Home Front Girls

arrangements, for instance?’ Never having had to organise anything like that before she was secretly relieved when Lucy declined the offer.
    ‘No. Thanks for offering, but it’s all arranged for Wednesday morning.’
    ‘Blimey, that’s quick, isn’t it?’ Annabelle blurted out. She had never been known for her tact but Lucy didn’t take offence.
    ‘The asylum has arranged everything,’ she told them in a wobbly voice. ‘And Mum will be buried within the grounds with the minimum of fuss.’
    Dotty frowned in confusion. ‘Are you quite sure that’s what she would have wanted?’ she asked with concern. ‘I mean – wouldn’t she have wanted to be buried with your dad?’
    ‘No, never!’ The words burst from Lucy before she could stop herself and she squirmed with embarrassment. ‘I mean . . . it’s better this way.’
    ‘Well, if you’re quite sure,’ Dotty said hesitantly. ‘I just hope they haven’t talked you into something you’re not happy about and that you’ll regret later. She was your mum, after all.’
    ‘I am sure,’ Lucy told her and then rising she asked, ‘Would you like a cup of tea? I’ve run out of sugar, I’m afraid, but I’ve got some saccharin.’
    ‘I’ll make it,’ Dotty offered, but Lucy said, ‘No, it’s all right. I’ll do it, I’m better when I’m keeping busy,’ and she turned away as the two girls exchanged a confused glance. You could have knocked them both down with a feather. Why hadn’t Lucy told them that her mum was alive?
    An hour later as they were walking back to the bus stop, Annabelle commented, ‘It’s strange isn’t it? That Lucy never told us her mother was still alive, I mean?’
    ‘Perhaps she was ashamed because she was mentally ill?’ Dotty suggested, although that didn’t seem like Lucy. They shrugged and moved on. All they could do, the two friends agreed, was to be there for her now, if and when she needed a shoulder to cry on.
     
    Lucy was back at work on Wednesday afternoon following the funeral, and the other two instantly picked up on the fact that she didn’t want to talk about it. In fact, it was almost as if it was any ordinary day, and no one seeing Lucy would have guessed that she had just buried her mother.
    ‘Best leave her to deal with it in her own way,’ Dotty whispered during the afternoon break while Lucy was being served at the counter. Annabelle nodded in agreement. There wasn’t much else they could do.
    Dotty had informed Mrs Broadstairs that Lucy was absent due to a family bereavement and to their amazement the woman had gone out of her way to offer condolences the second Lucy had returned to work.
    ‘Crikey, she must be going soft in her old age,’ Annabelle had commented.
    ‘Or could it be love that’s softening her?’ Dotty giggled. ‘I’ve heard rumours that she and Mr Bradley have been seen walking out together.’
    ‘Well, good for her then and long may it last. That kiss under the mistletoe must have done the trick. She’s certainly a lot less prickly now,’ Annabelle sniggered, and then they hurried back to their departments.
    After work they all made their way to the Red Cross first aid course in the church hall near Annabelle’s home in Cheylesmore, and again Lucy’s mother was not mentioned. The two girls wisely didn’t comment, and anyone seeing them all together would never have guessed what a trauma Lucy had been through that day.
    ‘How absolutely awful for the poor girl,’ Miranda said as she and Annabelle walked the short distance home after seeing Dotty and Lucy onto the bus. ‘All evening I felt as if I ought to say something or offer my condolences at the very least, but it was obvious that she didn’t want to talk about it.’
    ‘You’re not wrong there,’ Annabelle agreed. ‘We expected her to come back from the funeral in bits, but it was as if she had put a shield up, and if we so much as looked at her she was off like a rocket.’ Annabelle couldn’t even begin to imagine how she would have felt if she had had to bury her mother, and in a sudden rare show of affection she tucked her arm through Miranda’s and they walked the rest of the way home enjoying their closeness.
     
    As Dotty climbed the stairs to her flat that evening she was shocked to find Mrs Cousins hovering outside on the landing, waiting for her. But this was Mrs Cousins as Dotty had never seen her before. Her hair had been curled and she was wearing bright red lipstick and a low-cut