‘How strange it will be when the war is over,’ Jolka said, rather dreamily. ‘I have only known this house of yours as a hospital, Topsy. It feels odd to imagine it without men and nurses.’
‘It will be strange,’ Bobby agreed. ‘And happy too, of course. Still, I’ve got used to seeing uniforms in the village, and hearing London accents whenever I pass the playground. There’ll be an empty feeling when our wartime guests go away.’
‘This is true, yet I would not wish another day of war. I would so desire my children to grow up in peace, and be taken to see our country free once more.’
‘I hope it’s soon,’ Topsy said fervently. ‘It’s what Teddy wants more than anything: to go back to Warsaw, and find his parents and siblings.’
There was a moment’s silence as a thought too grim to be spoken hovered between them – that when Teddy Nowak was able to return to his native country, there may be no loved ones there for him to find. His family were Slavs, and of some Jewish descent. If they had been taken to one of Hitler’s monstrous camps… but it was too bleak even to think such a thing, let alone voice it.
‘I miss our pantomime this year,’ Jolka said after a moment, obviously deciding a jollier subject was needed. ‘How do rehearsals forDick Whittingtongo, Topsy?’
At this time last year, all three women had been involved in the pantomime Topsy had organised for the village children. Bobby had played Cinderella and Jolka had been her Prince Charming, while Topsy had been producer, director, financier and generally in charge. It seemed a lifetime ago.
Neither Bobby nor Jolka were involved in this year’s production. Bobby would have loved to be in the cast, but rehearsals had already been well advanced when she returned from the WAAF. Besides, she had always been prone to stage fright, and she wasn’t certain that was going to mix well withpregnancy nausea. Jolka had told Topsy she was too busy with work, but now they knew her secret, Bobby wondered if the same thought had been troubling her.
‘Well I don’t think it’s a patch on last year, when we had the pair of you contributing your talents,’ Topsy said, somewhat accusingly. ‘We’re desperately short of men this time too. Still, it’s looking good in spite of having to make do.’
‘I hope I can be part of it if we put on another next year,’ Bobby said wistfully. ‘No doubt you’re going to be very smug reminding me how you had to twist my arm to do it, Topsy, but I loved being Cinderella.’
‘I shall have to bow out again, I suppose,’ Jolka said. ‘It is a shame, but with a new baby I will struggle to find time.’
Bobby stifled a sigh as she thought that she, too, would be in that position. How different her world would look by then!
‘You don’t know how close you both came to being drafted in this year,’ Topsy said, putting down her teacup. ‘I was badly let down by the airman playing Idle Jack, who rudely allowed himself to be discharged from the hospital two weeks ago. I know it’s usually a male role, but I’d gladly have taken anyone who could learn the part.’
‘You managed to find someone then?’ Bobby asked.
‘I did.’
‘Is it another airman?’
‘Yes, but not one of those in the hospital.’ Topsy grinned. ‘That was the news I brought especially for you, Bobby. You’ll never guess who’s back in his old billet.’
Bobby felt a stab of worry. She asked the question she knew Topsy was longing her to ask, even though she suspected she already knew the answer.
‘Who?’
‘Who do you think? It’s Ernie King, of course.’
Chapter 8
After her friends had left, Bobby spent some time making herself pretty. She carefully styled her hair, put on her best dress and applied her make-up. The news that Flying Officer Ernie King of the Royal Canadian Air Force was back in the village produced a sensation of guilt, and she felt the need to make herself attractive for her husband.
She didn’t know why she should feel guilty. She didn’t even know who the guilt was focused on: Charlie, who had always had a healthy jealousy of her former suitor, or Ernie, for rejecting the proposal he had made seven months ago and leaving him broken-hearted. Perhaps it was both.
It was a foolish guilt. Bobby hadn’t done anything wrong in her dealings with Ernie, other than naively failing to notice that he had developed romantic feelings towards her. Nor had she done anything to betray Charlie. Yes, she had briefly considered Ernie’s proposal when she had falsely believed Charlie’s love for her had cooled, but she had never felt anything for the young Canadian beyond warm friendship and respect. Their entire relationship had consisted of a handful of dances and a kiss, of which Ernie had been the giver and Bobby the startled recipient. But the affair had caused pain to both men, and she couldn’t help feeling a certain responsibility for that.
Topsy, who had an inkling of Ernie’s partiality for Bobby even if she didn’t know all the details, seemed to think the whole thing was rather a joke. Something Bobby could use to tease her husband out of a dark mood, arousing his jealousy before reassuring him with kisses that it was unnecessary. But Bobby wasn’t in a humour for teasing Charlie today.
How would Ernie react when they inevitably bumped into one another? With a jovial ‘Hey, Slacks’ as before? With sad eyes and sighs? Perhaps he would ignore her entirely. That would be painful, when he had been a good friend. Did his feelings for her still linger, or had he moved on to fresher love affairs?
It didn’t give Bobby any pangs of envy to consider the latter. She hoped Ernie had found someone else – someone better suited to him than she had ever been. If he did still carry a torch for her, it could only hurt him to see her regularly now she was a married woman.
About an hour after Bobby’s friends had left, Charlie arrived home from his visit to Gil Capstick. He smiled when he saw his wife’s rouged cheeks and trim floral dress.
‘I didn’t expect to find you so pretty and fragrant,’ he said, putting his stick away so he could take her in his arms. ‘Is this for my benefit?’
She smiled. ‘Who else’s would it be for?’
