Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [118]
It was true that she wasn’t particularly fond of Lillian, but the other girl was a member of their set, and that meant that traditionally they owed one another a certain loyalty.
Hannah came in and closed the door behind her. ‘Look, if it’s the work, Grace, or if something’s happened on the ward, well, there’s nothing to be ashamed of in saying so. There’s been several girls drop out since we started out training, although … well, I’d got you down as the sort who would see things through.’
‘It isn’t the work … or anyone on the ward. It’s … it’s Teddy,’ Grace admitted.
‘You’ve had a fall-out?’ Hannah guessed. ‘And that’s why you don’t want to go dancing.’
It was no use, she would have to tell Hannah, Grace recognised, otherwise she would be imagining all sorts of things that just weren’t true.
‘We haven’t had a fall-out,’ she told her carefully. ‘But Teddy can’t go dancing, Hannah. In fact, he can’t do very much at all. He’s very poorly, you see.’
Hannah listened in silence whilst Grace explained, waiting until she had finished to say shakily, ‘Oh, Grace, how awful.’
‘Yes, it is, isn’t it?’ agreed Grace bleakly. ‘But you mustn’t say anything to anyone, Hannah. Please promise me you won’t. Teddy doesn’t want anyone fussing. That’s what’s making me so on edge, knowing that he won’t be careful. I’m so afraid for him. It’s on my mind all the time. I can’t understand why he’s doing what he is. He didn’t need to volunteer to drive an ambulance. He could be living quietly at home resting, but he says … he says … he says …’ Grace couldn’t go on. Her emotions had overwhelmed her. She could tell, though, from Hannah’s expression that she understood what she was trying to say.
‘I’ll have a word with Lillian, if you like, and tell her that you’ve not been feeling too good.’
Grace gave her a weak smile. ‘Well, you won’t be able to tell her that I’m having me monthlies.’
Hannah laughed. They had all been bemused at first when their periods had altered so that they all had them at virtually the same time but then Doreen had discovered from one of the more senior nurses that this was something that tended to happen when young women lived and worked together closely.
It just had to have happened, that was all, because if it hadn’t … Bella felt sick with fury at just the thought of what had occurred yesterday when she had called round at Alan’s parents. She, Trixie, had been there, sitting in the garden with Alan’s mother, whilst Trixie’s own mother and Alan’s fussed round her. None of them had seen her at first. Trixie was crying, her plain face looking even plainer. Alan’s mother had been holding her hand, comforting her, telling her quite openly that Alan had made a terrible mistake in marrying Bella.
That was when Trixie had seen her and had pretended to be embarrassed, but of course Bella had known she wasn’t.
Bella had been so furious that she had confronted the three of them there and then.
‘Well, Alan is married to me whether you like it or not,’ she had said, ‘and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ And then she had left and gone round to her mother’s, but her mother hadn’t been there so she had had to come home.
Just let them wait, all of them. She’d make them sorry and she’d give their precious Trixie something to really cry about when she dropped a few hints to other people about keeping their husbands away from her because she was the kind that went after married men.
The back door opened and the refugees, as Bella insisted on mentally referring to Bettina and her mother, came in.
‘What do you two want?’ Bella demanded, taking her bad temper out on them.
‘It is time for my mother to eat and have a rest,’ Bettina told her.
‘If she wants to eat you can take her to a café. And as for her resting, it’s high time she did a bit of work. This kitchen floor needs a good scrub—’ Bella broke off as the door opened a second time and a man followed them in and went to