A Band of Steel

by Rosie Goodwin

  The school was dismally rundown but luckily had missed being bombed. Many of the pupils were Londoners, but two classrooms had been set aside for the Jewish children who eyed her curiously when Theo introduced her.

  ‘This is Miss Schwartz, children,’ he informed them. ‘And during the next few months she will be working closely with the Red Cross and the Salvation Army to try and trace your families in your home countries.’

  Adina’s heart ached as she was confronted with a sea of pale little faces. The more fortunate amongst them had been living with foster families, but the majority of them had spent the war closeted in North London orphanages. Theo had told her that the majority of the children were German Jews like herself, so now she addressed them in their native language. ‘Good morning, children. How are you today?’

  Instantly, many faces brightened and she knew that most of them had understood her. In fairness, after living in London for so long, they now had a grasp of basic English, but to have someone speak to them in their own tongue was a special treat.

  Seeing the smiling faces, Theo left her to it and the rest of the day passed in a blur as Adina spoke to the children and liaised with the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, who were now constantly in and out of the school in their quest to trace the children’s families.

  When the bell rang later that afternoon it was Fliss who came to fetch her, and Adina was grateful as she wasn’t sure that she would find her way home alone yet. All the streets looked similar, and she had visions of getting lost.

  ‘So how did your first day go?’ Fliss asked, as they walked along side by side.

  ‘I think it went quite well,’ Adina told her. ‘The Red Cross are working hard but it’s going to be awful for the children who have no parents left to go home to. What will happen to them?’

  ‘I dare say the poor little mites will be transferred back to orphanages in their own country, or they’ll stay here.’

  Adina felt sad. A handful of the children had already wormed their way into her heart, and she hoped that their stories would have a happy ending. However deep down she feared that the majority of the children’s families who had refused to flee their homes might well have been sent to Hitler’s death camps.

  Two of the little girls had clung to her skirts all day, and it was Rebekah and Esther that she thought of now. They had spoken so lovingly of the parents they had been torn away from, as had Cana, a little boy whose eyes had followed her about the classroom like a puppy’s. All Adina really wanted was for Karl to arrive like a knight in shining armour and whisk her away to live happily ever after, but at least now after only one day in London she knew that she could fill her time purposefully until he came. The thought was strangely comforting.

  ‘So, what would you like to do this evening?’ Fliss asked now, pulling Adina’s thoughts sharply back to the present.

  ‘A walk would be nice,’ Adina replied shyly. She had always been so sheltered living at home with her parents, and now she felt vulnerable and slightly out of her depth.

  ‘In that case we’ll go and have a stroll in Regent’s Park.’ Fliss slipped her arm through Adina’s and they began to walk along past the ruins of what had no doubt once been magnificent buildings.

  ‘It’s sad to see the city like this, isn’t it?’ Fliss commented. ‘Before the war London was a great tourist attraction, but there has been so much damage done. No doubt it will take years to return it to its former glory.’

  Adina nodded in agreement as they entered the park through a pair of gates. Adina was totally enchanted: it was like a huge green oasis in the midst of so much carnage. They were now well into September and the leaves were beginning to turn to beautiful shades of russet and gold. Many had already fallen from the trees and they crunched underfoot as the two of them strolled along.

  ‘I love it here,’ Fliss sighed. ‘Sometimes when Theo’s mother becomes too overbearing I come here to escape for a while. I am a great disappointment to her,’ she confided. ‘She never misses an opportunity to tell me that Theo could have done so much better for himself.’

  ‘Why?’ Adina asked, baffled, and instantly wished that she hadn’t. After all, she had barely settled in, so why should Fliss want to confide her personal life to her? From what she had seen of it, Theo and Fliss seemed happy enough, although she couldn’t have failed to notice how his mother picked on Fliss at every opportunity.

  ‘It’s because I haven’t given him a child,’ Fliss told her with a catch in her voice. ‘We’ve been married for nearly twelve years now but it’s just never happened, and his mother doesn’t let me forget it for an instant.’

  ‘Would you both have liked a child?’ Adina suddenly felt guilty as she thought of the new life growing inside her.

  ‘Oh yes, we would dearly love a family.’ Fliss’s voice held a wealth of sadness. ‘We’ve thought of going to a doctor, but . . . Well, it’s so embarrassing, isn’t it? And if they did tests and we discovered that something was wrong with one of us, it would be awful.’

  ‘Perhaps it will just happen one day when you least expect it to,’ Adina said optimistically.

  Fliss shook her head. ‘I doubt that very much. My time is running out for having a baby now. I’m almost thirty-eight years old. It’s rather old to have a first child, don’t you think?’

  ‘Well, lots of women I know back in Nuneaton were still having babies in their thirties,’ Adina told her, hoping to raise her spirits. They had come to a bench and they sat down on it, enjoying the feel of the crisp September breeze blowing through their hair.

  Fliss squeezed her hand affectionately, sensing the kindness in the girl. ‘We’ll just have to wait and see then, won’t we? Theo is a great one for saying what will be will be, and we do still have each other, which is something to be grateful for. There are so many wives in London without their men coming home to them now. I just have to count my blessings.’

  In the distance they could hear the sound of the traffic humming along and they sat for a while longer watching a small grey squirrel doing acrobatics in the trees above them. After a while Fliss rose. ‘We ought to be thinking of getting back now. We have to face the old witch sometime.’ She was smiling despite her harsh words as she told Adina, ‘She’s not so bad really, but Theo was an only child and I suppose she just wanted to fill the house with grandchildren.’

  ‘That’s still not an excuse for her to bully you,’ Adina stated.

  Fliss chuckled. ‘Perhaps you’re right. But I do think she’s taken a shine to you.’

  They moved towards the gates and were soon back at the house, where mouthwatering smells were coming from the direction of the kitchen.

  Mrs Leadbetter had prepared them a large cottage pie and a selection of fresh vegetables to go with it, followed by a spicy bread pudding – and this evening even Mrs Montgomery didn’t complain – although Adina noticed that she didn’t compliment the woman on the meal either.

  When they were all finished, Adina insisted on helping the friendly housekeeper with the clearing away and she got her first sight of the kitchen. She followed Mrs Leadbetter through a green baize door at the end of the hallway and then down some steps that led to the basement where the kitchen was situated. It was absolutely enormous and Adina stared about open-mouthed. A huge range stood against one wall with a row of gleaming copper pans suspended above it, and below the window, which looked up to the street above, was the most gigantic stone sink she had ever seen.

  ‘Why, it’s absolutely huge,’ she declared.

  Mrs Leadbetter chuckled. ‘It certainly is, an’ it takes some keepin’ clean, I don’t mind tellin’ you. Not that I’m complainin’. A job is a job, the way I see it, and the Montgomerys are a nice couple. Not that I can say the same for that old harridan of a mother of his. So long as you stand up to her, she’s fine. She certainly don’t frighten me none. I give as good as I get, as you’ve probably noticed.’

  Adina grinned as she carried the tray of dirty crockery
and cutlery to the sink. The long wooden draining board had been scrubbed so much that the wood was almost white, and she realised that Mrs Leadbetter must work very hard indeed to keep the house so neat and tidy.

  ‘Have you worked here for long?’ she asked, as she watched the woman fill a great metal kettle and set it on the range to boil.

  ‘Must be seven or eight years now.’ The cook swiped a lock of hair that had come loose from the Kirby grips that held it back from her face. ‘I come in every morning at half seven to do breakfast an’ I leave each evenin’ when I’ve done the washin’-up after dinner. ’Ceptin’ for Sundays, that is. The young missus sees to the cookin’ on that day.’

  ‘Then why don’t you get off early tonight and let me do it,’ Adina offered.

  ‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ the woman sputtered indignantly. ‘Though I wouldn’t say no to you givin’ me an ’and if you’ve a mind to.’

  And so side by side they set to, and in no time at all the kitchen was gleaming again. Once Mrs Leadbetter had transferred all the clean crockery back onto the enormous pine dresser that stood along one wall she wiped her hands on her apron and stared about with a look of satisfaction on her face. It was apparent that she took a great pride in her work and Adina felt herself warming to her. Mrs Leadbetter had chatted the whole time and Adina learned that she had been born and bred in Camden Town and was extremely proud to be a North Londoner. She told Adina that she had been married to Bill, the love of her life, for twenty-two years until he had died suddenly of a heart attack before the war. She had three sons and two daughters who were all married and living away from home now. Two of her sons had been in the Army, but they were among the lucky ones and were on their way home now that the war was finally over. It made Adina think of Dovi and her heart broke afresh as she pictured him locked away in the asylum. It also made her think of Karl and how much she was missing him. But it couldn’t be long now until he came back for her, she comforted herself as Mrs Leadbetter struggled into a coat that had seen better days.

  ‘I’ll be off now,’ she said. ‘Thanks for your ’elp, love. See you in the morning.’ And with that she plonked a rather unbecoming hat across her grey hair and bustled off, leaving Adina to wonder what she should do next.

  Deciding that this would be a good opportunity to post the letters she had written to her father and Beryl, Adina went to her room to fetch them. She put on her coat and then tapped softly on the door of the drawing room.

  ‘Come in,’ a voice invited, and when she stuck her head around the door she saw the old lady dozing in the chair by the fire and Theo and Fliss listening to the radio.

  ‘Can you tell me where the nearest post box is, please?’ she asked.

  Theo smiled at her. ‘Turn right out of the front door. Go to the end of the road and turn left, then right, and you’ll come to it. But don’t be out too late, will you? It’s dark now and we wouldn’t want you getting lost. Besides, there are some rather unsavoury characters about at the moment. Would you like me to come with you?’

  ‘No. Thank you, but I’ll be fine,’ Adina assured him.

  It was then that the old lady butted in. So much for her being asleep, Adina thought to herself.

  ‘Famous last words. You’re only a scrap of a girl,’ she tutted. ‘There are looters and all sorts out there. Think you’d be a match for them, do you?’

  ‘I’m perfectly able to take care of myself, thank you,’ Adina replied coolly, and with that she went on her way, leaving the old lady with an amused grin on her face.

  Half an hour later when she returned, she was passing the drawing room when the woman shouted, ‘Here, come in a moment, would you!’

  Adina was sorely tempted to ignore her, but when she went into the room she saw that Theo and Fliss were no longer there. ‘Was there something you wanted?’ she asked.

  ‘Well, of course there is, else I wouldn’t have called you in, would I?’ The old woman waved her walking stick towards the ceiling. ‘Those pair have gone off to bed already. I ask you . . . at their age. Got no stamina, that’s their trouble. Could you pour me a glass of sherry? It’s over there on that table – look.’

  As Adina followed her eyes she saw a crystal decanter full of a ruby-coloured liquid and some cut-glass goblets. She dutifully crossed to them and filled a glass, and as she was handing it to the woman, Mrs Montgomery asked, ‘Don’t suppose you’d care to join me, would you?’

  ‘Thank you, but no. I don’t drink, only on very special occasions.’

  ‘Every day is a special occasion if you wake up in the morning,’ the woman said mournfully. ‘But then you young ones are all the same. You think you’ll live for ever – and then one day you look in the mirror and you’re old and good for nothing, and it’s not much fun, I don’t mind telling you.’

  For the first time since meeting her, Adina felt a flicker of sympathy for the old woman and the thought came to her: I could actually get to quite like her. Only time would tell.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  During the first two weeks of her new life in London, Adina worked so hard during the day that she barely had time to think, but the nights were a different matter. It was then that a sense of loneliness and desperation for the position she was in almost overwhelmed her. Sometimes after school was over, she and Fliss would go for a long walk as Fliss pointed out places of interest to her. Much of London was one bombsite after another, with ruins everywhere she looked. Builders were hard at work, but anyone could see that it was going to be a very long job. One night they strolled along the Embankment, but the River Thames was a disappointment. The stench from its muddy shores was nauseating, and as they stood there staring across at St Paul’s Cathedral, a dead dog floated by, making Adina retch.

  The nights were drawing in now as October fast approached, so the walks were becoming shorter as the women were tempted back to the roaring fire at home in Prince Regent Terrace.

  Adina’s life had settled into some sort of a routine surprisingly quickly. She would dine with the family and then, after helping Mrs Leadbetter, or Beattie as she insisted Adina should call her, clear away and wash up, she would then spend an hour or so reading poetry or snippets from the newspapers to Mrs Montgomery, who Adina had discovered had once loved to read. The old woman’s failing eyesight made it difficult for her now, so Adina was only too happy to oblige her. At present they were working their way through the poems of Elizabeth Browning, and Adina found herself enjoying them almost as much as the old lady did. They had also done some of Shakespeare’s King Lear, although Adina had found that rather more difficult.

  Reading the newspaper had kept Adina abreast of world events in the aftermath of the war, and they had had a lengthy discussion earlier in the month when the Japanese forces in south-east Asia had formally surrendered to Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Allied Commander. It was then that an estimate of the British war casualties could be given. It was thought that a staggering 60,000 civilians had been killed during air raids and 86,000 badly injured; 420,000 members of the British armed forces had also been killed in action. Rationing was still strictly in force due to global shortages and no one knew how long it would take for everything to return to normal.

  It was during these exchanges that the old lady would drop her haughty exterior and let Adina glimpse the more human side of her, although she continued to bully Fliss abysmally and never let her forget for a second that she had failed her by not giving her a grandchild. Luckily, Fliss let it slide over her head for most of the time. She was well-used to the old woman’s tantrums by now, but just sometimes Adina detected a tear in her eye after one of these tirades, and she felt sorry for her.

  Once the reading was out of the way, Adina would then have a leisurely soak in the indoor bathroom, which was luxury indeed after the tin one she had had to cart into the kitchen once a week back at home in Nuneaton. And then she would retire to her room to read and write letters.

  Every day when they returned from
the school Adina would check the tray in the hall, hoping to find a letter from Karl, but up to now she had only received one letter from Ariel who assured her that their father was fine. She had actually ventured into the shop to see him, with baby Freda in her pram, hoping that the sight of his first grandchild would allow her back into his life, but she told Adina that he had merely served her politely as he would any other customer and she had gone away feeling despondent.

  Adina felt even worse after she read that. If her father would still not forgive Ariel, there was no way he would ever look at her again, once he discovered that she was pregnant by a German.

  Her hand slipped to her stomach and tears stung her eyes as she thought of the baby growing there. Fliss had offered to let her go home for the weekend but Adina had made an excuse and told her that she had too much paperwork to catch up on, which wasn’t really a lie. She was working very closely with the Red Cross, and that involved a lot of letter-writing. Sadly, only the day before they had received bad news about little Rebekah’s family. It appeared that they had all been rounded up and taken to Auschwitz, which meant that they were very probably all dead. But the tracing of the families was only a part of Adina’s job. Once it was confirmed that there was no chance of the children being reunited with their parents, she would then have to help decide what would happen to them. Many of the evacuees had been with foster families for almost the whole duration of the war and those families often kindly offered to keep them, but for the other children who were placed in orphanages the future was not so bright. It was all quite heartbreaking.

  And now she had an added worry. Over the last two weeks her abdomen had swelled alarmingly, and she was having to fasten her skirts with a safety pin. She had bought herself two baggy oversized cardigans with her clothing coupons, but they would not disguise her condition for much longer and then she had no idea what would happen. No doubt Fliss and Theo would send her home in disgrace. If they didn’t, she was certain that the old woman would, so all she could pray for now was that Karl would turn up any day and whisk her and their unborn child away.