Home Front Girls

eyes followed Dotty about the room. ‘And have you eaten? I don’t want you neglecting yourself.’
    ‘I tend to have my main meal at work at lunchtime in the works dining room,’ Dotty explained. She grinned then. ‘Actually it’s more of a canteen but it’s much easier than trying to cook anything here. I just tend to make a sandwich when I get in from work, or sometimes I warm a tin of soup up. But how are things at the orphanage? Is everyone well?’
    ‘In actual fact, one of the reasons I came to see you was to er . . . well, it was to tell you that I’ve left the orphanage now.’
    ‘You’ve what ?’ Dotty was amazed. As far as she was concerned, Miss Timms was the orphanage and she couldn’t begin to imagine how it would run without her. She had been the only stable person she had ever had in her life, and she was suddenly fearful that if Miss Timms was now no longer a part of that establishment, this might be the last time she would ever see her. The thought was unbelievably frightening: what if she had come to say a last goodbye?
    ‘Have you come to say I won’t be seeing you again then?’ she forced herself to ask, but it came out as a squeak.
    ‘Oh goodness me, no!’ Miss Timms suddenly looked tearful too. ‘Why, I could never abandon you, my dear. I have helped to care for you since you were a very young baby and I . . . Let’s just say I will never leave you.’
    ‘That’s all right then.’ Dotty heaved a sigh of relief as she looked across at the woman’s face. Funnily enough, she had never given it much thought before, but now as she looked she saw that she wasn’t as old as she had always assumed she was. Miss Timms tended to dress very conservatively and that, teamed with her rather out-of-date hairstyle, made her appear older than her years. But now on closer inspection, Dotty thought that she was probably only in her late thirties at most. Definitely too young to have spent all that time locked away with orphans. But then the girl supposed that she must have had her reasons. Perhaps she had been thwarted in love when she was younger? Here I go again, Dotty scolded herself, letting my imagination run away with me!
    ‘In regard to your question as to why I left . . .’ Miss Timms shrugged, which made her appear younger and more vulnerable. ‘I suppose I just decided that I wanted a career change. I missed you a lot when you left, Dotty, so I’ve made a fresh start. I’ve started work in a bank and I’m actually quite enjoying it. It’s certainly different to being at the beck and call of infants and young people.’
    Dotty was deeply touched. No one had ever told her they really cared about her before, which she supposed was what Miss Timms had just done in a roundabout way.
    ‘And so what are you doing tomorrow?’ the woman asked now, clearly embarrassed. ‘I do hope that you won’t be spending Christmas Day alone?’
    ‘Actually, I’m going to spend it with Lucy, my friend from work,’ Dotty said as she poured boiling water into the teapot. ‘What will you be doing?’
    ‘I shall spend the day quietly at home with my mother,’ Miss Timms responded as she fumbled in her handbag. ‘She’s getting quite old now and she’s very set in her ways.’ She handed Dotty a small package, saying, ‘I wasn’t sure what to get you but I hope you like it.’
    ‘Th-thank you.’ Dotty took the present and stared at it before asking, ‘Shall I open it tomorrow?’
    ‘No, you don’t have to wait. You can open it now if you wish,’ Miss Timms told her and so Dotty carefully began to undo the string from the gaily wrapped parcel. The paper was so pretty it seemed a shame to rip it.
    Inside she found an oblong box, and when she opened it she gasped with delight. It contained a beautiful fountain pen that looked very expensive.
    ‘It’s solid silver,’ Miss Timms explained. ‘But if you don’t like it we can always change it. I just thought it might come in handy, knowing how you love to write. I do hope you are still writing?’
    ‘Yes, I am – and yes, it will come in very handy,’ Dotty assured her. ‘And thank you so much. It’s really lovely. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever owned anything so precious and you can be sure I’ll treasure it.’ Finally dragging her eyes away from it, she went on, ‘Oh dear, I’m afraid the gifts I have for you aren’t anywhere near as valuable as this.’
    ‘That doesn’t matter. It’s the thought that