Chapter 67

It had been three days and still no news. Helen had already packed their most important belongings but didn't want to strip their bed in case they stayed for another night. The previous evening, she had come close to leaving and taking Bobby to the Hamels' but was anxious about being seen and putting them at risk. They could easily be stopped by a German and asked for their papers and she knew it wouldn't take them long to discover she had been missing for the past couple of years.

Helen thought she heard voices and tensed. ‘Bobby,' she hissed, running to him and taking his hand. ‘Come with Mummy, quickly.' She put a finger to her lips. After spending so long living in the attic at number 3, he thankfully knew how to keep quiet and only speak in a low whisper.

‘Are we going to hide, Mummy?'

‘We are. We must hurry.' She led him out of the back door to the garden where she had stored two bags of their things behind a large bush. ‘Here,' she said, pulling him gently so that he knelt down next to her behind the bush.

It occurred to her that soldiers coming this far from First Tower would probably have driven and she hadn't heard a vehicle. Was that because she hadn't been listening? Or maybe there wasn't any fuel left for them to use.

Or maybe they would want to surprise her? But for that to happen they would need to know she and Bobby were at the house and she was certain that Daphne would never have given them up.

She heard a murmur of voices and for a second imagined one might be female, but it was too hushed for her to be certain. She put her arm around Bobby, pulling him closer and lower, as she heard footsteps leaving the house and coming into the garden.

‘Helen? Bobby? It's Tony,' he said, keeping his voice low. ‘I'm with Peggy. We've come to fetch you.'

‘Uncle Tony?' Bobby asked standing just before Helen managed to do the same.

‘Over here.' She picked up their two bags. ‘We've packed a few things, but we weren't sure whether to stay here where it's safe, or leave.'

Tony pointed in the direction of the nearest neighbours a short distance away. ‘Let's go inside.'

* * *

Helen tried to grasp what Tony was telling her. ‘How could Daphne have died?' she sobbed. She was relieved that Peggy had taken Bobby from the room before Tony broke the news to her.

‘I couldn't believe it when Dad told me,' he said.

‘She was such a kind woman. Like my family, really. And she adored Bobby.'

‘She did,' he soothed, hugging her. ‘But the most important thing for her was that both of you were safe. Dad told me that as nothing can be done about contacting her cousin in England who's her next of kin, the Germans have told him they will be using her home for several officers.'

‘But why? It's not close to town here, and it's only a bungalow,' she argued, hating to think of those men sleeping under Daphne's roof.

‘It's the position of the house,' he explained. ‘It's high and has far-reaching views over the bay. With all the Allied aircraft activity over the past few months this place will be useful to them.'

Dismissing thoughts of how distressed Daphne would have been to know this, Helen took a steadying breath. She needed to focus on Bobby and getting him to safety. ‘We've already packed a few things, as you know,' she said. "But where will we go? We can't go to the Hamels in broad daylight, can we?'

He shrugged. ‘We'll wait until dusk, then begin walking down to St Aubin's Road.'

As terrified as Helen was to have to move, Tony insisted she complete her packing quickly, so that they could leave as soon the sun began to set. ‘We'll take Bobby to the Hamels the same way we brought him here.'

Helen wasn't sure how that would work. ‘But he's much taller and heavier now,' she argued. ‘How will you manage to carry him that far?'

Tony stared at her for a moment. ‘He was heavier, but we've all lost a lot of weight in the past few months, maybe Bobby, too.'

He was right. ‘But you won't be as strong as you once were, Tony.'

‘Maybe not, but I can't see that we have much choice. You can't stay here. Bobby can walk some of the way but maybe not the last stretch along the main road or into the Hamels' house. The officers still live next door and we know that two of them may remember you and the fact that you had a son. We can't risk them recognising you.'

She loved the Hamels and had missed Ida, especially, as the older woman hadn't been able to make the walk up to Sans Souci. It would be lovely to see her again, but Helen couldn't help being upset that Bobby would no longer have the freedom to play outside and would once again be stuck indoors every day. At least when he was younger he hadn't had anything to compare his life to, but now he did and she worried about how he would cope.

She thought of the Hamels having to share their sparse food with her and Bobby.

Once again, Helen felt how much of a burden hers and Bobby's welfare was to their friends.

‘We're all happy to help anyone who needs it, you know that,' Tony said, as though reading her mind.

‘I do,' she said. ‘But I don't know how much longer I can stand this way of life. It only ever seems to get worse.'