‘That’s enough!’ George ran and seized him from behind. He locked both arms under Morell’s armpits and dragged him off, hoping that Charlie would have enough sense to roll out of the way of the vicious kicks. His own strength was under a severe test as he hauled Morell off his feet and he was glad when Walter moved in to pinion the sailor’s lower half. Together they carted him bodily from the pub.
‘Spoilsports! Boo!’ There was disappointment that the fight hadn’t gone the distance. But this was only the young element at the back.
‘Good riddance.’ Dolly righted a couple of stools en route to Charlie, who was back on his feet, his lip cut and bleeding badly.
‘That’s it, show’s over.’ Annie grabbed a teatowel and called them to order. She attacked a stack of wet glasses. ‘Anyone would think we didn’t have enough to do, fighting the Jerries.’ She spoke sternly, giving the impression that Morell was a minor nuisance, soon got rid of. The Duke didn’t encourage rowdiness; it was a small, friendly local, a home from home.
‘Annie, call a doctor!’ Hettie came racing back from Edie’s flat, not even bothering to ask after George and the rest. ‘Edie’s in a bad way. Tommy’s with her. He says we need a doctor quick.’
‘Morell?’ Annie went straight to the phone.
Hettie nodded. ‘He’s beaten her up. It looks bad.’
She dialled the number, waited.
‘Tommy says he’ll kill him. He swears he will. You should see her, Annie. Her face is all bruised and cut. She’s lying there unconscious and Tommy don’t know what to do for the best. Oh quick, Annie, hurry up or it’ll be too late!’
‘I’m as broad-minded as the next person,’ Gertie told her son, pulling pints and serving steadily. ‘And I’ve always given you plenty of rope to hang yourself with. But this time I’m telling you loud and clear, Meggie Davidson ain’t the girl for you!’
Ronnie slammed a crate of bottles onto the floor. She’d roped him in as soon as he’d set foot in the place, and now Meggie had to sit forlorn in the corner, waiting until his ma had finished finding him urgent jobs to do.
‘Lay off, will you?’
‘There’s no point beating about the bush, is there? Straight up, I’m sick of it, Ronnie. Every time you get leave and waltz in here, there she is hanging off the end of your arm. I never see nothing of you because of her, and I’m your mother, in case you’d forgotten. You’d think she’d give me a bit of space every now and then. But no, she sticks like glue!’
‘I asked her to meet me at the station.’ The old argument was wearing him out. If Gertie didn’t drop it, he would be out of the door for good.
‘And she has to say yes, does she? Doesn’t it occur to her to give me and you some time together?’ Gertie pulled him out of sight into the narrow back kitchen. ‘She’s young and shallow, Ronnie. She don’t know what it’s like for me, managing here by myself since your pa died.’
It wasn’t like her to feel sorry for herself. Again he put it down to the strains of war. ‘You cope, don’t you?’ he said more gently, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.
‘I cope because I have to. And I set a lot of store by you, Ronnie. What will I do if she steals you away?’
‘Is that it?’ He put an arm round her shoulder. ‘Is that what you’ve got against her?’
‘I said it before; she don’t think of others.’
This was plainly untrue. ‘She does. Didn’t she give you all the help she could? And she’s always going on about her own family. And about you. She says she always wanted a ma like you, up to date and easy going.’
‘She never.’ Gertie sniffed. The wind had been taken out of her sails.
‘She does. Meggie’s ma worries a lot.’
‘Me too. Only I don’t show it.’ She put her shoulders back and lifted her head. ‘I worry about you, especially now.’
‘That’s natural, ain’t it? Families are made that way.’
‘I suppose so.’ Gertie looked him in the eye. ‘You sure you ain’t just fallen for a pretty face?’
‘What, would you like it better if I chose an ugly one?’ He felt as if he might talk her round this time. It was just a matter of her learning to accept that he wouldn’t be around forever. ‘Look, Ma, I know Meggie’s young and me being away at sea ain’t perfect neither. But in a way that gives us more time to think things through. And after we’ve weighed it up, we find we both still feel the same way.’ Ronnie hid his awkwardness behind a cloud of cigarette smoke, trying to describe his strength of feeling, but falling a long way short.
Gertie gazed at her handsome son; dashing and clean-cut. ‘You know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.’ Perhaps it was the enforced separation that bound Meggie and him together.
‘I thought it was out of sight, out of mind.’
‘Yes, and you’re too clever by half.’ Gertie straightened her dress; a light, printed cotton one with a sweetheart neckline. She seemed to make a decision not to push him any harder over Meggie. ‘But it is good to have you back safe and sound.’ She patted his cheek, then kissed it.
‘You ain’t gone and got lipstick all over me?’ He rubbed the patch of skin with his fingertips.
She laughed. ‘Will it make someone jealous?’
‘I wish you’d be friends with her, Ma.’ He went and stood in the doorway, looking out into the bar. Meggie sat chatting with Eddie. Her face lit up when she spotted him. ‘What did she do to you? That’s what I’d like to know.’
‘It ain’t what she does. It’s what she is.’ Gertie’s tone darkened again as she came to look over his shoulder.
He shook his head, about to give it up. ‘She’s been through a lot, if you did but know.’
‘Meggie? She’s had it easy if you ask me.’
‘No.’ Ronnie knew that he was breaking a confidence, but he pressed on. ‘Honest. She ain’t living with her real pa, you know.’ His mother had taken a step backwards, begun to frown. ‘It’s her step-pa that runs the taxi firm. She ain’t never known her real one.’ It was one of the things that had softened his heart; Meggie’s confession that she’d first come up to Bernhardt Court in search of Richie Palmer.
Gertie’s expression changed again. She refused to show any interest. ‘You call that going through a lot? I call it landing on your feet. She never goes short of nothing, does she?’
‘Her real pa ran off, though. That’s hard.’
‘Yes, and your poor pa died queuing up for a football match, killed in the crush, never came home again—’
‘I know that!’
‘And stepfathers don’t grow on trees round here, so we soldiered on, right?’
He nodded. Old wounds soon opened. ‘Neither do girls like Meggie,’ he said.
There was an air raid that Saturday evening, but it was lighter than usual. Several German planes were brought down in dog-fights and many of the fire-bombs missed their mark. It seemed true what they said, that Hitler was turning his attentions elsewhere. After a couple of hours down the shelters, the all-clear sounded and people emerged.
‘Too late to open up again, thank God!’ Annie looked at the big wall clock above the door in the bar. She sounded and looked tired to death. ‘George, tell Hettie that it’s safe to bring Edie upstairs. See if she needs any help.’ The evening had left her drained; the scuffle with Morell, the discovery of poor Edie, the air raid.
Earlier they’d fetched the doctor.
‘Don’t worry, she’ll live,’ he’d told Tommy as he brought Edie round. ‘No bones broken, some concussion, contusions, superficial cuts. Nothing that will cause any permanent damage.’ He’d made her comfortable on her own bed, insisted that Hettie should stay to keep an eye on things. ‘Keep her quiet,’ he’d advised. ‘And if you bring in the police, don’t let them pester her until tomorrow at the earliest.’
Edie had overheard. ‘No police,’ she’d implored Hettie.
‘We know who did it.’ Tommy had escorted the doctor downstairs. ‘Her old ma
n that was.’
‘It’s like that, is it? Not so much cherchez la femme as give her a good hiding.’ In his experience, it would be of little use to involve the police, then. The women never brought charges. He’d noted Tommy as the other man in the case. ‘Take care; this assailant knew precisely what he was doing. He used just enough force, not too much. I expect he wanted to teach her a lesson.’
‘It’s the last time he’ll lay a finger on her!’ Tommy had vowed. ‘But not the first?’ The doctor had stood in the shattered street, looking up at the blue sky. Violence came in many shapes and forms. He thought he heard the distant drone of aeroplanes, then the sirens had begun to wail. ‘Get her to a shelter as quick as you can.’ He’d shaken hands and climbed into his car. Tonight would be no different from any other; why should it?
So Tommy and Hettie had called on Rob to bring his cab and take Edie on the short journey from her flat to the Duke, where they’d helped her straight down to the cellar, trying their best to ignore how she looked, but failing to hide their shock. Edie trembled from head to foot, her hands and arms were cut-and bruised, she had marks high on her cheekbones and across her brow. One eye was swollen and closed.
‘Where’s Tommy?’ she’d pleaded. ‘Make him stay here with me.’ They’d bolstered her with cushions and pillows, wrapped her in blankets.
Reluctantly he’d been brought down to the shelter. It was as if he couldn’t trust himself to look at her. ‘Hettie will take care of you. And Annie and Sadie. They’re all here now.’
But she’d flung her arms around his neck. ‘Don’t go back up.’ She was thinking of him and how he would ignore the sirens and scour the streets for Bill.
He’d held her tight, then unwound her arms. The others retreated to the far corners of the shelter to give them privacy. ‘Edie – darling!’
‘I don’t care!’ She’d held onto his hands. ‘Leave him be, Tommy. He’s only got forty-eight hours, then he’ll be gone. We’ll be rid of him. Please!’
‘And then what?’ He’d forced himself to talk it through, squashed down a burning anger that made him want to kill Morell. ‘Until next time? You don’t think he’ll ever leave us alone, do you?’
‘Not now, Tommy, I need you here.’ She’d sobbed helplessly.
‘I can’t, Edie. I have to go.’ He’d stroked her hair, her bruised, wet face. ‘I have to find him.’
‘Take someone with you.’ She’d turned and called out to Hettie. ‘Make George keep an eye on him!’
Hettie had gone and stooped over her. ‘He’s on duty. So’s Walter.’
‘They can keep a look out.’
Hettie had agreed. ‘They can try.’ They were already risking their necks up there this very minute, but Edie was beside herself.
At last Tommy had unfastened himself from Edie’s grasp, nodded at Hettie to take over, and run from the shelter. That was the last they saw of him. The women had sat and waited for the all-clear, wondering what part of town would be bombed this time, imagining the firestorms up above, praying that it wouldn’t be them.
‘Take Edie upstairs to Ernie’s room,’ Annie told Hettie after the raid. ‘Leave the lamp fit. We’ll be up in a few minutes.’
They carried her there as best they could.
Walter came in from the street soon after, his face blackened, lined and weary. ‘They got Sadie’s factory,’ he reported. ‘But we got eight of their planes.’
‘Any sign of Bill Morell?’ Annie asked. She lifted the takings from the till and locked them safe in the strongbox, ready to carry it upstairs.
Walter shook his head. ‘Looks like he went to ground.’ After they’d carted him from the pub, no one had dapped eyes on him. Now, with Tommy roaming around looking, it was as if they had an unexploded bomb on their hands. ‘Tommy swears he’ll get even. We couldn’t get him down a shelter for love nor money.’
‘I ain’t surprised,’ Annie sighed. ‘Have you seen the state of Edie?’
‘How is she?’
‘Sadie and Hettie are settling her down for the night. But she won’t get a wink of sleep, not until Tommy comes back.’
‘Sadie neither,’ he confessed. ‘She’s worried about Meggie.’ He stood, tin hat under his arm, desperately weary. It was nearly midnight and he longed for his bed.
‘Tell her to stop worrying.’ Annie was pleased to deliver the one good piece of news. ‘Meggie just telephoned to say she was safe. Ronnie’s putting her in a taxi to send her back right this minute. So Sadie can take you home and give you a nice hot cup of Horlicks, Walter Davidson. And who says you don’t deserve it?’
‘See them stars?’ Ronnie asked. Meggie and he walked as one. The streets were empty after the air raid, the sky clear. ‘It’s like that at sea. I look up at the stars and I think of you.’
‘Me too.’
‘Then we’re linked, even when we’re apart, now I know you’re watching them too.’ The same stars, the same heart. They walked by the pale grey walls of St Martin’s.
‘Why does it have to be so hard?’ She held both arms around his waist as they walked, leaning into him, looking up at the sky.
‘It ain’t. It’s easy.’ He knew what she meant, though. ‘Forget it, Meggie. The more people say we should take things easy, the more I know I don’t want to. Funny, that.’ His chin rested on her soft hair, his arms folded around her. ‘Listen, I’ve been thinking.’
An empty taxi came by. It rolled on towards Trafalgar Square. Up above, the sky was midnight blue, scattered with tiny points of white light.
‘Meggie, you and me should get married.’
She clung tightly to him, kept on walking.
‘You hear?’
She nodded. ‘When?’
‘Next time I get home on leave.’
‘Without saying anything?’ It was a step into space, into the unknown.
‘They’d only say no.’
‘Yes,’ she agreed. They would summon all their old reasons.
‘We can get a train to Gretna. When we come back, we’ll be married.’
‘And no one will be able to un-marry us!’
‘We’d be legal and above board. Then they’d have to fall in with us. What do you say?’
It was breathtaking. It was an enormous step. ‘You mean it?’ She stopped and took him by the hand.
‘I don’t want to listen to them going on no more, Meg. I just want you.’ He drew her in, kissed her, literally swept her off her feet. ‘Do you want me?’
‘Yes.’
‘Will you marry me?’
They were surrounded by dangers; by torn buildings, bombs, separation. But theirs was an island that no one could invade. It was a star out there in the heavens.
‘Yes.’ She kissed his breath away. They would put up barricades, keep out the world.
At last Meggie went home in her taxi, floating on a cloud of happiness. Duke Street was quiet, and so was Paradise Court. The blackout made the houses look dead, but silver light poured down from the sky as she slotted her key into the lock and went inside. The clock ticked on the mantelpiece beside a framed photograph of Bertie and Geoff. Her mother had left a note on the table. ‘Dearest Meg, Knock on our bedroom door to let us know you’re back.’ Signed ‘S’, with a heart, her mother’s unvarying mark.
The tears welled up. Meggie sat and wept with joy, head resting on the table beside her mother’s note.
‘What is it?’
She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Sadie stood in her nightgown, hair brushed back, her face washed clear of the day.
Meggie stood up to embrace her.
‘What’s wrong?’ Sadie stroked the back of her head.
‘Nothing. Ma, Ronnie and me want to get married.’ She confessed it all. ‘I’m so happy. I love him, Ma, and he loves me.’
Chapter Twenty
Walter switched on the early morning news broadcast. Bristol had been hit hard, and Cardiff. There was a nationwide call for extra blood donors. Production of Hurrican
es and Spitfires was to be stepped up yet again.
‘Not in your factory, it won’t.’ He told Sadie about the direct hit of the night before. She was already up, looking pale and tired. Another sleepless night. ‘Why not phone Jess and check on the boys?’
‘I did that yesterday.’ Sadie picked at her breakfast of toast and marmalade. ‘I spoke to Maurice. He said Jess has gone up to Coniston for the weekend. Everyone’s fine. Except Mo finally got his papers from the RAF. He’ll be in uniform this time next week.’
Walter nodded. Within their own four walls they were past the stage of commenting on the rakish glamour of the boys in pilots’ uniform and their heroic role. Statistics had leaked out on the number of British fliers lost in the Battle of Britain. Never was so much owed by so many to so few, maybe. But if those few happened to be your own flesh and blood . . .
‘Maurice says Jess is worried sick.’
‘She ain’t the only one.’ He studied Sadie across the table. ‘There’s something eating you and all.’
Sadie pushed away her plate. She rolled her eyes at the sound of Meggie’s footsteps corning downstairs. ‘I’ll tell you later.’
Meggie breezed in, ready to go off and spend the day with Ronnie. She wore her prettiest summer dress, a white, cap-sleeved one with a flared skirt and tucks and gathers in the bodice. Her hair shone with coppery glints, simply tied at the nape of her neck.
‘Has anybody seen my little pearl earrings?’ She felt carefully along the mantelpiece. ‘I thought I left them here.’
‘They’re in the box on your dressing table. I moved them when I was dusting.’ Sadie’s voice was expressionless. She stood up and went to look out of the window onto the tiny brick back yard.
‘Never mind.’ Meggie stood on tiptoe to catch more of her reflection in the mirror above the mantelpiece. ‘I have to meet Ronnie at nine. I’d better dash.’
‘On an empty stomach?’ Sadie didn’t look round. ‘And you need a cardigan, just in case.’
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