by Katie King
‘’E’s certainly been through t’ mill, ain’t ’e?’ said Mabel. ‘I think it best t’ ease ’im back t’ school gently.’
‘Mabel, I want to have a word with you as Ted and I do appreciate more than we could ever tell you how understanding you and Roger have been over this whole sorry mess.’ Barbara’s voice was still low as she groped in her handbag and pulled out a small sheaf of the recently issued wartime blue and orange £1 notes, held together by a Kirby grip, which she now held aloft. ‘Here’s £10 from our emergency money that we keep by, and we’d very much like to donate this to the church funds, as a small sign of our gratitude. I’m sure Roger will be able to find a worthy cause for it.’
Peggy looked on in amazement. This large donation would go a long way to wiping out Ted and Barbara’s remaining rainyday money Peggy knew that Barbara had saved by squirrelling away every spare penny assiduously since she’d been married. A significant proportion of this fund had already been spent on getting the children ready to be evacuated, as they had been sent away with snazzy new clothes, after which, although Barbara and Ted could claim some travelling expenses from the government for going to Harrogate to see the twins, Peggy knew that they had probably had to dip into the rainy-day money for at least a proportion of their bus and train fares to get all the way to Yorkshire as often as they did. The fact that Barbara and Ted felt they should make such a huge payment to Roger was a sign of how terrified they were that Jessie and Connie would be asked to move, Peggy suspected, the more so as if Roger and Mabel decided that they wanted to billet other evacuees who were much less trouble than the ones they already had it would be very unsettling for the Delberts and all the Rosses. And of course if they were all sent away from Tall Trees then it was very unlikely that Peggy and Holly would be able to stay billeted together somewhere alongside Connie and Jessie.
Mabel looked flabbergasted when she saw the fold of bank notes. ‘Oh! Barbara! I really don’t know about this at all…’ she began.
Barbara interrupted, ‘I think you’d best take it, Mabel, and then you can give it to Roger either this afternoon or after we’ve gone tomorrow. Otherwise I’ll have to give it to Ted to give to Roger, and Ted will have to insist that Roger accept it, and it will all be very awkward. And I don’t want it to be awkward, as Ted and I just want you both to know how very, very grateful we are, especially when even with billets that do seem to work, as this one has been so wonderful most of the time for the twins – and I know a lot of the evacuees’ billets don’t pass muster at all, as Larry’s and Angela’s didn’t – it’s not always a smooth or happy process. And don’t forget,’ Barbara waved the bundle of money in the air, and then leant over and slid it onto the saucer of the cup of tea that Mabel was holding, ‘Ted and I do very much want Roger and you to spend it on good causes or needy people, and these days who can afford to turn their backs on ten pounds when there are so many people waiting for the help that wonderful people like you and Roger can give them with a sum like that?’
Not long afterwards there was the sound of Milburn’s hooves turning in at the gate, and as the pony and the trap were put away Peggy, Barbara and Mabel talked about evacuation, and the good and the bad things about it, from the perspectives of the evacuees and also the hosts, and the pressure the organisation of it all was putting on the government, and what was going to happen now that so many evacuees had returned to London with the long-threatened bombing poised to begin?
The women had rather depressed themselves talking this way as it was all very thought-provoking, but they pasted happy expressions on their faces as the children came back noisily into the garden, followed by Roger and Ted.
With the extra sounds around him, Jessie stirred and then sat up, yawning widely, asking if he had missed anything.
A lazy scavenger hunt was just being organised by Roger, when there was a cheery ‘Is there anybody home?’ and James popped his head over the hedge. He had come bearing gifts, in the shape of some ginger beer for the children, and two bottles of champagne for the grown-ups which he’d had the foresight to chill already.
‘What a treat!’ said Roger, and hurried off to find some glasses and to put one of the bottles of champagne on the stone floor of the dark pantry to keep cool.
Mabel organised a blue-and-white-striped canvas deckchair next to Peggy for James to sit in, and Peggy and Barbara shared a secret smile at this as, although she was trying not be obvious about where she was manoeuvring James, there was something about the way that Mabel moved and spoke that made this impossible, which was rather endearing.
Roger came back with a tray held high that even had an ancient ice bucket from happier times complete with cold water in it for the bottle of bubbly they were just about to open. The children were told that if they were careful they could take their glasses and the ginger beer and told they could sit further down the garden to share it if they wanted to play at being grown up, which apparently they did, and Jessie was allowed special dispensation to go and sit with them.
‘I was given the champagne the other day by Private Smith’s parents, and so I thought this was a good day to crack the bottles open, and to toast Connie and Jessie on their birthdays,’ James said.
‘An’ we’ve cause fer celebration too,’ said Mabel, and went on to explain to everyone about Barbara and Ted’s donation of £10 to the church fund. She had obviously decided not to wait for a quiet moment with her husband.
Roger went quite pale for a moment when he heard about the money, and then he thanked the twins’ parents profusely for their gesture, adding, ‘I won’t make a show of not taking it, as it really will be a godsend.’ He scratched his chin. ‘Um, I wonder if this can be the start of a fund. I want to help boys like those Hull evacuees, who seem to have nothing and no one in their lives who gives a hoot about them. But—’ Roger nodded towards Barbara and Ted, as he remembered that it was their son the Hull boys had attacked ‘that may seem very crass and unpleasant to you, considering how our own Jessie has suffered at their hands, and especially so when it is your money that might start things up?’
Peggy tried to read Barbara’s face. To her it did look as if her sister had taken umbrage at what Roger was suggesting, but that, for the sake of politeness, she was trying to bite any sharp response back, but then Peggy saw Barbara glance at Ted and immediately Barbara’s expression softened when she saw Ted nodding in approval of what Roger had said.
‘On the contrary,’ said Ted, ‘some help is what boys like this need. Somebody to show them the way into the working world, otherwise they’ll be thugs all their lives.’
All the adults nodded agreement.
‘It’s funny you should say that,’ said James, ‘but I was talking with Private Smith’s parents, and they are also keen that something be set up to help injured servicemen feel they still have a lot to offer, and I feel they may also offer some funds as I don’t think they are badly off and they are keen to support their son. Maybe we could use the soldiers, sailors and pilots who are recuperating but who won’t be able to fight again in some way, even if it is only to help lads like those bad lads with their reading and writing.’
‘Well, we’d better sign Connie up for any reading and writing,’ said Peggy, and then she coloured and immediately had to make a grimace of apology to Barbara and Ted for speaking out of turn.
But although Barbara gave a tight-lipped look in her sister’s direction, Ted said – he was obviously in a very conciliatory mood – that if something was organised then to judge by the letters she was sending back to Jubilee Street, then absolutely Connie should be involved as she wasn’t trying her hardest, to judge by her writing.
‘Shall we see if there are any raspberries in the fruit cage as I think we might have squirrelled away a little cream to go with them,’ said Roger to change the subject, standing up to go and check, ‘and then we can have a bit more of a think as to how we could organise something for underprivileged children to best help them with their readin
g?’
Peggy didn’t dare say anything as she felt she had put her foot in it with her too-quick comment.
She turned to look at Connie, who was standing at the bottom of the garden with everyone other than Angela and Jessie, who were now deep in conversation with one another back on the sofa. In a patch of sunlight Connie was showing the rest of the children how she had taught Porky to sit down on command, and they were laughing at what she had done, as Connie boasted that within a week she’d have the piglet rolling over and playing dead.
Peggy couldn’t help but wonder if it might be a very good thing indeed if Connie did have some more help with her schoolwork in order that this could, in some way over the next year or two, be brought up to match her quick and adventurous mind.
The summer nights were starting to draw dark earlier, and so by the time everyone had enjoyed a new potato and mince dish this late August evening (Mabel was trying a new recipe – hachis en portefeuille from More Good Food – that she brought to the kitchen table as if she were a French waitress as she said an ‘ooh la la’, and which was promptly declared ‘delicious’ by her diners), the men had moved the sofa back into the study and Jessie was ready to have a bath all to himself.
This was his very first bath ever when he didn’t have to share the water, as even back in Jubilee Street he and Connie had always taken turns in the tin bath on the floor of the kitchen. It was just as well as the water had too much dried blood in it after he had got out for anyone else to be able to step into its murky depths after he’d finished, and it made him feel very grown up as he climbed into a set of clean pyjamas. Then his sister and parents joined him in the boys’ bedroom for a hour so that the Ross family could enjoy a bit of time on their own, gathered around while Jessie lay in bed.
By then Peggy had put both Jack and Holly down for the night after their suppers, Porky had been encouraged to get back reluctantly into his tea chest in the kitchen, and the children had tidied away everything in the garden. The shadows were long and the dropping temperatures meant that Peggy had had to shrug herself into her favourite cardie.
She came back down to the kitchen to find it empty of everyone (they were all listening to the BBC news on the wireless in the parlour) other than James, who then poured the last of the champagne into two clean glasses and handed one over to Peggy.
‘Mabel’s given me some carrot tops for Milburn,’ he said, waving a green and orange bundle in the air and turning to go out into the yard.
Milburn called to them as they walked towards her. Carrot tops were probably her favourite treat, after sugar lumps of course, not that there had been any of those for quite some time, the pony’s limpid eyes seemed to be saying to Peggy.
Sure enough, Milburn made short work of her scran, but then she stayed looking over the door, regally allowing James and Peggy to stand either side of her nose as they stroked its seal-coloured velvetiness, very occasionally and only for an instant one of their fingers grazing against the other’s.
‘Peggy, I forgot to mention earlier that one afternoon when he was at the hospital, I got Jessie taken into the recreation room, and he began talking to one of the patients about an idea that he had had that if he were trying to send secret signals to his side as to where people might be hiding or where enemy forces are, then he would do it through ploughing lines in fields, or planting crops in rows, marking directions towards the enemy that then could be seen from Spitfires flying high above but any such signals wouldn’t be too obvious to those on the ground. Jessie had made diagrams and maps of how he might do this, and worked out some sort of semaphore, and it was all very detailed,’ said James, to which Peggy laughed as she knew how involved Jessie became in something when he had an idea.
‘Jessie does love to think up secret communications. Those boys have spent weeks learning all they can about the war, and they have invested simply hours every evening trying to work out dastardly ways to beat Jerry,’ she added, with an affectionate chuckle lurking just beneath her words.
‘Well may you smile, Peggy. But it looks as if Jessie may inadvertently have stumbled onto something rather important, as one of the other patients overheard this chat and then he had a look at what Jessie had done and then made a call to Whitehall, and this patient – he’s very high up – mentioned to me this morning that they going to look into this, as there have been reports within the War Office, so I hear on the wards, since Jerry’s occupation of France of there being too high a discovery of our spies already planted there. And so it could be that something like this is already happening but that nobody at the War Office thought of the possibility. I must tell Jessie, but I might wait until after today, as if he takes a while to heal he might need cheering up, and I thing this would give a boost to his spirits, don’t you, Peggy?’ asked James.
‘I certainly do. Goodness me though!’ Peggy’s eyes were wide. ‘Ask a ten-year-old, as they say. Er, I mean, ask an eleven-year old…’
‘Here’s to Jessie,’ said James as he held up his champagne glass to clink it gently with Peggy’s.
Milburn realised she was superfluous to requirements and she moved to the back of her stable to investigate if there were any bits of hay left that by some miracle she had ignored earlier.
‘To Jessie!’ echoed Peggy, as she touched her glass to James, and then she took a sip. She couldn’t tell if her heart was beating so rapidly because of the champagne bubbles sliding up the side of the wide bowl-shaped glass, or because of the light of the lustrous full moon that had already risen, although it was only dusk, and was painting the crystal of their champagne glasses silver, or because of the way James was looking at her, as he put a hand on her hip and slowly drew her towards him.
Whatever it was, as their lips touched, Peggy felt dizzy.
Then she told herself to live a little and that she wasn’t doing anything wrong, at which point she gave herself fully into her first proper deep (much deeper than when on their day out) kiss in very nearly a year. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was an exceptionally nice kiss all the same, even though she and James didn’t seem to know quite where they should be putting their hands or if they should put their champagne glasses somewhere out of harm’s way or just make the best of kissing while holding onto them.
It felt awkward – James was only the second man Peggy had ever kissed – but it was a pleasant awkwardness, and after they broke apart they stood there smiling at each other. Then, as Milburn noisily chomped her way through a mouthful of hay that she had indeed overlooked, and without breaking their gaze deep into the other’s eyes, their smiles deepened into chuckles as they both realised they didn’t quite have the words to describe what had just happened. They put their glasses down on the ground, and then stood close together to kiss again.
Roger and Mabel, who were peeping with interest at what was going on in the back yard between Peggy and James from their perch behind the landing window on the turn of the stairs, each gave a happy ‘hmmn’ at the sight, and Roger pulled Mabel close and gave her a quick kiss on the side of her forehead.
Mabel had been going up to check on Holly and Jack when by chance she had looked out of the window and seen the clinking of the champagne glasses, and so she had beckoned to Roger, who was just leaving the bathroom, that he should join her to see too.
As the long-married couple linked hands together on the stairs in silent support of Peggy and James below, they agreed the pair outside Milburn’s stable made an extraordinarily handsome sight, the sort of pairing who looked as if they were made to be together.
Then Roger and Mabel’s happy expressions turned to bafflement and then something bleaker as a figure dressed in dark navy darted forward and punched James to the ground with a single blow to his face, as Peggy gave a heart-rending squeal of shock and, in response to the unexpected thud of James hitting the ground, Milburn neighed loudly in fright.
Chapter Twenty-nine
‘Bill!’ cried Peggy.
‘Ger outta my wa
y, Peg,’ her husband yelled, as he pushed her away so firmly that she ended up on all fours on the ground, with some stray bits of straw from Milburn’s bed pressed into her palms.
Bill ignored Peggy as he leant down and yanked James upright, only to knock him down again straightaway.
‘Bill!’ Peggy screamed as she tried to scrabble out of the way on all fours as Bill lurched backwards into her.
‘Go an’ stop it, quickly, Roger, but mind oot, I don’t like the look o’ ’im,’ Mabel told Roger, and he clattered down the stairs at the same time as Mabel raced up the stairs and along the landing as she hurried to get Ted.
By the time Ted had got out to the yard, soon followed by Barbara and all the easily mobile children, who were in their bedclothes, and Mabel too only a fraction behind the others, Bill had hit James again and taken a swing at Roger too that caused the rector’s specs to fly off, leaving him trying to move his jaw from side to side, gently raising his right hand to it.
Milburn was thoroughly spooked and was hurriedly pacing back and forth across the back of her stable, giving low rumbling whinnies of fear and furiously flicking her ears backwards and forwards as she svished her tail.
With a grunt James scrambled to his feet and suddenly he and Bill were really going for broke, James now giving back to Bill as good as he was getting. James had boxed at school and university, and it was evident to all that he was better able to look after himself than Bill had anticipated, to judge by Bill’s heavy breathing and the sounds of hefty blows being traded. Both men were making horrible ‘ooofs’ and ‘aahs’ as they slugged it out, with Bill also repeatedly saying ‘you fucker’.
