Across the Mersey

by Annie Groves

  This wasn’t Christmas as she would have wanted it to be, Jean thought sadly. She would have given anything this morning to see Sam giving Luke one of his old fierce fatherly hugs. Poor Luke, he had tried so hard, and he wasn’t to know that just the sight of him now, surrounded by men who were praising him and showing their admiration for what he had done, could only drive even deeper Sam’s bitterness over his memories of the Great War.

  Despite the warmth of her kitchen Jean felt chilled by her fear of what the future could bring, and how it might affect the lives of those she loved.

  THIRTEEN

  ‘I’ll tell you what, that brother of yours is a good-looking chap, Grace,’ said Hannah.

  Grace laughed. ‘Our Luke good-looking? Give over.’ But sisterly pride shone in her eyes as she watched Luke coming back from the bar.

  He had been a bit dubious at first when she had suggested that since he hadn’t made any arrangements for New Year’s Eve he came to the Grafton with her, but he was certainly enjoying himself now, and no wonder, with all her friends making such a fuss of him. Even Lillian, who had said that she didn’t think she’d be able to join them after all, but who had turned up at the last minute, just as they were queuing to get in, had demanded an introduction to him.

  Grace had been a bit uncertain about wearing her green dress, partly because of her guilt about it and partly because she had thought it might be too dressy for the Grafton, but perhaps because it was New Year’s Eve, or maybe because of the war, or perhaps a combination of both, all the women had really gone to town and were looking very elegant and glamorous indeed.

  The Grafton was Liverpool’s most famous ballroom. It had a properly sprung floor and special function rooms on the top floor that could be hired for private parties. The walls were painted a soft red, and the booths surrounding the dance floor were upholstered in matching red velvet.

  The band had their own special alcove, and all the top bands played at the Grafton.

  The booths round the dance floor were the province of courting couples, who liked the dimly lit privacy they afforded, whilst larger groups of young people opted for the tables and chairs so that they could see and be seen.

  The girls had been lucky enough to bag a table right on the edge of the dance floor and within view of the band.

  For the student nurses the expense of their tickets had not left any of them much money to spare for drinks and so they were making do with lemonade livened up to make very weak shandy.

  Luke had offered to buy them each a drink but everyone apart from Lillian, who had immediately asked for a port and lemon, had shaken her head, out of what Grace guessed was a reluctance to put him to so much expense.

  They were a nice crowd, and Grace was as proud of her friends as she was of her brother.

  Grace tapped her foot in time to the music. Her mother claimed that her children’s musical ear came from her side of the family, citing her younger sister as proof of this legacy. Grace had no idea if that was true, but they could all sing and dance and had a good ear for music.

  Once they had learned that their elder siblings were going dancing on New Year’s Eve the twins had insisted on putting them through their paces and teaching them the steps of the new dances from America; wild crazy jitterbug movements that had had Grace laughing and gasping for breath, and Luke complaining that he’d break something.

  ‘I reckon that Grace has got a hot date as she keeps on looking at the door. Bet it’s that ambulance driver that’s so keen on you, Grace,’ Iris teased, making everyone laugh, although Grace could see that Luke was wearing a questioning older-brother look.

  ‘Teddy did say he might be here, and I’ve promised him the last dance,’ she revealed.

  ‘Ooohh, I told you he was sweet on you,’ said Jennifer.

  ‘We’re just friends, that’s all,’ Grace insisted truthfully.

  ‘Well,’ said Hannah, ‘perhaps you’d better tell him that because he’s coming this way now.’

  Grace turned round to see Teddy coming towards her, smiling. She smiled back happily, and then saw him check as he realised that another man was seated next to her.

  ‘Move up, Luke,’ Grace urged her brother.

  The two men eyed one another appraisingly.

  ‘Grace has brought her brother along with her, seeing as he’s on leave,’ said Hannah, breaking the male deadlock and taking pity on Teddy.

  Immediately Teddy was all smiles, extending his hand to shake Luke’s, and sitting down next to him. Within seconds the two men were engrossed in a discussion about the war.

  ‘It’s New Year’s Eve and I want to dance and forget about the war,’ Lillian pouted.

  Taking the hint, Luke excused himself to Teddy to get up and go over to her. Within seconds of Luke and Lillian taking to the floor, or so it seemed to Grace, the other girls had all been asked to dance, leaving her and Teddy on their own.

  ‘The floor looks a bit crowded now – do you mind if we sit this one out?’ he asked her.

  Good-naturedly Grace assured him that she didn’t, even though in reality she was a bit disappointed. He offered her a cigarette and took one for himself, lighting them both.

  ‘You’re a smashing girl, Grace, one of the best. The kind of girl any chap would be proud to call his own.’

  Grace shook her head at him, still trying to pretend she didn’t mind about not dancing, but as though he had guessed what she was feeling, Teddy put out his cigarette, reached for hers and put it out as well.

  ‘Come on, let’s dance,’ he told her gruffly.

  ‘I thought you didn’t want to dance,’ Grace protested.

  ‘You want to dance, don’t you?’ he told her, smiling. ‘And that’s good enough for me.’

  Grace was touched that he had changed his mind on her account. He was a good dancer, holding her firmly but not too close, nicely light on his feet and with a sense of rhythm.

  The band played on without stopping; none of the dancers left the floor, as though everyone was determined to take what pleasure they could from the evening to store up against the bleakness of what might lie ahead.

  Whilst they danced Teddy talked, asking Grace about her Christmas and she asked him in turn about his. She knew that he lived with his parents, and from what he had told her about them Grace sensed that they were a family very similarly circumstanced to her own. Teddy’s father owned the small greengrocer’s shop, where Teddy also worked when he was not driving his ambulance.

  ‘Phew, you’re dancing me off me feet,’ Teddy joked, putting his hand over his heart. ‘I could do with a bit of a sit-down to get me puff back. Serves me right for nattering too much.’

  He did sound a bit breathless, and although she could have danced all night, and indeed would have loved to have done so, Grace immediately agreed that they return to their table.

  ‘So you reckon you’re going to continue with this nursing lark, do you?’ Teddy asked her.

  ‘Yes. I want to complete my training more than anything.’

  Teddy smiled at her as though she had said something that pleased him and then reached for her hand, holding it in his own beneath the table.

  They sat out a few dances after that, gradually joined by the others as they returned to the table.

  ‘Oh, no, just listen to that.’ Hannah pulled a face when the band broke into a fast jitterbug number. ‘I can’t dance to that.’

  ‘We can, can’t we, Gracie?’ Luke laughed, reaching for Grace’s hand and pulling her to her feet despite her objections, to join the reduced number of couples brave enough to try the new dance.

  ‘Luke, we’ll make total fools of ourselves,’ Grace warned him, but she admitted to herself that it was fun to see the look of astonished admiration on the faces of her friends as she and Luke showed off the moves the twins had taught them.

  She was laughing and out of breath when they returned to their seats at the end of the dance.

  ‘I hope you realise that you’re going
to have to teach all of us to do that,’ said Doreen as Grace sat down. ‘We were all so envious watching you, weren’t we, Teddy?’

  ‘Very envious,’ he agreed.

  There was a note in his voice that Grace neither recognised nor understood. She looked at him and was reassured when he smiled back at her with his familiar happy jokey Teddy smile.

  It just wasn’t fair. This wasn’t how she’d expected to spend New Year’s Eve at all, in her in-laws’ front room surrounded by her parents and the dullest and most boring people she had ever met, Bella thought crossly.

  And what made it worse was that Charlie had come home two days earlier on unexpected leave, and was going to the Tennis Club dance using her tickets because Alan had put his foot down and insisted that they had to accept his parents’ invitation.

  Even her mother had taken his side, whilst her father had gone on and on about how important it was that councillors supported one another, especially now that some idiots had started making all sorts of ridiculous accusations about councillors getting benefits that other people couldn’t have.

  Bella supposed that her father was in a temper because of the criticism he was receiving over the petrol allowance he had managed to get for himself through his connection with the Ministry, but why that meant that she had to sit here listening to her mother-in-law’s dull bridge-playing friends going on about the need for everyone to do their bit, and asking her stupid questions about what kind of voluntary work she was doing, Bella had no idea. She certainly didn’t intend to waste her time making bandages or knitting. If she had to play a role in this silly war then it would have to be doing something much more glamorous than that. She started to drift off into a very pleasant daydream in which her mother-in-law’s jaw was dropping at the news that she, Bella, had been invited to Buckingham Palace to have tea with the Queen as a thank you for the wonderful effect the Women’s Enlistment poster photograph of her wearing a Norman Hartnell-designed uniform had had on recruitment numbers.

  Bella was just enjoying listening to the Queen saying admiringly, ‘And it’s all down to you, my dear,’ when her daydream was rudely interrupted by Alan’s father’s raised voice.

  Bella did not like her father-in-law. Of course, she didn’t like either of Alan’s parents but she particularly disliked his father, who according to Alan had said that the only reason she wanted to marry him had been because she had thought she was ‘on to a good thing’. That was why, according to Alan, his father had refused to buy them a house or give Alan a salary raise.

  He was saying something about the local papers taking a dim view of those who were using the war as an excuse to line their own pockets, and Bella guessed from her father’s angry red face that the comment had been directed at him. He looked as though he was about to explode and, knowing her father’s temper, Bella wasn’t entirely surprised when he burst out, ‘If you’re referring to the work I’m doing for the Ministry, then at least my son’s in the army and doing his bit for the country, instead of staying at home and pretending to work for me, unlike some I could name.’

  Alan’s mother’s face went dark red, whilst Bella saw that her own mother was looking equally flushed but triumphant. Alan himself was scowling, whilst his father looked furious.

  And then suddenly Trixie spoke up, her voice polite but very clear and cool as she pointed out to Bella’s father, ‘But your son didn’t really plan to volunteer, did he? I remember him telling us that he’d only joined the TA to escape conscription.’

  The three Parkers were looking gratefully at Trixie whilst Bella’s father was glaring at her as though he couldn’t believe his ears.

  ‘That’s right, Trixie, I remember Charlie saying that as well. In fact, Father-in-law, I seem to remember him also saying something about being sure you could get him out of the TA,’ said Alan smugly.

  ‘Rubbish, I don’t know where you’ve got that idea from. Charlie wanted to do his bit, and I’ll not have anyone say any different.’

  Her father was blustering now, Bella recognised, and it was plain from the looks on the faces of her husband and her in-laws that they knew they had won the encounter.

  Thanks to Trixie.

  Bella gave her a baleful look. She was so plain that it was no wonder she had to suck up to their parents’ generation, and that consequently Alan’s parents thought the sun shone out of her backside, Bella thought angrily. You’d never catch her doing anything like that.

  ‘It might not be a bad idea to warn your brother that Lillian wants to marry a doctor,’ Hannah told Grace meaningfully, as they sat out a dance together whilst Luke danced yet again with Lillian. ‘You wouldn’t want to have him falling for her and getting hurt.’

  ‘Don’t be daft, Hannah. Luke is just having a good time because he’s home on leave, that’s all.’ Grace laughed.

  ‘Have it your own way,’ said Hannah goodnaturedly, adding, ‘I’d have thought you’d have bin dancing a bit more yourself, seeing as you are so good at it and don’t have two left feet like me.’

  ‘Hannah, you haven’t got two left feet at all.’

  ‘Well, I feel like I have, especially when I watched you doing that jitterbugging with your brother.’

  Grace laughed again. ‘It’s our sisters, the twins, that got us doing that. It fair takes your puff, though.’

  ‘What’s that then?’ Teddy asked, coming back to the table just in time to catch the end of their conversation.

  ‘Dancing,’ Grace told him.

  ‘It does that,’ he agreed. ‘I’m saving meself now for the last dance.’ He gave them both a wink and grinned, and Grace couldn’t help but be amused. He was such fun to be with and she could tell that the other girls and Luke all liked him. She was glad that he’d said what he had to her about them just being friends, but at the same time she also felt a bit disappointed. She knew that she wanted – and needed – to concentrate on her nursing training and that the last thing she needed was to fall head over heels in love with someone, and yet a little daringly a part of her still wondered what it would be like if Teddy wanted to go further than just holding her hand and telling her how much he liked her, whilst the more sensible part of her was glad that he was content to keep things as they were.

  The last dance of the evening was announced and within seconds the floor was packed with couples determined to take the opportunity to be close to one another. The dimly lit dance floor permitted the kind of intimacy that was normally frowned upon, the war adding to the sense of urgency and poignancy that everyone was feeling, but whilst Teddy got her up to dance, he certainly wasn’t holding her as close as he could have done, not even as close as Luke was holding Lillian, Grace noticed as they danced past them. She was glad, of course, that Teddy respected her and that he was behaving so decently, she told herself firmly. But it was New Year’s Eve, and if he had attempted to hold her closer she would have understood.

  ‘Penny for them?’ Teddy asked her.

  Unwilling to tell him the truth, Grace fibbed. ‘I was just wondering where we’d all be this time next year.’

  ‘Why waste time thinking about tomorrow? It’s today we should be thinking about and enjoying.’

  That was true, but it was hard not to think of what might lie ahead, especially now, Grace thought, as the dance came to an end and the band broke into the familiar and emotive strains of ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

  * * *

  ‘Luke’s got to leave from Lime Street Station today to rejoin his unit,’ Jean reminded Sam as she poured him a second cup of tea.

  ‘Yes, I know,’ Sam agreed tersely.

  ‘He’s upstairs packing now, and I’ve told him that we’ll go to Lime Street to see him off.’

  Sam’s mouth tightened with hostility, as Jean had known it would, but her heart still sank.

  She had hoped so much that this unexpected period of leave that had brought Luke home to them to share Christmas and the New Year would have softened Sam’s heart and turned him back into the lovi
ng father he had been.

  ‘You can do what you like, I’ve got better things to do than waste me time hanging around Lime Street making a lot of fuss about nothing.’

  Jean went paler. ‘Sam Campion, how can you call seeing your only son off to fight “nothing”?’

  ‘Fight?’ Sam snorted with derision. ‘From what I’ve heard all he’s done so far is go sightseeing in ruddy Paris.’

  ‘You know better than that, Sam. They might have had a bit of leave in Paris, but it’s obvious from what Luke’s not said that they’ve been doing a fair bit more than that. Please come to the station with me, Sam,’ she begged.

  ‘I’ve got some work to do down at the allotment. We’ll be needing everything I can grow there now when this rationing comes in.’

  Jean didn’t argue with him. She knew there wasn’t any point.

  For Luke’s sake she tried to put on a brave face when they left the house together an hour later, telling him brightly, ‘Your dad would have come with us but—’

  Luke’s quiet, ‘It’s all right, Mum, you don’t have to explain,’ cut her to the heart.

  The twins had wanted to go with them but Jean had visions of the pair getting into all kinds of mischief in the busily packed station, and had refused to let them, and Grace, whose company she would have welcomed, was now living in at the hospital and had started the second part of her nurse’s training.

  Lime Street Station was seething with young men in uniform and their families, some of them returning to their units, some leaving for their first tour of duty, having completed their basic training, and others just starting out on that training.

  Groups of WVS in their uniforms were manning information points and providing welcome canteen facilities, and Jean felt proud of Luke’s calm soldierly manner as he found out which platform his train would be going from and where he needed to report.