A New Day (28 page)

They spent the next hour dancing around the kitchen and laughing. It was lovely to be carefree, even if it was only for a short time. They might now have hope that the war would be over in the not too distant future, but until then there was still danger at sea for Jack.

The village hall was crowded, and everyone was in high spirits, buoyed up by the news of troops liberating parts of France. Pat and Jean waved when they came in, so they joined them.

‘Oh good, you’ve brought a man with you.’ Pat slipped her hand through Jack’s arm. ‘I bags the first dance with our sailor.’

Jack chuckled. ‘I must warn you, Pat, that I’m not much of a dancer.’

‘You’ll do fine. You’re so tall and handsome the girls won’t worry what your feet are doing.’

Shaking his head in amusement, Jack allowed himself to be dragged on to the dance floor. It was a quickstep and Hanna watched to see if he had remembered any of the steps. He had and was managing quite well. ‘Pat’s happy tonight,’ Hanna remarked.

‘Don’t be fooled. Underneath that smile she’s just like the rest of us – worried sick about our men. But we can’t help them, or change what might happen, so we keep smiling, praying for a speedy end to the war, and their safe return.’ Jean took hold of Hanna. ‘Come on, let’s dance. I’ll lead because we’re not going to get many partners tonight now the Americans have moved out.’

Jack danced with the three of them a couple of times, and although he said he wasn’t much of a dancer, Hanna quickly realized that wasn’t so. He had good rhythm, was light on his feet, and picked up the steps quickly.

They had just finished a waltz when her brother whispered in her ear, ‘Who is that girl over there? The one in the blue frock?’

‘You mean the blonde?’ Hanna asked.

He nodded, never taking his eyes off the girl.

‘That’s Beth Grafton. She works in the local shop.’ When she saw how interested Jack was she gave him a little push. ‘Go and ask her to dance.’

He hesitated for a moment, and when the band began to play again, he strode over to her. Hanna watched and smiled when Beth stood up to dance with Jack.

‘Ah,’ said Pat, ‘he’s had his eyes on her ever since he arrived. Glad he’s finally asked her to dance. But that means we’ve lost our partner.’

Pat was right about that because they didn’t see much of Jack for the rest of the evening when he got in with Beth’s friends, and it did Hanna good to see him so relaxed and happy.

After the last dance Jack rushed over. ‘Hanna, are you going back with Jean and Pat? Only I’d like to walk Beth home.’

‘Yes, you go ahead. Have you enjoyed yourself?’

He nodded and grinned. ‘I’m glad I came.’

‘Good, now don’t keep Beth waiting. I’ll see you in the morning.’

During the rest of his leave Jack took Beth out a couple of times, and seemed quite taken with her. And, as always, Hanna, George and the boys went to the station to see him off.

‘Beth said she’ll write to me,’ Jack told Hanna, as they waited for the train to arrive. ‘I hope she does.’

‘I’m sure she will. You like her.’

‘We get on well together.’ Jack shrugged. ‘But it’s early days. We’ve got to get to know each other, and that isn’t going to be easy when I have to keep leaving, but it’s the life I’ve chosen for myself
.
She seems quite happy with that, but we’ll see.’

‘When you meet the right girl, she will accept that you’re away a lot. If she loves you and knows that the sea means a great deal to you, then she will make that her life as well. Look at Jane. The captain is away more than he’s home, and yet they are very happy together.’

‘You’re right, of course. It’s a case of finding the right one to spend the rest of your life with.’ He smiled down at her. ‘Just like you have in Alan.’

The train rumbled into the station and Jack jumped on, waving all the time until it was out of sight.

As always, Hanna said quietly, ‘Be safe, Jack.’

It wasn’t until after Paris was liberated on August the twenty-fifth that Hanna received three letters at once from Alan, and she read them with relief. He had survived the landings without injury and appeared to be in good spirits. Then in early September rockets began to fall on London, causing more death and destruction, and their joy at the news from Europe took a dip.

‘He won’t give up, will he?’ Pat slammed her fork into the ground to dig out some potatoes.

‘That damned man can’t last much longer, surely?’ Jean tossed the vegetables into a sack and tied it up. ‘But it’s taking longer than expected to reach Germany, and with winter just round the corner, that will slow things up even more. This waiting is all the more frustrating because we know the end must now be near. The only problem is, that man in Germany doesn’t seem to have received the message yet.’

‘Well, hang on a bit until we’ve cleared this field and then I’ll nip over and tell him, shall I?’ Pat joked.

Hanna laughed. ‘Good idea, Pat, but I can’t see the war being over by Christmas, as everyone was predicting, can you?’

‘I doubt it.’ Pat grimaced. ‘Still, there’s no point fretting about it. We’ve got plenty to keep us busy.’

They worked silently for another hour. It was back-breaking work, but it had to be done, and Hanna was quite pleased when it was time to go and collect the boys. ‘I’ve got to go, girls,’ she called.

They waved and Hanna hurried off to make herself presentable before going to the village.

When she reached the school it was still ten minutes to go before they all came out so she looked in at the store to say hello to Beth. Since Jack had met Beth at the dance, Hanna had taken every chance to speak to her, and the more she came to know her, the more she liked her. She seemed a sensible, level-headed girl, and appeared to understand the kind of life Jack had chosen for himself.

‘Hello, Beth.’ The shop wasn’t busy and Hanna stepped inside for a moment. ‘Heard from Jack lately?’

Beth came over to her, smiling happily. ‘I had a long letter two days ago. Have you any idea when he might be home again?’

‘Sorry.’ Hanna shook her head. ‘In peace time I always had some idea when his ship would be returning, but I’m afraid that all through the war I’ve never even known where he is. We’ll only know when he turns up.’

‘Oh well, that’s something to look forward to. What about your Alan? Any news from him?’

‘I’ve heard from him at last, and he’s all right.’

‘My dad says that the war can’t last much longer, and he reckons that the end of this year is now out of the question, but it should be over by the spring of next year.’

‘Hope he’s right. It seems to have been going on for ever, and I can hardly remember what it was like to be at peace.’ Hanna glanced at the clock. ‘Oh, I must go, or the boys will be out of school and tearing off on their own. They’re always the first through the door.’

‘You coming to the dance on Saturday?’ Beth called as Hanna hurried towards the door.

‘Yes, see you there.’ Hanna ran the few yards to the school and got there just in time. She didn’t have the chance to say much on the walk to the farm because the boys never stopped talking for one moment as they told her every detail of their day.

The next morning Hanna received a letter from Bob’s parents, and as she read it the tears trickled down her face.

‘Whatever is the matter?’ Mildred’s face was anxious as she sat next to Hanna. ‘Nothing’s happened to Jack or Alan, has it?’

‘No, it’s from Bob’s parents. Ed was killed in the landings, but Bob and Hal have survived and are all right.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry about Ed. Such nice boys, and I particularly liked Ed.’ Mildred sighed and gave a sad smile. ‘Do you remember how they wouldn’t let us make their coffee, and couldn’t stand the taste of tea?’

Hanna nodded and wiped away the tears. ‘I was praying that they would all survive the war. There’s been so much suffering and destruction, and all because of one man. I’ll be glad when it’s all over.’

‘So will we all!’

The winter dragged by and they listened avidly to the news bulletins, waiting, hoping, that the end wasn’t far off now. When spring finally arrived they were shocked by the news that President Roosevelt had died on April twelfth, and sad that he hadn’t lived long enough to see the victory that was surely about to come.

Then on April thirtieth the news came that Hitler had committed suicide, and they knew that now it could only be a matter of days before this awful conflict finally came to an end.

‘Hanna! Hanna!’ The boys ran into the garden waving little flags. ‘It’s over! The war’s over!’

Right behind them were Jane, George, Mildred and Pete, quickly followed by Pat and Jean.

‘Germany has surrendered!’ George was rubbing his hands together in excitement. ‘May the seventh will go down in history as a great day!’

‘We’re going to have a big party tomorrow.’ The boys’ faces were glowing, picking up on everyone else’s joy.

‘We certainly are.’ Pat took hold of the boys’ hands and danced them round and round. ‘We’re going to line the village street with tables, and decorate everywhere.’

‘We’re going to need everyone’s help,’ Jean told them, ‘and any food you can supply.’

‘That will be my job.’ Mildred appeared delighted at the prospect of providing food for a party.

That evening everyone from the farm gathered in the sitting room to celebrate the end of the war in Europe, their thoughts going out to those who weren’t able to be with them. The boys were now old enough to understand, and were allowed to stay up for a while so they could join in. They were far too excited to sleep, anyway.

Pat raised her glass. ‘Here’s to all our men, and may they come home soon safe and sound.’

‘Soon!’ Jean couldn’t stop smiling. ‘And we can start to live our normal lives again.’

‘What are you both going to do now?’ George asked the two Londoners. ‘You’ve been a great help around the farm and I’ll miss you if you go.’

‘Ah . . . well.’ Pat looked at Jane. ‘We was going to have a word with you about that. We’ve grown fond of our homes here, and the kids are happy at the village school. Our homes in London are just a great damned hole in the ground, and none of us fancy going back to that. We like living in the country, so do our kids. They’ve got room to run and play in green fields instead of grey concrete. Our blokes like it here as well, so . . .’

‘Then you must stay,’ Jane said, before Pat had time to finish what she was going to say. ‘The cottages are yours for as long as you want them. Wait until your men come home for good and then decide what you would all like to do, but as far as I’m concerned, I will be happy to have you stay in the cottages.’

‘Oh, thank you!’ Both women smiled with obvious relief, and Jean said, ‘That’s taken a load off our minds. We know you’ve said before that we could stay, but we wasn’t sure. Can we both still help George on the farm? Part time, of course.’

‘Yes, if that’s what you want. Arrange it with George, and I know he will be glad of your help.’

‘I certainly will. You’re a couple of very good workers.’ George smiled, pleased.

By nine o’clock all the children were having a job to keep their eyes open, so Hanna put the boys to bed, and then found somewhere for the other children to sleep until their parents left the party. Her thoughts naturally rested on Jack and Alan, wondering where they had been when the news of Germany’s surrender had come through.

‘What’s going on?’ Jack rushed up on deck when he heard the ship’s sirens blasting away. They were only a couple of hours from reaching Liverpool, but this was a hell of a racket to be making. The deck was crowded and just as he arrived a Spitfire roared overhead and executed a beautiful victory roll, one of the escort ships steamed past sounding a horn, and men were cheering.

Jack stood there, mouth open as it dawned on him – the war must be over! There was no way the ships would be making all this noise otherwise, even if they were nearing the coast. Someone spun him round and he looked into Frank’s beaming face, and Bill was thumping him on the back.

‘We made it, lad! The war is over at last.’ Bill had to shout to make himself heard. ‘We’ve been saving a little keg of rum for just this occasion. We’re going to have one hell of a celebration.’

Frank was busy handing round mugs with a small tot of rum in them, and there was much laughter as the mugs were swiftly emptied. Then a voice came over the speakers, ‘Let’s get this ship into dock.’

They all rushed to their stations, and as they made their way into the docks, Jack knew that this moment was something he would never forget. Everyone was cheering and smiling, joy and relief on each face.

‘I know we’ve been expecting this, but it still came as a bit of a shock. How do you feel now the war for us is really over?’ Bill asked, when they were safely docked.

‘Stunned,’ Jack admitted. ‘It’s hard to grasp it’s all over, and not only that, but we are still in one piece. I can hardly believe we have survived.’

Bill shook his head. ‘That’s nothing short of a miracle, lad. Thousands of merchant seamen didn’t live to see this day. And we mustn’t forget that.’

‘We won’t.’ Frank sighed deeply. ‘Now we can get back to being sailors again, instead of targets for the U-boats.’

‘And you had better get around to marrying that girl of yours, Frank. You’ve got no excuse now, and she’s waited long enough.’

‘First thing I’m going to do when I get home, Bill.’

After a wild night of partying, and the prospect of two weeks’ leave in front of him, Jack made his way to the farm. On his way he saw that the entire country was celebrating; flags were flying everywhere, and the streets were crowded. He was looking forward to seeing Hanna again, and Beth. They had been writing regularly and now he would have the time to get to know her better. He also wanted to find out if Alan was all right, and he really hoped so. Alan would make Hanna a good husband, and she deserved a happy home and family of her own. Those years in the orphanage would have been unbearable if it hadn’t been for her. He’d had someone to turn to, but she had shouldered all the responsibility and stood alone. It was only after they had both left the orphanage that he had fully recognized what she had done for him. She had only been a child herself, and in her quiet way had shown great strength of character. And that strength had shone through when he had boarded his first ship. It must have torn her apart, but there had been no fuss or tears; she had let him go with her blessing and a smile on her face. His sister really was something special, and he hoped Alan knew that.