‘Like what?’
‘You could live away somewhere. Tell people you’ve been evacuated, or that your husband’s overseas, or he was killed. Any lie you want. I’d send what money I could and Tony would pay to support the baby, or a court can make him if he refuses. You can take in laundry to earn a little extra, or… or get a job in a factorymaybe, once the baby’s weaned. A lot of the munitions places have a WVS creche now to look after the little ones while their mams work.’
Lilian smiled, her eyes filled with a strange sort of peace – or at least with resignation. ‘No, Bobby. I made my bed and now the time’s come to lie in it.’
‘At least consider it, Lil. I can’t bear to think of you trapped in a marriage that’s going to make you unhappy.’
‘I feel like as long as I can keep my baby, I’ll be a type of happy. And you never know, perhaps Tony will surprise us when it comes to the sort of husband he’ll make. Do you remember Mam telling us that it was the wildest colts would grow to make the steadiest mounts?’
Bobby smiled. ‘I remember. I asked if she was talking about Dad, and she went very pink. I wish she was here.’
‘Oh!’ Lilian laughed. ‘Here he goes again. I think he’s longing to be out, and to hell with the next five months.’
Lilian once again placed Bobby’s hand on her belly. The baby seemed to be giving her insides a particularly vigorous battering. Bobby let her head sink on to her sister’s shoulder as she felt her future nephew – or niece, she supposed, although Lil was convinced the baby would be a boy – make his presence in their lives felt. One thing was for certain: once he arrived, life for Lilian would never be the same again.
Chapter 10
Bobby’s time with her sister felt all too short, and there were many tears as they parted.
There had been no real resolution to their conversation. Bobby wasn’t sure what she had wanted, except to make her sister understand that she had options other than marriage to Tony, but no matter what she said, Lilian seemed determined to go through with it. She had promised to send a telegram as soon as she was wed, so Bobby would know it was done.
It felt so strange that the next time Bobby saw her sister, Lil would be a married woman. She wished she could at least be there for the ceremony, but Lilian had said she didn’t want anyone from the family, since it was hardly going to be an occasion for celebration. Tony’s mother and younger brother would be witnesses, with no one else in attendance, and Lilian would move straight in with the Scotts afterwards. There would be no reception, no honeymoon, no gifts to help the couple set up home together – everything would be done as quickly and quietly as possible.
Lord knew how poor Lil was going to cope once she was ensconced in what was to be her first marital home, Bobby thought as she hopped on a tram. The Scotts weren’t wealthy. Their house was one of the many cramped two-up-two-down terraces that crowded the Bradford streets, where the newlyweds would have to share a bedroom with Tony’s brother Oliver. Bobby could only imagine how crowded the place would feel if they were still there once the baby arrived.
She also wondered how Lil would get along with Tony’s parents. She had met them on a couple of occasions. Tony’s father was a quiet, pallid man with a toothbrush moustache anda dirty neck who blended into the background so well that you soon stopped noticing him, but Bobby hadn’t much liked Mrs Scott’s looks. She had a vinegary expression that suggested she didn’t suffer fools gladly, or anyone else for that matter.
Bobby tried to put worries about her sister to one side as the tram slowed to let her off. The women’s forces recruiting centre, which was in the old Mechanics’ Institute not far from theCourieroffices, was just a short walk away.
When she entered, Bobby found an ATS girl manning the front desk. The woman, who had been filing her nails, looked up to give her an uninterested look.
‘Name?’ she asked.
‘Roberta Bancroft.’
‘WAAF or ATS?’
‘Um, I’m not sure.’ Bobby handed over the letter she had received and her registration certificate. ‘I was just told to report for a medical.’
The girl glanced at the registration number and matched it to one on a list in front of her. ‘Yes, I see. You’ve an appointment with the RAF doctor at four. Down the corridor, second room on the left. The doc will call you when it’s your turn.’
Bobby blinked. ‘I’m being assessed for the WAAF?’
The woman smiled. ‘Let me guess. Blue isn’t your colour.’
‘No. I just… I’m surprised, that’s all.’
‘Second room on the left,’ the woman repeated, nodding to a queue that was developing behind Bobby. ‘We’ve got a lot of you to get through.’
‘Right.’
They wanted her for the Air Force? Bobby hadn’t put much thought into which service she might be assigned but she had assumed it would most likely be the Army, since that was where most of those called up were sent. If she did have to go, itwould be something to be in the same service as Charlie. Perhaps sharing a routine would bring them closer.
Bobby entered the second room on the left as directed. Several other women were there waiting, most of them young – few looked much beyond twenty. She took a seat by the only one who looked to be around her age.
The woman wore a pair of small, round spectacles, but managed to avoid looking studious in spite of that. In fact she looked every inch the fashion plate, with her face heavily made-up and her hair in Betty Grable rolls. She gave Bobby a friendly grin, exposing a smudge of cherry lipstick that had stuck to her slightly protruding front teeth.
‘All right?’ she said, in a broad Bradford accent.
