Daughters of the Mersey

by Anne Baker

  ‘We understand only too well, my girl. You’ve been telling lies to me and your mother for the last two years. That is not acceptable behaviour. In future, you’ll do what you are told.’

  ‘Steve,’ Leonie protested, ‘we need to—’

  ‘You’ll not find happiness with him. I insist you send him packing.’

  June was holding up her hands as though to fend him off. ‘I love him, Pa,’ she choked out. ‘I don’t like going against your wishes but I’m sorry, I’m not going to give him up. I want to marry him.’

  ‘Marry him? The man’s a bounder. Don’t expect me to give my blessing for that.’

  She said with dignity, ‘If you won’t give me your permission to marry then we’ll have to wait until I’m twenty-one.’

  ‘Grow up, can’t you?’ His face flushed with anger. ‘You’ll have changed your mind about him long before then, my girl.’

  Leonie could see tears welling in June’s eyes. She was about to suggest that Steve go because he was causing her distress but she didn’t need to. He gave a gasp of irritation and stood up. ‘I’m not staying to listen to this nonsense. I’m your father and I only want what is best for you. If you want to come back to my house, you’ll do what I say.’ The door of the side ward slammed behind him and June dissolved in tears.

  Leonie put her arms round her daughter and did her best to comfort her. Although she had the same opinion about Ralph, she thought Steve had been unnecessarily heavy-handed with her. She stayed for another hour, but June hadn’t recovered even then.

  At eight o’clock every evening, the ward sisters and the day staff went off duty to be replaced by the night sister in charge of the hospital, and a nurse in her third year of training in charge of each ward. The formality of hospital life relaxed a little.

  That evening, shortly after eight, June was delighted to see Ralph creep into her side ward and close the door quietly behind him.

  When he turned to look at her, he said, ‘Darling! What have I done to you? You’re all grazes and bandages. I am sorry, love. How d’you feel?’

  ‘Awful. In despair that we’ve been found out like this. Pa came in and gave me a very hard time.’

  ‘He brought you grapes though.’ The last few were on a plate on her locker.

  ‘No he didn’t. They were a gift from Elaine.’

  ‘She didn’t bring me any grapes.’ He kissed her cheek and pulled up a chair near her bed.

  ‘You’ve come off worse than me, you’re all cuts and bruises.’

  ‘They’ll heal.’

  ‘They won’t leave scars I hope.’

  ‘I have no cuts on my face, thank goodness. The worst thing is they’ve shaved half my head and put seventeen stitches in my scalp. I’m going to look awful for months until it grows. It could be years before my hair is all this length again.’

  ‘You’ll always look beautiful to me. Does your head hurt?’

  ‘Yes, I can’t rest it on the pillow on that side. The stitches are like wire and dig in to me. How are you?’

  ‘I was lucky, only a dislocated shoulder which they put right straight away, and apart from that I’ve got a few cracked ribs that hurt when I laugh or yawn, and a sprained ankle. But I’ve got some bad news. I had a visit this morning from a friend who has rooms upstairs in the same house. He brought in my post. I’ve got my call-up papers. They want to put me in uniform in ten days’ time.’

  ‘Oh no!’ June sank back against her pillows; this was the news she’d been dreading. ‘I hate the thought of you leaving me. On top of all this trouble too. What are we going to do?’

  Ralph was biting his lip. ‘I spent this afternoon composing a letter to the War Office. I’ve told them that at the moment I’m in hospital recovering from a car crash and I made out my injuries were worse than they are. I understand it’s likely they’ll change the date on which I’m expected to report in.’

  ‘Yes, but only to give you time to recover. In a week or so you’ll still have to go. What good will that do?’

  ‘It will give us time.’ He felt for her hand. ‘I’m as brassed off about this as you are. Now it’s all out in the open, why don’t we try to get married? It’s what we always planned, isn’t it? And you’d feel better about me going if you were my next of kin – my wife – wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Of course I would, but my family are dead against it. Pa ordered me to ditch you this afternoon. He thinks you’re a rotter.’

  ‘But you don’t.’

  ‘No.’ It was a cry from her heart.

  ‘I know I’ve made mistakes in the past but I promise you, June, come what may, I won’t let you down. I’m older and wiser now. What I want is to make you happy and I believe I can. Maybe I won’t be the best husband in the world but—’

  ‘You will. Nobody else will do for me. I love you. You know I want to marry you more than anything else.’

  She felt him try to gather her up in his arms to kiss her, but the pain made her cry out.

  ‘Darling, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. What a mess I’ve made of everything.’

  June shook her head. ‘I’m all right.’ She gave him a quavering smile. ‘Just not well enough to be kissed yet.’

  Ralph sighed. ‘I think we should aim to get married before I have to go. I’d feel I had something to look forward to if I knew you were waiting here for me.’

  ‘But Pa can be as obstinate as a mule. He won’t give his permission.’

  ‘There’s always Gretna Green, have you thought of that?’

  June’s heart turned over. ‘Elope, you mean? What a marvellous idea.’

  ‘Well, it’s not as easy as it’s made out to be. I understand there’s a legal requirement to live there for three weeks before we can be married.’

  ‘But it could be done?’

  ‘Yes, provided the War Office gives me time. I think I’m going to be discharged from here tomorrow. Elaine says she’ll collect me and take me home to convalesce but I’d prefer to go to my place and think about this.’

  ‘A day or so at Elaine’s won’t stop you thinking,’ June said. ‘I want to do it. It sounds romantic.’

  ‘It might be the only way.’

  The strong hospital smell made Leonie hold her breath. She associated hospitals with disasters and family troubles. She had been informed officially that Milo had been injured at Dunkirk and was in hospital at Netley near Southampton, but that relatives were not encouraged to travel to that area to visit at the present time. Milo would be sent nearer home when he was well enough.

  Milo had written to her and told her not to worry, that all was well and he was recovering, but she knew he always put the best possible gloss on everything and didn’t quite believe him. She’d had another letter from him yesterday letting her know that he’d been brought by ambulance to this hospital near Chester, and today she’d taken a day off work to come and see him.

  She’d had to ask for directions half a dozen times but at last she’d found her way to the ward he was on. Leonie could feel her heart racing as she saw a male nurse coming towards her.

  ‘Corporal Miles Dransfield?’ he said. ‘Yes, but I don’t think he’s in bed at the moment. You’ll find him in the day room just down the corridor.’

  It all seemed very different to the hospital June was in, there were no male nurses there and these young men hardly looked like nurses. She heard Milo’s voice before she reached the open door. He was in the centre of a group all wearing army-issue dressing gowns and pyjamas, smoking, chattering and lolling on the sofas. He saw her almost immediately.

  ‘Mum!’ he called with real pleasure in his voice, but she noticed he found it a struggle to get to his feet and cross the room to her, but he gave her an enthusiastic hug when he managed it.

  ‘Lovely to see you. Thanks for coming.’

  He was walking her very slowly along the passage to a visitors’ room where they could be alone. He needed a walking stick to lean on. ‘I’ve given up the crutches,�
� he smiled.

  It almost broke her heart to have to slow her steps to his. It was only a few months since she’d last seen him but Milo looked drawn and ill and was considerably thinner.

  ‘How are you?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m getting on fine. My wounds are healing well, I’ve been having only fluids by mouth since my operation but I’m about to start on solids now. If I go on like this I think I’ll be able to come home soon.’

  ‘What about your leg?’

  ‘That’s OK too. They took the bullet out of my thigh. It missed the bone, thank goodness, and there’s not too much damage to muscle and nerves. I’m having physiotherapy to get me moving again.’

  ‘That’s marvellous.’ Leonie felt better. Milo hadn’t really changed; he was still his cheery self, interested in everything and everybody. He told her a little of what he’d gone through and she brought him up to date with the family news, mostly about June’s troubles.

  Two weeks later, Leonie was very pleased to hear that Milo and June would both be brought home by hospital transport on the same day. She made up their beds, cleaned their rooms and although rationing and shortages were beginning to bite, she planned as good a dinner as she could to welcome them home. Then, as usual, she went to the shop.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  MATRON DID A DAILY ward round accompanied by Sister Jackson and told June, ‘The doctors have decided you are fit to be discharged. You will be allowed two weeks at home to recuperate and must then come back to the ward to see the doctor again. If all is well, you will then return to work.’

  June didn’t want to go home, she would have much preferred to go to Ralph’s rooms. He had been home for nearly a week. He’d been to see her and rung her on the ward telephone when he knew Sister Jackson would be off duty, and she knew they’d have a lovely and relaxing time.

  But Sister Jackson had ordered the transport to take her home, and June could see no way of changing its destination She was not looking forward to being at home with Pa while Mum was at work. It cheered her to learn she’d have Milo for company and at least it would be easier for Ralph to get in touch with her by phone.

  On the day she was going home, Sister Jackson took out the seventeen stitches on her head and six more on her arm. It hurt as she pushed the scissors under the catgut and she seemed to be tugging at her hair. It took effort on June’s part to keep silent and still.

  ‘Your cuts have healed well,’ she was told.

  ‘My head still hurts,’ June said; in fact, she still felt generally stiff and sore. Also, Sister Jackson painted some red antiseptic along the wound on her scalp that made it twice as noticeable. June objected to that.

  ‘Don’t wash your hair for another two or three days but when you do, this colour will go.’

  ‘My hair has been hacked to ribbons,’ June wailed. ‘It’s going to look a mess for ages.’

  ‘You’ve been lucky,’ the sister told her briskly. ‘You don’t have to worry about scarring; your hair will cover all that. This cut runs just to the top of your forehead and if it does leave a little scar there, you can comb your hair forward over it.’

  June didn’t feel lucky as she tried to comb what was left of her hair so that the damage didn’t show. It wasn’t possible. When she arrived home in the middle of the afternoon she had butterflies in her stomach but Milo was already there and greeted her with open arms.

  Pa was dour, as she’d expected, ‘I hope you’ve learned your lesson and that you’ll give us no more problems,’ he said and went back to his study.

  Milo was sympathetic but he’d known about Ralph for some time. Now he sat on her bed, wanting to hear about the latest developments as she unpacked her case.

  ‘I want to ring Ralph,’ she said an hour later, when she’d caught up with his news too. ‘But the phone’s right outside Pa’s study door. If he hears me lift it, he’ll come rushing out and snatch it away.’

  ‘Let’s go to the kitchen and make a cup of tea,’ Milo suggested. ‘I’ll take a cup to Pa and stay and chat to him. Hopefully then he won’t hear you use the phone.’

  ‘Be sure to shut the door carefully behind you.’

  ‘Don’t stay on the phone too long.’

  ‘Ten minutes,’ June said.

  ‘Oh dear.’ Milo dithered. ‘What can I talk to Pa about that’ll keep him pegged down for ten minutes?’

  ‘The war – it’s the only thing that really interests him. Or ask him how he is.’

  June was nervous and snatched a few mouthfuls of tea before following Milo to Pa’s door. As soon as she heard the catch click shut, she was speaking to the operator. When she heard Ralph answer, she said, ‘I’m home. What’s your news?’

  ‘I’ve heard from the War Office. I told you I had to send them a doctor’s note to prove I’d really been hurt in a traffic accident. Well, they’ve given me a new date to report in. It’s three months off.’

  ‘I’m pleased,’ June said. ‘It’s a help, though three months won’t seem long.’

  ‘It’s long enough for us to get married. You still want to?’

  ‘Of course I do, but I don’t know how we’re going to manage it.’

  ‘Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll come round tonight and see if I can talk to your parents. What would be the best time? I don’t want to come while you’re eating.’

  ‘Not before quarter past eight.’

  ‘I’ll leave it till half past to make sure. I’m going to ask them formally for their permission to marry you.’

  June sighed. ‘I’ve already done that, they’ll say no.’

  ‘Then I’ll say we’ll elope to Gretna Green.’

  ‘No! Pa will blow a fuse. He’ll throw you out. I don’t see—’

  ‘I’ll point out quietly that we don’t really want to do that because we’ll have to stay there for three weeks before we can be married, and as you have to report back to the hospital in two weeks, that will give you another problem.’

  ‘I don’t care about that.’

  ‘Yes you do. You might be thrown off the course and then you’d have to look for another job.’

  ‘That’s true.’

  ‘June, just think for a moment. They can’t watch us all the time. I could meet you and we could be miles away before they find you’ve gone. Your father will understand that.’

  ‘Well, if he doesn’t, Mum will.’

  ‘I hope they’ll see we’re really determined to get married and that they can’t stop us. It’s worth a try, isn’t it?’

  ‘But I don’t know if Pa . . .’

  June heard Milo making as much noise as he reasonably could as a warning that he was about to open the door.

  ‘Yes,’ she whispered urgently. ‘I’ll see you at half eight.’ She slid the receiver gently back on its stand, hoping it wouldn’t ping, and skipped back to the kitchen before Milo got there.

  When she told him Ralph was planning to come and see Pa tonight, he said, ‘I’m going to keep well out of the way while he’s here.’

  Leonie locked up her shop for the night and hurried home. She knew her children would be there and apart from Amy her family would be together again. She too had found it difficult to come to terms with what the accident had revealed of her daughter’s life. She’d been devious and sly to keep it hidden from them for so long. She’d thought June was confiding in her when she’d shared little grumbles about Steve, but clearly that was not the case. But June was her daughter and she loved her, always had, she couldn’t let this come between them.

  Milo and June would both bring their temporary ration cards with them but that didn’t help provide a meal to welcome them home. Yesterday, she’d rushed to the market in her lunch hour to try and get something that wasn’t rationed. Liver was her first choice, but there was none to be had. Fish was her second choice, but she’d had to choose between kippers or cod’s roe. She’d bought a pound of cod’s roe and boiled it last night. Now it was cold and firm, all she’d have to do was cut it in
slices and fry it. She could make mashed potatoes and perhaps open a tin of peas to go with it.

  Milo met her at the door before she could get her key in the lock, and it comforted her to have one of his bear hugs. When she went to the kitchen, June hung back, which made it only too obvious she was expecting trouble. Both helped to get the meal on the table, but while Milo was in a happy mood and said he was delighted to be home, June seemed jittery and very much on edge.

  Leonie had asked Steve to make a special effort not to lose his temper with June on her first night home. He had lit the fire in the living room and the meal passed very pleasantly. Milo made them all tea as coffee was impossible to get, and Leonie took hers to an armchair by the fire. She was weary and could feel herself drifting off.

  Suddenly she realised June was at the living-room door and bringing a visitor in. She pulled herself up in the chair and was shocked to see it was Ralph Harvey.

  ‘And who might this be?’ Steve demanded.

  ‘Pa, you know it’s Ralph Harvey,’ June gulped, ‘my boyfriend.’ Leonie could see she was shaking. ‘He’d like to speak to you and Mum.’

  Steve pulled himself to his feet with unusual speed and looked Ralph in the eye. ‘Get out of my house,’ he thundered. ‘It’s no good creeping in here to tell us you want to marry June. The answer is no, and we have nothing more to say to you.’

  ‘Pa!’ June cried.

  Leonie was appalled. ‘Steve, there’s no harm in hearing what he has to say. Let’s be reasonable.’

  ‘I’m not going to change my mind. The man’s a cad. He’ll pull June down. The last thing she needs is a husband like that.’

  June was suddenly steely-eyed and determined. ‘That’s it then, Pa, I’m going to pack my things and leave with Ralph. I didn’t want to come here anyway, I’d much rather stay with him. Tomorrow, we’ll set off for Greta Green and get married there. He’s received his call-up papers, we’ll not have much more time together and I’m not going to let you spoil it.’

  With that they were gone. The door slammed with such force as they left that the noise reverberated round the room.