‘Why were they in Canterbury to begin with?’
‘It was a day trip. Betty – that is, Miss Billington – was going to have afternoon tea with the manager of the Canterbury branch of Woolworths. She is the manager at the Erith branch. Both are on holiday in Margate for a few days. They are staying near to the seafront . . . Why, silly me, I don’t need to arrange to have them back in Erith this evening. If I can arrange transport to get them both to the guesthouse where they’ve booked rooms, then I can head back home and let people know what has happened,’ she said with relief. ‘How long will it take to have them both released?’
‘It could be a little while yet. I suggest you leave it with us to arrange transport for your friends. I promise we won’t leave them to catch a bus. In the meantime you could be heading back to your hometown and informing their families what has happened. By now the bombing in Canterbury will be news and their loved ones could be worrying. You, young lady, will be the bearer of good news.’
Freda grinned. All thoughts of feeling tired had passed her by. She drank the rest of her cocoa and gave the nurse a hug. ‘Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me. Please give my love to Betty and Maisie and tell them to rest assured help is on its way.’
Freda knocked hard on the door of the house where David and Maisie rented rooms. There was no answer. She tried once more, before deciding that David must be at work and turning to leave.
‘Are you looking for the young couple?’ an elderly woman said as she opened the door. She frowned. ‘Don’t I know you?’
Freda sighed. She needed to go to Alexandra Road and get help but didn’t want to appear rude. ‘You may do. I’m a friend of Maisie’s . . . Mrs Carlisle who lives here . . . I work at Woolworths.’
‘That’s where I’ve seen you then. I’m always in there doing my shopping. You can always find a bargain in Woolies. That’s what I say to my ’usband, Stan. Even in wartime Woolies comes up trumps.’
‘Yes, I’m sure you can,’ Freda replied, edging away from the front door. ‘If you’ll excuse me . . .’
‘Hang on a minute, dear. I have a message for anyone who should come knocking. Just wait there.’
Freda tapped her foot with impatience as she heard voices from inside the other flat. She was tempted just to go and not wait for the woman and her message – whatever it was.
‘Here you are, dear. I was in two minds about whether to take it to Woolworths or not if no one came knocking by tomorrow morning, as I know Mrs Carlisle’s friends work there. She mentioned it once when we were chatting.’ She waited as Freda opened the envelope.
Freda scanned the few lines, aware the woman was waiting to know what was so important. ‘Thank you, it’s nothing serious,’ she smiled and headed towards the door. She didn’t like telling lies, but it was not her place to talk about Maisie’s business to a stranger. The few scrawled lines on the page showed that David was fearing for his wife’s safety after hearing news of the Canterbury bombings and had headed off to Margate to check Maisie had not been harmed. Freda sucked in her breath. The final few words in his note were most worrying and might well mean she wouldn’t see her chum for a very long time.
16
Freda left her motorbike at the fire station and, after reporting to the officer in charge, set off to walk across town to Ruby’s house in Alexandra Road. It was late and she was more than tired. So much had happened since she woke that morning. Although Betty had given her a key to her little house in Cross Street, Freda did not feel right staying there alone while Betty was away. She wanted nothing more than to have a wash and a meal and sleep in her own bed tonight. If only she’d been able to get to David Carlisle before he left Erith and reassure him that all was well with Maisie.
The front door opened before Freda had placed her key in the lock and she was swept into Maureen’s arms and hugged tightly until she could hardly breathe. ‘Oh, my love. I’ve never been so pleased as to see someone and that’s a fact.’ She pulled her into the front room, where Gwyneth sat with Mike Jackson. They all looked extremely worried. ‘We’ve been that concerned since we heard what’s been going on in Canterbury and then to read this.’ She held out the postcard sent by Maisie and Betty that informed the women they were enjoying their holiday in Margate and how they intended to visit the Canterbury branch of Woolworths the next day.
Freda all but collapsed into the armchair that Mike had vacated. ‘It’s been a long day and I never want to experience again what I saw in that city. I do have good news. Knowing Maisie and Betty were planning to be at Woolworths, I tried to find them, only to be told they’d been taken to a hospital in Margate due to so many people being injured.’
‘Isn’t that where they are staying?’ Gwyneth asked, as she poured tea into a cup and handed it to Freda.
Freda nodded and in between sipping the hot liquid explained what had happened since she’d left Erith many hours earlier.
‘So they should be back at the guesthouse by now?’ Maureen asked.
‘And the baby is fine?’ Gwyneth wanted to know.
‘Yes, they will be and the nurse told me that although Maisie was distressed there should not have been any damage to her child. Both have a few cuts and bruises, but they were extremely lucky considering what has happened to some poor souls. I do wish I could have brought them home, but at least they will be comfortable in their digs. I stopped at Maisie’s place to let David know but he wasn’t home. He’d left a note with his neighbour in case any of us were worried. I’m surprised he never came here.’
Mike looked sheepish. ‘David knocked on my door. Knowing Ruby was away, he didn’t want to worry Gwyneth and Maureen. I did offer to go to Margate with him but as I’m on night duty later it would have been too much of a rush to get back. Besides . . .’
‘Besides what?’ Freda asked with a frown.
‘I was worried that you’d not yet returned and I asked if you’d checked in at the fire station.’
‘Cheers, Mike, I’m capable of doing a job without people checking up on me,’ she said indignantly. ‘They knew where I was as they’d sent me there.’
‘I know but I was still worried. You’re only a kid and doing a man’s job,’ he said quietly.
Freda glared at the policeman. ‘They wouldn’t have taken me on if they didn’t think I was up to it. Next you’ll be saying I can’t do my job because I’m a woman. Honestly, Mike, you’re so Victorian at times. Why, I’ll be twenty-one in a few months.’
‘That’s almost ancient,’ Maureen joined in, trying to lighten the atmosphere in the room. ‘Now,’ she said, getting to her feet and walking towards the kitchen, ‘I’ll find you something to eat and then you should get off to bed. We all have work in the morning and I need to find out what’s going on with my house. I can’t expect Ruby to put me up forever. We are bulging at the seams as things stand.’
Freda followed Maureen to the kitchen. ‘There’s something else that’s worrying me,’ she confided in the older woman.
‘I’m a good listener,’ Maureen said as she cut two slices of bread from a loaf and reached for the butter knife.
‘It’s David’s note. It said he would never allow Maisie to be in danger again and if it meant taking her away somewhere, then so be it.’
Maureen stopped buttering the bread to think. ‘He is no doubt distraught to think he left her in a place where she could have been killed.’
‘But she went to Canterbury with Betty. David only found the guesthouse. It’s not as if he made her go to the city and on that day. Why, she could be in as much danger living here in Erith,’ Freda argued.
Maureen shrugged her shoulders. ‘Men react differently than we do. They have this idea they have to protect us, though usually it is the woman who is the stronger in a marriage. I do wonder . . .’
‘What?’ Freda asked as Maureen returned to making the sandwich.
‘Well, his mother lives out in the country somewhere, doesn’t she? Perhaps he
means to take Maisie there. It will be safer . . . at least until the baby is born,’ she added quickly, seeing the distressed look on the young girl’s face.
‘No,’ Freda said, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘No, Maisie wouldn’t like that. Why, she’s a town girl through and through. I can’t see her agreeing to live on a farm out in Wiltshire, wherever that might be.’
‘It’s not a farm, Freda. From what David’s mother told me at the wedding it’s more of an estate.’
Freda wrinkled her nose as she thought about what Maureen had said. ‘So, it’s a posh house with lots of land and animals?’
‘That’s about it,’ Maureen said as she spread fish paste between the slices of bread and cut the sandwich into four neat squares, before handing the plate to Freda.
‘Then she won’t like that one little bit,’ Freda said with a sniff as she bit into her sandwich.
‘So yer see, I couldn’t argue with David as he’s right in a way. We’ve got ter think of our baby. I’m gonna hate living with his parents. They’re decent enough and bloody good to me but it ain’t home,’ Maisie explained to Sarah, who was helping her pack a suitcase.
‘There’s ages before the baby comes and they do say that in the early months we should be more careful. Perhaps once David can see you are fit and well he will let you come home to Erith,’ Sarah said, trying to comfort her chum.
Maisie sniffed and felt for a handkerchief in her pocket. ‘I doubt it. He’s angry with ’imself for letting me go and get into danger. I was having a bloody good time until Hitler and the Luftwaffe poked their noses in.’
Maisie sat on the side of her bed and started to weep. ‘I’m so scared, Sarah. It’s bad enough worrying if I’ll lose this baby after last time, but at least I knew I’d have you and everyone else to hold my hand and now I won’t even ’ave that. Whatever am I going ter do with meself?’
Sarah sat next to her friend and put her arm around Maisie’s shoulder. ‘Now, come on. Crying isn’t going to help things, is it? I’ve had an idea how you can pass the time.’ She reached down to where she’d left a large shopping bag and delved inside. ‘Look, I have this pattern for some smocked summer dresses and wondered if you’d run a couple up for Myfi and Georgie? They’ll be tickled pink to dress alike. I’ve unpicked an old dress I had from before the war. The fabric looks as good as new. What do you think?’
Maisie wiped her eyes and took the blue and cream material from Sarah. ‘It does look like new. You’ve never been much good at smocking.’
‘I’ve never been any good at sewing, let alone smocking. It’s such a lovely pattern, though. The girls would look so sweet, wouldn’t they?’ She waited, trying hard not to breathe as Maisie read the words on the pattern.
‘I was thinking of taking my Singer with me. David’s borrowed the car again so he can take all my sewing bits and bobs. The RAF might as well give it to him the amount of times he’s used it lately.’ A smile broke across her pretty face before vanishing and she gave Sarah a troubled look. ‘You’ve got to promise me a few things.’
‘Anything, Maisie, you know that. Whatever you want me to do, I promise to do my best to help.’
‘Blimey, you sound just like Freda with her Brownies,’ Maisie said, giving a weak smile.
Sarah took her hand and squeezed it hard. ‘What is it, Maisie?’
‘I want . . . I want . . . I want you to come and help me when I go into labour. You’ve been there and know what it’s all about. I’d rather it be you than any posh in-law or midwife. Will you do that for me?’
‘Why, of course I will, you silly thing, I intended to offer anyway. You were there when I had Georgie and I want to do the same for you. As long as it’s not in an Anderson shelter,’ she added with a grin. ‘Things were a bit tight down there.’
‘You can say that again. There are better places to ’ave a kiddie, but things didn’t turn out so bad in the end, did they? There’s something else. Will you write to me so I know what’s ’appening here while I’m gone? I’m gonna be worried sick about you all as well as everyone at Woolies.’
‘Of course I’ll write and I bet everyone else will, so don’t you worry yourself about that.’
Maisie gave a big sigh and went to the mantelpiece to take a sheet of paper from behind a small mirror. ‘Here’s the address.’
Sarah looked at the neat writing on the piece of paper. ‘Where is Chippenham?’
‘It’s in Wiltshire. David told me his parents’ place is close to a pretty village called Laycock that’s near Chippenham. It sounds like the back of beyond to me, but there’s not so much chance of bombing and he thinks I’ll be safer there. David’s only thinking of me, but I know I’m going to hate living there,’ Maisie said as a small sob caught in her throat and she hiccuped. ‘It’s going to be hell.’
Sarah went back to her bag and searched inside until she found an envelope. ‘This is for you.’
Maisie took the envelope and slowly opened it with a puzzled look on her face. She tipped out a pile of pennies. ‘What’s all this about? I’m not exactly short of money, you know. I did marry a bloke who has a few bob.’
Sarah laughed. It was typical of Maisie to state the obvious. ‘There’s something else in there.’
Maisie looked inside the envelope and a small sheet of paper fell out. ‘Phone numbers?’
‘Yes, I made a list of everyone in Erith who knows you, as well as Mum and Dad’s number. Look, there’s Woolies and that one is Misson’s ironmongers and this is the police station. If you need to get in touch with one of us, then these are the telephone numbers you need to use. Even if there’s been an air raid, chances are you can still get through to us with one of these numbers. I also had a word with Betty and we decided that if you can find a phone box, then you should use the pennies and we can chat in our lunch hour or tea breaks from Betty’s office.’
‘I wouldn’t like to bother Betty. Not at work,’ Maisie said dubiously. ‘I know she’s a friend but she’s also the manager of Woolworths. I don’t think we should bother her.’
‘For heaven’s sake, Maisie, Betty is beside herself with regret that she put you and your unborn child in danger by taking you to Canterbury. At least let her do this to make amends. Don’t you understand that we are her only friends, or were until Douglas came along? This is something that she can help with, so please don’t shrug away the chance to make her think she is doing something to help you. Please, Maisie?’
‘I must go and see her before I leave. I don’t want Betty thinking she played any part in us being in danger. That honour goes to Hitler alone. You’re right. We are her friends and she needs us right now as well.’
It was Sarah’s turn to be puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’
Maisie sat back on the bed. ‘What I mean is that Douglas isn’t on the scene anymore. She sent him packing. For some daft reason she feels that she’s too old to get attached to a man and take on his family. She’s turned away from him and faces the rest of her life as an old spinster. If David hadn’t been on at me to get packing and make my goodbyes, I’d have got around to telling you and Freda. Betty wasn’t her usual self after our little adventure and she told me about Douglas when I suggested that we contact him to say she wasn’t injured in Canterbury. That’s when she confessed that not only hadn’t she sent him a postcard, but that she had distanced herself from him at the Woolworths dance. She’s adamant she’s not changing her mind.’
‘Poor Betty, she’s so stubborn at times. Her and Douglas were made for each other. It’s as if her Charlie arranged for them to meet. It’s just a shame it took so long,’ Sarah said sadly. ‘She’s been a different woman since he appeared on the scene.’
‘You mean when we all but had him arrested,’ Maisie guffawed, more like her old self. ‘I think we should do something about Douglas and Betty before I leave Erith for goodness knows how long.’
Sarah walked to the window that looked out over the front of the house where Maisie and David rente
d their rooms. A few streets away were the busy shopping streets of Erith and beyond that the River Thames. She knew the town was as important to Maisie as it was to her. Even though Sarah had grown up in Devon, her heart belonged to Erith, where her nan and grandad had always lived. Her holidays as a child had been spent visiting her grandparents and she’d always thought of the riverside town as home. However was Maisie going to survive away from all that she held dear? If Maisie had decided to do something about Betty’s romance with Douglas before she disappeared for the rest of the year, then who was she to disagree with her decision? ‘How are we going to bring Douglas and Betty back together again?’
‘We should convince Betty that she is not too old to find love and marriage. Then we need to get them together so that they have time to talk.’
Sarah thought for a moment. ‘That’s not such a bad idea, but what about Douglas? We don’t know what was said when they parted. She may have hurt his feelings too much. You know how touchy men can be at times. Remember how Alan was before he went off to war? I couldn’t say or do anything right. It could have broken up our marriage.’
‘But Douglas isn’t going off to war and you was as much to blame for the way Alan acted, so we can’t compare your life to what Douglas and Betty are going through,’ Maisie pointed out stubbornly.
‘Ouch!’ Sarah said. ‘Don’t hold back, will you?’
‘I’m only telling you now as everything worked out fine.’
‘So, what do you suggest?’
Maisie got to her feet and reached for the short-sleeved jacket that matched her navy blue skirt. ‘I won’t be able to do this up for much longer,’ she said with a smile. ‘Are you coming?’
‘Where to?’ Sarah asked as she followed her friend.
‘We have to speak to Freda. She will most likely know where we can find Douglas. We need to convince him not to give up on Betty.’
Sarah smiled. ‘Then we speak to Betty like you suggested and convince her she isn’t on the shelf and has a romantic life ahead of her?’
Christmas at Woolworths Page 23
