting about in other people’s things – for whatever reason. Now shake hands, put this behind you and once you’ve washed your faces and combed your hair, come down for your tea, which must be dried up by now.’
The two girls rather sullenly faced one another and briefly shook hands. Knowing this was the best she could hope for while tempers were stil
l frayed, Peggy got to her feet. ‘I suggest you tidy this room as well before you come down, and then I’ll put some iodine on that chin, Rita. You’ll have a whopping bruise there come morning.’
Smiling to herself, she left the room and went downstairs. Their friendship was strong and would weather this spat, but my goodness, Ivy was a real scrapper, and by the look of that bruise, she could throw a mean punch.
Having tidied the room and themselves in an uneasy silence, they stared in shock at the bruises and scratches they’d inflicted on each other. ‘I’m sorry, Rita,’ muttered Ivy, gingerly touching the deep scratch on her cheekbone. ‘I didn’t mean for none of this to ’appen.’
Rita winced as she felt the swelling on her jaw. ‘You certainly know how to throw a punch.’
‘Yeah, sorry about that. Dad was an amateur boxer, see, and he taught me to defend meself when I was getting bullied as a kid.’ She shot Rita a tentative smile. ‘I don’t know me own strength sometimes. Does it hurt?’
‘Yeah, it bloody well does,’ Rita retorted with a grimace. ‘I’m going to have a right bruise there before the night’s out.’ She eyed the scratches on Ivy’s face and felt deep shame that she could do such a thing to her best friend. ‘I’m sorry about them; but you really wound me up, Ivy, and I lashed out without thinking.’
‘It were me own stupid fault,’ Ivy replied. ‘But I were that excited for you, I didn’t think neither.’ She opened her arms. ‘Forgive me?’
Rita hugged her, all anger wiped away by this loving olive branch. ‘Of course. We’re both guilty of being hot-headed.’
They drew apart and grinned at one another. ‘I reckon you’ve got an announcement to make when we go down. Want me to ’old yer ’and?’
Rita shook her head. ‘Thanks, but I can do it. They are family, after all.’
‘I can’t wait to see that snooty Cissy’s face when she clocks that ring,’ giggled Ivy. ‘It must be worth a fortune.’
Rita thought of Cissy going green with envy. ‘Come on, let’s do it.’ Clasping hands, they ran down the stairs and burst into the kitchen.
Every eye was on them, so Rita swept back her hair, ensuring the light flashed on the ring. ‘Pete and I aren’t engaged yet,’ she said, noting the shock in Cissy’s eyes. ‘But this ring is a promise between us that we will decide when the time is right.’
‘So what was all that ruckus about?’ asked Cissy, her gaze still fixed on the ring. ‘Surely you weren’t fighting over a bit of rather vulgar pink glass he must have got from Woolworths?’
‘I’m surprised you don’t know a diamond from glass, Cissy,’ Rita retorted, stung by her sneering reaction. She waved her hand under Cissy’s nose so she got a proper eyeful. ‘Big it might be, but it’s the real thing.’
Peggy brought Rita and Ivy’s supper plates from the warming oven and shot them both a wink, clearly delighted that they were friends again. ‘Be careful, Cissy, you’re in danger of letting your envy show. Stop staring and get on with your tea,’ she reproved mildly.
‘It must have cost a fortune,’ Cissy breathed, her greedy gaze still glued to the diamond. ‘How on earth could some roughneck Australian afford such a thing?’
‘That’s none of your business, really, Cissy, and I find you calling him a roughneck rather insulting. But to satisfy your curiosity, I’ll tell you anyway.’ Rita placed her hand flat on the table between them. ‘He found the pink diamond and the gold whilst prospecting between shearing and crop-dusting seasons, so all it cost him was to get a jeweller to turn them both into a ring.’
‘Gosh,’ gasped Cissy.
‘Gosh indeed,’ piped up Cordelia, eyeing the stunning ring more closely. ‘You’re a very lucky girl, Rita, for not only is Peter handsome, clever and brave, but he’s clearly adept at finding treasure as well.’
‘I know I’m lucky,’ replied Rita, blushing. ‘But according to Pete, treasures like this are lying about in the Outback just waiting to be found.’
‘That’s true,’ said Sarah. ‘My grandfather found a nugget of gold that was worth over a hundred pounds when he was planting a new cane field back in the twenties, and another just as valuable when his horse pawed the ground in the home paddock and kicked it up.’
Silence fell whilst they all absorbed this, and Rita waited nervously for the questions that would inevitably follow. And then decided to take the bull by the horns and get in first.
‘I haven’t made my mind up about anything yet,’ she said. ‘So there’s no point in bombarding me with questions. Dad will be home soon, and it’s something I need to talk to him about. Until then, I’d be grateful if you’d keep everything you’ve seen and heard tonight within these walls. This ring is very valuable, and if word gets out about it, then there’s a danger someone might break in to try and steal it.’
‘Oh, lawks,’ gasped Peggy. ‘I hadn’t thought of that. Perhaps you should keep it in a safe at the bank?’
’The thought had crossed my mind,’ Rita admitted, ‘but I do so love wearing it, and Peter would be very hurt if I locked it away.’
‘Peter’s sensible enough to know what’s best,’ said Cordelia. ‘Talk it over with him, and see what he has to say.’
The conversation was interrupted by the insistent ringing of the telephone.
‘That could be Mum,’ breathed Ivy, leaping to her feet and dashing into the hall, only to return moments later, her little face a picture of disappointment. ‘It’s Peter calling from the public telephone at the Memorial.’
Rita squeezed her shoulder in sympathy and hurried out to retrieve the receiver from the chair. ‘Hello? Peter? It’s not like you to call so late. What’s up?’
‘They’re chucking me out first thing tomorrow morning,’ he replied. ‘I didn’t want you coming here to find me gone and giving you a fright.’
Rita’s pulse raced at the thought she might never have the chance to see him again, and she gripped the receiver until her knuckles went white. ‘Where are they sending you? Is it local or miles away? Are you being returned to the RAAF base, or some billet near the docks?’
He chuckled. ‘If you’d let me get a word in edgeways, I’ll tell you. I’m going to Cliffe House, which is even nearer to you than this place. They’re pleased with my progress and don’t think I need any more treatment for my head injury, but I will have to continue with the physiotherapy for a while longer. Isn’t that good news?’
‘The best,’ she sighed, the tension easing from her shoulders. ‘When are the visiting hours at Cliffe?’
‘From nine until nine. As I told you before, it’s more of a hotel than a hospital and the rules are far more relaxed.’
‘I’ll come straight over the minute I finish my shift, so it’ll be about lunchtime.’
‘That’s an unusually short shift. What’s going on?’
Rita lowered her voice in case Ivy overheard, for it was clear Andy had yet to tell her the news. ‘My boss, John Hicks, has had to cut the hours of all the stand-in staff now some of the regulars have returned from their war duties to take up their jobs again. He’s keeping me and Ivy’s Andy on part-time until the end of the month, but then he’ll have to let us go. John didn’t like doing it, but we all knew our jobs were only for the duration of the war, so we really can’t complain.’
‘That’s tough,’ murmured Peter. ‘Especially for Andy and Ivy who were saving up to get married.’ His tone lightened. ‘Talking of which, it will leave you free to spend time with your dad and give you the chance to make up your mind about marrying me.’
‘It certainly will,’ she said with a lightness she didn’t feel. ‘But I am really worried about your very valuable ring, and was wondering if you’d mind me putting it in a safety deposit box. With so many out of work, it could prove too big a temptation if I flash it about, and I don’t want Beach View burgled.’
There was a long pause before he spoke again. ‘You’re right, Rita. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll miss not seeing it on your finger, but it�
�s for the best. I’d hate to hear you’ve been robbed of it.’
‘I’ll go into town before I come to see you,’ she replied just as the pips went.
‘Gotta go. No more change. See you tomorrow, darling,’ he managed before the line was cut.
Rita returned to the kitchen to find that Andy had arrived and Ivy was in tears.
‘I’m sorry, love, but there’s nothing I can do about it,’ he murmured as he held Ivy close. ‘But John has promised to try his best to get me a job with one of the London fire stations. And even if it is only part-time, it’ll be better than nothing.’
‘It feels as if the end of the war has brought us nothing but bad luck,’ she sobbed. ‘What we going to do, Andy? We’ll never get a place of our own at this rate, and what with your bad ’earing, it ain’t likely anyone will take you on in the Smoke.’
‘John promised to write a glowing reference, paying particular attention to me ’earing,’ he replied stoutly. ‘I done five years down ’ere and not put a foot wrong, so I’ve earnt the right to a decent job with the London fire brigade. It’ll all work out, Ivy, I promise. So dry your tears, gel, and give me a lovely smile before I go back to Auntie Gloria’s to finish the painting before her first lot of guests arrive.’
‘You’re going out again?’
His expression was mournful, clearly torn between staying and his duty to his aunt. ‘I ’ave to, love. We need the money more than ever now.’
‘I’ll keep her company,’ said Rita. ‘Go and finish that painting, and I’ll treat Ivy to a pint at the Anchor. After all, we’re both in the same boat, and as Ruby’s in there tonight, we can have a good old chinwag and put that smile back on Ivy’s face.’
‘Thanks, Rita. You’re a diamond.’ He pulled a couple of half-crowns out of his paint-smeared dungaree pocket. ‘Have one on me.’ He kissed Ivy’s forehead and made his escape before she could protest.
Peggy felt sad for both girls as she watched Rita guide Ivy out of the kitchen, and their return some minutes later in their overcoats. Ivy looked a little more cheerful, and the girls were holding hands. Neither of them had had a good day, but their friendship had proved strong enough to overcome what fate had handed out to them. The end of the war had certainly changed things in the most unexpected way.
