Sweet Memories of You (Beach View Boarding House) (40 page)

‘I dunno, but I won’t be going to the dance, that’s for sure,’ Ivy said gloomily.

‘Then why don’t you come to ours for yer tea? Mum did ask you last night, and there’s plenty of it.’

Ivy had been mulling the invitation over for most of the day. ‘Are you sure she don’t mind? Only I already spent the night once, and she might be getting fed up with me.’

‘Don’t be daft. Mum likes ’aving you around, and it’ll be better than you moping about at Beach View all night trying to avoid Peggy’s questions.’

Ivy gave a wan smile. ‘Yeah, I reckon it would. Thanks, Ruby. You’re a real pal.’

‘Right, well go off and get changed and be back at ours as soon as you can. And bring yer night things and stuff for tomorrow. The bed’s already been made, so you might as well stay another night and then we can have our day off together.’

Ivy hugged her friend and felt slightly lighter in spirit as she headed down the hill. She was still hurt and bewildered by Andy’s deceit, and the last thing she wanted to do now was walk past the fire station in case he was there. She took the long back route and emerged on the main road that led up from the seafront, then quickly walked down the alleyway.

Peggy and Cordelia were in the kitchen and tea was on the go. ‘I’m sorry, Auntie Peg, but Ruby and her mum have asked me to go to theirs for tea,’ Ivy said breathlessly on her way to the hall. ‘I’ll be staying the night again as well, so don’t worry about me.’

Peggy’s reply was indistinct as she took the stairs two at a time and went into the bedroom. Rita wasn’t there, but that was all right. She knew the truth about Andy Rawlings now and didn’t need to hear it again from Rita.

She stepped over the discarded clothes on the floor and then sat on the unmade bed to take off her borrowed boots and socks before she stripped off Ruby’s shirt and dungarees. It would have been better if she could have washed them before she gave them back, but there wasn’t time, so she bundled them into a string bag she managed to unearth from the jumble at the bottom of the wardrobe. She’d do them tomorrow at Ruby’s.

She had a quick strip wash, brushed out her hair and changed into a pair of nice slacks she’d bought at a local jumble sale and topped them off with a blouse and hand-knitted sweater her mum had sent her last week. A dash of face powder, a swish of mascara and a swipe of lipstick, then she bundled her nightclothes and wash bag in with her borrowed work clothes. She was ready.

‘Can’t stop,’ she said as she raced through the kitchen. ‘I’m already late. See you sometime tomorrow.’

Peggy stood in the doorway and watched Ivy run down the alleyway and disappear from view. ‘I don’t know what’s got into everyone today,’ she muttered as she went back up the steps to the kitchen.

‘What it is to be young,’ sighed Cordelia. ‘Dashing here and dashing there, so busy and full of energy. It quite tires me out.’

‘Mmm,’ said Peggy, who interpreted all this charging round as subterfuge to hide things from her. ‘There’s too much of it about for my liking,’ she said darkly.

Cordelia smiled and fiddled with her hearing aid. ‘At least we got this fixed yesterday,’ she said. ‘So it’s not all bad.’

Peggy looked at the clock, wondering where Dorry and Ron had got to. It wasn’t like either of them to be out this late without telling her. She called up to Sarah and Fran that tea was almost ready and checked on the pork and dumpling stew. The dumplings didn’t look very appetising because they were a muddy sort of brown from the wheatmeal flour and therefore probably full of inedible bits that would get stuck in her teeth. But it would be rich and filling and set them up for the night, and that was all that really mattered.

Queenie came in from the garden and demanded to be fed, so Peggy saw to that, and then started to drain the vegetables. As Sarah and Fran came down to help, she looked at the clock again and frowned. Where on earth had Ron and Dorry got to?

Doreen had lost track of time in Havelock Gardens. The tears had flowed, releasing all the anguish she’d stored up since losing Archie in that terrifying tunnel, and she’d found that although she was utterly drained, she did feel better for it.

She sat there in the peace and quiet, listening to the birds in the trees and the mewling gulls, her gaze travelling over the lines of vegetables that had replaced the lovely rose garden she remembered from her youth. There was early blossom in the trees and a few tulips and daffodils had managed to survive the transformation into an allotment, so not all was lost.

As the sun slowly moved across the sky, she left the garden and began to walk towards the winding tracks that led up the steep hill to where the old windmill used to be. She wasn’t really wearing the appropriate shoes or clothing, but she didn’t care. She just needed to be alone, to lick her wounds and restore the resolve that had seen her through the toughest times before.

It was mid-afternoon by the time she reached the top of the hill. The windmill was gone now, and there were only a few broken bits of stone and metal scraps to mark the place that had once been a popular local landmark. She sat on a tussock of grass and looked out over the town and towards the sea, remembering how her parents had brought her and her sisters up here for picnics.

Her father had never quite managed to fly a kite, but her mother had made daisy chains for them all, and they’d gone on treasure hunts in the ruins, learning the names of all the wild flowers and the creatures that lived up here. Later, when she was growing fast and becoming restless, Ron would bring her up here and talk about the old days when the monks would come from their abbey to have their wheat milled. They were good memories, ones that were worth storing so that when she felt like this, she could bring them out like a wonderful picture book and once again be that little girl.

She finally looked at her watch and realised with shock that it was almost five, and Peggy would be wondering where on earth she’d got to. She dug her handkerchief out of her handbag and used her compact mirror to help her see to clean her face. The morning’s careful application of make-up had been a waste of time, she realised, for her tears had washed it all away.

She was about to get to her feet when Harvey came tearing over the brow of the hill with short barks of delight. ‘Hello, boy,’ she said, making a fuss of him. ‘What are you doing here on your own? Where’s Ron?’

‘I’m here,’ he panted, appearing over the brow.

‘This isn’t your usual walk, is it?’ she said as he plumped down beside her and tried to catch his breath.

‘Too steep, so it is. But I’ve been trying to find you for half the day and this was the last place on my list.’

‘But why were you looking for me?’ She felt a pang of alarm. ‘Nothing’s happened back at Beach View, has it?’

‘No, no, nothing like that,’ he said, reaching for his pipe. ‘But I’m thinking ’tis you that has experienced trouble today.’

She looked back at him as his bright blue eyes held her. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she stammered.

‘Ach, Dorry, you always were a stubborn wee girl. Always ready to fight your own battles and not ask for help.’ He lowered his voice and reached for her hand. ‘But sometimes it’s better to share your troubles, Dorry, for they don’t seem so bad when they’re out in the open.’

She realised there was little point in continuing to pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about. ‘How did you find out?’ she asked quietly.

‘Well now, there’s the thing.’ He sat up and lit his pipe, and when he had a good fug going, he stared out towards the sea where the setting sun had almost reached the horizon. ‘I knew something was very wrong when I saw that scoundrel you’d been married to walking past the Anchor. Quite a swagger he had too, with his hands in his pockets, looking very pleased with himself.’

He grimaced and puffed on his pipe. ‘I would have challenged him then and there, but I was intrigued to know what he’d been up to. It was clear he’d been to the house, and I knew you were there alone, for I’d seen you return from your walk earlier.’

‘Nothing much gets past you, does it, Ron?’ she said fondly.

‘Not a lot,’ he said with a wink and a waggle of his eyebrows.

‘So what did you do?’

‘I waited for a while to see what you would do, for I had a fair idea you wouldn’t stay long in the house once he’d left. I followed you to the Post Office and stood in the queue until I heard what you had to say to the woman behind the counter.’

‘But I had no idea you were following me,’ she gasped in surprise. ‘How come I didn’t see you when I left the house?’

‘I was hiding in the shadows of that bomb site on the corner.’ He looked at her from beneath his brows. ‘You should have come to me, Dorry. I’d have sorted him out for you before it went as far as it did.’

‘Dear Ron,’ she murmured. ‘I know you would have. But he’s really not worth the trouble it would have got you into.’

Ron smoked his pipe and said nothing for a few minutes. ‘I realised after that conversation you had with Peggy you weren’t going to say anything to either of us, so I followed you again this morning,’ he said eventually. His jaw tightened. ‘Unfortunately I was too far away to be able to help when he snatched that necklace off you, but then that Yank stepped in, so, realising you would be all right for a bit, I carried on with the second part of my plan.’

Doreen regarded him with great affection and amusement. ‘You do love plans, don’t you, Ron?’

‘Once a soldier always a soldier,’ he replied gruffly. ‘You can’t do anything without having a proper plan of action.’

‘I hope you didn’t get the police involved,’ she said sharply. ‘Or challenge him in any way. He’s too cunning and quick with his fists and I’d hate to see you get hurt.’

He chuckled. ‘Do I look hurt? To be sure, Dorry, I might be an old man with a touch of snow on the roof, but I could snap that rat like a twig if I wanted to and walk away without a scratch. But there are better ways to get revenge.’

She was alert now, and intrigued. ‘How?’ she breathed.

‘Let’s just say that a young acquaintance of mine is very gifted when it comes to relieving people of things in their pockets, and replacing them with other things.’

‘You know a pickpocket?’ she gasped.

He tapped the side of his nose. ‘I know people from all walks of life, Dorry. And believe me, they all have their uses.’ He reached into the pocket of his scruffy tweed jacket and pressed the envelope into her hand. ‘I believe this is yours.’

She burst into tears as she opened the envelope and saw Archie’s ring. ‘But the minute he realises what’s happened he’ll be back here again,’ she sobbed. ‘Oh, Ron, I can’t thank you enough, but you’ve only made things worse.’

‘There, there, girl, don’t be fretting. To be sure I knew that, which is why I got Stan to ring through to the police in London.’

‘The police?’ she whispered.

‘Aye, the police,’ he said firmly. ‘A man with counterfeit notes stuffed in his pocket is always of great interest to the police.’

‘Counterfeit? But won’t he notice?’

Ron shook his head. ‘They’re very good unless you take particular notice of the serial numbers. They’re all the same, you see.’

Doreen tipped back her head and laughed, and Ron joined in as Harvey barked his approval. ‘Oh, Ron, you’re priceless,’ she stuttered. ‘Absolutely priceless.’ She flung her arms round him and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek. ‘And I love you very much, you old scallywag,’ she murmured against his hairy ear.

Ron tried not to look flattered, but the colour rising in his face was testament to it. ‘Come on, wee girl, away with all this nonsense. Let’s get home before Peggy sends out a search party. It’ll be dark soon, and those shoes are not really the best thing for walking these hills.’

Doreen was still laughing as they went arm in arm down the hill with Harvey rushing ahead of them. She was blessed to have Ron and Peggy; blessed to have been reunited with Archie’s ring – and certainly blessed to have her two lovely little girls. And now she also had both the money and the time to go and see them.

Peggy wasn’t quite sure whether to laugh or cry as Ron and Doreen told her about Edward Grey, but she was relieved that both of them had come through unscathed – even if Ron’s methods had been highly suspect.

‘I always said you were a rogue and a scoundrel,’ chortled Cordelia. ‘But of course there are times when that sort of behaviour is acceptable.’ She smiled at Doreen. ‘Let’s hope he spends a nice long time at His Majesty’s pleasure before he’s sent off to some army camp. I’m just amazed he managed to avoid call-up in the first place.’

‘He probably got a dodgy certificate from some even dodgier doctor,’ said Doreen, polishing off the last of her stew. ‘His gambling means he knows a lot of unsavoury people.’

‘A bit like our Ron here,’ said Cordelia with a twinkle in her eye.

Peggy was just clearing the dishes when there was a rap at the front door. ‘I’ll go. It’s probably that blessed woman from the WI who keeps badgering me to join their knitting circle.’

But when she opened the door it was to find Andy Rawlings on her doorstep. ‘Hello, dear,’ she said. ‘I thought you were meeting Ivy at the dance tonight?’

‘I’ve been waiting for ’er for over an hour,’ he said fretfully. ‘Isn’t she ’ere?’

Peggy thought fast. ‘No, she’s not, dear. I’m sorry.’

He looked so crestfallen that her soft heart relented. ‘Have you two had a falling-out?’ she asked.

‘Not to my knowledge. Everything was fine the last time we met up, and we’ve been planning this night since last week and I thought she were lookin’ forward to it.’

‘Well, I’m sorry, Andy. But something’s been up with Ivy recently. Perhaps she just didn’t feel like going dancing?’

‘What d’you mean, something’s up with her?’

‘She never said, but I know girls, and she was definitely upset over something – especially yesterday.’ She looked up at him and saw that he was still very miserable. ‘She had a bit of a set-to with one of the other girls at the factory yesterday. I don’t know what it was about, but it might have had something to do with her being out of sorts.’