She could see that Ma Kennedy was ready to make a challenge but Rita was having none of it and the mutinous look in her own eye quelled any response so Ma Kennedy retreated into the back room.
‘Where are we going, Mummy?’ asked Megan, quietly.
Rita looked at her little girl. She was barely six years old and she still desperately needed her mother. But whatever Charlie was wrong about, he was right that the children needed to be got out of the city. Rita would have to bear the pain, the same as all the other mothers in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and beyond were having to.
‘Daddy’s taking you on an adventure.’
Michael jumped up and down excitedly. ‘Are we going back to the farm again? I miss Bessie the goat; she used to eat Uncle Seth’s hat!’
Rita forced a laugh. ‘Not this time. Daddy’s taking you to a place called Southport. It’s safer there and there’s a beach and a pier.’
Michael’s eyes lit up. ‘Can I have a bucket and a net, Dad? Tommy Callaghan told me that you can catch all sorts of strange creatures in rock pools …’ Michael’s excited babble continued as Rita gave him a quick kiss and his father bundled him into the car.
Rita turned back to her younger child.
‘Are you coming too, Mummy?’ Megan’s eyes looked imploringly at her.
‘Not today, darling. But I’ll be down very soon and I’ll take you both to the beach myself. We can walk along the pier and I can buy you an ice cream.’
Megan gave her a weak smile, but Rita could see that she was close to tears. It was better to be quick. Rita held her hand and placed her in the back seat of the car where Michael was making rat-a-tat sounds while he swooped a paper plane through the air.
‘Promise me, you’ll look after your little sister, Michael.’
‘I will, Mum, don’t worry.’ Michael took his sister’s hand and gave his mother a brave smile.
‘That’s my boy.’
Rita bent down to give Megan a kiss on her cheek, but the moment was too much for the child and she threw her arms around her mother’s neck and let out an anguished sob.
‘Please come, Mummy.’
Rita tried hard to mask her own emotions, but her heart was breaking and she couldn’t disguise the catch in her voice as she said, ‘I’ll be thinking of you both every moment of every day and as soon as Daddy has settled you in, I’ll be there. It won’t be long, I promise.’
Rita removed her daughter’s arms from around her and picked up the little bear that Megan was holding.
‘Bobby Bear is going to give you a cuddle every night and sing you to sleep, aren’t you, Bobby?’ Rita made the bear nod his head and give a little dance. Megan giggled, Rita was pleased to see. She handed Megan the bear to hold again and as she shut the back car door, Charlie cut in.
‘Sorry to interrupt this touching scene, but it’s time to go.’ He barely glanced over his shoulder at her as he started the car and made to shut his door, but before he did, Rita said, ‘Remember what I said, Charlie. I meant every word.’
Charlie gave her a cold look and started the engine. ‘Goodbye, Rita.’
‘Goodbye, Charlie. I’ll be seeing you, you can be sure of that.’
As the car drove away, Rita saw the two faces of her children, smiling and waving as they retreated into the distance, followed noisily by a gang of children who still hadn’t got over the novelty of having a motor car on their doorstep. Rita watched until the car reached the end of Empire Street then turned the corner, her children disappearing with it.
She returned slowly to the house, where Mrs Kennedy had taken up her usual place by the window, all the better to see what the rest of the street was up to.
‘Are you happy now?’ Rita asked her mother-in-law.
Ma Kennedy pursed her lips. ‘You should be proud of Charlie, taking it into his own hands to make the children safe.’ She paused and stared at Rita, who put her hand to her forehead and felt a trickle of blood seep through the headscarf. Her head was now starting to throb painfully. Damn Charlie Kennedy.
‘What happened to you?’ For the first time, Rita thought she saw an element of doubt flicker across the older woman’s face.
‘That’s right, Ma. You’ve got a son to be proud of all right. Anyone can see that.’
And with that, she left her mother-in-law to her own thoughts and headed out to Empire Street, where the children were now playing a game of coins up against the corner shop wall.
The light drizzle was turning heavier as Kitty turned into Empire Street. It had been a long day at the NAAFI canteen where she worked and she would be glad to get home this evening. She hoped that her brothers, Danny and Tommy, weren’t in before her. Danny, who was twenty, had got a new job on the docks and Kitty hoped that working alongside older men with families and responsibilities would knock some of the rough edges off him. Danny had a habit of sailing a bit close to the wind in the law-abiding department and Kitty worried that he would get his collar felt one of these days. Tommy, meanwhile, was still a little weak after contracting a nasty bout of diphtheria while an evacuee, and his health was a constant nagging anxiety for her. Despite the bombing Kitty was loath to send him away again and in the face of all of the warning voices around her, she wouldn’t ever trust anyone outside of the family with his wellbeing again.
Kitty had looked after her brother and her father, Sonny, since her mother died when she was just a young girl. Her father had hardly done his best by his children and they had often had to go without while he drank away his meagre earnings at the Sailor’s Rest. They’d frequently had to rely solely on their older brother, Jack’s, wages from the foundry, but they had all been floored when Sonny had died just before last Christmas, even Jack, who’d had a difficult relationship with their father. Kitty found comfort in believing that her mother and father were united again, and never questioned the burden of running a family from such a young age.
She sidestepped the puddles in the gutter as she made her way across the street. There was a big hole in her shoe but money was tight and she hadn’t scraped enough together to get a new pair. She’d been trying to put a bit aside each week, but her savings weren’t growing very fast. She hoped she’d have a new pair before the bad weather set in. There were now shortages and rationing for most of the essentials. Kitty had heard a rumour that clothes rationing was going to be introduced and she half thought that she was more likely to get a new pair of shoes with rationing than without.
She was keen to get the dinner on. She’d managed to pick up a few sausages extra to the ration from the butcher and Pop had given her some potatoes from his allotment, so she was looking forward to making some hearty sausage and mash for the three of them. When Pop had brought the potatoes round this morning before she left for work he had also told her that their Frank was coming home. Kitty’s heart was almost in her mouth at this news. The last she’d seen of Frank was before he’d gone off for rehabilitation after losing his leg. Things had been awkward between them and Kitty had been forced to remind herself that there was no reason that Frank should give her any special treatment. He’d been through a lot and any idea she’d had that there was something between them was just a lot of silly girlish nonsense. Frank just saw her as one of the family; the girl across the road. That was that.
Still, Kitty couldn’t help a pang of emotion when she thought about the dance and the kiss that they had shared the night before he’d returned to his ship. She didn’t think she’d ever forget it. She sighed now as she pushed open the door to their little terrace – it was never locked. She still hoped she’d see Frank, though.