Winter on the Mersey(56)
Danny raised his hands and let them fall back to the table. ‘Pretty well. Kitty, you know what it’s like as well as I do. They’ve decided that certain people with certain skills need to learn new ones, and I’m to be one of them.’
Kitty met his gaze. ‘Aren’t you flattered, just a bit?’ she asked. ‘I would be.’
Danny turned away. ‘Well, I suppose so.’ That was part of the problem. He knew he was good at what he did, and so it was pretty gratifying for that to be recognised, and to be singled out for special training. Nobody had helped him get to this position. He hadn’t had years of private schooling followed by university, unlike many of the others. He simply had the sort of brain that flourished when asked to solve strange puzzles. It was a source of great pride to him, as he was physically unable to serve his country in any other way. ‘But what about Tommy? He’s only just come home and begun that job. Now I’ll be leaving you in the lurch to look after him again.’
Kitty sighed. That was the first thing she had thought of too – how could she keep an eye on the boy when she worked all hours? Then she sat up straight. ‘We’ll think of something,’ she said. ‘You mustn’t worry about us. Tommy’s older now, and he’s got his work to keep him busy. He won’t have the time or energy to get into scrapes.’ She hoped this was true. ‘I can sort something out with Dolly or Rita if I’m on night shift. We’ve managed before, we can do it again.’
Danny’s face relaxed with relief. ‘Do you think you can, really? It would be a load off my mind if I knew that you two would be all right while I was away.’
‘Of course we will be,’ said Kitty, more sure now. ‘Look at how many other people get by – we’re lucky. Our house hasn’t been damaged, we’ve got friends and neighbours nearby, and both Tommy and I are working with money coming in.’
Danny nodded. ‘That’s true, of course. But I know we’ve only just begun to settle down as a family again, and now something else happens to turn everything upside down.’
Kitty’s expression was rueful. ‘That’s war, though, isn’t it? You never know what you’ll be called upon to do. Besides, it won’t be for ever.’
Danny got up, draining his tea. ‘Let’s go over and tell Tommy, and then Dolly and Pop can hear it at the same time.’
As he and Kitty reached for their jackets, he admitted to himself that they could tell Sarah too. He didn’t know what she’d think. He knew he’d miss her – their regular talks, the way she quietly helped out behind the scenes, how much he’d come to rely on her steady friendship as a constant in his day-to-day life. There was nothing to be done, though. He had to go.
Kitty ran her hands through her curls, shielding her face from Danny. She couldn’t let his news rattle her. Her thoughts had flown to Alfie and the sly way he’d looked at her. Danny wouldn’t be around to protect her from any more unwelcome threats from the horrible man. She’d just have to be careful. Anyway, that incident outside the station had been an accident; he hadn’t planned it, and she shouldn’t go worrying over something that most likely wasn’t going to happen. She certainly shouldn’t worry Danny about it. Their job now was to reassure Tommy. Kitty picked up her handbag and they headed out to break Danny’s exciting news to the others.
‘What time shall I meet you, Patty?’ asked the Wren with the tight brown curls, calling across the yard to her friend.
‘Better make it seven thirty,’ Patty shouted back, locking the door on the black car she’d been driving American officers around in all day. ‘Don’t suppose we need to ask you, do we?’ she said pointedly to Laura. ‘I dare say you’ve got something far better arranged for this evening. Whatever we do, it won’t be good enough for the likes of you.’ Without waiting for a reply she strode across the yard to Patty, little puffs of dust rising into the air from her brisk footprints.
Laura sighed but made no move to follow the two young women, now glancing back over their shoulders and laughing in a deliberate way so that they knew she’d see and hear them. They were trying her patience, but she wouldn’t let them realise how annoying she found them. That would be exactly what they wanted. They were being childish, and so she had to do the decent thing and act like an adult around them. She was barely older than they were, but she felt at least twice their age.
Shaking her head, she locked up her own car and began the tiresome walk back to her digs. The streets were very hot after the long summer’s day, but even so she preferred this form of transport to the crowded buses or the Underground. Heat rose off the paving stones in wavy lines, making her dizzy. She paused by a doorway. It had been bomb-damaged, like so much else around the area. Nearby windows were boarded up and there were gaps in the terrace towards the end of the road. She could see the exposed walls of the neighbouring house, and the bright colours of the wallpaper that would once have decorated the bedroom and living-room walls. She wondered what had happened to the family who’d lived there. Had they made it to a shelter on time? It always struck her as sad, thinking of someone choosing that pattern, painting the skirting boards, making a home for their children. Now it was open to everyone’s gaze.
Further along there was a doorway to the street set a little further back, and in the sunlight she couldn’t be sure if there was a figure in it or not. Yes, there was somebody. Maybe some poor soul who’d been bombed out, surveying the remains of a family home. As she approached, she saw it was a man; he straightened up from where he had been leaning against the doorjamb.