by Gray, Millie
Kicking off her shoes, Kitty jumped up on the bed and drew Bobby up into her arms. Rocking him backwards and forwards she whispered, ‘Sssh, my love, it’s all right now. And I’ve just spoken to the Sister and she says if we wait another two days we can take you home with us.’
‘Sure, Bobby,’ Jack encouraged, ‘we’re all so proud of you. And because Britain is an island and we have to import so much we know that if it had not been for you and your brave Merchant Navy brothers we would have lost this war. And yes, the Germans only allow a third of what we need to get through but that vital third keeps us going.’
Bobby’s sobs were just subsiding when a pert brunette arrived at his bedside. ‘What’s going on here, Bobby? And why are you allowing this woman to molest you?’
‘I am his sister, Kitty, and what I would like to know is what are you doing here?’ Kitty sharply responded. ‘And I trust that you are aware that only next of kin are allowed to visit outwith visiting hours?’
The young woman did not answer but she did raise her hand to display a diamond solitaire engagement ring.
‘Kitty, this here is Harriet Wales. She hails from Wales and she and I are engaged.’
Jack and Kitty looked at each other before Kitty offered a rather begrudging, ‘Congratulations.’
It had been Johnny’s intention to go to Liverpool to visit Bobby but Kitty had sent a telegram saying that she was bringing Bobby home in two days’ time. He then decided that he would therefore just stay put.
With time on his hands he thought that he had better call in on his mother, Jenny, to check on how Rosebud and Davy were getting on. As expected, both were being overindulged by Jenny and Kate – so much so that Rosebud announced that she was going to stay with ‘her’ granny forever.
Johnny at first ignored Rosebud’s remarks but when Jenny said that when Kitty returned home she was going to have a word with her about the things she was saying to Rosebud, he began to grow wary.
‘What do you mean, Mum?’ Johnny said ever so quietly.
‘Just,’ Jenny replied with vigour, ‘that she appears to be saying threatening things to Rosebud. Come on now, Johnny, the wee darling is only going on four and I don’t think she should be living in fear.’
Johnny, who was eating a meal, allowed his fork to drop loudly on to his plate. ‘And you have decided all this on the word of Rosebud? Rosebud who I love but who I also know drives people to distraction when they are left to look after her.’
‘Maybe so, Johnny, but as I seem to be able to handle her better than Kitty I think she should now come and live here with Kate and me.’
The response from Johnny was not what his mother expected. Indeed, when he pushed back his chair with such force that it toppled over, she flinched. Without another word to her he turned and addressed Davy and Rosebud. ‘Right,’ he began, rolling the ‘r’, ‘you two gather your things together.’
Davy just gaped at him but Rosebud hollered, ‘But why, Daddy?’
‘Because, lady, you’re both coming home with me – and right now at that.’
‘But, Johnny,’ Jenny protested, ‘you can’t do that. What I mean is, who is going to look after Rosebud when you are at work?’
‘Well tonight I’ll get Connie to look after her whilst I’m on Home Guard duty and tomorrow she’ll be with Dora Ferguson and her kids. And that is the best place for her, where she will be just another bairn and not be pandered to by a group of over-indulgent adults.’
‘Please, Johnny, don’t do this. Let’s sit down and talk about it. Rosebud would be better with me, and next year when she is five she could just hop across the road and be in Links Place Primary School within minutes.’
Johnny had no desire to have a full-blown row with his mother but Rosebud was his child and she would be living with him. Gathering up all of Rosebud’s belongings, he grabbed the child by the hand and started for the door. Rosebud immediately threw one of her famous outrageous tantrums. This time not only did she kick the furniture but she also started to strike out at Johnny with her right foot.
‘I hate you, Daddy,’ she hissed. ‘I want to stay with Granny. She lets me have cola and sweets whenever I want them. So I don’t want to go home with you … ever again.’
A stern Johnny looked accusingly at Jenny. She could only shrug and plead silently with her eyes. Rosebud now foolishly decided to bite into the calf of her father’s leg. When the pain gripped him Johnny lifted his hand and it met her bottom with such force that she tumbled straight out of the outside door, which Davy had opened so they could leave.
Jenny was aghast. ‘Johnny,’ she cried, ‘that was a cruel thing to do. Sure children should be chastised, but not brutally treated.’
‘That right, Mum? Well how come I still remember the weals that rose up on my legs and backside when you beat me with a besom – and what exactly was the heinous crime that brought about such barbaric treatment?’
Jenny’s head now sank down on to her chest. ‘You spent a penny of the money I gave you for the church collection on sweets.’
‘Sweets!’ exclaimed Johnny. ‘And the rest of my punishment was to be denied so much as a caramel for a whole month. So what do you think I should do with Rosebud?’
‘Nothing,’ a defiant Rosebud screamed in response.
‘And nothing is what you will get except an early bed. Now get up the road,’ Johnny expounded as he jerked his thumb.
Rosebud looked as if she was going to face her father up but she thought the better of it and, rubbing her tingling backside, she began the slow trek home.
Connie was looking from her living-room window when she saw Johnny come into view. Her heart soared. In addition to her preparing a liver and onion dish for him she had also given herself a quick wash, changed her blouse, donned her only pair of pure silk stockings, and had added the mandatory dab of Four Seven Eleven exotic perfume behind her ears. This was all because she knew that after he ate he would be going to bed so that he would be alert for his Home Guard duties. She giggled like a star-struck teenager as she imagined and hoped that he would invite her to join him for a couple of hours … just cuddling and, well, who knows what between the sheets.
Giving a quick pat to her hair she looked beyond Johnny and utter disappointment caused her jaw to drop. There in tow behind Johnny were Davy and Rosebud. Well, she thought, Davy will probably be going out with his pals but as sure as hell darling Rosebud will still be on the floor with everyone dancing attendance on her when Johnny leaves at nine thirty for his Home Guard duties.
Connie was further disenchanted when Johnny told her that he had already eaten at his mother’s. Davy, who was never anything but a famished young lad, said that he too had just had some corn beef hash but as he preferred liver and onions, which he didn’t get very often, it would be a shame to waste such a treat so he would eat them.
Within an hour Davy was away to meet up with his pals at the football training and a bewildered Rosebud had found herself packed off to bed in Connie’s bedroom. Connie and Johnny were alone at last and it was then that he took the opportunity to say, ‘Connie, I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to look after Rosebud tonight. It was just when I was at my mum’s that I realised that I have to do something about her.’
‘Something about her?’
‘Aye, you see, most of the time she’s sweet and lovely …’ Johnny hesitated. ‘But there are times she is positively …’
‘Horrid?’
‘Aye, and I have to sort her out because I don’t want people to dislike her.’
‘I think you’re being a bit unfair. The wee lass has never had a mother. And Kitty has done a good job on her but she’s not her mother – I mean she was a fifteen-year-old lassie when she was landed with Rosebud and now she’s nineteen and she still doesn’t have a carefree life of her own.’
Johnny nodded before sinking down on to a chair. An uneasy silence then engulfed the room and the only movement, forby the ticking of the clock, was when Joh
nny leant forward to support his head in his hands. Perplexed, Connie was at a loss as to what she should do.
Slowly raising his head Johnny sought for Connie’s hand. Hope slowly flowed into her. Kissing the back of her hand Johnny began, ‘Connie, last night reminded me just how sweet and good life can be and it would be easy to just go on like that …’
Connie drew back a bit and she began slowly patting her chest with her left hand. There was something in his tone and words …
‘But – and it is a big but,’ Johnny continued, ‘I have responsibilities. I see clearly now how selfish I have been where my two girls are concerned. I just bundled Rosebud on to Kitty and I didn’t see, or wish to see, that Kitty and Rosebud had needs that neither could fill for each other.’
‘Johnny,’ Connie interrupted sharply, ‘you’ve got me confused. Could you spit out what you’re trying to say.’
‘It is just that I do like you, and I fancy you, but both of us have other commitments. What I mean is, going on like we did last night would cause grief for others. I am a widower with a young family and my wants and desires must come second to their needs. Now if we could marry, people may, given time, get used to that, but we can’t. You are married and you haven’t even a clue as to where to find your husband.’
‘You are so like your mother,’ Connie hissed. ‘You worry too much about what the people you pray beside on a Sunday think. Well I don’t give a damn what anybody thinks. I have only been really attracted to two men in my life. The first I married and it was a real slap in the face when I found out he was homosexual and I was therefore rejected even before my marriage vows had been made. Now I thought in you I had found a decent, honourable man who thought me attractive and desirable and now you say …’ Connie was now weeping bitterly.
Johnny got to his feet. He shrugged, indicating that his mind was made up. Last night had been wonderful but the reality was that a happy liaison with Connie was nothing more than a pipe dream.
He put on his army great coat and when she heard her outside door click shut she knew it had closed forever on all her dreams.
In Liverpool, Harriet and Kitty had got off to a bad start. Both young women thought that they should be the one to look after Bobby in his convalescence. Bobby valued both of them and wished he didn’t have to choose between going with Kitty back to Restalrig, or with Harriet back to Wales.
In the end his desire to feel the safety of his own home about him was the overriding factor. In addition to this, he had an overwhelming need to go and kneel at his mother’s graveside and tell her that he was safe and back home. He was as sure as he could be that when he became numb with cold, and hope was ebbing from him, her presence came to him in the lifeboat – especially when he had truly thought that there was no way that he, and the others, would be rescued in time. She had consumed his every thought and he knew he had heard her say, ‘You must hold on, son. You are going to make it.’ Maybe it was delirium but it was so real to him that he would never forget her urging him not to give up on life.
The news of Bobby opting to go home to Restalrig caused Harriet to become incensed and noisily she began to tap her foot on the hard hospital floor. ‘All right, Bobby, I see clearly that I wasted my time coming all the way from Cardiff to here. But I hope when you get back to Scotland you think about all of the plans we made for you continuing at sea and becoming a chief engineer. Being a chief would mean that when this war is over I could travel with you on your voyages. And could I also remind you how we vowed that eventually we would build a home for ourselves in Cardiff? A home big enough to house any children we might have or …’ She stopped and snorted before adding, ‘Or accommodate any of your relatives who may wish to visit us.’
‘That still stands, Harriet. I do love you but I have been through a lot and I just want to go back to Edinburgh to see my dad and my home again.’ He would have liked to have added, And also speak to my mum, but he didn’t want anyone to know that he thought – no, knew – she had been with him in the lifeboat.
After updating Kate on why Rosebud and Davy were no longer being looked after by herself, Jenny donned her coat and set off for the servicemen’s welcoming station. She had indicated to the management that she would be unable to do her shift there because she was needed to look after her grandchildren. But since the scrap with Johnny, who had then decided to make other arrangements for his children, she was at a loose end. This being the case, and the fact that there were never enough volunteers to assist the servicemen and -women ‘en route to somewhere’ who called in at the station, she decided that the most useful thing she could do was go there.
Jenny had been gone an hour when Kate heard a soft rap on the outside door. Making sure that there would be no shaft of light to alert enemy aircraft she slightly opened the door.
‘Sorry to bother you, Miss Anderson,’ said Hans Busek’s distinct European-influenced voice.
Kate then fully opened the door. ‘Oh, Mr Busek, what can I do for you?’
‘Just that you said you still had the parts of your father’s granddaughter clock and I thought that as I now have time I could be looking at it to see if I could repair it.’
‘Of course. I do remember that you said you would look in. It’s upstairs under my bed.’
Hans had just stepped inside the hallway when Kate laughed, ‘No it’s not under my bed. I remember now that I put it out in the shed because I thought it would be easier to get at when you did come.’
Hans and Kate were busy rummaging through the articles in the shed when Kate gulped as she thought, I do so hope my mother has not put it out in the rubbish collection. Relief seeped into her when she found the package under an old rag rug, but this feeling was short lived as the ominous wail of the siren warning blasted out.
‘Quick, Hans,’ she shouted, ‘let’s get back into the safety of the house.’
Hans firstly grabbed the cumbersome bundle away from Kate and then he turned and they both began to run towards the house. ‘Surely,’ he said through gasps, ‘we should be going towards the shelters in Leith Links.’
‘No,’ replied Kate as they arrived in the living room, ‘my mother says we are safer under this solid table. So put the clock down and dive under it with me.’
Once Hans was under the table beside Kate she realised how close they were lying together. So close that she could feel the heat of his body and the beat of his heart, which in itself was causing her heart to pound. Her discomfort was then compounded when a sudden burst of gunfire and the drone of aeroplanes above the house frightened her so much that she began to tremble.
Instinctively Hans started to rub her arm in an effort to calm her. She swallowed hard before stammering, ‘Thank you, Mr … Hans … And do you know I have never heard you speak very much about where you once lived and what brought you here?’
Hans’s immediate response was to stop rubbing Kate’s arm. Then, speaking very quietly, he gripped her right hand and his thumb gently stroked the inside of her palm and fingers. ‘You, Miss Anderson, think that the air raid raging outside is just awful. But I tell you this: Warsaw, the city where I was born, was reduced to rubble by continual and callous bombardments. I also say with conviction that no matter how many blitzes there are here in Britain or were in France, Holland or anywhere, they will never ever meet the intensity and total destruction that Warsaw endured. Merciless it was, and everything I held dear perished in the ruins.’
Kate wanted to say something to comfort Hans, but what? Unaware of her dilemma he continued, ‘And what, you will be wondering, was the fate of my family? Ah well, my gentle, loving and faithful wife, my two sons with so much promise, my doting parents and siblings – all perished on the same night. Wiped out completely in the fury that was unleashed on us … innocent unprotected civilians. I only survived that night because … To be truthful I don’t know why I survived, and at the time, I truly wished I hadn’t. Believe me it was more difficult then to go on living than it was to die. All tha
t kept me going was my desire for vengeance. The next day I made my way to link up with a cousin at Gdansk and we made our escape by a fishing boat. Now I wait because I do know that somehow my God will assist me to come to terms with what has happened to Poland and He will make sure that she rises from the ashes. But now, Miss—’
‘Please, Hans, I am your friend, so call me Kate.’
‘Kate it is then, and as I was saying, now I will remain here and try to make a new life for myself.’
Another blast made Kate shriek in terror before she buried her head in Hans’s shoulder. Drawing her closer into him, Hans gently purred, ‘There, there.’ These words of comfort had a relaxing effect on Kate. No longer did she feel, in any way, that he was invading her privacy. Indeed she was pleased, very pleased, that he was now so close to her that she could smell his manliness. It was a pleasing odour that awakened longings within her – tempting longings that she thought she would never experience again.
When Bobby was escorted home by Kitty and Jack to his old home at Restalrig, he was surprised to find when they entered the house that it was standing-room only. It turned out that Davy, who hero-worshipped Bobby, had thought that his ‘big brave brother’ should be welcomed home with a Hogmanay-type party.
Unfortunately the over-long and tedious journey from Liverpool had completely exhausted not only Bobby, but Kitty and Jack as well. All that the trio wished to do, as Bobby declared, was have a plate of good old Scottish broth, a quick wash and then collapse down on a bed. Thanks to Kitty, who was not afraid to speak her mind, within an hour everybody, with the exception of Granny Jenny and Aunty Kate, got the message and they left, promising to return within the next few days when Bobby would be feeling more in a party mood.
It was then that Kitty decided she was going to bed to get some rest. She was just about to leave when she looked around the room. Something wasn’t quite right. Someone who should have been in the house when she arrived home was not. That someone was Connie. Turning around she looked directly at her father and asked, ‘Why was Connie not invited to the party? She isn’t ill or anything?’
