Winter on the Mersey(74)
‘Sarah,’ she gasped, ‘I think you’d better come up. Right now.’
The party began to break up, with Nancy saying she should take Georgie home, Dolly keen to get Ellen settled and Maeve needing to return to her digs, the other side of the hospital. Danny suggested that everyone else should come to the Callaghan house so that whatever was happening upstairs could carry on uninterrupted. ‘Good idea,’ said Kitty. ‘You and Tommy get everyone sorted out, and I’ll just make a start on clearing up here.’
‘No,’ said Ruby, unexpectedly stepping forward for once. ‘I’ll do it. I can do it.’ She blushed a little at drawing the attention of so many pairs of eyes. ‘You take the rest of the cake, Kitty. I’ll help here. I want to be here, for if Violet needs me.’ She looked down at her feet in their highly polished but very old-fashioned shoes.
Dolly realised what an effort it had been for her to speak up like that, and gave her a hug. ‘Bless you, Ruby. That’s a very good idea. That way the party can go on but we can get everything tidied up here. Between us it will take no time at all, as little Ellen’s fast asleep in her Moses basket.’
‘You make sure to tell us as soon as there’s any news,’ Pop said firmly.
‘Don’t you be worrying about that,’ said Dolly confidently. ‘Sure, it will be ages yet.’
She breathed a sigh of relief as the last person left to go the short distance to the Callaghan front door. She didn’t want to spoil their fun but, although the dinner had gone beautifully, now there was something else to think about.
Danny brought out their collection of glasses, rather mismatched, while Kitty brought out cups and plates. His mind was still on what had taken place in the Feeny kitchen, though.
What would Sarah have said to him if they’d stayed there and Rita hadn’t rushed in? Had she understood what he’d said to her? Was this the right time to be thinking of such things? He’d have to go back to Bletchley to finish the project he’d been asked to join, and not see her for weeks. Yet he couldn’t deny how much he missed her, and somehow it had felt very important that she knew it. He thought he’d caught something in her look, but then she’d had to drop everything and rush upstairs to help – exactly as he’d have expected her to do. He’d just have to wait.
The fire was low in the grate and only Danny, Frank, Pop and Kitty remained. Ruby had dropped in to escort Michael and Megan back to the flat. Tommy had taken himself up to bed hours ago, but the others couldn’t sleep – Pop from anxiety, Danny because he felt too churned up, Frank because he felt some vague obligation now that Eddy wasn’t here to see this baby into the world, and Kitty from good manners at being the hostess and because, no matter how tired she was, she kept catching Frank’s eye in the fading firelight. The conversation had dwindled to a murmur as they all sat waiting. Frank glanced up at Kitty and she felt her heart turn over, the evening that they’d just shared seeming to sum up all that was right with the world. Their families were together and, for some reason, Kitty wasn’t sure why, the awkwardness between her and Frank had disappeared today. It was almost like the days before the war, in simpler times … before Frank lost his leg and things changed forever.
Frank seemed to mirror her thoughts when he asked her, ‘Do you remember when we had that dance Kitty, at Nancy and Sid’s wedding?’
Kitty smiled. As if she could ever forget it. ‘Of course, it seems like a century ago, everything was different then.’
‘Some things don’t change.’ He stood and moved over to the gramophone, removing a record from its sleeve. ‘Can you remember the song that we danced to, it was Gloria singing wasn’t it?’
‘That’s right, but what was the song …’ Kitty was only pretending not to remember, she knew that it was, ‘The Nearness of You’. She would never forget the last dance they’d had before Frank was called up.
‘It was this one wasn’t it.’ The opening bars drifted into the room and Kitty stood, almost without realising it and moved to stand next to Frank.
‘You remember it! Yes, this is the one. It’s a lovely song.’ Kitty and Frank were so close now they could touch. Frank closed the gap between them by coiling his arm around her waist and gently swayed her in time to the music.
‘I might have lost a leg, Kitty, but I can still dance a bit.’ Frank looked down into her eyes, and Kitty could not only see his smile, his kindness and his strength in his handsome face, but something else too. Something that she could feel in herself. Something that couldn’t be ignored. ‘You never did write me those letters that you promised,’ he said, mock teasingly.
Gone was the flutter from Kitty’s stomach and her usual confusion around Frank. All she felt now was his arm around her waist, the nearness of him and how good it felt – just like the words of the song said. ‘Didn’t I? Perhaps it was because things had changed Frank, after …’
‘After I lost my leg you mean?’ Frank asked, sombre now.
Kitty nodded.
‘You’re right. I was a fool, so caught up in myself I shut everyone out. But I’m learning, Kitty, I’ve grown up. This war has changed me, and not just how well I can dance.’
Looking at Frank now, Kitty could see that was true. ‘You’re still a great dancer, Frank, the best.’ And Kitty meant it. Being in Frank’s arms felt like the most natural thing in the world. They had both changed, she was no longer the shy and timid girl she had once been. ‘Sylvia’s a lucky girl.’