In October the government issued instructions on what to do in case of an air raid and suddenly the war seemed very real and everyone lived in fear of an invasion.
‘It scares me to think of it,’ Ivy said worriedly as she cradled Alice protectively to her.
Marcus smiled at her. She’d been quite surprised to see him when he had suddenly put in an appearance that morning, he usually visited of an evening after work but before very long she knew the reason why.
‘Actually …’ Looking uncomfortable, he shifted from foot to foot as she stared at him with prickles running up and down her spine. ‘I, er … wanted you to be the first to know, after my father of course, that I joined up this morning. I shall be leaving for army training in a week’s time.’
Ivy plonked down heavily onto the nearest chair. She felt as if all the air had been sucked out of her lungs, although she didn’t know why she was so shocked. Wasn’t this exactly what she had been fearing he would do for some time now?
‘I see …’ Her voice came out as a croak. ‘And how does your father feel about it?’
Marcus lowered his head and shrugged. ‘Well, obviously he’s not happy about it but he says it’s up to me. Nearly all the chaps from the hat factory have gone already. And the thing is, Ivy … I couldn’t bear it if I was given a white feather. Try to understand, please.’
‘I think I do understand.’ A tear trickled down her cheek and Alice’s plump little hand instantly came up to wipe it away. ‘It’s just that … I’ll worry about you … and I’ll miss you.’
‘I’ll miss you too.’ He gently lifted Alice from her lap and put her on the floor and as the child tottered away he took Ivy in his arms. ‘I think the world of you, Ivy, you must know that by now. And if it weren’t for the fact that I might not come back I’d ask you to be my girl.’
Her heart swelled as she stared into his eyes. ‘But I want to be your girl, and you will come back, you must!’ she told him firmly.
He stared at her intently for a long moment then said, ‘In that case, will you wait for me? And if I do come—’
‘Shush, yer daft ha’porth an’ kiss me,’ she told him sternly, placing her finger on his lips. ‘If we only have a week till you leave then we’d best make the best of it.’
Marcus was only too happy to do as he was told, and as his lips found hers her heart soared.
‘So where will yer be goin’?’ she asked eventually when they came up for air.
‘I have to report to Budbrooke Barracks near Warwick then I’ll be sent to train on the Isle of Wight. I shall be in the second battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.’
She nodded as she digested what he’d told her. ‘But why didn’t yer say somethin’ about how yer felt about me before?’ she asked as they sat with their arms about each other.
‘Why didn’t you?’
‘Because I didn’t think someone o’ your class would look twice at a girl like me who has a baby born the wrong side o’ the blanket.’
‘And I was worried that you might still have feelings for Alice’s father.’ Placing his finger gently beneath her chin he tilted her face and kissed her again. ‘And class doesn’t even come into it. I knew you were the girl for me the moment I clapped eyes on you, and when I come home we’ll be a family.’
‘Is that a promise?’
He nodded solemnly.
‘In that case I’ll wait forever if need be.’
‘And about time too,’ Holly chuckled when Ivy told her the news later that evening. ‘I was beginning to think you pair were never going to get around to admitting how you felt about each other. It’s as plain as the nose on your face that you’ll be perfect together.’
‘Ooh hark at the pot calling the kettle black!’ Ivy’s eyes sparkled with mischief. ‘An’ what about you an’ Dr Phillips?’
‘We’re still just good friends,’ Holly said quickly. ‘Which is just as well because he’s talking of going to work in one of the field hospitals they’ve set up in France.’ She swallowed nervously and went on, ‘And actually, I’m thinking of going with him. I’ve been considering it for a while and when he said he was going it helped me to make up my mind. I’ve already spoken to Matron about it and she said that although she’ll be sad to lose me she thinks it’s a good idea. As it happens, there’s a load of Red Cross nurses and doctors being shipped out there shortly before Christmas so I might go then. I was going to tell my mother and my grandfather first but you may as well know now.’
‘Well, I’ll be!’ Ivy looked as if she had well and truly had the wind taken out of her sails. ‘But won’t it be really dangerous working close to the front?’ It seemed that today was full of surprises, and not good ones!
‘The hospitals aren’t right on the front,’ Holly pointed out. ‘And there’s such a desperate shortage of doctors and nurses out there that I feel I ought to go.’
‘Then if you’ve made yer mind up I dare say there’s nothin’ I can say to change it, is there?’ Ivy answered resignedly.
Holly shook her head. ‘Not really, but don’t worry, I shall be fine, and so will Marcus. Everyone is saying that the war will be over in no time then hopefully everyone can get back to some sort of normality.’
Ivy could only pray that she was right.
By November, word from the soldiers at the front was grim. They were being forced to spend hours in dirty trenches ankle-deep in icy water and frostbite had become a real danger. It was reported that men’s toes were turning black and dropping off, and they were the lucky ones, for others, as infection set in, there was no hope. Men all along the front were dropping like flies and the rats that infested the trenches were feasting on their bodies. The field hospitals were struggling to cope with the number of casualties each day and mass graves were having to be dug for those who died at the enemy’s hands.
The conditions that the men had to live in left a lot to be desired as well. Rows of tents with no protection from the bitter cold were their only shelter, not that it troubled them much. Usually by the time they returned to them after fighting they were too exhausted to care where they slept.
A continuous line of trenches full of weary soldiers now stretched from the North Sea to Switzerland but there had been little movement since the Germans had failed to reach Paris. It seemed that there was a stalemate amid the mud and barbed wire and nobody had yet developed a tactic to break the deadlock; the number of dead continued to rise, and every day now, the telegram boy could be seen furiously pedalling about the town delivering the news that someone’s loved one had fallen in battle.
At home, the chancellor, David Lloyd George, announced in his war budget that income tax would be doubled to one shilling and sixpence in every pound in the year ahead, beer and tea duties would also go up to help pay for the war. Already there were shortages of certain goods that could no longer be shipped in from abroad and now everyone was having to tighten their belts. Claridge’s Hotel in London had opened its doors to sewing guilds where women congregated to make clothes for the servicemen and other women were busily unpicking any old woollens they could get hold of and reknitting the wool into socks for the troops. Even the Boy Scouts had been given jobs to do, and they were placed on what was termed Special Service, which involved them guarding gas works, electric substations and telegraph lines, although as Holly’s grandfather quite rightly pointed out, what were the boys supposed to do if they were under threat of being bombed?
Then in mid-December, soon after dawn, three German warships loomed out of the mist off the east coast and began shelling the towns of Scarborough, Whitby, Hartlepool and West Hartlepool causing the deaths of over a hundred civilians and injuring a further two hundred. British destroyers were deployed to drive off the German force but two of them were hit, resulting in the deaths of four seamen. During the raid over two hundred shells struck the towns, damaging homes, resort hotels and churches, and that evening West Hartlepool was in total darkness because of a direct hit on the local gasworks.
‘It’s so scary,’ Ivy said as she read the newspaper report out to Holly’s grandfather the next day. She lived in a constant state of anxiety now, fretting about what might happen to Alice if they were invaded and worrying if Marcus was safe. He had been to see her just once after doing his training before being shipped abroad and he had looked so handsome in his uniform that she couldn’t help but be proud of him, although she had wept when he had to leave again. She knew that he was somewhere in France but had no idea what area because the letters she had received from him were so heavily censored that it was difficult to be sure. And now that Holly was insisting she wanted to work in a field hospital near the front, that would be one more for her to worry about!
‘I thought when war was declared that everyone said it would be over by Christmas,’ Ivy grumbled and Gilbert shook his head sadly.
‘That is what everyone hoped but it clearly isn’t going to happen now.’ He sighed heavily and they both sat silently thinking of the effect the war might have on their loved ones.
‘I just wish I were younger so I could go and do my bit for king and country,’ he said regretfully.
Ivy shook her head. ‘An’ that’d be another one I’d have to fret about.’ She smiled at him; it was hard to believe this was the same man who used to strike terror into her heart. He had changed so much and she’d grown fond of him; in fact, sometimes she forgot he was actually her employer. She knew that, like herself, he was dreading Holly going away and was hoping she’d have a change of heart, but at least Ivy could be there for him if Holly did leave. That at least gave her a little comfort.
The day after this exchange, Holly arrived home from the hospital with bad news for them.
‘I shall be shipping out to France next week,’ she informed her grandfather as they sat eating their dinner in the kitchen with Ivy, Alice and the cook. They rarely bothered to use the dining room now; it just meant another fire to light for Ivy and it was cosy in the kitchen.
Ivy almost choked on the mouthful of soup she was eating. ‘But it’s the week before Christmas! Surely you could at least wait till the New Year.’
‘I suppose our soldiers fighting out there would like to be home for Christmas too,’ she answered flatly, and Ivy flushed. Holly did have a point.
‘Unfortunately we are needed as soon as possible so three of us from the hospital are sailing on a military ship from Portsmouth next Monday. There will be Harr … Dr Phillips, myself and another Red Cross nurse, Angela Dewis.’
Her grandfather, who had said nothing up to now, looked dismayed but all the same he raised a smile and told her solemnly, ‘I’m very proud of you, my dear, more than you will ever know.’
The unexpected show of affection brought a lump to her throat and the rest of the meal was finished in silence as they all tried not to think of what might lie ahead for Holly.