Her back gate banged, and next thing Enid Brown was standing in front of her.
“Sally, what’s wrong. Oh, my goodness you’re bleeding. What did you do to her?” Enid turned on the soldier. “Derek! Derek Matthews, you’re home. As I live and breathe, I never thought I would see the day. We thought you were dead. Have you seen Sam? Is he with you?” Enid looked behind Derek as if expecting her husband to materialize.
“Enid, Sam is dead. I’m sorry but he caught one in the stomach. Nothing we could do for him. He didn’t feel anything though. He was lucky.”
“Lucky?” Enid repeated in disbelief.
Horrified, Sally stared at her husband. How could he tell a woman that her dead husband was a lucky man?
“Yes, lucky. He didn’t spend the next five years at the mercy of the Krauts. Can’t bear to be near them or hear the accent. Get those kids out of here and leave me alone with my missus.”
Enid stood, her facial expression telling everyone how she felt about being ordered about. Derek must have seen he’d gone too far.
“Enid, please. I’ll call in to you later and tell you about Sam. Just for the moment, leave me and Sally be. Can you do that?”
Enid melted, just as Sally knew she would. Her friend had always carried a torch for Derek, always flirting with him despite being married to Sam. A decent man was Sam. But then Derek had never behaved like this before. She couldn’t remember Derek ever being cruel to anything or anyone, let alone backhanding a woman or a child. She caught Liesl’s terrified look and saw behind Tom’s façade to the scared little boy he’d been when he first arrived in Liverpool Street. She gathered her wits to her.
“Enid, be a dear and take the children to your house. Take this with you. I baked two of them. Derek can have some for his lunch.” Sally pressed the mince tart into her neighbor’s hands. Not that there was much meat in it, mainly vegetables these days, but still. Her thoughts danced around stupid topics, anything to avoid thinking of her husband and how he was alive. Well the man in front of her was a living breathing copy of Derek but he was nothing like the man she had fallen in love with. Sure, they had only known each other a few short months before he had shipped off to training, one of the first to sign up. They might have been married almost seven years but all together they had spent about a month as a married couple, if that.
Tom moved to protest, but Sally silenced him with a glance. “Please Tom, take Liesl with you. I will be fine. Nothing will happen to me. I will come to Enid’s in a while to talk to you.”
Tom glowered in Derek’s direction but thankfully kept his mouth closed. He lifted Liesl clear of the mess of glass and together they followed Enid out the front door. Sally closed the door behind them, wishing it had been Maggie who’d happened to come to her aid. She didn’t like leaving the children with Enid, still, nothing could be done about that now.
She walked back into the kitchen to the sink, where she wet a clean dishcloth and rubbed it over her face. The cold had the desired effect on the blood flow which was only a trickle now. She looked around at her once sparkling floor, now covered in glass, blood, and goodness knows what else. Picking up the brush she attempted to clean up.
“Leave it, woman, for God’s sake.”
“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain Derek. Nothing calls for that.”
He laughed but it wasn’t a nice sound. She stared at him, not recognizing him at all. What had happened to this shell of a man? He looked shattered. Despite what had just happened, he was her husband and he had come back from the dead.
“Would you like a cup of tea and a piece of that tart? Are you hungry?”
“Sally, just stop and sit down will you. I won’t hurt you. That was an accident and I’m sorry. You will have to make other arrangements for those kids, now I’m back.”
Sally stayed silent. She wouldn’t send them away. She needed time to convince him to let them stay.
She couldn’t sit at the table, doing nothing. She filled the kettle and made a cup of tea, using fresh leaves and more than usual. If there was one time that called for a strong cup of tea, it was now.
She placed a cup in front of him, putting the milk jug on the side. She couldn’t give him any sugar. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes never left her face.
Only after taking a long sip of tea and savoring the strength, did she ask.
“What happened. I was told you were dead.”
“I wish I had died.”
“Derek. You can’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s true. It would have been better than being locked up for the past five years, sitting on my ar… backside, while my family, friends, and neighbors forgot about me.”
“We didn’t forget. We had a remembrance service, but I kept feeling I would know if you were dead. Your mother insisted I wear black, but it felt wrong. She’ll be delighted you are home. Have you seen her yet?”
She didn’t add the only time they had seen his mother was on the day of the remembrance service. Mrs. Matthews had arrived dressed in black from head to toe and adopted the lady-of-the-manor routine right from the word go. She behaved as if she was the lead mourner and not Sally. After the service, people had come to Rose Cottage for tea and sandwiches. Maggie, Susan, and the rest of Sally’s friends had done their best, given rationing had been put in place. But
