The Teashop Girls

by Elaine Everest

  The men sat down at the table, and Flora outlined who was living in the house, listing their names and how many bedrooms she had free. ‘At the moment we are full up. However, my daughter, Rose Neville, is about to leave home. She’s to be a manageress of the Lyons teashop in Margate, and will be living nearby,’ she added proudly. ‘I intend to move my guest, Anya Polinski, from the small box room into Rose’s bedroom. So I can offer the small room to one gentleman officer.’

  The corporal scribbled frantically, trying to keep up with what Flora had to say, while Sergeant Miller listened attentively before speaking. ‘Would it be possible to see these two rooms,’ he asked, ‘along with the two rooms rented by Mrs Hannigan and her young daughter? Oh, and the rooms belonging to your other guests – Miss Tibbs, Miss Dalrymple and Mr Cardew?’

  Flora frowned. ‘I’m sure that would be possible. Would you mind if I went to check with the ladies first? My daughter is out at the moment, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you looking in her room. Here, drink your tea while I pop upstairs. Hopefully Mrs Hannigan hasn’t put young Pearl to bed yet. It wouldn’t be right to disturb the child when she has school tomorrow. As for Mr Cardew . . . he is a bit of a recluse, so possibly will object to his rooms being viewed.’

  ‘A recluse, you say?’

  Flora felt flustered. ‘It’s only what I call him. He rents one bedroom at the top of the house, and I allow him use of the attic room as he likes to bird-watch. He’s no trouble most of the time, as we hardly see each other.’ She wasn’t about to mention the concern she’d felt about the man since Rose had mentioned his nocturnal walkabouts.

  The sergeant agreed, and she left them with their tea and a few biscuits she’d hurriedly put on a plate.

  As Flora climbed the stairs to the second floor, she removed the wraparound pinny and the scarf she’d tied around her hair whilst cleaning. She wasn’t one to answer the front door in such apparel, and blamed the tiring day she’d had for her lapse of presentation. Tapping on the door to Miss Tibbs’ room, she was quickly invited in. Miss Tibbs and Anya were busy pinning a paper pattern to a length of navy-blue worsted material.

  ‘Have you come to help us?’ Miss Tibbs enquired. ‘Here, let me clear a seat for you.’

  ‘I would love to have helped,’ Flora said, taking in the many ornaments around the room placed on shelves and most available surfaces. ‘But it’s Anya I’d like to speak to, if I may?’

  ‘Do you have the problem?’ Anya asked after removing several pins from between her lips.

  ‘No, not a problem as such. It’s just that we have the army billeting officer downstairs, and he wishes to look at some of the bedrooms. He would like to look at yours, if he may?’

  ‘The army wants my bedroom?’ Anya asked, going slightly pale.

  Miss Tibbs patted her arm. ‘No, my dear, they won’t take your room. I’ll make sure of that. They will have me to contend with first,’ she reassured her, before turning to Flora. ‘They won’t take dear Anya’s room, will they?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ Flora said. ‘It’s just that as we plan to move you into Rose’s room shortly, the army may decide to put somebody into your room. Accommodation is in short supply at the moment with so many men stationed in the area. Most of the guesthouses have empty rooms, as it is out of season. People mostly come to Ramsgate in the summer. Not that we expect many to visit this year,’ she sighed. ‘The ideal situation is that they put these men into the vacant rooms until the summer season starts. I am fortunate in that I have long-term guests in this house but even so, they wish to check availability. Does this answer your question, Anya? No one intends to kick you out, be assured of that,’ she smiled.

  Miss Tibbs looked thoughtful. ‘I’d much rather have some of those handsome RAF chaps from the Manston airfield staying here. Do you think we could ask, Flora dear?’

  Flora chuckled. ‘I’m afraid it doesn’t quite work like that, Miss Tibbs, although I must say I agree with you. Can you spare a few minutes now, Anya? The sooner we sort this out, the better.’

  Anya stood up to follow Flora, who was already going downstairs to knock on Mrs Hannigan’s door. ‘I think I too would like a pilot to live here,’ she whispered to Miss Tibbs.

  Sergeant Miller went first to Rose’s bedroom and paced the length and breadth of the room as his corporal wrote down what was said to him. Flora was pleased to see that Rose had left the room tidy, as sometimes there were clothes lying all over the place when she was rushing off somewhere in a hurry. They then did the same in Anya’s smaller room, although only the sergeant went in. He called his measurements out to the hall, as the room was too small for them all to fit inside.

  After that Flora took them to the two rooms that Mrs Hannigan rented, making many apologies for interrupting her evening, while Anya went downstairs to the kitchen. Flora joined her once she’d shown the two men to the door and checked the blackout curtain was back in place.

  ‘I have been thinking,’ Anya said. ‘I am very comfortable in my room; it feels like home to me. We should let the army move into Rose’s room. I believe the war is more important than me sleeping in a larger bed, don’t you think?’

  Flora, who was finishing her now cold tea, tried not to splutter as she imagined a whole army living in her back bedroom. Her feelings were that Sergeant Miller had already made this decision, but it was nice of Anya to offer. ‘Thank you, my dear. Shall we wait and see what’s in the letter before we decide? I just hope that Mrs Hannigan and Pearl aren’t inconvenienced, as I feel Sergeant Miller will request they give up one of their rooms. They keep themselves very much to themselves, as does Mr Cardew, and that’s as it should be. They are able to treat the house as their home and do as they please.’

  ‘I have yet to meet this Mr Cardew. Where did you say he sleeps?’ Anya asked.

  ‘At the very top of the house. He has his own staircase that leads from the first floor. Years ago, it would have been where the servants slept.’

  ‘This house had servants and now you work alone caring for the people here?’ Anya said in wonder. ‘Then I help you more. You should not be servant to us all. It is not right,’ she added firmly with a serious look on her face.

  ‘Oh Anya, you do make me smile. It is not as if I wait hand and foot on all my guests. Most clean their own rooms, and I only supply breakfast and dinner if it is required. It is nothing like the old days, when General Sykes lived here. Then I did have to work a little harder.’

  Anya raised her eyes with interest. ‘You were proper servant then?’

  ‘I preferred the title “housekeeper” in those days. But we did have a lady coming to do odd cleaning jobs. My husband was also alive then, so he helped.’

  Anya thought about this and nodded her head slowly. ‘It was good setup but still you were servant to another. Now you are boss lady,’ she grinned.

  ‘I suppose I am, and in a way that is why I worry about you all, from the elderly Miss Tibbs down to the youngest guest, Pearl Hannigan. You are all like family to me.’

  ‘I meet little Pearl and she is . . . what you say . . . delightful. I should like a daughter like her one day, when war is over.’

  ‘Don’t wait too long, as age creeps up on us and then it is too late.’

  ‘First I have to find husband. He is here in Kent somewhere. Then we live as man and wife again and the babies come along,’ Anya said, placing a hand on her stomach. ‘If he still wants me as wife.’

  Flora watched the sadness flit across her face. ‘You had a child, Anya . . .? Please don’t answer if you don’t wish to. But anything you tell me I will not repeat.’

  Anya gave her landlady a smile. ‘You are a good woman, Flora, and I wish to share my story with you.’

  Flora sat quietly and listened as Anya told how her family had perished as the Nazis invaded Poland. The shock of finding both her parents slain had caused her to lose her much-wanted baby. Her husband, Henio, had been a pilot in the Polish air force. Word had reached her
just before the invasion that he was no longer in Poland, and that she should leave her beloved country – but it was too late. The night her parents and siblings perished she had been in a village close by, arranging to travel with another pilot’s wife to France, where they’d hoped to meet with their husbands. Going home to say goodbye to her family had been the biggest shock of her life. The house had all but gone, and only bricks and rubble remained. Neighbours had pulled bodies from the destruction, and they managed to bury their loved ones before fleeing. Anya had only the clothes she stood up in, but she knew that somewhere in the remains of the building was her father’s cashbox. It took a day of searching before she came across it. The money inside enabled Anya and her friend to bribe and beg their way out of Poland to head for safety. They’d headed to Paris, where her friend Marta’s father and mother-in-law lived. The news was not good. Marta’s husband was a prisoner of the Germans, although it was thought that Henio was still well and in the air force.

  ‘Through word of mouth I discover he could be in Kent, at a place called Manston near Margate. Marta’s family helped me find a person who would arrange papers for me to reach London. It has been a long journey, but I am almost there. I plan to go to this place and see him.’

  Flora couldn’t believe what she’d heard. For a woman to come all this way after losing her child was heartbreaking. ‘You are to be admired, Anya. Not many women would undertake what you have done. If I can help in any way, I will do so. Perhaps we could write a letter to the RAF at Manston and ask for their help?’

  ‘No, we cannot do that!’ Anya shouted, looking frightened. ‘There is something I have not told you.’

  ‘Thank you for inviting me,’ Rose said as Ben helped her into her coat. ‘It was a lovely treat to be waited on rather than the other way round.’

  Ben waited while she did up the buttons on her best coat and checked her scarf was tucked in properly. ‘Shall we walk along the harbour front rather than take the direct route?’

  ‘I’d love to. I may have been born here, but I never tire of seeing the sea. Even if it is dark and there’s snow in the air,’ she added, thinking it was a daft thing to say.

  ‘I know what you mean,’ he said as they both said goodnight to the waiter who was holding open the door for them. ‘I’m a London boy born and bred. I’m used to seeing the river Thames, and that’s as good as the sea for me. There’s something about looking out over water, especially when you’re alone and able to think.’

  ‘I agree. I don’t think I’d be up to working on a boat, like Mildred. She’s one of our ladies at the guest house,’ she added, seeing his enquiring look. ‘Her father left her his fishing boat and she goes out in it in all weathers. Would you believe she even helped drag a mine out of the sea the other day?’

  Ben took her arm as they crossed the road and walked over to the iron railings circling that part of the harbour. He held onto her as they gazed out to sea. The tide was in, and they listened as it lapped against the boats moored nearby. ‘I could almost imagine there was no war and we were a couple on our holiday, taking a walk,’ he said.

  Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She felt the same, but in her mind she was married to this handsome man. She could feel the warmth of his arm through hers and her heart beating fast in her chest. ‘Shall we sit down?’

  They sat companionably side by side, not saying a word and both deep in thought, until Rose shivered. ‘You’re cold,’ Ben exclaimed and put his arm around her, pulling her into the open fold of his army greatcoat. ‘Better?’

  ‘Much,’ she mumbled as she breathed in a mix of warm wool from his uniform and the scent of his shaving soap and cigarettes. She could stay here forever.

  ‘I have to leave early tomorrow morning,’ he said right out of the blue.

  Rose froze. She had known he would have to leave Ramsgate soon, but his words still caught her by surprise. ‘Will I see you again?’ she asked in little more than a whisper.

  ‘I was going to ask you when you would be in London for your training. If it is soon, I could take you dancing – or to see a show?’

  Rose felt her heart start to beat so fast she thought it would burst. He wanted to see her again. ‘The day after tomorrow, I catch the early train. Lyons have arranged a place for me to stay, and I have to report to an office in the Strand for further instructions. As I’m needed as soon as possible, they are bypassing the longer training period, but I’ll be learning the job at Orchard House. I’m rather scared by the whole thing,’ she added honestly.

  ‘Then we can definitely meet. Give me the name of your hotel and we can make arrangements,’ he said.

  Rose laughed. ‘Nothing so glamorous as a hotel; I’m to stay in a kind of hostel for women who work in Lyons and nearby department stores. I have the feeling we may even be chaperoned,’ she giggled. She felt a rumble of laughter come from Ben.

  ‘Then we shall have to behave and have you home on time,’ he laughed.

  Rose felt inside her handbag and pulled out the envelope containing her instructions, given to her that afternoon by the area manager. ‘Here – you will need my torch in order to read this, but be careful as we have some rather officious ARP wardens around here. One of them is my mum, but she’s not on duty this evening. She does love to shout at people if she sees a light, though . . .’

  ‘And so she should. One chink of light showing in this town could guide enemy aircraft to pinpoint not only where we are, but also help them find the airfield at Manston,’ he said, as he quickly scribbled down the details of where Rose would be staying in London.

  ‘Oh my goodness. I’d never thought of it like that. Do you really believe they will send over planes to bomb us here in Kent?’ she asked with a shiver.

  Ben turned off the torch and put his arms around her, pulling her close. As she looked up into his face, trying to distinguish his features, the moon came out from behind a cloud and she could see the passion in his eyes. ‘You’ve no need to be frightened,’ he said as she raised her face to his. ‘I’ll take care of you,’ he added before claiming her lips.

  Rose felt as though time had stood still, and if it hadn’t been for the voices of men on a nearby fishing boat she’d have been happy to stay there with Ben for eternity. She reluctantly pulled away. ‘I think I should be going home. It’ll be getting late, and Mum will start to worry,’ she said as she stood up and straightened her coat.

  ‘I’ll walk you to your door,’ Ben said as he took her hand and they crossed back over the road to head up Madeira Walk. ‘Does your mother always wait up for you?’

  ‘No, I’m old enough to look after myself, but she fusses like a mother hen at times. We only have each other, as Dad died when I was ten years old. I don’t like her to worry about me,’ she said, feeling embarrassed that she’d even mentioned Flora.

  ‘That’s good. Everyone should have someone to worry about them,’ Ben said.

  ‘But who worries about you?’ Rose asked, realizing she knew very little about the handsome army officer.

  ‘I’m old enough not to need someone worrying about me.’

  ‘We are never too old for that. Perhaps I could worry about you . . . even a little?’ she added.

  ‘I’m the person who should do the caring and the worrying. I’ve had enough experience of that,’ he added with a touch of bitterness in his voice. ‘That’s why they made me a captain in the army,’ he added, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

  ‘I shall worry about you all the same. You can’t stop me,’ she said defiantly. ‘May I ask where you will be going after you’ve been to London? I take it you will be shipped out somewhere?’

  Ben took a deep breath. He’d been dreading Rose asking. ‘I can’t say. To be honest, it’s still not one hundred per cent decided. I’ll find out more in a few days. All I can say is, it will be sooner rather than later.’

  Rose was quiet for a few minutes as they crossed the road and walked towards the guesthouse. ‘Then we’d bes
t make the most of our time together in London,’ she declared in a defiant voice.

  Ben started to laugh at the determination in her voice, but stopped dead in his tracks. ‘Did you see that?’

  ‘No – what are you looking at? I can hardly see what’s across the road.’

  ‘Look up at the attic window of that house. Wait until the cloud passes over, and we may see it again. There you are . . .’

  ‘Oh my,’ Rose declared, as a glint of something was caught in the moonlight before the cloud passed over again. ‘Yes, I saw a flash of what looked like light on glass. But it was most likely the moon on the windowpane,’ she suggested.

  ‘No, that wouldn’t happen. It’s something smaller behind the window, like a mirror. Perhaps even a flashlight. Look! There it is again. Whose house is it?’

  ‘It’s the attic window at Sea View . . . my mum’s house,’ Rose whispered.

  They both stood looking up at the window until Ben broke the silence. ‘Whose room would that be?’

  ‘No one sleeps there, but Mr Cardew’s room is just below it, and Mum allows him to store his things up in the attic.’

  ‘What kind of things would those be?’ he asked thoughtfully.

  ‘I have no idea. I assume they’re his boxes and suitcases from when he moved in. I don’t know the man very well – he’s not one for joining us for dinner. Mum says he’s rather shy, so she takes a tray up to his room most evenings when he’s home. He is a bit of a night owl, though. I can hear him moving about long after I’m tucked up in bed. Should I mention this to Mum?’

  ‘No . . . I feel it’s best to keep this between ourselves. We don’t want to worry anyone, do we?’

  Rose agreed. But for the second time that evening, she was starting to worry.

  7

  Flora looked at Anya’s stricken face. ‘Have you not told me the complete truth, Anya?’