The Soldier's Daughter (12 page)

‘There’s a bus up on the school playground; all the children that trickled back after bein’ evacuated are bein’ taken away again,’ Mrs Brindley informed them after venturing as far as the butcher’s to collect her meagre meat ration. ‘I should expect a visit from the WVS or the Red Cross if I were you, Lois,’ she warned. ‘Happen they’ll be wantin’ to get Sarah an’ Alfie away an’ all, now that the bombin’ has started.’

Briony held her breath, wondering if Lois would agree that it was time for her to take the children to Cornwall, but for now Lois merely chewed on her lip and shook her head in silent consternation. She still wasn’t ready to let go of her beloved children, even in the face of the Luftwaffe’s killing rage.

The next day, a Wednesday, Briony had just got home from work when she answered a knock at the front door to find a woman from the Red Cross standing there with a clipboard in her hand. She was a little stout woman with a hooked nose and the beadiest eyes that Briony had ever seen, but she was politeness itself when she asked, ‘Would it be possible to speak to Mrs Valentine, dear?’

Briony felt like slamming the door in her face as it dawned on her why the woman might be there, but she smiled stiffly and held the door wider. ‘Yes, of course, she’s in the back room. Would you like to come through?’

Mrs Brindley and Lois looked up when the visitor followed Briony in, and the second they spotted the woman’s uniform, their expressions became wary.

‘Ah, Mrs Valentine.’ The woman held her hand out and shook Lois’s so hard that Lois feared it would drop off. She had the grip of a grizzly bear and was full of self-importance. Narrowing her eyes, she squinted down at the list in her hand before going on, ‘I believe we have two children here . . . Sarah and Alfred, isn’t it?’ There would have been no point in denying it as the children were both in the room, playing snap at the table.

‘Following last night’s raid,’ the woman rushed on, ‘we have decided to evacuate the next batch of children from the area this Friday for their own safety. They will be taken by bus at ten thirty a.m. from the school playground to the station, where they will travel to their destination. I have a list of things here that they will need to take with them. Will that be all right, dear?’ She held a sheet of paper out to Lois who shocked them all when her chin suddenly set and she rose from her seat.

‘Actually, no, it won’t be all right,’ she said calmly.

The woman looked flustered. ‘B-but you can’t possibly be meaning to keep them here, putting them at risk?’

‘I have no intention of keeping them here.’ Lois held her head high. ‘They will be going to stay for the duration of the war at my parents’ country estate in Cornwall, just as soon as I am able to arrange it. It will be so much better for them to be with family, don’t you think?’

‘
Estate?
’ Briony croaked. From the little her mother had told her, the girl had guessed that her grandparents must have a wonderful house – but an
estate?

‘Oh, I see,’ the woman said, looking utterly flabbergasted. ‘So shall I take their names off the list then?’

Lois nodded imperiously as the woman, who seemed to have shrunk, backed towards the door. ‘Yes, if you would be so kind,’ she said, then to Briony: ‘Would you show this lady out, please, darling?’

The woman seemed only too pleased to go and shot out as if Old Nick himself were snapping at her heels.

The door had scarcely closed behind her when Mrs Brindley erupted into gales of laughter that made her chins wobble as she clutched at her sides.

‘Eeh, lass,’ she chortled. ‘Yer certainly put that pompous little so an’ so in her place. I never knew yer had it in yer!’

Mrs Brindley’s laughter was so infectious that soon they were all joining her.

‘But you
were
joking, weren’t you, Mum? I mean, when you said that our grandparents had a country estate?’ Briony managed to ask eventually.

Lois smiled guiltily. ‘No, I wasn’t actually. Perhaps I didn’t mention that as well as having his own business, my father also had two farms on his land that brought in a considerable income. The whole of the estate amounted to approximately three hundred acres.’

Briony was speechless.
Three hundred acres!
After spending her entire life living amongst rows of terraced houses she couldn’t even begin to imagine how big that amount of land might be.

‘Does the house have a name?’ she asked next.

‘Yes,’ Lois answered, lighting a cigarette and speaking through a haze of blue smoke. ‘It’s called The Heights and it’s situated near Penzance in a little village called Poldak. It’s quite beautiful and I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it. I shall write to my father this evening and tell him to expect you, and then I’ll see about booking the tickets for you all. I’m afraid it’s going to be a very long journey, and you’ll have to change trains a few times to get there.’

Briony suddenly felt apprehensive and excited all at the same time. It would be like living in another world, having servants to do the chores and not having to go to work – and yet she knew she would miss her friends and her mother terribly. And although Lois was being strong at the moment, Briony knew only too well how quickly she could slide into a depression – and what would happen to her then?

As if Mrs Brindley could read her thoughts she said, ‘Well, I reckon yer doin’ exactly the right thing, fer what my opinion’s worth, Lois. The kids will be far safer down there, an’ you an’ me will rub along just fine together, won’t we?’

She winked at Briony and the girl smiled at her gratefully. Of course her mother would be all right with Martha Brindley to look after her, and if she wasn’t, then once the children were settled with their grandparents she could come back.

‘But how will you manage without my wages coming in?’ she asked then.

Once again her mother shocked her when she replied, ‘As it happens I’ve found myself another little job down at the Haunchwood Colliery – I start next week. It’s only cleaning the offices but I’ll earn enough to keep the wolf from the door and pay the rent, so you don’t have to worry about that.’

Briony’s mouth gaped open and Alfie giggled. For a start-off she had had no idea that her mother had applied for a job, and secondly, she couldn’t somehow imagine Lois Valentine as a cleaner. She didn’t even like cleaning her own home, let alone offices! But then there was a war on and many people were having to do things they would never have dreamed of doing before. Briony didn’t have much time to dwell on it though because then Sarah started to ask about her grandparents. She was obviously excited and fired questions at Lois one after the other, which Lois tried to answer as best she could.

‘Fancy that,’ the little girl said eventually as she stared dreamily off into space, trying to picture them in her mind, ‘us havin’ a
real
nanny an’ grandpa. Florrie at school will never believe me when I tell her tomorrer, especially when I tell her that they’re rich an’ I’m gonna live with ’em in a big posh house at the seaside. She’ll be so jealous.’

‘Well, I don’t wanna go even if they
are
rich,’ Alfie piped up then with a mutinous expression on his small face. ‘I wanna stay here wi’ Mum an’ Briony.’

‘But it will be safer for you all there, darling,’ Lois told him gently as she stroked a thick lock of fair hair back from his forehead. ‘And it will mean that you won’t have to keep going into that horrid cold shelter at night.’

‘I
like
the shelter,’ Alfie scowled, crossing his arms. ‘’Specially since Mrs Brindley put the bed in there. I pretend we’re camping out!’

‘Yes, well – how about we get some dinner on the go,’ Briony said hastily, seeing how upset he was becoming. ‘And then we can talk about this some more later on, eh? I don’t know about you lot but I’m starving.’

Lois and Mrs Brindley went to play Happy Families with the children then, and for now all talk of their grandparents was put aside as Briony hurried away to peel the potatoes for dinner.

‘What are our nanny and grandpa like?’ Sarah asked a little later as they sat at the table eating the corned-beef hash Briony had cooked for them. They were all a little tired of corned beef, but seeing as it was the most readily available meat they could get, Briony had become adept at making different concoctions with it for them, and at least it meant they weren’t going hungry.

‘I’m not so sure they’ll like you calling them Nanny and Grandpa,’ Lois said cautiously.

‘But why not? That’s what Florrie calls hers!’

‘Maybe she does, but it might be best if you address them as Grandmother and Grandfather until you get to know them a little better,’ Lois answered tactfully.

Sarah frowned but then brightened again as she said, ‘Just think. We’ll have servants to wait on us and I’ll be just like a princess.
And
we’ll live in a big posh house right by the sea.’ She sighed, then added, ‘Do you reckon we’ll be allowed to play on the beach? And will we have to go to school?’

Lois glanced at Briony before saying, ‘I’m sure you’ll be allowed some time on the beach, and yes, of course you’ll go to school. Probably the one in the village. But come on now – eat your dinner like a good girl before it gets cold.’

There were many more questions buzzing around in the little girl’s head, but seeing as her mother obviously didn’t want to talk about it any more for now, she did as she was told.

Meanwhile, Lois glanced across at the sideboard where the letter she had already written to her parents sat staring at her. It was all ready to be posted now and once it was done there would be no going back. It was daunting to think of being in the house all on her own, but she knew that for the sake of the three children, she would have to go through with this. They would definitely be safer in Cornwall away from the bombing – but she wasn’t at all sure that they would be happier. She could only hope that the years would have softened her mother. Only time would tell.

As Briony lay in bed that night her head was spinning. Her mother had talked of beautifully manicured gardens and a huge house that the army of servants kept sparkling. It was a world away from what she was used to but she supposed she would adapt to it. She had already written out her letter of resignation and intended to hand it in to Mr Trimble the following morning. This didn’t really concern her. She had learned that no one was indispensable and no doubt he would quickly find someone to replace her. But she was dreading having to tell Ruth that she was leaving, even though her friend had known for some time that there was a possibility of it happening. For now, her mother seemed to have acquired a reserve of inner strength from somewhere, but despite Mrs Brindley’s assurances that she would keep an eye on her, Briony was still gravely concerned that she might lapse into drinking and a depression again. She sighed into the darkness, then snuggling into Sarah’s warm little body she eventually drifted off to sleep.

‘Oh!’ Ruth said mournfully the next morning when Briony told her that she would be leaving. They were walking along Queen’s Road and Briony was saddened to see that there were tears in her friend’s eyes.

‘We’ll be setting off within the next week or so when my grandparents reply to Mum’s letter,’ Briony went on. ‘As soon as she hears back from them she’ll book the train tickets and tell them when to expect us.’

‘I shan’t ’alf miss you.’

‘I shall miss you too, but I will come back to see you as often as I can, once the little ones are settled,’ Briony promised and they walked on in silence, each locked in their own thoughts.

The following week, an envelope with unfamiliar handwriting on it plopped through the letter box and as Briony collected it from the doormat and carried it in to her mother, she guessed that this must be the reply from her grandparents that Lois had been waiting for.

Her mother quickly read it before telling her, ‘Mother says you may all go as soon as you like, but I’m to write again and tell her when to expect you so that she can arrange for someone to collect you from the station at Penzance.’

‘I see.’ Briony had been expecting this and yet suddenly it all felt very real and butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

‘I shall go into town today and book the train tickets for early next week,’ Lois decided. ‘It should work out just right for you, working out your notice at Woolworths. But Briony, promise me one thing – try to keep away from your Uncle Sebastian. He’s a nasty piece of work even if he is my brother.’

Briony nodded numbly, not quite knowing what to say. There was no turning back now, it seemed, so she was just going to have to make the best of it.

The next few days were spent in a flurry of packing. Lois remained calm, centred only on the fact that she was doing the right thing for her children. They were to leave at six a.m. on Tuesday morning 11 September from Trent Valley railway station, and their tickets were tucked safely away in her handbag. She knew that there was no time for her parents to reply to her latest letter informing them of the children’s date and time of arrival, but she had estimated that they would have had more than ample time to receive the letter and so hopefully there would be someone there to meet them from the train in Penzance. Her biggest worry was that, because the Germans had been targeting the railway lines incessantly, the children might have to be diverted, which would alter their estimated arrival time. However, there was nothing she could do about that. London was also being heavily bombed – what Hitler said was a reprisal for the bombing of Berlin – and Lois prayed that the children would reach their destination safely. She tried not to think of the lonely time ahead once they were gone and instead kept up a constant stream of cheerful chatter.

‘Just think, this time next week you’ll be living by the sea,’ she said to Alfie as she squashed his favourite teddy bear into the corner of his small suitcase.

‘Don’t
want
to live by the sea,’ he whined. ‘Want to stay here with you, Mam. Are you sendin’ us away ’cos you don’t love us any more?’