Some Lucky Day (35 page)

‘You settle in then and have a good sleep,’ Peggy said gruffly. ‘I’ve put a little bell on the bedside table, so if you need anything just give it a ring, and I’ll be up.’

She saw the brightness of tears in the girl’s eyes and made a hasty exit before her own emotions got the better of her. ‘Goodness me,’ she muttered as she ran back down the stairs. ‘I’m an absolute wreck after everything that’s happened. Lord only knows what that poor little mite is feeling.’

Kitty sank down onto the soft bed and admired the little room. The scent from the roses was struggling a bit from the beeswax polish Peggy had used liberally on the wardrobe and floor, but she’d spoken the truth when she’d told her it was perfect. For although it was a world away from her spacious, sunlit bedroom back in Argentina, it held the promise of peace and tranquillity after a terrible day, and the comfort of solitude after all those weeks in the noisy, crowded hospital.

She sat for a moment thinking about her warm welcome into Peggy’s home, and of how very lucky she was to have met her. Then she opened her cases, put her travelling alarm clock on the bedside table, plucked out her nightdress and washbag, and went along the landing to the lavatory and bathroom.

Having carefully attended to her stump, she washed her face and hands, ran a brush through her ragged hair and then paused as she caught sight of her reflection in the bathroom mirror. There were dark shadows beneath her eyes, and the hollows in her face seemed more pronounced as she thought about Freddy and wondered where he could be – and if he’d survived.

She gave a deep, trembling sigh, turned from the mirror, and with her stained clothes bundled under her arm, made her slow way back to her bedroom. Opening the taped-over window, she glanced down into the garden where Ron was carefully watering his vegetable plot and the dogs lay panting in the sun. Then she pulled the sprigged curtain across it so the room was cast in shadow, but she could still smell the lovely sea air and the scent of roses and freshly watered earth.

With her crutches leaning against the bedside cupboard, she sank onto the bed, exhausted mentally and physically. But her thoughts still churned, for although she loved being in this friendly home, she was beginning to doubt the wisdom of trying to live here.

Despite her protests to the contrary, the stairs
were
a problem, even though fierce determination and a fair dollop of grandstanding had seen her manage to get up them earlier. But now she had to admit that the little show of bravado had utterly drained her.

Then there was the fact that Peggy clearly had a great deal on her hands already, and once Jim came home on leave, she would have even less time to see to everyone – let alone help Kitty in and out of the bath.

But this was only part of what worried Kitty, for there was also her reliance on people – mostly strangers – to get her to the hospital and back every day. Her presence was causing nothing but trouble for everyone, she thought sadly, and although she’d been met with only loving kindness, she suspected it could easily wear thin after a while.

Kitty’s spirits were at their lowest ebb as she drew back the downy quilt to reveal crisp cotton sheets and an enticing pillow. Poor Charlotte was probably delivering a plane somewhere, happily thinking about her wedding and unaware of the terrible news that awaited her back at Hamble Pool. Freddy was lost on the other side of the Channel – perhaps in terrible pain, or even dead, and her parents knew nothing as yet.

Then there was Doreen, who was, no doubt, facing the curious, pitying stares and endless questions of her friends and family in London. How was she coping outside the security of the hospital walls? Was her laughter just that bit more brittle, the smile a little more forced – or was her indomitable spirit still unbroken?

And what about Ruby? She could only wait and hope that Mike would pull through and not lose his sight, but then, if things became serious between them, she’d have choices to make that might change her life forever.

The awful consequences of this war had brought not only sorrow, but the profound and terrible fear of the unknown, and Kitty could no longer deal with it. Easing between the sheets, and with the soft quilt tucked comfortingly to her chin, she closed her eyes. She desperately wanted to sleep – to sink into that welcoming nothingness and shut out the world and all its terrors for a while.

Yet her mind refused to be still, and the images of what might have happened to her beloved brother tormented her until the exhaustion finally overwhelmed her, and she could think no more.

The sounds outside her window filtered into the darkness and she slowly emerged from it feeling heavy-limbed and disorientated. The light coming through the curtains was paler now, and the small travelling alarm clock showed it was after five. She’d been asleep for almost four hours but she didn’t feel at all rested, so she turned over and snuggled back down beneath the covers.

But, as was always the way, the pressure on her bladder forced her out of bed. Quickly dressing in a fresh pair of trousers and a light sweater, she shoved her foot into the flat sandal and headed for the bathroom. She could hear Rita’s voice downstairs and guessed she was calling out to the others through the kitchen window as they sat in the garden. Proof, if ever she needed it, that life went on regardless of what might have happened to Freddy.

She quickly washed her face and hands, ran her fingers through her awful hair and went out to face the stairs. They posed much fewer problems on the downward journey, so she sat at the top, clutched her crutches and slowly bumped from stair to stair until she reached the bottom.

A little out of breath but feeling quite pleased with herself, she leaned on the crutches and was about to cross the hall when Harvey galloped out of the kitchen to greet her. Alarmed that he might jump up and knock her over, she held out her crutch towards him to ward him off. ‘Good boy, Harvey,’ she said quietly. ‘Sit down and be still.’

Harvey sat and cocked his head to one side, his intelligent eyes darting between Kitty and the crutches as his eyebrows wriggled.

‘That’s a very good boy,’ Kitty praised. ‘Now I’m just going to go in the kitchen, so you stay there and don’t trip me up.’

Harvey gave a questioning whine as she headed away from him, then quietly and calmly, he got to his feet and walked beside her.

Kitty praised him again, but just as they entered the kitchen, she gasped with anxiety. Monty was dashing towards her at full tilt and there was no possible way of avoiding a collision.

Harvey moved swiftly and with one great paw he felled Monty and held him to the floor. As the puppy squirmed and yipped, Harvey caught his scruff in his soft mouth and then sat and waited to see what Kitty would do next.

Kitty was amazed, for the puppy hung from Harvey’s mouth, unharmed and as limp as a wilting willow. ‘You are an incredible dog, Harvey,’ she breathed. ‘Now, if you could just hold onto him for another minute or two while I get into the garden, that would be really helpful.’

Harvey’s ears pricked and his eyebrows rose and fell, but Monty remained blissfully content in his mouth.

Kitty hastily bumped down the cellar steps and then negotiated the doorway into the garden to discover Ron, Peggy, Cordelia and Rita were waiting for her with broad smiles. ‘Well done,’ they said in unison.

‘It’s Harvey you should thank for my safe journey. If he hadn’t grabbed Monty, I’d be in a heap on the kitchen floor.’

She quickly explained what had happened, and they all turned as Harvey made a grand entrance into the garden with Monty still ensnared by the scruff. He carefully placed the puppy on the ground and then barked as if he understood how clever he’d been before he went off to cock his leg and wee luxuriously against the garden wall.

‘There, Cordelia,’ said a proud and beaming Ron. ‘Are ye not willing to admit that Harvey is a well-trained, clever dog?’

‘I never said he wasn’t clever,’ retorted Cordelia from beneath her broad-brimmed and rather battered sunhat. ‘In fact, he’s too clever by half, which is why he’s always in trouble.’

‘Are you all right, Kitty?’ asked a concerned Peggy as she dithered about trying to help her into the low deckchair. ‘You should have rung your bell and I would have come up to help you.’

Kitty had absolutely no intention of ever ringing that bell. ‘I’m fine, really.’ She smiled. ‘But Harvey certainly is a special dog. He seemed to know instinctively that I was vulnerable and obeyed me instantly.’

Rita grinned. ‘He isn’t always so obedient,’ she warned, ‘so I wouldn’t take it for granted.’ She poured some tea into a cup, added milk and a sprinkling of sugar. ‘You must be thirsty after your sleep,’ she said, handing it over.

Kitty settled into the deckchair and sipped the refreshing tea before reaching into her trouser pocket for her cigarettes. ‘Damn,’ she muttered.

‘What?’ asked Rita. ‘Have you forgotten something?’

‘I left my cigarettes upstairs. But never mind,’ she added hastily. ‘I’m probably better off without them.’

Without a word, Rita shot back indoors and less than a minute later was back in the garden with the packet of Players. ‘Here you go,’ she said cheerfully, ‘and I brought your sunglasses as well,’ she added as she held them out. ‘It’s very bright still.’

‘Oh, Rita, thank you,’ she sighed. ‘But you mustn’t keep running about after me.’

Rita widened her big brown eyes. ‘Why ever not?’

‘Because I have to learn to remember such things, and until I do, then I’ll either go and fetch them or do without.’

‘Stuff and nonsense,’ muttered Rita. ‘This is your first day at home, and you’ve got enough to deal with without going up and down the stairs.’ She smiled and squeezed Kitty’s hand, her tone much softer. ‘We want to spoil you a bit, Kitty, so please let us.’

Kitty was afraid of this, but the genuine affection she could see in her friend’s eyes kept her silent, and she accepted Rita’s offer with a grateful smile. Still, she vowed, if she was going to stay here, then she would jolly well have to learn quickly to walk on her false leg so she wasn’t any more bother.

Later that night, Kitty was once more settled into the comfortable bed, her letters and cards scattered over the counterpane. The blackout was in place and the curtains drawn over it, and she rested against the pillows in the soft pool of light coming from the bedside lamp as she thought about her first day at Beach View.

The pleasant interlude in the garden had been followed by the arrival of the other girls. After being introduced and chatting for a while, Kitty had determinedly refused all offers of help and made her own way up the steps to the kitchen. They’d all sat round the kitchen table for supper – or tea, as Peggy called it – and Kitty had felt quite at home as Ron surreptitiously fed scraps to the dogs and the girls told everyone the latest gossip at their workplaces.

Kitty smiled. The fish pie had been an enormous success and Cordelia had gone quite pink with pleasure at their praise, but Peggy had caught Ron slipping a bit of fish to Harvey and told him straight that if she saw him do it again, she’d clout him one. This started a bit of light-hearted banter which soon ended in laughter, as Kitty suspected most confrontations did in this house.

She thought about her first impressions of her fellow lodgers. Sarah was typical of the girls who’d spent their formative years in the sophisticated world of the expats living in the tropics, and in a way, she rather reminded Kitty of a very pleasant girl from South Africa that she’d once shared a dormitory with.

Jane seemed a little less sophisticated and rather young for her years, but she was delightful company, and it was clear she thoroughly enjoyed working at the dairy and doing the books at the uniform factory.

Kitty had heard the sisters’ story from Peggy, and she rather admired their stoicism in the face of such worry over their father and Sarah’s fiancé, for she knew there was very little news coming out of the Far East, and absolutely no word from the Japs on the numbers of dead or the POWs.

Kitty turned from these unsettling thoughts to Suzy. She too had the quiet assurance of someone who’d been carefully raised and educated, and as she’d excitedly shared her plans for her wedding and talked about the little house they would move into, Kitty had been sharply reminded of Charlotte and her plans which, by now, would tragically be in tatters.

Kitty steered her attention determinedly back to Fran, the redheaded Irish nurse who seemed to be getting over her brush with a young married American and was looking forward to going dancing at the weekend. Fran was a lively spirit, with her flashing green eyes and tumbling hair, and Kitty rather hoped she’d learned not to wear her heart quite so clearly on her sleeve.

As for Rita, she could be a touch acerbic at times, she’d noticed, especially when Fran teased her, but Kitty wondered if that was because Rita was a bit daunted by the other girl’s stunning looks and easy-going manner which could so easily charm everyone around her. On the whole, Kitty realised, Rita was shy and unsure of herself, and the brittle shell she hid behind masked a sweet nature. She’d already proved it by being admirably efficient in working out a fire station roster for the hospital run, and had even persuaded John Hicks, the Fire Chief, to lend one of the station’s trucks for the purpose.

Kitty smiled as she remembered the chaos of coming back up to bed. With so many willing hands, and much jostling, it had taken far longer to get up the stairs than it would have if she’d gone up on her bottom. But it had been enormous fun, and she’d been warmed by their enthusiasm and affection as they’d bid her goodnight with hugs and kisses.

And yet it was Harvey who’d really touched her heart, for he’d followed her every step as the puppy yapped and wriggled in Peggy’s arms, and now she could hear him snuffling and snoring outside her door. It seemed she had her own personal shaggy bodyguard.

Kitty reached for her mother’s letters, which she’d now read several times and knew almost by heart. Turning off the bedside light, she slid further beneath the covers. With the letters close to her heart she could remember her mother’s sweet words, finding comfort in the fact that she and father had yet to learn about Freddy.