The Waiting Hours by Ellie Dean

Author:Ellie Dean
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2017-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

PART TWO

JANUARY 1944

25

Cliffehaven

It was barely mid-morning when Peggy finished hanging out the washing, her hands reddened and painful from boiling hot water, the strong carbolic soap Ron had managed to get hold of on the black market, and a bitter wind which carried the threat of yet another bleak day. The new year was a mere few days old, but the appalling weather had continued since October, with little sign of improving – and like this seemingly endless war, the winter was going on for too long.

She eyed the bedlinen which was flapping and snapping in the knifing wind, knowing that by the time she returned from the dreaded meeting with her sister, they’d be as stiff as boards and still damp, which meant she’d have to hang them on the suspended drier in the scullery where they’d drip disconsolately on her clean floor and lose that lovely fresh outdoor smell. Fed up with it all, she hoisted the empty basket onto her hip, closed the back door on the horrid day and trudged upstairs to the kitchen.

‘At least it’s lovely and warm in here,’ she said to Cordelia, who was busy mashing some boiled parsnips in a bowl while Daisy tried to persuade a most reluctant Queenie that she really did want to sit in the small wooden trolley.

Peggy rescued the cat, then noticed that Cordelia was wearing fingerless gloves. ‘I hope the bitter cold isn’t affecting your arthritis too badly, Cordelia.’

‘Arthritis is merely another penalty of old age,’ said Cordelia with a soft smile. ‘When you get to my age most things hurt, and you just have to learn to get used to it.’ She eyed Peggy fondly. ‘Why don’t you have a cuppa and a cigarette before you go out again? I know you’re dreading facing Doris, and it will do you good to relax a bit before you go into battle.’

Peggy blew out her cheeks and reached for the ever-present teapot. ‘I’m hoping it won’t be a battle,’ she said pouring out the weak brew into a cup, ‘but I suspect it probably will be. Doris isn’t the easiest person to deal with, and she doesn’t like any form of criticism or what she thinks of as poking my nose into her business. But she really does need someone to put her right, otherwise she’ll lose what family she still has. And love her or loathe her, she doesn’t deserve that.’

‘I disagree,’ said Cordelia, adding a few drops of banana essence to the mashed parsnips and vigorously stirring them in. ‘Ted left her because she’d become impossible to live with. Anthony took that MOD posting after he married Suzie because she’d tried to take over his life for years and was showing distinct signs of interfering in his marriage – and to be honest, Peggy, she’s hardly been the most loyal and loving sister to you or Doreen.’

Peggy chuckled, cradling the warm cup in her cold hands. ‘That was succinctly put, Cordelia. Perhaps you should go and talk to her instead of me,’ she teased.

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