The East End Girl in Blue

by Fenella J Miller

‘I’ll skin and clean them for you – I don’t suppose you want to do that.’

  She surprised him by laughing. ‘Blimey, I went on a butcher’s course. A couple of bunnies are no trouble at all.’

  ‘I get paid in kind a lot of the time round here.’

  ‘Thought as much. You’re not doing this job for the money – you couldn’t live like this if you were.’

  ‘Live like this? Not sure what you mean.’

  ‘Either you come from a wealthy family or you married money, that’s for sure. I don’t reckon that anyone else within a hundred miles has got one of them electric washing machines.’

  ‘Both are true. I’m very comfortably situated and consider myself fortunate to be so.’

  He was uncomfortable talking about his financial circumstances and she really shouldn’t have brought the subject up. Julia had thought money was vulgar and they’d never discussed it.

  Violet was sitting up in bed, which was an improvement. She didn’t look exactly animated, but her eyes were focusing better.

  ‘Good morning, I hope you slept well. Billy and Betty are eating breakfast in the kitchen and I’ve brought yours up for you.’

  She looked at him blankly as if she didn’t understand what he was saying. However, when he put the tray across her lap she picked up the tea and drank it immediately.

  ‘Violet, do you know where you are?’ She ignored him, drained the mug and then started on the toast. He tried again. ‘I’m Doctor Denny. You were brought here because your house was bombed and you had nowhere else to go. This is going to be home for you and your children until the war’s over.’

  She continued to eat. Finished both slices and then pushed the tray aside and slid back under the covers. Only his fast reaction saved it from crashing to the floor. Yesterday she hadn’t eaten anything apart from half a sandwich so maybe once she was in better physical shape her mind would begin to recover too.

  She didn’t look depressed, more disinterested in the world around her. When he went up to London tomorrow he’d find a consultant who knew more than he did about this sort of thing. He wasn’t going to rush into anything – if this Rankin chap wasn’t suitable for a country practice, he’d take this particular offer no further.

  He was determined to find himself a position in a hospital with a casualty department in the thick of things and find a locum to take over from him here for the duration. The General Medical Council should have a list of retired general practitioners and there was bound to be somebody who would jump at the chance of doing something useful again.

  12

  The Brooklyns soon settled in and Nancy was impressed with the way Mary – they were on first-name terms almost immediately – got on with the children. She was firm but loving and they responded to her care and were almost unrecognisable as the poor little scraps that had arrived from London covered in nits and filth.

  Since she’d now missed her third monthly there was no doubt she was expecting. Like David had warned her she was now feeling sick on and off all day. At least she wasn’t fainting all over the shop nowadays.

  He’d been to London a couple of times but hadn’t told her why and it wasn’t her business to ask. It was getting dark earlier and the weather was wet and windy; she reckoned the trees would be bare before the end of November.

  She continued to have reading and writing lessons and now she was as good as she was going to get. Spending this time alone with him had begun to be something she looked forward to. She thought of Tommy most days but she didn’t miss him as much as she’d expected to. David had been miserable for months after his wife had died but then they’d spent ten years together. She and Tommy had only known each other a few months and she reckoned they’d not spent more than a week – if that – together.

  ‘I’ve been to church a couple of times and I’ve joined the choir now. I can read the prayer books and that, and I know a lot of the tunes and don’t need your help any more. From now on Mary and Fred are going to bring the children to church with them as I won’t be here of a Sunday morning.’

  ‘I was going to say the same thing, Nancy. You’ve been an apt pupil and it’s been a pleasure to teach you.’

  ‘Ta, David, I’ve really enjoyed learning with you. I don’t miss Tommy as much now and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. He’s only been gone a few months and I think he deserved to be mourned for longer.’

  ‘Nonsense, there’s a war on. Hundreds of people are being killed every night in London in the bombing raids, not to mention the dozens of RAF bods who are constantly shot down. There’s no time to dwell on what might have been – like everyone else who’s lost a loved one you just have to get on and put it behind you.’

  If he believed this why hadn’t he followed his own advice? She and David were as different as chalk and cheese, but they got on all right. He was a good man and she no longer thought of him as old.

  ‘Billy and Betty are happy as larks with Mary looking after them. Fred has turned your garden into an allotment and I reckon we’ll have enough vegetables and that to feed an army next year.’

  He laughed. ‘Not to mention the two pigs we’ve got now. They’re a shared project with three other neighbours. They bring their leftovers to feed them and when I have them slaughtered next year, we’ll share the meat.’

  ‘I don’t mind the pigs; I still can’t get on with your chickens, especially now you’ve got another dozen. I like the eggs well enough, and the meat, but I’m really glad you’ve got Fred to take care of them. Mrs Stanton doesn’t ask me to fetch the eggs for her now that I’m working for you.’

  ‘Everything is going along smoothly here, apart from Violet. Although she’s eating and is now going out into the garden occasionally, it bothers me that she hardly speaks and completely ignores the children.’

  ‘I don’t reckon she recognises them. Billy’s been invited to tea and is ever so excited, bless him. Betty never stops chatting and is running about safe as houses now. Mind you, you can’t understand half of what she says.’

  At the end of their lesson he always made cocoa for them both and tonight was the same. He seemed restless. Several times he started to say something and then changed his mind. Something was up and no mistake.

  ‘Did I tell you that my friend Charlotte’s finally coming for a visit? She’s got some important hush-hush job that she can’t talk about. Not like me – I didn’t get special duties. Mary’s happy to take over my work while Charlotte’s here.’

  ‘You’ve not had any time off since you started and you should have every Sunday free in future. I wanted to talk to you about something else. You’ll be coming out of your first trimester soon and you’re going to have to see the midwife in a couple of months.’

  ‘I’m beginning to show a bit as well. My belly’s much bigger, but me bum hasn’t changed at all.’

  He smiled. ‘No one would know that you’re pregnant at the moment. I’d like to examine you myself before I go…’

  ‘Go? Where are you going? You’ve not gone and signed up have you?’

  ‘No, but I’m moving to London to work in the casualty department of the Royal Free Hospital. Doctor Simon Jones will be taking over here. He’ll be arriving first thing Monday morning. I’ll stay a day or two and introduce him to everyone before I leave myself.’

  She didn’t know what to say. She was used to seeing him every day, making his meals, doing his laundry and that. He was funny, kind and generous and not like anyone else she’d ever met. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

  ‘Well, better that than being sent to Africa or something I suppose. Is it an old geezer coming to do your job?’

  ‘He’s fifty-three but looks younger. He’s a widower like me but has three grown-up children scattered around the various services. I’m sure he’ll be only too happy to tell you all about them.’

  ‘If you like him then he’s all right with me.’

  David collected the empty mugs and took them through to
the scullery and then waited for her at the door. ‘Come through to the surgery; you’ll feel more comfortable there.’

  She wasn’t comfortable about him looking at her at all. What if he wanted to poke about inside her? She’d just die of embarrassment. She wasn’t going to do more than pull up her frock and pull down the front of her knickers.

  There was a smart green screen pulled around the bed and she scuttled behind it.

  ‘There’s no need to undress…’

  ‘I wasn’t going to. I’m ready now.’

  He was so calm and professional she soon calmed down. His hands were a bit cold but he knew what he was doing. He took a long time examining her bump.

  ‘What do you think? Is everything all right?’

  ‘Everything’s absolutely splendid. I’m certain as I can be that you’re carrying only one baby.’

  ‘Thank God for that.’

  He left her to climb down from the examination table – it was too hard to be called a bed. She could hear him in the waiting room and hurried out to join him.

  ‘Ta for that, David. I’m going to tell Charlotte when she comes tomorrow. I wrote to Jane the other day and told her. I’m ever so grateful that I can now send letters to my friends because of you.’

  ‘My absolute pleasure, my dear. Do you have your torch?’

  She didn’t have her gas mark as nobody in the village bothered to carry one. ‘From the sound of it I’d be better off with an umbrella. See you in the morning.’

  *

  David was going to miss the time he spent with Nancy. She’d metamorphosed from a brash East End girl into a confident young woman. He was somewhat put out that she still regarded him more as a father figure than a contemporary.

  Over the past few weeks there’d been the stirring of something close to desire – if she’d shown the slightest interest in him as a man he might have been tempted to act on it. Good God! What was he thinking? Not only was she pregnant, but the father of her child had been dead for not much more than a couple of months.

  It would have been taking shameful advantage if he had taken her to bed. It had been more than three years since he’d slept with anyone and he thought he’d never want to after Julia died. He’d always be grateful that Nancy had been the catalyst to his moving on and beginning to live his life again.

  He could scarcely remember Julia’s face now. He must have loved her but he couldn’t remember that emotion any longer. When he thought about her, which was rarely, it was like thinking about someone he scarcely knew. Had he really been as deeply in love with her as he’d always thought?

  He wasn’t sure he ever wanted to get married again but he was rather hoping he might meet a like-minded, experienced female doctor or senior nurse once he was settled in London.

  The Royal Free Hospital had pioneered medical training for women and there were quite a few on the staff and even a handful of female consultants. He hadn’t needed to apply for a position there. When he’d turned up, they’d pounced on him with eagerness and gratitude.

  He didn’t go to church on a regular basis, just attended at Easter and Christmas and so on. However, tomorrow he would go as he rather liked seeing Nancy looking angelic in her choir robes. Already her ability as a seamstress was bringing a stream of customers to the vicarage hoping she would alter, mend or make some item of clothing or other.

  Mary and Fred attended church every Sunday and formerly the children had remained with Nancy. He hoped they behaved themselves in this new situation. He’d told his employees of his intention to depart in the middle of next week and they’d been remarkably supportive.

  This morning he walked with them and the children up the road to the church.

  ‘What if I want a wee, Auntie Mary?’

  Billy had started to call his nanny this of his own volition and Mary had seemed happy to let it continue.

  ‘You will just have to wait, young man, like all the other children who will be sitting quietly on their best behaviour in the congregation.’

  ‘What if Betty…’

  ‘Enough of the silly questions. You only have to remain with the grown-ups for a little while and then you and the other children go out to Sunday school. Remember I explained that you will draw pictures and listen to stories.’

  ‘Betty can’t draw anything.’

  ‘Betty will remain with Auntie Mary,’ Nancy said. ‘She’s too young to go with you. You’re a big boy so you are allowed to go but she has to sit on someone’s lap and be very quiet.’ David was holding the child’s hand as Mary was carrying Betty. Fred, although pleasant enough, avoided contact with the children if he could.

  As always, the church was full. Apart from the occasional Saturday night social at the village hall there was little opportunity to dress up and go out. It wasn’t called Sunday best for nothing.

  They were fortunate at St Mary’s to have a decent organ and still someone to play it. The congregation stood up to sing the first verse of the first hymn whilst the vicar led the choir down the central aisle.

  He heard Nancy before he saw her. She was the most beautiful contralto and was singing with confidence. He wanted to turn round and look, as many others were, but managed to restrain himself.

  As she walked past Billy piped up. ‘Cor, that’s our Mrs Smith. I never knew she could sing so good.’ His comment came just as people were drawing breath to begin the final verse and so was heard by half the congregation.

  David ruffled the child’s hair and smiled and the little boy beamed back. He was about to say something else but Mary put her finger to her lips and he nodded and kept silent.

  Betty dozed throughout the service and only woke up when her brother came back at the end. The sermon, thankfully, didn’t go on for the entire hour. They all trooped out in under two hours, which was still too long in his estimation, but considerably better than it could have been.

  They waited in the churchyard until Nancy joined them. ‘I do enjoy being in the choir. I’m so glad I was able to join.’

  ‘You sing beautifully and I’m sure the choirmaster is already planning to give you solos at Christmas.’

  ‘Blimey, it isn’t even the middle of November yet. I don’t want to think about Christmas.’

  ‘Auntie Mary, I liked Sunday school. Can I go tomorrow?’

  ‘It’s called Sunday school for a reason, Billy. It only happens on Sunday, which is today when we go to church. If you tell me what you did then I’m sure we can do something similar ourselves during the week.’

  ‘Smashing. Look over there – there’s a lady soldier in a blue uniform waving at us.’

  Nancy waved back. ‘Excuse me, that’s my mate, Charlotte. She’s staying here until tomorrow. Don’t know how she got here on a Sunday as there’s no buses.’

  ‘Then go and ask her. Please bring her round after lunch as I’d love to meet any friend of yours.’

  ‘I’ll do that, Doctor Denny. TTFN.’

  She ran across and the two girls embraced. Charlotte was a head taller than her, with dark hair and could be considered attractive. However, she lacked the vibrancy and sparkle that Nancy had. He knew quite a lot about Jane – the Stantons’ daughter-in-law – but nothing at all about this other WAAF.

  He was looking forward to meeting her and perhaps discovering more about Nancy’s life before she came to the village. She was reluctant to talk about her past as it reminded her of Tommy. She’d done remarkably well to be able to function normally just three months after the event.

  The three years he’d spent moping about were wasted time as far as he was concerned. If he’d got a grip, pulled himself together like she had, heaven knows what might have happened. His life would certainly have been better.

  He owed her such a lot. If she hadn’t literally fallen at his feet he’d still be dwelling on the past. Now, he was about to embark on a new career as a senior registrar at the Royal Free Hospital. If he hadn’t fallen in love with Julia then he would have completed his surgic
al qualifications and would certainly be a consultant by now.

  Maybe it wasn’t too late to pursue his original intention of becoming a surgeon. Once he was established then he’d make enquiries. This hospital produced exceptional women doctors; they obviously had a much more broad-minded view of medicine than most of the big teaching hospitals he’d originally planned to work for. Therefore, they were more likely to accept someone in his thirties into their training programme than one of the other places.

  *

  ‘Nancy, it’s months since we were together. I can’t believe how well you look considering everything,’ Charlotte said as she hugged her.

  ‘I’m doing all right; people here are ever so kind. As long as I ignore what’s going on in the sky, I can sort of forget about what happened. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just easier for me not to think about it.’

  ‘I gather you were the star turn at church this morning. I got a lift from Felixstowe to Ipswich in an army lorry, then a train to Chelmsford. I had to travel in a farmer’s lorry the rest of the way.’

  ‘I’m glad that you did. I’ve got so much to tell you. Shall we sit in the garden? Mrs Stanton insists that I don’t need to help today as I’ve got a guest for lunch.’

  ‘We’ll do the washing-up for her and make tea tonight. I wish Jane could get time off. Whatever she’s doing it’s so crucial she’s not getting more than a few hours off a week.’

  ‘You do something hush-hush too so how do you get an overnight pass with these blooming bombers backwards and forwards every day?’

  ‘We’re supposed to get a thirty-six hour pass every eight days but at the moment it’s every sixteen days – still – better than nothing.’

  Nancy told her about the baby due next May, about David, and about the evacuee family living at his house. ‘I’m going to miss him when he moves to London. He’s taught me to read and write and, I hope you noticed, I’m talking more like you and Jane now.’

  ‘Of course I did. You’ve changed out of all recognition. No, that’s not actually true. You’re still the same Nancy but with the rough edges smoothed over. I was expecting to hear that Jane and Oscar are having a baby so it’s a bit of a surprise to find that you’re going to be the first of us to become a mother.’