Free Always I'Ll Remember by Rita Bradshaw Page B

about him, didn’t it? ‘You will?’ he repeated, his voice low now and soft as he touched the silky skin of her face with the tip of one finger. And as she nodded, blushing rosy pink but holding his gaze, he kissed her again.
     

PART TWO
     
    Goodbyes 1939
     

Chapter Five
     
    ‘ I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room of Ten Downing Street. This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final note stating that unless we had heard from them by eleven o’clock that they were prepared to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this nation is at war with Germany.’
     
    ‘Oh, Da.’ Abby was clutching her father so tightly her knuckles were showing white. ‘It’s happened.’
     
    Wilbert switched off the wireless and looked at his sister, his voice verging on the scornful as he said, ‘You’re not surprised, are you? What do you think all the preparations have been about the last year or so, with the air raid wardens and the shelters and everything? You said yourself your firm’s organised their switchboard so it can be used by other companies and the ARP.’
     
    ‘Aye, that’s all very well, lad, but it’s still a shock when the unimaginable happens. And that’s what this war will be, make no mistake.’ Raymond’s voice was grim. ‘He’s a maniac, that Hitler, and he’s got to be stopped, there’s no doubt about that, but the cost’ll be high.’
     
    ‘That’s right, frighten everyone to death.’ Nora glared at her husband. Like the majority of the housewives round about she had refused to believe there would be another war, regarding the ARP service and especially the wardens with some contempt. The only time she had shown a spark of interest was when it had been suggested they might like to share one of the brick surface shelters with her sister’s household. This had come to nothing, however, when Ivor had insisted the backyards weren’t big enough what with the wash house and privies, even though several families in their street and the ones surrounding it had installed brick shelters. The upshot of Ivor’s refusal was that both families had taken an indoor Morrison shelter instead.
     
    Abby glanced across to the steel oblong box which normally served as a table. Her father had insisted that blankets, cushions and a torch be put inside some weeks ago, and that they all got used to climbing inside and pulling the meshed panels at the sides and ends into place. Now it looked as though they would be using the shelter for real.
     
    Abby had no sooner thought this than the wail of air raid sirens sounded, causing them all to freeze and stare at each other for a moment. ‘Quick!’ Raymond was shouting as though the rest of them were in the next room. ‘Into the shelter, all of you. Move!’
     
    By the time it became clear that there was no immediate threat of aerial onslaught, Clara had bumped her head and was crying loudly, Wilbert had knelt on the torch and had a lump the size of a ha’penny gobstopper on his knee, and Nora had split the seam of her Sunday dress and was blaming her husband.
     
    ‘I don’t want to go in there again.’ Clara was hiccuping her tears now. ‘And I don’t want to put that on either,’ she added, pointing to the row of gas masks sitting on the kitchen window sill. ‘They’re smelly and horrible.’
     
    ‘Come on, pet.’ Abby lifted her sister into her arms. ‘I tell you what, if you’re a good lass you can come for a little ride in James’s car this afternoon. Just round the streets for a few minutes so Betty Skelton and Hilda Wright can see you. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?’
     
    Clara grinned at Abby and nodded. Betty and Hilda were her two best friends but when she had told them that her sister had a lad with a big car and that they had taken her for a ride in it, they’d said