Goodnight Sweetheart

by Annie Groves

  ‘Pearl, it wasn’t me,’ Molly insisted. ‘We were told that one of the children had had an … an accident and was being sent home, but Mrs Wesley didn’t mention any names. And even if she had,’ Molly lifted her chin and said firmly, ‘we have to swear an oath to keep confidential things confidential.’

  ‘Are you saying that it wasn’t you who let it out about Daisy’s lad?’

  ‘It certainly wasn’t,’ Molly assured her.

  ‘Well, I don’t know now what to say.’ Pearl was suddenly frowning as she said slowly, ‘’Ere, I’ve just remembered, doesn’t Beryl’s cousin’s lad walk out wi’ the maid wot works for that Mrs Wesley?’

  Molly shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know her.’

  ‘’Ere, Molly, if it was her that told on Daisy, then I’m right sorry we’ve bin thinking it were you,’ Pearl told her gruffly.

  Molly felt there was no point telling Pearl that she had assumed the crime she was being punished for was that of falling in love with Eddie.

  ‘I’m goin’ to have a word wi’ Beryl and get to the bottom of this. If’n it weren’t you then—’

  ‘It wasn’t,’ Molly interrupted her quietly. ‘And I’d just as soon forget the whole thing, Pearl. I don’t want any more upset, not with our June’s wedding getting so close, an’ all.’

  ‘You’re a good lass, Molly,’ Pearl told her, looking uncomfortable. ‘I never thought as it would be you, but Daisy were that upset. All ready for the weddin’, are yer now? Only if there’s owt as any of us can do … My hubby has a contact as he can get a bit of beer and the like from, if your June wants me to have a word wi’ him.’

  ‘I’ll tell her.’ Molly accepted this olive branch, although privately she was not sure that the vicar would welcome ‘contraband’ alcohol being served in the church hall.

  ‘You’re looking mighty pleased with yourself,’ June commented when Molly walked into the kitchen.

  ‘I’ve just seen Pearl,’ Molly told her. ‘You’ll never guess what, June. They’ve been thinking that it was me that let it slip that Daisy had been told to bring her little lad back from North Wales on account of him wettin’ the bed. That’s why they’ve all been so off with me.’

  ‘Don’t talk daft.’

  ‘It’s true,’ Molly insisted. ‘Pearl has just told me. Oh, and she said that her George can get some beer and that for the wedding, if you want him to.’

  ‘Oh, aye, and I can just imagine what would happen if we let George and that lot bring it in. The vicar would have sommat to say about that – aye, and Frank’s mam as well.’

  Molly had detected a slight softening in the hostilities between June and Doris Brookes in the run-up to the wedding, and Frank’s mother had even offered June the loan of her best lace tablecloth. Toasting her toes in front of the back-room fire, Molly allowed herself to smile properly for the first time in weeks. She was pleased to have the reason for Pearl and the others’ recent frostiness towards her out in the open, and even more pleased that it wasn’t anything to do with her relationship with Eddie.

  ‘I can’t believe that by this time next week Frank will be home,’ June smiled happily, whilst Molly shifted her heavy shopping basket onto her other arm. Both girls were well wrapped up in their winter coats against the raw November weather, their hands and ears protected by the brightly coloured gloves and scarves Molly had knitted from leftover scraps of wool.

  ‘We were lucky to get that suet,’ June commented. ‘The Co-op didn’t have any at all, and they were out of sugar an’ all.’

  ‘I saw Pearl this morning and she said her George had got a load of tinned stuff from some warehouse that had had a fire. Nothing wrong with it, but all the labels had come off. She said she’d let us have a couple of dozen tins.’

  ‘Dad said that one of his chickens was missing. He reckons someone has taken it for the pot.’

  The two sisters looked ruefully at one another.

  ‘Gawd knows what it’s going to be like when rationing does come in,’ June grimaced.

  ‘At least we’ve got everything sorted out for the wedding,’ Molly offered comfortingly, but stopped speaking when she saw Johnny’s sisters walking purposefully towards her.

  ‘We was just on our way round your house,’ Jennifer announced meaningfully.

  ‘Our mam wants ter have a word with yer about our Johnny. She said to tell yer as it were important.’

  June’s mouth tightened. Although she had ceased to criticise her, Molly knew she had not been forgiven.

  ‘I’ll come round later,’ she offered as she tried to hide both her reluctance and her apprehension.

  ‘It’d be best if you was to come now.’

  ‘We’ll both come,’ June announced firmly.

  Molly could see June’s nose wrinkling in distaste at the acrid sour smell of bad drains permeating the street where Johnny’s family lived. Stalwartly she managed not to follow her sister’s example, for fear of offending Johnny’s sisters.

  ‘Going down the dance hall tonight, are yer?’ Deirdre asked them both.

  ‘Me and Molly have got far too much to do for that, what with my Frank and her Johnny coming home soon,’ June told them, giving Molly a warning look.

  ‘I can’t see our Johnny coming when he finds out what’s happened,’ Jennifer muttered half under her breath, causing her sister to give her a sharp nudge.

  ‘I knew sommat like this would happen,’ June whispered angrily to Molly, but in a low voice so that the other girls couldn’t hear. ‘I told you it would get back to Johnny’s family about you and Eddie.’

  Molly could feel her face burning, as she and June stood behind Johnny’s sisters and waited for them to open the door.

  ‘It’s us, Mam,’ Deirdre shouted, ‘and we’ve brought Molly back wi’ us like you told us.’

  The two girls then disappeared into the dark recesses of the house, leaving June and Molly standing in the hallway.

  It seemed to take for ever for Johnny’s mother finally to appear, looking even more pale and worn than when Molly had last seen her. Wiping her hands on her apron, she pushed open the warped door to the front room, ushering them both inside.

  ‘I’m right sorry to have to do this, but I couldn’t think of what else to do. We only heard about what’s bin going on yesterday, and a real old shock it’s given me, I can tell you. What our Johnny’s going to say when he’s told I don’t know, and he will have to be told, that’s for sure. The whole street’s talking about it already.’

  Molly couldn’t bring herself to look at June. She knew all too well what her sister would be thinking.

  ‘Eeh, Molly, I just don’t know what ter say to yer, lass. I know yer a decent, well-brought-up lass and I’m hopin’ that yer will do wot’s right … aye, and I’m hopin’ that our Johnny will do wot’s right an’ all, because if’n he doesn’t—’

  ‘Have yer told her yet, Mam?’ Jennifer interrupted her mother, putting her head round the door. ‘Only they’ve come back …’

  There was a commotion in the hallway and then a man strode into the room, almost dragging a young and very pregnant girl with him.

  ‘She’s no daughter o’ mine no more,’ he announced belligerently. ‘She can stay here with you from now on, seein’ as it’s your Johnny that’s got her like this,’ cos she ain’t staying under my roof.’

  The girl had started to cry, whilst Johnny’s mother looked on helplessly.

  ‘Stop that racket, will yer?’ the man demanded, cuffing the side of the girl’s head angrily. ‘You should have had more sense than ter let ’im get into yer knickers in the first place. If I’d bin at home ter see what was goin’ on instead of in bleedin’ prison, I’d ’ave soon sorted ’im out. He’d have had a kick up his backside that would have sent him into the middle of next year, and no mistake. No one messes wi’ my daughter and leaves her in the family way and unwed, and just as soon as he gets off that train next week, he’s going into church to make a respectable woman o
f my lass.’

  ‘Are you trying to say that Johnny is the father of your daughter’s child?’ June demanded fiercely, squaring her shoulders and taking charge.

  ‘And ’oo might you be?’

  ‘Johnny is engaged to my sister,’ June announced.

  ‘Oh ho, he is, is he? And is she in the family way, an’ all, then?’

  ‘Certainly not,’ said June.

  ‘Aye, well, in that case my Doreen is gonna be the one he weds, because there’s no way she’s gonna be making me the grandfather of a bastard. Shut up your noise, yer silly cow,’ he commanded the sobbing girl.

  ‘Oh, Molly, I’m that sorry,’ Johnny’s mother was saying pitifully.

  ‘Not ’alf as sorry as that bleedin’ son of yours is gonna be. I’m warning yer that he’d better do the right thing by my Doreen ’cos if he doesn’t he’s gonna know about it, even if it gets me back in bleedin’ prison.’

  ‘Of course Johnny must do the right thing by your daughter,’ Molly agreed, unable to believe what was happening.

  ‘Eeh, lass, but that’s right generous of you, ter be so understandin’,’ Johnny’s mother smiled in relief. ‘I know how you must be feelin’.’

  ‘Aye, and so do I,’ June agreed meaningfully as she looked at Molly.

  ‘Well!’ June announced half an hour later after they had left Johnny’s mother’s house. ‘Aren’t you the lucky one, an’ all?’

  ‘I wouldn’t have been very lucky if I had loved Johnny, though, would I?’ Molly couldn’t resist pointing out sturdily. ‘That girl was nearly eight months pregnant, according to what Johnny’s sisters were saying, and that means—’

  ‘I know what it means, thank you very much,’ June stopped her hastily, before adding, ‘I can tell you, I’m going to have a thing or two to say to my Frank when he gets home.’

  ‘It isn’t Frank’s fault,’ Molly objected, easing the ache out of her arm from carrying her shopping basket.

  ‘Mebbe not, but he must have known what Johnny were up to wi’ that other lass, and he never said anything to me about it when I told him to bring a friend along with him to make up a foursome with you.’

  Molly hid a small smile. It was typical of her sister that now that the truth about Johnny’s reprehensible behaviour had come out, she was blaming someone else for introducing him to Molly. But right now the unexpected turn of events was making Molly feel so light-hearted and filled with relief that all she could think about was her eagerness for Eddie to come home so that she could tell him that she was free of her engagement. If there were such things as guardian angels, hers had most certainly been looking down on her and had heard her prayers, Molly decided gratefully.

  ELEVEN

  ‘Your sister looks so happy, Molly,’ Anne whispered as the two girls sat together watching Frank whirling June round in his arms to the sound of the lively music coming from Brian Leadbetter’s accordion.

  ‘It was a lovely wedding,’ Anne added warmly, ‘and your dress is so pretty. The colour matches your eyes perfectly.’

  Molly smiled, gently smoothing the blue fabric. She had been so determined to make up the fabric that had been Eddie’s gift to her into a new bridesmaid’s dress that she had sat up virtually all night in order to get it finished. Her fingers had ached painfully most of the next day but it had been worth it. She just wished Eddie could see her in it.

  Deprived of his intended best man on account of Johnny’s furiously angry future father-in-law practically dragging Johnny from the train the moment it drew into Lime Street station, Frank had asked Ronnie Walker – who, as luck would have it, had also been granted Christmas leave – to take his place.

  Because of that, Molly had cheerfully given up her official ‘right’ to claim Ronnie as a dance partner, insisting instead that he and Sally enjoyed some fun.

  The news in November that butter rationing was to be introduced a week before the wedding had thrown June into a panic, but the neighbours had rallied round and provided enough food for the wedding breakfast.

  Watching her new brother-in-law looking so proudly at June now as they danced together brought tears to Molly’s eyes. She was desperately disappointed that Eddie couldn’t be here, but he had told her that he hoped to be home for Christmas. Happily she hugged to her the memory of the precious few hours they had managed to snatch together earlier in the month when his ship had docked.

  They had gone to the cinema, cuddling up on the back row, exchanging whispered confidences in between kisses and declarations of their love, Molly virtuously saying ‘no’ when Eddie had whispered in her ear that since her father and June were both out, they could go back to number 78.

  Eddie had burst out laughing when she had given him a graphic description of the scene at Johnny’s mother’s house, with Doreen’s irate father, but he had stopped laughing when Molly had confided in him that Doreen’s father had been a recent inmate of one of His Majesty’s prisons, shaking his head and saying that Johnny had better make sure he didn’t get on the wrong side of his future father-in-law.

  ‘It could be Christmas before we’re back,’ he had told Molly, adding warningly, ‘but when I do get back, I’ll be asking you to set a date, Molly, and I won’t want to be waitin’ long for us to get married. Not with this war on.’

  Immediately Molly had pressed her finger against his lips, pleading with him not to remind her of the dangers he faced.

  She couldn’t wait for him to get back. John and Elsie had both made it clear to her how much they were looking forward to welcoming her into their family. A small secret smile curved her lips as she remembered the passionate kiss she and Eddie had exchanged when they had said goodbye. The intimacies she had been so reluctant to share with Johnny were intimacies she couldn’t wait to share with Eddie once they were married.

  ‘Oh look, do!’ Anne exclaimed delightedly. ‘Isn’t that your dad dancing with Frank’s mam?’

  Molly laughed. Frank’s mother had unbent enough to give her approval of June’s frock, and everyone had seen the gusto with which her posh friends had tucked into the food.

  ‘Folks like that don’t know how to cook proper,’ had been Elsie’s comfortable comment. ‘All they know is posh shop-bought food. That cousin of Doris Brookes’s said as how my tongue was the best he ’ad ever tasted,’ she had boasted to Molly earlier.

  ‘Dad doesn’t look very comfortable,’ Molly giggled.

  Her father was a couple of inches shorter than Frank’s mother and a good deal thinner.

  ‘It’s like watching a Mersey tug taking on a big liner,’ Anne’s brother, Richard, observed, laughing.

  ‘I heard the best man talking to your brother-in-law, Molly. He was saying that he’s heard that more of our troops are to be moved out to France.’

  ‘Ronnie’s in the regular army,’ Molly explained, looking over to where Ronnie and Frank were now deep in conversation. ‘And his unit’s already over there. They’ve given him leave to come home for Christmas and to see the baby.’

  ‘Excuse me, girls,’ Anne’s brother smiled as he stood up and looked meaningfully towards Frank and Ronnie, ‘I think I’ll go over and join them.’

  ‘Rick’s heard that he’ll be going out to Nantes any time,’ Anne explained quietly once he had gone. ‘The Royal Engineers are based there and some of the RAF ground crew like Richard.

  ‘It’s still so hard to believe we really are at war,’ she continued. ‘I know there’ve been enemy planes up at Scapa Flow and down on the Thames Estuary, but somehow it is hard to believe it’s all real, despite our practising our drills and doing all the things we’ve been told to do.’

  ‘It is real, though. Rationing has started,’ Molly reminded her. ‘And we’ve lost ships,’ she added in a lower voice.

  Anne reached out and squeezed her hand in silent acknowledgement of Molly’s anxiety. Molly had told her about the ending of her engagement and, to her relief, when she had learned the reason why, Anne’s hostility towards Molly’s love f
or Eddie had thawed immediately and completely.

  ‘Come on, Molly, it’s your turn to dance with Frank,’ June laughed, puffing slightly as she and Frank came to a halt in front of them.

  ‘Thanks for everything you’ve done for June, Molly,’ said Frank.

  Molly shook her head, matching her steps to his as they started to dance. ‘We’ve all done our bit, Frank.’

  She liked Frank. He was a big, easy-going young man with a kind heart, whom she suspected her sister would bully unmercifully, much as she guessed his mother already did.

  The newly married couple were to have two nights in a hotel in Blackpool, before returning home for Christmas. Since there was no room for them at number 78, they were to share Frank’s old room at his mother’s whilst he was on leave – not that June was too happy about the prospect of that.

  ‘I’d have sooner rented a place of our own,’ she had told Molly, ‘but Frank says that there’s no point, with him going away.’

  * * *

  Molly smiled with sleepy satisfaction as she snuggled deeper into her bed. In the end all the wedding guests had gone to Lime Street station to wave Frank and June off on their honeymoon, laughing and joking as they did so, before returning to the village hall to clear everything away. The perfect day could only have been made more perfect by Eddie’s presence. But it wouldn’t be long now before he was home, Molly reminded herself happily.

  PART TWO

  Christmas 1939

  ONE

  ‘And then last night, when we were at the Tower Ballroom, they gave out that they were going to play a special dance number for all the newlyweds, seeing as how they’d heard there was so many couples honeymooning in Blackpool. The dance floor was that packed you could hardly move, and, of course, wi’ them great size eleven feet of his, Frank were standing on me toes …’