And she was due to travel to London in two days’ time. Bobby was still determined to see Charlie awarded his DFC but she was dreading the journey, and for one simple reason: what if the train didn’t have a lav? If it didn’t then she had no idea what on earth she was going to do when she needed to use the privy, as she now seemed to do several times an hour. Should she pack the jerry from under the bed, and ask Charlie to hold up one of her enormous maternity dresses as a screen whenever she felt yet another call of nature? Suppose she needed to go in the middle of the investiture? Ought she to put up her hand and ask the king if she might be excused?
‘Well? Did you do it?’ she demanded of Charlie as soon as he came home from work. The fact he was beaming from ear to ear seemed to suggest he did, but she wanted to hear it from him.
‘I did.’ Bobby was washing up, and Charlie spun her around to wrap her arms around his neck, suds and all. ‘My notice has been given at the bank and I am officially a vet once more. Well, I suppose it won’t really be official until we cut the ribbon on the new practice, but I’m counting it from today all the same.’
‘Wonderful.’ Bobby gave him a big kiss. ‘I’ve got good news as well. My third Lindy story was accepted, and with no edits this time. I must be getting better. So, that’s another eight pounds for the pot.’
‘That’s my clever, hard-working wife.’ He kissed her again. ‘Hey, what do you think to investing in a second-hand gramophone and a few records? We can spare ten pounds, can’t we?’
‘We still have to be careful, Charlie. We don’t know how long it will take for the practice to start paying out, and we need to keep as much as we can aside for the baby.’
‘It’s the baby I was thinking of. Since I won’t be able to take his mother dancing for a while, I thought it would be a good ideato rectify the deficiency at home. I’m sure Marmaduke wouldn’t want the family scandalised by a divorce.’
Bobby grimaced. ‘Oh Lord, please don’t joke about that. Not after everything that happened with Lil and Tony.’
‘Sorry,’ he said in a softer voice. ‘That was tasteless. I wasn’t thinking.’
Bobby sighed. ‘I mean, I do think it’s right, them separating. I’d rather they got a divorce and we had to deal with wagging tongues than that Lil stayed with him to be unhappy. Still, the marriage deserves a certain mourning period, such as it was.’
‘You’re right. Tony leaving was the best outcome, but that doesn’t exactly make it a happy one.’
There was the sound of a vehicle pulling up outside. That in itself was unusual enough for them to frown at each other. A moment later, there was an urgent knock at the door.
‘I know that knock,’ Bobby said ominously. ‘That’s the knock of someone with a crisis they want one of us to solve for them. I’ve heard it too many times recently. I was really hoping we could be free of drama until after the baby was born.’
‘If that’s your other brother with a pregnant fiancée and the Redcaps on his tail, I’m putting him straight on a train back to wherever he came from,’ Charlie announced.
‘I don’t think the trains run as far as North Africa,’ Bobby said with a smile. ‘His wife might be rather put out as well. We’ll both go, shall we?’
She wiped her hands on her apron and went to answer the door, Charlie following. They found neither Redcaps nor AWL brothers on the doorstep, however, but Topsy Nowak, looking incredibly pale.
‘Birdy, darling, you have to come at once,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I borrowed a car from the hospital to fetch you.’ She glanced at her friend’s stomach. ‘Oh. But you’re huge.’
It had been a month since they had last seen one another, when Topsy had called round with the exciting news that she and Teddy had been approved to adopt a baby. And while Bobby did feel as if she’d doubled in size since then, she didn’t see why everyone had to be constantly pointing it out to her. She did own a mirror.
‘I know I am,’ she said. ‘Is something wrong, Topsy? Teddy’s all right, isn’t he?’
‘Teddy’s fine. He’s at the hospital with Maimie, waiting to go in. But it’s you he’s been asking for, Birdy. Can you come? He won’t linger long, the doctor says.’
Bobby cast an alarmed glance at Charlie.
‘Who won’t?’ Charlie asked. ‘You aren’t making sense, Tops.’
Topsy ran a hand over her head. ‘I’m sorry. I’ve been so terribly out of sorts, I… it’s all come out in the wrong order.’
Bobby grabbed her by the shoulders. ‘Who, Topsy? Just tell me, who is it that’s at the hospital?’
‘It’s Ernie,’ Topsy said in a whisper. ‘Ernie King.’
Bobby swayed when Topsy delivered the news. It was only Charlie’s arm around her that stopped her from keeling over.
‘For God’s sake, Topsy,’ Charlie snapped. ‘Don’t you know she shouldn’t be given sudden shocks? Here, Bob, come and sit down.’
‘Oh, I am sorry,’ Topsy said, following them inside. ‘I… didn’t think. It’s all been so horrid, my brain’s everywhere. Birdy, can I get you some water? That was very stupid of me.’
‘No. No, I don’t want water.’ Bobby looked at Topsy, who was swimming before her eyes. ‘Tell me what happened.’
‘Don’t, Tops,’ Charlie warned. ‘She shouldn’t be upset.’
