‘Surprise!’ Bobby dumped his coat and duffel bag by his feet on the mat at the entrance to the basement flat and put his arms out.
Gloria stood stock-still, her hand holding the front door open, looking at her eldest son. She was in complete shock.
‘Mam, it’s me! Bobby. Have you forgotten what your own son looks like?’ He laughed, scooping her up in his arms and giving her a big bear hug, almost lifting her off the ground.
‘Bobby … I can’t believe it.’ Gloria’s voice was muffled against her son’s navy blue sailor’s uniform; her slippered feet just touching the floor.
Bobby put his dumbfounded mother down and then rested his hands on her shoulders and looked at her. ‘You look well, Mam. Very well.’ His smile was wide, and his brown eyes twinkled. This was the happiest he had felt since leaving his ship.
Gloria reached up to touch her son’s cheek and promptly burst out crying.
‘Oh, Mam.’ Bobby wrapped his arms around her once again. ‘Don’t cry. You should be happy.’
‘I am. I am.’ Gloria was now half laughing, half crying. ‘Just shocked.’ She wiped the tears away with both hands. ‘Are yer back for good?’ She looked at his head. ‘What about this head injury?’
Bobby laughed, rubbing his hand self-consciously across the top of his head; his hair was more like stubble as it had been clipped so short. ‘All these questions. Can I get a nice cup of tea first? Perhaps I can even get through the door?’
As he spoke, he looked over his mam’s head and spotted the most amazing-looking woman – long dark hair, fashioned like a Hollywood starlet – and the thought went through his head momentarily that she might be famous before he dismissed it. His mam had not mentioned being chummy with any movie stars. His vision dropped down to the little girl sitting on her lap. She, too, was a gem. Same dark hair, only bobbed. Same heart-shaped face. Mother and child were staring at him, looking almost as stunned as his mam. He immediately took his cap off. ‘Sorry, ma’am, I didn’t see you sat there.’
Gloria stepped aside so he could come into the warmth of the flat. So entranced was Bobby by this vision of unexpected beauty in a red dress, he didn’t see Jack standing in the kitchen doorway.
Striding across the living area, Bobby threw out his hand. ‘Glad to make your acquaintance …?’ His deep voice rose in a question.
‘Dorothy. Dorothy Williams.’
As soon as their hands touched, they both got a short, sharp electrical shock.
‘Oh my God,’ Dorothy laughed. ‘Did you feel that?’
‘I certainly did!’ Bobby beamed back at her.
Sensing movement to his left, Bobby looked round and it was only then that he saw Jack.
‘Sorry, mister, I didn’t see you there.’ Presuming the man was a neighbour or a friend, he again threw his hand out and the two men shook. Their handshakes were equally firm.
‘Jack Crawford.’
‘Bobby Armstrong.’
Straight away, Bobby turned his attention back to Dorothy and the little girl on her lap.
‘And what’s your daughter’s name?’
Dorothy laughed a little too loudly, betraying her nerves. ‘Well, you’re right – we do actually look uncannily similar.’ She flashed Gloria a look and then glanced down at Hope; a trickle of toffee-laced goo was making its way out of the corner of her mouth. ‘But we’re not related.’
Bobby glanced down at Dorothy’s left hand and saw it was devoid of any kind of jewellery. His heart leapt. This homecoming was getting better by the second.
‘This is my god-daughter,’ Dorothy said. ‘Hope.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Hope.’ And for the third time Bobby stretched out his arm and gently shook the chubby little hand of the toddler who was almost as pretty as her godmother.
‘Sit down, Bobby, sit down,’ Gloria said, taking him by the arm and gently pushing him onto the seat next to Dorothy and Hope. ‘Let’s get yer a nice cup of tea.’ Gloria hurried into the kitchen. ‘Are yer hungry, Bobby?’ she called out. ‘How about a sandwich?’
‘No, Mam, a cuppa tea’s just fine for the moment,’ Bobby shouted back. He had been hungry, but on seeing the vision of gorgeousness in her figure-hugging red dress, his appetite had immediately vanished.
‘You staying for another, Dor?’
‘Eee, no, Glor, I’d best get off …’
The words were barely out of her mouth when Bobby suddenly hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. ‘You’re Dor! Mam’s workmate at Thompson’s!’ Bobby looked incredulous.
Dorothy shuffled about uneasily on her chair. She was glad Hope seemed more than happy to stay sitting on her lap, sucking on her toffee and staring at the incredibly handsome man who was her brother.
‘That’s me.’ Dorothy forced herself to sound jocular.
‘Sorry to sound so surprised, you’re just not what I expected.’ Bobby looked up at his mam as she placed a cup of tea in front of him. He wanted to add that the Dor he’d read about in the letters Gloria had sent him and Gordon described Dorothy as a bit of a dipstick, the squad’s clown – her and another girl called Angie. His mam had missed out the part about her being a real looker.
Bobby caught Dorothy looking up at Gloria and the man called Jack before she started to fold up a piece of paper on the table in front of her.
‘Is this young lady having a lesson?’ he asked, smiling at Hope. The little girl was totally adorable. He looked back at Dorothy. ‘Mam says you’re the educated one of the squad?’
Again, Dorothy forced a laugh. ‘More that I read lots of trashy books.’
‘So, Bobby,’ Gloria sat down next to her son, putting her hand on his arm, ‘tell me – what’s happened? Why are you back?’
Bobby took his mam’s hand in his own and squeezed it. ‘I’ve been medically discharged.’
‘Your head injury?’ Jack asked. From where he had been standing, he had spotted scarring on Bobby’s head behind his left ear where the hair hadn’t grown back.
Bobby was aware that Jack had said something because everyone’s attention had gone to him, but he hadn’t heard a word. He turned his head round and tilted it slightly to the left. ‘Sorry, what was that?’ He looked at Jack properly for the first time. Was he the little girl’s father? A bit old. Perhaps he was Dorothy’s father? They had similar dark looks.
‘Yer head injury,’ Jack repeated. ‘Is that why they’ve medically discharged you?’
Bobby nodded. ‘Yes. Got a bash on my head and lost the hearing in my left ear.’ He wanted to say more: how frustrated he was about the decision; how he’d pleaded for them to let him stay on, at least until after the planned invasion of Europe. But he didn’t. He didn’t want to come across as a whinger, especially in front of Dorothy.
‘So, no other long-lasting injuries?’ Jack pursued the point. After suffering amnesia, he had learnt how complex the brain was and how head injuries could cause problems that weren’t always immediately noticeable.
‘No, I’ve not lost any of my marbles,’ Bobby laughed, knowing what Jack was intimating. ‘Not that I had many to start with.’
Bobby glanced at Dorothy and smiled. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her. He forced himself to take a sup of his tea, his eyes still flickering up at her.
Just then Hope suddenly got restless and wriggled off Dorothy’s lap.
Smiling as she toddled past, she made a beeline for Gloria.
Bobby watched as Hope stretched out her hands, lifted her angelic little face up to Gloria and called out, ‘Mammy!’