Bobby laughed. ‘That’s if you can find someone Dad approves of enough to give you away to.’
‘That’ll be half the battle, certainly,’ Lilian said with a smile. ‘I don’t think I’ve had a boyfriend yet that he’s taken to. He disapproves of your Charlie too, I presume?’
‘I usually get a stern word if Dad finds out we’ve been spending time alone together, but he does it more because he feels it’s his responsibility to keep me on the straight and narrow than because he disapproves, I think. Actually, he and Charlie rather get along.’
Lilian laughed. ‘That’s a rarity. Another thing to add to the yes column in your “reasons to marry Charlie Atherton” list.’
Bobby shook her head. ‘I still can’t believe you’re thinking about marriage. I thought you’d at least want to enjoy your time with the navy. Aren’t the officers very handsome?’
Lilian smiled dryly. ‘The problem is they know they are. A girl has to watch herself. It’s hard to monitor weather conditions when a pair of wandering hands might appear at any minute.’
‘You like the work though?’
‘It can be challenging, but I enjoy feeling as though I’m doing something. It’s like Mary said when she was talking about those two evacuees of hers playing at war. There’s nothing worse than feeling powerless when something as big as this is happening.’ She lowered her voice. ‘A few of us were sent to London last week for a training day. Bobby, you wouldn’t believe it. It’s like another world.’
Bobby felt a sense of foreboding. ‘Do you have to tell me?’
‘Would you rather not know?’
‘No, I… I ought to know, I suppose. What was it like?’
‘Devastating,’ Lilian said with feeling. ‘You remember how Lingard’s looked after the bombing last year?’
Bobby remembered. All that had been left of the once-busy Bradford department store after a night of heavy bombing had been a bare, blown-out shell.
‘How could I forget?’ she said quietly.
‘Imagine that but for streets and streets. Shells that were once homes and shops; whole areas flattened to rubble. The bombs fall nearly every day, Bobby – the Germans never let up. Siren after siren. The people still living there are made of stern stuff, but some of them look like ghosts. I would too if I had to live like that.’
Bobby thought back to the day the two evacuees had arrived. That haunted, shell-shocked look in their eyes.
‘Do you think it will ever end?’ she asked, snuggling closer to her sister.
‘I don’t know. I wish I could say differently but I really don’t know.’ Lilian lowered her voice further. ‘I’d never dare say it aloud to the other girls down in Greenwich but I know we’re all thinking it. We’re losing the war.’
‘We can’t be. The newsreels…’
‘The newsreels and the papers tell us what they think we need to hear. Dressing up the little victories to hide the big defeats, just like they did with Dunkirk.’ She scoffed. ‘“Keeping up morale”, for all the good that’s going to do us if Hitler comes out on top. I’ve heard there’s almost nothing left of Coventry. I’m scared to death, Bob. Scared of what will happen if we lose.’
‘It makes things like boys and romance seem sort of insignificant, doesn’t it?’
Lilian shook her head. ‘Not to me. When you’re living in fear for your life and you don’t know what tomorrow might bring, romance seems like the most important thing there is. After all, this might be my last chance to enjoy it. Eat, drink and be merry, Bobby, for tomorrow we die.’
‘I do worry about Charlie.’ A plane flew overhead, and Bobby glanced up fearfully as the drone grew louder and then faded above them. ‘I’d promise to marry him or whatever he liked if it would only keep him here and safe,’ she added vehemently.
‘Would it keep him here? He didn’t have to join up.’
‘I don’t think anything would keep him here now. He feels very strongly about doing his duty. Even if it did, in his heart, he’d resent me for stopping him from going. He’d say he didn’t, but I know he would.’ She sighed and swung her feet off the bed. ‘I ought to make a tea for Dad for when he gets home. Mary’s invited us over for supper, but he’s always famished when he gets in from his walks with Pete.’
Lilian stood up too. ‘Let me make it. I’ve missed cooking for the old man.’
Bobby smiled. ‘He’d like that. Come on, I’ll show you where things are.’
They went to the kitchen. As Lilian hunted in the pantry for ingredients, Bobby lit the stove.
‘What’s he like, this new friend of Dad’s?’ Lilian asked while she rummaged among the tins and jars.
‘Pete’s… good for him in a lot of ways. Gets him out of the house, stops him feeling useless or neglected. His nightmares are less frequent now, and he’s swapped his whisky for beer. He’s more in the present than I’ve known him since we lost Mam. Honestly, moving him out here with me might be the best thing I ever did for him.’
