Goodnight Sweetheart

by Annie Groves

  ‘You can sit yourself right down here, Molly,’ Frank announced firmly. ‘You’re not going anywhere until you’ve got some food inside you.’

  ‘Oh, do stop fussing, will you, Frank?’ June demanded waspishly. ‘Some of us didn’t get a wink of sleep last night, what with them bombs, and folk coming in at all hours of the night, and then staying in their beds all morning whilst the rest of us have had to just get on wi’ it.’

  ‘I don’t need any breakfast, Frank, honest,’ Molly assured her brother-in-law quietly.

  The truth was that she didn’t think she could eat anything. A leaden weight of dull misery filled her chest every time she thought about the previous night. Just looking at Elizabeth Rose, lying so pink and healthy in her pram, made Molly’s heart lurch against her ribs as she remembered the tiny bodies that had been brought up out of the shelter. Not that she would say anything like that to June, of course.

  ‘Here you are, Molly lass. Drink this.’

  She looked up at Frank in surprise. She hadn’t even heard the kettle boil and now here he was holding out a mug of tea to her.

  As she took it from him she realised that she couldn’t quite bring herself to look directly at him. Because of last night? Because for a few minutes he had held her in his arms? As a brother, that was all, Molly reminded herself sharply. That was how Frank had held her and that was all he was to her. That was all she wanted him to be to her.

  ‘I’ll be off to work as soon as I’ve drunk this.’

  ‘Are you on duty again tonight?’ Frank asked her quietly.

  Molly nodded.

  ‘In that case I’ll come along with you,’ Frank told her, earning himself a scathing look from June.

  ‘And why would you be wantin’ to do that? You’ve only just come home on leave, and if there’s anyone needs a bit o’ help it’s me,’ she told him sharply.

  ‘Last night you said I was upsettin’ the baby on account of her not knowing me, and keeping you awake into the bargain,’ Frank pointed out gently. ‘Besides, with Jerry bombing Liverpool the way he is, the emergency services need all the help they can get. I feel so helpless staying at home when people need support.’

  ‘Some help you’ll be if you go and get yourself hurt,’ June sniffed disparagingly. ‘You’re a soldier, don’t forget, Frank, and you’re entitled to have a bit o’ leave and spend it wi’ your family.’

  ‘It’s really kind of you to offer to help, Frank,’ Molly put in placatingly, ‘but June’s right, you’ve come home to see her and Elizabeth Rose, not go out working.’

  ‘We’re all in this together,’ Frank said quietly, ‘and from what I’ve heard about the bombing Liverpool’s bin suffering; another pair of hands wouldn’t go amiss.’

  ‘Aye, well, another pair of hands wouldn’t go amiss here neither, if it comes to that,’ June informed him crossly, adding in an even sharper voice, as the baby started to cry, ‘Oh, look now what you’ve done, and I’d only just got her off to sleep, an’ all.’

  Molly could see the way Frank’s face was reddening from June’s rebuke. Discreetly she looked away. June had refused to go to Doris’s.

  ‘Why don’t I wheel her down to me mam’s for a bit o’ fresh air? A ride in the pram might send her off,’ Frank suggested.

  ‘Take her out in this perishing cold weather? Are you mad?’ June objected. ‘’Sides, your mam will be wanting to pick her up like she allus does and if I’ve told her once I’ve told her a hundred times that Dr Truby says babies mustn’t be picked up except at feeding and changing times. You go on yer own if you want to go and see yer mam.’

  To Molly’s relief there was a knock on the door.

  ‘It’s only me,’ Elsie announced, bustling in. ‘Oh, you’re still here then, Molly. I’d heard as how you was wi’ them down at Durning Road last night. Poor things. They was saying in the grocer’s that there’s upwards of three hundred bin killed and more to come. Aye, and some of them kiddies as well …’

  ‘If you ask me, none of them shelters is safe,’ June announced. Since giving birth to her baby, June had developed a dislike of air-raid shelters, insisting that she felt safer inside her own house, and Molly had learned not to try to convince her otherwise, even though the Government had said that people would be safer inside the shelters than their own homes.

  ‘That’ll be Sally,’ June announced when there was a second knock on the door.

  ‘I’ve just come round to see if there’s anything else you want me to do to help with the christening,’ Sally smiled, as she kneeled down to release her toddler from his leading reins, whilst expertly rocking the pram with her foot.

  ‘Let me help,’ Frank proffered, but immediately June snapped, ‘Don’t listen to him, Sally, he’s useless. Elizabeth Rose screams her head off every time he goes near her.’

  ‘Well, she hasn’t had time to realise that he’s her dad yet, has she?’ Sally offered pacifically, before adding, ‘I expect you’ve heard about the Durning Road bombing last night?’

  ‘Our Molly was there,’ June answered her. ‘Weren’t you?’

  Elizabeth Rose had started crying again, drowning out Molly’s reply.

  ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do with her, Sally,’ June said tiredly. ‘She just won’t stop crying and her nappy rash is that bad …’

  ‘She sounds hungry to me,’ Sally proffered.

  ‘Hungry? She can’t be. I’ve bin feeding her dead on time.’

  ‘June …’

  ‘No, it’s her nappy rash that’s upsetting her.’

  Her sister sounded so harried that Molly couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.

  ‘Put plenty of Vaseline on her when you change her. That’s what I do,’ Sally confided. ‘Mr Smithers up at the chemist’s on Edge Road will sell yer some if you tell him it’s for yer baby,’ she promised, obviously anticipating June’s next complaint that you couldn’t buy supplies like Vaseline for love nor money.

  It was nearly three o’clock and Molly was on duty again at seven. As though he had read her mind, Frank turned to her and said quietly, ‘If I was you, Molly, I wouldn’t bother goin’ into work. Not today. I’ll go along and have a word with Mr Harding, if you like. I’ll explain to him where you was last night and what you was doin’ and then I’ll call at me mam’s on the way back. She was expecting June to move in with her whilst I was home, and I’ll have to explain to her that June doesn’t want to in case it upsets Elizabeth Rose’s routine.’

  Frank was avoiding looking at her as he spoke and Molly’s heart went out to him. She had overheard the argument between him and June when June had announced that she was staying at number 78 instead of joining Frank at his mother’s.

  ‘Oh, Frank, you don’t need—’ Molly began, but he shook his head and gave her a gentle smile.

  ‘You’d be doing me a favour – aye, and your June as well. I reckon she’ll be glad to get me out from under her feet.’

  It was said mildly enough, but Molly could still see that June’s behaviour was upsetting him. Worriedly, she watched as Frank went to get his coat whilst June ignored him. What was wrong with her sister? Surely she must be delighted to have her husband home, and yet she was behaving as though she could hardly bear the sight of him. June hadn’t been herself at all these last few weeks and Molly was concerned about her. But every time she tried to say so, June refused to listen to her, claiming that Molly was making a fuss about nothing and that it was only natural that she should feel tired and out of sorts.

  ‘I’m off now then,’ Frank called out.

  ‘Aye, well, think on, Frank. I do not want you coming back tellin’ me how your mam thinks I should be bringing my Elizabeth Rose up,’ June warned him, ‘and I do not want you coming in after I’ve got her settled neither and waking her up like you did last night.’

  ‘’Ere, June, you was a bit hard on poor Frank,’ Sally protested as soon as he had gone.

  Molly was glad that it was Sally who had spoken out, even if she w
as thinking the same thing. June certainly didn’t look very pleased by her friend’s comment.

  ‘I dare say you’d feel like being hard on your Ronnie if he was to come bursting in and upsetting your two’s routine,’ June snapped. ‘I’d just about got Elizabeth Rose settled to a proper routine, an’ all, and now there’s Frank waking her up when she should be sleepin’, with never a thought for me. Downright selfish, he’s being, and I’ve told him so. It’s bad enough with our Molly coming and going at all hours.’ June’s face had become as heated as her voice.

  Sally was looking startled and Elsie had opened her mouth, obviously about to put in her own twopennyworth when the back door opened and Frank walked back in – accompanied by Johnny.

  ‘Look who I just found on the doorstep,’ Frank grinned with a twinkle in his eyes. ‘I wonder who he could be coming to see?’

  Molly could feel a warm blush creeping up her whole body, beginning at her toes.

  ‘He’s got no business visiting anyone in this house, and if it’s our Molly he’s after—’ June began.

  ‘Cut it out, June,’ Frank stopped her sharply.

  Molly was shocked. She had never heard Frank utter a sharp word before in her life.

  ‘Don’t you go talking to me like that, Frank Brookes,’ June retaliated. ‘You might be a corporal, but this isn’t the army.’

  ‘Nipper playing yer up, is it, June?’ Johnny cut in easily. To Molly’s amazement he gave her sister a sympathetic smile. He’d always said that he thought June was a right old bossy boots. And to her even greater amazement, instead of snapping at him, June actually returned his smile.

  ‘See, Frank Brookes,’ she tossed her head, and nodded towards Johnny, ‘some men understand how it is when you’ve got a baby keeping you awake all hours.’

  ‘Pretty little thing,’ Johnny commented, looking down at the baby. ‘Teks after her mother, she does, June.’

  June started to laugh. ‘Go on with yer, Johnny, and less of yer nonsense. And what brings you round here?’

  ‘You was right the first time,’ Johnny answered her cheerfully. ‘I’ve come round on account of your Molly.’ He turned to her. ‘Just to see if you was all right, like, after last night.’

  ‘I’m fine, Johnny, thanks for asking,’ Molly answered swiftly.

  ‘That’s good then, only I was a bit worried when they said you hadn’t bin into work.’

  ‘You’ve bin to Hardings?’ Molly demanded.

  ‘Aye. Just in case she hasn’t told yer yet,’ he continued, turning back to June and the others, ‘your Molly deserves a medal for what she did last night. A real heroine, she is, and no mistake. Wi’out her help there’s a fair few from last night who wouldn’t be alive right now.’

  ‘Give over,’ Molly protested self-consciously. ‘I was only doing me duty, same as the rest of us.’

  ‘’Ere, if yer not doing anything this Saturday how about comin’ wi’ me to the Grafton?’ Johnny asked guilelessly.

  ‘By, but you’ve got your cheek, Johnny,’ June breathed sharply. ‘But you’re wastin’ your breath because our Molly will be helping me get ready for baby’s christening on Saturday night.’

  ‘It’s kind of you to come round, Johnny,’ Molly told him, standing up determinedly. ‘I’ll see you out.’

  ‘Sure you don’t want to change your mind and come to the Grafton wi’ me on Saturday night?’ Johnny coaxed her as she stood politely on the doorstep, waiting for him to leave.

  ‘You heard what our June said. It’s Elizabeth Rose’s christening on Sunday.’

  ‘What about the Saturday after, then?’ Johnny asked.

  All Molly could do was shake her head and try not to laugh. No matter what happened in the world, Johnny Everton would always be up to his old tricks.

  ‘I hope you’re not encouraging him, our Molly,’ June told her as soon as she returned to the back room. ‘I would have thought you’d have learned your lesson last time.’

  ‘We’re just friends, that’s all,’ Molly defended herself, thinking how June was an expert at rewriting history – she’d pushed her into the engagement with Johnny! ‘Both of us working together on the emergency services means we bump into each other from time to time. Anyway, it was you that wanted me to go out with him in the first place,’ she reminded her sister.

  ‘That were then,’ June told her firmly, ‘before I knew what he were really like. I thought you said you was going down to your mam’s, Frank?’ she prodded her husband. ‘If you go now, happen she’ll do yer a bit of tea and that’ll save me the trouble.’

  ‘Wait on a bit, Frank,’ Sally begged him as he reached up to the row of coat pegs by the back door for his coat. ‘I’ll walk back wi’ yer. I’ve got to go past yer mam’s on me own way home.’

  ‘Aye, I’d better be getting back, an’ all,’ Elsie agreed. ‘My two will be coming in wanting their teas any minute.’

  Molly could see how desperate everyone was to leave the uncomfortable atmosphere of the house, but there was something she had to say to Elsie, so she went to the door with her, pulling it to behind them, and then saying quickly, ‘Elsie, I know how it must look, with Johnny coming round and going on like he did …’

  Elsie shook her head. ‘There’s no need for you to go explaining anything to me, Molly. I’ve got eyes in me head and I could see plain enough that you was head over heels in love with our Eddie and him with you. Eddie was me nephew, and what happened to him were a cruel thing, but you’re as close to me as a daughter, Molly. Nothing can bring our Eddie back, and the last thing he would want is for you to spend the rest of your life grieving for him. I know you’ll allus hold a special place in your heart for him, Molly, an’ there’s nothing wrong in you goin’ out and havin’ a bit o’ fun.’

  ‘Oh, Elsie …’ Tears of relief and gratitude filled Molly’s eyes.

  ‘There, lass,’ Elsie comforted her, putting her arms around her and giving her a hug.

  ‘June, what’s wrong?’ Molly asked her sister worriedly.

  ‘I’m sure I do not know what you mean,’ June responded, scowling.

  ‘Yes, you do,’ Molly persisted. ‘I’m talking about the way you’ve bin with poor Frank, and—’

  ‘Oh, so it’s “poor” Frank now, is it? Well, I should have known as how you’d side with him. You’ve allus had a bit of a soft spot for him, aye, and so has he for you.’

  ‘It isn’t anything to do with that,’ Molly denied. ‘It’s you I’m worried about. You’ve bin proper nasty with your Frank ever since he came home. Why didn’t you go back to his mam’s with him?’

  ‘Back? I’m not going round there and having her tell me how to bring up me own baby. No, thank you.’

  ‘So where are you and Frank going to be sleeping then whilst he’s home on leave?’ Molly challenged her.

  ‘Frank can sleep where he likes. I’m staying here. He’s got two choices – either he can go to his mam’s or he can sleep on the settee in the front room here, like he did last night.’

  Molly tried not to show how disturbed she was by June’s remarks. Admittedly she wasn’t married with a young baby but she would have thought that after such a long period of absence June would be eager to have her husband home on leave, instead of behaving as though she resented him being here.

  ‘I thought he must have gone to his mam’s after I saw him really early this morning – that he’d only just returned. You never made him sleep on that, June?’ Molly protested. ‘Not after what he’s bin through with Dunkirk.’

  ‘And what about me? What about what I’ve bin through? I thought I were goin’ to die in that air-raid shelter, when I was having Elizabeth Rose. Frank can sleep where he likes, but I’m staying put here in me own bed.’

  ‘June, Frank is your husband. I know that whilst he’s bin away you and me have bin sharing our old room, but now that he’s home on leave …’

  June looked at her defiantly. ‘Now that he’s home on leave what?’

  This w
asn’t the June Molly thought she knew, and it certainly wasn’t the June who had returned from honeymoon so happily excited about being married to Frank. ‘I thought you said that it had bin decided that when Frank came home on leave you’d move back into Frank’s old room at his mam’s.’

  ‘And what’s that going to do to Elizabeth Rose? I don’t want to go unsettling her by carting her off to Frank’s mam’s and making her sleep in a strange room.’ June looked aggrieved.

  ‘Lillibet’s only tiny – she won’t even notice the change,’ Molly replied. ‘Besides, Doris is her grandmother – the only one she has.’

  ‘Yes, and I am her mother. And I’ll thank you not to call her Lillibet. How many times do I have to tell you, our Molly, that Dr Truby says you ’ave to call baby by her proper name?’

  ‘Well, if Lillibet is good enough for the Queen …’ Molly responded promptly, immediately wishing she hadn’t when she saw June’s scowl. ‘Look, June, don’t let’s fall out,’ she begged her. ‘Listen, why don’t I ask Sally if I can stay with her whilst Frank’s on leave and then you and him can share our room. I know it’s only got single beds, but—’

  ‘What, and have him coming in waking up baby at all hours, instead of you?’ June gave a dismissive shrug. ‘No thanks!’

  What had happened to the giggling girl who had blushed and laughed as she had talked about the honeymoon she and Frank had spent in Blackpool, Molly wondered unhappily. She was sure that in her sister’s shoes she would have been only too eager to be with her husband. But, unlike June, she did not have a baby to think about, she reminded herself, careful not to be critical of her sister. Even so, she couldn’t help reminding her gently, ‘Only last week you were saying how much you wanted Frank to come home.’

  ‘I wanted him to be here for the christening, yes,’ June snapped. ‘But I don’t want—’ She broke off as the back door opened and their father came in. He was carrying a copy of the Liverpool Echo under his arm.

  ‘Eeh, lass,’ was all he said as he looked at Molly, shaking his head sadly. ‘The Echo says there was over three hundred killed at Durning Road last night.’