Chapter 34
Bobby’s father joined them in the parlour soon after, having heard the news himself on the wireless over at Cow House Cottage, and the three men stayed up late into the night doing what men always like to do on such occasions: smoking, drinking beer and turning over every possibility, every angle, everything that might go wrong and everything that might go right, now that the war had gone in a new direction. Gramophone records were played in the background, those with a rousing, patriotic theme being favoured. All in all, there was something of a festival atmosphere in the air as the folk at Moorside heralded the end of Russian neutrality.
Mary had long since dozed off in her armchair. Jessie was curled in her father’s lap with Ace, while her sister had pulled a cushion over to sit at his feet. The girls had been allowed to stay up late in honour of their father’s visit, and it was now long past their usual bedtime. Jessie was doing her best to force her eyes to stay open, knowing that giving in to sleep would mean it was to be bedtime at last, but Bobby could see the little girl was fighting a losing battle and Florrie wasn’t far behind her. Ace was already fast asleep, twitching as he dreamt of errant sheep.
Bobby, on the other hand, was finding the war talk quite fascinating, although she contributed little to it – this was a topic where men rarely welcomed a woman’s views, especially when the men concerned were all old soldiers. She listened intently, however, and weighed it all up in her mind.
‘Well, of course it means the end of the war,’ Reg announced confidently – not for the first time that evening – before taking a swig of beer from his pewter tankard. ‘Fighting on two fronts? Sheer hubris on old Adolf’s part to think he can pull it off. He’ll be limping back to Berlin with his tail between his legs soon enough, I daresay, just as a certain Corsican upstart hobbled back home six months after he tried the same trick.’
‘I wouldn’t be so quick to assume the war will be over tomorrow, Reg,’ Rob said. ‘Still, if t’ Red Army can hold out for just three months – four at most – then I reckon tide’ll turn for us. We’ll have those Nazi buggers beat sooner rather than later.’
Captain Parry was sitting stroking Jessie’s red curls, leaning back in his chair with his eyes half-closed.
‘I hope you’re both right,’ he said. ‘If the Red Army succumb and Russia falls under Nazi control, it doesn’t bear thinking about.’
‘The place is impenetrable. As Reg said, it’s been tried before without success.’
‘But this war isn’t like any that’s gone before.’
‘Ginger, m’ boy, you’re out of beer,’ said Reg, who was in a rare gregarious mood. ‘Let me fill your glass for you.’
‘Well, I’m really not much of a drinker but a half-pint more wouldn’t go amiss. Thank you.’
‘Don’t get up, Reg. I’ll get it.’ Bobby left her seat and went to fill the captain’s mug from the jug on the table.
‘What do you think, Captain, as a soldier?’ she asked him as she topped up his beer. She couldn’t quite bring herself to call him George, despite his invitation. His rank seemed to suit him. ‘Could this really spell the end of the war?’
‘If I’ve learned anything since that warm September morning when Mr Chamberlain came on the wireless and told us there was to be a second German war, it’s not to make any hasty judgements,’ came the reply. ‘I will say, however, that through Hitler’s rash action we might gain ourselves a powerful ally – if our government is forward-thinking enough to accept the Soviets as allies. I’m cautiously hopeful.’
‘I remember that morning,’ Reg said in a faraway voice. ‘Heather in bloom and the moors purple far as you could see. Sun blazing. Apples ruddy on the trees, Sunday roast in the oven, and then we’d to face the thought of all that slaughter to come. Wondering if it would be better than last time or if, God forbid, it could possibly be worse. Standing for “God Save the King” as if that might make us feel less helpless, but it didn’t.’
‘Pray God that now there’ll be an end of this,’ Robert murmured.
Reg, in the chair beside him, reached over to clasp the man’s shoulder briefly. Robert acknowledged the gesture with a nod of soldierly camaraderie.
Captain Parry sighed and sagged back in his chair. ‘I’m grateful that my home city, at least, may escape the utter obliteration that many more months of bombing would have effected. The nightly blitzes must surely be a thing of the past now the Luftwaffe’s bombers will be needed for the Soviets.’
‘Those poor people,’ Bobby said feelingly. ‘It seems very hard that in celebrating a reprieve for ourselves, we’re forced to wish bombs on others. I only hope a few more months will see it through.’
‘There are some who believe the Communists are more our enemies than the Nazis. Others believe the opposite. For myself, I can’t help feeling that absolutes are never our friend in these discussions.’
‘Amen,’ Rob said quietly.
‘If the Yanks joined us, we could have Jerry licked tomorrow,’ Reg said, beckoning Bobby over to top up his beer as well.
‘Do you think they will?’ she asked.
‘Hmm. Not while they think they’re safe across the ocean, I reckon. We shall see.’
They were interrupted by a yawn from Florrie, which she tried and failed to stifle.
Bobby smiled. ‘I think it must be time for two little girls and their puppy to go up to bed.’
‘But we want to stay with Daddy,’ Jessie said sleepily, snuggling against him.
‘You won’t miss anything except more boring war talk,’ Captain Parry said. ‘Besides, Daddy will be going to bed himself very soon.’ He kissed the top of her head. ‘Don’t worry, my darlings. I’ll still be here in the morning, ready to have some romps in the garden and be shown all the sights of this new home of yours.’
‘Promise?’
