by Daisy Styles
‘It’s my way of relaxing and I get to chat to all the residents,’ she insisted to Sister Ann. ‘And I have my best conversations with God when I’m on my hands and knees scrubbing the floors.’
Though the nun shook her head in despair, it was difficult not to smile at Shirley’s sincere comments.
‘You’ll wear yourself out,’ she warned.
So Shirley was a regular sight on the wards, clanking along with her mop and a bucket containing hot water laced with pungent disinfectant.
‘Wouldn’t it be marvellous if you were made Matron permanent like?’ she remarked one day when she bumped into Ada in the sluice room.
‘I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that, Shirley,’ Ada chuckled. ‘The Board of Governors and the convent would have to advertise the post and interview the candidates; they can’t just give the job to somebody they like,’ she giggled. ‘Anyway, to be honest, I’m not sure I’d like a job that involved so much desk work. I love working on the wards, I love my patients, and I love midwifery – I’d miss all of those things if I were behind a desk a good part of the day.’
Shirley gave a shy smile. ‘I like it when you’re in charge – we have more fun!’
‘I’m not sure FUN should be top of the list in a maternity home,’ Ada joked.
Shirley laid aside her mop in order to give Ada a hug. ‘Well, it is in Mary Vale these days – and I for one have never been so happy nor had so much fun in my life!’
Emily was full of happiness and energy too. When she wasn’t feeding, bathing and changing Noel, she generally helped out where she could.
‘You’ve only just given birth; you’re supposed to be resting,’ Ada chided the new mother when she found her sterilizing feeding bottles in the prep room.
‘I like to keep busy,’ Emily admitted. ‘And I like being near Noel too – I love watching him sleeping – he’s got the sweetest little mouth, which I find it hard not to kiss.’
‘How’s the feeding going?’ Ada inquired.
‘Only days old and he has the appetite of a horse!’ Emily replied.
‘Don’t go overdoing it,’ Ada warned. ‘Sister Ann told me you’d got cracked nipples the other day.’
‘It was so painful, I nearly cried!’ Emily exclaimed. ‘But Sister Ann gave me some marvellous cream that really helped. Though I sometimes worry that I might not be producing enough milk,’ she fretted.
‘The more Noel sucks, the more milk you’ll produce,’ Ada assured her. ‘Now stop worrying, Em: you’re a wonderful mother.’
‘It’s not difficult when you love your baby as much as I do,’ Emily murmured dreamily.
After they’d finished sterilizing the feeding equipment, Ada suggested that they make a quick cup of tea in the kitchen. Emily set out the tea things on the table, deep in thought.
‘Do you recall how nervous I was about telling George’s parents I was pregnant?’
Ada nodded. ‘Yes, I remember.’
‘Well, I’ve realized I’m not nervous any more,’ Emily continued. ‘I’m so proud of my son – George’s son – that I could shout it from the rooftops! Anyway, I’ve decided to tell Mr and Mrs Holden. I want them to know they have a fine grandson.’
A smile spread across Ada’s lovely face. ‘Don’t waste time writing, Em, she said. ‘Phone them!’
‘Phone?’ Emily gasped.
‘Yes, from my office. Think how happy it might make them.’
‘Or not,’ Emily pointed out.
‘Emily, it’s your decision,’ Ada solemnly replied. ‘But consider this: we’re at war, and George’s parents are worried sick about their only son, whom they haven’t seen in months, and they don’t even know they have a grandchild sleeping sweetly in his cradle here.’
Emily gazed into Ada’s sparkling blue eyes for several seconds, then she leapt to her feet. ‘You’re right!’ she exclaimed.
After Mr and Mrs Holden had got over the shock of hearing Emily’s voice on the other end of the phone, they were even more shocked when she broke the news of Noel’s birth to them.
‘Grandparents!’ they gasped.
‘Yes!’ Emily exclaimed, adding the details of Noel’s birth and his birthplace too.
‘I had to book into Mary Vale home for mothers and babies,’ she explained. ‘I didn’t give you details in my letter, as I thought you would be ashamed of us, but after giving birth to Noel I know there’s no shame in his being alive. He’s a joy – the living image of George – and I love him so much,’ Emily told them proudly.
After she’d concluded her highly emotional conversation with Mr and Mrs Holden, Emily left Ada’s office with a big smile on her face.
‘It went well?’ Ada cried when she saw Emily’s happy expression.
‘They want to see him!’ Emily exclaimed. ‘They asked if they could come and visit us here in Mary Vale and I said yes!’
‘I’ll take a photo of the pair of you with my little Box Brownie camera,’ generous Ada suggested. ‘A picture of their new grandson will make their Christmas.’
Radiant Emily said, ‘He’s certainly made mine!’
Though Gloria and Emily were busy throughout the day in their different ways, they always made sure they had a cup of cocoa together before they went to bed.
‘Put your feet up, lovie,’ Emily insisted when she saw Gloria’s pale, drawn face. ‘I’ll make it tonight.’
With a stiff back and swollen feet, Gloria was more than grateful to be able to climb into her bed next to Robin; the little boy, worn out by the day’s constant activities, lay fast asleep.
As Emily boiled milk on the little electric hot plate they kept in their room, Gloria lay flat on her back, glumly surveying her huge stomach.
‘I look like a barrage balloon,’ she groaned. ‘I swear to God I was never as big as this the first time round,’ she whispered, so as not to disturb Robin.
‘It’ll soon be over,’ Emily assured her. ‘And then you’ll be back to your former slender self,’ she teased.
Gloria smiled gratefully at her friend as Emily handed her a steaming mug of cocoa.
‘Oh, Em, promise you won’t leave the Home until I’ve had the baby?’ she begged. ‘I know I’ve got lovely Ada and sweet little Shirley, but I’d be lost without you, Em,’ she admitted with tears in her eyes.
‘Don’t worry: I’ll stay until they kick me out,’ Emily joked. ‘Though, to be honest, Gloria, I’m getting worried about where I actually will go next. I’ll have to make some sort of arrangements soon; I can’t stay at Mary Vale forever.’
‘Unlike me,’ Gloria pointed out. ‘We’ll be here until it’s safe to return to London – the last of our gang: you, me, Isla, Nancy, Daphne,’ she murmured as she sipped her cocoa. ‘I read in the paper that a lot of evacuees have already returned to London; they say they can’t see the point of being in somebody else’s home when they could be in their own. Some are calling it a Phoney War – I must say, I’m tempted myself, though Stan would have a fit.’
Emily didn’t look convinced. ‘Lovie, don’t do anything rash,’ she warned. ‘It might seem quiet but that doesn’t mean Hitler and his armies have downed tools.’
‘God! How I wish that carpenter had succeeded in killing Hitler a few months ago,’ Gloria said with a heavy sigh. ‘Without him and his crazy rhetoric, people might begin to see sense.’
Emily shook her head. ‘I don’t think so: if it wasn’t Hitler, it would be some other crazy man; now that the wheels of war have been set in motion, there’ll be no easy way of stopping it.’ Determined to change the subject to something more light-hearted, she looked up with a grin. ‘Come on, cheer up, tell me what your New Year’s resolution is?’
‘To have this baby as soon as possible!’ Gloria laughed.
‘Seriously, what else?’ Emily persisted.
‘To write to Stan more often, to knit him more socks and send him tins of spam and bars of soap.’ Her eyes swam with tears. ‘I can’t think of him without wanting to
cry these days. It’s only been just over two months since he went off to war, but it feels like an eternity.’ Reaching out, she stroked Emily’s hand. ‘Your turn, missis: what’s your resolution for 1940?’
‘To get a job and be a good mother and pray every day, twice a day, for George to come home and marry me.’
At which point she burst into tears.
‘Oh, heck, what a pair we are,’ Emily cried. ‘Is it my hormones that’re making me so weepy and emotional?’
‘No, sweetheart,’ Gloria replied. ‘It’s just love.’
On New Year’s Day, Mary Vale went about its business as usual, though Sister Mary Paul tried to make it a bit special by baking scones and a custard tart, which she served to the residents in the dining room after their meal of Lancashire hotpot and baked beans.
‘There’s talk of food rationing starting soon,’ she said gloomily.
‘You’ll manage, Sister!’ Sister Ann exclaimed. ‘You’re an absolute miracle worker, coming up with delicious meals the way you do.’
Sister Mary Paul gave a little shrug. ‘Not as good as what Jesus did with his five loaves and two fishes!’ she chuckled.
In the afternoon, before tea was served, Emily took advantage of the last of the daylight, and, after wrapping Noel up warmly and popping him into a big Silver Cross pram, she set off for a walk around Mary Vale’s pretty grounds.
‘Won’t be long,’ she told Ada. ‘Just in need of some good fresh air.’
Ada gazed longingly out of the wide bay window. ‘Wish I could come with you,’ she said, her eyes drifting towards the fells. ‘I’d love to be on the tops on a day like today.’
‘Well, I can promise you I won’t be pushing a pram up Hamps Fell,’ Emily joked. ‘Not all of us are intrepid mountaineers!’
It was good to be outside with Noel tucked up warm and cosy, fast asleep in his pram. Humming softly to herself, Emily strolled along the pathway, gently bouncing the pram, slowing down when she saw a car in the distance turning into the driveway. When she came to the bench positioned at a high point of the garden, giving views of the vast sweep of Morecambe Bay and the tide that was roaring in sparkling silver-grey waves across the marsh, Emily sat down to admire the view, and it was there that the visitors from the car found her.
Recognizing the smartly dressed, middle-aged man and woman who were approaching her, Emily sprang to her feet. ‘Mr and Mrs Holden!’ she cried in complete amazement.
‘I hope you don’t mind, dear,’ Mrs Holden quickly apologized. ‘The nice ward sister said we’d find you out here.’
Emily’s heart began to beat rapidly; turning to Mr Holden, who was tall and broad across the shoulders, just like his son, she suddenly felt dizzy and light-headed; swaying, she grabbed hold of the bench to support herself.
‘Please,’ Mr Holden cried, as he rushed forwards to help her. ‘Please, sit.’
‘We shouldn’t have come like this; we should have warned you, dear,’ Mrs Holden said, sitting down beside Emily. ‘But we just couldn’t stop ourselves,’ she blurted out. ‘After we got your phone call, we were anxious to see you … both.’
Mrs Holden’s eyes strayed longingly towards the pram.
Finding her voice, which was squeaky with shock, Emily gasped, ‘How nice of you to come all this way.’
‘May we see Noel?’ Mrs Holden asked softly.
‘Of course,’ Emily cried.
Getting to her feet, she gently lifted the soft, woolly blanket that was keeping Noel snug and warm. ‘He’s just dozed off,’ she whispered.
When she handed the baby to his grandparents, they were both visibly overcome. Dabbing tell-tale tears from his eyes, Mr Holden said gruffly, ‘My God! He’s the spit of our George.’
‘He’s perfect,’ Mrs Holden sighed, as she cradled him in her arms.
Grouped around Noel, they stared, transfixed, into his sweet, perfect baby face.
‘My dear,’ Mrs Holden said, as she laid her hand on Emily’s. ‘You have no idea how very happy you have made us.’
Ada discreetly left the visitors alone with Emily for a short time, but, as rain clouds gathered, she invited the Holdens into the Home for tea, which was made even grander by Mrs Holden’s unexpected, luxurious gift: a box of chocolates. Robin’s eyes all but popped out of his head when he saw the layers of chocolates nestled in tissue paper.
‘Are they really real?’ he gasped.
‘Try one,’ Mr Holden urged. ‘Try two, in fact,’ he laughed.
When Robin bit into a coffee cream, followed by a strawberry fondant, his green eyes grew round in wonder. ‘Thank you!’ he declared. ‘They’re even better than Merry Paul’s jam tarts.’
While Noel slept, Emily sat in the sitting room drinking tea with (now on first-name terms) Reggie and Margaret.
‘We have no further news of George, I’m afraid,’ Reggie said before Emily could ask. ‘I wish I could say otherwise.’
For the second time in an hour Margaret’s eyes filled with tears, ‘The silence is just killing us!’ she exclaimed. ‘Not knowing is simply unbearable.’
Readjusting the weight of sleeping Noel in the crook of her arm, Emily’s voice was heated. ‘WHY can’t somebody somewhere tell us something? Did George and his squadron just disappear into thin air when they were transferred overseas? Were they shot down? Captured? Are they all dead?’ she choked.
Seeing her tearful, Margaret said apologetically, ‘We shouldn’t be talking like this; it’s too upsetting for you and the baby.’
‘To be honest, it’s a relief to be able to speak freely to somebody who feels the same pain and fear,’ Emily confessed.
‘We just miss our lad so very much,’ Reggie said with a crack in his voice. ‘He’s a wonderful young man,’ he added proudly.
Emily smiled at the couple before her; she had been so worried they would disapprove of her and judge her harshly, but now she could see they were only eager to get to know her, and baby Noel too. After talking about the Home and Noel’s birth (Emily left out all the drama that accompanied the delivery!), Margaret looked a little nervous as she prepared to say something.
‘Emily, my dear. We were wondering if you had made any progress on your plans after you leave Mary Vale?’
Not wanting them to feel sorry for her, Emily skirted round the hard truth. ‘I’ve been looking at residential positions, places where I could work and live in. That way I’d be able to look after Noel …’
Margaret turned to her husband.
‘You see, Emily, we’ve been thinking,’ he started rather shyly. ‘It’s just, well, Margaret and I would like you to consider the possibility of you and Noel coming to live with us, for a while, until you get yourselves settled, in Chester? That’s if it suits you, of course?’ he added with a nervous smile.
Seeing the blush deepen on Emily’s face, Margaret was quick to add, ‘We don’t want to rush you; take your time, dear.’
Holding back the tears that threatened to engulf her again, Emily struggled to find the words she needed. ‘But what about, you know, what people might say if I turn up at your house, an unmarried woman with a new-born baby?’
‘That’s their business, not ours,’ Reggie replied firmly. ‘We have no doubts about our offer, Emily. After losing touch with George, we couldn’t bear to lose touch with our precious grandson too – nor you, George’s beloved,’ he concluded.
Emily smiled at him gratefully. ‘I cannot thank you enough,’ she said in an emotional rush. ‘I am so very grateful to you both. I’d love to accept your very kind offer.’
Later, after she’d changed Noel’s nappy, Emily laid him in his grandmother’s arms. ‘Have a cuddle before you leave,’ she urged.
Leaving the new grandparents to enjoy a few moments’ privacy with their grandson, Emily sought out Ada on the ward to tell her the good news.
‘I know!’ Ada cried. ‘Before they came looking for you, they asked me for advice on the matter; they were worried they might come across as t
oo pushy. I hope you don’t mind, Em? I said I thought you’d appreciate their offer.’
‘Of course I don’t mind!’ Emily cried. ‘I’m so relieved. Imagine having a safe and secure home to go to after I leave here. It’s wonderful! And to be with George’s parents – it’s the closest Noel and I are going to get to being with him.’
When she returned to her visitors, Reggie was now holding Noel in his arms, and, after staring rapturously for several seconds into his grandson’s now wide-open eyes, he looked up and smiled warmly at Emily.
‘We’ll look after you both,’ he promised. ‘You’re part of our family now.’
39. The Visit
Though Isla longed to see her friends, she wrote a letter instead to beg their forgiveness for not coming to Mary Vale to visit them.
I just can’t bring Heather to Mary Vale. Even though I know Matron’s been sacked and Percival is banished, it doesn’t make any difference to me: the thought of what might have happened to little Heather in their ‘care’ simply frightens me to death. Is there any way you can visit me here in Windermere before Gloria gives birth? Jeannie said she’d pick you up and drive you both over here, and Ada too if she’s off-duty. Please come soon and forgive my nervousness.
Lots of love
Isla xx
Both women completely understood Isla’s fears.
‘I would feel the same way,’ Gloria admitted.
‘But are you fit to travel?’ Emily inquired, as her eyes swept over Gloria’s vast tummy.
‘Of course! Anyway, it’s only Windermere, not Land’s End! We needn’t trouble Jeannie: we can take the train,’ she suggested. ‘It’s not far.’
But when Ada heard of their plans, she insisted on driving them over to Windermere in the same garden van that had been used to rescue Heather from the Grange. ‘It’ll be a squash,’ she laughed. ‘But we can all squeeze up on the front seat and sing “One Man Went to Mow” all the way over the tops! I’ve a day off due, and I could certainly do with a change of scene,’ she said with a grin. ‘Plus, I’m longing to see how Heather is progressing.’
