Chapter
1 September 1940
In
the middle of the night Nicky woke, she got out of bed and looked out of the
window. The dark night went on for miles. The tree outside in the front of the
farm looked scarier than ever. She looked up to the sky, only the moon was out
that night, she prayed as she thought of her husband fighting in the war.
“Ellie,
Chrissie, Louis, time to get up” Nicky shouted from the kitchen. All three
children came running into the kitchen, 16 year old Ellie, tall with long
brunette hair and very, very pretty, 11 year old Louis the spitting image of
his father and 5 year old Chrissie the apple of her mother’s eye,
“Mummy
this looks yummy” Chrissie said as she ran and jumped into her mother’s arms,
“Thank
you sweetie, now go eat”. Everyone sat down and looked into the left over’s
from the night before. In silence they ate. On the mantelpiece behind Nicky sat
a picture of Patrick, the father and husband away at war. Ellie broke the
silence,
“Is
there any news from dad yet?”
“Not
yet” Nicky replied
“But
it’s been weeks since we heard from him” Louis moaned
“I
know sweetie, but he is fighting in the war”
“Mum
it's best not to think about it” Ellie exclaimed “what time are Ian’s children
coming”
“Oh
god, I completely forget, hang on” Nicky left the table and went into the
study. The room was dark shelves, shelves of books circled the room, papers and
documents where all over the place, a desk sat at the back of the room where
Patrick use to work. Nicky stood at the door thinking back to the times Patrick
and she had sat at the little table on the middle of the room drinking brandy
in the evenings. She walked to the desk and picked up a piece of paper which
had the time and day that Ian’s children were arriving. Ian was one of
Patrick’s oldest and closest friends, his wife had passed away a year before
the war started and now Ian was on his way to fight alongside everyone else and
had asked Nicky if she would take care of his children while he was away.
Nicky
entered the dining room to find all three children clearing the table and tidying the kitchen. Nothing was left to waste all the food had been eaten and
the dog had also been fed, Ellie took the lead and gently told the other two
what to do and to be careful with all the plates as they couldn’t be replaced
if they broke. Nicky watched as they worked as a team,
“You
three are just the best” she told the kids as she approached them’
“Thank
you Mummy” Chrissie said as she put the plates away in the cupboard,
“Ian’s
children will be here at two, so, I want this place spotless, Ellie bathroom
and floors, Louis dusting, Chrissie tidy all the toys away…”
“Can
I also collect the eggs the chickens have laid” Chrissie jumped up and down,
“Of
course honey and I will get the laundry washed, dried put away and the beds
made up”
“Mum
don’t forget I’m down at the shop at 1pm, Mrs Fleming needs me today” Ellie
jumped in to remind her mum she was working,
Of
course dear, don’t be late back, now everyone dressed, we have a long day ahead
of us” Everyone left the room and headed upstairs.
Once
dressed they all got on with their jobs, Ellie cleaned and scrubbed away at the
bathroom and the floors, Louis got through the dusting within 30 minutes and
proceeded to help Chrissie with the toys. As he did they both stumbled across
some pictures of a group of people dressed very differently at the town hall,
“Who
are they” Louis asked out loud,
“I
don’t know, let’s ask Elle” Chrissie got up and walked out of the room with
Louis in tow “Ellie, Ellie do you know who these people are in this picture”
she asked running up to her. Ellie took the picture from Chrissie’s hand and
looked at it,
“That’s
mum there look” she said bending down to Chrissie’s height “and there’s dad”
Chrissie looked at the picture again,
“Oh
yeah, but who are they with” she asked
“I
don’t know, some friends I think”
“And
what are they wearing, their clothes look funny”
Ellie
looked at the outfit her mother was wearing,
“There're Flapper dressed” she replied
“What
are flapper dresses?”
“Fashion
of the 1920’s, must have been a few years before I was born”
Chrissie
looked at Ellie and then at the picture, then she took it from her and put it
in her pocket,
“Mine”
she said, Ellie looked at her “I don’t have a picture of dad” Ellie smiled and
kissed her on the forehead.
“Oh
Ellie, on your way home can you pick up some bread” Nicky called after Ellie as
she headed down the driveway to work,
“Of
course I will” she shouted back. Ellie had taken her job at the sewing supplies
shop just over a year ago when her father had gone to war to help keep the farm
going. Her father was a farmer who ran a dairy farm. She helped out on the farm
a lot feeding and milking the cows, they also had sheep whose wool they would
sell each year. The autumn wind blew as Ellie walked into the village to work.
Wearing a brown coat she had made with matching scarf and hat she entered the
shop and greeted Mrs Fleming, the 60 year old lady who ran the shop,
“Good
afternoon Mrs Fleming”
“Good
afternoon dear, how was your walk down here” Mrs Fleming asked,
“Windy”
Ellie took off her coat and hung it in the cloakroom with her hat and scarf
“What would you like me to do Mrs Fleming”
“Could
you unload all that stuff in the back for me please?”
“Of
Course” Ellie began unloading lots of wool onto the shelves as Mrs Fleming
attended to a customer who had just walked in.
Back
at home the house was clean and tidy ready for the arrival of Ian’s children.
Out in the barn Chrissie was collecting eggs from the four chickens the family
owned; she took a chart of who laid an egg each day,
“Missy,
yes, Dee Dee, yes, Lisa, yes and Bernadette yes …four eggs yes” she got up and
ran into the house to tell her mother.
Back
at the shop Ellie’s mind had gone wondering as she stacked the shelves,
Christmas was only a month and a half away and she wanted to get her mother and
siblings something special but didn’t have the money to buy anything, so
decided to ask for some more work hours,
“Mrs
Fleming” Ellie made her way over to the till,
“Yes
dear” Mrs Fleming looked up,
“I
was just wondering if I could pick up some more work hours” Ellie asked,
“Of
course dear, it would be very helpful as my other assistant has to cut down on
her hours”
Ellie
smiled
“Thank
you Mrs Fleming”
Chrissie
looked out of the widow as she sat on the windowsill in the dining room, she
took out the picture she had found earlier in the day and looked at her father,
a tear rolled down her cheek as she longed for a hug and didn’t understand why
he had gone to war. She looked back out the window to see a car turn into the
drive. Ian and his children had arrived.
Nicky
walked outside to greet her guests,
“Ian
welcome, how was the journey”
“Nicky,
how lovely to see you again. The journey was fine thank you, a little quiet,
but, well you can imagine”
Ian
and Nicky hugged as Ian’s children got out of the car,
“Ah
now Nicky my children, Martin 16, Jennifer 12 and Lindsey 7”
“Hello,
how are you all” Nicky smiled at them as Chrissie ran out to join them “Oh my
youngest Chrissie, she’s 5” Nicky continued “where’s Louis honey”
“Feeding
the cows I think” Chrissie replied. She looked at Ian and tilled her head as
she recognised him from the picture,
“I
know you you’re in this picture with my mummy and daddy” she took the picture
out of her pocket and showed her mum and Ian,
“Chrissie,
where did you get this” Nicky took the picture from her and looked at it,
“In
the cupboard in the living room, Ellie said it was taken in the 1920”
“Yes
it was Ian do you remember this” Ian looked at the picture,
“Of
Course I do. Two years before Ellie and Martin were born”
“Mum,
Mum, I’ve feed the cows” Louis came running up to them from the barn, he
stopped as he approached them, “Mum is this Ian”
“yes
sweetie, Ian this is my son Louis, 11, Louis this is Ian and his children Martin
16, Jennifer 12 and Lindsey 7” the children greeted one another and Ian noticed
one missing,
“So
where’s Ellie” he asked,
“She
is working; she took a job at a shop in the village
“That’s
fantastic, well I must be off I…I have a war to get to” he said as he turned to
his three children “Martin, look after your sisters, don’t let anything bad
happen to them” he hugged his son,
“I
won’t father” Martin replied
Ian
said an emotional goodbye to his children, not wanting to leave he reluctantly
got back into the car and drove away.
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