Wings of the Morning Page 2

  She wondered how it was possible for two people to look at the prospect of war so differently. She was sad, apprehensive and worried about the future. So apprehensive in fact that she’d rushed out still wearing the old blue cotton frock she wore around the house, but he sounded as if he was looking forward to it.

  ‘You’re back early.’

  Wally, her stepfather, was alone in the kitchen, a cigarette smouldering in the ashtray and a newspaper spread out on the table. ‘Where’s Mum?’ Annie asked as she came in.

  ‘She’s babysitting for Rose. Bill’s taken her out for the evening. I think they want a bit of time alone together.’ He folded the paper up and tossed it on to a spare chair.

  ‘Do you think Bill will get called up again?’ She didn’t know why she was asking that; he would be one of the first to go. Her insides clenched with worry. This family, like every other one in the country, was about to be torn apart.

  ‘Well, he’s in the reserves and I think he was contacted a few weeks ago, but he hasn’t said anything to Rose. He was hoping this war would never happen, I expect.’

  ‘So were we all, but we were fooling ourselves.’ Annie sat down and shook her head sadly. ‘Why did this have to happen again, Wally? We’ve been so happy but now our lives are going to be disrupted, and all because of one man’s lust for power.’

  ‘It’s crazy, I know, but we’re in it whether we like it or not.’

  She smiled sadly and patted his hand. ‘At least you’ll be safe this time.’

  ‘I’m not sure any of us are going to be safe, Annie. This is going to be a very different war.’ He dredged up a smile. ‘Anyway, why are you back so soon?’

  ‘We ended up in London, and Paul’s all excited, but I’m afraid I couldn’t share his enthusiasm.’ They’d gone to Piccadilly and it had been crowded with people discussing the outbreak of war. Paul had caused a great deal of interest in his uniform but she knew that very soon it would be a normal sight.

  ‘Thought he might be.’ Wally looked at her speculatively. ‘You going to marry him?’

  ‘No. He’s asked me to again but I just don’t feel it’s right.’

  Her stepfather lit another cigarette. ‘He’s a good boy, but I think you need a stronger man, otherwise you’ll lead him a merry dance.’

  Annie gave him a playful swipe. ‘Are you saying I’m difficult to live with?’

  ‘Not at all,’ he laughed, ducking as she aimed another gentle blow at him. ‘I just mean you wouldn’t be happy with a man unless he was strong-willed and decisive. Any man you marry will have to have a firm hand.’

  ‘Meaning?’ She propped her elbows on the table, rested her chin in her hands and looked at him thoughtfully.

  ‘Well, you’ve got more of Rose in you than you realize, and you know what trouble Bill had with her …’ He stopped and began to chuckle.

  ‘You’re digging yourself into a hole, aren’t you?’

  ‘Don’t look so innocent,’ he said laughing, ‘you know darned well what I’m talking about. Let’s change the subject, before I get myself into real trouble.’

  Annie laughed, reached across and gave him a hug. He’d been a good stepfather to all of them and she loved him very much.

  ‘When’s Paul going back?’

  ‘Tonight.’ Annie’s smile was wry. That was the first time Paul had ever been eager to leave her. He hadn’t been able to contain his impatience to get back to his beloved aeroplane – a Hurricane, she thought he’d said.

  ‘He’s got a brother, hasn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, Reid, he’s about three years older than Paul.’

  ‘What’s he like?’ Wally asked.

  ‘I’ve never met him, but Paul seems to be in awe of him, and I suspect that’s the reason he wanted to learn to fly.’ Reid had always been out working or away when Annie had visited the Lascellses’ home, so she couldn’t help being a little curious about him.

  ‘He’s a pilot as well then, is he?’

  ‘Yes. He’s got his own aeroplane he uses for business. One of those Lysanders.’

  ‘I feel sorry for his family having both sons as pilots. They’ll be just like we were last time, eager to get into it, and convinced it won’t last long.’

  ‘And will it, do you think?’ All the talk in London had been about a short war, but she didn’t believe that. Gas masks had been issued, plans to evacuate children were well under way already, and the government wouldn’t be doing that if they didn’t believe there was danger.

  ‘I’m not a fortune teller,’ he grimaced, ‘but Hitler’s a powerful man and Germany has been rearming for years.’

  ‘Are we prepared?’ she asked.

  ‘Nowhere near. When Chamberlain came back from his visit with Hitler and waved that bit of paper saying there wouldn’t be a war, it lulled some into a false sense of security.’

  ‘When you look back you can see that it was unwise to believe anything Hitler said, or signed, wasn’t it?’ She for one had held on to any slight indication of hope. She knew there were many like her.

  ‘It’s easy to be wise with hindsight but I think there are a few politicians who never trusted Hitler’s word.’

  ‘It wasn’t worth the paper it was written on, was it?’

  ‘No.’ Her stepfather gave a tired smile. ‘Let’s hope they don’t attack too soon. We need time to get ourselves sorted out.’

  Her mother walked in just then and the expression on her face was troubled.

  ‘Has Bill been recalled, Marj?’ Wally asked his wife.

  She merely nodded and poured herself a cup of tea. ‘Bill has asked George to leave his London home and live with Rose and the children while he’s away. He’ll be happier knowing Rose’s father is there to look after them.’

  ‘That should liven things up having them both living in the same house.’ Wally said and chuckled.

  Annie couldn’t hold back her own smile of amusement. Rose was George Gresham’s illegitimate daughter and had inherited his explosive temper; he loved her and his grandchildren dearly. He wouldn’t need much persuading to come and live here. Annie admired her mother so much for the way she had forgiven Sir George Gresham. She’d been in service to the Gresham family as a young girl and George had taken advantage of her. When Marj had become pregnant she had been thrown out and ended up in Garrett Street with Tom, the man who took her in. It must have been a terrible choice for her mother but the only alternative had been the workhouse. Tom was a brute and Rose took the brunt of his drunken rages in an effort to protect the younger children. When he’d been killed in the last war none of the children he’d had with Marj were very sorry, including herself. Then just after the war, Wally had moved in as a lodger, and about a year later Wally and her mother had married. It was a good marriage and they were still happy together.

  Annie went to bed then, her mind churning away. What was this conflict going to mean to her and those she loved? Her two brothers Charlie and Will were bound to join up, but what about her sisters, Flo and Nancy? They didn’t see them very often now as they had families of their own and had drifted away, but they were in London. There was also another brother, Bob, but Annie hardly remembered him. He’d run away to sea when she was little and ended up in Australia. They had a couple of letters a year from him, but she doubted she’d ever see him again.

  Thoughts of the war crowded her mind again. What were Hitler’s plans, and would this country be given the time it needed to mobilize and arm properly? These were all questions no one could answer at this time.

  2

  December 1939

  Annie shivered and pulled her collar up to shield herself against the cold wind. They had been at war for three months and nothing much was happening. Many were calling it the phoney war, but there wasn’t anything phoney about it for the poor devils now under Nazi rule.

  She shivered again, not caused by the cold this time, but because, as she turned the corner and saw the outline of their house in the gloom, she’d had
a brief vision of Germans marching along the road. It was a frightening thought but it couldn’t possibly happen, she told herself sternly; they had won the last war against all the odds and they would do the same again. They had to!

  When she thought about the terrible losses suffered in the Great War it made her feel sick. Of course, she had only been little but she had still been aware of the grief and terrible loss of young lives. Pray God that this one would not be so bad.

  The Germans seemed to be an unstoppable force, but they had to be stopped, and that was going to need a supreme effort from everyone, including herself, so she was going to have to make a decision soon.

  She opened the back door, pushed aside the blackout curtain and stepped quickly inside. Then she stopped in surprise; it was empty. The kitchen was always alive with activity at this time in the evening, and her mother would normally have a cup of tea ready for her as soon as she walked through the door. This was an unusual break in the routine so it was obvious something had happened. Without a moment’s hesitation she hurried into the garden and through the special gate in the fence. She knew where they would be.

  Her mother, Wally, George and her brothers were in Rose and Bill’s kitchen; when she saw their serious faces her insides clenched with apprehension. ‘What’s happened?’

  Annie’s mother handed her a cup of tea. ‘Will has enlisted in the Fleet Air Arm.’

  ‘And I’m going into the RAF,’ Charlie told her proudly.

  Annie gave her brothers a startled look. It wasn’t like them to be parted, they were more like twins than brothers. ‘Why aren’t you going into the same service?’

  ‘No way!’ Charlie held his hands up in horror. ‘I don’t like the sea, I want to keep my feet firmly on solid ground. We’re both going to be aircraft mechanics but I will be on an airfield while Will is tossing about on an aircraft carrier.’

  ‘But why didn’t you wait until you were called up, like Bill did?’

  ‘If we’d done that, Annie,’ Will explained patiently, ‘we wouldn’t have had a choice. You know how mad we’ve always been about engines, and by volunteering we’ve been able to go into the branch of the service we want. I wouldn’t have been able to get into the navy if I’d left it much longer.’

  They were right, of course, and it was time she made her own mind up about what she was going to do. ‘When are you leaving?’

  ‘We’re all going at the end of the week,’ Bill told her quietly.

  This was it, then. Bill and Will in the navy and Charlie in the air force. Nothing was ever going to be the same again. Annie went and slipped her arms around Bill’s waist, gave him a hug, then did the same to her brothers. ‘You all take care,’ she whispered.

  Bill smiled. ‘We will, and you never know I might be given a nice desk somewhere.’

  Annie looked up at him hopefully. ‘Is there any chance of that?’

  His smile was wry. ‘There’s always a chance.’

  Annie sat down, not sure that her legs would hold her much longer. She knew, as well as Bill did, that the chances of him being given a shore job were remote. This was a triple blow. She had known it was going to happen but had clung on to the foolish hope that her family would be spared. She looked into Rose’s eyes, but they told her nothing. Her sister would accept the inevitable and fight for her family, as she had done all her life, but she would not let anyone see her fears.

  ‘Hey! Why the long faces,’ Charlie reprimanded. ‘The sooner we all get stuck into this war, the sooner it will be over.’

  ‘Quite right.’ Bill put his arm around his wife’s shoulders and grinned. ‘We don’t know where any of us will be at Christmas, so I suggest we have one hell of a party before we leave.’

  There was a chorus of approval and everyone roused themselves from their gloomy contemplation of the future. By the time they’d finished their planning it was clear that this was going to be the best party they’d ever thrown, even if the reason behind it all was a sad one.

  ‘Rosie.’ Annie looked into the kitchen. It was two weeks since the men had joined up but Rose was obviously preparing for Christmas as if everyone was going to be there. ‘Are you busy?’

  ‘No, come in. I’ve just got to put the last two puddings on to boil.’

  Annie sniffed appreciatively. ‘It smells wonderful in here.’

  ‘This will be the last chance to have proper Christmas puddings, I think.’

  Rose adjusted the gas under the saucepan, and then sat down. ‘Once our store cupboards are empty there won’t be any more treats.’

  ‘Have you heard from Bill?’

  ‘Yes, had a letter this morning, but he didn’t tell me what he was doing. I don’t suppose it’s allowed.’ Rose gave a slight shrug and changed the subject. ‘Have you heard from Paul?’

  ‘Had three letters all at once, but I haven’t a clue where he is. He might not even be in this country.’ The letters had been unusually subdued for Paul, but that was probably because he knew they would be censored before they were sent on to their destination.

  ‘Let’s hope some of them can get home for Christmas.’ Rose got up and put the kettle on. ‘We’ll have a cup of tea and some biscuits. You look as if you’ve got something on your mind.’

  Annie laughed. ‘You know me too well.’

  ‘Right, tell me what’s troubling you.’ Rose placed a cup in front of Annie, opened the tin of biscuits, and then settled down again and waited.

  ‘I’ve left my job.’ It had been a wrench but Annie knew it had to be done. A lot of the people she’d worked with over the years had already joined the forces and the magazine was being produced with a skeleton staff. Chantal had already left to stay with her husband’s relatives in Edinburgh.

  Rose dunked a biscuit and nodded. ‘I thought you would. What are you going to do?’

  ‘That’s what I want to talk about. I was thinking of joining the WAAF.’ She stirred her tea thoughtfully; it wasn’t an easy decision to make. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘If that’s what you want to do, then go ahead, you don’t have to get my approval, you know. You’re a grown woman now, Annie.’

  ‘I know,’ she grinned at her sister, ‘but it’s hard to break the habit of a lifetime.’

  ‘Why the WAAF? Are you hoping to stay near Paul?’

  ‘No, now he’s in the RAF I’m hoping he will meet someone else. He won’t take no for an answer, but no amount of persistence will make me change my mind.’

  ‘You’re wise to wait, Annie, don’t take second best.’ Rose poured them another cup of tea. ‘So tell me then, why the WAAF?’

  ‘Well, I’ve been down to the recruitment office and they were very interested in my languages, and besides …’ She cast Rose a sheepish glance. ‘I like the colour of the uniform best. Air force blue is much nicer than khaki.’

  ‘Ah, well, that settles it, then,’ Rose joked, her eyes crinkling at the corners, obviously amused.

  Annie knew it was a shallow reason, but she really hadn’t known what to do. She’d agonized over it night after night, trying to decide what would be the right thing for her. She changed the subject. ‘Are you going to evacuate the children, Rosie?’

  ‘Not at the moment, things are pretty quiet and we’re not in the heart of London this time. I’d rather wait and see what happens.’

  ‘Bill told me to make sure you send the children to a safe place if things get rough.’ Rose raised an eyebrow and Annie laughed. ‘I know, you won’t take any notice of me but think about Bill. You don’t want him worrying while he’s away, do you?’

  ‘That’s sneaky,’ Rose scolded. ‘But you’re right, and I promise to take the children away if it becomes necessary. Dad’s bought a house in Wales and he’s there now getting it ready. Bill said it’s got four bedrooms so we should be able to cram the lot of us in if necessary, and it should be out of the firing line.’

  ‘Let’s hope it is.’ Annie thought of Rose’s father, George Gresham, with affection. He w
ould make sure Rose and his grandchildren were safe. After their first explosive meeting when Rose had been about sixteen, George had been welcomed into the family. Father and daughter were both strong characters and often clashed but the love and respect between them was obvious.

  ‘Of course I’ve had a terrible row with Dad about it. He’s been rushing around the country looking for a place for us to hide in!’ Rose was clearly exasperated. ‘We’re not right in London, for heaven’s sake, and he’s very much mistaken if he thinks I’m leaving here!’

  ‘George only wants you and the children to be safe,’ Annie pointed out gently.

  ‘I know, and I will want the kids out of danger if things turn nasty, but I’ve told him he’s got to use it as a refuge for others and not just the family.’ A slight smile touched Rose’s mouth. ‘He exploded and said he’d call it “The Haven”, and did that suit me?’

  ‘And does it?’ Annie asked.

  ‘It has to; he’s already bought the bloody place. That father of mine’s got more money than sense!’

  Annie knew that her sister had never accepted a penny from her father, although he was a wealthy man. Money for money’s sake had never interested Rose, it was a commodity to be used to make a better life for her family and others. She had never lost her desire to help those in need, and Annie knew that she would hate to think money was being wasted on something unnecessary.

  They fell silent and each thoughtfully dunked another biscuit in their tea just as their neighbour Joyce looked in the kitchen door.

  ‘Rose! The Seascape fishmonger’s got fish!’

  Annie watched in astonishment as Rose grabbed her purse and ran out of the door, leaving her tea untouched. She began to laugh at the absurdity of it all, but with shortages already beginning to be felt you had to be quick on your feet to get any treats. Her sister had told her that she’d been in a queue the other day and after about half an hour the woman behind her asked what they were queuing for. It seemed that people jumped on the end of any line they saw.