lovely cake Mrs Meadows baked for us. It is really delicious – and Papa prefers his fruit cake. She made one for him all to himself…’
‘Are your mother and sister better now?’ Maggie asked Marion when they were taking their coats off at work on Monday morning. Marion had returned to work after taking a day off to care for her sick mother.
‘Milly is fine, up and running about,’ Marion said. ‘My mother comes down during the day again now but goes back to bed before I get home… the doctor says she should go to the clinic to be checked over, but she won’t…’
‘Is there something seriously wrong with her?’ Maggie asked.
‘Doctor Phillips thinks so… she’s got so thin…’ Marion caught back a sob. ‘I think it’s just because she’s so unhappy. She said she didn’t care if she died…’ Marion faltered. ‘If that happened, I’d have to stay at home and look after my sister – they might even take Milly and put her in a home. None of us is considered old enough to live without Ma’s supervision and my father wouldn’t come back on a permanent basis…’ Without her mother, everything would fall on Marion’s shoulders and sometimes she wondered how she would cope. Yet someone had to keep a roof over their heads and she was the eldest, apart from Dan, who hadn’t been home for months now.
‘Oh no! That’s terrible.’ Maggie looked at her in horror. ‘When my father died and my mother… went away… I could have lived with my uncle, but I went to stay with Rachel and Beth…’ She bit her lip, because even if Rachel would take Marion in, she couldn’t be responsible for her brothers and sisters. ‘Isn’t there any way you could persuade her to go to the clinic and see what is wrong?’
Marion shook her head. ‘I think she wants to die,’ she said and then stopped as Mrs Burrows walked in and began to take off her coat. Blushing, Marion gave a little squeak and hurried into the department, beginning to uncover the hats, as if she feared that she would be reprimanded for talking, though there were ten minutes to go before they needed to be on the floor.
‘Is Marion all right?’ Beth asked and Maggie hesitated.
‘Yes, she’s fine,’ she said, ‘but her mother is unwell all the time. The doctor has asked her to go to the clinic at the infirmary for a proper check over, but she won’t…’
‘Perhaps she cannot afford the fees,’ Beth said, because many women would hesitate before spending money they needed for other things on a health check.
‘Marion’s doctor says the clinic is free to her if she goes in on a Friday when he’s there – he didn’t charge them a penny for visiting twice when Marion’s brother rang him.’
‘Generous,’ Beth said with a little nod. Most doctors charged their patients, even if they were sometimes paid with a few eggs or some garden produce if money was short. ‘Perhaps it is pride then… she feels it is charity…’
‘Marion is worried about her. She says if her mother dies, the council might take them all into care – because she’s the eldest at home and her father works away, as does her elder brother… and she’s afraid she might lose her job if she stays away too often…’
‘That is something to face if it happens,’ Beth said but looked serious. ‘I can’t do much unless she asks for my help, Maggie – but I would help in any way I could. The rules are strict here, but I’ll do what I can – though if her mother dies it will be out of my hands…’
‘Yes, I know…’ Maggie looked at the little watch she wore on her dress. ‘It’s time I got to my counter, Mrs Burrows.’
Beth nodded approvingly. The formality began once they were in working hours and Maggie never forgot it, even though Beth was one of her closest friends. It wouldn’t do to take advantage and she wouldn’t dream of doing it either – but she did hope that Beth could help Marion, because it would be too dreadful if her mother died and some of the family were taken into care.
Maggie left work that evening, pausing to read the boards outside a cinema on her way home; they were proudly announcing the showing of the first feature film in Britain in full colour: The World, the Flesh and the Devil. It would be nice to go to the pictures, but Rachel wasn’t much interested in the cinema and Maggie hated going alone. She had no plans that evening, because Becky was going to the theatre with her father and Tim Burrows was away at the Royal Flying Corps base where he was stationed. She thought that Rachel and Minnie were going to visit some mutual friends, which would leave her alone. She would probably spend the evening washing her hair, even though she’d done it recently.
‘Miss Gibbs – may I ask you to stop and talk for a moment…’
Maggie’s heart caught as she heard Ralf’s voice and she spun round to see the man she’d once been briefly engaged to standing just behind her. ‘Ralf!’ she cried. ‘You made me jump…’
‘I’m sorry. I never meant to scare you…’
‘Oh, I wasn’t frightened, just surprised. How are you? I haven’t seen you for ages…’ she said, recovering quickly.
‘No – I’ve been down on the Sussex coast for the past six months or more,’ he said. ‘We’ve been flying missions over the sea and training…’ Like Tim Burrows, Ralf was also in the Royal Flying Corps.
Maggie felt a chill at her nape. ‘Please don’t mention that word war…’ she said passionately. ‘Mr Burrows is convinced there will be one and his son Tim seems to relish the idea…’
‘I suppose it’s what we flying chaps expect and live for,’ Ralf said ruefully. ‘I promise not to mention it again – if you will let me take you for tea…’
Maggie hesitated. Ralf had asked her out several times after she’d left his mother’s house more than fourteen months ago and she’d refused. Then he’d disappeared and she hadn’t seen him again until that evening.
‘I suppose there is no harm in it, as long as you understand that we can never be more than friends,’ she said firmly. ‘How is your mother and your sister?’
Ralf frowned, as if her statement had displeased him but answered politely. ‘My sister is married and very happy… my mother went to live with a spinster friend of hers in Hastings. I see her very occasionally, but I write to her once a week…’
‘I see… I’m sorry if that was my fault…’
‘How could it be?’ Ralf asked. ‘Once I’d joined the Royal Flying Corps, I could no longer live at home and my sister’s wedding was already arranged for last spring. It was my mother’s choice to leave London and I have no opinion about it – I simply wished her well.’
‘But you have no home…’ Maggie said, feeling vaguely guilty.
‘I have my work and my friends. Besides, my home would need you in it to be worthwhile…’ The longing in Ralf’s eyes then made Maggie’s heart catch and for a moment she wanted to cry. She’d thought herself so much in love with him once, but it had ended when he let her down, showing no sympathy over her mother’s illness and subsequent death.
‘That’s
