Wartime Friends, page 20
‘Don’t apologize. It’s true. What a wonderful man he is and you’re the most wonderful friend anyone could have.’
She flung her arms around Carolyn and they hugged each other. ‘You helped me when I most needed it, Beryl. That’s what friends are for.’
‘I must write to him and thank him for such a generous offer. I’ll tell him I’ll work so hard for him, his house will shine like a new pin and I’ll help out on the farm anywhere he wants me to.’ She shook her head again, ‘I just can’t believe it. He hardly knows me.’
Carolyn chuckled. ‘You’re soon going to know each other a whole lot better.’
The two girls laughed together. It was the first time in weeks that Carolyn had seen Beryl laugh.
‘Father, have you quite taken leave of your senses?’ his daughter demanded.
‘Far from it,’ Frank said calmly, puffing at his pipe as he sat across the hearth from Eddie after Sunday lunch at their cottage.
Lilian sat down heavily, quite forgetting that there were the dirty pots to wash up and put away. ‘I don’t believe it.’
‘What don’t you believe?’
‘That you can be so – be so – gullible. Eddie – talk to him. Tell him he’s making a big mistake.’
Eddie glanced at Lilian and then sighed. What he was about to say would undoubtedly land him in hot water with his wife, but he had to be honest. He thought for a moment and then turned his answer into another question. ‘Why do you think he’s making a mistake?’
‘She’s a little gold digger, that’s why. And no better than she should be. Getting herself pregnant and then looking for some senile old fool to take pity on her.’ She turned her attention back to Frank. ‘She’s got family of her own, hasn’t she?’
‘They’ve turned her out.’
Lilian sniffed. ‘Well, I can’t say I blame them for that.’
Frank glanced at her and then looked away again before saying quietly, ‘Really, lass?’
Eddie shifted uneasily in his chair and although colour suffused her face, Lilian wasn’t done yet. ‘Does Harold know?’
‘Not yet, but he will by later today. I intend to call in to see him and Eve on my way home.’
Lilian jumped up. ‘Well, if I can’t say anything to make you change your mind, I’d best get on with my work. Where’s Tom disappeared to?’
‘Front room,’ Eddie said. ‘He always does two hours at the wireless on a Sunday afternoon instead of the evening, if you remember.’
‘Oh yes. And Steve will be calling in later for his notes as usual. At least that will be something to look forward to. I hope he’ll have time to have a bit of tea with us. I’ve made a trifle.’ She sniffed. ‘Such as it is, with all the shortages.’
When the two men were alone, with only the sound of clattering crockery coming from the scullery, Eddie asked softly, ‘Are you really sure about this?’
‘As sure as I was about not turning me own daughter out when she was in the same predicament. That was a bit different, though, I grant you, as you were willing – and able – to marry her.’
Eddie looked uncomfortable again but said nothing. With feigned casualness, Frank said, ‘The way Lilian reacted makes me think she wouldn’t take kindly to Carolyn being caught in the same way.’
Eddie shrugged and sighed. ‘In that case, I’d have to stand up to her, wouldn’t I?’
Frank chuckled, feeling suddenly sorry for his son-in-law. ‘Let’s hope it never comes to that, eh?’
‘Amen to that,’ Eddie said with feeling.
‘So,’ Frank said when he’d finished explaining to Harold and Eve, ‘that’s what’s going to happen. Lilian’s not happy about it but, like I told her, I’m still in charge of me faculties at the moment. And although it’s not going to make any difference to my decisions, I’d like to know what you think.’
Eve jumped out of her chair, crossed the hearth and planted a swift kiss on the top of Frank’s head. ‘I think what I’ve always thought. That you’re a lovely man and I’m so grateful to be part of your family and that you’re my Adam’s grandfather.’
Frank reached for her hand and kissed her fingers. ‘And I am lucky to have you as my daughter-in-law. We understand one another, you and me, don’t we, lass? We both call a spade a spade.’
Eve laughed aloud. ‘Aye, or a bloody shovel.’ Despite her fancy clothes and make-up, she was blunt and outspoken, but you knew where you stood with her, Frank thought. She was easier to deal with in some ways than his own daughter.
‘What about you, Harold?’ he asked his taciturn son.
‘I can’t see owt wrong with it, mesen. It’ll be nice for you to have someone living in the house. Company, like. As long as you don’t mind a screaming kid. Will she do a bit of work about the place, d’you think?’
‘Once she’s fit again after she’s had the bairn, yes. I’ve made that very clear to Carolyn. The lass will have to earn her keep.’
‘And she’ll live in the rooms where Lilian and Eddie first lived, will she?’ Eve asked.
‘That’s what I thought.’
‘Then I’ll come across and help get them cleaned. It’s a big job for Phyllis on her own.’ She chuckled. ‘And Phyllis Carter will certainly have plenty to say about this when she finds out.’
‘I expect you know all about this madcap scheme of your dad’s, then?’ Phyllis was standing in Lilian’s kitchen, her hands on her hips. ‘Has he gone soft in the head in his old age?’
‘He’s just helping Carolyn’s friend out for a while. I don’t expect it’ll last very long.’ Even though she agreed with Phyllis, Lilian felt obliged to defend her own father. Finding fault within the family was one thing, allowing an outsider to do it, was quite another. ‘A girl like her won’t want to be trapped out here in the middle of nowhere. Once she’s had the kid and probably had it adopted, then she’ll be off back to the bright lights.’
Phyllis sniffed. ‘You reckon? I’m not so sure. She’ll have her eye on the main chance, you mark my words.’
Lilian paused in polishing the brass fender around the hearth. ‘Whatever d’you mean, Phyllis?’
‘An old man and a pretty young girl living in the same house. That’s why the authorities wouldn’t let the land army girls live with him, even though there’s plenty of room in the farmhouse. A sight more than at Harold’s place.’
‘If you’re going to cast aspersions on my father’s integrity, Phyllis Carter, you can leave right this minute.’
But Phyllis stood her ground. ‘I’m not, Lilian, but it’s how it looks to folks. There’ll be gossip.’
‘Aye, I’m sure there will be and you’ll be the one spreading it, I’ve no doubt. Can’t wait to impart a bit of juicy tittle-tattle, now can you? Unless, of course, it’s about your own family, then it’s a different matter.’
‘If you’re going to be like that, Lilian, I will go.’
‘Oh for Heaven’s sake sit down and don’t be so huffy.’
While Lilian put the kettle back on the hob and laid out cups and saucers, Phyllis said slyly, ‘Eve’s been across this morning to clean out the rooms for this Beryl. You know, the ones you had years ago.’
Lilian stopped and stared at her. ‘Has she indeed?’ She stood for a few moments in thought, then she shrugged and said, ‘Oh well, it saves me a job, I suppose.’
‘I’ve been helping her. Mr Frank wants us to give ’em a lick of paint.’
‘Paint? He’s going to a lot of trouble for a girl he hardly knows.’
‘She’s Carolyn’s friend, isn’t she?’
‘Well, yes, but . . .’
‘Mebbe it’s not just this Beryl who’s in trouble.’
Lilian glared at her. ‘What are you insinuating, Phyllis?’
‘Oh nothing,’ Phyllis said airily. ‘Just that I agree with you – it’s a lot of trouble to go to for a complete stranger.’
When Phyllis left half an hour later, Lilian was still frowning over their conversation. She’d go and see Eve, she decided, as she seemed to be involving herself in all this. The sisters-in-law had never really hit it off. Where Lilian was concerned, there had always been the shadow of Harold being the one who would inherit the farm. They were both strong-willed women, who weren’t afraid to speak their minds. In the past, they had often disagreed, but now, Lilian thought, they should unite as a family. Two hours later, she was sitting in Eve’s kitchen and coming straight to the point.
‘Not often you come to see me, Lilian,’ Eve said bluntly. ‘To what do I owe this pleasure, as if I didn’t know?’
Ignoring the sarcasm, Lilian said, ‘It’s about this business with Father and this girl.’
Eve raised her eyebrows. ‘You’re making it sound as if there’s a lot more to it than there is. He’s taken pity on a girl who’s in trouble. That’s all.’ Pointedly, she added softly, ‘Not the first time, is it?’
Lilian coloured. ‘That was different. That was family. He’s only met this girl a couple of times.’
‘But she’s Carolyn’s friend. Actually,’ Eve hid her smile as she added with deliberate casualness, ‘I rather liked her too.’ She knew it was naughty of her, but she enjoyed winding Lilian up. She decided, in that moment, that she would befriend Beryl. It wouldn’t do her any harm in Frank’s eyes either. There was nothing devious or scheming in Eve’s thoughts. She had no ulterior motive. With no parents of her own still alive, she looked upon Frank as her father and loved him dearly. She would do anything to please him.
Thirty-One
It was amazing that no one – not even Noreen – guessed Beryl’s condition. She had managed to hide the early morning sickness she suffered during the first three months and even when she began to put on a little extra weight, no one remarked about it.
‘I think it’s because I’m a little plump anyway,’ Beryl confided to Carolyn just before Christmas. ‘I didn’t expect to be able to hide it this long, but now I can’t fasten my jacket properly, it’s going to be noticed.’
Neither of the girls got leave over Christmas, and they both worked solidly over the holiday period. But just after New Year, the commander called Beryl into the headquarters.
‘Sit down, my dear.’ The woman was kindly. ‘Morley, I’ll come straight out with it. Are you pregnant?’
Beryl bit her lip and nodded. She was no longer reduced to tears by the very mention of the fact. Now, with Frank’s kind offer, she had somewhere to go and she even had the option to keep her baby, if she wanted to. She still hadn’t decided that. She rather thought she wouldn’t know what she wanted to do until she held the baby in her arms.
The woman sighed. ‘Then you do know you will have to leave us, don’t you?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘Do you have somewhere to go? Are your parents standing by you?’
Beryl cleared her throat. ‘My parents have thrown me out, but I do have somewhere to go.’
‘Ah,’ Miss Everatt smiled, ‘then the young man is doing the honourable thing, is he?’
Beryl shook her head ‘No, ma’am. He – he can’t. He’s already married.’ She looked up swiftly and met the steady gaze of the woman sitting opposite her. ‘I didn’t know that when I – when I . . .’ Her voice faded away.
‘I see. Well, you’re not the first naive girl to be caught out by sweet words and empty promises and, sadly, you won’t be the last before this war is over.’ She paused and then said, surprisingly gently, ‘I’m sorry, Beryl, but I will have to ask you to leave by the end of the week.’
‘I understand, ma’am.’ She smiled tremulously. ‘I – I’ve done well to hang on this long.’
‘Does no one know?’
‘Only Carolyn Holmes.’ Now her eyes filled with tears. ‘She’s the best friend anyone could have. It’s her family who have offered me a home.’
‘Then you’re very fortunate. And are they willing to let you keep the baby?’
Beryl nodded.
‘Then you are doubly fortunate.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ Carolyn said as she watched Beryl pack up her belongings. ‘Help you get settled in. We’re lucky it’s fallen on one of our forty-eights, but Ma’am has granted me an extra day’s compassionate leave to help you.’
‘She’s been remarkably kind,’ Beryl murmured. She was feeling a little apprehensive now. She had never lived in the countryside before and she realized that the Point would be very bleak in the winter. There would be no one of her own age around and, while she knew Frank would make her welcome, she wasn’t sure about the rest of his family. But when they arrived at the farm the following afternoon, not only was Frank standing on the doorstep to greet her, but Eve was beside him.
Beryl couldn’t stop her eyes filling with tears. Their kindness touched her far more deeply than had her father’s outrage. Eve put her arm around the girl. ‘Come on, love. Everything will be all right. I promise. Mr Frank and I will look after you. Let me show you your rooms while Carolyn has a chat with her grandad.’
Eve opened the door that led out of Frank’s kitchen into the small hallway. To the left were the stairs leading to the upper floor and to the right, opposite the foot of the stairs, was the front door leading into a large greenhouse built against the west-facing wall of the house. ‘Lovely place to put a baby in its pram when the weather’s bad,’ Eve remarked as she closed the front door again and opened the one leading into the extension to the farmhouse that had been built over twenty years earlier. ‘And this is where you’ll be. You’re quite self-contained, though you have to use the same staircase to get to the bedrooms. There are two that’ll be yours and there’s a little bathroom. I’ll take you up there in a minute but first, this is your sitting room.’
Beryl stepped inside and gazed around her. ‘I don’t believe this,’ she whispered. ‘It’s wonderful.’
‘And through here is a little kitchen, fully fitted out with a small range so you can do your own cooking, if you want, though I expect you’ll be cooking for Mr Frank and yourself in his kitchen. I think that’s what he wants you to do. Everywhere’s furnished, of course, but we haven’t presumed to buy anything for the baby, cots and prams and suchlike. We thought you’d like to do that yourself, but I’ll come with you into town, if you’d like me to.’
‘Oh I would, Mrs Atkinson,’ Beryl said.
‘Do call me Eve. I can’t be doing with all that “Mrs” stuff. Most folks call me Eve.’
‘Would – would Aunty Eve be all right?’
‘Fine by me, if that’s what you’d prefer. Now, you get unpacked and settle in. The back door in your little kitchen leads outside to the rear of the house and the privy is just along the path to the right. No indoor toilet, I’m afraid, but Mr Frank has installed a little bathroom upstairs, so you’re all nicely self-sufficient. But don’t feel you have to stay in here all the time.’ Eve’s smile widened. ‘Mr Frank’s looking forward to having you here. He’ll enjoy the company and, to be honest, Harold and me are pleased someone will be here with him. I’m often worried that if he was taken ill, none of us would know.’
‘I want to help out around the house and the farm too, if I can be of use.’
‘There’s always plenty of work to do, even though we’ve got two land army girls at the moment. They’re all right, but even the two of them don’t get through the work that Peter Carter did. Just one word of warning, don’t tread on Mrs Carter’s toes. She cleans for Mr Frank and works in the dairy too. If you take my advice, ask her what you can do to help her.’ Eve gave a broad wink. ‘Get on her right side from the off.’
It seemed, however, as if Phyllis hadn’t got ‘a right side’ for Beryl to get on. From the moment they met, Phyllis’s hackles rose and, however pleasant and willing Beryl tried to be, she couldn’t seem to please the woman.
‘Don’t think we don’t all know what you’re doing,’ Phyllis said the first time the two women were alone together. ‘Trying to get your claws into an old man and his money.’
Beryl gasped and sat down suddenly on the nearest chair. ‘It’s nothing like that, Mrs Carter.’
‘I’m surprised young Carolyn has been duped,’ Phyllis carried on as if she hadn’t heard her. ‘But then she’s a silly girl who doesn’t know what’s best for her. She’ll get ’ersen into trouble an’ all, I shouldn’t wonder, and then my Peter won’t want owt to do with her. He wouldn’t touch soiled goods. Cos that’s what you are now. No decent man will ever look at you.’
Beryl hung her head. Everyone else had been so kind. Even Lilian. Even though her welcome had been a little cooler, it hadn’t been nasty like this.
‘Are you keeping it?’
‘I – I don’t know yet.’
‘You want to get rid of it. It’ll be a millstone round your neck. Have it adopted.’
Beryl was not one to tell tales anyway – she never had been, even at school – so she kept silent about Phyllis’s needling. On it went, day after day, until Beryl had almost decided to pack her few belongings and leave. It would mean finding a mother-and-baby home, but surely anything was preferable to this woman’s spiteful tongue. At least all the girls there would be in the same boat, as the saying went. But one day, when they were working together in the dairy and Phyllis had raised her voice above the noise of the butter churn, a figure appeared in the doorway and stood listening quietly.
‘Mrs Holmes is wise to your little games, miss,’ Phyllis was saying. ‘Don’t think you can pull the wool over my eyes or hers. I’m putting her right. I tell her every little thing I see going on here. Bought you a brand-new cot for your little bastard, hasn’t he, when a drawer out the dressing table would do. I ’spect it’ll be a posh new pram next. My God, you’ve got him wrapped round your little finger and no mistake.’
Suddenly, Frank’s voice boomed from the doorway, making both women jump. ‘That’s enough, Phyllis. Leave what you’re doing and go. Just get out of my sight and don’t bother coming back, if that’s how you’re going to treat Beryl. She’s here at my invitation and what I choose to do to help her is no one else’s business. Especially not yours.’
