The Woolworths Girls (37 page)

Sarah hugged Betty and allowed her to help her back into bed. ‘Thank you, Betty. You don’t know how much this means to me.’

Betty pulled the covers up over Sarah’s shoulders and tucked her in. ‘Believe me, I do.’

Sarah closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, content that she would soon see her dad and introduce him to his granddaughter.

‘Now, your dad is still groggy from his operation, so be patient if he seems confused.’ The nurse drew a seat up close to the bed and left Sarah alone with George. Apart from a bandage round his head and a cradle keeping the bed covers from touching his damaged leg, George looked his normal self.

Sarah rocked the baby in her arms, soothing her softly as she started to cry. ‘Ssh, there’s no need to cry. This is your granddad. He’s been waiting a long time to meet you.’

George’s eyelids fluttered before opening. ‘Sarah, is that you?’

Sarah reached over and took her dad’s hand. ‘Yes, it’s me, Dad. I have a little visitor for you.’ She pulled back the white knitted shawl that had been lovingly made by Freda and held the baby close so George could touch her. ‘Georgina, meet your granddad George.’

A smile crossed George’s face. ‘Well, well. When did you make an appearance, young lady?’

‘Yesterday, during an air raid. It was quite frightening. None of us will ever forget what happened.’

George stroked his granddaughter’s face. ‘She is beautiful and looks just like you did as a baby, apart from her hair. Yours was very dark.’

‘I think she has her dad’s hair colouring, but it could change, from what Maureen told me.’

‘Does Alan know?’

A shadow crossed Sarah’s face. ‘No. I posted a letter as we drove here to give him the good news. I have no idea if he will receive it.’ She didn’t add that she’d also written to the authorities, as she was worried about the lack of communication from her husband.

George squeezed her hand. ‘I know he would be in touch if he could, love. He’s doing a dangerous job. We should be proud of him.’

‘I’m immensely proud of Alan, Dad.’ But I don’t think he cares for me anymore, she thought to herself.

They sat in silence for a while as George watched his granddaughter and a smile crept across his face. ‘Your mum is going to spoil this little one.’

‘Oh crikey. I forgot to tell you. Betty is going to drive down to Devon to give Mum the news about your accident. Then she is going to bring her back to Nan’s. Freda and Maisie are going to stay at Maureen’s for a while so we can all be together at number thirteen.’

‘You have good friends, Sarah. Your mum has taken to Betty. I hope she isn’t too upset when she hears the news.’

‘Mum’s made of stern stuff, Dad. She won’t buckle.’

George started to doze off. ‘You are both strong women, Sarah . . .’

Sarah sat quietly watching him sleep. Dad thought she was strong? Then she would have to be. She would cope with Alan or without him. She could do this.

‘So this is my granddaughter.’ Irene peered into the cot where Georgina slept.

In the few days since the baby had been born, the women of number thirteen had become her devoted slaves. Sarah felt she could have walked out of the front door and never returned and little Georgina would still have thrived. But would her mum feel the same as the rest of her family and friends?

Irene had just walked into the house after breaking the long journey back from Devon to see George at the hospital. Betty had managed to telephone Woolworths and update Maisie on how Irene had taken the news. From the way Maisie relayed the message, Irene had gone straight to pack her bag after enquiring if George’s car had survived the accident. Ruby had not been impressed with this, but Sarah knew it was her mum’s way of coping.

Scooping the baby into her arms and holding her close, Irene started to sob. ‘She’s adorable. To think she may lose her granddad is just too much to bear. Whatever will we do?’

Sarah’s emotion jumped from happiness at seeing Irene’s reaction upon meeting her granddaughter to shock at her words. ‘Mum, Dad will be fine. It may take time for him to get over this, but he will be out of hospital and home with you before too long.’

Irene handed the baby back to Sarah and wiped her eyes with a dainty handkerchief she pulled from her sleeve. ‘He took a turn for the worse early this morning. The ward sister told us that he will have to go back into the operating theatre today. He may lose his leg.’

Sarah couldn’t believe what she was being told. Granted, the surgeon had said the next few days would be critical, but to hear this awful news . . .

Ruby took control of the situation. Her heart was breaking for her only son, but she knew that weeping and wailing would not solve anything. ‘I’ve made up the bed in the front bedroom for you, Irene, and here is a front-door key so you can come and go as you please. I think we should show you the Anderson shelter and what we do when there’s a raid; then perhaps we can all have a bite to eat before you head back to the hospital. Betty, will you stay to eat with us?’

Betty wanted nothing more than to fall into her bed, as the journey to and from Devon had taken its toll. However, she had to go into Woolworths and see that everything was as it should be before she even thought about her bed. ‘That would be delightful, Mrs Caselton. Thank you.’

‘That reminds me,’ Ruby said as she reached for a large parcel that was on the sideboard. ‘Maisie left this for you, Irene. We all have one and they are most comfortable.’

Irene frowned as she unpicked the string and opened the brown paper wrapping and pulled out a dark green woollen siren suit. ‘Oh my! Is this what I think it is? Josephine Hopkins at the golf club has been boasting about her siren suit and I must admit to being a little green with envy.’ She held the outfit up against herself. ‘I shall go and put it on right now. Anything that’s good enough for Mr Churchill is good enough for me.’ Irene picked up her suitcase and headed upstairs.

Ruby turned to Betty and Sarah with a grin on her face. ‘Are you sure that’s my daughter-in-law and not an imposter?’

After a filling meal of corned beef hash with vegetables from the garden, Betty set off for Woolworths, dropping Irene at the hospital on the way. She was given strict instruction to telephone Betty if George should get any worse. Betty had promised Ruby that she would get a message to them if anything should happen.

Ruby picked up her knitting. ‘It’s a treat to put my feet up for a few hours, I must say. I’ve been itching to make this pink matinee jacket ever since young madam there made her appearance. I just hope we don’t have an air raid tonight. I don’t think I can face that shelter after the other day.’

Sarah yawned. ‘We can always sit in the cupboard under the stairs. It’s as safe as anywhere. I’m going to read my book until Georgina wakes for her next feed.’

‘If you can keep your eyes open. It was good of your mum to bring us the box of food. That tin of salmon will go down a treat with the salad stuff from the garden.’

‘Once I’m on my feet properly, I can walk Georgina down to the allotment and do a few hours.’

‘You’ll do no such thing. You take it easy for a few months, my girl. Besides, you’ll be wanting to see your dad in hospital and pop into Woolies to help Betty. You can’t burn your candle at both ends or you’ll be heading for trouble.’

Sarah sighed. ‘I suppose you’re right, but I don’t like not helping out.’

‘Not helping out? Why, we’d be lost without you, love. Give it a couple of weeks and things around here will be a little more organized. Your dad will be on the mend and you will have your strength back to do a few hours with Betty while I take care of the little ’un.’

‘Do you think Dad will be on the mend?’

‘Let’s just hope so, eh? Besides, we haven’t been sent a message to say otherwise. Betty will have someone banging on our door minutes after she hears anything.’

At that moment there was a loud knock on the door.

Sarah’s face turned white. ‘Oh no.’

Ruby pulled herself to her feet. ‘Don’t you worry none – it’s probably Vera knocking to see if I want to go to the whist drive. Any excuse to check what’s going on,’ she chuckled.

Sarah held her breath as Ruby opened the front door and invited someone in. Surely it wasn’t Vera, as she’d have heard her chatter. It must be someone from Woolworths with a message from the hospital.

Sarah’s world stood still as the front-room door opened. It wasn’t a Woolworths staff member. It wasn’t Vera wanting to know what the Caselton family were up to. Instead, two uniformed members of the Royal Air Force stepped into the room.

Sarah’s heart thudded loudly in her breast as the men refused the offer of a seat.

The older officer cleared his throat. ‘Mrs Alan Gilbert?’

‘That’s my married name. Is it Alan . . . ?’

‘Yes. I have some bad news, Mrs Gilbert. Your husband is missing, presumed killed.’

The tall, distinguished man continued to speak, but Sarah could only hear the blood pumping through her head and her stomach started to churn. Placing her hand over her mouth, she dashed from the room.

Not having made it to the outside lavatory, Ruby found her granddaughter bent double outside the back door. Ruby rubbed her back until the convulsing stopped and led her inside to a seat, where she carefully wiped her face with a damp flannel and encouraged her to drink a cup of cold water. Wrapping her arms around the girl, she rocked her gently, making soothing noises until the tears subsided. ‘There, there, my love,’ she whispered.

When Sarah had composed herself, they returned to the front room, where they found the officers sitting on the sofa with the younger one holding Georgina in his arms. He smiled shyly. ‘Your daughter was crying. I hope you don’t mind that I picked her up? I have a son. He’s six months old now.’

‘She looks like your husband, Mrs Gilbert.’

‘You knew Alan?’ Sarah thought it felt strange to speak in the past tense. ‘Please, I need to know what happened.’

‘I’m going to put the kettle on. I don’t know about you, but I think we could do with a cup of tea and a spoonful of sugar to help with the shock. Are you all right holding our Georgina?’

The officer nodded. He seemed quite at home with the baby in his arms.

Sarah stared at the older officer. ‘Please?’

‘His plane was shot down over the French side of the Channel. There was a sighting of a parachute but nothing more.’

Sarah thought hard before speaking. ‘Was this during the Dunkirk evacuation we heard about on the wireless?’

The two officers looked at each other before the younger one spoke. ‘No, it was a little earlier, but we can’t really say much more.’

‘Even if we knew,’ his companion added quickly.

They all sat in silence until Ruby appeared with the tea, at which point they made polite small talk, avoiding mentioning the war or the fact that Sarah was most likely now a young widow, like so many other women.

‘How did you know to come here?’ Ruby asked, as she knew that they had Maureen’s address in nearby Crayford Road as where Sarah and Alan resided.

‘We knocked and a neighbour said we would most likely find Mrs Gilbert here.’

Ruby was just grateful that Maureen hadn’t been home when they called.

The two men left after promising they would be in touch about Alan’s property or if they had any more news.

Ruby returned to the front room to collect the teacups and tidy up. ‘You wanted news, love, but not news like that. But hold on to the thought that he is only missing.’

Sarah turned to her grandmother. Her face filled with anger. ‘Only missing? Alan has been missing to me since last Christmas. You heard the men. He went missing just before the Dunkirk evacuation. That was the end of May. Where was he for the other months, and why didn’t he get in touch? No. Alan has been missing to me for much longer. He had moved on with his life and now so shall I.’

Ruby struggled to know what to say to Sarah. How could she advise a young woman whose husband was most likely dead, when she’d had a long and happy marriage until her Eddie passed two years before? ‘You’re in shock, Sarah. Give it time and don’t do anything you’ll later regret.’

Sarah shook her head. ‘No! Even if Alan walked through this door right now, he wouldn’t be the man I married. The only good thing we had between us is Georgina. For that I am thankful. The rest can go to hell. Now, I’m going to put Georgina into her pram and walk round to Maureen’s house and break the news to her before someone else lets her know that the RAF have been knocking on her door. Of course I’ll be gentle with her. I’ll always think of Maureen with fondness, but life moves on. I’d like you to come with me, Nan, but will understand if you don’t wish to.’

Ruby picked up her coat and helped Sarah put baby Georgina into her pram. She’d keep quiet for now, as she knew Sarah wasn’t thinking straight, but she couldn’t help wonder what else was in store for her extended family. Maisie was all at sixes and sevens since her husband was killed; Freda still didn’t know what was happening with that rascal of a brother; Alan, for whom she had more than a soft spot, was possibly lying dead somewhere in France; and her own son was facing goodness knows what at the cottage hospital. This war had a lot to answer for.

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