Goodnight Sweetheart

by Annie Groves

  ‘He will do,’ Molly reassured June. ‘And Elsie has promised to bring a couple of jellies.’

  ‘We was lucky that Aunt Violet sent us that turkey,’ June admitted. ‘Mind you, when I saw it last night I was worried that it were going to be too big for the oven. I didn’t eat hardly any breakfast so as to save my appetite. It felt that funny this morning, waking up at Frank’s mam’s and not here. There was no stockings put up there, for one thing, and Frank’s mam had bin to church before I was even up. Frank got up early to go wi’ her so I didn’t get no nice cuppa in bed like we always have. Mind you, I did tell Frank that I would be wanting me and him to go to church wi’ you and our dad, so he ended up having to go twice. There’s no going downstairs in a dressing gown there like we do here neither. She doesn’t approve of that, and she wouldn’t let Frank bring me up a cuppa neither ’cos drinking tea in bed is something else she doesn’t hold with.’ June sighed before adding, ‘That sounds like Sally coming back downstairs. I’ll stay here and finish off, if you want to go up and get tidy.’

  As she brushed her hair at her dressing table, Molly touched her heart necklace through the tartan fabric of her best winter dress. All the worry and upset of the last few weeks had caused her to lose weight so that the tartan dress was now a little bit loose on the waist. Molly had cinched in the spare fabric with a little black belt. So much had changed since last Christmas, and so much more was going to change. This time next year she, like June, would be sharing Christmas with her husband. The only shadow darkening her life now was that of the war. Molly shivered inwardly, praying that it would soon be over and their lives could return to normal. Neither Sally nor June had said a word about their fears for their soldier husbands, but Molly had seen the looks they’d exchanged during the King’s speech, and she had seen too the way that June had clutched tightly at Frank’s hand as if frightened that if she loosened her grip, he would vanish into thin air.

  An hour later Molly had no time to think or worry about anything other than how to stop her sides aching from laughing at Uncle Joe’s jokes, covering her ears when the men started singing ‘Roll Out the Barrel’.

  Uncle Joe had just struck up another tune when someone banged on the front door.

  ‘If it’s that Hitler, tell ’im to go and salute himself,’ one wag yelled out, cheered on by the other men, whilst Molly struggled through the press of people filling the small house and opened the door.

  Alf Davies was standing on the step, wearing his ARP uniform.

  ‘Oh, it’s you, Mr Davies. Happy Christmas,’ Molly said uncomfortably.

  ‘Aye, just checkin’ up to mek sure that everyone’s observing the blackout,’ he told her brusquely.

  ‘’Oo is it, lass?’ Molly’s father asked.

  ‘It’s Mr Davies, Dad—’ Molly started to tell him before Alf interrupted, ‘Come round to check up on the blackout. I could see a light coming from here.’

  ‘’Ere, Molly, shut that door, will yer?’ Ronnie called out, coming into the hall with Frank.

  Frank immediately sized up the situation and said quietly, ‘You wouldn’t begrudge two fighting men a bit of fun before they go off to war, would you, Alf?’

  ‘Rules are rules,’ the ARP man insisted, ‘and if there’s any light showing then it’s a three-pound fine.’

  Molly looked towards her father, who had just entered the hallway, and gave him an anguished look. Three pounds was almost half his weekly pay.

  Several men had crowded into the hallway now, and Molly could hear their angry mutter.

  ‘Here, Alf, get this down yer,’ Ronnie Walker invited, thrusting a small glass of sloe gin into the other man’s hand. ‘It’s a cold night and a thankless job you’ve got on, I reckon. But don’t you go blaming Albert or his lasses if’n there’s a bit o’ light showing – not that I’m saying there was, mind. I reckon it were likely me as done it when I looked out of the window to see if it were snowing. None of us here wants to give Jerry owt but the bloody nose he deserves.’

  ‘Aye, well, happen there’s no harm done,’ Alf said reluctantly.

  ‘Course there ain’t. Pity you ’ave to be on duty, otherwise you and your missus could have joined us and ’ad a bit of fun, couldn’t they, Albert?’ Ronnie appealed to Molly’s father.

  ‘Aye, they could.’

  ‘I’d best be on me way, but mind now – no breaking the blackout,’ Alf warned them sternly.

  ‘And Happy Christmas to you, Ebenezer,’ Uncle Joe called out after Alf, amidst chuckles all round.

  TWO

  ‘’Ere, Molly, are you and your June goin’ to the New Year’s Eve dance down at the Grafton?’ Ruby asked Molly, over the noise of the bell ringing to announce the end of their day’s work. It was three days after Christmas, and Molly and the other girls had been back at work a day already, although June had decided to take some time off without pay so that she could spend as much time as possible with Frank, who did not have to report for duty until early January.

  ‘Yes,’ Molly confirmed. ‘Are you?’

  ‘Of course I am. You wouldn’t catch me staying at ’ome on a New Year’s Eve, war or no war,’ Ruby told her scornfully.

  When she stepped out into the street, Molly instinctively looked down towards where the docks lay hidden from her view by the buildings of the city, bracing herself against the icy cold wind as she wondered where Eddie’s ship was and when he would be home. He was supposed to be back before New Year’s Eve but she dared not hope he would be, because she knew she would hardly be able to bear her disappointment if he wasn’t. It seemed such a long time since she had last seen Eddie. So much had happened in those few short weeks.

  It was Thursday night and ITMA, the comedy show, would be on the wireless, to cheer her up, she reminded herself. No doubt Frank and June would be coming round to listen to it as well, since June was flatly refusing to spend any more time than she had to underneath her mother-in-law’s roof. Although, naturally, June had not said so, Molly had guessed that it was the privacy of an empty house that brought them to number 78 as much as June’s open resentment of her mother-in-law, and for that reason she had taken to rattling the handle of the back door to announce her own return home, when she thought they might be there.

  The Government’s original determination to impose a total blackout had now given way to its reluctant acknowledgement that doing so was causing too many accidents, and Molly was glad of the light from her small torch as she made her way down the cul-de-sac in the cold darkness of the wintry evening.

  The wireless was on when she walked into the kitchen, and June and Frank were already sitting together listening to it as she predicted.

  ‘Me and Frank are going to the pictures tonight, Molly. You can come with us, if you want,’ June informed her.

  Molly shook her head. ‘Ta, but no thanks. It’s ITMA – my favourite – and besides, I’ve got me frock to sort out for New Year’s Eve,’ she told June cheerfully.

  ‘I thought you said you was goin’ to wear your bridesmaid’s dress again,’ June reminded her.

  ‘I am, but the hem needs a stitch in it where I caught me heel in it at the wedding. Besides, I don’t want to be playing gooseberry with you and Frank.’

  ‘I’ll have you know that me and Frank are an old married couple now, so less of your cheek.’

  Molly laughed. ‘Oh, yes, and I suppose it was because the two of you were taking a nap while you were here that you had the bedroom curtains closed all afternoon yesterday, was it?’

  ‘How do you know …’ June began, and then stopped, blushing hotly when Molly laughed even more.

  Molly and her father had laughed at ITMA, with Tommy Handley, and listened to the news, and Molly had just finished making their bedtime cocoa when they heard the knock on the back door.

  ‘That’ll be our June, forgetting her key and come to tell us about the pictures, so as she can have a bit more time away from Frank’s mam,’ Molly called out to her father, who was on
his way upstairs.

  Opening the door, she announced warningly, ‘You can make your own cocoa if you want some, because me and Dad are just having ours.’

  ‘Well, that’s a fine way to greet a sailor home from the sea,’ a familiar male voice answered her ruefully.

  ‘Eddie!’ Molly gasped, torn between shock and delight, and then gathered herself together to demand excitedly, her face going pink with happiness, ‘Oh, is it really you? When did you get back? How—’

  ‘Wait up a bit,’ Eddie laughed, as she stepped back so that he could follow her into the kitchen. ‘We docked an hour ago, and I came round as soon as I could.’

  She almost flew into his open arms, exhaling a shaky little sigh as they closed tightly round her, burying her face against his shoulder. She could feel the warmth of his lips pressing against her head, and also the slight tremble of his body.

  ‘Molly, you don’t know how much I’ve bin wanting to hold you like this.’

  ‘You’ve missed me then?’ she couldn’t resist asking.

  ‘Missed you? There hasn’t been a minute when I haven’t thought about you. You’re my girl now, Molly,’ he told her, ‘and I’m never going to let you go.’

  Molly could have stayed in his arms for ever but reluctantly released him when Eddie said he had to go next door and see Elsie and John.

  ‘I’ll be back to see you tomorrow, mind. Maybe we can go to the pictures?’

  After they had kissed goodbye, Molly ran up the stairs to her bedroom as fast as her feet would take her. It overlooked the close, so Molly was able to lift just enough of the blackout curtain to call out and wave to Eddie, and blow him a swift kiss as he stood below her. Dropping the curtain, she leaned against the wall, her heart pounding. She felt as though she was going to burst, she was that excited and happy. Hugging herself, she danced giddily round the bedroom. Eddie was home and now everything was going to be all right. No, from now on and for the rest of her life, everything was going to be wonderful. She stood still and closed her eyes, reliving the sensation of his lips on hers. Oh, Eddie!

  Quickly Molly checked her appearance in her bedroom mirror, patting her hair and pressing her lips together to set her lipstick. The last thing she felt like doing now that Eddie was home was going to work. But there was a war on, and the uniforms they were making at Hardings were going to be needed by all those young men who were being called up – many of whom would be married with young families. Things must be serious if the Government was having to call up more men, but you wouldn’t know it, not from listening to the news or reading the Liverpool Echo.

  Her father was working an early shift and had left at six. Molly had gone downstairs to make sure he had some breakfast before leaving, and then returned to bed.

  She shivered as she opened the door and stepped out into the cold air, quickly locking the door behind her and then hurrying into the street, where she came to an abrupt halt, her face breaking into a delighted smile as she saw Eddie standing outside the gate, rubbing his hands together and stamping his feet to keep warm.

  ‘Eddie, what are you doing here?’ she asked, trying to sound casual and grown up, not realising that the glow of happiness in her eyes gave her away, or how much it meant to the man watching her to see it there. He had thought about her, longed for her, all the way across the Atlantic and back.

  ‘Waiting for you, that’s what,’ he answered her. ‘I thought I’d walk you to work, like. I saw your dad going off to the gridiron earlier, so I didn’t knock in case anyone thought we was up to a bit of hanky-panky.’

  He had taken off his cap and he was holding it in his hands as shyly as a schoolboy, his blond hair almost flattened straight with Brylcreem. He looked so handsome that Molly felt as though the sudden loving swelling of her heart would suffocate her.

  ‘You didn’t have to get up out of your warm bed to walk me to work, you daft thing,’ she chided him, but her expression was giving her away and revealing how thrilled she was to see him.

  ‘I know I didn’t have to – I’ve done it because I wanted to. Because I wanted to be with you, Molly,’ he told her. ‘That’s what I want more than anything else. For you and me to be together, for always …’

  Molly had never imagined that walking to work could be so wonderful. When they finally reached the factory she could barely bring herself to leave Eddie.

  ‘Will you still be here New Year’s Eve?’ she asked him. ‘Only there’s a dance down at the Grafton, and there’s a few of us going.’ The expression on her face gave away her longing to go to the dance with him.

  Seeing it, Eddie crossed his fingers behind his back and told her nonchalantly, ‘I don’t reckon we’ll be sailing for a good few days.’ The truth was that he already knew they were on a quick turnaround but right there and then he decided that even if he had to jump ship and get another passage, he would do so, just to see the happiness in Molly’s eyes when he held her in his arms and danced the New Year in with her, the first of many, many New Year’s Eves they would spend together.

  THREE

  ‘And Richard says that they’ll both be on leave until the sixth of January, so I’ve suggested that we all go to the New Year’s Eve dance at the Grafton tomorrow night.’

  Molly nodded, listening to Anne’s whispered conversation about her brother on Saturday morning, at the same time as they were supposed to be listening to a lecture from Mrs Wesley whilst they all rolled bandages, ready for some first-aid practice.

  ‘So what’s he like then, this Philip?’ Molly whispered back, referring to the friend Richard had brought home for Christmas, who had obviously had a profound effect on Anne.

  ‘Oh, he’s really nice, Molly,’ Anne enthused, blushing, her face alight with excitement. ‘He’s got really lovely manners and he’d brought us all Christmas presents. Mine was ever such a lovely boxed set of lace-edged handkerchiefs, embroidered with an “A”. I’m glad that things have worked out for you, Molly. With Eddie, I mean. I know that at first I said that I thought you were wrong to get involved with him when you were already engaged, and I still don’t hold with an engaged girl seeing another man behind her fiancé’s back, but things happen so quickly in wartime, and it looks like everything’s worked out for the best after all. You’re my friend, Molly, and I’m glad to see you looking so happy, truly I am.’

  Anne put her arms around Molly and gave her a quick hug, which Molly returned.

  ‘Did you have a good Christmas?’ Anne asked.

  ‘Well, I managed to cook the turkey that our Aunt Violet in Nantwich had sent,’ Molly chuckled. ‘It was a bit touch and go, though. It was that big I thought it wasn’t going to go in the oven and our June was having forty fits on account of her Frank’s mam having her Christmas dinner with us. In the end it all worked out, even though it was a bit of a tight squeeze with so many of us. And then in the evening we had some of the neighbours in for a bit of a knees-up.’

  ‘Watch it,’ Anne muttered. ‘Mrs Wesley is looking this way.’

  When the meeting was over Anne had to dash off because she had promised her brother and his friend that she would go ice-skating with them. Her excitement at seeing Philip was palpable, and Molly wondered if he could be the cause of her friend’s complete understanding and acceptance of her own love for Eddie.

  ‘Ice-skating?’ Molly laughed. ‘The last time I went, I was still at school. Elsie knitted me this red skating dress, and I fell over so often that by the time we left it was soaking wet through. I ended up having to walk home with it dripping everywhere, and June and the others yelling at me to keep away from them because I looked as though I’d wet me drawers.

  ‘See you tomorrow night at the Grafton,’ she added as they hugged one another and Anne darted off to join her brother and the dark-haired young man who was standing with him.

  Molly could see the appeal of Philip, even from across the street. He was tall and broad-shouldered with ink-dark hair. His face lit up when he saw Anne.

 
Molly waved goodbye to them, then hurried eagerly towards Eddie, whom she could see waiting for her on the corner.

  Tucking her arm through his, she squeezed it lovingly.

  There wasn’t a prettier girl in the whole world than his Molly, with her sense of fun, her dark curls, and those eyes of hers that could steal a man’s heart away with just a smile, Eddie reckoned – no, nor a happier man than himself. His chest swelled with pride as he looked at her. She was a real gem, a sweetheart, inside and out.

  ‘Brr, I’ve never known it so cold,’ Molly shivered, moving closer to Eddie as they hurried past the Picton Clock, heads bowed against the steel-cold wind that was stinging colour into the pale Celtic skin Molly had inherited from her mother and trying to tear her firmly secured hat from her head.

  The main street was busy with people shopping, and in the bus queue several young couples were standing close together, making an excuse of the cold, and the fact that all too soon they would have to part as the young men went to fight, to share a physical intimacy that would normally have been frowned upon.

  Molly could feel the warmth of Eddie’s body pressed up against her side and she moved closer to him, blushing when he stopped walking to look down at her.

  ‘Don’t you go getting any ideas,’ she laughed. ‘I’m just cold, that’s all …’ But her laughter died as she saw the way he was looking at her – so hungrily and … and … so dangerously that her heart seemed to turn right over inside her chest.

  Everyone was saying it was the coldest winter they could remember, and despite the pleasure of being able to walk arm in arm with Eddie, Molly was relieved when they finally reached number 78.

  ‘Dad must be out,’ she told Eddie, unlocking the back door. ‘He’s probably down at the shelter with the others from the allotments. They meet up there sometimes for a brew and a natter.’

  ‘So we’ve got the house to ourselves, have we?’ Eddie asked her, drawing her towards him.