The Evacuee War

by Katie King

  So, Barbara, I think I need the advice of a London solicitor, wouldn’t you agree? I’m sure the ones up here are very good and all that, but the longer I think about it, the more I can see that any divorce proceedings might drag on and on if Bill decides to be obstreperous, which I have no reason to believe he won’t be. They are still saying the war might be over in a few months, and so it seems sensible for me to take legal advice from someone close to Bermondsey. We may all be home in London before too long, and once Holly is toddling properly there may be a time when I’d be grateful for a solicitor nearby. Do you think you might ask around for me? I daresay one of the regulars at the Jolly might be able to recommend someone, although come to think of it, perhaps I am risking trouble by asking for legal recommendations from patrons of a Bermondsey public house!

  If I can get Mabel to look after Holly, I may come down early next week, provided I can stay with you and Ted. It will be a year since I was last in London, and so I am sure that I will notice a lot of changes. I do feel like escaping Harrogate for a few days; suddenly it seems very oppressive in a way I’ve not found it before.

  I’m tired now, and so I’m off to bed. You and Ted are very much in my thoughts now Jerry is on the warpath, so please write soon.

  Your loving sister, as ever,

  Peggy

  As Peggy licked the sticky flap of the envelope to seal it, she thought she would instantly fall asleep once she lay down as she ached with exhaustion from her head to the tip of her toes. But when she climbed into bed Peggy found her eyes wouldn’t shut nor her body relax, and so she spent a long while staring at the ceiling as the shadows from the trees outside slowly shifted under the changing position of the moon, reliving James’s kiss again and again, and then berating herself for doing so.

  Her eyes were only just starting to feel heavy at close to eleven o’clock when her roommate Gracie crept past the door, cradling a slumbering Jack.

  Peggy watched across the corridor from her bed as Gracie laid Jack in his cot, and when Gracie noticed that she was still awake, she came into Peggy’s room and leaned down and whispered in Peggy’s ear, ‘You’re never going t’ guess, but I’m going to be married tomorrow, an’ Jack and I will be moving out first thing!’

  Any vestiges of Peggy’s weariness bolted instantly, as she heaved herself upright in bed instantly.

  Kelvin, Gracie’s sweetheart, was Aiden’s older brother and the father of little Jack. Gracie had been thrown out by her parents when she was fifteen and pregnant, and Peggy shuddered to think what might have become of mother and baby should Mabel and Roger not have taken Gracie in and later, when Jack was born, acted as if Gracie had nothing to feel ashamed about.

  If the death toll of the war was anywhere near as high as some pundits claimed, then Britain was going to need every new birth, no matter how these babies arrived.

  Peggy had always assumed that if Kelvin and Gracie and Jack all survived the war that there would be a marriage to welcome peacetime. But clearly, Kelvin and Gracie had thought they’d jump the gun, and do things their way.

  Peggy smiled and lifted the covers on the side nearest to her friend so that Gracie, still dressed, could kick off her shoes and slip beneath them out of the chill of the early autumn air and keep warm as she told Peggy all about it.

  Chapter Eight

  The next morning it wasn’t long before the whole of Tall Trees was agog with Gracie’s surprise news.

  As the children gathered around the kitchen table for breakfast, Gracie announced that Kelvin had come home on a short period of leave before being posted abroad, and unexpectedly he’d popped the question to Gracie at lunchtime the day before and she’d been thrilled to say yes.

  The excited couple had then spoken to Kelvin’s parents, and Gracie’s too, because at just eighteen and sixteen they were too young to marry without permission, even though little Jack was already getting on for nine months old.

  In haste the families had rallied around, Gracie’s parents delighted their shamefully unwed daughter was finally going to have a ring on her finger, even though Kelvin hadn’t followed protocol by asking Gracie’s father for her hand in marriage.

  Time was of the essence, and so a special licence had been procured just before the civic offices closed for the day, Gracie explained, and the town hall marriage ceremony was going to take place at eleven that very morning.

  Rather than spending money on wedding presents, the happy couple hoped that everyone would be able to chip in to help them have a brief honeymoon. Gracie and Kelvin wanted two nights on their own in a bed and breakfast before Kelvin had to return to his barracks.

  Peggy had already broken the news of Gracie’s forthcoming nuptials to Roger and Mabel first thing, and they had said they would be pleased to add to the bed and breakfast fund.

  She gave Gracie six shillings as the B & B contribution from her and Holly. What with this outlay, and Milburn’s veterinary bill, Peggy’s purse strings felt very stretched, but she couldn’t begrudge Gracie and Jack – of whom she was very fond – the chance of their happy-ever-after.

  ‘We know everyone is busy, what wi’ school an’ t’ like,’ Gracie went on, too excited to eat, ‘an’ so it’ll just be me an’ Kelvin at t’ ceremony, an’ we’re going to ask two people from t’ street t’ be our witnesses, which’ll be so romantic!’

  Mabel looked as if she was going to chip in to say something, Peggy thought, but before she could, Gracie continued, scarcely seeming to draw breath, ‘My parents can’t come as they’re workin’, an’ Kelvin said it’d be unfair if ’is were there in that case. So we want it just t’ two of us, as time is so limited an’ we want every second there is to count an’ fer us t’ make some special memories o’ our own. I’m goin’ t’ leave living ’ere today, kiddies, an’ take Jack an’ move in wi’ yer granny, Aiden, yer Granny Nora! You an’ I will be proper family by t’ end o’ today, Aiden – just think on that. Yer Granny Nora is lookin’ forward to ’avin’ us, so I ’ear.’

  Aiden was left, quite literally, open-mouthed at Gracie’s words. Once baby Jack had arrived, like Peggy, Aiden had expected that Kelvin would get hitched to Gracie at some point, but he hadn’t thought it would be so out of the blue. And he would never have thought that Granny Nora, who could be something of a harridan, would be persuaded to take in Gracie and Jack. What a turn-up for the books.

  Roger and Mabel seemed shell-shocked by the news too, although they’d rallied enough by then to be able to say that while they would, of course, very much miss having Gracie and Jack living at Tall Trees, they quite understood Gracie’s desire to get married and move both herself and Jack to live with her husband’s family. War meant that everything was different to how it had been pre-hostilities, but it did take a bit of getting used to, wasn’t that a fact.

  Peggy nodded enthusiastically as if to reinforce the unvoiced notion that this indeed was a wonderful thing for Gracie and Kelvin to do, even though Gracie was only sixteen. To aid a positive atmosphere, she raised her cup of tea towards Gracie with a ‘Congratulations, to Gracie and Kelvin!’, which made the children do likewise with their morning glasses of milk.

  Nobody mentioned how young Gracie was, or that living with Kelvin’s Granny Nora with Jack might not be as much of a bed of roses as Gracie seemed to think it was going to be. Aiden had used the word ‘battleaxe’ to describe his granny more than once, Peggy remembered. And to judge by the way that Jessie glanced across at her, she thought that he recalled the comment too.

  Still, Gracie was clearly so ecstatic at what was about to happen to her and Jack that nobody wanted to spoil the mood, although Peggy couldn’t help but wonder for an instant if Roger’s feelings were just a tiny bit hurt that he hadn’t been asked to officiate at a church marriage. Of course, Peggy told herself then, with Kelvin having to return to barracks so soon, there almost definitely wouldn’t have been time for a church service as didn’t that need a timetable for banns having to be read? Peggy wasn’t
sure. Anyhow, because it was spur of the moment, it meant that if the happy couple were determined to wed, then a simple civil ceremony was the only way it could be, and as far as Peggy could tell, if Roger’s nose was out of joint, then he was making an excellent job of hiding it.

  There were many youngsters across the land doing likewise to Gracie and Kelvin, Peggy suspected, and superstitiously she crossed her fingers as she silently wished all these impulsive lovers health and happiness, and hoped that they would manage to come through the war unscathed in order that they could pick up their proper married lives once peacetime resumed, and then make a better fist of marriage than she and Bill had managed.

  ‘Gracie, I have a length of blue silk ribbon in my hankie case – please let me lend it to you, and then you can wear it as a garter. It will kill two birds with one stone, being something borrowed and something blue,’ said Peggy, trying her best to get into the wedding spirit.

  Mabel got the point and said, ‘You have that lovely cameo brooch that was your great aunt’s, Gracie, and so that could be your something old.’

  ‘And I’ve been saving an unopened pair of stockings,’ said Gracie, ‘and so that can be my something new. That was easy. Why on earth do people make such a fuss about weddings and marriages?’

  Peggy and Mabel exchanged a significant look, but neither commented further. Gracie would learn all about marriage very quickly, Peggy knew, and it wouldn’t all be beer and skittles.

  Although Gracie’s news was full of hope, it was a strange start to the day all the same, as at this point everybody realised that they needed to make haste in order to get to school or work on time.

  At once there was a cacophony of chairs scraping on the stone flags of the kitchen floor as they were abruptly pushed back, quickly followed by the sound of running feet, and in a trice it was almost as if Gracie hadn’t only moments before been sharing her big news.

  And by the time Peggy had given Holly her breakfast and then returned to the bedroom, already Gracie and Jack were nowhere to be seen.

  Their room felt abandoned and distinctly empty, almost as if the young mother and her baby had never been there at all, Peggy thought, as she searched for her own coat and hat.

  For while Holly had been eating, Gracie had found time to strip both her bed and Jack’s cot; and all of her possessions that would be going to Granny Nora’s were now crammed into a bulging suitcase even more battered than Peggy’s that was now placed by the door, waiting to be picked up later.

  Gracie had scribbled a note she had left on Peggy’s pillow:

  You have been a brick, Peggy – I cannot think of any other word for you, and we will never forget how kind you have been to us, or what wonderful chums you and Holly have been. I am going to miss you both. Wish me luck, and here’s to YOU finding a new daddy for Holly. Gracie x

  Holding the note, Peggy took a minute to sit on her own bed and gather her thoughts. It wasn’t every day she was compared to a brick, and although she knew that Gracie meant it as a compliment, it wasn’t quite the image Peggy hoped she presented to the world.

  More importantly, Peggy couldn’t decide whether she felt genuinely pleased for Gracie, or whether she was more worried that such a rushed proposal and resolution might end up as a bad idea. She didn’t feel envious, that much was certain, Peggy told herself, quickly quelling an unbidden thought of James’s smiling face. She knew all too well from her own bitter experience how painful it was when a marriage fell apart, especially if there were children involved. But perhaps Gracie’s young age would make her resilient and strong. Or would it make her more vulnerable? Peggy couldn’t make up her mind.

  If Kelvin survived the war, he and Gracie might in time feel they had rushed things unnecessarily, she supposed.

  But if Kelvin didn’t make it through the hostilities, or perhaps either Gracie or Jack became casualties too, then Peggy found she couldn’t begrudge the young couple the chance to have two nights sleeping wrapped in one another’s arms. It really didn’t seem too much for them to ask, and of course if the worst were to happen to Kelvin, that certificate of marriage meant that Gracie would be eligible for some government funds for losing her husband that she could use to help raise Jack.

  Peggy gazed around the bedroom, feeling slightly at sea at the way Gracie’s presence seem to have been erased so quickly. Was this symptomatic of the fleeting nature of life? And could it be a clarion call for Peggy to seize the day as soon as possible, and do what she could to build a better future for herself and Holly?

  Peggy thought hard for a few minutes, and then she decided that if June could manage without her, and Roger and Mabel were willing to step in to take care of Holly as she didn’t want to risk having the little girl accompany her on the jaunt because there was no sign of Jerry lessening the aerial offensive, then Peggy would head to London the first thing the next morning with the express purpose of seeing a solicitor.

  In fact Peggy thought that she might even arrive in Bermondsey before the letter that she’d written to Barbara, which she had already bribed Jessie to pop in the postbox at the end of the road on his way to school as he would be passing just in time for its first collection of letters.

  Gracie’s unexpected marriage was perhaps an abrupt but judicious reminder to Peggy that life never stands still, and that all it offers should be embraced with both hands, both the good and the not so good.

  She remembered the saying ‘it’s always later than you think’; it seemed more poignant now, and to have a deep resonance. It was time for Peggy to set things in motion.

  And then she smiled to herself in the realisation that it felt satisfying to think this way, almost as if she might be in charge of her own destiny. Well, as much as she could be during these uncertain days of war, but it was a feeling that she was in charge of something, nonetheless.

  Chapter Nine

  ‘You’re going to have Gracie as your aunty by the time we are walking back the other way, Aiden! Just think, she’ll be your proper Aunty Gracie. And this will mean that you’re going to be a real Uncle Aiden for little Jack yourself, have you thought about that? What a turn-up for the books, isn’t it!?’ joshed Connie as she pushed Aiden quite roughly on his shoulder.

  This was after the children had posted Peggy’s letter to Barbara and were then well on their way to school, a walk which still felt too new an experience to be properly part of their daily routine, and it was exactly the same moment that Peggy was staring at Gracie’s suitcase.

  Aiden nodded, but he didn’t seem to want to be drawn further on the subject and, most unlike him, he didn’t say anything else all the way to school, although he softly touched Connie on the arm as she peeled away from the others to go to her classroom. It wasn’t nerves that prevented him from speaking, as he and Jessie were pretty confident they’d be top of their class as they had both done so well at primary school, and their new form master Mr Graves, while old (he’d been pulled out of retirement for the duration, according to Roger), seemed a decent enough chap who knew his stuff, but the shock of his brother and Gracie’s surprise decision that had made him so quiet, even though he was very fond of both Gracie and Jack.

  Even so, Aiden had tried to buoy Connie up about 1E without drawing obvious attention to the gesture, but he was obviously distracted.

  Unused to not having Aiden’s full attention, Connie was left puzzling whether Aiden’s silent but gentle touch had been to bolster her confidence, or more as a sad reprimand to Connie for teasing him, or had it been to cheer himself up? Then Connie wondered if even Aiden had known himself quite what he had meant.

  Either way, she could sense without looking around that Aiden and Jessie had halted and were now watching her pause for a moment outside the open door to her classroom.

  She took a fortifying deep breath to steady herself – her heart was really thumping in an insistent reminder of how loathsome school really was – and then Connie paused to take in the depressing sight of the seen-better-days
wooden desks and chairs, and the inkwells with the black stains around them, and the canvas atlas half rolled above the blackboard showing Australia and the South Pole, and a pile of new jotters on the teacher’s desk at the front of the room. There were a few pupils scattered about the classroom, no one daring to be the first to sit down, and everyone turned to look towards her.

  Connie could see that a pecking order was being established and so she deliberately ignored them all. But as she speculated as to whether everyone else from Tall Trees’ classrooms looked as unremarkable at this one, she squared her shoulders before marching inside with a rebellious toss of her head, trying for all the world to appear as if she owned the place and wasn’t as rattled as she felt deep down inside. And as if she was expecting everyone else to treat her as if she really was their leader, much more so than any teacher might be.

  Outside Jessie muttered to his pal, ‘Typical Connie, queening it over everyone! Come on, we’d better get a shufti on, Aiden, else we’ll be in detention. And at breaktime—’ it still felt odd for Jessie to be thinking of it as breaktime after their first two periods of the day, rather than the mid-morning ‘playtime’ of his still-recent-feeling primary school days ‘—let’s see if you and I can come up with a plan of action to get Connie back to where she belongs, away from those tykes in 1E.’

  ‘Roll on break,’ said Aiden, and although he sounded still a little down in the mouth, this didn’t prevent the boys sharing a conspiratorial look.

  And then, once they were certain there were no teachers behind them to tell them off for running in the corridors, they bolted up the stairs to their form room on the first floor, Aiden taking care to let Jessie win their race but not by so very much that Jessie could ever be suspicious of Aiden not putting up the prerequisite fight.

  Chapter Ten

  Events didn’t quite go to plan however.