Chapter 13

13

POOLE HARBOUR – FEbrUARY 1941

As Peggy Symonds ate her crumpets and drank her tea with her family that Friday evening, the first dreary thoughts of doubt started to fill her mind. It had been almost a full week since she had seen Darrell Taylor at the dance hall last Saturday, and though she had been nursing high hopes of seeing him tonight, she began to wonder. Perhaps his non-appearance all week was not so much to do with the call of duty that had kept him busy. Perhaps he had been in Poole all along but had found another pub, with another girl to charm. She sighed deeply and looked into the fireplace flames, watching them flicker over the coals.

‘What's eating at you, Peggy love?' asked Molly, who seemed to have turned a corner in the last few days and was beginning to glow, having got her appetite back.

Peggy, startled from her thoughts, took a moment to gather the worries tumbling through her mind.

‘I had a lovely time with Darrell last Saturday, Molly. And I fully expected to see him again this week. I got my hopes up, and he's been nowhere. He's not " mine " as so many of the girls are saying. I have no rights to him. But I feel…' She turned her face back to the flames again. ‘I feel as if I've lost something special. As if we really could have made a go of it, and now he might have gone off to find someone else. And I suppose…' she heaved a big sigh again ‘…I suppose I feel foolish for all that.'

‘But Peggy, he's in the RAAF – he's busy and serving. You're just lucky he's based right here in Poole, and you're not waiting for him to come home on leave. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. Tell you what,' Molly added, brightening, ‘let's go down to the Antelope together tonight and if he's there, he's there. If he's not, we'll have a nice cosy time together. I'm sure I could do with another pint of stout to keep my energy up for this one,' she said, rubbing her growing little baby bump.

The sisters put on their coats, and a little lipstick, and linked arms as much to stop each other from falling in the pitch-dark of the blackout as they did to keep each other warm and close. And soon they were outside the pub that they thought of as their local and pushing open the doors to reveal the humming mass of happy Friday-night chatter and laughter inside.

‘You get the corner table, Molly; I'll go and fetch us a drink,' said Peggy, knowing full well that Molly would understand she needed to scan the room properly and look for Darrell. The pub was full of Friday-night locals, the fishermen, the wives, the BOAC pilots, some soldiers and sailors in uniform on home leave, and then, right at the last, she spotted a group in the back corner wearing the slightly different blue uniform of the RAAF.

‘What'll it be, love?' asked the publican, waiting for her expectantly.

‘Sorry, Jim, I was miles away. A pint of stout and a port and lemon, please,' Peggy said, reaching into her handbag for the coins to pay for her drinks.

‘That'll be one and six please, Peggy love.'

Just as Peggy was about to lay down the coins on the bar, a large, tanned, and hairy hand dropped one and six into the barman's hand.

‘My shout,' said Darrell with a broad grin as Peggy looked up in surprise.

‘Thank you! I…' For a moment, Peggy was lost for words, looking to the back of the room where Darrell must have appeared from and across to Molly who was beaming up at her. ‘I thought I might have seen you again this week,' she added, looking up into the deep amber of his eyes that seemed to be drinking in the sight of her.

‘I know. I'm sorry, Peggy. I was worried you'd think I'd left you all alone. I've not had a minute to get off. For some reason or other – that even we are not allowed to know – we've been on high alert all week, scouring the coast with double runs. I've barely slept, let alone had a night off to get out to see you. But I'm here now.' He smiled warmly.

‘Indeed, you are. Would you like to join me and Molly?' she asked.

Darrell went to collect his own drink and then joined the sisters at their table.

Peggy caught him up on the activities in the harbour for the week, and the arrival of the welcome pair of hands in Charlie. And Molly listened in wonder as Darrell told them of an air-sea rescue they'd been involved in.

‘We came across a ship that looked to be in trouble,' he explained.

‘A Royal Navy ship?' asked Molly, desperate to hear any news of their brother, Samuel.

‘No, this was a merchant ship – just as important with many sailors aboard, and not to mention the precious cargo she was bringing from America. We did a few circuits and once they realised who we were – which side we were on – they were waving for help. We landed and managed to make contact, fearful that they may have been hit, though they didn't seem to be going down. Turned out they had a man on board who was very sick. We got him aboard and brought him back here to Poole to the hospital, days earlier than they would have made it from where they were.'

‘So, you saved his life?' asked Molly in awe.

‘I think that was all down to the surgeon at the hospital, Molly. We were just the taxi service, in the right place at the right time,' Darrell said with the laid-back shrug of his shoulders that Peggy was becoming quite familiar with.

‘So, if a ship was going down – hit by a torpedo, say – would you be able to rescue the men? How many could you take aboard a Sunderland? Surely, they're only built for two dozen or so passengers?' said Peggy, thinking of the hundreds who would be on some bigger naval vessels.

‘Two dozen of your first-class types, yes, but we could probably squeeze in seventy or eighty at a push if they didn't mind being crammed in like sardines,' said Darrell with a laugh. ‘Enough of my job, now, or I'll be getting myself into trouble! What have you ladies been up to while I've been busy?' he asked, and Peggy settled in for a relaxed evening with the man she was now assured was still very keen to keep up with her.

At ten o'clock, Darrell walked the two girls home.

‘I'll see myself in, no need to rush,' said Molly with a wink to her sister, as she shut the front door quickly behind her, leaving Peggy on the doorstep with a face blushing crimson.

Darrell looked down the street and back to Peggy with a shy smile.

‘We're so close to the water here. Does your house back onto the beach?' he asked, obviously keen to take the pressure off Peggy, who'd been left on the doorstep with him.

‘Not exactly what you'd call a beach as this is a mud flat at low tide, but it is the shore of the harbour. Dad's fishing boat is kept just out there, and we have a tender pulled up on the shingle,' she said.

‘Perhaps in the summer, we could go out for a little row one evening? I was in Plymouth last summer and the long, light evenings were glorious. This harbour would be beautiful for an evening row,' he said wistfully.

Peggy was lost for words for a moment while she thought about the loveliness of Darrell's idea.

‘But do you think you'll still be here in the summer, Darrell? You may have changed your mind about me by then, anyway,' she added, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

‘If I have my way, I'll be hanging around you for a lifetime, Peggy Symonds,' and while her mouth dropped open in astonishment, he lifted her chin with his finger, so tenderly, and bent down, kissing her lightly on the cheek. Peggy let out the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding and saw the frosty air gather around them, realising how close their faces still were. She took a step back, and lowered her eyes a moment before daring to look him full in the face.

‘I like that idea very much, Darrell Taylor. Let's hope summer comes early, shall we?' she said, daring a coy smile.

Darrell reached down and took her hand in his, stroking her thumb with his, and leant down towards her lips.

‘May I kiss you goodnight, Miss Symonds?' he whispered.

‘Yes please,' she said as she closed her eyes and waited.

The kiss, when it came, was the first real kiss of her life, Peggy realised later. She'd been out with boys before and had danced and let them walk her home. And several had kissed her goodnight, but it had always been a rushed and harsh thing, prickly and tense. But this. This was something else entirely. Darrell's lips were soft against hers and touched her lightly, gently, again and again but slowly, like the lapping of a tiny wave on a shore, until she wanted more from him, and she found herself kissing him back, reaching up and pushing into him, pulling at his lips with her own.

He lightly touched one hand on her waist and the other cradled her head. He ran his hand through her hair, and she felt herself melting into him. He moved his hand to her back to stop her from falling away completely as she relaxed as if into a deep sleep. She placed her own hands behind his neck and felt the softness of his hair between her fingers and realised she was fully pushing her open mouth against his, searching him out and wanting him to search deep inside of her soul.

When she drew back for breath, she could not open her eyes and he held her steady as she swayed on the spot until she found her equilibrium and looked up into his warmly smiling face.

She beamed at him and reached up gingerly to touch his face.

‘So this is what all the fuss is about,' she said dreamily and the dimples in his cheeks deepened.

‘You'd best get inside, Peggy,' he said, nodding towards the front door. ‘But I'm not working tomorrow. Can I call round in the morning? Perhaps we can spend the day together?' he asked, hopefully.

‘I have a flying boat to meet in the morning, first thing, but I'll be done by about ten o'clock if you want to come by then?' she asked him.

He nodded his assent and bent to give her one last, brief kiss, pulling away and guiding her to the front door, which he opened for her, before she could protest.

‘Don't want you catching cold out here, Peggy,' he said as he waved goodbye and walked down Ballard Road, back towards the quay.

‘You two took your time,' called Molly with a hint of tease in her voice from the front room.

‘Shush, Molly. Mother and Father will hear you, and what would they think?' Peggy giggled as she slumped into the fireside chair beside her sister.

‘They already know. They've only been upstairs a couple of minutes.' Molly laughed. ‘Don't worry, we all know how these things work,' she said, tapping her belly, and Peggy felt the heat of a blush rise from her toes to her ears.

‘Oh, Molly, he is so lovely. And we're going to spend the day together tomorrow, too.'

‘Of course you are, Peg. He is yours, like I said,' teased Molly as she stood to go upstairs to bed, kissing her fingertips and touching them to the photo of her husband that stood on the sideboard. ‘It's about time we had some more good news around the place and I think that Darrell is just what you – and all of us – need. Sleep tight, my darling.'

The next morning seemed to take a lifetime to come around. Peggy usually slept soundly all night, but on this Friday night, she woke several times. Perhaps the moon was too bright, or the wind a little strong. Whatever it was, she woke often and excitedly thought morning had come already. So, when it was finally time to wake up, she did so with a start, feeling as though she was late. She dressed for work, and added a little makeup even though it was just a regular launch trip she was dressing for.

As Peggy approached the office to collect the launch key, she was surprised to find Charlie waiting for her.

‘Good morning, Peggy.' He beamed. ‘Miss Foster asked me to join you this morning so that Eileen could have the day off. She said it would only be a small run today and we could manage between us,' he offered.

Peggy was a little taken aback and realised that she'd entirely forgotten about the existence of Charlie since spending time with Darrell last night. But it was no problem. He'd already proved himself a fine boatman and all she was really focused on was ten o'clock and seeing Darrell.

Charlie impressed her with his skills again and managed to help with the mooring of the flying boat as well as bringing the launch alongside her and helping the passengers and crew off. They delivered them to Salterns Marina where a car to the hotel was waiting, and the crew took longer than Peggy liked chatting to Charlie about who he was and where he'd come from. She checked her watch repeatedly and was frustrated that they weren't going to get back to Poole Quay in time.

‘Have you somewhere else to be, Peggy?' asked Charlie with concern as they set off from the marina and back towards the quayside.

‘Yes, I'm meeting someone, and I don't want to keep them waiting,' Peggy replied.

‘He's a lucky chap,' said Charlie coyly. And for the first time, Peggy saw Charlie as a man. Not just a helping hand, or strong arms, or a good boatman, but a man. A man who had apparently noticed her. Embarrassed, though not unimpressed that two men – handsome ones – had now taken an interest in her, Peggy just shrugged and tried to shake off the compliment.

‘Tell you what, Peggy. If you're in a hurry, you just go on up the steps when we pull in, and I'll put the launch to bed. I'm quite capable, and I'm so grateful for the work. You go and meet your gentleman, and I'll finish up,' Charlie offered.

‘Oh, would you, Charlie? I'm not quite sure if Pat would approve, but she's not there on a Saturday. Just nip into the harbour master's office and drop the key in when she's all secure, would you? Thanks so much,' gushed Peggy, thinking only of getting to Darrell and whatever fun might lie ahead today.