Becca jumps up and down in front of the window. Folding her right arm across her body, she raises the thumb and pinkie of her left hand, waving it up and down behind her right arm.
‘What are you saying, Becca?’ Sophie asks as she signs.
‘She’s saying whales,’ Ellie says, offering Sophie a Coke. ‘I’m sorry I was sharp.’
Sophie accepts the offering. ‘It’s okay. I’m sorry I upset you.’ She sets the Coke on a ledge and signs to Becca. ‘Teach me.’
Sophie copies the movements of Becca’s arms and fingers. ‘How was that?’
Becca places the fingers of her right hand against her mouth, then rests her right hand in the palm of her left.
‘Good,’ Sam says, cutting the engine and releasing the anchor. He smiles at Sophie. ‘Really good.’
Becca signs something at Sam.
‘Yes, honey. Me too.’
Sophie looks at Sam. ‘What did she say?’
He takes off his cap and rubs his forehead. ‘She said she wishes her mother were here, too.’ He peers through the window, scanning the top of the rippling water. ‘This is as good a place as any to stop. We’re far enough away not to bother them. We should be able to see plenty from here.’
As if on cue, the great grey-black body of a humpback soars out of the water. Its white belly and flippers glisten in the sunlight as it thrusts its bulk backwards onto the surface, throwing up a storm of foaming waves as it crashes back into the ocean.
Florie staggers across the juddering boat and joins them on the bridge. ‘My God, b’y. This is as bad as the Port aux Basques ferry in January.’
A second whale, even larger than the first, breaches and slams back into the cove, sending a spray of water splashing across the cruiser’s window.
‘How’s that for a birthday present, Ellie, my girl,’ Florie says as she squints into the binoculars. ‘Ordered specially for the day.’
One of the whales arches through the water and slides back into the waves until only its black and white flukes hover above the surface, before they, too, disappear into the sea.
A bright smile breaks across Ellie’s face. ‘You know, Sam, this is the first time I’ve been this close to the whales.’
Sophie reaches for the Coke and flips off the cap on the edge of the ledge. ‘Really, Aunt Ellie? Uncle Thomas never brought you out to see them?’
Ellie laughs. ‘Oh, no. You didn’t do that kind of thing back then. But Thomas loved the whales. He had lots of stories about seeing them when he was out fishing. He said they were a good omen.’
Florie pulls the basket of food out of the store cupboard. ‘Right, so. Anybody as gut-foundered as me? We’ve gots egg salad and ham and mustard, not forgetting Becca’s date squares, of course. Don’t eat too much, though. We’ve got baked cod, brewis and scrunchions and my special recipe birthday cake for supper, and I expects everyone to have a piece of that.’
Chapter 34
Norwich, England – 4 October 1942
Dottie is reaching the crescendo of ‘Ode to Joy’ when she hears someone knocking loudly on the door.
‘Hello? Hello? Anybody home?’
Huffing, she slides off the piano bench and stomps across the sitting room carpet and out into the hallway. She opens the door. A telegraph boy in a navy-blue uniform and pillbox hat edged in red piping fidgets on the stoop. He thrusts out his hand.
‘Telegram.’
‘Telegram?’
‘For, uh, Ellie Burgess. Any reply?’
‘I’ll take that.’ Dottie tears open the envelope before the boy has a chance to object.
3.45 LONDON
DEAR ELLIE MAE – REGISTRY OFFICE SORTED – OCT 11 2PM – MEET YOU LIVERPOOL ST IN MORNING – BRING MARRIAGE LICENCE – I LOVE YOU – THOMAS
Dottie gasps. She glances at the telegram boy and shakes her head. ‘No reply.’
Clutching the telegram, Dottie steps back into the hallway and shuts the door. She wanders into the kitchen and spies Ellie through the open window, bent over a flower bed, humming as she pulls weeds from between the parsnips.
Dottie sits on a chair by the table. She fingers the telegram and a thought grows in her mind. Ellie opens the kitchen door and Dottie slides the telegram into the pocket of her skirt.
‘Can you believe this weather, Dottie? It’s like summer out there today.’ She turns on the tap at the sink and washes the dirt off her hands. ‘Was there someone at the door? I thought I heard a bicycle bell. We really must get the doorbell fixed.’
‘You must have heard me on the piano. I’m practising Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’.’
Ellie picks up the kettle. ‘Would you like some tea? I’m about to put the kettle on.’
‘Yes, please, but I’ll have to run out to the Co-op for some milk. Poppy had the last of it this morning.’
‘All right. Be sure to shut the gate. You haven’t found the key, have you? Poppy’s misplaced it somewhere.’
Dottie shakes her head as she rushes out of the kitchen.
‘And pick up some Robertson’s! Poppy’s eaten it all. Marmalade if they have it.’
***
Dottie slams the front gate shut and turns right down the road. Her mind is a whirl. Should she run across the quad and meet up with Poppy when lessons were finished and show him the telegram? Or should she just … tear it up? Poppy would be so upset if he read it. Ellie would get into so much trouble. That would be good to see. Saint Ellie could do no wrong in Poppy’s eyes.
The thought that had planted itself in her mind like a seed grows, as strong as a weed. If Ellie thinks Thomas has gone off and forgotten about her, maybe she’ll start thinking about George again. She’ll forget all about Thomas and stay here in Norwich with her and Poppy and George. They’ll be a family together, the way it’s supposed to be.
She didn’t like Thomas at all. Sure, he was handsome, and he could be funny, though his friend Charlie was much funnier. But, he wasn’t George. She
