‘My limp?’
She nodded.
‘It’s a lot better than it was, believe it or not. A piece of shrapnel decided to take up residence in my leg, but I’m nearly as good as new. I’ll be back on duty at Puckpool before the week’s done.’
Constance felt a stab of jealousy, Warners Holiday Camp at Puckpool Park here in Ryde had been commissioned as the naval branch of the Royal Airforce, and she knew it was home to WRNS as well. Norma’s cousin worked in the pay office there and was stepping out with one of the officers. It was the worst luck that of all the places she could have been sent to work, she’d wound up at the shipyard. She blinked as she registered what he’d gone on to say.
‘That’s where it happened, at the camp. There was an air raid, and I didn’t get to the shelter in time. I don’t remember it, but I’m told they found me under a pile of rubble. It coulda been a lot worse, and I got off lightly compared to some of the poor fellas I saw at the Royal.’ He shrugged.
Constance nodded. He could have died. There were plenty of others that had. He was one of the lucky ones.
With a start, she became aware that time was marching on. It would be dark soon, and if she didn’t want her dad to set out combing the streets for her, she’d best get herself off home. She stood up, smoothing down the bulk of her coat stalling as she told Henry she had to be off.
‘Could I walk you home?’ he asked hopefully.
‘I’d like that.’ She smiled shyly linking her arm through his as they set off down the Esplanade.
Constance felt as though she were walking a little taller as she meandered alongside the tall Canadian especially as Beryl Stubbs, a girl she’d never been particularly friendly with at school hurried past on her way home. Her envious glance didn’t escape her notice.
‘So then Constance Downer. What do you do for fun around here?’
Constance liked the way her name sounded when he said it. She thought for a moment; she wasn’t about to tell him that knitting and listening to the wireless was a leisure time fixture! ‘Well, there are dances, and we go to the pictures.’
‘The pictures?’
‘Oh, er, the cinema.’
‘Ah, now I got you. What’s your all-time favourite film?’
‘Casablanca. I went to see it three times.’
‘You’re a Bogart fan?
‘No— Ingrid Bergman, she’s beautiful. What about you, what’s your favourite film?’
‘You’ll laugh.’
Constance looked up at him. ‘I won’t.’
‘You promise?’
‘I promise.’
‘The Wizard of Oz.’
Constance giggled, and they garnered strange looks from passersby as the tall Canadian Airforce man, and young Connie Downer from A Stitch in Time began to sing at the top of their lungs. “Follow the Yellow Brick Road.”
Chapter 15
‘This is me,’ Constance said as they reached Pier View House. The shop was deserted, and the closed sign hung in the window.
For the first time since they’d met the conversation dried up with neither of them wanting to say goodnight just yet but not knowing how to prolong things either. It was Henry who broke the silence. ‘Constance, would you like to come out with me on Saturday night? Maybe we could have one of those fish suppers I hear are so good?’
Constance had been planning on pleading with her mum and dad to be allowed to go to a dance she knew was being held at the local school hall with Norma on Friday night, but this was an opportunity not to be missed. Norma could still go, if she was allowed, she could meet up with the rest of their crowd there. ‘Oh I’d like that, but I’d have to check with my parents first.’
‘Well since I’m here maybe I could, you know, introduce myself to them.’
Constance smiled up at him and all the while her heart began to race. He wanted to meet her parents! ‘Will you wait while I let them know you’re here?’
‘Sure.’
She left Henry standing on the footpath outside the haberdashery shop and set off down the sidepath that lead around the back of Pier View House. Before she rounded the corner, she looked over her shoulder and saw him pacing with his hat held in his hands. He was so handsome; she could pinch herself because she must be dreaming!
‘Mummy!’ Constance called from the bottom of the stairs, flying up them and into the kitchen as though she had the hounds of the Baskervilles after her.
Ginny was setting the table, and her mother had her back to her at the cooker. She turned spoon in hand to see what had her daughter in such a flap. ‘What is it, what’s happened, Connie?’
Constance tried to catch her breath. ‘There’s someone who wants to meet you and Daddy. He’s waiting outside on the street.’
Ginny watched on as Eleanor Downer’s shoulders relaxed at the realization that there was no bad news. ‘Ginny, would you mind keeping an eye on this?’ she asked, gesturing to the pan she’d been tending to on the stove before slipping her apron over her head and passing it to her daughter-in-law. ‘And who is this someone?’ she asked Constance, smoothing her skirt. She had an inkling given the way her daughter’s cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were sparkling that this someone was a ‘he.’
‘Mummy, his name’s Henry Johnson, he’s in the Royal Canadian Airforce, and he’s recuperating from an injury at Darlinghurst House. He walked me home from the folly,’ she blurted, eager to get it all out lest she get back downstairs only to find Henry had given up on her coming back to get him.
‘What were you doing at the folly? You know you’re supposed to come straight home.’ Eleanor
