‘Charlie! Charlie!’ Rosie shouted as soon as she spotted her sister coming out of school.
Seeing Charlotte look around, she waved frantically.
‘What’s wrong?’ Charlotte’s face was serious.
‘It’s Peter,’ Rosie said, grabbing her arm and pulling her gently away from the rest of the girls spilling out onto Mowbray Road.
‘Peter?’ Charlotte was confused.
Rosie stopped walking and took hold of her sister’s arms and squeezed them. ‘Oh, Charlie – he’s alive! Peter’s alive!’
For a moment it went through Charlotte’s mind that her sister might have lost the plot and become delusional.
‘Really?’ she asked, unsure. ‘He’s not dead?’
‘No! He’s not dead,’ Rosie said. ‘I know, it’s unbelievable,’ she said, grabbing Charlotte’s arm again and tugging her towards Ryhope Road. ‘But he’s alive. Toby’s just been to see me. Said they’d just got news through that he’s alive.’
As soon as Charlotte heard that Toby had brought the news, she knew this was for real.
‘Oh my God!’ she said, sounding like Dorothy. ‘That’s amazing!’ She stopped and wrapped her arms around her big sister. She squeezed her with all her might.
‘I’m so pleased for you,’ she said, tears pricking her eyes. She looked at Rosie and saw that she was also overcome with emotion, and that judging by the smudges on her face and her bloodshot eyes, she had already shed a fair few tears.
‘The thing is,’ Rosie explained as they waited for a tram to pass before hurrying across the road, ‘he’s flying back now.’
‘What? Now?’
Rosie laughed. ‘Yes, now. As we speak.’
Passing Christ Church, they continued walking down Mowbray Road.
‘So, you’re going to meet him?’ Charlotte asked.
‘I am, but it means I’m going to be away for at least a night. I’m due to catch the train in an hour.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Which means leaving you on your own.’
‘That’s all right,’ Charlotte said. ‘I can go and stay with Lily and George.’
Rosie looked at her sister and laughed.
‘Never one to miss an opportunity,’ she said, shaking her head.
‘Well, you can’t leave me on my own at home, can you? You know how much I detest being alone,’ Charlotte said, poker-faced.
‘Which is exactly what I thought you’d say,’ Rosie said as they turned left into West Lawn, ‘so I popped in to see Lily before I came to get you. She says she’d love to have you for however long I’m away.’
‘Yeah!’ Charlotte jumped up and stuck her hands in the air. She grabbed hold of her sister and gave her another hug.
‘Thanks, Rosie, you’re the best!’
When they walked through the door at Lily’s, everyone was there to greet them: Lily, George, Kate, Maisie, Vivian, all beaming from ear to ear.
Twenty minutes ago, when Rosie had come through the door, breathless and bursting with joy to tell them the good news, Lily had hugged her tightly. Never before had she felt so relieved and thankful, for she had worried that Peter’s death would be one blow too many for Rosie to bear.
Lily had told Rosie she was shutting up shop, so there was no reason Charlotte could not stay while Rosie was off being reunited with her husband. The second Rosie had left, Lily had gone to tell George the news before sweeping round the bordello, banging on all the bedroom doors, telling everyone that there was an emergency and they all had to be up, dressed and out the back door within five minutes. The clients might have thought they were about to be raided, were it not for Lily’s high spirits. The girls were happy to leave as Lily had promised to reimburse them the night’s earnings, and she had also told them as they had scuttled out the back that they were to take at least two days’ paid holiday.
During the time it took for Rosie to go and pick up Charlotte, Lily had transformed the house from a den of iniquity to a perfectly innocent family home, all the while having the almightiest of hot flushes.
‘Ma chère!’ Lily enveloped Rosie in her arms once again, winking at an ecstatic-looking Charlotte by her side.
As soon as Lily released Rosie from her grip, Kate stepped in and flung her arms around her beloved friend. ‘Oh Rosie, we are so, so happy for you.’ It felt only right, in Kate’s eyes, that Rosie had been given back her lover.
‘As are we,’ Vivian said, her tone sincere. Rosie had taken Vivian under her wing when she had first arrived at the bordello as poor and as plain as a church mouse. She’d brought her out of her shell and looked out for her, something no one had ever done before. She took hold of Rosie’s hand and squeezed it. ‘And don’t feel like you have to hurry back. Enjoy every minute with that man of yours.’ She winked at Rosie, knowing not to say more in front of Charlotte.
‘Don’t worry about Charlie,’ Maisie said, putting her arm out and pulling Rosie’s little sister close. ‘We’ll make sure she behaves herself, won’t we?’ She looked at Charlotte, who was nodding and grinning.
‘Righty-ho!’ George said, putting on his trilby. ‘We better get you to that station. Don’t want you to miss your train, do we? Don’t want to keep that husband of yours waiting, eh?’
Rosie smiled. Just talking about Peter in the present tense gave her a feeling of elation.
As she grabbed her overnight bag and gas mask, which she had left at the door before going to fetch Charlotte, she turned to leave.
‘Thanks, everyone,’ she said. She wanted to say more but didn’t trust herself. ‘Thanks – for everything.’
She hurried down the steps and towards George’s red MG. He was waiting with the passenger door open.
‘Your carriage awaits.’
Waving Rosie off in the car, Lily turned to Charlotte. She couldn’t wait to spoil her rotten. ‘Sod the waistline, we’re going to have a feast of fish and chips, and, ma chérie,’ she said, gently pinching Charlotte’s cheek, ‘you can have as many mugs of hot chocolate as you want.’
They all made their way into the kitchen.
‘And we’re going to spend the entire evening talking all things français,’ she said. ‘D’accord?’
‘Vraiment,’ Charlotte answered.
‘And when George returns,’ Lily looked at Maisie and Vivian, ‘I shall get him to raid the cellar and we shall toast Peter with a glass or two of our finest champagne.’
It would be a toast not only to Peter but also to Rosie, for it was not just Peter who had been given back his life.
‘We’ll see you when you both get home!’ George shouted after Rosie as she hurried to the entrance to the railway station.
Turning round, Rosie beamed back a smile. She waved and was then swallowed up by the throng of fellow travellers. She caught a glimpse of a newspaper. The headline declared that de Gaulle had arrived in France. The French were getting back their leader and she was getting back her man. As she made her way down the wooden steps and onto the platform, Rosie forced herself to take deep breaths. She put her overnight bag down on the ground and saw that her hands were shaking. Since Toby had told her the news, it had felt as if her heart was going to explode with a cocktail of excitement, relief and pure joy.
Breathe, Rosie, breathe, she told herself.
Looking at the railway tracks, she saw a rat scurrying around, foraging for food.
Rats had never bothered her or scared her. She’d seen enough of them at work. They were just trying to survive like everyone else. She felt a gusty breeze and knew that meant the train was approaching. She looked again at the railway tracks. How life could change in the blink of an eye. Just three hours ago, if she had been standing here, she would have had to fight the urge to fling herself in front of the train that was about to come steaming into the station. Now she had never felt so happy in her life – and she would feel happier still when she saw Peter walking towards her.
She heard the train before it appeared through the darkness of the underground tunnel. The brakes squealed and she squinted as the dust and dirt that had been kicked up by its arrival swirled in the air. As the steam filled the platform, the doors to the carriages were thrown open and Rosie climbed aboard and found her seat.
Sitting down by the window in the first-class carriage, she realised that her dream had come true twice over. She was not only going to have the family she had always wanted, with herself, Peter and Charlotte living at Brookside Gardens, but she also had an extended family in the women at work and the people who had just waved her off at the bordello.
At that moment in time she felt like the luckiest woman alive.