The Factory Girls of Lark Lane: A heartbreaking World War 2 historical novel of loss and love

by Howes, Pam

Alice chewed her lip, wondering where all this was coming from. Too much drink probably; Jack wasn’t usually a one for talking about relationships.

  ‘But I love my baby, Jack. You’ll understand one day when you’ve got a family of your own.’

  He shrugged. ‘I doubt it. Kids are not my thing. Give me a dog any day.’

  ‘It’s different when they’re your own.’

  ‘If you say so, Alice. Right, you’d best get in before your ma-in-law looks out the window. She’ll think we’re canoodling, me with my arm still around you. Don’t want to start rumours, do we? I’ll see you about one o’clock on Boxing Day. Pick you up here. Enjoy your day tomorrow.’

  ‘And you enjoy yours with Arnold and Winnie.’

  ‘I’m sure I will. Goodnight.’

  Alice watched him limp away into the cold dark night. Shivering, she crept indoors and into the warm sitting room, where the lights on the tree twinkled. She smiled at the presents nestling underneath the lower branches, waiting to be opened tomorrow. She couldn’t wait until Cathy was old enough to know what it was all about, hanging her stocking up for Father Christmas to fill. Terry would play that role so well, she just knew it. She sighed and wished there had been some news from him this month but she’d had nothing, not even a card, since she’d written and told him about Jack walking her home after her Legion shifts. She’d sent him a Christmas card, a photo of Cathy and a small parcel with socks and hankies, a couple of weeks ago. There was probably a big backlog of post sitting in a sorting office somewhere in the back of beyond with all the forces cards waiting to be shipped to anxious sweethearts everywhere. Damn this war and bloody Hitler. She wanted and needed her husband badly, especially right now, to put his arms around her, to love her and to celebrate Cathy’s second Christmas with them all.

  21

  Millie dashed round to Linnet Lane just after the King’s three o’clock speech to the nation finished. She came indoors with a blast of cold air and a large bag of parcels. Alice led her into the sitting room, where Brian and Granny Lomax were about to play a game of snakes and ladders and where Cathy was sitting on the rug nursing her new teddy bear, a present from Freddie and his wife. She got to her feet and toddled across to Millie, a big smile on her face.

  ‘Look who’s come to see you,’ Alice said as Millie scooped up Cathy and gave her a cuddle.

  ‘Shall we see what I’ve got in my bag?’ Millie said, carrying Cathy across to the sofa and sitting her on her knee. She dug into her bag and pulled out a small parcel. ‘Now, this is for Brian. You take it to him,’ she instructed as Cathy grabbed the parcel, said, ‘Mine’ and held it to her chest.

  ‘Maybe not the best idea,’ Alice said, laughing and prising her daughter’s fingers off the parcel. She handed it to Brian, whose eyes lit up.

  He ripped off the paper and gasped. ‘Wow, a real fountain pen in a box and some ink, look, Granny and Alice. Thank you, Millie. It’s a Parker too, a right posh one. Just what I need for my schoolwork.’ He jumped up and gave a delighted Millie a hug.

  ‘I expect you to pass your eleven plus next year now, Brian,’ Millie teased. ‘With your brains and a posh pen, there’s no excuse not to.’

  ‘I’ll do my best,’ he said, cheeks going red with pleasure.

  Millie handed over wrapped boxes of chocolates and silk stockings to Granny and Alice. She tapped the side of her nose when they asked how on earth she had managed to get her hands on such luxuries with all the shortages.

  ‘It’s not what you know, but who you know.’ She laughed. ‘The Yanks at the bases have a large stash of all sorts and they’re a generous bunch. When I told a couple of the band I needed to do my Christmas shopping soon, they showed me the way. And this one,’ she held out a large, brightly wrapped parcel, reading from the label, ‘it says this is for Miss Cathy Lomax.’

  ‘Oh, that’s for you, sweetie,’ Alice said as Cathy squealed excitedly. She wriggled off Millie’s knee and snatched the parcel, flopping down onto the floor to open it. ‘Sorry, Millie, she’s got absolutely no finesse when it comes to accepting gifts gracefully.’

  Millie laughed. ‘No surprise, at her age.’ She smiled as Cathy held up a box containing a small dressed dolly in a wooden crib, covered with a white blanket. ‘Open the other box,’ Millie instructed. Cathy did as she was told and revealed a toddler-sized nurse’s outfit of a blue dress, white apron and white lace cap. There was also a toy fob watch to fasten to the apron and a stethoscope to wear around her neck.

  ‘Oh, look at this,’ Alice said. ‘Nurse Cathy. How lovely is that? You lucky girl. Mammy always wanted to be a nurse. Shall we put your uniform on and then you can see to the poorly dolly and make her better? I think she’s got a bad cough, don’t you?’

  Cathy got to her feet and began to tug the dress she was wearing over her head.

  ‘Come here, Madam.’ Alice laughed. ‘Let’s get you sorted out.’

  Granny Lomax got to her feet. ‘I think this calls for a cuppa and mince pies all round.’ Brian followed her into the kitchen, leaving Millie and Alice to catch up.

  ‘Thank you so much for all of this,’ Alice began. ‘We have a couple of things under the tree for you, but it seems like nothing in comparison.’

  ‘Alice, it’s the thought that counts. And believe me, I haven’t spent a fortune. Like I told you, the Yanks are more than generous. I was just lucky to be in the right place at the right time last week.’ She delved once more into the bag. ‘There’s chocs for your mam for tomorrow and can you give Jack these parcels when you see him, please? It’s a small box of cigars and a half-bottle of bourbon. If he hadn’t set up that talent contest I wouldn’t be doing the best job in the world right now. I’ve got a lot to thank him for.’

  ‘Of course I will. I’m seeing him tomorrow. He’s taking me to Crosby to see Mam.’ Alice bit her lip. She hadn’t thought to get Jack anything and now wished she had. After all, who was there to buy him gifts, other than friends? And he didn’t seem to have a lot of those as he kept himself to himself, apart from when he was with Arnold, Winnie and herself. There was a spare pair of black socks and three white gents’ hankies upstairs that she’d kept back from sending to Terry as the parcel would have been too expensive to post if she’d included everything in it. She’d put them away for when he came home, but she could wrap them up instead and give them to Jack. It was better than nothing and she knew he liked a clean hanky in his pocket, so at least he would use them.

  As Granny Lomax and Brian carried the tea things into the lounge, Alice pushed Millie’s gifts for Mam and Jack back into the carrier bag that Millie had brought everything in.

  ‘I’ll take these to my bedroom and then I won’t forget them tomorrow when I visit Mam,’ she said, hurrying from the room. She felt almost embarrassed at the thought of giving gifts to another man and she didn’t know why. After all, Jack was a good friend to both her and Millie and a little gift would be much appreciated by him, she was sure of that. But she’d rather her mother-in-law didn’t know about it, although Granny Lomax knew Jack was taking Alice to Crosby and had said how kind it was of Arnold to lend Jack his car to help out.

  Alice gave Millie a hug goodbye as her friend hesitated in the hall before opening the door.

  ‘What is it?’ Alice asked, frowning as Millie’s eyes filled with tears.

  ‘It’s Alan,’ Millie whispered. ‘I got a letter. It was waiting for me when I got home after the do last night. It’s over. He met a nurse when he hurt his arm a few months ago and was hospitalised for a few days. Said he loves her and she loves him. She’s from London way. Nice of him to drop it on me at Christmas, isn’t it?’ She half-smiled. ‘I knew it was on the cards, but it still hurts. He could have told me weeks ago.’

  ‘Oh, Millie,’ Alice said, giving her a hug. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Good job I’ve got my singing to keep me occupied.’

  ‘And Jimmy. You will still write to him?’

  Millie smiled. ‘I will. He�
�s a nice boy and I won’t feel so guilty now. I’ll just enjoy being the someone he writes to and see what happens.’

  Alice lay back in the lavender-scented regulation six inches of hot water and closed her eyes, relaxing at long last. Cathy was fast asleep after a screaming battle to get her out of her nurse’s uniform and into a nightdress, and Granny and Brian were tackling the compendium of games Brian had received from their next-door neighbours. When they’d tried to persuade Alice to play a game of tiddlywinks she had told them she had a bit of a headache starting, so was plumping for a soak in the bath and an early night instead. She honestly felt like she could fall asleep if she let herself. What a busy last few days she’d had; it had been non-stop. She’d been sad saying goodbye to Millie again, but had wished her well for tomorrow’s show in Cheshire and then on the journey down to Portsmouth with the band for the New Year’s Eve show they were the stars of.

  It would have made Christmas much better for Alice if only there had been some word from Terry, but Millie had told her that there was nothing waiting for her from Jimmy either when she’d gone back to her mam’s place, just Alan’s bombshell letter. Millie had written to Jimmy to let him know about her new job and that she may be delayed in writing back to him from now on as she was never in one place for long and her letters would still need to be picked up from home on her probably infrequent visits to Liverpool. So it wasn’t just Terry’s letters that were delayed, which was a comfort in a way.

  She wondered how her mam would be tomorrow and hoped there would be a bit of a change in her, at least.

  The following day Jack was outside the bungalow in Arnold’s shiny black Ford Anglia dead on the dot of one o’clock. He looked smart in a navy pinstripe suit and white shirt and was even wearing a navy blue tie. He got out of the car and, like a gentleman, opened the passenger door for Alice. And true to his words of Christmas Eve, his highly polished boots shone brightly. Alice had been waiting by the window for the car to arrive and was hoping her mother-in-law wouldn’t ask Jack inside. But as she’d opened the front door to dash out, Granny had called out to invite Jack in for a cup of tea when they came back as it was the least they could do.

  ‘I will, if he doesn’t need to dash straight back,’ Alice said. ‘See you later.’

  ‘You look very nice, Jack,’ she said as he helped her into the car.

  ‘I scrub up well when I need to,’ he said with a grin. ‘You look nice too.’

  ‘Oh, thank you.’ She looked down at her knee-length black and red plaid skirt with a kick-pleated hemline that she’d teamed with a red angora sweater, knitted and presented to her by Granny Lomax on Christmas Day. She’d put Millie’s gift of stockings on and her black court shoes. As she’d got ready she’d told herself that she was just making an effort to look nice for Mam, but lurking in the back of her mind was the fact that she wanted Jack to see her in something other than her Legion uniform and this outfit was the newest she possessed. She’d topped it with a warm black jacket and felt she looked quite smart. She put the carrier bag of gifts down by her feet and held her handbag on her knee.

  ‘Ready for off then?’ Jack asked. ‘By the way, Arnold told me to ask if you can definitely do the New Year’s Eve shift for him. Otherwise he’ll need to collar one of the other staff, but he said he’d prefer to have you behind the bar.’

  ‘Yes, it’s fine, I can do it,’ Alice replied. ‘I’m looking forward to it. Pity we haven’t got the band and Millie again though.’

  ‘Not to worry. We’ve got the fella who plays piano and Arnold bought his wife a gramophone for Christmas. Think it was for him as well, but he got away with it because he bought her a few favourite records too. So he said we can bring it down and use it for dancing. I’ve asked around and a few people I know will bring their records in, so we can use them. One of the injured soldiers is a piper in the regiment band and he’s going to pipe in the New Year at midnight. So all in all it should be a great night. Will you let the Rootes crowd know when you go in tomorrow? No tickets this time, just first come first served, but it’s pay on the door and Arnold hasn’t decided how much yet. It’ll be on a poster when he gets round to doing it tomorrow.’

  ‘I’ll tell them. I’m sure some will be coming and I’ll let my pals Sadie and Jenny know as well.’

  ‘Just don’t invite that Maisie one,’ Jack said. ‘She drives me mad. Shut the bloody door on me foot and nearly knocked me flying when I had a go at her for saying things out of turn about you and me.’

  ‘Yes, she told me,’ Alice said. ‘She also showed me bruises on her arm that she said you did.’

  ‘I grabbed hold of her to stop me falling. Serves her right if she bruised. Stupid girl could have done me a right mischief.’ Jack frowned and Alice saw his jaw clench. ‘Anyway, enough about her. What did Father Christmas bring you?’

  Alice smiled. She knew deep down that Jack wouldn’t have deliberately hurt Maisie, and like he said, she could have injured him badly if he’d fallen.

  ‘I got this sweater, stockings, chocs, bath cubes and a new hairbrush. Useful things, you know. Not a lot of choices in the shops right now.’

  ‘I wouldn’t know. I don’t have anyone to buy gifts for. Although I did manage to get some chocolates a few weeks ago off the Yanks and some cigars too. I hung on to them just in case, and Arnold and Winnie loved their pressies.’ He inclined his head towards the back seat. ‘There’s a box for you too. You can have them later.’

  Alice’s eyes widened. Thank goodness she’d wrapped up the left-over things from Terry for him.

  ‘I’ve got some surprises in here for you too. You can have yours later as well.’

  ‘If I’m a good boy,’ he teased.

  She laughed. ‘Yes.’

  She wondered how he was managing to drive with only half a right foot, but he seemed to be doing okay. Maybe his boots had been adapted especially to fit. She didn’t feel she knew him well enough to ask though. The road was quiet, with very little traffic, and there was hardly a soul about. They passed a few bombed-out and boarded-up houses, making Alice realise how lucky they were that they all still had a roof over their heads. There’d been no air raid warnings for almost a week now, but that wouldn’t last.

  She stared out of the window until they came to the sign and turn-off for Crosby.

  ‘It’s just down the main street and second left,’ she said. ‘There’s a visitors’ car park and it’s usually fairly empty.’

  Jack pulled in at the entrance, where previously a pair of tall, double iron gates had hung. But they’d been removed to be melted down for the war effort, as had most iron gates in Liverpool. Alice was thankful that Granny Lomax’s garden gate was wooden; she’d have been inclined to aim a right hook at anyone who tried to take her gate away. Brian had been teaching her some moves he’d learnt at his Saturday-morning boxing lessons that he was still attending.

  ‘Just in case any stray Germans are hiding in the bushes in the garden, you need to know how to stick up for yourself,’ he’d told her.

  ‘Right,’ Alice said as Jack switched off the engine. She picked up the carrier bag from the floor. ‘I might as well as give you your presents now – there’s no point in taking them in there. This one is from Millie.’ She handed him Millie’s gaily wrapped package and watched his face light up as he took the paper off.

  ‘Smashing,’ he said, clearly delighted that Millie had thought of him. ‘My favourites. Makes up for not winning that bottle of bourbon on the raffle the other week. I shall enjoy this and the cigars when I’m sitting with my feet up at home tomorrow, listening to the wireless. I’ll feel like a king.’

  Alice handed him her small wrapped package and wished that she’d made more of an effort, but his smile was genuine when he unwrapped the socks and hankies.

  ‘Thank you so much. It’s years since I’ve had any presents at Christmas and now I feel really spoiled. I got this nice shirt off the boss and his wife and a pot of Brylcreem, and now these gifts f
rom you two.’ He reached over to the back seat and presented Alice with a box of American chocolates; the box was decorated with a lavish red satin ribbon bow.

  ‘Thank you, those look lovely, and I’ll save the ribbon for Cathy’s hair when it grows a bit more.’

  ‘Use it in yours,’ Jack said, leaning forward to lift a curl that had fallen over her face. ‘You can tie back your curls and it will go with that nice jumper. Be a shame to waste it on the kid.’

  Alice felt her cheeks heating as he looked at her intently. She’d been about to give him a peck on the cheek for his present, but the look in his eyes told her not to. He still had hold of her curl and she put up her hand to free it and brushed his with her own. This wasn’t right; she shouldn’t have accepted his offer of a lift. Alice felt that the least bit of encouragement from her would be wrong. She felt flattered by his attentions, but a bit worried about them at the same time.

  ‘So what did Terry send you?’ Jack asked, breaking the moment.

  ‘Oh, er, nothing yet. We’ve had no post from him for nearly three weeks. It’s terrible. I hope our parcels have got through to him.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Jack said and lit a cigarette. He got out of the car and came around to the passenger side to help her out. ‘It must be hard, waiting for something that never arrives.’

  ‘Oh it will, eventually,’ Alice said. ‘He always writes, but for some reason there’s no letters or parcels coming through at the moment. Millie had nothing from Jimmy this time either, so it’s not just me. Anyway, shall we go in?’

  She led the way through the reception area, which was festively decorated with streamers and a tall, well-lit tree, and was directed to the communal lounge, where she was told her mam was waiting for her. Thank goodness for Jack, because without him, Mam would have been sitting there all day.

  ‘Hello, Mam,’ Alice greeted her and turned to Jack to introduce him.

  But Mam got there before her. ‘Hello, chuck, and oh you’ve brought Terry to see me. That’s nice. You two will be getting married soon, I expect. Sit down, both of you. I’ll make you a cuppa in a minute.’