Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [56]
‘That’s nothing, you just wait,’ Hannah warned them, whilst Lillian pouted and complained, ‘I thought it was going to be a lot more fun than this. I didn’t come here to be a char.’
‘What about you, Grace?’ Hannah asked. ‘What did you think of today?’
‘I don’t know yet. There seems so much to learn, and knowing we’ve got to get it right because people’s lives will depend on us is such a big responsibility. I want to do it, but I’m not sure I can.’
The day had left her feeling overwhelmed and yet at the same time inspired. She couldn’t wait to write home about it. The twins, in particular, would love hearing about Skelly.
When Sam came in for his tea, Jean watched him carefully whilst trying to make sure that he didn’t realise she was doing so.
Sam hadn’t said a single word about Luke since their son had left, and at first she had been so upset by what had happened that she hadn’t felt inclined to talk about it herself. But it wasn’t in Jean’s nature to blame or punish those she loved, and as the days went by she became increasingly concerned about Sam.
Where he had been so upright and proud when he walked, now he seemed to stoop, his head bent as though he wanted to avoid looking at anyone. He looked older and diminished somehow. He also seemed to have withdrawn into himself, rarely speaking, his expression bleak. It hurt her to see him like this every bit as much as it had hurt her to see Luke walk away, but Luke was her son, her child, and like any mother she felt protective of him, whilst Sam was her husband and it was towards him that she looked for her protection.
She knew families in which the woman had to stand between husband and son, sometimes even physically, but she had never imagined that Luke and Sam would fall out. They had always been so close, so much in harmony with one another, so ‘like father like son’, as the old saying went. Now Luke had hurt Sam twice over: once by rejecting his advice and a second time with his absence.
‘I expect we’ll be hearing from Grace soon,’ Jean told Sam as she poured his tea. She waited until she put the teapot down before adding as casually as she could, ‘And Luke, of course. I was speaking with Mrs Gilchrist from five down today and she said that when they’re doing their training the lads normally get to write home once a week on a Sunday.’
The wireless was on, and she and Sam normally enjoyed a good chat over their tea, listening to the news, exchanging news of their different days, talking about the children, as parents did, and it hurt her that Sam was shutting her out, even though they had been married long enough for her to understand that that was just his way.
Young Bella would soon learn that there was more to getting married than having a fancy wedding.
The house felt so empty without Luke and Grace, although hardly quiet. Not with the twins and that gramophone of theirs, she reflected as she waited for Sam to reply, trying not to show how anxious she was.
She had warned the twins about not playing their records too loudly when they had come home saying that they had bought a second-hand gramophone with the money they had earned from running errands, but to judge from the music she could hear from their bedroom they hadn’t paid much attention.
Abruptly Sam pushed his chair back and then stood up, frowning as he looked towards the ceiling.
‘I’m sick of that damned row.’ His mouth compressed and he strode past her, opening the kitchen door and going up the stairs.
Jean could feel her heart suddenly contracting as though someone was squeezing it, filling her with a mixture of pain and concern.
The girls’ bedroom door opened and then suddenly there was silence. Then Sam came back downstairs carrying a record in his hands.
‘Sam, what are you doing?’ Jean asked.
‘What does it look like? If you’ve told them once about the noise, you’ve told them a dozen times. Well, you won’t have to tell them again. I’m throwing this out.’
‘Oh, Sam, no,’ Jean protested.