A Wartime Christmas (12 page)

‘Oh dear,’ Kay said heavily. ‘How did they take it?’

‘Tim cried in the night. I went in and he said he hated it here and wanted his old house back. He said he’d never forgive us for sending him away.’ Babs sniffed. ‘I told
him we had no choice but to evacuate them and we were all lucky to have escaped the bomb. But Tim finds it hard to accept that. Almost that if we’d been here together as a family, the Germans
wouldn’t have done it.’

‘Babs, he’s only young. Give him a day or two to come round.’

Babs nodded. ‘I’m hoping that once school starts they’ll be happier in a routine.’

As Babs was talking, Kay saw Alfie step outside into the yard. With his thumb tucked in his mouth, he watched Gill drawing lines on the hard ground with a piece of chalk.

‘He’s a little darling,’ said Babs, ‘but I can see, like Gill and Tim, he’s been through a rough time without you.’

Kay shook her head. ‘Quite the opposite. Alfie loved Little Gadelsby and country life. He still misses Doris, my sister-in-law.’ Kay felt the tears smart and guiltily blinked them
back.

‘It was a shock to Alfie when he was taken away from you,’ reasoned Babs. ‘I’ll bet he was just the same when he first lived with Doris. Always asking for his
mum.’

‘That’s what makes me feel guilty. I’ve put him through such a lot.’

Babs smiled. ‘Well, you’ve got him back now, love.’

‘He’s not called me “Mummy” yet. Or said “Daddy”. And God knows, we’ve tried hard enough to persuade him.’

‘He will in good time, Kay. In under a year, he’s been through major changes. Resisting you is like a protest. He’s been parted from you, had to adjust to Doris, now he’s
back with the person he loves most in the world, his mum. Wouldn’t you kick up a bit of stink if you was him?’

Kay thought about this. ‘Put that way, yes,’ she agreed.

‘Same’s happened to Gill and Tim, but they was old enough to understand they’d always got me and Eddie to come home to in the end.’

Kay nodded slowly, taking a hanky from her sleeve and quickly wiping away a stray tear. ‘I know I’m being daft.’ She looked up at her friend. ‘I’m ashamed of
meself. Especially for feeling jealous of Doris.’

‘I’d be the same.’

‘But Doris done her best for him. And he thought the world of her.’

Babs grinned wryly. ‘Almost makes it worse, doesn’t it?’

Kay smiled, feeling better now that she had shared her feelings with Babs. ‘I’ve been thinking about phoning Doris. I’d like us to patch things up – properly
like.’

‘Have they got a telephone?’

‘Yes, there’s one in the cottage and there’s a telephone box outside the factory that I could use.’

‘Good idea.’

‘Do you think so?’

‘Why not? Doris might appreciate a chat.’ Babs rolled her eyes towards the yard, her attention shifting elsewhere. ‘What do you suppose those three are up to?’

Kay followed Babs’s stare. The overgrown Anderson, which had never been used by the Tripps and had suffered the same assaults of debris and rubble as every other shelter during the Blitz,
was now being unearthed by Tim. He kicked away the broken bricks and pulled up the clumps of long weeds, while Gill reached for Alfie’s hand, both an attentive audience. It wasn’t long
before Tim had broken open the door and the three children disappeared inside. Soon all that could be heard was the echoing of laughter from the depths of the metal shelter.

‘Now, remind me, what was it we were worried about?’ Babs continued, her eyes wide.

‘Search me!’ Kay said, and it wasn’t long before Kay and Babs were joining in the laughter too.

‘Alfie was all smiles this evening,’ whispered Alan late that night, as they undressed for bed. ‘Sorry to pip you to the post, but he forgot himself and
called me Daddy at long last.’

‘Don’t worry, I got a “Mummy” too.’

‘Really?’

‘It was in Babs’s house, after playing with Gill and Tim all afternoon, enjoying himself in the shelter.’

Alan breathed a long sigh of relief. ‘P’raps it was just other kids’ company he needed.’

‘I hope so.’

Kay went to the cot where her husband stood gazing down on their sleeping son. ‘All me and Babs could hear was laughter. I dunno how many spiders Tim hooked out from the Anderson but the
three of them never stopped laughing the whole time.’

‘That’s what I like to hear.’

‘Oh, Alan, I’m so glad we’re a family again and with our friends living right next door.’

Alan cupped her face between his hands. ‘Now you’ll have company if I’m not here.’

Kay took a breath. ‘What do you mean?’

‘If I’m called-up, you’ll have friends close by.’

‘But you’re needed here on the home front!’

‘All British men between eighteen and fifty are now wanted for war service unless in a reserved job. And though I was exempt during the Blitz, rescues ain’t an everyday occurrence
now. The situation is changing fast.’

Kay breathed out a long sigh. It was no use arguing the point with Alan. They both knew that if his papers arrived he would have to do as he was told.

‘Chin, up, love, it’s not happened yet.’

‘Please God, it never will.’

‘Come on, let’s get into bed.’ He ran his hands over her shoulders. ‘You’re too beautiful to stand out here in the cold.’

‘I’m not cold. Not with you beside me.’

A few moments later they were in each other’s arms and whispering words of love, their bodies entwined. Kay always felt safe when Alan was beside her and didn’t want to think of the
future without him. Perhaps if she didn’t worry about it, the worst wouldn’t happen.

‘You’re not concentrating,’ Alan chuckled, and brought her against him so passionately she almost let out a cry. ‘That’s better,’ he murmured as he loosened
the straps of her petticoat and tugged it roughly down from her breasts. ‘Don’t think of anything else except us,’ he told her with kisses that burned her skin and aroused her so
instantly that all worried thoughts flew away – far away – as his fingers found the special places on her body and left her breathless.

As much as Kay tried not to cry out, and at the risk of disturbing Alfie, she gave up on her fight, listening to her own wild moans with a mixture of surprise and delight until at last they both
took equal pleasure in the same, rich and satisfying moments.

Later, much later, Kay found herself listening to Alan’s soft breathing as he fell asleep. Her own last dreamy thoughts, a blessed result of the passion they had just spent, eased her
earlier worries. Now her mind was filled with more positive things. Within the next few days she was going to muster enough courage to ring Doris. The worst that could happen was that Doris gave
her short shrift. The best was that they might actually talk reasonably together again.

As her eyes began to close she wondered if Vi would agree to moving downstairs. Then Alfie could have the small room. He was growing quickly now and needed his own space. Kay blushed as she
remembered the noises she had made during their lovemaking. It was a wonder they hadn’t woken him! Or, come to that, poor Vi!

Kay had arrived at work before eight o’clock that morning in order to ask her supervisor for permission to leave her shift early. Mr Marsh had been very good to her since
Alfie had come home. Kay was grateful to him for agreeing to allow her to shorten or change her shifts to fit in with her new responsibilities, namely a young child to care for. Now, as Kay stood
at the assembly line with the noise of the grinding, clanking and hissing machines around her making it almost impossible to converse, she was thinking about what she would say to Doris, when a tap
came on her shoulder.

‘It’s our break soon,’ Iris Fellows shouted, removing the goggles from her forehead. Kay did the same, slipping the clumsy protective gear onto her forehead, squinting at her
colleague through the dust that was kicked up from the forging bench and the woman working there, dressed as she was in overalls, steel toe-capped boots and heavy duty gloves. Sizing the metal of
the empty bomb cases with a blowtorch was a filthy and smelly job.

Kay nodded her agreement and, with practised dexterity, made a minor adjustment to the shell case in front of her on the bench. She was glad to be positioned here today – she had time to
think. The work was not as demanding as the next stage of forming the shell. The machine she operated was easy to use, a noisy but efficient smoother to the rough metal. Then she would place the
article back on the conveyor belt for the last stages of hand polishing and coating; it was a task that she performed almost automatically now.

Kay glanced across to the older man on the other side of the busy factory who would replace her for ten minutes while she sat outside in the fresh air with Iris. When she caught his eye and gave
him the thumbs up, he nodded and finished screwing the end of the shell he was working on, ready to be loaded into their metal containers.

Two minutes later, after the break bell had rung, Kay was gasping in the air she so desperately craved and the noise of the docks outside was heaven in comparison to the ear-deafening chorus of
the armaments factory. Plonking herself down on the wall beside Iris, who was already pouring their tea from a thermos, she lifted her face to the sunshine.

Inside her overalls Kay was sweating profusely, and her feet stuck to the inside of her heavy boots. If someone had told her, before starting at Drovers, that she would actually be enjoying this
kind of work, she would have laughed in their face. But somehow it was fulfilling. The factory which had once been an engineering business now had a more important purpose; the production of
ammunition for Britain was imperative and everyone under Drovers’ roof put their backs into it.

‘Here you are, gel, get that down you,’ Iris chuckled as she passed a battered enamel mug full of steaming tea to Kay.

‘Thanks, Iris, my mouth is as dry as a bone.’ Kay took a tentative sip. The hot liquid was refreshing as it tingled on her tongue. She lifted her fingers to wipe the moisture from
her lips, forgetting how dirty they would be.

‘You should see your face,’ said Iris with a laugh. At forty-five, Iris was a fiery redhead with sandy eyebrows and twinkling brown eyes. Kay laughed too. For Iris’s face was
also marked by the goggles, streaked with dirt and dust and, like Kay’s dark hair, Iris’s mop of waves was hidden by a camouflage green turban.

‘You should see yours,’ giggled Kay. ‘I wouldn’t like to bump into you on a dark night, come to that, in the day either.’

‘Cheeky mare!’ Iris threw back her tea and licked her lips, driving the dirt around her mouth into little clumps. They both laughed again and Kay took another gulp of the weak but
welcome tea.

‘Have you heard from the council yet? Do you know where you’re going?’ Kay asked, knowing her unmarried friend who supported her elderly parents had put in for evacuation. Iris
had told Kay she’d had enough of the bombing and the munitions work. She couldn’t wait to move to the seaside.

‘Yes, we got a letter yesterday. Said they have possible billets in Oxfordshire and Somerset. I went down to the council immediately and said we wanted Somerset as it’s by the sea.
Well, some of it is, I think.’ Iris grinned. ‘I can get meself a bathing suit at last. I even threatened me old mum with taking her to the beach and making her swim.’ Iris laughed
loudly. ‘But course, you can’t get on a bloody beach these days for the barbed wire dumped over it.’

‘You just wanted to scare your poor old mum,’ Kay said disapprovingly but with a smile. ‘Little things please little minds, so they say.’

‘You’ve got to have a laugh somehow,’ agreed Iris, a woman who Kay liked a lot and would miss when she went. Iris was the only worker at Drovers she’d really connected
with since she started work there after Alfie was evacuated. Most of the other women were younger than Kay, all single and fancy free. But Iris was the breadwinner in her family and a home bird.
‘What about you, love?’ asked Iris suddenly. ‘You gonna stay here on the island? Wasn’t you tempted to move when you went to your brother’s in the nice, peaceful
country a while ago?’

Kay sipped the last of her tea and thought again about Doris and Len’s cottage. She couldn’t deny she’d been impressed, and she’d found herself unsettled afterwards. But
in all honesty, now Babs was close, she had no hankering to move. ‘Not likely,’ Kay said. ‘The island is home to us, come hell or high water.’

‘I hope we ain’t facing either of those,’ answered Iris dryly. ‘We had enough hell in the Blitz and the last thing the island can do with is a flood! Now, I suppose
we’d better get back or old Marshy will have our guts for garters.’

‘He’s been very good to me,’ Kay said as they stood up and shook their baggy overalls free of the grime. ‘He let me cut down my hours and change them around –
providing I could find someone else to step in for me. Like you!’ Kay glanced at her friend gratefully.

‘Don’t mention it, cocker. With our move coming up I need the overtime.’ Iris grinned showing a front row of teeth that were minus two. Kay always thought the gaps added to her
colourful character.

Ten minutes later they were hard at work again. But Kay’s mind was busy turning over behind her goggles as she worked with the heavy metal casings of the bombs. Talking to Doris on the
telephone was not going to be easy. Doris might even not answer. She could have friends with her, which would make it hard for her to speak. But Kay was undaunted. She needed to resolve what had
happened between them.

Kay stood in the public telephone box close to the factory, her freshly scrubbed fingers shaking slightly as she slipped the pennies into the metal box. She wasn’t
certain if it was the rushed wash and brush-up and change into her outdoor clothing before leaving the factory that had made her anxious or simply making the decision to phone Doris. It was early
afternoon and Doris might be in the garden or out. Her brother would be at work, no doubt. The cottage might be entirely empty . . .

Kay had almost convinced herself this was the case when a voice spoke. Kay pressed button A in front of her. As she rarely used a public telephone, she held the handset tightly against her ear,
afraid she might miss something. But when the button had been depressed, a voice came clearly down the line.