‘Well you certainly look happier than when you went out,’ Holly commented when Ivy got in late that evening. The sparkle was back in her eyes and she couldn’t seem to stop smiling. Holly had been sewing a button onto the dress of her uniform but she laid it aside to go and put some milk on the stove to warm for their cocoa.
‘Oh, don’t bother doing me a hot drink tonight,’ Ivy told her. ‘It’s been a long day so I think I’ll get an early night, if you don’t mind. G‘night, Holly.’ And with that she went tripping into her bedroom leaving Holly to stare after her with a concerned frown on her face. She so wanted Ivy to be happy but there was something about Jeremy that didn’t feel right, although as yet she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. Feeling restless she decided to write to her mother, maybe writing about her concerns would help her make sense of them, and considering what her mother had been through with her father, she might have some useful advice. So settling down at the small table she began.
Dear Mother,
I hope this letter finds you and Grandfather well and keeping good health. The weather here is marvellous, it’s so nice to see the sun but it does make me miss the lovely walks you and I used to take in the wide open spaces on glorious Sunday afternoons. Of course there are parks here but it isn’t the same as being surrounded by fields as we are back at home.
Ivy and I are well, although I must admit that I have a niggling concern about the young man she is seeing. He’s a journalist from a very well-to-do family by all accounts, but the strange thing is he never seems to have any money, nor does Ivy and I’m growing a little concerned that she might be giving her wages to him. I’m probably worrying over nothing but as you know, Ivy is a very kind, generous person and she is so besotted with him. I would hate to think that she was being exploited. But that’s enough of my concerns …
She went on to tell her mother all about her work at the hospital and in the shop and when she’d finished, she popped it in an envelope and placed it on the mantelpiece ready to be posted the next morning. She always felt better after writing to her mother, it somehow seemed to bring her closer and, smiling again, she gave a wide yawn and went to bed.
The following week, her mother sent her a reply, in which she suggested that people in love rarely listened to reason, as she knew all too well, so all Holly could do was wait and make sure she was there for her friend should her concerns prove to be well founded.
Holly knew she was speaking sense, so she resolved to try to set her worries aside, but remain vigilant, just in case Ivy needed her.
Over the next weeks London seemed to be teeming with people who were coming to see the sights. The weather was unbearably hot and humid and Ivy arrived home from the factory each night feeling like a wet rag.
‘Phew, it feels as if the streets are full o’ people,’ she complained as she walked through the door one July evening, just as Holly was putting their supper on the table – she had called in at the greengrocer’s on the way home from the hospital and bought a selection of salad and cold meat as it was far too hot to attempt to cook.
‘I know what you mean,’ Holly agreed. ‘The shop has been really busy with people of all nationalities all out to buy souvenirs to take home. We’ve just about sold out of gloves and scarves. I shall be quite glad when things quieten down a bit. There is no escaping the tourists, especially the Americans. There seem to be droves of them.’
‘I shall just be glad when I start at the suffragettes’ headquarters,’ Ivy wheezed, pushing the window of the flat as far open as it would go. ‘I swear I shall melt clean away if I have to stay in that match factory for much longer.’
‘It’s not much better at the hospital,’ Holly agreed. ‘Though it’s not so bad down in the shop. Miss May has taken to leaving the door wedged open to let a little air in. The only trouble is that one of us has to be in there every minute in case someone comes in and decides to help themselves to the stock.’ She placed a plate in front of her friend. ‘I got us a nice bit of ham to go with the salad.’
Ivy pushed it away. ‘It looks lovely but I’m too hot to even attempt that at the minute,’ she said, fanning herself with the newspaper. ‘Ooh, what I wouldn’t give to be back home swimming in the blue lagoon now.’ She giggled as she confided, ‘I used to go there sometimes in the summer wi’ me brothers an’ sisters an’ we’d strip off down to us underwear an’ dive in. Me mam would have skinned us alive had she known.’ In her mind’s eye she could see them all now splashing about in the cool water and she felt a pang of conscience. ‘I just hope they’re all right,’ she muttered. It had been some time since she had posted any money home but she decided that as soon as she got paid she would send some again.
Holly too was feeling guilty as it was some time since she had visited her mother. The problem was with her nursing and her job in the shop she had very little free time. Her mother had been very understanding about it and had promised that she would visit Holly. But not until the weather cooled down, she had written. After being accustomed to living in a sleepy market town in the Midlands she always found the capital too busy for her liking and had rightly guessed that it would be even busier while the weather was so hot. She felt guilty for not coming, though, considering how much time she had on her hands, so she had started to write to her daughter even more frequently.
In one of her replies, Holly wrote:
Dear Mother,
I don’t blame you for not wanting to be here at present. It feels as if you are walking shoulder to shoulder everywhere you go with all the visitors that have come into the city. They seem to have come from every corner of the globe and it makes me miss the tranquillity of home and you more than ever. Still, summer will be over soon and hopefully things will quieten down again
Ivy is very much looking forward to starting her new job in the suffragette offices and she is still seeing Jeremy and seems as smitten with him as ever. I know that she misses home too, though, and she often speaks of her siblings and her mother, although I don’t think she misses her father very much. I think of you every day and pray that you and Grandfather are keeping well. I can hardly wait to see you again.
Until then I remain your ever loving daughter,
Holly xxxxx
In August, when she had passed all the exams on her course with flying colours, Ivy left the match factory and went to work in the suffragette office and she seemed to love it. Now she could go to work respectably dressed each day, and the work was much less physically demanding, as well, she felt, as not being very difficult. She did any typing that needed doing as well as seeing to the printing of the magazines and sometimes Holly felt so proud of her she felt she could burst. The timid, skinny girl who had accompanied her to London was gone and in her place was a confident, capable young lady. Ivy’s figure had filled out slightly and now with her hair shining and dressed in respectable clothes she was quite attractive. The only thing that did still concern Holly, though, was Ivy’s relationship with Jeremy. She still saw him at every opportunity although it was clear that this was nowhere near as often as she would have liked, and Holly had formed the opinion that he was taking advantage of her, not that she would have dared voice her fears to Ivy. Her mother’s advice was right, for Ivy would have defended him to the death.
‘So when am I finally going to meet him?’ she asked Ivy one evening. Every time she’d suggested it before Jeremy always seemed to be busy, and gave Ivy one reason after another why he couldn’t come.
‘Oh, not that again.’ Ivy sighed and raised her eyebrows. She was getting ready to meet him. ‘You sound worse than me mother when you start.’
‘I don’t mean to,’ Holly defended herself. ‘But you’ve been seeing him for some time now. I just thought it might be nice if I got to know him.’
‘All right then, what if I invite him round to tea on Sunday?’
Holly grinned. ‘That’s a good idea. I’ll make us a cake.’
‘You make a cake?’ Ivy snorted with laughter. ‘Your cookin’ might have improved but I don’t reckon you’re up to that yet.’
‘Well, we’ll see shall we!’ Holly said peevishly. ‘A sponge can’t be all that hard to make. Come Sunday you’ll be eating your words and asking for an extra slice you’ll see!’
Ivy grinned as she gave her a wave and sped off down the stairs leaving Holly to start searching for the second-hand copy of Mrs Beeton’s Cookery Book she had bought some time ago from the market.
Unknown to Ivy it took three attempts before Holly managed to produce a cake that was edible but on Sunday afternoon she laid out a little feast fit for a king. There were thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches, cheese and ham sandwiches, as well as a variety of pickles and some sausage rolls that Holly had bought from the butcher. And in the centre of the table the cake she had gone to such trouble over took pride of place.
‘How does it look?’ she asked Ivy as she came out of her bedroom shortly before Jeremy was due to arrive.
‘I have to say you’ve done a grand job,’ Ivy admitted, giving her friend a quick hug. ‘It’s really nice of you to go to so much trouble.’
‘It’s worth it if Jeremy is going to be a part of our lives. The least I can do is get to know him,’ Holly pointed out. They glanced at the clock together then.
‘Another half an hour and he should be here. I told him four o’clock.’ Ivy was actually quite excited about the visit and could hardly wait to show him off. Up to now he hadn’t introduced her to any of his friends but when she’d remarked on it he’d kissed her tenderly. ‘That’s because I don’t get to see anywhere near as much of you as I’d like and when I do I want you all to myself,’ he’d assured her. Perhaps that will change after he’s met Holly, Ivy thought as she straightened the cushions on the small sofa and they sat down to wait.
Four o’clock came and went. For the first half an hour Ivy wasn’t too worried. Jeremy had never been the best timekeeper. But by five o’clock she was pacing the floor and repeatedly crossing to the window to peer up and down the street.
‘I can’t think what’s keeping him. The sandwiches are starting to curl at the edges. They’ll be ruined soon,’ she fretted, feeling humiliated. Holly had gone to so much trouble and now it was beginning to look like he wasn’t even going to bother to come.
‘Look, why don’t we tuck in?’ Holly suggested at six o’clock. ‘Jeremy obviously couldn’t make it and it’s a shame to let all this good food go to waste.’
With a sigh, Ivy nodded, finally accepting that Jeremy wasn’t going to come. ‘The paper must have sent him out on a story,’ she excused him but inside she was seething. I’ll give him a right tongue-lashing when I next see him, she promised herself.
But it was three days before she finally saw him again after work and by then she had worked herself up into a rage. ‘What the hell did you think you were doing not turning up like that?’ she spat at him as he tried to take her hand. ‘Holly had laid you a lovely tea out and you couldn’t even be bothered to come and eat it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so embarrassed.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ he said with the smile that could usually melt her. ‘I’m sure you’ve guessed what happened. A story broke and the paper wanted me out to cover it at the last minute. I was literally setting off to come to you when I got word and there was nothing I could do. You must know I wouldn’t have let you down if I could possibly help it.’
He looked so repentant that she wavered. His tawny eyes were moist and he looked at her with such a regretful expression that she couldn’t help softening. She supposed that journalists were a little like doctors and could be called on at any hour of the day or night, so was she being too hard on him? His arm had snaked about her waist by then and she knew she was lost. There would be other times, after all, and Holly had been very good about it.
The week after the tea, Holly arrived on the women’s surgical ward to find the ward sister waiting for her.
‘Nurse Farthing, Matron would like a word with you in her office. Immediately, if you please.’
Holly’s heart sank as she tried to think of what she might have done wrong, but she nodded and was on her way in seconds. Whatever it was she may as well face the music and get it over with.
‘Come in,’ the matron called when Holly tapped on her door and after taking a deep breath Holly straightened her back, smoothed her apron and entered the room.
Matron was seated at her desk with a mountain of paperwork teetering in front of her but at the sight of Holly she smiled.
‘Ah, Nurse Farthing. Do take a seat.’
Holly perched awkwardly on the edge of a hard-backed chair.
‘We have a new influx of Red Cross nurses joining the staff this morning,’ the matron informed her. ‘And I was wondering if I might put you in charge of them to show them the ropes. I’ve been extremely pleased with you since you started here and so have the sisters on the wards where you have worked so I can’t think of anyone I would rather entrust the new recruits to. What do you think? Could you do it?’
‘Well, I …’ Holly gulped. ‘I dare say I could.’ She was delighted to have such a glowing report from the matron herself, although it had come as something of a shock. ‘But as you know I only nurse for two days a week so am I really the right person for the job?’
Matron waved her hand. ‘Absolutely. I want you to show them around, explain what we expect of them and allow them to come to you with any concerns they have. If the concerns are anything that you can’t deal with you can ask me for advice, of course, but it will save me a lot of valuable time that can be better spent elsewhere if you will take on the responsibility.’
‘In that case I’d be delighted to,’ Holly told her with a smile.
‘Right, I shall want you to keep a close eye on them.’ The woman peered at her over the top of her glasses. ‘We can usually sort the wheat from the chaff within days so I’d like you to report their progress back to me on a weekly basis. And now, nurse, if you’d like to go along to reception they should be here any minute … and thank you.’
Feeling proud, Holly found the new recruits all nervously waiting on a bench and she quickly introduced herself and showed them the small clipboard Matron had given her telling them where they would each be working.
‘Nurse Jenkins, we’ll get you settled in the maternity ward first,’ she addressed a small, fair-haired girl who barely looked old enough to be there. They all set off and just before lunchtime when she had shown the last girl to her ward, she almost bumped into Dr Parkin in the corridor leading to the men’s geriatric ward.
‘Ah, Nurse Farthing, word is about that you’ve had a promotion,’ he said with a teasing smile.
She flushed as she stared up into his face. She supposed that he wasn’t handsome in the traditional sense: his mouth was a little too wide to be termed as perfect and his thick hair always seemed to be in need of a good brush, but every time she looked into his twinkling brown eyes she felt her heart give a little leap. ‘I’m not sure that you’d call it a promotion. Matron just asked me to help settle the latest batch of Red Cross nurses in,’ she explained primly.
‘Hmm, which suggests she must think very highly of you, don’t you think? But now you’ll have to excuse me, I’m wanted in the ward and you know what Sister Barraclough is like if anyone isn’t on time. I’ll try and find you in the canteen at lunchtime and then you can tell me all about it.’ She stared after him bemused as he raced off to the ward. Why is it I never get tongue-tied or embarrassed in front of any of the other doctors? she wondered.
As it happened another emergency was admitted to the ward she was working on shortly before she was due to go on her lunch break, so it was almost an hour later before she was able to escape to the canteen to snatch a hasty snack. A quick glance around showed her that Dr Parkin must have come and gone. But after all he was probably just being friendly and I hardly know him, she silently scolded herself as she stood in a queue waiting to be served. But in truth she was disappointed and she found herself looking out for him as she ate her meal alone.