Goodnight Sweetheart (11 page)

‘Oh, June, you don’t mean that, do you?’ Molly protested. She liked working at Hardings and she liked the girls they worked with.

‘If June wants to work at Napiers, then that’s up to her, but there’s nothing to stop you going back to Hardings if you want to, Molly,’ Eddie said firmly.

‘And what gives you the right to start telling our Molly what she can and can’t do, Eddie Granger?’ June demanded.

‘I’m not telling her to do anything – you’re the one doing that, June,’ Eddie retorted. ‘I’m just saying that Molly doesn’t have to leave Hardings if she doesn’t want to just because you do.’

‘Eddie’s right, June,’ Elsie chipped in. She smiled at Molly. ‘You do what you want, love,’ she said, adding, to Molly’s relief, ‘I’d better get back. I promised Sally Walker I’d get her a bit of shoppin’ in. She’s finding it hard being on her own with baby, and no family around her to help whilst her Ronnie is away.’

‘That Eddie’s got some cheek,’ June said scathingly after their neighbours had left. ‘It seems to me he’s got a sight too much to say for himself where you’re concerned, our Molly. I hope you haven’t
forgotten where your duty lies. I wouldn’t want a sister of mine being talked about by every gossip in Edge Hill and Wavertree as the sort that forgets where her loyalties lie. Why don’t you write to your Johnny and tell him how much you’re missing him?’

‘I haven’t had a reply yet to the last two letters I wrote,’ Molly told her quietly.

‘Well, you can’t expect a fighting man to have the time to be writing every five minutes.’

‘Why not? Frank writes to you every day, and besides, they aren’t fighting yet, are they?’ Molly pointed out sturdily. ‘They’re both still training.’

‘You’ve got a sharp tongue on you today,’ June told her. ‘Let’s get changed and go down to Lewis’s. We can have a cup of tea there, I’ll post me letter, and then we can go and see if they’re taking on at Napiers.’

Molly shook her head, ignoring the guilty twinge she felt at June’s astonished look.

‘No, I don’t want to. I’m going to go back to Hardings,’ she told her sister.

‘Well, if you don’t mind turning down four pounds a week, that’s up to you,’ June announced, but Molly could see that she had surprised her.

Half an hour later, when June came downstairs all dressed to go out, with her hat on, Molly had to fight to suppress her own qualms about going against her. All her life she had gone along with what June had told her to do, and it felt strange
to be defying her now. She felt bad, but somehow strangely lighter at the same time.

‘If you change your mind, you know where to find me,’ June told her firmly.

After she had gone the house felt oddly quiet. She and June had always done everything together. Perhaps she should get changed and go after her. After all, working at Napiers was surely a small price to pay to be with her sister.

She headed for the stairs and then stopped as she heard a soft tap on the back door.

‘I saw your June walk past,’ Eddie announced when Molly let him in. ‘You shouldn’t let her tell you what to do all the time, Molly.’

‘She means well,’ Molly defended her sister. ‘She’s just looking after me, that’s all.’

‘Aye, well, from now on I’m going to be the one doing that,’ Eddie told her softly, reaching for her hand.

Her heart felt as though it was jumping around all over the place. She could hardly breathe for the excitement fizzing inside her like Edmondson’s best lemonade. She looked at her hand, so small against Eddie’s.

‘We shouldn’t be doing this,’ she whispered. ‘Not whilst I’m … people will talk, Eddie,’ she told him anxiously, ‘what with me supposed to be engaged to Johnny.’

‘I’ve got to go back to me ship tonight.’ He was playing with her fingers, and Molly could sense his desire. ‘I wish I could make you mine, Molly,
so that if I don’t come back, you’ll never forget me,’ he began gruffly.

‘No, you mustn’t say that,’ she protested, tears stinging her eyes, as she went into his arms. When they wrapped around her, she closed her eyes, lifting her face towards his for his kiss.

‘You’re right, we shouldn’t be doing this,’ he told her thickly.

But he still kissed her, and she still kissed him back, even though she knew she shouldn’t.

‘I’m going now,’ he whispered hoarsely as he released her and stepped back from her, ‘because if I don’t … Will you come and see me off tonight? We’re sailing from Brunswick Dock.’

Molly nodded. She didn’t want to let him go but part of her was glad that he was going. She didn’t trust herself to refuse him if he stayed.

There had been a girl two streets back from Chestnut Close, who had got herself in trouble last summer. The shame of it had forced her parents to up sticks and leave the area. It made Molly shudder just to think about it. She wanted her and Eddie to be together for ever, and in every way a man and woman could be together – but not just yet …

‘A WVS meeting again tonight?’ June grumbled. ‘And what am I supposed to do with both you and our dad out? Sit on me own and twiddle me thumbs?’

‘You could go round and see Sally,’ Molly suggested lamely.

‘What, and risk bumping into Frank’s mam? No, thanks. From what I’ve heard she’s round there every day, telling Sally how to go on.’

Molly was too guiltily aware of the lie she had told June to press her to change her mind.

The atmosphere between them had been very strained since June had returned from posting her letter to Frank to tell Molly that she was definitely not going back to Hardings but was taking a job with Napiers instead.

‘But we’ve always worked together,’ Molly had protested.

‘Well, it’s not me that is changing that,’ June had told her. ‘There’s a job for you at Napiers, if you want one.’

But the truth was that Molly didn’t. She wanted to go back to Hardings and the friends she had made there. It wasn’t so much the danger of working at the munitions factory that put her off as the gossip she had heard about some of the girls who worked there.

‘They’re a real rough lot,’ Irene had pronounced when they had talked about the good wages Napiers paid. ‘Thieving and all sorts goes on.’

Her guardian angel must really be looking out for her, Molly decided with fervent gratitude as she risked giving a final guilty glance over her shoulder and hurried out of the cul-de-sac. Molly didn’t have to lie to June about why she was going out supposedly to a WVS meeting out of uniform,
because June had announced immediately after the tea things had been cleared that she too was going out for the evening, to see an old school friend she had bumped into earlier in Lewis’s.

‘She’s working in a baker’s now and said as how she would do her best to sort me out with a wedding cake.’

Although food wasn’t as yet rationed, certain things were very hard, sometimes even impossible, to get, and everyone was being exhorted to remember the war, and reminded of the penalties for not doing so. Molly could well understand June’s desire to take full advantage of the opportunity that had arisen.

With any luck she should be back home before June. Eddie, who had nipped in to say a public goodbye to both her and June during the afternoon, had said that his ship was due to sail at half-past seven.

Now, just thinking about him made her quicken her pace, whilst her heart raced in a mixture of excitement, guilt and concern.

Brunswick Dock was a fair walk, so Molly decided to take the bus as far as she could to save time and shoe leather.

The dock was busy, and Molly hesitated, not sure where to go.

‘Your fella sailing on the
Aronsay
?’ another girl called out cheerfully to her, falling into step alongside her when Molly nodded.

The closer they got to the side of the large ship
looming up out of the docks, the thicker the press of people was. Eddie had told Molly he would meet her at the stern end of the vessel, and to her relief the other girl informed her that she too was heading in that direction.

‘New to this, are yer?’ she asked in a kindly way, adding when once again Molly nodded, ‘Well, mek sure you tell him what ter bring yer back – nylons, I’ve told mine to get us, and a lipstick as well. Allus get a bit o’ sommat special when he’s over to New York.’

Molly’s eyes rounded. ‘I thought they weren’t supposed to say where they are sailing to?’

Her new friend smirked. ‘My Jimmie wouldn’t dare as not tell me. Oh, there he is,’ she announced. ‘Will yer be OK?’

‘Oh, yes …’ Molly began to assure her politely, relief bringing a wide smile to her face as she heard Eddie’s familiar voice calling her name.

‘I should have remembered how busy it gets down here and not asked you to come,’ he said ruefully, holding her hand as he led her through the crowd into the shadows of the great hull.

‘I didn’t realise you were going to New York,’ Molly told him worriedly. ‘It’s such a long way, and there’ll be U-boats and—’

‘Nah, the
Aronsay’
s a good ship – and fast. I’ll be there and back before you’ve had time to miss me, and I promise I’ll bring you sommat pretty.’ He had in mind his Auntie Elsie’s comment that June was thinking poor Molly could wear Sally
Walker’s sister-in-law’s cast-off bridesmaid’s dress, and he was hoping he would have time in New York to get her some pretty fabric.

There was a long, loud blast on the ship’s whistle. Eddie took Molly in his arms and kissed her fiercely. Oblivious to everyone and everything but him, Molly kissed him back equally eagerly.

‘I’ve got to go, otherwise I’ll be swimmin’ over Liverpool bar to catch up with the ship,’ Eddie joked. But he still kissed her a second time, whilst all around them men started to hurry on board.

‘I love you, Molly Dearden,’ he whispered to her, as he finally released her.

She wasn’t going to cry, Molly promised herself sturdily. She didn’t want him to remember her with tears in her eyes. So instead she smiled as she waved, and watched him disappear, her heart soaring and breaking at the same time.

She was just about to start making her way back through the crowd when she saw Johnny’s sisters, standing a few yards away, staring at her. Her heart thumped guiltily. Had they seen her with Eddie? She knew that she couldn’t ignore them, and was just about to make her way towards them when they turned round and disappeared into the crowd.

Although she was relieved not to have to speak to them, Molly still felt sick with worry and guilt. What if they
had
seen her with Eddie, and they told Johnny?

She shouldn’t have come down to the dock to
say goodbye to Eddie, and she most certainly should not have kissed him, she knew that. She was engaged to Johnny, and it didn’t matter that she had never wanted that engagement. If Johnny’s sisters had seen her kissing Eddie they would tell everyone, and there was nothing she could say to explain or defend herself. She wished desperately for the umpteenth time that she had never let herself be talked into her engagement to Johnny.

All the way home on the bus, her head was filled with dreadful images of everyone’s disapproval. And it wouldn’t just affect her, it would affect her sister and her father as well. Once one member of a family did something that made them a social outcast, that reflected on everyone else in their family. Yet she couldn’t regret having gone to see Eddie off, and nor could she bring herself to deny her feelings for him.

These were such dark and dangerous times. If the unthinkable should happen, and his ship should be attacked by one of Hitler’s U-boats and sunk, at least she would have the memory of having held him and parted lovingly from him.

Molly looked wanly at her breakfast. She had barely slept and this morning her head was aching.

‘Come on, drink up your tea, else we’re going to be late for work, and I don’t want old Harding moaning at us,’ June urged her.

Molly frowned in confusion. ‘What about Napiers?’

‘What about them?’ June shrugged. ‘I didn’t say as I would take their job, I just said as I’d think about it. As it happens, I have thought about it and I’ve decided I might as well stay where I am. Now get a move on, will yer?’ she demanded, pulling a face when Molly jumped up, her cornflower-blue eyes shining with delight as she flung her arms around her sister, exclaiming with heartfelt delight, ‘Oh, June, I’m that glad you’ve changed your mind.’

‘Oh, give over being so soft, will yer?’ June complained, but Molly could see that she was smiling.

It was such a relief to know that she and June would still be working together, Molly thought as they set off for work, linking arms to walk speedily down the cul-de-sac.

‘I really would have missed you if you’d gone to Napiers,’ Molly told June, squeezing her arm affectionately.

‘Aye, well, it seems to me that someone has got to look out for you, and make sure as you don’t go getting yourself into trouble.’

Molly was relieved to see their bus lumbering towards them, sparing her from betraying her guilt. It was tearing her apart.

‘So then Mr Harding says, “Well, Irene, it seems to me that you should be in charge of the girls from now on,”’ Irene told them, mimicking the factory owner’s way of speaking, as she filled June and Molly in on what had happened since they left.

‘But poor Hannah, what will happen to her?’ Molly asked worriedly.

‘Gorn mental, she has,’ Ruby opined, ‘and no mistake.’

‘Her sister come in yesterday and said as how Hannah will be moving in wi’ her so as she can look out for her,’ Irene answered Molly, before saying crisply, ‘Now come on, all of you, we’ve got work to do. There’s a war on, you know.’

Within a few minutes the room was filled with the busy whirr of sewing machines – and the chatter of the girls as they returned to the familiar exchanging of comments whilst they sewed, calling out questions and answers to one another without lifting either their eyes or their hands from their work. They were working hard for their men and for their country, but it didn’t mean they couldn’t have some fun doing it.

‘I heard last night as how all the cinemas and dance halls are opening up again on account of there not having been any bombs,’ Ruby told the other girls one October evening as they hurried to put on their hats and coats ready to go home.

‘Well, that’s something to be pleased about,’ Irene said approvingly. ‘Right fed up of havin’ to stay in, I’m gettin’, especially with the blummin’ blackout.’

‘Well, I heard as how some poor chap was run over the other night on the Scotland Road. Walked right in front of a bus, he did, and never even seed it on account of it being blacked out.’

The newspapers were full of stories of accidents in the blackout, and men had been urged to walk with their shirt tails hanging out at night so that drivers could see them. All over the country people were complaining about the rules being forced on them to protect them from Jerry’s bombs, of which, as yet, there had been no sign.

Molly combed her hair and put on the coat she wore for work. She had bought it the January before last, having queued up outside Lewis’s at the start of their sale. She’d saved up for it out of her wages. Secretly she still preferred it to her going-to-church coat. It was brown tweed, darted at the back and nipped in at the waist, with a soft flare that emphasised her neat figure. It fastened with proper horn buttons. Some of the other machinists didn’t care how they looked, coming and going to work, but their father had brought June and Molly up to take a pride in their appearance. She pulled on her hat, dark brown and trimmed with feathers, automatically adjusting it to the right angle before reaching into her pocket for the brown gloves she had knitted to match her coat.

It had been raining all day and the streets gleamed greasily under the leaden sky as the two sisters huddled beneath a shared umbrella.

‘Look, there’s our dad,’ Molly said, as they got off the bus and turned into the cul-de-sac.

‘He must have had to work over his shift,’ June commented. ‘He said last night that he would be finishing at two today and that he would go straight to his allotment.

‘Here, Dad, wait up,’ June called out as the girls hurried to catch up with him.

‘I hope you haven’t got more eggs,’ June teased him.

His chickens had become a bit of a standing
joke in the cul-de-sac, which he took in good part, claiming that at least they would be more tender to eat than the two pigs the allotment holders had applied to keep.

‘You’re late finishing work,’ said June.

‘Aye, we had to get some extra wagons emptied and ready for Napiers.’ He rubbed a dirty hand across his eyes. ‘Some of the lads were saying that they’d heard that there’s bin U-boats up at Scapa Flow and that they’ve sunk the
Royal Oak
. Gawd help our merchant men if blummin’ Jerry can sail right into Scapa and let loose his torpedoes. John from next door isn’t saying much but you can tell that he’s worrying about that nephew of his, and who can blame him? Seems like there’s news of another ship sunk every day.’

All the time her father had been speaking, Molly’s heart had been thumping relentlessly in her chest.

It was nearly a full month since Eddie had sailed and Elsie had let slip when she had called round last night that she had been expecting him home before now.

‘Didn’t you say you had a WVS meeting tonight?’ June asked Molly as they all hurried inside, shaking wet coats and shivering in the cold dampness of the kitchen.

When Molly nodded, June told her, ‘Put the kettle on, Molly, whilst I go and see if there’s any letters come.’

The kettle was almost boiling, and June hadn’t
come back into the kitchen. So Molly left her father still tuning in the wireless and went to the door, calling out to June that she was making the tea.

‘I thought that would bring you,’ she called over her shoulder a few minutes later when she heard June come into the kitchen. When there was no response she turned round and almost dropped the teapot.

June was holding a letter in her hand and tears were rolling silently down her cheeks.

‘June, what is it?’ Molly demanded, putting down the teapot.

‘It’s Frank,’ June told her, causing Molly’s heart to lurch, before a huge smile replaced June’s tears. ‘He’s written to say that he’s bin told he will be home for Christmas and that I’m to get everything sorted out for the wedding.’

‘Oh, Junie …’ Molly hugged her.

‘I’m so happy, but fancy him not writing to let me know before now. How am I supposed to get everything sorted out?’ June demanded, reverting to her normal manner. But Molly could see how truly happy she was.

‘Well, at least your dress is nearly finished.’

‘Aye, but I’ll still have to see the vicar, and our dad will have to have a suit, and then there’s the wedding breakfast.’

‘What about Frank’s mam?’ Molly began.

‘Frank says that he’s written to her and told her. I think I’m going to have to sit down,’ she added faintly. ‘I’ve come over all of a shake. Oh, and he
said as how your Johnny will be coming home as well and that he’s asked him to be his best man.’

Molly’s smile faltered.

‘Looks like there’s a letter here for you from Johnny, an’ all,’ June told her, handing her an envelope. Molly hadn’t seen Johnny’s sisters since the night she had seen Eddie off on his ship, and there had been no hint in the two letters she had received from Johnny since then of them saying anything to him.

She was dreading having to tell Johnny that she wanted to end their engagement, but at the same time she was longing to be able to do so. She couldn’t help wishing, though, that Frank had not asked him to be his best man, especially with her being June’s bridesmaid. It was going to be very awkward.

‘Oh, Molly, I was beginning to think Frank’d never get leave.’

June’s face was glowing with happiness, and Molly had to force herself to put her own feelings to one side, for her sister’s sake.

‘Molly, we’ve heard today that my brother is to have leave from the RAF over Christmas,’ Anne announced excitedly as the two girls met up at their now regular meeting point of the Picton Clock. There was an air-raid shelter reasonably close to the clock so they had agreed it made sense to meet there ‘just in case’.

‘Frank and Johnny are to get leave as well,’
Molly told her more circumspectly. Although Anne seemed to have forgotten her own heated words, Molly was very mindful of Anne’s disapproval of her desire to end her engagement, as well as troubled by her own deceit. But what else could she do? She could not confide in Anne, knowing how she felt. And, anyway, it was only right that she told Johnny first that she wanted to end their engagement.

Once she had, she would then have to tell Anne, but if she then chose to turn her back on Molly, then Molly would just have to accept it. The love she and Eddie had for one another was too precious and dear for her to give up – much as she would hate to lose Anne’s friendship.

‘And Frank has written to tell our June to go ahead with their wedding plans.’

Arm in arm, the two girls headed for the school building where the WVS held its meetings.

‘It’s dreadful news about the
Royal Oak
, isn’t it?’ Anne said quietly, once they were inside. ‘So many lives lost, and at Scapa Flow, where they thought it was impossible for any U-boats to get. I’m so glad my brother isn’t in the navy.’

Molly started to tremble, choking back the anxious words she knew would betray her. It hurt so much, not being able to say how she felt about Eddie and to share her fear for him, but it had upset her to have Anne criticise her so sharply. It was obvious from her manner since then that she
assumed that Molly was sticking by her engagement, as she had urged her to do. Anne didn’t realise how it felt to be in love, otherwise she would have been more understanding, Molly comforted herself.

The news of the torpedoing of the
Royal Oak
had thrown everyone into a sombre mood that wasn’t lightened when Mrs Wesley, the head of their group, announced that she had received a number of complaints from her fellow WVS members in the area to which the Edge Hill and Wavertree children had been evacuated.

‘It seems some of those who were kind enough to take in the children are reporting a very serious lack of good manners indeed. And I’m afraid we have also had reports of a boy of seven who has, on several occasions, lost control of himself and wet his bed. Naturally he has been punished, and severely, but of course such shameful behaviour reflects on us all.’

Molly bit on her bottom lip as she listened to her. A small rebellious voice inside her was telling her that a young boy, separated from his mother and his home, and handed over to strangers, might be so upset and afraid that certain accidents might happen. She felt more pity and compassion for the child than the righteous anger their superior obviously thought they should feel.

‘There are also reports of children stealing, and refusing to do as they are told,’ Mrs Wesley continued sternly. ‘It is a shameful thing indeed when
good people take these children in out of the kindness of their hearts and that kindness is abused.’

‘But surely the Government is
paying
them to house the evacuees,’ a young blonde-haired woman spoke up firmly, much to Molly’s admiration.

‘Well, yes, that is true, but it does not excuse such behaviour. I have been in touch with the mother of the boy concerned and informed her that he will be returned to her. Now, how are we doing with our knitting for our soldiers programme …?’

Molly had discovered in the weeks since she had joined the WVS that their leader was considered by some of the younger members to be a little too set in her ways and old-fashioned. Molly shared those views, and could see in Anne’s eyes that she did too, as did the smart blonde girl who had spoken up.

‘Poor little chap,’ Anne whispered to Molly. ‘I can’t see that beating him would do any good. It will only frighten him all the more.’

‘Now, I want volunteers who are willing to learn to drive. The Government has informed us that it wishes us to ensure that as many of our members as possible are able to drive, and Mrs Noakes’s husband has kindly offered to teach those who want to learn.’

Anne was nudging Molly. ‘Come on! Remember we signed up to do it when we first started?’

The thought of being in charge of a motor car still terrified Molly, but she thought it would be
useful to learn, and might prove a welcome distraction from the turmoil of her emotions.

At the end of the evening, when the volunteers were asked to line up, Molly was pleased to see that the smart blonde woman was also volunteering, along with several of the other younger members of the group.

‘Oh, Molly, thank you. He’s growing so fast, he’s out of nearly everything I had already,’ Sally Walker said as Molly handed her the little matinée jacket and romper suit she had knitted up from her own old cardigan. ‘I’ve got the frock from our Dawn for you. It’s upstairs in the spare room. Come on, I’ll take you up.

‘I had a telegram this morning from Ronnie,’ Sally continued. ‘He’s bin given a week’s leave and he’s on his way home. I can’t wait to see him, and neither can this little lad, can you?’ She smiled tearfully. ‘He hasn’t met his dad yet, have you?’

The pink dress was laid out carefully on the bed in the immaculately tidy room. It was obvious that Sally had done her best to display it nicely but Molly’s heart still sank when she saw it. The bright pink colour was even more brash than she had remembered, the fabric shiny and stiff.

‘It’s very kind of you to lend it to me,’ Molly began, trying not to reveal what she was really thinking, but Sally was no fool.

‘I’m right sorry it isn’t better, Molly love, especially after what you’ve done for me. That Dawn
never had no taste, and I did everything I could to get her to choose sommat else, but she weren’t having none of it. And I reckon it will be too big for you, an’ all.’

‘I can make a new sash for it,’ Molly assured her. What did it matter what she wore, after all? It was June’s day, not hers. And who knew, perhaps one look at her in it would be enough to make Johnny break off their engagement. She cheered herself momentarily with that thought.

‘So your June’s set the date then?’ Sally asked as they went back downstairs, Molly carrying the dress and Sally the baby.

‘Yes, the Saturday before Christmas.’

‘What about the wedding breakfast? Where is she having that?’

‘She says she’s not having much of a do on account of the war and everything. The vicar has said she can use the church hall, and Elsie from next door has said she’ll help us with everything,’ said Molly.

‘Aye, I reckon the whole cul-de-sac will lend a hand, Molly. Frank’s mam was round here this morning. I reckon she’s a bit put out that they aren’t having sommat a bit posher. Frank’s the apple of her eye and no mistake.’

Molly didn’t say anything. She liked Sally, but she didn’t want to fuel any gossip about Frank’s mother’s disapproval of the fact that Frank was marrying June.

‘There!’ Molly announced, through a mouthful of pins, as she finished pinning the hem of June’s wedding dress, and sat back on her heels to ease her aching back and survey her handiwork. ‘You can take it off now. I’ve only got to hem it.’

It was gone six o’clock and she had been working on the dress since they had cleared away the remains of their Sunday dinner.

As soon as June had stepped out of the dress Molly put it on a hanger and wrapped it carefully in its protective sheet.

‘Elsie said she’d come round this evening so we can sort out what we’re going to ’ave for the buffet,’ said June. ‘I’ve had a word with me friend up at the baker’s, and she’s promised to let us have some baps.’

‘Oh, I nearly forgot,’ Molly broke in, ‘I was telling Anne about the wedding and she said to tell you that there’s a butcher up on Edge Road who makes his own potted meat, and she reckons she can get you some, if you want.’

It was getting harder by the day to buy food, unless you were prepared to pay black-market prices, or knew someone who knew someone. June was understandably concerned at what the situation would be, come the wedding.