Chapter 14 Nadine
Nadine
“You can’t just sit about with a face like a slapped arse, Nadine. Feeling sorry for yourself never helped nobody. Sometimes things go wrong with babies, and that’s that. Not exactly the best time to be having a little one, anyway, is it? What with Hitler about to bomb us to kingdom come.”
Nadine, who had come to visit her mother for sympathy, not straight talking, couldn’t keep the tears at bay. “It was a girl, Ma; I know it was. You know how I’ve always wanted a girl.”
Her mother sighed, putting down the tea towel she’d been using to dry the dishes and coming to sit next to her daughter at the kitchen table.
“I know you have, love. And don’t think I don’t feel for you, because I do.
It’s just that dwelling on things doesn’t make a blind bit of difference. You’ll get plenty of other chances.”
“Will I, though, Ma?” said Nadine, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “Harry’ll be called up to fight before too long, and who knows if or when he’ll come back. He’s hardly here now as it is, anyway.”
Her mother frowned. “What d’you mean? Where is he then?”
“Off to bloomin’ Norfolk to check David’s happy. Or at least, that’s what he says he’s doing.”
“But what? You think he’s up to something else? Doing the dirty on you?”
The tears began to flow again. “I don’t know, Ma. That woman David’s with. I never did trust her, not from the minute I first met her. You know what these desperate spinster types can be like. I’ve got a feeling about her, I really have.”
“Well, maybe we ought to send your brother up there to check that feeling of yours out, then, eh? God knows, it would give him something to do. Been like a bear with a sore head ever since he was turned down by the draft, he has. What d’you reckon?
Shall I get Tom to go and check out the situation?
His eyesight might not be up for him being on the front line, but I reckon he’d soon sniff out anything if there was anything to sniff out. ”
“I’m not sure, Ma,” Nadine said doubtfully. “Tom’s never liked Harry, has he? Maybe he’s not the best person to send.”
“Well, he’s the only person I can think of who could do it. And he ain’t going to murder Harry if he finds anything bad out, is he? He is the boy’s uncle, after all.”
But Nadine, who’d been familiar with her brother’s rages from an early age, wasn’t convinced. “No, leave it for now, Ma. See how things go. Chances are I’m just being a silly cow, anyway, and Harry’s not doing anything wrong at all.”
“All right, but if you change your mind, you tell me, and I’ll send Tom up there quick as you like.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
Her mother patted her on the shoulder and went back to carry on with the drying up.
“No need to thank me. Family’s family. We look out for our own.
And don’t you ever forget it. You need anything at all, we’ll get it sorted.
” She turned back to look at her daughter. “And I mean anything. Understood?”
Nadine felt a shiver run down her spine. She nodded. “Understood, Ma.”