‘Betsy, stop your fussing, hen. It is what it is.’
‘Aye, I knaws that, Angus, but it feels as though me world’s tumbling around me and I can’t stop it. All the young ’uns will be in danger – me girls and our Billy. And Roderick’s coming on fourteen – what if it goes on a long time and he has to go? I can’t bear it, I can’t.’
‘I ken what you’re saying, me lassie, but we canna influence the goings-on of the wider world. Och, nothing may happen anyways, and then you’ll have fretted for nothing.’
‘And besides that, Ma, we want to do this.’
‘Eeh, Daisy. It were bad enough for me as each one of you went off to Dumfries to do your training, but I got used to that, and you weren’t in danger or owt. I miss you every day you’re not here, but this is different, lass.’
‘Och, I knaw, Ma. But times change. We all decided together, didn’t we?’ Daisy looked at her two sisters, Florrie and Rosie. They both nodded.
Betsy’s heart felt as though it would break, but even so, she never ceased to find it funny to hear how her daughters spoke a mixture of their native Blackburn dialect inflected with a smattering of how the Scottish folk expressed themselves. But then it wasn’t surprising, as Daisy had only been seven, Florrie six and Rosie four when she’d moved up here with Mags after her Bill, their da, had died. Sighing, she dispelled the memory. Visiting it was just too painful.
‘Was that a resigned sigh, Ma?’
‘Naw, it wasn’t, our Florrie. I’ll never be resigned to you three going off to the army. It’s like cutting me heart out.’
Angus coughed. Looking over towards him, Betsy saw him raise his eyebrows and knew that he was willing her to give her daughters her blessing. Oh God, how can I? How can I let them go? But then she had to admit that they would go anyway, and better they did so with her acceptance. They’d have enough to contend with, as it was.
‘Eeh, me girls. I knaw as you have to do this, and I want you to knaw as I’m proud of you all. When you each took up nursing as your chosen career, I were like a peacock fluffing me feathers and told anyone who’d listen what me girls were doing. And nursing the wounded is sommat as will be needed, if there is a war. But don’t forget: that’s what your Aunt Mags and her mates did in the last war, and from what she told me, there’s a lot for you to contend with out there and it ain’t the glamorous life I knaw you’re all anticipating. It’s blood and gore, and dodging randy men who haven’t their wives to keep them happy.’
All three girls, and Angus, burst out laughing at this. ‘Aw, Ma, you’re a one.’
‘It’s the truth, our Rosie. You mind me words. Aunt Mags has a terrible tale to tell of her time nursing the wounded. But then she made friendships that sustained her and have lasted her lifetime. Still, one thing pleases me – at least you’ll have each other.’
‘It’s not set in stone that we’ll stay together, Ma. Yes, we’ve all been accepted into the Queen Alexandra’s Nursing Corps, but they could send us anywhere.’
This shook Betsy. The thought of them watching out for one another had given her a little comfort. She looked at each of her girls, all beautiful to gaze at; well, Rosie was more pretty than beautiful, with her hair falling in ringlets and her features a little softer that those of the other two. Betsy felt pride in noting that her daughters had all taken after her, with their curly chestnut hair and slim but voluptuous figures. But it was this last aspect that worried her. Eeh, I had to fend off the men who leered at me for one thing, and one thing only. I were strong, and I thought I would allus be a faithful wife . . . Aye, well, there’s no good raking over the past. Not now, not ever. What’s done is done. But even as she tried not to think of it, she knew she could never forget the affair that had led to Billy being born. Oh, why am I thinking like this, and at a time when I should be giving me girls a good send-off. With this, it occurred to Betsy that that was exactly what she would do – throw a party to give her girls a good memory to take with them.
‘Reet, if this is the way of things, then we’d best do it good and proper. We’ll have a do, to see you all on your way and be sommat good for you to remember. By . . . nurses, me three lasses. I’ll never get over that. I thought you’d all end up in factories, or married with a brood of young ’uns, but you’ve made good of yourselves. Eeh, I’m sorry as it’s led to this, though, and I’m going to miss you and worry over you. Come here.’
They were in a giggling huddle when Billy came through the door, followed closely, as always, by Roderick, Betsy’s youngest, and the only child she’d had with Angus.
‘What’s going on, Ma? Why the big hug?’
Florrie answered Billy. ‘We’ve all joined the Royal Army Nursing Corps, Billy.’
‘All of ye? Ye’re lucky beggars. I’d give a wee penny to go. Not to be a nurse, but to do army training to prepare for war.’
Betsy nodded at Billy. ‘Aye, well, thank God you’re too young by a year, our Billy, and it could all be over when your time comes. Anyroad, we’re going to have a party to give our lasses a good send-off, so let everyone in the village knaw, as you go about. It’ll be on Saturday night as seven, in the back room of the inn.’
‘Hold on, hen, ye’ve nay asked the landlord yet.’
‘Aw, they’ll be naw problem, Angus. It isn’t as if they’ll have any other do on or we would have known of it.’
‘Aye, that’s so, but it is high season and the visitors are many – the landlord may ne’er cope, lassie.’
‘He doesn’t have to. We’ll do owt as needs doing. He just needs to sell his ale. It’ll be grand. I’ll start baking this afternoon.’
Betsy saw the look exchanged between Angus and her brood and smiled to herself. They knew when to stop objecting to any of her ideas. She’d won that one, and felt the excitement of all the organizing she would have to do. Grabbing her cardigan, she made for the door.
‘Where is it you’re off to, lassie? Ye change as quick as the tide; I ne’er know where I am wi’ thee.’
‘To see Susan. She opened the shop by herself this morning. I’m to see if she can cope for a couple of days without me.’
‘I could help her out, Ma, unless you need me, that is.’
‘Oh? Have ye no work to go to, Rosie?’
‘Naw, Da. We all finished yesterday. We . . . well, we didn’t want to worry you by telling you too soon.’
‘Och, I ne’er realized it’d all happen that quick, me lasses. A wee hasty for me liking, but still, there’s no undoing what’s done.’
Betsy sighed, as it all became real to her. How was it that the country was preparing to the extent of taking her girls into the army, when war wasn’t yet declared? Eeh, I thought it would be a while yet, but it’s happened – it’s really happened! But this frightening thought didn’t dispel the nice feeling she got, on hearing her girls call Angus ‘Da’. And she knew it pleased him, too. It was something they’d only started to do recently. They’d all been having a laugh with Angus, when he’d chastised them for the way they left their rooms so untidy when they were home, and Rosie had said, ‘You knaw, ever since you married our mam, you’ve been like a da to us, and from now on I’m going to call you that.’ Then Florrie and Daisy chipped in that they had always wanted to, but were waiting for Rosie to be sure she wished to. This had led to a group hug, and Betsy had looked at her brood – and her fine husband – and had felt the love for them all surge through her. Now it was possible that she was going to face seeing her family torn apart by a force she couldn’t stop. How was she going to bear it?
The shop looked lovely, with all the crafts that she and Susan sold on display: knitted items, like the Fair Isle jumpers that were very popular with the sailing crowd who brought their boats into the harbour; and the cable knit pullovers that the fishermen liked. Then there were the tartan items: tammy hats and scarves, and household items in tartan – cushions and lampshades.
Montel’s wonderful paintings of local scenes adorned the walls. Dear Montel, he’d made the shop’s fortune in the beginning, with his portraits. People used to flock to the shop to have a painting done of themselves or their children, or even their pets. But none of his work was for sale now; the paintings all belonged to Mags, and she’d thought their rightful place was here, where she and Montel had been so happy. Betsy had thought that Mags would never be happy again after she lost Montel, but it pleased her that she was – and with the lovely Jerome, whom Betsy adored.
As she looked towards the shop front, Betsy felt pride in the pottery items displayed on the shelves there, as they were made by her and Susan – vases, plant pots and all manner of gaily painted bowls and ornaments took pride of place. The counter was positioned amongst them and Susan was sitting behind it. When she spotted Betsy and Rosie, her face lit up. ‘Betsy – thank goodness, I’ve been rushed off me feet and have had a job to cope.’
‘Aye, well, I’m not stopping, lass. Rosie is, though. She’s going to do the next two days with you, if that’s all right.’
Telling Susan about the party didn’t get the reaction Betsy thought it would, though why she expected Susan to see the fun in having a do, when she’d been full of doom and gloom since the first rumblings of war began, she didn’t know. ‘We’ve to make the best of things, Susan. Half of what we worry over may not happen, anyroad.’
‘I know, but I feel bereft even when Sibbie goes to Mags’s home, so I can’t imagine how you’re feeling, Betsy. All three of your girls going, and to God knows what. What if war does come, and your lads and my Sibbie have to go?’
‘Let’s not meet trouble that might not be travelling our road, Susan. One thing at a time. Me girls are going, and I want to give them a send-off to remember. We’ll deal with owt else as it comes along.’
‘You’re right, of course. I’ll try to lift meself. It’s just that everything seems spoilt, or on the brink of being so.’
Betsy couldn’t deny this. But seeing Susan’s distress nudged her own pain, which she’d tried to suppress. ‘Come here, lass. I reckon as you could do with a hug.’ With this, she took Susan into her arms and held her. She and Susan had built a strong bond over the years, which had grown from having both been duped by the evil Harold Roford, who had fathered both her Billy and Susan’s Sibbie.
Her thoughts turned to Mags, who’d suffered most at Harold’s hands during her marriage to him, when he’d taken all that she had. And how, after her own shameful encounter with Harold, and Susan’s hurt on thinking he loved her, the lovely Mags had helped them both, by making them see that they weren’t to blame but, like herself, were victims of Harold’s evil ways.
Her worry about Billy’s character being similar to his father’s surfaced then, but Betsy wouldn’t let this settle in her as, shaking herself mentally, she thought that any lad was bound to take sommat from his da; but then Billy had many traits that he’d picked up from her Angus, and it was more than likely these that would shape him. Already Billy was showing signs of this good influence in his life, displaying bravery in wanting to go to war and do his bit, while Harold Roford had pulled every trick in the book not to have to fight in the last one.
Feeling comforted, Betsy patted Susan and told her, ‘No matter what happens, we’re in this together, lass. Me and you, like we’ve allus been. And we have two good men to care for us, and a lovely friend in Mags. So, chin up for the younger ones, eh?’
Susan came out of the hug and gave her lovely smile, and Betsy felt that she would cope. She’d find the mettle she’d shown in the past when she’d needed to, and this made Betsy feel confident that, together, they’d get through whatever was thrown at them.
All the same, her heart was in her belly as she walked down the hill to the inn to book the room for her girls’ party. How did we come to this? God in heaven, didn’t we go through enough in the last war? But something told her this one was going to be far worse, as they were saying it was likely it would be fought on the home front, and not just abroad. A deep sigh came from her. Eeh, it’s all doom and gloom, and me heart’s in me boots. But, as always, we’ve to get on with it.