The Clippie Girls

by Margaret Dickinson

  ‘That was cruel,’ Mary said. ‘You were only trying to be honest with him.’

  ‘No, it wasn’t,’ Rose burst out. ‘It’s how he feels. It’s how I would feel if the person I loved had just jilted me so heartlessly.’

  Now Peggy raised her head defiantly and repeated the words she’d said to Bob. ‘So you’d have me go ahead and marry him without loving him, would you?’

  Rose glared at her, opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come. At last she said huskily, ‘No, no, I wouldn’t. But what I can’t understand is why you’ve led him on all this time. Everybody views you as a couple. You work with him, you go out with him.’

  ‘I haven’t led him on,’ Peggy said, her voice rising heatedly. ‘I’m very fond of him and we had a good laugh together. I didn’t know it wasn’t love – not until—’

  ‘Not until you met that bloody Terry Price.’

  ‘Wash your mouth out, Rose,’ Grace snapped. ‘I won’t have that sort of language in my house.’ Once more, even in the midst of a heated quarrel, Grace reminded them of their place.

  ‘Oh, what’s the use?’ Rose marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her and leaving her drink untouched.

  ‘“The lady doth protest too much, methinks”,’ Myrtle murmured as she picked up her mug.

  ‘I agree with you, Myrtle,’ Grace said, picking up Rose’s mug as well as her own. ‘And “Waste not, want not”.’

  ‘Sit down, love, and have your milk,’ Mary said to Peggy. ‘You’ve done the right thing. You couldn’t do any other and the worst’s over now.’

  Twenty-Four

  But Mary was wrong, for more recriminations were to come. Rose ignored Peggy totally, refusing to speak to her or even to acknowledge her presence in the household. And to make matters worse, the following evening Hester Deeton knocked on their door. The little woman was tentative and nervous, but she had overcome her natural reticence to speak up for her son.

  ‘Come in, Hester.’ As Hester stepped across the threshold, Mary closed the door and drew the blackout curtain back into place. She switched on the hall light and was shocked to see the other woman’s drawn face and anxious eyes.

  ‘Is – is Peggy at home?’ It was difficult to guess whether Hester hoped the girl was there or that she wasn’t.

  ‘Yes, she’s upstairs. Come on through to the living room and I’ll call her down. I’m sorry we don’t use the front room.’ Mary smiled wryly. ‘We can’t justify heating two rooms except on special occasions.’

  ‘I hope you don’t mind me coming round, but – I expect you know what’s happened – Bob’s in such a state. He’s threatening to enlist. Oh, Mary – I couldn’t bear it if he went and – and—’ The poor woman couldn’t even bring herself to finish her sentence, but Mary understood her meaning.

  ‘Come along in. I’ll make us some tea.’

  ‘I don’t want to take your precious rations.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that.’ Mary opened the door into the living room, where Grace was sitting in her usual chair by the fire. She looked up as Mary ushered Hester into the room, not at all surprised to see who their visitor was. Grace sighed inwardly, but fixed a smile on her face and gestured towards the chair opposite. ‘It’ll be Peggy you’ve come to see, I take it.’

  Hester nodded, perching nervously on the edge of the chair. ‘I can’t understand why she’s thrown him over. He’s a good lad – a steady lad.’

  Grace narrowed her eyes as she took in the other woman’s distressed expression. Mistress in her house and strict in her dealings with her daughter and granddaughters, Grace was never one to shy away from criticizing them. But when reproach came from outside the family, Grace closed ranks and defended her own with surprising vigour.

  ‘Hester, I’ve known you since you were a child, so I’m going to speak plainly to you. Peggy has been honest with your Bob. She’s been his friend for some time as we all know, but she’s realized she’s not in love with him. Not in the way she ought to be to marry him.’ She put her head on one side, holding the other woman’s gaze as she asked bluntly, ‘You’d rather she was honest with him, wouldn’t you?’

  Agitatedly, Hester fingered the handbag on her lap. ‘Yes – no – oh, I don’t know. It’s just that he’s so hurt, Mrs Booth, and threatening – ’ she plunged her hand into her copious handbag and fished out a handkerchief, dabbing her eyes that had begun to flood with tears – ‘to join up. He’s saying he doesn’t care if he lives or dies.’

  ‘Then he’s being very weak-willed and cruel towards you as well as to Peggy. That’s emotional blackmail.’

  Hester gasped. ‘How can you say such a thing? My Bob hasn’t got a cruel bone in his body.’

  ‘Neither has Peggy. She’s being honest, that’s all.’

  ‘Now, Mother.’ Mary, who’d hurried through to the kitchen after seeing Hester settled near the fire, came back with a tray of teacups and saucers. She turned towards Hester. ‘We do understand it must have been a dreadful shock for Bob and for you too, but—’

  ‘He was going to ask her to marry him. He’d planned to take her into town and buy a ring as soon as he’s strong enough. But he says she’s met someone else.’ Hester looked from one to the other. ‘Is it true?’

  Mary and Grace exchanged a glance. ‘We really couldn’t tell you that,’ Grace said swiftly as she saw Mary open her mouth to reply. ‘Peggy’s a grown woman.’

  ‘Are you telling me you approve of what she’s doing? Throwing my Bob over for a soldier she hardly knows? Who is he anyway? Have you seen him? What’s he like?’

  ‘We’ve no intention of prying into Peggy’s affairs,’ Grace said primly. Of course, she regularly pried into everything her daughter and her granddaughters did and wasn’t afraid to comment if she wasn’t suited, but she wasn’t about to let Hester Deeton know this. Mary was staring at her mother as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She’d never witnessed this side of Grace before, but then, she reasoned, she’d never had cause to. Even when Grace had voiced fears about Mary’s own marriage to Ted Sylvester, there’d never been the need to defend the family name in the face of outsiders’ criticism. But now there was and Mary was quick to pick up what her mother was doing. A feeling of warm pride flooded through her. Sharp and critical her mother might be within the confines of their home, but Grace was ready to defend her young and Mary loved her for it.

  ‘But she lives in your house,’ Hester was arguing. ‘Surely you want to know the company she’s keeping?’

  ‘I keep my eye on all my family,’ Grace said tersely, growing impatient with the woman’s pleading and with Bob’s obviously – in her view – weak reaction.

  ‘Then you can’t approve of what she’s doing.’

  ‘I approve of her honesty.’

  Hester blinked, unable to think of a reply. ‘Well,’ she said lamely, ‘she’s hurt my son dreadfully and I want to know why.’

  ‘We’ve told you why.’

  ‘I want to see her. I want to hear it from her lips.’

  There was a silence between them all. Grace sighed. She could see that there’d be no budging the woman until she’d said her piece to Peggy. ‘Call her down, Mary. Let’s get this over with.’

  From the kitchen came the sound of a whistling kettle.

  ‘I’ll just make the tea.’

  ‘I’ll see to that,’ Grace said, heaving herself up out of her chair. ‘You get Peggy.’

  Instead of just calling from the hallway, Mary ran lightly up the stairs and entered the bedroom she and her eldest daughter shared. ‘Peggy, love, Hester Deeton’s here.’

  Peggy’s eyes widened. ‘I don’t want to talk to her, Mam. I can’t face her.’

  ‘You’ll have to, love. It doesn’t look like she’s going to leave until she’s seen you.’ Swiftly Mary repeated the conversations that had already taken place downstairs.

  Peggy got up reluctantly. ‘Don’t leave me alone with her, Mam, will you?’

>   ‘Of course not.’ Mary put her arm round Peggy’s shoulders. ‘And your gran will be there too.’ When Peggy pulled a face, Mary added, ‘She’s sticking up for you.’

  ‘I’ll believe that when I see it,’ Peggy muttered.

  But see it she did. As she sat nervously on a chair by the table and waited for the onslaught from Bob’s mother, it was Grace who said, ‘I’ve told Mrs Deeton that you’re only trying to be honest with Bob and that your whole family are behind you. We realize you’ve hurt him, but it’s better done now rather than later.’

  Grace had taken the wind out of Hester’s sails, for now the woman could think of nothing to say and all she could do was to stare reproachfully at Peggy.

  ‘I’m so sorry, truly I am,’ Peggy said, ‘but what else can I do?’

  ‘But why did you let yourself fall for this soldier?’ Hester said at last. ‘Why did you go on seeing him? Where’s your loyalty to Bob?’

  ‘I didn’t ask for it to happen. I—’

  At that moment the back door opened and closed, and Rose came in from the kitchen. Peggy’s heart sank. Despite Grace’s firm assertion to Mrs Deeton that the whole family were on Peggy’s side, here was one member who was most definitely not.

  Rose paused in the doorway and took in the scene before her; the anxious looks on each face, the silence that hung heavily in the air. She moved further into the room and sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the table to her sister. ‘Mrs Deeton,’ she greeted the woman, who nodded in response but did not speak.

  ‘How’s Bob?’ Rose went on and realized at once that it was not the most tactful remark she could have made, but then Rose was not known for her diplomacy. It felt to the others as if she might be deliberately stirring an already bubbling cauldron of resentment.

  Mrs Deeton dissolved into tears and Grace shot her granddaughter one of her famous looks. ‘Hester has come to plead with Peggy, but we’ve told her that we all – ’ there was a definite accent on the ‘all’ – ‘feel that honesty is best.’

  Rose bit her lip. She wanted so desperately to tell the poor little woman, sitting with her shoulders hunched and her head bowed as she sobbed into her handkerchief, that she agreed wholeheartedly with her. But she knew how strong Mary was on family loyalty, so in front of her mother she said nothing.

  Now there was a long, uncomfortable silence in the room. There was nothing left for anyone to say and Rose guessed – correctly – that it had all been said.

  At last Hester dried her tears and stood up, murmuring, ‘I’d better go. I can see I’m doing no good here.’

  Rose got up too and said, ‘I’ll walk home with you.’

  Hester glanced at her gratefully, but said, ‘You haven’t had your tea yet. You’ve just come from work, haven’t you? I don’t want—’

  ‘That doesn’t matter. I’ll see you home. There’s no moon tonight. It’s pitch black out there.’

  ‘Well, I would be grateful. I don’t like being out in the blackout on my own, and Bob . . .’

  Tears threatened again and she turned away towards the door, only pausing briefly as she passed Peggy to say, ‘I’m very disappointed in you, Peggy. I’d really hoped that one day you’d be my daughter-in-law, but now – because of you – I might lose my son as well. My only son – my only child.’

  With that parting shot, she turned away, as Rose followed her out of the room without even glancing back at her family.

  Twenty-Five

  ‘Thank goodness we’ve got that over and done with,’ Grace said, as they heard the front door close.

  ‘Over for now, Mother, maybe,’ Mary said softly, ‘but not done with, I fear.’

  ‘I wonder what Rose is saying to her,’ Peggy murmured.

  Grace snorted. ‘Plenty, I shouldn’t wonder. Where Bob Deeton is concerned, I get the feeling that Rose has forgotten the meaning of family loyalty.’

  The three women glanced at each other. ‘Do you think,’ Peggy asked hesitantly, ‘she’s in love with Bob herself?’

  Grace nodded and smiled wryly. ‘I’ve thought so for some time, but now I’m sure of it. And there’s something else – ’ her smile widened as she added mischievously – ‘won’t Myrtle be mortified to have missed all the fun.’

  Despite the uncomfortable half-hour they’d just spent with Hester Deeton, both Mary and Peggy dissolved into laughter.

  As Peggy had predicted, Rose did indeed have plenty to say to Bob’s mother and, as they walked along arm in arm through the blackout, she was saying it. ‘If you think I agree with what Peggy’s done, then you’re wrong. I think she’s behaved disgracefully and I’ve told her so.’

  ‘That’s not what your grandmother said. She says you all – the whole family – agree that Peggy’s right to be honest, as she calls it.’

  ‘Gran’s always been strong on honesty. And Mam too.’

  Hester sighed as she admitted, ‘I’ve always brought Bob up to be truthful and, yes, I suppose they’re right, but what I can’t understand is why she waited this long. Why lead him on? That’s what’s so hard to take.’

  Rose snorted derisively. ‘She says she didn’t understand what it meant to be in love. Not until she met – him.’

  ‘This soldier, you mean?’

  ‘Mm.’

  They walked on in silence until Hester asked, ‘What about you, Rose? Have you anyone special? D’you know what it’s like to be in love?’

  It was a moment before Rose could bring herself to reply, to keep her voice steady as she said, ‘Oh yes, I know what it’s like to love someone.’

  ‘And does he love you?’

  As they turned the last corner into the street where the Deetons lived, Rose’s answer was harsh with bitterness at the unfairness of it all. ‘No, it’s as if he doesn’t even know I exist.’

  A few more paces and they were outside Hester’s front door. ‘Do come in. I’m sure Bob will be pleased to see you.’

  The woman couldn’t know that her words were like a shaft through her heart, and Rose laughed wryly. ‘I don’t think he will want to see any member of my family ever again.’

  Hester hesitated. Maybe the girl was right and yet, at this moment, she needed Rose’s strength. ‘I just thought you might be able to persuade him not to go ahead with this foolish idea of joining up.’

  Rose hesitated, torn between wanting to see Bob and yet dreading having to deal with him mooning over her sister. The longing to see him won as she said, ‘All right, but I don’t know whether I’ll be able to do any good.’

  As she stepped into the room a few moments later, Rose was surprised and even a little irritated to see how he looked. Bob was slumped in an armchair near the fire, with a blanket over his knees, gazing into the flames.

  ‘Here’s Rose,’ Hester said unnecessarily and then added, as if it was the panacea for all ills, ‘I’ll make some tea. The dear girl walked home with me before she’d even sat down to have her tea. We mustn’t keep her.’

  ‘It’s all right, Mrs Deeton,’ Rose said, drawing off her gloves and removing her coat. The room was hot and stuffy. She wondered how they’d managed to get the coal to have such a roaring fire. She sat down opposite him and said brightly, ‘How are you doing, Bob?’

  Slowly he raised his head to meet her gaze. ‘I was doing very nicely, thanks, until your dear sister dropped her bombshell.’

  Rose spent the next hour commiserating with him and yet, at the same time, trying to instil in him some fight back. ‘Look at it this way, Bob. You’ve had a lucky escape.’

  ‘Eh? How d’you make that out? I love her, Rose, and you can’t just turn it off with a flick of a switch.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Do you? Do you really know what it feels like to love someone who doesn’t love you?’

  ‘As a matter of fact, yes, I do. I’ve been in love with someone for some time now, but he doesn’t even seem to notice me.’

  ‘Who?’

  Rose’s mouth twisted into a wry smile,
but she managed to say pertly, ‘That’s for me to know and you to find out.’ Neatly she turned the focus away from herself. ‘But we’re talking about you, not me. What’s this about you threatening to join up?’

  ‘It’s no threat. I mean to do it when I’m fit enough.’

  ‘But you’ve no need to go. Tram drivers were on the list The Times published of reserved occupations before the war even started.’

  ‘And how d’you think I’m going to feel, seeing Peggy every day at work? I’d rather not be there at all.’

  ‘Mr Bower will put you on another shift.’

  ‘Oh aye, I’m sure he would, but he’d lose no time in telling everybody why, an’ all.’

  ‘No, he wouldn’t. Mr Bower’s not like that. He can keep his mouth shut.’

  ‘Mebbe,’ Bob growled. ‘But it’ll get out.’

  ‘So? She’s the one who’ll look the fool, not you.’

  Bob sighed and shook his head. ‘I’m not out to hurt her, even though she’s as good as stabbed me in the back.’

  Rose put her head on one side. ‘Aren’t you? Out to hurt her in return, I mean? Isn’t that why you’re talking about enlisting? Striking back at her by trying to make her feel guilty?’

  Bob cast her a baleful glance, but couldn’t deny her words. Even to Rose’s own ears it sounded now as if she was defending her sister, when in fact she was livid with Peggy. And yet . . .

  Rose leaned towards him. ‘But if you go, you’ll be hurting your poor mother far more than you’re hurting Peggy.’

  ‘She’ll not care, you mean?’

  ‘No, I don’t mean that. Peggy’s not that evil. She’s fond of you – she keeps saying that. She doesn’t want you to do something stupid just because of her. Besides,’ Rose added with a grin, ‘she’s not worth it.’

  Bob stared at her for a long moment and then looked away, dropping his head to stare into the fire once more.

  Rose stood up. ‘I’m going. Like your mam said, I haven’t had my tea yet, but—’ She hesitated briefly before adding, ‘I’ll come and see you again – that’s if you want me to.’