The next day when the women welders broke off for lunch, the chatter was non-stop.
Gloria was the only one who had no idea about the drama of the previous evening as she had been tucked up, warm in bed, with baby Hope, who, for once, slept soundly next to her in her crib the entire night. For the first time in a long while, she hadn’t spent half the night awake, thinking about Vinnie or Jack – or Miriam.
When the women took their trays of food and sat round their self-designated table in the noisy canteen, Gloria was agog as she listened to everyone speaking over each other, telling their version of the night’s events.
Everyone had had plenty to say about Maisie and what a total cow she had been, but how, at the end of the day, she had redeemed herself a little by joining Bel in her search for Pearl and for wading into the sea to save their mother.
‘You should have seen the state of them all when we got to the pub!’ Polly laughed out loud as she regaled everyone with a description of Bel, Maisie and Pearl in the Blue House pub, how the three of them had looked like a trio of waifs and strays, with Pearl snoring away in the corner, and Bel and Maisie supping on huge glasses of brandy and practically sitting on top of the open fire, they were that cold.
Gloria had been particularly curious to hear that Rosie had sought help from DS Miller, and that he had galvanised the whole of the town’s police force into looking for Pearl.
‘So, in a way,’ Gloria said, ‘it was your detective friend who saved the day. If he hadn’t suggested that Bel look somewhere her mum used to go to as a child, she would never have gone to the beach at Hendon. No one would have. And, well … what could have happened doesn’t bear thinking about.’
‘Yes,’ Rosie said, ‘I guess so …’
‘Eee,’ Polly butted in, ‘I feel awful, Rosie. I can’t believe we’ve been so rude. There was so much happening last night. We managed to get word to everyone that we’d found Pearl and to say how thankful we were, but I don’t think anyone got to thank Peter. I don’t suppose you saw him afterwards?’
Rosie shook her head. ‘No, it was so late by the time we got word that Pearl was all right that I just went straight home. I did tell the young constable at the house, though, to go and see Peter and tell him we’d found her, so he could call off the search party.’
‘Goodness, how rude of us,’ Polly said. She looked at Rosie. ‘I don’t suppose you could take him a home-made pie or something from Ma to thank him – and his men – on behalf of us all, could you?’
Rosie stuttered. ‘Well … mmm … I’m not sure …’ She looked at everyone’s faces – all looking at her, waiting for her to finish her sentence.
‘Honestly, Rosie,’ Dorothy blurted out, ‘Polly’s not asking you to wine and dine him for the night – just to give him a bit of pie and say “thank you”.’
Her words were followed by a general murmur of assent.
Gloria looked at Rosie. She knew why her workmate was being so reticent, and she could understand.
‘All right, everyone,’ Rosie smiled. ‘I give in.’ She looked over at Polly. ‘Whatever treat your mum bakes for Peter, I’ll take it to him.’
As they started to leave their table, Gloria looked at everyone and said, a little mysteriously, ‘Actually, I might be getting a treat of my own soon …’ She shifted her look to Dorothy, who was scanning the canteen. ‘As Dorothy here is going to be buying me my long-promised “biggest cake ever” pretty soon.’ She paused as her workmate’s head swung back around on hearing her name.
‘What’s that, Gloria?’ Dorothy said.
‘I was just saying that I might be getting my “biggest ever” cake soon.’
Dorothy looked puzzled for a moment, then her eyes widened in comprehension.
‘You haven’t? Have you?’
Now everyone else looked puzzled.
Gloria solemnly nodded her head.
‘Oh, but I have, Dor, and I think that means you now have to fulfil your end of the bargain.’
Yesterday, after work, Gloria had decided to go and see the vicar and book a time for Hope to get christened. She was on her own in this world now. She had to stand on her own two feet, without a man either propping her up, or knocking her down. And her first venture as a single independent woman was to organise this first important milestone in her baby’s life.
‘Yay! At long bloody last, Glor!’ Dorothy threw her arms into the air as if she’d just won a race.
‘Can someone explain?’ Martha demanded.
Hannah stuck her arm up as if answering a question in class. ‘I know!’ she said. ‘Baby Hope’s going to get christened!’
‘That’s right, Hannah! And about bloody time!’ Dorothy added
The klaxon sounded out and everyone groaned.
‘This is turning out to be the best few weeks ever. A wedding – and now my goddaughter’s baptism,’ Dorothy declared melodramatically as they all scraped their chairs back and stood up.
Gloria chuckled. ‘But don’t get too excited, Dorothy. It’s only going to be a very small affair. Nothing like the wedding. And, hopefully, without all the drama –’ she looked guiltily at Polly. ‘No offence, Pol.’
Polly waved her hand and stifled a yawn. ‘None taken. I’m just grateful that everything turned out all right – what’s the expression?’
Dorothy butted in, ‘“All’s well that ends well”.’ She nudged Angie. ‘That’s a play by Shakespeare.’
Looking at Angie’s blank, uncomprehending face, Dorothy sighed, ‘Never mind, Ange … More importantly,’ she said as they all headed back out into the yard, ‘where do you reckon we can get a really big cake?’
As the afternoon wore on and the women tried to keep warm against the bitter cold winds now coming in from the north, Rosie kept thinking about Peter.
She was going to have to see him again.
Just when the aching of her heart was beginning to ease off a little, and the amount of time Peter came into her head during the day had lessened slightly – now, all of a sudden, after last night’s drama, he was back in her life again. And she would have to see him, whether she wanted to or not. She had asked the favour of him. It was her responsibility. She couldn’t push this on to Polly or Agnes, much as she would have liked to. She knew she had to go and thank him personally. It was the right and proper thing to do. Besides, he had gone beyond the call of duty and rallied practically the whole of Sunderland Borough Police Force in the search for Pearl.
It was just that, having seen him last night, and now that she was going to meet with him again, all her hard work at trying to forget him had been undone in one fell swoop.
She felt as if she was heading back to square one.
‘Bloody Maisie,’ Rosie cursed into her welding mask, ‘that woman has a lot to answer for. This is all her fault.’
But deep down, Rosie had to admit to herself that a part of her was secretly looking forward to seeing Peter again, even if it was just to hand over Agnes’s home-made plate pie.