way back up to see what was waiting for them above ground.
It was as they were leaving the underground station that Lizzie saw her again. The woman must have been a long way further down the platform, so she hadn’t seen her until now, but it was undoubtedly the same woman she’d seen at the cinema. Hurrying away from the girls, she grabbed hold of the woman, who swung round, startled, and then with recognition dawning in her eyes looked sheepishly into Lizzie’s own.
‘I know who you are,’ Lizzie said. ‘I know exactly who you are, and by the looks of it, you know who I am too.’
The woman nodded.
‘Look, I’m not angry or anything. I just want to know. I just want to know she’s safe. I just want to see her. This war has made everything crystal clear to me, and all I have in my life is her. I’m not going to try and cause any trouble. I’m not going to upset her. I’m not even going to tell her who I am, but I’m begging you, please let me see my daughter. Let me see Annie. At least tell me, is she here in London?’
The woman seemed to deflate, and then she nodded. ‘Such a beautiful little baby. I’ll never forget her or your face when I left you. But you need to know she was homed with a lovely family. She has two brothers, and I’m sure she’s happy.’
‘You’ve got to tell me where she is.’
‘I’m not supposed to.’
‘Look, she may not even be here. She may have been sent out of the city. At least let me try and see her. There has to be a reason that I’ve seen you again. Please. I’m begging you.’
The woman seemed to relent; she sucked in air. ‘I can’t remember the address. I have to go to work and find it for you. It’s closed over Christmas, so you can give me your address but I can’t promise you anything. I’m no longer a nurse. I left the job that organized the adoptions because I thought it was very wrong taking babies from young girls and I now work in a different office and I reunite families instead. Occasionally I have to go to my old office and if I’m left alone I could possibly have access to the older files, but you can’t tell anybody. I’m not supposed to do this, but I will try my best. Like I said, I can’t promise anything. Your daughter may not even be in London any more.’
Lizzie couldn’t stop herself. She hugged the young woman as tears streamed down her face and hurriedly gave her Julia’s address.
‘Thank you so much.’ And Lizzie felt a sense of relief. She might finally get to meet her daughter again.
34
The truck rattled along the road on the evening of 29 December, and as its wheels jarred into potholes and crunched through rubble from the raid the night before, Diana prepared herself for the night ahead. It took them longer to get there now, because they had been moved from the playing fields to one of the many bomb sites, and she was closer to the Square Mile, the financial district of the city. As she listened to the girls laughing and joking with one another, Kathy recalling a particularly disastrous date she’d just had, Diana bounced with the rhythm of the truck and was thoughtful. Even though it was impossible for her to describe the sounds and the intensity of war to anybody who had never been through it, she herself had got used to it now. Though the anticipation of what would happen that night, what they would have to deal with, always sat like a stone in the pit of her stomach. The evening was bitterly cold and as an icy blast whistled through the gaps and flaps of the truck, she tucked her hands into her coat pockets, closed her eyes and dwelt on happier things: her plans for New Year’s Eve.
She and Len both had the night off, and he’d talked about taking her to the cinema, then out for something to eat. Maybe even some dancing as well, if they had the energy for it. And her mind was filled with warm thoughts about him so she didn’t feel the truck rattle to a stop.
‘Come on, Diana,’ encouraged Mavis, the girl who drove them and managed the winch. Diana blinked her eyes open away from her daydream. ‘Are