‘Keep back!’ one of them shouted, as Eddie edged closer.
‘I’m looking for Ruby Caselton,’ he bellowed to no one in particular as he gazed wildly around him for help.
‘I saw her outside hut six just before this started,’ a young woman called out to him. ‘She was with Herbie Wilcox.’
Eddie felt an anger burn inside him like he’d never felt before. Had this Herbie held Ruby back from escaping? He spotted a group of men wearing suits and carrying clipboards. Hurrying over, he snapped: ‘Ruby Caselton was near hut six. Have you found her? She was with a man called Herbie Wilcox, if that helps . . .’
One of them checked his list. ‘We don’t have her name marked as safe, or Mr Wilcox’s,’ he said, showing his list to another man standing close by. ‘They could have escaped, but we’ve yet to know,’ he advised Eddie.
Eddie ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. ‘Where is hut six?’
‘What’s left of it is down there – but be careful . . .’ the man called as Eddie started to run towards it. ‘The cartridges are going off all over the place . . .’
Eddie ignored the warnings and ran on; he had to find Ruby at any cost. As he passed what remained of hut five, he averted his glance – several lifeless bodies were lying where they’d been blown by the explosion. Black smoke swirled around the scene as he pulled his jacket up over his head for protection and started to shout out Ruby’s name. She must be somewhere nearby, he thought as he approached the hut.
‘Over here,’ a muffled voice called out.
Turning the corner of the hut, he spotted a man trapped by his legs under a fallen wall. There were sheets of corrugated iron lying about that had blown from the most damaged of the huts. ‘Have you seen Ruby Caselton?’ he asked as he pulled the man free.
‘She was here. I was talking to her,’ the man said as he brushed dust from his clothes and gingerly moved his limbs.
‘Are you Herbie Wilcox?’ Eddie asked as he continued to look for Ruby, pulling away wood and anything that could be hiding her body. Herbie nodded, looking distracted.
‘Look out over there!’ came a shout from men a little distance away, who were helping the injured. ‘There could be another explosion at any time.’
‘Please – you’ve got to help me search for Ruby,’ Eddie pleaded, as Herbie started to back away from the hut.
But Herbie was hurrying away. ‘It’s dangerous to stay here . . .’ he called over his shoulder.
Eddie wanted to wring the man’s neck, but instead he continued to look for Ruby, calling her name as he did so.
‘Eddie . . . Eddie . . . Is that you?’ a faltering voice asked, as he turned towards the worst of the damaged work huts.
He rushed over to where Ruby lay amongst a pile of rubble. Blood was dripping from the side of her head, and from a gash where the sleeve of her jacket was ripped away. Lifting her in his arms, Eddie turned and ran with her away from the sheds just as an almighty explosion decimated what was left of shed number five.
Stopping by the gate of the yard to make way for the fire vehicles, he carefully set his wife onto her feet. ‘I won’t let you go,’ he promised as he searched her face before gently kissing her lips. ‘I’ll never let you go.’
Epilogue
8th May 1945
Ruby sat at her dressing table, checking that the dab of lipstick her granddaughter had insisted she needed had not smudged onto her teeth. ‘Not bad for an old one, eh, Eddie?’ She smiled at the silver-framed photograph beside her. It had been taken at the dairy’s annual dinner and dance for retired employees, not long before Eddie had been taken ill and gently slipped away.
Running her finger over the image of his smiling face, she sighed. ‘What would you make of the world today, my love? Here we are, celebrating the end of another war, and me all done up to the nines.’
She walked over to the window of her bedroom and looked out to where the residents of Alexandra Road were preparing for that afternoon’s street party. Bunting had been pulled out of lofts that had been packed away since the king’s coronation. All kinds of tables and chairs were being lined up and would be covered with bedsheets as tablecloths before the food for children was brought out, donated by most of the families in the road. Ruby had promised her piano to the celebrations; the men would wheel it from her front room onto the pavement later in the day. They would play tunes for children’s games, and later the adults would sing around it when the barrel of beer was opened. It would be a grand day, one they’d waited a long time for.
‘You’d have enjoyed this,’ she said to Eddie’s smiling face. ‘You always did enjoy your beer. You’d have loved to bounce one of your grandchildren on your knee – why, even your two great-grandchildren,’ she added, thinking of Sarah’s youngsters. ‘Time has certainly moved on, and I have so many memories to hang on to in my older years. I hope you’re looking down on me today, my love, and giving me your blessings.’
‘Talking to yourself, Mum?’ George said as he entered the bedroom. ‘I thought I’d
