Home Front Girls

tired,’ Annabelle yawned the next morning at work during their break. ‘I doubt I got two hours’ sleep all night.’
    ‘Well, neither did we,’ Dotty said rather indignantly. ‘I heard on the wireless this morning that the Rex took a direct hit last night and it’s nothing more than a pile of rubble now so we won’t be going to see Gone With the Wind tonight.’
    ‘Oh, that’s just wonderful!’ Annabelle rolled her eyes. ‘I was looking forward to that. I dare say I shall have to spend another night at home now.’
    ‘At least you still have your birthday party on Saturday to look forward to,’ Lucy pointed out, but if anything that only made Annabelle more disgruntled.
    ‘Oh yes. And some party it’s going to be, isn’t it? Just us, Mummy, Grandpa and Grandma. I was hoping to have a room in a posh hotel, a band, a wonderful spread laid on – instead it will be our front room and a home-made cake!’
    Suddenly something in Dotty snapped. ‘You can be so selfish sometimes,’ she hissed in a rare show of temper. ‘I happen to know that your mother has been saving her food rations for weeks to make you that cake, and it took her absolutely hours to ice it! And here’s me who would give anything in the whole world just to know who my mum was – let alone have her bake me a cake!’
    Annabelle’s cheeks reddened, and she lit a cigarette.
    ‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘I suppose I did sound a bit ungrateful, but I’m just so tired.’
    Dotty shrugged, regretting her outburst, but it couldn’t be taken back now and they were relieved when it was time to part and go back to their separate departments.
    Dotty felt guilty when she got back to the haberdashery department. She was still living very happily at Annabelle’s, and Miranda had made her very welcome, but her mind was in turmoil. Recently, she had been going to London every so often on her day off to spend time with Robert and Paul, her publisher. Paul had told her that her debut novel would be released in a year or so, depending on the availability of paper. They were even discussing ideas for book covers now, and Dotty could barely wait to see her first novel in print, however long it took. Meantime she was busily working on another novel, as well as keeping the magazine supplied with a fresh story each month.
    It was her feelings about Robert that she was finding confusing. Each time she saw him waiting on the platform for her at Euston her heart would lift, and it became harder each time they met to say goodbye. Finally she was having to ask herself if she was in love with him. But never having been in love before, she had no idea how to know what love was. Was it the way he could produce butterflies in her stomach with just a smile? Or the longing she sometimes got to just reach out and touch him? However, she knew that even if she did love him, there could be no happy ending for them. Robert was rich, successful and attractive. She, on the other hand, was plain and boring. A shop girl who didn’t even know where she came from. Why would he ever look at her when he could surely have his pick of any woman he chose?
    Admittedly he had never shown her anything else but kindness, and he had told her that she was precious to him. He had even entrusted his mother’s locket to her, which she wore all the time. But she had an inkling that he had done this because he felt sorry for her. And so what should she do about it? Would it be better to walk away now before she got hurt? She supposed it would, and each time she came back from London she promised herself that she would never see him again. But it was so much easier said than done, and her need to be near him drove common sense away. And then there was something else that was playing on her mind. Recently the need to find her real family had resurfaced as it had at different times throughout her life. But she was older now and after making enquiries at the local Welfare Department she had been told that the Red Cross might be able to help her. Of course, she realised that as there was a war going on it wouldn’t be the best time to approach them, but the war couldn’t last forever, could it? And when it was over she would begin her search in earnest. It gave her something to look forward to.
     
    ‘Things ain’t looking good for our lads,’ Mr P commented the next night when Lucy rushed round there to collect Harry. He put the Daily Mail down and said, ‘They reckon the seas are red