Welcome Home (20 page)

‘My, this is a lovely kitchen, ain’t it, Lil? Makes our sculleries look a bit tiny.’

At that moment, the farmer’s wife came in by a door leading to the rest of the house. Although she was startled to see two strangers in her kitchen, she smiled a welcome as Irene made the
introductions.

‘This is Mrs Schofield, Mam. My mother and her friend, Mrs Kelsey. She’s Reggie’s mam.’

‘I’m very pleased to meet you.’ Mrs Schofield held out her hand. ‘Please call me Ruth.’

‘And we’re Lil and Edie,’ Lil said, pointing first at herself and then at Edie.

‘Let me make you some tea. And there are fresh scones just out of the oven.’

‘Well, we wouldn’t say no to a cuppa, Mrs – Ruth, but we won’t take your food. We’ve brought our dinner. Archie – that’s my husband – is out in
the yard talking to Reggie. He’s got the basket.’

‘There’s no need, really. Of course, we have to abide by the regulations,’ Ruth smiled, ‘but there are things we can do on a farm that get round a lot of the
rationing.’

‘They keep four goats,’ Irene said. ‘Tommy’s being raised on goat’s milk and the cheese it makes is lovely.’

‘I’ll give you some to take back,’ Ruth promised.

‘That’s very kind of you,’ Edie said, feeling a little embarrassed now. ‘But we only came to see the family. It seems so long since we saw them. I can’t believe how
Reggie’s grown – I hardly knew him. I’ve brought him some clothes, but I don’t know if they’ll fit.’

‘He’s doing very well. He likes helping my husband and the two land girls we’ve got and he’s doing very nicely at school.’

Edie frowned. ‘He’s not there today?’

‘The local school is a bit overcrowded with all the evacuee children, so they do a rota system. Local children go in the morning and the evacuee children in the afternoon. Reggie’ll
go as usual this afternoon, unless, of course, you want him to stay off because you’ve come to see him.’

‘No, no, we wouldn’t want that. I never gave it a thought, if I’m honest, until just now that we’ve come on a school day.’

Ruth Schofield bustled about her kitchen, laying out cups and saucers and small plates. From her pantry she produced a wire tray of scones, still cooling from the oven, and thick yellow butter
and strawberry jam and even a pot of cream.

‘I know it’s more like afternoon tea, but we’ll call it elevenses,’ she said, smiling.

Edie and Lil glanced at one another. They hadn’t seen food like this since before the war. It outstripped the spam sandwiches made with the National loaf that they had brought with
them.

‘Please – help yourselves,’ Ruth urged as she poured cups of strong tea for her visitors. ‘Now, I’ll just go out and bring your husband and Reggie in whilst you get
acquainted with little Tommy.’

Irene sat down at the table beside her mother. ‘Tommy, this is your grandma. In fact, they’re both your grandmas.’ She glanced up at them. ‘We haven’t decided what
he’s to call you both.’

‘I’m Grannie,’ Edie said promptly and then added, ‘unless that’s the name Lil prefers.’

‘No, no, Edie, Grandma will be fine – or even Nanny.’

‘Nanny would be easier for him to say whilst he’s little, but then it would stick,’ Irene said. ‘Best we teach him “Grandma” and he can make up his own word.
Now, are you going to your Grandma, Tommy?’ She handed the little boy over to her mother, whose eyes filled with tears. It had been such a long time since she’d held him and in the time
since then her arms had ached to hold him again.

Edie leaned forward to tickle his chin and the little boy beamed at them both. The two women laughed delightedly. ‘Well, at least he’s pleased to see us, Lil,’ Edie
murmured.

They stayed until after Reggie had gone to school in the afternoon. Ruth, and her husband, Joe, when he and the two land girls came in for dinner, insisted that the visitors
should share their meal. ‘Your food won’t be wasted,’ Ruth assured them. ‘You can eat it for your tea when you get home.’

‘Well, if you’re really sure,’ Archie said, sitting down before a plate piled high with pork, apple sauce and stuffing and freshly picked vegetables.

‘Everything on that plate,’ Joe said, laughing, ‘is off the farm.’

Archie chuckled as he picked up his knife and fork. ‘I can see why Reggie doesn’t want to come back to Grimsby.’

‘Of course he’s missing you all,’ Ruth put in hurriedly. ‘He talks about you all the time – but he really is better here, for the time being anyway. I’ll try
to get him to write to you a bit more, Edie,’ she added, smiling fondly at the boy. ‘But it’s a struggle.’

‘It’s all right, Ruth. Just so long as I know he’s all right.’ Edie sighed heavily. ‘I know I’m being selfish, but Shirley’s gone into the ATS now, so
there’s no one at home when Archie’s at sea. But at least you’ll all come home eventually when the war’s over.’

No one said anything and Edie didn’t notice the look that passed between Reggie and Joe Schofield.

But Archie saw it and frowned.

By the time they left to walk up the lane towards the main road to catch the train, Edie had mixed feelings. They hadn’t received the ecstatic welcome from either Reggie
or Irene that she’d hoped for. Indeed, Irene had seemed on edge the whole time they were there. She’d talk to Lil about it tomorrow, Edie promised herself. See if she’d noticed it
too. But Edie had seen Reggie’s bedroom and was reassured that he had a nice little room at the back of the house on the same landing as Mr and Mrs Schofield and far enough away from
Irene’s bigger bedroom where she and Tommy slept so that no baby crying in the night would disturb him. She’d seen Irene’s room too; a lovely, big, airy room with Tommy’s
cot in one corner.

‘Mr Schofield fetched it down from their loft and cleaned it up for us,’ Irene said. ‘It’s the one both their boys slept in.’

‘They’ve got sons?’ Lil asked.

Irene nodded and bit her lip. ‘Yes – two. They’re in the army. Abroad, Mrs Schofield thinks.’

‘Just like Frank,’ Edie murmured, feeling a sudden empathy for the woman who was doing her best to care for other people’s families – their families – when she must
be worried sick about her own boys.

‘I know you both want them all home,’ Archie said, as they walked along the lane, side by side. ‘So do I, but you’ve got to admit they’re better there until all
this lot’s over.’

The two women were silent.

‘They’re safe from the bombing and, by the look of it, being well fed. The Schofields – and those land army lasses too – seem nice and friendly; the girls must be company
for Irene. And, by the sound of it, Reggie’s made some friends at school.’

‘I know all that, Archie,’ Edie snapped, irritated with both Archie and herself; with Archie because she knew, deep down, that he was right, and with herself because she knew she was
being selfish.

‘It’s – it’s just that they’re not at
home
where they should be.’

‘I know, love, I know.’ He crooked his arms, offering one to each of them. They linked arms and walked in step with each other. ‘Let’s hope it’ll soon be over and
then they’ll all come back.’

He didn’t mentioned Frank or Beth by name, but they were never far from their thoughts, and though he said no more, Archie was very much afraid that the war wasn’t going to be over
for some time to come.

Beth pedalled through the village without anyone stopping her, but when she came to the outskirts of the town, it was a different matter. There was a road block with two German
soldiers on guard beside it. Her heart felt as if it jumped inside her chest and then began to beat faster, but she kept her face straight, even managed to smile a little, though not too much, as
she rode towards them. One of the soldiers stepped into the roadway and held up his hand, commanding her to stop. She applied her brakes and put her foot to the ground.

‘Good afternoon,’ she said in French.

The soldier barked at her in German, but it was quite easy for her to make out she didn’t understand what he was saying because she didn’t. Beth was fluent in the French language but
she knew very little German.

Impatiently, the soldier snapped out the few words he knew in French. ‘Papers.’

Beth fished out her identity card from her coat pocket and handed it to the young man, who didn’t look any older than she was, though, she reminded herself, she was supposed to be only
fifteen! Beth twisted one of her plaits nervously round her finger whilst the soldier looked at her papers.

‘Where are you going?’ he asked slowly.

Beth replied rapidly, so quickly that it was obvious he did not understand her. The soldier on the opposite side of the road strolled across, a smirk on his face. In perfect French he said,
‘My friend doesn’t understand your language, Mademoiselle.’ He turned to the other man. ‘She said she is going into the town to buy bread.’

‘Where does she live?’ Now the conversation continued with one asking the questions in German and then the other translating his words into French.

‘Détanges’ Farm on the other side of the village.’

‘Why does the farmer’s wife not bake her own bread?’

‘Because she has no flour.’

The first soldier grunted and thrust her papers back into her hands and waved impatiently for her to pass through the barrier. Beth rode on, breathing more easily with every yard she put between
herself and the soldiers, but when she came to the town and found the bakery, directly opposite the German headquarters, as she had been warned, her hands began to shake a little. She leaned her
bicycle against the side of the shop and went inside. There were three customers waiting to be served so she moved to the back of the short queue. At last she faced the baker across his counter.
First she asked for the two loaves that Marthe really did need and then, glancing round to make sure that no one else had entered the shop, she gave the coded sentence.

‘Have you any jam tarts today, Monsieur?’

The man kept his face expressionless but Beth had seen the brief startled look in his eyes.

‘I may be able to find one for you, Mademoiselle. Will you wait here a moment?’

The baker, whose name Beth had learned from Raoul was Henri Lafarge, disappeared through a door at the back of his shop. He was gone some minutes and Beth began to grow nervous. Was something
wrong? Did he not believe her or had she been betrayed already? After what seemed an interminable wait, Henri returned and, at the sight of the man following him through the door, Beth gasped and
almost blurted out his name. Coming towards her, looking every bit as surprised as she was feeling, was the man with whom she’d travelled to Scotland and undergone rigorous training. Rob!

‘Leonie, I presume?’ Rob said, seeming to recover first and at once reminding her that they were not supposed to know each other. He held out his hand, just as if they were meeting
for the first time. ‘Bruce. Bruce Cordier. Please come through.’ He led the way through the door and up the dark, narrow staircase to a room at the front of the building overlooking the
street below and the Town Hall opposite. The room was shadowy, for the blinds were set so that Rob could see out but no one could see in. Once inside the room, he gave her a swift hug.
‘I’m so glad to see you, and yet, I’m not. I could almost wish you had been a stranger.’

‘I know what you mean, but we’ll just have to do our best. Luckily, we didn’t exchange much information about each other, did we?’

Rob shook his head. ‘It’s a good job they were so adamant about that. Now I can see why. Perhaps they knew – or at least thought – that there was a good chance some of us
would bump into each other at some time.’ He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘Have you heard about any of the others we trained with? Monty? Phil?’

Beth shook her head and then told him candidly, ‘In a way, I’m glad it’s you. At least we both know we’ve had the same rigorous training.’

‘That’s true, Leonie. I certainly know I can trust you.’

‘And me you.’ They smiled at each other and then Rob gestured around the room. ‘Sorry about the gloom, but I leave the windows as they are all the time so as not to attract
attention. I’m hoping it looks as if no one occupies this room.’

‘What about at night?’

Rob shrugged. ‘I have a small bedroom across the landing that overlooks the backyard, but mostly I’m in here keeping watch. I don’t need to go out very much, but I like to see
what they’re up to.’ He gave a nod towards the window.

‘You don’t go out at all?’ Beth couldn’t imagine anything worse than being cooped up in these two small rooms all the time. At least she had the freedom to be out even if
she had to run the gauntlet of guards and patrols. ‘What about food?’

‘Henri keeps me well supplied. Well, as much as he is able, of course. I go out now and again – for a cycle ride into the countryside just to get a bit of exercise. But it’s
difficult to find a road where you’re not going to get stopped.’

Beth grimaced. ‘I know. I was stopped on my way into town this morning.’

He glanced at her, suddenly concerned. ‘All right?’

Beth nodded. ‘Fine, but it’s a bit nerve-wracking the first time.’

Rob laughed wryly. ‘Believe me, it doesn’t get any easier however many times it happens.’ He seemed to look at her properly for the first time. ‘I must say, I approve of
the disguise. You really look like a schoolgirl.’

‘How have you been managing to get messages to Antoine?’

‘With difficulty, because I daren’t go to the farm. I don’t want to draw suspicion on the Détanges. They’re being very courageous having you live with them. The
fewer contacts we have, the better. That’s why we’re trying to set up a network of communication with each of us knowing only one or two people. And it’s been even worse trying to
get through to London. I’ve had to go to Paris and that’s a nightmare and so risky too. You’re not really sure who you can trust, you know. I’ve heard there might be a
double agent working in the city and no one knows with whom his true allegiance lies.’

Beth pulled a face. ‘So, what do you want me to do, Bruce?’ Once more they were both trying hard to be as familiar with their code names now as they had been with their real
names.