Victory for the Shipyard Girls

by Nancy Revell

  ‘She’s like a dog with a bloody bone,’ Pearl said. ‘Just won’t let it go.’

  Bill nodded. They were both sat on stools by the bar, which was now empty. Customers had been chucked out half an hour ago and beer trays emptied.

  ‘Maisie coming back has really upset the apple cart,’ he mused.

  Pearl’s head snapped round. She hated to hear even the slightest hint of criticism or negativity about her daughter. ‘Maybes, but I think this whole “da” malarkey would have happened regardless. If not now, then sometime in the future. Isabelle’s always wanted to know who her father was. Always. Always mithering on as a child. She only gave up when she got in with Agnes and her clan. And now it’s reared its ugly head again … I just wish she’d get herself in the family way – might take her mind off all this. She should have fallen now, anyways.’ Pearl did a quick calculation in her head. ‘Married in November … It’s now April … That’s a good five months. More than enough time.’

  Bill looked at Pearl as she lit up another cigarette and he could see she was anxious, something Pearl wasn’t prone to. He also thought her use of the words ‘reared its ugly head’ had spoken volumes. There was something not nice, something ugly, about Bel’s da. Disclosing who he was did not seem like an option for Pearl, but if Bel persisted, Pearl might not have any choice.

  Bill took a swig of his beer and looked at Pearl’s free hand resting on top of the bar. He was just about to put his own hand on hers, tell her that she was not alone and he was here for her. That he cared for her, had fallen for her; would go as far as to say that he loved her – all of her – regardless of her many failings and the life she had led. But as he moved his hand to show Pearl that what he felt for her was more than mere friendship, there was a bang on the door.

  Bill stood up. ‘We’re closed!’

  ‘It’s only me – Ronald! Come to take that barmaid of yours off your hands. We need her to make up a game of poker.’

  Bloody Ronald! Bill cursed under his breath as he went to let him in. Him and his bloody card games and black-market whisky.

  As Pearl drained her drink and stood up to leave, she realised she wasn’t going to be able to fob her daughter off any more. If Isabelle was a child playing a game of Hot or Cold, she would now be burning up. Pearl might have given herself a stay of execution by getting Maisie to throw her off the scent, but Pearl knew it was just temporary. She knew Isabelle, and when she didn’t get her answers, she would go back and knock on all those doors again – including the ones along Glen Path.

  It would just take one knock on one particular door and she would know. She would bet her bottom dollar that Agatha and Eddy still worked there, and if Bel met the master of the house, then one look at his face and she would see a reflection of her own.

  Eventually Isabelle was going to find out the truth.

  Pearl’s hand was being forced.

  Pearl lost every single game of poker. All she could think about was what to do next. Should she tell Isabelle a lie, only a more convincing one than she had told her when she was a child? This was not a game of poker, though. The stakes were so much higher. Besides, if it was a game of bluff, Pearl would probably still lose as Isabelle knew her too well.

  No, Pearl had to face facts. There was nothing she could do with the dud hand she was now holding other than to chuck it in and admit defeat. She was going to have to tell her the truth.

  Pearl sipped on her whisky. The sound of the card players’ chit-chat filled the cramped front room, but Pearl wasn’t listening. Her mind, as Ronald had already pointed out more than once this evening, was somewhere else.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Glen Path, Sunderland

  1914

  A week before the Easter holidays Henrietta announced to Maid Marian that Charles would be ‘gracing us all with his presence’, but that ‘the girls’ had sent a letter saying they had been invited to stay at a chateau in the South of France with the family of a friend of theirs. Agatha had smiled politely, but when she had repeated the news to the rest of the ‘household cavalry’, there had been a low rumbling of dissent.

  ‘Flamin’ Nora, we’ve only just recovered from His Majesty’s last visit,’ one of the stable lads said.

  ‘You wanna be thankful yer dinnit work indoors.’ Annie, one of the chambermaids, mumbled the words quietly under her breath.

  ‘Well,’ Agatha told them all, ‘we’ve only got a week to prepare this time, so it’s going to be a case of all hands on deck!’

  A couple of days later Pearl was helping the cook pluck a goose when Agatha came into the kitchen all of a flurry.

  ‘Bleedin’ typical!’ she said, looking about the kitchen and finding only Velma, Pearl and Eddy, who had managed to get an hour off as Henrietta was having one of her afternoon naps.

  ‘Who’s got your knickers in a knot?’ Velma asked, giving Pearl a wink and a sly smile. Agatha was about as far removed from Robin Hood’s love interest as one could get, and could be a bit of a tyrant as she ruled the roost both up- and downstairs. It wasn’t often they saw her with her feathers ruffled.

  ‘Little Annie has just been to see me with some cock and bull story about some old dying relative she’s got to go and see. I told her I’ve never heard her talk about this ageing aunty before but she was quite adamant – as is her mam by all accounts – that she go and say her goodbyes.’ Annie had earned the prefix ‘little’ because she was actually very small and skinny – skinnier than Pearl even – and looked much younger than seventeen.

  Velma stopped plucking and went to wash her hands in the large white porcelain sink. Pearl thought she had gone rather serious all of a sudden.

  ‘Oh aye.’

  Velma always tried to speak properly so Pearl was surprised to hear the cook talking like she’d just stepped out of the east end.

  ‘She’s not got herself into trouble, like the last one? Has she?’ Velma’s tone was accusatory and Pearl noticed that Eddy had got up and sidled towards the back door.

  ‘Course not!’ Agatha glared daggers.

  ‘Just off to have a quick word—’ Eddy had disappeared out the back by the time his words were out. Both women ignored Eddy’s hasty departure.

  ‘Well,’ Velma said, ‘if little Annie needs time off for a bereavement, the lass needs it. Even if it is inconvenient that her auld aunty’s decided to die at the same time as his lordship is due back.’

  Agatha scowled at Velma.

  ‘I’ve told Annie – and I’ve told her to tell that pig-headed mam of hers – that if the mistress of the house decides that she doesn’t want to employ such unreliable staff then that’s her prerogative.’

  ‘Hah,’ Velma let out a coarse bark of laughter, ‘like Henrietta has ever given anyone the boot! If you sack that little lass—’

  ‘Yes?’ Agatha asked. ‘And pray, Velma, what is going to happen to me?’

  Velma huffed, knowing that at the end of the day she was just the cook and held no power over Agatha.

  ‘Actually, I’m not going to give little Annie “the boot”, as you put it. But take heed, her card is marked.’ She walked over to the kitchen table and poured herself a cup of tea. She held the china cup up to her mouth and was about to take a sip when she stopped.

  ‘Annie’s position needs to be filled. Temporary though that may be.’

  ‘Good!’ Velma sat back down at the table and poured herself a mug of tea.

  ‘So,’ Agatha looked at Pearl, who was still silently pulling feathers and keeping her head down, ‘I’m going to get young Pearl here to take Annie’s place while she’s gone.’

  Pearl looked up, surprised to hear her name spoken.

  ‘You’ll do no such thing.’ Velma was down her throat in an instant. ‘I need her here with me. There’s too much to do on my own.’ She banged her mug down. ‘No, Agatha, sorry, but you can’t have her. She’s mine!’

  ‘It’s already been arranged, Velma. You’re just going to have to manage on y
our own.’

  Pearl looked at the cook. She had never seen her so flushed and angry. Velma stood up and put her hands on her ample waist. She looked as though she was going to let loose, but she didn’t. Instead she pursed her lips, turned on her heel, grabbed her smokes and went out the back. She never allowed anyone to smoke in ‘her’ kitchen when there was food about. Not even herself.

  ‘Annie leaves on Wednesday. The day before the master is due back,’ Agatha said to Pearl. Her voice was calm and she was back in control of herself.

  ‘Yes, miss,’ Pearl said, not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Not that it made any odds. If she wanted to keep working at the house, she had to do what she was told.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  It had been two weeks since Gloria had made her resolution to speak to Helen about her father, and every lunchtime she had kept an eagle eye on the admin offices in case Helen left the building for her break. She never did, or at least Gloria had never seen her leave.

  Gloria wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do if she did in fact see Helen; she just had a vague plan of catching up with her and asking if she could have a quiet word. It wasn’t the most practicable scenario, especially as she would be taking the chance that they might be overheard, but what else could she do? She had hung back at the end of shift a few times, hoping she might catch her leaving, but it looked like Helen worked late most nights, and Gloria couldn’t hang around as that definitely would look odd, and besides, she had Hope to pick up. She didn’t want Bel to feel she was taking a lend of her.

  Apart from catching her at work, Gloria didn’t see any other scenario where she would be able to grab a few minutes with Helen to plead Jack’s case. It wasn’t as though Gloria could go and pay her a visit at home and ask to come in to have a cuppa and a natter.

  ‘Yer in need of a bit supper there, hinny? I’ve gorra a load of crabs here and a few fillets of fresh fish gannin’ spare?’

  Gloria stopped the pram and had a look in Meg Shipley’s huge wicker basket. The woman was a permanent fixture in the town and there were few who didn’t know her. If she wasn’t street hawking, she’d be down Corporation Quay waiting on the fishing boats. Gloria bought a piece of fish fillet and the two women went their separate ways – Maggie with her basket balanced on her head, Gloria pushing Hope in the Silver Cross.

  Gloria had stayed for a little while at the Elliots’ and enjoyed a chat with Agnes. It had been just the two of them as Bel had gone in search of washing powder, which Agnes said had become as precious to them – and as rare – as gold dust since it had been added to the ever-growing list of rationed goods back in February. Gloria had made a mental note to get them some, knowing how much they needed it to keep on taking in washing. It mightn’t earn them a great amount, but with just Polly’s wage and what Joe got paid for his Home Guard duties, every penny counted.

  Once Gloria had turned left onto Borough Road, it was just minutes before she was back at the flat. She was looking forward to getting Hope bathed and settled, and then frying up the piece of fish she’d just bought, but as soon as she went to lift Hope out of the pram, her little girl suddenly started crying. She had gone from drowsy to making enough noise to wake the dead in a matter of seconds.

  Gloria tried to soothe her daughter by gently stroking her two little rosy cheeks with the back of her hand, but it was pointless. Hope had been like this the past week and Gloria had tried everything to calm her down – cuddling her, feeding her, trying to distract her with one of the many toys that had once belonged to Lucille – but nothing had worked. It had only been by chance last night that Gloria had found the solution to her daughter’s nightly tantrums. She had taken her for a walk round the block to give Mr Brown and the other tenants a respite from Hope’s unrelenting vocals and within minutes she had stopped screeching. When Gloria had looked down at her daughter she had seen a very red, smiley face staring up at her. So, Gloria had kept walking and Hope had kept smiling and gurgling.

  Tonight, rather than go through the usual litany of cuddles and cajoling, Gloria decided to simply head back out, even though it was the last thing she felt like doing. As soon as Hope was back in her pram being pushed along Borough Road, her screams subsided. As they passed the museum on their left and the bomb site that had once been the town’s most exclusive department store, Hope was dribbling and giggling to her heart’s content.

  ‘You little terror, you’re gonna take after yer godmother. I can just see it. Wanting to be up all night, gadding around town.’

  Gloria decided to walk up Holmeside and past the Maison Nouvelle, not that she would be able to stop and see if Kate was still there, but she could at least look in all the shop windows and do a lap of the town centre. By the time she’d done that she was fairly sure her daughter would have finally dropped off to sleep.

  At least, Gloria mused as she walked over the road by the south entrance to the railway station, it was now spring. The nights were light, the weather warmer, and there were plenty of people about.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Theodore took hold of Helen’s hand and looked at her with puppy-dog eyes, ‘but David – the doctor I was telling you about – well, his sweetheart is leaving tomorrow for her Wren training and this is the last night they’ll be able to spend together for months. I know I’m a complete sucker, but I said I’d cover for him.’

  Helen looked at the man she had given her heart, soul and, more importantly, her body to and forced a smile.

  ‘Of course you must cover for David and his Wren. That’s what I love about you so much. You put everyone else before yourself.’

  Helen reached up and kissed him gently on the lips. They were standing on Crowtree Road outside the King’s Theatre, which was showing 49th Parallel, starring Laurence Olivier.

  ‘I’m sure neither of us could enjoy the film knowing that we were doing so at the expense of their last evening together. We can go and see the film another night, can’t we?’

  ‘You are a doll, as the Yanks would say.’ Theo’s relief was audible. He had thought he might well have to argue his case as this was the first time they had gone to the cinema together. A date he had only agreed to as Helen had started to grouse about the fact they never did anything special. Her lament had not surprised him – far from it. Most women he knew would have been complaining fairly soon after they’d started courting that they never went anywhere appropriate for a couple of their class. One of the advantages of Helen being inexperienced was that she was easily steered and believed whatever he told her.

  Theo knew he’d had a good run of it with Helen, just as he knew her demands to do what other proper couples did meant that time was now running out. He might be able to risk taking her to the cinema once, but he couldn’t take the chance of taking her out to any of the town’s more salubrious bars and restaurants. Places he might well meet people he, or Helen, knew.

  ‘But that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.’ Helen forced her voice to sound light-hearted. Her mother had taught her never to appear even remotely clingy with a man as it was a sure way to lose him. She moved to the side to let a couple go pass, chatting away, oblivious to anyone else. As she watched them hurry into the foyer, she felt an instant stab of envy, which perturbed her. Why should she feel jealous when she had Theo? When her new life was just waiting for her around the corner – or rather, down in Oxford?

  ‘Come here.’ Theo pulled Helen close and kissed her. As their bodies pressed together, he felt the instant pull of attraction. Helen might not be the most worldly-wise of women he had been with, but she had a natural sex appeal. He was going to miss her body, the way she excited him without really being aware of it. But it was time. This evening was the beginning of the end. And now he had started the ball rolling, he needed to make it as quick and as painless as possible.

  ‘I won’t be able to see you until next week,’ Theo said when Helen pulled away. He could see by the look on her face that she was disappointed but was tr
ying not to show it.

  ‘I’ll make it up to you, I promise.’ Theo was now stepping backwards, making his escape. ‘I’ll ring you from the hospital next week. We’ll do something nice.’ Again, another empty promise.

  ‘Don’t forget the dinner party Mother’s organising in your honour. She wants to set a date – and she won’t give up until she’s got one!’ Helen shouted after Theo, who waved and smiled, but didn’t say anything.

  Helen watched her lover as he turned his back on her and walked away.

  As Theodore hurried to the bus depot at Park Lane, he looked around and checked that no one he knew was about. It was unlikely, but all the same, he needed to make sure. The few people he did know up here were based at the hospital, but they were all well aware he was married. It just needed one person to see him, and then that one person to tell another, and then the Chinese whispers would be finding their way all the way back down south to Franny. And there was no way she could ever find out. Certainly not in her present condition.

  As he jumped on a bus that had its engine running, ready to leave for a round trip to Ryhope, he had to admit that he had let this particular dalliance go on for much longer than normal, and if he wasn’t careful he was going to get himself into trouble. When he had seen Dr Parker the other day he had told Theo all about the Havelocks – about Mr Havelock and his daughter, Miriam. How she had once been a great beauty and caused a bit of a stir by marrying below her station. Her husband was now a local hero, though, having nearly drowned at sea after being part of some maritime mission to America that had been organised by Churchill himself. For the first time, Theodore had felt a little worried. He might well have bitten off more than he could chew. Going to some dinner party that had been specifically organised in his honour was a definite no-no. He had to somehow cut Helen loose, and quickly.

  Theodore checked his watch and saw he was only going to be a few minutes late to meet up with his new squeeze, Marion. Determined not to make the same mistake twice, this time he had found himself a woman who was not only far from innocent, but married too. It made life so much easier as she was equally keen that no one see her out with someone else, and therefore had no desire to be wined and dined, meet the parents or be taken to the blasted cinema.