A Mother's Love by Daisy Styles

Author:Daisy Styles [Styles, Daisy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781405950442
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2022-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

24. Counting the Days

Christmas and New Year came and went in the munitions factory on the Pennine Moors. Others might have taken a day off to celebrate but not so the bomb builders, who worked around the clock, and of their own volition put in extra hours in order to meet the bomb quota needed to beat the enemy.

‘Better to be on the offensive in 1944,’ the factory manager had declared to the workforce. ‘Makes a nice change from the bloody defensive.’

War news at the start of January 1944 was all about successful advances. The Soviet troops’ advance into Poland raised the nation’s growing hopes that Hitler would soon be routed. Though Stella heard the good news, she barely had the energy to raise a smile. Her sickness had by no means subsided; she struggled throughout the day and turned green at the smell of most of the food she had to prepare, pregnant or not. Sago, boiled sprouts, and tripe and onions turned her stomach to such an extent that she had to hand over the making of those dishes to Nellie, who so far had no idea of Stella’s condition.

‘But she soon will,’ thought Stella as she loosened the canteen pinafore tied around her thickening waist.

It was a relief to go home at the end of the day and change into something that didn’t constrict her tummy or her breasts, which were tender these days. It was also a relief to be able to talk openly to Doreen, who was genuinely sympathetic to Stella’s situation.

‘So, what’re you going to do, then?’ Doreen asked, as she lit up a Woodbine.

‘We’ll get married,’ Stella told her. ‘Bill’s looking into the rules and regulations.’

‘And you’ll move down South?’

‘Yes, if all goes well,’ Stella replied.

Doreen’s string of questions continued. ‘And when will you leave here?’

‘As soon as Bill gets permission to marry me. I’ll have to get a doctor’s note to show to the factory manager, who will hopefully let me leave immediately.’

‘I suspect he’ll make you hang on until he gets a new cook,’ Doreen pointed out.

‘God! I hope not,’ Stella exclaimed. ‘I could finish up having the baby on the job.’

Doreen didn’t flinch as she asked her next question. ‘And you’re keeping it?’

Stella’s big blue eyes opened even wider than ever. ‘Are you kidding me?’ she exclaimed. ‘Of course, we’re keeping our baby; we love each other.’

Doreen raised her hand in a gesture to calm Stella down. ‘Only a practical question. Lots of women in your place would be organizing a back-street abortion by now.’

‘We’ve talked about it,’ Stella admitted. ‘Neither of us wants that.’ Sighing she flopped down on to her narrow single bed. ‘Oh, I wish I could talk to Bill. I ask so many questions in my letters to him, but it takes at least a week before I can get any answers back, and by that time I have another string of questions.’

Stubbing out her cigarette, Doreen was pragmatic as always. ‘Well, at least Bill’s genuine enough and wants to marry you.

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