Home Front Girls

apart from her friends, and they would always stay in touch. If she did go to London she would be close to Robert and the thought was tempting, to say the least.
    ‘Well, I can’t do much typing like this,’ she pointed out, tapping her plaster cast, and Robert chuckled.
    ‘There’s no one cracking a whip. Of course you’d need time to recuperate. In fact, you could take as long as you want. You’re hardly desperate for the money now, are you?’ he teased.
    ‘I suppose not.’ She read the letter again just to make sure that she’d understood it correctly, but the facts were still there in black and white.
    It was Miranda who joined in the conversation then when she told Dotty, ‘For what it’s worth I think it’s an excellent idea, although we’ll miss you, of course. But you must think of yourself, Dotty, and at least I wouldn’t worry, knowing that Robert was there to take care of you.’
    ‘Oh, I’d do that all right,’ he promised.
    ‘Can I just have a little time to think about it?’ Dotty asked, feeling as if she was on a roller coaster.
    ‘You can have all the time in the world,’ he told her with a twinkle in his eye. ‘Just so long as you say yes at the end of it because I’m not going anywhere without you.’
    Miranda felt a lump rise in her throat as she saw the look that passed between the two young people. At last they were making some sort of progress. It sounded as if Lucy was going to be all right too. Now she just had to get her own daughter back on track.
     
    The next three weeks passed in a blur as the people of Coventry tried to restore some sort of normality to their city. But three young women were still coming to terms with the secrets from their past that had changed all their lives forever.
    ‘So ’ow did yer get on then, luvvie?’ Mrs P asked when Lucy returned from her job interview at what had formerly been known as Morris Engines in Coundon.
    ‘I got the job,’ Lucy informed her, ‘and I start next Monday morning. The only disadvantage to it is I’ll be working shifts. One week I’ll work ten p.m. till six a.m. and the next week I’ll work seven thirty a.m. till five thirty p.m. That means that Harry will be alone all night every other week, unless you wouldn’t mind having him round here?’
    ‘’Course he can come round here, bless his ’eart,’ Mrs P assured her. ‘Poor little bugger’ud be scared stiff if he were on his own an’ them bloody sirens went off. No, don’t you fret, he’ll be safe as houses round here or in the shelter wi’ me an’ Fred. But what are the wages like?’
    ‘I’ll get two pounds and four shillings a week, so I should be able to manage.’
    Lucy sank wearily into the fireside chair, squinting in the gloom. The windows were still covered in any old pieces of wood that Mr P had been able to get his hands on, and it looked like they might have to stay that way for some time to come. Glass wasn’t easy to get hold of, but then it seemed nothing was any more, and people were beginning to get used to having to manage on rations. Mrs P had now unpicked nearly every woolly she could find and then used the wool to knit balaclavas and socks for the troops. It made her feel that she was doing her bit for the war effort. ‘We all have to make do and mend’ was her motto and now whenever she said it, Lucy and Mr P would wink at each other.
    Now Mrs P put the kettle on and carefully measured two teaspoons of tea leaves into the warmed teapot. She’d found that if she used a little less tea but left it to mash for just a while longer, the weekly ration lasted just a bit better.
    ‘An’ how is young Dotty doin’ now?’ she asked a few minutes later as she carried the teapot to the table.
    ‘Well, the bruises and the cuts are healing nicely, but she’ll have to have her arm in plaster for at least another three weeks, and of course she’s still very upset about Miss Timms.’
    ‘That’s understandable,’ Mrs P said as she stirred the tea before carefully straining it into the two mugs. Unknown to Lucy and Fred she would save the tea leaves to reuse for herself whilst she was alone, to ensure that she always had a decent cuppa for them. But then she’d never been fond of strong tea, so she didn’t really see it as a sacrifice. ‘Who would ever have thought her mam were there right under her nose all that time, eh? An’ then fer the poor girl to go and lose her like that. Still, on a brighter note it seems as if