Margot lifted her arms up to protect her face as Jenny kicked out. The toe of her shoe caught Margot in the ribs. As she turned to avoid a second blow, Margot saw a dim shaft of light coming from the door that Jenny had come out of. She saw a man pull on the collar on his coat before stepping out. It was Bill. ‘Bill!’ she shouted.
‘Margot?’ Seeing his wife on the ground, Bill began to run. ‘What the hell’s going on?’ Bill took hold of Jenny by the shoulders and dragged her off Margot.
Jenny stumbled but quickly recovered. ‘She attacked me, Bill. I was defending myself. She’s drunk,’ Jenny cried, trying to put her arms round Bill’s neck.
‘Let go of me, Jenny!’ Bill bellowed.
Jenny let go and stepped back. She shook her head in disbelief. ‘What are you doing, Bill? I love you, and you love me, you know you do.’
‘I don’t love you, Jenny. I have never loved you. I have never loved anyone but my wife,’ Bill said, helping Margot to her feet.
Margot put her foot to the ground and cried out. ‘Good God, what have you done to her?’ he barked.
I’m sorry, Bill. I didn’t mean to… Please don’t tell the controller. I couldn’t bear it if I lost my job. Please, Bill. It’s all I’ve got.’
‘Then you’d better get on with it, hadn’t you!’ Bill shouted, putting his arm around Margot. ‘Come on, love, let’s go home.’
‘You’re just in time for a cup of tea,’ Margot said, hopping across the sitting room to greet Bill. ‘Would you get it, love? It’s in the kitchen. I daren’t risk carrying it in case I drop it.’ Margot turned on her good foot and dropped onto the nearest chair. ‘Damn ankle.’
Bill went to the kitchen and brought back the tea tray. ‘I’ll pour,’ he said, sitting next to her.
‘You’re quiet,’ Margot said, as Bill handed her a cup. ‘What did the controller say?’
‘He wouldn’t accept my resignation.’
Margot sighed loudly. ‘As angry as I am with Jenny I don’t want her to lose her job, but if the controller won’t let you leave you’ll have to tell him you won’t work with her. And if he wants to know why, tell him. Serves her right,’ Margot said, taking a sip of her tea. ‘If he sacks her it’s her own fault.’
Bill leant his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands.
‘What is it?’ Margot asked. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘The controller didn’t accept my resignation,’ Bill said, looking at Margot with tears in his eyes, ‘because there’s no need for me to leave.’
‘Why? Has Jenny left?’ She rubbed a tear from Bill’s cheek with her thumb. ‘What is it, love?’
‘Jenny’s dead.’
Margot looked into Bill’s eyes, her own filling with tears. ‘When? How?’
‘Last night. She went out in my place.’
Margot’s feelings were in turmoil. She thanked God Bill hadn’t gone out with the ambulance the night before, or he might have been killed, but she was sad and sorry that Jenny had. She felt guilty too, because she’d argued with her, told her she was deluded. It was a cruel thing to say and would have hurt her more because it was true. The truth didn’t matter now. Not the argument, not Jenny attacking her, or trying to steal Bill. None of it mattered any more. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
Bill gently pushed a wisp of hair out of Margot’s eyes. ‘I know.’ The frown lines on his forehead deepened. ‘Because I left early to-- Jenny took my ambulance out to the East End. The controller said Poplar had been given a thrashing and he put a call out asking every available crew to attend. When they got there a row of houses had been blitzed to rubble. Most of the residents had been in the shelter; the rest – minor cuts and bruises – were attended to on site. The firemen thought they’d got everyone out and began to pack up, but Jenny said she could hear someone shouting for help and went to investigate.’ Bill paused and took a drink of his tea.
‘Is it cold, love? Shall I’ll make you another?’
He shook his head and cleared his throat. ‘She found a man trapped beneath an iron girder. She managed to move the girder enough for the man to crawl to safety. It was then, the man said, that they saw the bomb. Jenny said she daren’t put the girder down in case the weight set the bomb off, and she told him to fetch help.’ Bill put his head in his hands again and wept.
Margot wanted desperately to say something that would help him. ‘She was brave--’
‘She was stupid,’ Bill roared. ‘Careless! She knew better than to put her own life in danger. She knew the procedure. We’d gone over it a hundred times. You never go into a dangerous situation alone; you wait for the fire brigade. They’re equipped, trained. They’d have got the man out... Silly, silly girl! Why did she do it?’ he cried. Bill took a handkerchief from his trousers pocket and wiped his face. ‘The man she saved said her fellow ambulance workers were making their way over to her when the bomb exploded.’ Bill broke down and sobbed. ‘She didn’t stand a chance.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Margot turned over. She reached out in the dark, waved her hand about anxiously until she found the lamp on the bedside table and switched it on. She squinted at the clock. It was half past two – an hour later than the last time she looked. Her stomach felt hollow and ached. She was hungry. She hadn’t eaten since…? She couldn’t remember. Tea and toast!
