The Rainbow Years (37 page)
Authors: Rita Bradshaw
She bowed her head. ‘At first it would have seemed like a betrayal somehow,’ she said very quietly. ‘Later, when I was pregnant, I thought he would change. But I did tell Kitty at Grandma’s funeral that he was drinking too much. She . . . she didn’t say anything to anyone then?’
‘She just hinted all wasn’t well between you but nothing specific.’
Amy nodded. ‘Anyway, it’s all water under the bridge now,’ she said dismissively, finding she didn’t want to talk about Charles any more. ‘How are Kitty and Uncle Ronald? How are you? You’re not married or anything, are you?’
Bruce grinned. Same old Amy. Changing the subject if she thought he was going to moan at her. But she
should
have called on him or his da. ‘Kitty and Da are as happy as bugs in a rug,’ he said, indulging her. ‘Mam and the girls are still at Granda’s. Kitty’s mam and da died within a month of each other last year. I’m not married and there’s no one special at the moment although the girls are queueing up, of course.’ He raised mocking eyebrows and Amy smiled. ‘And, oh aye, Perce is out.’
should
have called on him or his da. ‘Kitty and Da are as happy as bugs in a rug,’ he said, indulging her. ‘Mam and the girls are still at Granda’s. Kitty’s mam and da died within a month of each other last year. I’m not married and there’s no one special at the moment although the girls are queueing up, of course.’ He raised mocking eyebrows and Amy smiled. ‘And, oh aye, Perce is out.’
‘He’s out of prison? Is he in the Army or something?’
Bruce shook his head, finishing his beer in one swallow before he said, ‘According to Da, he’s up to his old tricks and knee deep in the black market, swaggering about and boasting he’s swung the lead and avoided being called up by bribing some doctor who’s on the fiddle. He started writing to Da when he was inside, and after he got out he went down to Manchester a few times to see them. They don’t like it, in fact Kitty can’t stand him. But he’s still Da’s son.’
‘I thought Perce was all for your mam and Mr O’Leary?’
‘He makes sure he keeps in with them an’ all. Runs with the hare and hunts with the hound, does Perce.’ Bruce didn’t voice what he really thought at this point, namely that Perce’s reconciliation with Ronald and Kitty was because of the beautiful woman in front of him. His da had told him on the quiet that every time Perce made an appearance he asked after Amy, and although they’d told him they had no idea of her whereabouts, he didn’t give up. Bruce didn’t like that. It worried him.
‘I’m sorry about Mr and Mrs Price.’
Bruce became aware that Amy was waiting for him to speak and cleared his mind. ‘Aye, it hit Kitty hard. It was some trouble with her stomach with Mrs Price, but according to the neighbours Kitty’s da just gave up the will to go on once Mrs Price had gone. You wouldn’t have thought it, would you, not with how Abe appeared on the outside.’
‘I’ve long since lost faith with how folk appear on the outside.’ And then, as though the words had brought them full circle, she flushed and said, ‘Bruce, you won’t say anything to anyone about what we discussed earlier?’
‘About you being married?’
She nodded. ‘I’m going to sort it out but not just yet.’
He stared at her but said nothing, wondering if she still had some feeling for Charles.
‘I’m going to write to Kitty in the next day or two,’ Amy told him, ‘but after what you’ve said I’ll ask her not to tell anyone, especially Perce. I’ll tell them we’ve met up, that’ll please them. Kitty always said you were the best of the bunch.’
Bruce smiled. ‘Sensible woman.’
It was true, Amy thought, he was the best of the bunch. If only she had married someone like him, her life would have been so different, but of course he had never thought of her in that way. Suddenly she felt curious.‘I suppose you’ve had lots of girlfriends?’ she said, realising afresh how good-looking he was.
‘A few. A couple could have been serious but things never quite worked out. Perhaps I’m too picky.’ He grinned again and she smiled back. Silly girls to let him get away, she thought, looking at him with new eyes.
The door to the main room opened and brought with it a gust of noise. Above the laughter and voices within, Nick called from the doorway, ‘The women are whipping us in there, Bruce. Come on, we need reinforcements.’ But his eyes were on Amy.
‘In a minute. Get me another beer in if you want to be useful.’ Bruce turned back to Amy as he spoke but she continued to look at Nick as the door closed. In response to her expression, he said, ‘He doesn’t mean anything, it’s just his way.’
‘He thinks he’s God’s gift to womankind.’ Her voice was low but caustic.
Bruce stared at her for a moment. ‘Like I said, it’s just his way, he doesn’t mean anything,’ he said uncomfortably. ‘Sometimes I think it’s a defence for the way they throw themselves at him, and they do, you know. Shameless, some of them are. We rib him about it but secretly most of the blokes would give their right arm to be in his boots.’
Amy’s voice was sharp when she said, ‘Huh! Well, here’s one who wouldn’t lower herself, and I dare say there are others, whatever he likes to think.’
‘He’s my friend, Amy.’ His tone was reproachful. ‘And he has been through the mill. It changes a bloke. Most of the pals he joined up with have long since copped it and he knows his luck can’t last for ever. His two brothers were killed in the Battle of Britain and they were younger than him. How do you think that makes him feel?’
The door opened again and saved her having to reply. As two young WAAFs eyed Bruce on their way to the ladies’ lavatory, Amy said, ‘You go back in. I’ve got a headache and I could do with an early night.’ Suddenly she felt all at odds with herself. But not with Bruce, never with Bruce. She held out her hand. ‘Friends for fairs?’
He smiled, squeezing her fingers. ‘Friends for fairs. Do you want me to walk you back to your hut?’
She shook her head. This funny feeling was all tied up with him; for the first time in her life she was seeing him as a man rather than her dear old Bruce and it was disconcerting. Forcing a teasing note into her voice, she said, ‘You go back and help the great Nick Johnson. And I’m sorry I criticised him but I think he’s very lucky to have you for a friend, if you want to know. I’m on duty in the men’s mess tomorrow so no doubt I’ll see you then. ’Night, Bruce.’
‘’Night, Amy.’
The WAAFs exited the ladies’ as Amy walked off, the cheekiest saying brightly, ‘Left you already, has she?’
‘Looks like it.’ Bruce grinned. ‘But there’s plenty more fish in the sea. Isn’t that what they say?’
‘Ooh, hark at him, and me with the surname of Kipper an’ all!’
Chapter 18
Nick Johnson watched Bruce enter the room with the two WAAFs and all three were smiling broadly. His eyes went beyond them but when the door remained shut, the green gaze returned to Bruce who eventually reached the table. After a spot of banter with one or two of the other airmen, Bruce sat down beside him.
‘How are we doing?’ Bruce asked without any enthusiasm.
‘Miserably,’ Nick answered in the same tone, pushing a glass of beer towards Bruce and taking a pull at his own glass. Most of the airmen on their table were calling asides to the WAAFs sitting opposite, and under cover of the general chatter, he said, ‘Where’s your cousin run off to?’
‘She’s got a headache.’
‘A headache?’ Nick grinned, keeping his tone light as he asked the question he’d wanted to ask all evening. ‘Isn’t that more of a girlfriend’s excuse? Sure you two aren’t kissing cousins?’
Bruce looked him straight in the face. ‘We were brought up as brother and sister. Amy lost her parents early on and mine took her in. OK?’
‘Fine, fine, don’t take offence. I just wondered, that’s all. She’s a stunning-looking woman.’
‘Yes, she is, but for the record she’s not like plenty I could name. She’s not into this “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die” frame of mind, Nick.You understand what I mean?’
Nick looked into his friend’s tense face for a moment and then nodded slowly, and now there was no laughter in his voice when he said, ‘I think so. You’re warning me off, right?’
‘I’m just saying she doesn’t play around, it’s not in her nature and if anyone,
anyone
spun her a line they’d have me to answer to.’
anyone
spun her a line they’d have me to answer to.’
Nick shook his head slowly. ‘Look, mate, I hate to mention it but your little lamb has landed smack in a den of wolves, and she’s been noticed. Take it from me. And she’s not a schoolgirl, Bruce. You’ve got to let her grow up sometime.’
‘She is grown up.’
Something in Bruce’s voice caused the green eyes to narrow. ‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning nothing.’ Bruce swallowed half the glass of beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘Don’t get me wrong, Nick, Amy can take care of herself.’
‘I don’t doubt it.’ Nick’s voice was wry. ‘I just wondered if you knew it. Believe me, she’s all ice when she wants to be.’
‘She hasn’t fallen for the Johnson legendary charm then?’
‘Not so you’d notice.’
‘Shame.’ Bruce’s smile widened and then he ducked as Nick aimed a playful punch at his chin.
The two men didn’t mention Amy again for the rest of the evening but she was on both their minds.
Amy wrote to Kitty the very next evening. She had spoken to Bruce again in the mess but briefly; he had been subdued and she knew why. Following the new tactic against the enemy which had been inaugurated at the beginning of the year, a number of their fighter pilots had escorted a Blenheim bomber unit over the Channel that morning. The simple aim was to force German fighters into the air in circumstances ostensibly favourable to the RAF, but although the theory was good, everyone on the station knew the practice was far from perfect. Until the boys were back safely, the camp was on edge and no amount of forced cheerful-ness could hide it.
At the quiz the night before, Cassie had made a date with one of the young pilots she’d had her eye on for ages and she grew increasingly tense as the hours went by. At one point she seasoned the mutton stew with sugar instead of salt, but no one complained and it got eaten just the same. It was a great relief late in the afternoon when word came that every plane had returned to the airfield and there were no casualties.
Much to her annoyance, Amy had found herself thinking of Nick as she had gone about her work. It was only because he had irritated her so thoroughly, of course, that and the fact that her blood had run cold when Bruce had said Nick’s luck couldn’t last for ever. She wished he hadn’t said that. If he’d been trying to make her feel bad, he had succeeded. Whatever she thought of Nick Johnson, she wouldn’t wish for him to be hurt - she wouldn’t wish for any of their lads to be hurt, she qualified firmly. And then she brought her mind back to the matter in hand and stared down at the paper in front of her. She’d already written to Winnie and Nell and Pamela; those letters had been easy. Kitty’s wasn’t.
‘Dear Kitty, You’re probably surprised to hear from me after all this time,’ she read for the umpteenth time. She had got no further than that and the way she was going she never would.
She sighed, and then a little voice from the bed on her left reminded her she wasn’t alone. ‘Difficult letter?’ Gertie asked tentatively.
All the other girls had either gone to the Black Swan, the cosy old pub where most of the airmen and airwomen socialised other than the NAAFI and where Cassie was meeting her pilot, or were rehearsing for the production the theatre company was putting on. Isobel and another WAAF were on forty-eight-hour leave.
‘Sort of.’ Amy tried not to show any impatience. Gertie was a good few years younger than herself and wasn’t the type of person who ever wanted to be alone, but sometimes Amy longed for a little time to herself. It was hard to come by with so many women sharing the hut and all the duties of the station. She looked at Gertie now, saying, ‘I thought you were going to write a couple of letters?’ That was the excuse Gertie had made not to join the others when they had asked her.
Gertie shrugged and put down the book she had been reading. ‘There’s no one I want to write to.’
‘What about your mother? Didn’t she write to you the other day? She’ll be expecting an answer soon.’ To Amy’s knowledge Gertie hadn’t written home once during training camp or since they had been at Norwich. ‘No doubt she’s missing you,’ she added encouragingly, though she wondered if this really was the case. There was something funny about Gertie’s home, she was sure of it.
Gertie shrugged again, looking at her so strangely Amy didn’t know whether to lower her head to her letter or go over and put her arm round the other girl. In the event she did neither, saying instead, ‘Do you want to see a picture of my mam? She died when I was just a baby.’
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