it out into the bucket.
Anne came down the stairs looking pretty in a neat two-piece suit, carrying her overcoat on her arm. ‘I’m sorry I can’t stay and help, but Cissy has promised to finish cleaning the upstairs.’ She gave a hesitant smile. ‘Wish me luck, Mum.’
Peggy kissed her cheek and smiled. ‘You look lovely, darling. They can’t fail to take to you the minute they see you.’
Anne pulled on her coat, checked the seams in her stockings and touched the sweet little felt hat that had been artfully tilted above one eye. ‘You don’t think this is too much, do you?’
‘You look ever so lovely,’ sighed Sally. ‘Just like a film star.’
‘Martin’s been waiting outside long enough,’ said Peggy. ‘Get on with you.’
After a swift kiss for her mother and a nervous grin at Sally, she carefully stepped over the freshly washed floor and was out of the door.
Sally stood on the step, the bucket of dirty water at her feet as Martin tooted the horn and drove away in his very smart car. Anne might have looked nervous, but it was clear she and Martin were very much in love, and Sally wondered, wistfully, if she would ever know such happiness.
Closing the door, she dismissed all thought of John Hicks. As handsome and charming as he was, he wouldn’t want to know her once he realised Sally was committed to raising Ernie. She couldn’t expect any man to take on that kind of responsibility.
She carried the bucket through the kitchen and down to the back garden, where she threw it over Ron’s vegetable garden. On her way back to the kitchen she looked in on the three boys, who were playing with a train set they’d laid out on the floor between the beds. ‘Where’s Ron?’
‘In the outside lav with the Racing Post,’ said Bob solemnly. ‘He said not to disturb him until Aunt Doris has gone.’
‘It’s only three o’clock. She ain’t due till six.’
‘He’s worried she might come earlier if she knows about the gas explosion,’ said Charlie. He looked up from the train. ‘That’s why we’re staying down here,’ he explained. ‘Aunt Doris likes kissing boys, and we hate it, don’t we Bob?’
Bob pulled a face and shuddered dramatically. ‘Her lipstick feels horrible, but Mum says it’s rude to wipe it off straight away.’
‘Old Mother Kemp were the same,’ grimaced Ernie. ‘Yuk.’
Sally left them to it and continued up the steps to the kitchen. Doris sounded an awful woman, and she was glad she would be at work when she arrived.
Glancing at the kitchen clock, she realised she still had half an hour before she’d have to leave. She found a tea towel and got to work drying the cups and dishes that Peggy was stacking on the wooden draining board. The water and electricity had, thankfully, been restored by the engineers two hours ago.
‘I’m sorry I broke a couple of these,’ she said. ‘I hope they weren’t good ones?’
‘Goodness me, no. Most of this stuff dates back to the Ark.’ Peggy finished washing a saucer and added it to the pile. ‘I had a nice chat with John Hicks this morning, by the way,’ she said airily, fishing in the water for another cup.
‘Oh, yes?’ Sally tried not to show she was interested.
‘Mmm. I’ve known his family for years,’ carried on Peggy. ‘He’s a nice lad, but what happened to him was terribly sad.’ Peggy left the statement to hang between them.
Sally smiled. ‘You’d never make a good poker player, Peggy. Go on, you’re obviously dying to tell me all about John Hicks.’
‘He was married once,’ she said. ‘Suzy and he were barely out of school – and in hindsight, they probably knew they wouldn’t have much time together. Suzy was ill, you see, very ill. She was dead before they could celebrate their first anniversary.’ Peggy stared out of the window, her hands deep in the suds. ‘Leukaemia, it was. Poor little girl.’
Sally had heard similar stories back home, but they never failed to touch her heart. ‘That’s really sad,’ she murmured.
‘Yes. They’d been childhood sweethearts and John took it very badly.’
‘That’s hardly surprising.’ She bit her lip. ‘How long ago was this?’
‘Four years. They were both only eighteen.’ Peggy continued washing the dishes. ‘John’s made of sterner stuff than anyone realised, and although he went round like a ghost, he didn’t give in like some would have done.’ Peggy vigorously scrubbed a pan. ‘He was already working for the fire service as an