Home Front Girls

swelled. She loved to be the centre of attention.
    Dotty was standing at her dressing-table admiring the array of cosmetics there whilst Lucy had wandered over to stroke the velvet floor-length curtains.
    Meanwhile, Annabelle had crossed to a small record player and in no time at all the soft strains of a Vera Lynn song were floating around the room. ‘They’re calling her “the Forces sweetheart” now, you know,’ she commented and the girls nodded in agreement.
    Annabelle then opened the doors of the enormous rosewood wardrobe and the girls’ eyes goggled as they saw the selection of clothes hanging there. There was everything from ballgowns to riding breeches.
    ‘I used to have my own pony,’ Annabelle told them airily. ‘His name was Copper and when he died Daddy offered to buy me another one, but I’d tired of riding by then and I was more interested in dancing so I didn’t bother. I really must get you two to a dance,’ she went on. ‘You don’t know what you’re missing. There’s nothing like having a queue of handsome young men waiting to dance with you.’ But even as she said it, a picture of Joel’s face floated in front of her eyes and she immediately blinked to clear it.
    Both he and Lucy were obviously as poor as church mice, and Joel was nothing at all like the sort of husband she had decided she would eventually have, so she really must try to stop thinking about him. But even so she suddenly blurted out, ‘I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Joel, have you?’
    Lucy shook her head, her lips set in a prim line, and Annabelle got the impression that she didn’t like her to mention him, which was strange. After all, he was only her brother, not her husband. But then Lucy answered shortly, ‘No, I haven’t, but he only left a few days ago. Even if he had written, I doubt the letter would have had time to reach me yet.’
    ‘Oh no, no, of course not.’ Annabelle was flustered and now pointed to a tiny ornate desk in the corner, hoping to change the subject. ‘Daddy bought me that for my fourteenth birthday. It’s an antique and worth a fortune apparently.’
    ‘It’s lovely.’ Lucy looked at it appreciatively. ‘Is it a Chippendale piece?’
    ‘I believe it is.’ Annabelle was astonished that Lucy would know about things like that.
    ‘I thought it was, by the shape of the legs. My mother loved—’ Lucy stopped abruptly and a shadow flitted across her face, then forcing a smile again she said, ‘Let’s have a look through your record collection then. Do you have any by the Ink Spots? I love their music.’
    They spent the next hour pleasantly but then when Lucy saw the clock on Annabelle’s bedside table, she said regretfully, ‘I’m afraid I shall have to be making tracks now. By the time we get home it will be Mary’s bedtime. I don’t want her to fall asleep on me on the bus. I might end up having to carry her and she’s a right little heavyweight now.’
    ‘I’ll come too,’ Dotty told her. ‘And then we can get the same bus into the city centre. I hate walking about the streets on my own now at night. It’s so dark.’
    Downstairs they found Miranda with Mary tucked on her lap and it was hard to tell who was enjoying the cuddle the most.
    ‘She’s such a sweetheart,’ Miranda said with a trace of sadness in her voice. ‘I always hoped for a large family but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. Not that I’m not grateful for Annabelle, of course,’ she added hastily when she saw her daughter frown. ‘But I suppose you’ll want to be off now, will you? I think Mary is getting tired if her yawns are anything to go by.’
    She bundled the child up in her outdoor clothes whilst Lucy and Dotty put their own coats on, then saw them to the door with Annabelle, where she kissed them all soundly. ‘It’s been an absolute pleasure to meet you,’ she told them sincerely. ‘I do hope you’ll come and visit us again. In fact, why don’t you all come and spend Christmas with us? Have a think about it and let Annabelle know what you want to do.’
    The girls thanked her as they headed off down the drive, and Miranda and Annabelle waved them off.
    Once they were back on the pavement, Dotty remarked, ‘Annabelle is such a show-off, isn’t she? I think she liked taking us around her house.’ She tittered. ‘Primrose Lodge, eh?’
    ‘Well, you can hardly blame her, can you?’ Lucy answered. ‘I think I might be a show-off in her position and it’s clear