Page 65 of The London Girls
Jack happened, Grandma.
And despite Florence not uttering a word, her grandmother nodded and turned, draining the water and filling the sink with hot water, as Florence carefully extricated herself from the man she’d been tucked up beside all night. She doubted he usually slept so peacefully, and the last thing she wanted was to wake him, not when they’d miraculously had a night with no bombs.
She went and picked up the tea towel from where Jack had dropped it the night before, taking the first plate her grandmother passed her and being rewarded with a little smile.
‘He’s a good man, that Jack. And that William is a dear little boy.’
‘I know, Grandma,’ Florence said, glancing over her shoulder and watching Jack sleep for a moment. ‘Trust me, I know.’
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
AVA
Ava tugged the blanket up a little higher, waiting to hear the King’s speech on the wireless. It was Christmas Day and she still had an hour before she had to leave for her shift, and Olivia and Florence had come in to listen, too. Florence sat at the foot of her armchair, and Grandma Ivy came in with a pot of tea on a tray.
‘If I’d known how good it was here, I’d have left home sooner!’
Ivy just chuckled and Ava beamed back at her. She wasn’t joking. All her life she’d been on tenterhooks around her father; one day he’d adore her and she’d lap up his attention, and the next she’d somehow look at him the wrong way and he’d fly into a rage. Her mother had done her best, she could see that now, but being in a home like Ivy’s was fast showing her what a loving home really looked like.
‘Ava, did you ever rekindle your romance with the man you were seeing?’ Grandma Ivy said. ‘I haven’t heard you talk about him since before the wedding.’
Ava made a fuss of taking her tea and choosing a biscuit, doing her best to ignore the question. Her cheeks burned whenever she thought of that day; she’d never been so embarrassed in all her life.
‘Ava?’ Ivy asked gently.
‘No,’ she huffed. ‘It turns out he just told me what I wanted to hear to get me in his bed while his wife was away.’
Florence dropped her head to Ava’s lap and hugged Ava’s knees.
‘He was married?’ Ivy asked.
Ava cleared her throat. ‘I can’t lie to you, Grandma. He was.’
‘And did you know this before your romance began?’
Ava glanced up at Olivia, not wanting Grandma Ivy to think less of her. ‘Yes, I did. But in my defence, he told me all along that she was living in the country, that their marriage was over, and I bought all his lies. And before you ask, I’ll never make that mistake again. I’ve learned my lesson.’
‘You’re right, a man will say anything to get a pretty young thing in his bed,’ Ivy said. ‘But he’s the one who’s married, Ava; he’s the one who broke his marriage vows, and don’t you forget it. He’s the one to blame, not you.’
Ava sipped her tea, not wanting to acknowledge Grandma Ivy’s kind words, lest she suddenly burst into tears. She didn’t want anyone to know how much he’d truly hurt her.
‘Ava, do you hear me? When an older man behaves like that, they’re taking advantage of you. It’s not your fault.’
Ava couldn’t hold her tears at bay then, and she frantically blinked, trying to clear them. ‘Thank you. I needed to hear that.’
‘Did you love him?’ Florence asked, still hugging her legs.
Ava nodded. ‘Yes.’ She quickly wiped her cheeks. ‘Or maybe I didn’t. Maybe I’ve always just been in love with the idea of love.’
Grandma Ivy left the room, and Ava panicked for a moment that she was going to kick her out after her confession, but instead she returned with an extra biscuit and passed it to Ava, before pressing a warm kiss to the top of her head.
‘Don’t stop believing in love because of one broken heart,’ Ivy said, as the wireless crackled to life with the introductory anthem before the King was to speak. ‘Just promise me you won’t takeup with a married man again. It never ends well, no matter what they say.’
‘I promise,’ Ava whispered, as Olivia turned the radio up and they settled to listen to the King shuffle his papers before his voice travelled across the airwaves.
There hadn’t been an awful lot of news from the front, not since France had been occupied, other than whispers of England being next. So hearing their King’s Christmas message after a blessed night with no bombings was exactly what they all needed.
‘In days of peace the feast of Christmas is a time when we all gather together in our homes, young and old, to enjoy the happy festivity and good will which the Christmas message brings. It is, above all, children’s day, and I am sure that we shall all do our best to make it a happy one for them wherever they may be.
