ruin your lovely coat, love. Here you are, you can borrow this.’
Dawn gratefully accepted a worn blanket being held out to her. Before handing it over the woman helpfully folded the wool into a pad.
‘Thanks very much …’ Shivering, Dawn quickly donned her coat, buttoning it up to the throat. Despite the press of humanity she felt chilled from the draught whistling down the steps that led to the street. A moment later she spied Gertie also sheltering from the raid, sitting some yards away, and decided she might as well try and make up with her colleague. Some of the Windmill girls liked nothing better than a bit of a ding dong at work, but Dawn lived by the rule: don’t go looking for trouble ’cos it’ll find you soon enough. Handing back her makeshift cushion with a smile and thanks, Dawn picked a path over bodies to Gertie’s side.
‘Crikey … where did you get him?’
Gertie was attending to a baby in a makeshift wicker crib. She tucked the covers in about the mewling infant, making hushing noises. ‘Met me husband down here with the kids; he was bringing ’em to meet me from work. He does that sometimes … so he can get shot of them and bugger off to the pub.’ Gertie’s mouth turned down in a rueful smile. ‘Anyway the raid’s put paid to that idea for him. So he’s gone off with the older ones to keep them occupied.’ She gave Dawn a conciliatory smile. ‘Sorry about … you know … earlier …’
‘Yeah … me too,’ Dawn said, peering in at the baby. She knew that Gertie had four boys but because Gertie was a fairly new recruit at the theatre, Dawn had never before met any of the woman’s family. In fact, if Midge Williams hadn’t turned up to watch a show at a time coinciding with Gertie’s evening shift at the theatre, Dawn would never have had him pointed out to her.
Even when Dawn was a bit dishevelled, as now, she still looked pretty in Gertie’s opinion. Self-consciously she pushed some lank brown hair behind her ears. ‘Don’t get a lot of time for me looks any more.’ She glanced at the sniffling baby. ‘Got Harold here and then the other three all playing me up.’
‘Where have they gone off to?’ Dawn took a look about.
‘Oh, they’re around somewhere, with their dad. Me husband gets bored stuck here all night so goes looking for somebody to have a game of cards with. He takes the boys to watch him play. Teaches him his tricks, so he says …’ Gertie started unbuttoning her blouse as Harold let out a wail. ‘Feeding time at the zoo,’ she muttered, looking around, her face a study of distaste. Picking up the infant, she concealed him, as best she could, inside her coat. ‘Like a bleedin’ farmyard it is down here, stinks to high heaven.’ She mimed gagging, then turned her attention to the baby’s feed. ‘I’d sooner not come here but we’ve not got a shelter dug out the back, you see. Rufus keeps saying he’ll do it but never gets round to it.’ Gertie raised her eyebrows, displaying fond exasperation for her lazy husband.
‘Pretty unpleasant down here, isn’t it.’ Dawn politely averted her eyes from Gertie’s exposed flesh, staring instead at the exit and straining her ears for a sound of the all clear. She’d not heard a bomb drop so was praying the planes had gone straight over, or it was a false alarm.
‘Wish we could go back to the phoney war we had at the beginning. At least we all got to sleep in our own beds,’ Gertie mumbled, stroking her baby’s cheek. ‘Worried all the time about my boys, I am.’
‘Are your older sons being evacuated?’ Dawn asked conversationally. She gazed at the contented baby, his fine auburn hair verging on flaxen and nothing like Gertie’s dark brown locks.
‘Oh, no! Nobody would look after them properly for me.’ Gertie sounded adamant. ‘I know them best. They’d never settle with anybody else.’
‘Bet our troops overseas miss their own beds …’ Dawn had reverted to their previous topic of conversation. Gertie had sounded defensive in the way her own mother did when talking about children being sent away into another woman’s care. Dawn thought of Bill, far away, perhaps soaring high in the heavens in his Spitfire, under the moon and stars. But there was no romantic side to any of it. Wherever Bill was, he was probably cold and scared, especially if he had a Messerschmitt on his tail. ‘I wish the bloody war was over with …’ Dawn said on a heartfelt sigh.
‘’Course, we all wish that.’ Gertie rubbed slowly at her baby’s back as he suckled. ‘War to end all wars, that last one was meant to be. Now look at us. Bloody Hun!’ she muttered. ‘Your boyfriend’s a pilot, ain’t he, Dawn?’
Dawn nodded. ‘I think about him, and pray for his safety, day and night … but I’m so proud of him too …’
‘My Rufus wanted to do his bit, of course,’ Gertie piped up, as though fearing Dawn might think him a coward for not enlisting. ‘But I need a bit of help with the four boys,’ she added flatly, as though she’d forgotten saying a moment ago how happy her husband was to avoid looking after his sons in favour of a trip to the pub.
‘They mustn’t half be a handful,’ Dawn said. It was the most Gertie had ever spoken about her family.
‘You’re not kidding! Run me ragged, they do. Oi … what’s your game? Never seen a hungry baby before?’
A young fellow had been lounging on his coat next to them. He’d been reading a book, in between slyly trying to get a glimpse of Gertie’s bare breast. He blushed scarlet and rolled over onto his other elbow, bringing the novel right up in front of his face.
‘Bleedin’ saucy git!’ Gertie muttered, giving Dawn a wink.
‘Oh … here he is …’ Gertie put the quietened baby back in his basket and whipped the edges of her coat together, surreptitiously buttoning her blouse underneath. ‘He don’t like me flashing me tits in public, as he calls it,’ she whispered. ‘So don’t let on I’ve given little ’un a drink or that the young bloke there was having a gander or Rufus’ll cause a scene.’
Gertie suddenly waved to attract her husband’s attention. ‘He don’t look happy; probably lost a packet at cards,’ she grumbled beneath her breath.
Dawn turned to look at some people making their way through the crowd. She froze for a few seconds before shrinking back against the tiled wall. Her shoulders were hunched up towards her ears in an attempt to conceal her face while she darted glances to and fro. But there was no chance of a quick getaway without drawing attention to herself; she was hemmed in on all sides. From under her lashes she flicked another look at the stout, red-headed fellow approaching, accompanied by three boys of varying sizes.
It might have been dark that evening, and she might only have seen the brute for a matter of minutes, but she was certain Gertie’s husband was the same man who’d threatened her and Rosie Gardiner to keep their gobs shut about the robbery at the outfitters. It occurred to Dawn then that she’d heard the man she’d thought was Gertie’s brother call his mate ‘Roof’. With sudden clarity she realised it was Rufus’s nickname. She was now wondering if she’d been right in thinking that she short bloke had been Midge Williams … Rufus’s brother-in-law. It’d be an odd coincidence indeed if it weren’t the case …
‘I’m going to make my way to the exit so I can escape as soon as the all clear sounds.’ Dawn whispered the remark, trying to remain inconspicuous while sliding upwards against the tiles.
‘Don’t think you have to shove off, Dawn, ’cos me old man’s turned up. He won’t mind you sitting with us.’
Dawn gave a fleeting smile, watching the little
