East End Angel (26 page)

Ruby smiled. ‘Thank you.’

‘The matron is a friend of mine. When she telephoned to make the booking she said she wanted a special room for a new bride and her sister. It’s a shame your husband couldn’t be with you but I’ve given you the best room we have. I hope you two don’t mind sharing a double bed.’

‘As long as it’s a big one,’ grinned Pearl.

‘The matron even found us a driver,’ said Ruby. ‘I should have offered to pay for the petrol.’

‘Oh, don’t worry about that,’ dismissed the woman. ‘Arthur has a petrol allowance from the authorities for driving for the hospital. It does him a good turn as well.’ She nodded to the big wall clock. ‘Are you hungry?’

Pearl looked at Ruby. Neither of them had eaten much of the hospital food as it, too, seemed to taste of disinfectant.

‘I can find you some beef pie if you like?’ said their host.

‘Beef pie?’ they both exclaimed at once.

‘Real beef, you mean?’ asked Pearl.

‘Yes, of course.’

Ruby rolled her eyes. ‘We haven’t eaten beef in years, since before the war.’

‘This is the country, don’t forget. We raise our own animals. Come down in an hour. I’ll put you in the snug, away from all the noise. Now, up the stairs and last on the left.’

‘Did I hear right?’ Ruby whispered as they went upstairs. ‘Did she really say beef?’

‘I hope it ain’t one of them lovely brown cows we saw on the way,’ said Pearl, which drew a chuckle from Ruby.

‘Well, wherever it comes from, we’ll eat it.’

When they opened the wooden door of their room, Pearl gasped. ‘Oh, Ruby this is lovely. Look, the bed’s huge.’

Ruby threw herself on it. She laid back and closed her eyes. ‘So this is what a real bed feels like. I’ve been sleeping on that old camp bed of yours for so long I reckon me back has warped.’

Pearl smiled as she lay beside Ruby. It felt so soft and warm on the patchwork quilt cover.

‘Look at them black beams above us,’ said Ruby.

‘And the panes in the window. They’re like little diamonds.’

‘I wish I was looking at them with Ricky.’

Pearl laughed softly.

‘What are you laughing at?’ demanded Ruby sitting up.

‘Don’t suppose many brides have slept with their sister.’

Suddenly they were both laughing and soon the tears rolled down their cheeks.

‘How much did this room cost?’ Pearl asked, bringing them back to reality.

‘Don’t know. Ricky’s seeing to it. I only had to pay for the train.’

The room was growing dark. ‘Let’s look out of the window before the blackout,’ said Pearl jumping up. ‘Oh, just look at that!’

The blackout was still in force, but not to such a degree as in London. Little lights could be seen along the backs of the houses. It was quiet as the room overlooked the big yard. The trees made shadows everywhere, something not seen on the island.

‘I wonder if the warden still comes round and tells them to put them out?’ Ruby drew the curtains. She yawned and stretched, then fell back again on the bed. ‘Oh, this is heaven.’

Pearl sat on the dressing table stool and gazed in the mirror. ‘Is the matron married? She seems very dedicated to her work.’

‘Ricky told me her husband died in ’forty-two. He was in the air force, like that poor man that was in Ricky’s room. He also died, I’m sad to say.’

‘Don’t let’s think about the war,’ said Pearl, turning round on the stool. ‘This is your wedding night. Although it’s not me you want to be with, I’d like to see you enjoy it.’

‘You’re not bad for a sister.’ Ruby kept a straight face. ‘Though I dare say there’s better.’

Pearl threw a cushion as Ruby collapsed with laughter and so began a pillow fight as they’d done so many times as kids.

It wasn’t until later, when they had washed and renewed their make-up, that Pearl reminded Ruby that downstairs in the snug, a delicious beef pie awaited them.

*    *    *

That night, Pearl and Ruby lay in the big double bed, well fed and content. Pearl had never eaten such a big, crusty pie, full of delicious brown meat. The vegetables had been cooked very lightly and tasted more like sweet nuts than the tough ones she bought from Hemsley’s. There was a lot of difference between city and country food.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ said Ruby in the darkness. ‘I really would like to live in the country. The food is lovely and all the people seem very friendly.’

‘Yes, it’s nice for a change, and very green. But I don’t know about living in it.’

Ruby pulled the eiderdown up. ‘Anyway, Ricky’s got to get well first. I know that when he leaves hospital it will all be different. I’ll prove to him that it doesn’t matter about his injuries. A kiss and a cuddle go a long way.’

Pearl still didn’t like to think about that, but now Ruby and Ricky were married, she had to make a special effort to accept the idea.

Ruby giggled. ‘Like I said, you’re not bad for a sister.’

‘Nor are you.’

‘Good night, then.’

‘Good night, and sweet dreams.’

Pearl was awake long after Ruby had fallen asleep. The day she had been hoping might never come had been a surprise. Other than the lingering smell of disinfectant, there had been a charm to the service. Love shone from Ruby’s eyes. But did Ricky feel the same about Ruby?

When at last her eyes closed, Pearl’s last thoughts went to Cynthia and Jim. Drifting slowly asleep, she surrounded them with her thoughts of love and gratitude.

On the morning of Tuesday 6 June, five weeks after Ruby’s wedding, Pearl switched on the wireless to hear a broadcast made from the Home Service of the BBC. Shortly after midnight, three airborne divisions, the US 82nd and 101st and the British 6th, had flown over the English Channel to secure the beaches of Normandy for the D-Day landings. No longer was the invasion of Europe a rumour, it was a reality.

Pearl stopped what she was doing and, with Cynthia, rushed down to the shop. The whole street were talking about the news. Little by little the information was coming through that everyone had waited so long for.

‘This is it then,’ Fitz said as Pearl pushed her way through the shop. ‘God bless all our lads and bring them home safely.’

Gwen was twiddling the knobs of the old wireless in the shop. ‘Makes you proud, don’t it?’ she called, and Pearl nodded, experiencing the feeling of national pride as more news crackled out of the set. John Snagge, the BBC commentator, had revealed that at six thirty in the morning, when Britain was just waking up, the first landing craft had begun the assault on the French beaches. So far, the country was told, everything was going according to the Allied plan for the liberation of Europe.

Once again Pearl wondered where Jim was. Two days ago, the newspapers had reported that Rome had been liberated by the Allies. It was said that the city had fallen easily after the harsh and bloody battles of Anzio and Monte Cassino. Women had thrown flowers to the troops, and even given bottles of wine. The pictures in the papers had shown English and American soldiers being embraced and kissed. Had Jim enjoyed such a welcome? The young Italian women were beautiful. It would be easy for any man to fall into temptation. Especially after two years away from home.

It was Fitz who, as usual, gave a word of warning to his assembled customers. ‘If we’re successful and they pull it off, Hitler won’t take it lying down. We have to be prepared for reprisals.’

‘Like what, you old Jonah?’ a woman in a headscarf demanded.

‘The secret weapon he has up his sleeve,’ declared Fitz. ‘I don’t want to be a killjoy, but we must be vigilant.’

‘How can we be vigilant against something we don’t know?’ shouted another woman, looking annoyed. ‘And you are a bloody killjoy, Fitz. Can’t you wish our boys success?’

A man in a cap next to Pearl rolled his eyes. ‘That’s been the story of this war. There’s always something invisible round the corner to be frightened of. You can’t even celebrate a small victory.’

Fitz heard the comment. ‘Well, it’s only my opinion.’

‘And you know what you can do with it,’ chuckled the woman in the headscarf. ‘Now sort me out some of them spuds, ducks, and I can get home and turn me own wireless on without all these interruptions.’

‘And hurry yourself up, Fitz!’ called Gwen, hands on hips as she stood at the counter. ‘Just because we’re winning the war at last don’t mean we ain’t got a business to run.’

Fitz grinned at Pearl from behind his spectacles and turned his attention to the potatoes. Pearl hurried back up the stairs. The air of excitement and expectancy was palpable. In the kitchen, she sat at the table with Cynth and the wireless.

‘Throughout the night, British aircraft have pounded the German batteries along the French coast. Our paratroopers and marines have landed at the beachheads, whilst the US Air Force have continued the attack. Our ships have set sail, from large and small ports alike, converging on Normandy for the operation called Overload. The big question is, can the Allies supply reinforcements from the sea faster than the Germans can by land?’

Pearl couldn’t wait for Ruby to come home. Her Factory would have heard the news by now. Tonight they would be glued to the set as they ate their dinner. Would we be successful in the most daring and closely guarded secret of the war? It was a question on everyone’s mind. The outcome would affect every family in the United Kingdom.

Exactly a week later, Pearl was listening to another announcement. A pilotless plane carrying one ton of high explosives dropped its deadly cargo in Grove Road, Hackney, killing six people outright. Fitz was right: the secret weapon had arrived. People were hanging their heads in disappointment and blaming the government for spreading the good news too early.

As London braced itself for a repeat of the Blitz, a brief and uncensored letter from Jim gave Pearl the news she had been waiting for. He was in Italy. But that was all he said. It was a very short letter and he said he would write more at a later date.

Meanwhile, Hitler’s doodlebugs or buzz bombs, as they were called, flew on automatic pilot at low altitude over Britain. When their tanks ran out of fuel, they would simply drop from the sky. The curious engine whine they made was soon feared by everyone. People would stop and look above them, praying the bombs would continue over.

It was as Pearl was walking home from the market two days later that she too heard the eerie sound begin. She stopped the pushchair, her heart racing as she looked at the sky. Was it right that as long as you could hear it you were safe? Unlike during the raids in the Blitz, there was no time to find shelter. The rockets were a law unto themselves.

Lifting Cynthia into her arms, she looked for cover. The other people in the street were leaning against brick walls or running away. Doors opened all along the road to let people in. It was a frequent sight now, though everyone knew that when a buzz bomb dropped there was no chance of survival directly beneath. The blast wave was lethal.

‘Come in, ducks, come in,’ said a woman in an overall and turban as she opened her front door. The whine of the doodlebug was growing closer. Pearl hurried in, leaving the pushchair outside.

‘The first this morning but it won’t be the last,’ said the woman, as they stood in her dark passage. Pearl could smell cabbage and mothballs, and as she held Cynthia close, she knew she would forever associate this smell with doodlebugs. She closed her eyes. The whine was overhead now. The woman pressed up against her and Cynthia.

The whine continued overhead and onwards. Pearl breathed a deep sigh of relief, but felt guilty for doing so. ‘It’s gone,’ she whispered, and the woman nodded.

‘Some poor sod has bought it,’ the woman sighed.

‘Thanks for letting me in,’ Pearl said as she opened the door. ‘It’s frightening to be in the street. But you can’t stay in all the time.’

‘Course not. Have you got someone in the forces?’

‘Yes, my husband. He’s an engineer in the army.’

‘Was he at Normandy?’

‘No, he’s in Italy.’

‘Well, be careful, ducks. I heard on the wireless that over seventy of these new bombs have landed since Tuesday. Who knows what will happen in the next few weeks?’

Pearl stepped out cautiously. ‘Goodbye, and thanks again.’

It was the first of many occasions that Pearl sought cover. The anti-aircraft guns were no help as they only made the situation worse over built-up areas. Even the news that the French landings had been a success couldn’t cheer people up. Whole rows of houses were being demolished by a single V1. Why hadn’t our armies stopped them?

‘Be careful; go inside someone’s house as soon as you hear it,’ Pearl warned Ruby as she set out each morning.

Ruby was terrified of them. She wouldn’t have gone to work if she wasn’t now the breadwinner.

Pearl knew as well as her sister that it was pot luck when it came to the buzz bombs. Life had to go on, but the skies always held a threat.

On Sunday afternoon Pearl was washing up the dinner things when Ruby rushed into the kitchen. ‘Turn on the wireless, Pearl. I was looking out the front window when Gwen shouted up from the street. The Guards Chapel, St James’s, has been hit in the middle of morning service.’