Chapter Forty-Six
Livvy’s leave seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye, but now it was nearly over, and much as she loved her job, she was wishing she didn’t have to go back – her mother needed her at home. But there was nothing she could do about it apart from pray the war would soon be over. Thankfully John seemed to be much better. Admittedly he would have to take his time from now on and heed the warnings the doctor had given him, but he continued to improve each day. And then one day as Livvy came down the stairs with an armful of dirty washing, she glimpsed the telegram boy cycling down the drive and she gasped.
Dropping the washing in an untidy pile she raced to the door just as the boy reached it and took the telegram from him without a word. Please God don’t let it be bad news about David, she silently prayed. That on top of the news about Giles would be just too much for all of them to bear. Thankfully, though, she saw that the telegram was again addressed to John so she could only assume that it must be something to do with Giles. Pounding back up the stairs she burst into John’s room and waving the envelope told him breathlessly, ‘This just came for you. It must be something concerning Giles. Shall I open it for you?’
John was sitting in a chair at the side of the bed and he nodded solemnly. If this was to tell him that they had recovered Giles’s body, he knew that he would lose the will to live. He held his breath as Livvy opened the envelope and began to read. Then suddenly she was dancing about the room laughing wildly before racing back to him and grasping him in a bear hug with tears streaming down her cheeks.
‘Giles is alive!’ she squeaked joyfully. ‘Do you hear me? He’s alive! They’ve located him in a prisoner-of-war camp, which won’t be any picnic for him admittedly, but Giles will be coming home when the war is over.’
Now John was unashamedly crying too and when Cissie, Edith and Sunday, who had heard the commotion, came dashing into the room they found John and Livvy with their arms wrapped about each other.
Livvy threw the telegram to her mother who also whooped with delight after she had read it. She knew this news would do John far more good than any medicine the doctor could prescribe and soon she and Cissie were crying tears of joy too. The news was more than any of them, apart from Livvy, had dared to hope for and the air of gloom that had settled on the house began to lift.
‘It says that in due course the RAF will inform us what camp he is in and we’ll be able to write to him and send him parcels,’ Livvy said excitedly.
Suddenly John looked ten years younger and for the rest of that day they all walked about with broad smiles on their faces.
Now, even having to return to her unit didn’t seem quite so daunting to Livvy and she set off with a spring in her step, assuring them all that she would get back just as soon as she had some more leave due.
On the same day that Livvy returned to her unit, Ben stood gazing through the railings at the children in the school playground. It was now mid-November and the children were muffled up in hats, scarves, gloves and warm coats, with only their small faces showing. But he still would have recognised his two anywhere. It was funny, really. If he was honest, he had never yearned to have children, nor even given it a thought before he met Maggie; and then his tiny son had been cruelly snatched away from him. He had thought his chances of becoming a father had died with him and now here were Daisy and Thomas. It was like being offered a second chance and he was desperate to get to know them, to tell them that he was their father. It was a bitterly cold day and the biting wind whipped around his face as he stood there, his hands thrust deep into his coat pockets. The day before he had visited the doctor who had told him that he should be well enough to return to his regiment within the next couple of weeks. But Ben had no wish to return now. He wanted to spend time with Daisy and Thomas. But how he was going to do that he had no idea. Kathy had made it more than clear that she no longer had any feelings for him, and she never wanted to see him again, and now the clock was ticking.
At that moment a teacher appeared and rang a bell and the children formed straggly lines and were promptly marched back into school leaving Ben feeling bereft. He turned despondently and began the long trek back into town where he had rented a room in a rather seedy bed and breakfast in one of the back streets close to the town centre. He had been coming to the school fence for the last few days, watching his children avidly at break times like a starving man might eye a feast, but now he was getting desperate. Somehow, he must come up with a plan for them to be together – they were his own flesh and blood, after all.
‘George been spoiling you, has he?’ Cissie asked the next afternoon when Peggy, Thomas and Daisy arrived home from school, each clutching a bag of aniseed balls. It was usually George who collected them, apart from the rare days when Kathy wasn’t working.
‘No, it weren’t me,’ George said defensively as he hung his coat on a nail in the back of the door. ‘I know Cook don’t like ’em to have sweets afore their dinner.’
‘So where did you get them then?’ Cissie queried as Peggy skipped off to find Edith. Daisy and Thomas shrugged.
‘From the nice man who stands outside the school fence,’ Daisy told her innocently.
Cissie scowled. ‘What nice man? And did he give any of the other kids sweets?’
‘No,’ Thomas said, his cheek bulging with the treats. ‘He just likes us.’
‘Hm, well just mind what I said about talking to strangers,’ Cissie warned as she placed a glass of milk each on the table for them. ‘And make sure as Cook doesn’t see you eatin’ ’em afore your meals an’ all, else she’ll have your guts for garters.’
The children giggled as they greedily slurped their milk and, for now, the incident was forgotten.
The next day, George drove the car into town to do the shopping. Because petrol was now so hard to come by, he hardly used it anymore, but the two old nags were being shod, and the car needed a little run now and then to keep the engine in good condition. Unfortunately, on the way home he had a puncture in one of the tyres and he’d had to abandon the car and walk to the nearest garage to get it repaired, which meant that by the time it was fixed he was running late for picking the children up from school.
‘The shoppin’s in the car,’ he told Cissie breathlessly when he finally arrived home. ‘I’ll have to leave you to unload it yourself else I’ll be late for pickin’ the children up. I had a puncture on the way home an’ it’s put me a bit behind.’ And with that he was off like a shot from a gun.
At that moment, Ben was standing in the trees over the road from the school entrance watching the children come out. His heart was thumping. Normally by this time George was here waiting for them but so far today there had been no sign of him. Could this be his chance? At that moment Daisy and Thomas appeared in the school doorway, their little satchels and gas masks slung over their shoulders, and when they reached the gate they paused to glance up and down the lane for George who had told them they must wait there for him should he ever be late. There were just the two of them today as Edith had kept Peggy at home because of a bad cough. Deciding that it was now or never, Ben stepped from the shelter of the trees and hurried across to them. He had been wrestling with his conscience ever since he had spoken to Kathy, but now he had convinced himself that he deserved a chance to get to know them.
‘Hello, you two.’
Looking up they found themselves staring at the kindly stranger who had been treating them to sweeties and they smiled at him.
‘I’m Ben, a friend of your mummy’s,’ he told them jovially. ‘George can’t fetch you today, so she asked me to pick you up. But first I’m going to take you both on a little adventure.’
The smiles slid from the children’s face as they stared doubtfully at each other. If what he was saying was true, why hadn’t Mummy told them about him? She had always told them they must never go off with a stranger, but then he wasn’t really a stranger, was he? They had seen him quite a number of times over the last few day
s and he’d always treated them kindly. Furthermore, if Mummy had told him to pick them up from school, she would be angry if they didn’t do as he asked, wouldn’t she?
‘All right.’ It was Daisy who made the decision. ‘But what sort of adventure are you taking us on?’
‘You’ll see. It’s a surprise,’ Ben told them, as he took their hands and led them away in the opposite direction to which he knew George would come. ‘First of all, we’re going to have a ride on a bus into town. And then I’m going to take you on a train ride.’
Thomas still looked a little doubtful, but Daisy’s eyes were shining. ‘A train ride! Cor, I love trains,’ she exclaimed. ‘David takes me trainspottin’ sometimes when he comes home on leave.’ And almost before they knew it, they were on a bus heading into town.
As the end of her shift approached, Matron came up to Kathy, who was dressing a wound in one of the wards.
‘Nurse Branning, would you come with me, please? Nurse Wilson can finish doing that, I need to speak to you and it’s rather urgent.’
Kathy wiped her hands on the towel she had laid ready and followed Matron into the small hospital foyer where she found her mother and George waiting anxiously for her.
Her mother looked pale and George was nervously twisting his cap in his hands as they looked towards her and Kathy suddenly felt sick.
‘Has something happened to one of the children?’ It was her first thought and now her heart was hammering so loudly that she was sure they must be able to hear it.
‘No … Yes … Well, actually we’re not quite sure,’ George stammered. ‘Y’see, I was a few minutes late fetchin’ ’em from school today cos of a puncture I got in the car. It were only a few minutes late, mind, but when I got there they were gone. There weren’t a sign of ’em.’
‘What do you mean … they were gone?’ Kathy said accusingly. ‘Gone where?’
‘We don’t know,’ George admitted guiltily. ‘The teachers didn’t see ’em leave an’ I walked up an’ down the lane fer ages but I didn’t get so much as a sniff of ’em.’
‘Perhaps they got invited to one of their friends’ for tea?’ Kathy suggested, clutching at straws.
George shook his head. ‘I’ve already called round the houses of every one o’ their friends I could think of, but they weren’t at any o’ them.’
Kathy began to anxiously chew on her knuckles as she glanced towards the window. It was already very dark, and a thick hoar frost was beginning to form on the grass.
‘Then we must go straight to the police,’ she said urgently. Suddenly a thought occurred to her and she gasped fearfully. Ben! Could it be that he had taken them off somewhere? As yet she hadn’t mentioned his visit to her mother for fear of upsetting her but now she knew that she must risk it.
‘Mum … I’m afraid there’s something I haven’t told you,’ she began in a small voice and by the time she had finished her tale Sunday was as pale as lint.
‘But surely you don’t think Ben might have taken them, do you?’ she asked and when Kathy nodded, she frowned.
‘But why ever would he do that?’
It was time for the terrible secret that Kathy had kept for all those years to be told. ‘Because …’ she began falteringly. ‘Ben is their father …’
Chapter Forty-Seven
‘It seems that a man and two children matching your descriptions boarded a train for London late this afternoon,’ a police officer informed Kathy later that night. The police had been scouring the town for them ever since Kathy had reported them missing.
‘London!’ Kathy was shocked. ‘But it’s so dangerous there! And it’s so big. What are our chances of finding them if he’s taken them there?’
The officer sighed. ‘To be completely honest with you, not a lot,’ he admitted. ‘Unfortunately, by the time we thought to check the train station they would have already arrived in London and what with all the bombings and the state that place is in …’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’s going to be a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. But don’t worry,’ he went on hastily, seeing Kathy’s deep distress. ‘We’ve already spoken to the police there and given them the children’s descriptions. They’ll be keeping a lookout for them, so don’t give up hope.’
Tears spilled down Kathy’s cheeks. Why hadn’t she guessed that Ben might be capable of doing something like this? And why hadn’t she told her mother about his visit? But it was too late for regrets now. Somehow, she had to find them. They would be so frightened in such a big city without her once they realised that Ben wasn’t going to bring them back. Another thought occurred to her then and the tears fell faster. David had told her Ben was suffering from shell shock, so why hadn’t she realised that he wouldn’t be thinking straight? He probably wasn’t even capable of looking after himself properly, let alone the children, so what would become of them? And all the bombings that were taking place there – look at what had happened to poor Bobby when he returned to London. What if her babies were killed? She wouldn’t be able to bear it.
‘Please, tell the police to keep looking,’ she sobbed, and the policeman nodded and after replacing his helmet left quietly by the back door.
‘Oh, darling, why did you never tell me that Ben was their father?’ Sunday asked.
‘I … I suppose I was too ashamed to; I thought you’d be shocked,’ Kathy answered with a catch in her voice. ‘Even though he was my stepbrother I thought I loved him, and I thought he loved me too. It took a long while for me to realise that he never had. I was just some part of his plan to hurt us all before he cleared off. Then I suppose my pride was hurt and I convinced myself that I could bring the children up without him …’
‘And a very good job you’ve made of it,’ her mother told her as Cissie nodded in agreement. George, however, was silent as he sat in the chair by the fire, his head bowed, blaming himself. If only he’d been on time to pick the little ones up none of this would ever have happened.
As if she could read his mind Sunday suddenly told him, ‘George, why don’t you try to get some rest? You’ve been out searching with the police since late afternoon and you look exhausted. And, George, please don’t get thinking any of this is your fault. What happened to you could have happened to any one of us.’
Kathy raised her streaming eyes to nod her agreement. ‘She’s right, George. I couldn’t have gone back to work if it weren’t for you agreeing to meet the children from school each day for me, and any one of us could have been delayed getting there, so please don’t blame yourself. Ben was clearly just biding his time to grab them. In fact, I wouldn’t mind betting he’s the “nice man” they spoke of that has been hanging around the school giving them sweets and getting them to trust him. If only I’d put two and two together, I could have put a stop to it, so if anyone’s to blame it’s me.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ Sunday told her sharply. ‘It isn’t anyone’s fault but Ben’s. He’s always had a chip on his shoulder the size of a house brick. He seems to think he’s the only one who’s ever lost someone he loves – I can’t make excuses for him anymore, so let’s hear no more of who’s to blame. There’s absolutely nothing more we can do tonight, and it’s been a very long day, so I suggest we all try to get some sleep so that we’re fresh for tomorrow.’
Cissie and George took their leave to return to their little cottage and Edith and Cook retired too, leaving Sunday and Kathy sitting by the fire.
‘I can’t believe you’ve kept this secret from me all this time,’ Sunday said brokenly. ‘Didn’t you trust me enough to tell me?’
‘It wasn’t that; I just thought because Ben and I had been brought up in this house together that you’d disapprove.’
‘Well, if I’m honest I suppose I would have found it hard to come to terms with – he is so much older than you that it would never have occurred to me that you’d ever look at him that way,’ Sunday admitted. ‘But then you aren’t blood related, so you were doing nothing wrong. Come along, I think we
should go up now too. Tomorrow is another day and who knows what it might bring.’
Arm in arm they climbed the stairs although neither of them managed to sleep a wink for worrying about the missing children.
‘I don’t like it here,’ Thomas stated emphatically the next morning when he woke in the poky little room that was the only place Ben had managed to find for them to stay the night before. There were two single beds in it. Ben had slept in one and Thomas and Daisy had slept end to end in the other. ‘The sheets smell funny,’ he went on with a wobble in his voice. ‘And I want to go home to my mummy!’ He promptly burst into tears.
‘Shush, we will just so soon as we’ve finished havin’ our adventure,’ Daisy soothed as she placed her arm about his shoulder, though in truth she hadn’t been having the best of times up to now either. Still, she thought optimistically, today is bound to get better. There were so many wonderful things to see and places to visit in London that their teacher had shown them in books; perhaps they would get to see some of them in real life today? For now, though, her main concern was hunger; her tummy was rumbling ominously, and she was desperate to use the toilet as well. Ben had woken her up a couple of times during the night when he had called out in his sleep but thankfully Thomas had slept through it, which was just as well, Daisy thought, cos her brother wasn’t as brave as she was.
Time to Say Goodbye Page 27
