Lexi’s War: A heart-warming wartime saga to bring hope and happiness in 2018

Cecilia bit her lip, hard. That remark hurt – she would never want to spoil anything for any of her children.

Anyway, why shouldn’t Lexi have a new dress? She was a good daughter, surely she deserved something new to wear, whatever the reason.

Cecilia turned to leave. ‘We’ll go to the market tomorrow, Lexi,’ she said, ‘after your morning shift at the shop. What colour do you have in mind for your new dress?’

It was Friday, the 22

of May and Alfred had come home again. Lexi was going to pop in to Grey Gables for half an hour so that she and Johnny could finish his jigsaw. They’d done it once already and had set themselves a target of halving the time it had taken them, but Anna was complaining that she needed her huge tray back.

Now, Lexi tapped quietly on the back door and straightaway Johnny appeared. ‘Come in, Lexi,’ he said, ‘Anna has just made a sponge cake for tea because Alfred’s arrived so you’ve come at the right moment.’

He’d hardly finished speaking when the door to the hall opened and Alfred appeared. For a few seconds Lexi hardly recognized him.

He seemed so much taller than the last time she’d seen him – he hadn’t been around much at Christmas and had been away on a trip at Easter. He hadn’t bothered to change out of his grey college suit and smart shirt and tie, and his dark hair, falling casually over his forehead, made him look sophisticated and devil-may-care. And handsome.

Lexi swallowed. ‘Hello Alfred,’ she said uncertainly, and he immediately came over and put his arms lightly around her waist.

‘Well, hello to you, Miss Martin,’ he drawled in a deeply masculine voice. ‘We haven’t seen each other for months, have we? And Miss Lexi Martin is no longer the little girl I thought I knew. You are looking very lovely, I must say.’

Lexi completely lost her tongue as he gazed down at her, and she could feel the warmth of his hands through her fine cotton skirt. –‘Well … thank you, kind sir,’ she said, feeling his hands press her more tightly. ‘Yes, it has been some time, hasn’t it,’ she murmured, not pulling away. ‘You’ve changed.’

Then she suddenly moved away, feeling embarrassed. Why was he being silly? And why was she responding? She was Lexi and he was Alfred and they’d known each other for ages. Yet suddenly he wasn’t quite the person she knew after all and he’d made her feel different just then…. She looked over at Johnny whose face had gone bright red, and before anyone could say anything else Anna spoke up firmly.

‘Come along, the three of you,’ she said, ‘have a slice of this while it’s still warm. The tea’s made.’

‘Bags I sit next to Lexi,’ Alfred said, grinning down at her. ‘I’m on a short holiday from an all-male college, remember, and am in sore need of some female company.’

‘Kindly bring the pot over from the stove for me, Alfred, please,’ Anna said, trying not to glare at him as she spoke, but as soon as he’d set foot in the house an hour ago it was obvious that he’d been drinking. She could smell it. So that’s what private education did for you! And now he was trying to flirt with little Lexi. Anna shot him another glance as she poured out the tea. Not very long ago she’d have told Mr Alfred McCann to behave himself, but after all he was going on nineteen. What did she expect?

Anna sighed briefly as she passed them their tea. They were all growing up so fast.

Later, as they went together on the rounds, Johnny said – ‘Well, at least one of us is pleased to see my brother home. The pair of you were getting on like a house on fire.’

Lexi immediately coloured up – hardly able to deny it because it was true that Alfred had paid her more attention than usual, and she’d responded. It had made her feel funny inside when he’d put his hands on her hips like that. And it was obvious that Anna hadn’t liked his attitude. She had never put up with any showing off from her two boys, and Alfred had definitely been showing off.

Now, Lexi caught hold of Johnny’s hand, and for the first time ever she felt him pull away from her. ‘Oh, that was just Alfred being silly,’ she said. ‘It didn’t mean anything. Well, it didn’t mean anything to me, but it was difficult for me, Johnny,’ she went on, trying to make amends. ‘Alfred insisted on sitting next to me at the table and saying soppy things. What could I have done?’

‘You were obviously enjoying every moment,’ Johnny said sulkily. ‘You were like two love birds! And don’t deny it because I could tell, and so could Anna. If looks could have killed she’d have done my brother in!’

They continued on the rounds, not saying much, but Lexi having to silently admit that Alfred’s suave, self-satisfied manner had, briefly, put him on a sort of pedestal. She glanced up at Johnny. After he’d been to that college, would he eventually come back the same as his brother? Confident and self-assured? Because around the tea table earlier it had all been about Alfred McCann. No one else got a word in. In a few years would Johnny turn out the same?

With all the rents collected, Lexi didn’t go back to Grey Gables with Johnny. Mr McCann was definitely going to be there because Alfred was home, so the two parted company with hardly another word. And Johnny just said ‘cheerio,’ not even looking back, which made Lexi feel worse than ever.

Later, sitting at home with her mother, Lexi gave Cecilia a side-long glance. ‘Alfred was really stupid this afternoon, Mama, saying how lovely I looked and that he was tired of all-male company and did I want to go to town with him later because he knew the best places.’ Lexi made a face. ‘He didn’t stop bragging the whole time I was there, saying how good he was at everything. I could see that Anna was really annoyed with him.’

Cecilia pursed her lips. ‘Oh yes, Anna has told me about that young man more than once, she thinks he’s heading for trouble because he’s headstrong and unreliable. Even Mr McCann is getting worried about him.’

‘Well thank goodness Johnny is not a bit like him,’ Lexi said quickly. ‘I know he was really embarrassed at Alfred’s behaviour. At one point I thought Johnny was going to punch his brother on the nose!’

Cecilia looked across at Lexi. ‘Just remember that they are a completely different set of people down there, Lexi, they are not like us and we are certainly not like them, and never can be.’

‘But Johnny’s not like Alfred, nor like Mr McCann,’ Lexi protested. ‘Johnny is like one of us, you know he is! That’s why he always likes being with us here.’

‘Yes, Johnny is a nice lad,’ Cecilia agreed. ‘But he’s made out of the same mould as the others and that’s what counts in the end. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about. People like them have different values, different expectations. They are of a different class. We only know them well because I’ve always worked at Grey Gables. Folk like us are the employed, people like the McCanns are the employers, that’s the difference, and nothing will ever change it.’ She shrugged briefly. ‘Johnny will go away to college and will grow up – and grow away – quickly. It’s inevitable.’

Her mother’s words echoed Lexi’s own thoughts. Would Johnny become someone different one day? Would he stop wanting to be with her, like he always had? Or would he be brash and conceited? Full of himself, like Alfred? No. She couldn’t believe it! Nothing would change Johnny into someone like Alfred, even if they were made out of the same mould.

Anyway, if they went to Bert’s Place on Sunday evening she was going to treat Johnny to two custard slices to make up for that nonsense in the kitchen with Alfred.

Chapter Seven (#ulink_5478eb12-6cb3-5217-8f06-592f4decc5a8)

Upstairs in his study Reynard was glum. It was the beginning of June and now no one could ignore the fact that war with Germany was imminent. Everyone knew about the constant flow of trains taking soldiers to Southampton Docks for embarkation to France and Belgium. There was no question about it – although war had not yet actually been declared, preparations for the conflict were in full swing.

Reynard leaned forward, his head in his hands. It seemed unthinkable that only a few weeks earlier, those same trains had been taking people away to the continent on holiday. How could this be happening?

Then he stood up. If he had anything to say about it, Alfred would not be going on one of those troop trains. Or if he did, it would be over his father’s dead body! But Reynard allowed himself a little smile. He had hatched a plan – which might go some way in preventing Alfred’s hot-headed wish to enlist. In any case, the talk in London was that this war would be over by Christmas. So, for the moment, Reynard’s delaying tactics were all that were necessary.

Downstairs in the kitchen, Anna glanced at the clock. Mr McCann was still in the study – which was unusual at this time of the morning – but perhaps he had too many things on his mind. He’d been in a bad mood for days, and she knew that he was worried sick about the prospect of war, and what it was going to mean for the country.

Anna filled the coffee pot and put it on a tray together with a cup and saucer and a small bowl of sugar, but no milk. Her employer always drank his coffee black. He hadn’t requested a mid-morning break, but she was going to take the drink up anyway. Perhaps it would cheer him up for an hour or two. Coffee could do that if you drank it strong enough.

Upstairs, she tapped on the study door and went in. Reynard was poring over some papers in front of him, and he didn’t look up as Anna put the tray down on the small table by his side.

‘Thank you, Anna.’

She was about to leave when he turned to speak. ‘Plans for the summer holidays have changed, Anna,’ he said. ‘I’ve decided that Alfred, and Johnny – who of course will soon be a student at Salisbury – will, after all, be going on that field trip to Barra with the college. Which means that neither of them will be here again until the beginning of September.’

Anna was almost speechless with disappointment. Her boys not being here during all those summer weeks?

‘At first, I had turned down the opportunity for them to go – it felt so remote, an island in the Outer Hebrides,’ Reynard went on, ‘but in view of the present situation I thought it might be wise for them to be out of harm’s way, at least for now … until things become clearer.’ Reynard stirred a spoonful of sugar into his cup. ‘I know how much you love having a full house during the holidays, Anna, but it can’t be helped I’m afraid … I’ll inform the college and the boys.’

Anna left the room without saying a word. To say that she was disappointed was putting it mildly. She’d already anticipated the summer weeks of comings and goings and general jollity with everyone at home. She sighed, feeling cross. But at least Johnny was still home until the end of June, and she still saw Lexi on a regular basis, and Cecilia, too. They always made her feel so welcome in their little cottage and the younger children were a delight and full of life.

Anna flung herself down in her chair and folded her arms. She wished she hadn’t taken the blessed coffee up to him now and she didn’t care whether it cheered him up or not. He certainly hadn’t cheered her up.

Upstairs, Reynard traced the outline of the map with his forefinger again. Yes, Barra seemed the perfect spot – an island about as far away from England, and from the Continent with its impending disaster, as you could get. When the geography field trip had been announced earlier in the year he’d not taken to the idea with much enthusiasm, and neither had Alfred. But now Reynard had decided that both boys should go, after all – apparently the place had spectacular views and white sandy beaches so it would be a sort of holiday for them, if nothing else. And at least for those couple of months his older son would be safely away from any possibility of offering his services to the country.