Chapter 5
A telegram arrived for Bobby a few hours later, as she typed out a piece about some old Roman silver mines in Swaledale. She saw Gil arrive on his bike, and heard him speaking to Mary. She held her breath, hoping it would be the news she was waiting for.
A moment later there was a tap at the parlour door, and Mary came in.
‘Sorry to interrupt,’ she said, holding out the telegram. ‘It’s one of these blasted things, for Bobby. Hope all’s well.’
It was no wonder that these days, telegrams were seen as something to be feared rather than welcomed. The news they contained was so often devastating. Every family with a man in the forces dreaded opening one to find those terrifying words: Deeply regret to inform you…
But here was one that was very welcome indeed, as Bobby discovered when she read it.
2 hours. 7 p.m., Skipton Memorial. Going tomorrow. Love C xxx
‘Yes, it’s all right,’ she said, her face breaking into a smile. ‘It’s from Charlie. He’s got a pass out tonight and wants me to meet him in Skipton. Only for two hours though.’ She frowned. ‘Oh, but he’s being posted tomorrow.’
Reg sighed. ‘Well, we knew it was coming. He would join up, the young fool.’
‘I feel like I’ll not sleep a minute until we get him back safe.’ Mary arched an eyebrow at Bobby. ‘Your last bit of time together before he really goes to war then. You’ll want to make the most of it, won’t you?’
Bobby smiled. ‘We certainly will.’
With an effort, Bobby pulled her lips from Charlie’s as they cuddled on a bench in Skipton churchyard that evening.
It was more than quarter of an hour since they had met, and she still hadn’t had a chance to talk about what had been worrying her.
Her lips had quickly been requisitioned for other purposes.
‘Charlie, when I said I needed to see you urgently, this wasn’t what I meant,’ she said, laughing breathlessly.
‘It wasn’t? Are you sure?’
She smiled as she allowed him to kiss her again, and he drew her body close. She had never craved his touch so badly, but this wasn’t helping with the dilemma she was facing.
‘Mmm… no,’ she said, extricating her lips again. ‘I wish we could do this all night but we haven’t got long.’
‘Can’t we do this all night?’ His hands burrowed under the folds of the RAF greatcoat he had put on her earlier, his fingers closing around her waist. ‘It’s the last chance we’ll get for a while – until the wedding night, probably.
I had to beg on my knees for this pass out and I’d very much like to make the most of it. ’
‘Please, Charlie. It’s important.’
He sighed. ‘Give me a minute then.’
Charlie closed his eyes for a moment.
‘All right, I’ve had a stern word with myself and I think I can manage to cool my ardour for ten minutes.’ He proved it with a chaste kiss on her forehead. ‘What’s the matter, darling?’
She smiled. ‘Thank you.’
‘Is something wrong at home?’
‘Not yet, but I’m so terribly afraid there’s going to be.’ She snuggled against him. ‘I’m to be called up, Charlie.’
She felt his body stiffen around hers. ‘You’re what?’
‘I got the letter yesterday. I’ve to report for my medical tomorrow. That means the forces. There’s a form I can request to make a case for hardship, but if they don’t accept then I’ll have to go.’
‘I thought you told them your preference was Land Army.’
‘They must believe I’ll be more use elsewhere. Mary thinks it’s because of my secretarial training. The armed forces must be desperate for typists or something.’ She looked up at him. ‘I don’t want to shirk my duty, but I’m so worried about everything at home. My dad, and my sister…’
‘Lilian? Is she not in Greenwich?’
‘Not any more. She’s in Bradford.’
‘What, more leave? She just went back.’
‘No.’ Bobby pressed her fingers to her temples. She felt strangely feverish. ‘Just… kiss me again. Then I’ll tell you all about it.’
He smiled. ‘Do I have permission? I thought kissing was banned.’
‘Clearly I can’t resist you,’ she said, smiling too. ‘Just a little one though, or we’ll get carried away and I’ll never tell you everything.’
He pressed his mouth to hers, and Bobby felt that sensation of freedom and release she only experienced in her lover’s embrace. If only she could stay there, safe, protected, knowing Charlie was safe likewise. But for both of them, tomorrow had to come. War had to come.
Charlie’s lips, gentle at first, became harder and hungrier as passion took hold, and Bobby felt an answering fire stirring within her.
How easy it would be to get lost in that fire, and let it consume you!
Something her poor sister had found out to her cost. Summoning her willpower, she drew away again.
‘You’re far too good at that,’ she said breathlessly.
He pressed one finger to her mouth. ‘Back atcha, hot lips.’
She laughed. ‘Charlie, you spend too much time at the pictures. You’re starting to talk like a cowboy.’
‘I could fancy a life out in the Wild West, my best gal by my side. The hat’d suit me.’ He leaned over to nibble her ear. ‘How about you mosey over and sit on my lap, little lady? Then I can kiss your neck while you tell me what’s worrying you.’
‘Hmm. Sounds a dangerous plan to me.’
‘Sounds like having our cake and eating it to me.’
‘I don’t know, Charlie. We are in a churchyard.’
‘The ghosts won’t mind. It’ll liven up their afterlife.’
‘Someone might see though. Supposing they tell tales to the vicar and he comes out to throw a bucket of holy water over us?’
‘Best thing about the blackout is that no one sees anything. Courting couples have never had such luck.’ He nudged her. ‘Come on, Bob, it’s our last chance. Besides, are we not practically man and wife? Surely that entitles us to a kiss and cuddle on holy ground.’
She smiled. ‘Well, all right, but behave yourself. Hands where I can see them.’
Bobby shuffled over to sit on his knee. Charlie wrapped his arms tight around her, his hands slipping once again under the voluminous greatcoat. She tried to ignore the soft, teasing tickle of his lips brushing the nape of her neck while she spoke.
‘This is between us, OK?’ she said. ‘Mary and your brother don’t know, or my dad – especially not my dad.’
‘Intriguing,’ he murmured as he moved on from her neck to kiss her right earlobe.
‘Charlie, are you listening?’ she demanded in her best schoolmarm tone.
‘Yes, Miss.’
‘Promise? This is important.’
‘I promise. Go on.’
She sighed. ‘Our Lilian’s going to be married.’
‘You mean that naval lieutenant she was so crazy about realised he’d made a mistake?’ he said, lifting his lips from her skin. ‘Sounds like good news.’
‘Not to Lieutenant Cartwright. It’s…’ She pressed her eyes closed. ‘It’s Tony. Tony Scott. You remember me telling you about him?’
‘I remember. One of your old pals from the Courier. He helped you build a portfolio as a writer, didn’t he?’
She snorted. ‘That’s one way of looking at it. Another is that he got me to write reams of his copy without a byline while he bunked off work to take out girls. If you look up “feckless” in a dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Tony.’
Charlie’s lips moved on from her right ear to give her left its share of attention. Bobby felt like she ought to ask him to stop when she had such weighty things to discuss, but his closeness was both comforting and exciting in a way she found hard to resist.
‘Doesn’t waste time, your sister, does she?’ Charlie said, his voice deep and breathy against her ear. ‘She only just finished with the last fiancé.’
‘Yes, it was a fast engagement. It’ll be an even faster wedding. Next week, probably.’
‘As soon as that! Why?’
She looked over her shoulder. ‘Come on, Charlie.’
It was a second or two before the penny dropped.
‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I see.’
‘It wasn’t her fault.’
‘I didn’t say it was. Is this friend of yours definitely the one responsible?’
‘Of course he is, if Lil says so,’ Bobby said, shooting him an indignant look. ‘My sister isn’t some pick-up girl. It was one mistake.’
‘Yes, all right. I didn’t mean to suggest anything.’
She twisted round so she could look into his face, or what she could see of it in the gloom. Only the thin pinprick of light from a blackout-dimmed streetlamp over the wall prevented them from being in complete darkness. ‘Are you shocked?’
‘Of course not. I’m a man of the world – a bit of the world anyhow.’ He sighed. ‘Poor lass. That’s some bad luck.’
‘I’m so worried about her,’ Bobby whispered. ‘I know the wedding has to happen, but… to a man like that.’
Charlie reached up to caress her cheek, and she pressed her hand against his.
‘You think he’d mistreat her?’ he asked softly. ‘Knock her about?’
‘I don’t think he’d do anything like that.
It’s not that Tony’s bad, exactly, but he’s a million miles away from the sort of man I’d have wanted for her.
He’s irresponsible, flirtatious, out of work since Don let him go, spends money twice as fast as he earns it, and he’s far too fond of a good time. ’
‘I remember you once accusing me of similar besetting sins.’
‘Tony isn’t like you. He so rarely thinks of anyone besides himself.
I can’t see how he’d ever be able to provide for Lil, or love her as she deserves.
’ Bobby swallowed a sob. ‘She’s my sister, Charlie.
I know she made a mistake, but should half an hour of foolishness really mean she has to sign her whole life away?
’ A degree of bitterness crept into her tone. ‘It’s so easy for men.’
‘Huh,’ Charlie muttered. ‘You think so? Tell that to the hundreds being shot down every day.’
His tone had altered suddenly. Bobby tried to make out his expression, but it was too dark to see.
He could be such a puzzle these days. Before he had gone to war, she thought she’d known Charlie Atherton inside out and back to front. Now she didn’t know how to interpret his moods.