Page 106 of Neighbors at War

Tony turned to them. ‘Quick.’

Peggy pulled Helen into following behind Tony. They were unable to keep up as he ran with Bobby, who was now crying loudly in his arms. Tony reached the front door of number 3 and quickly went inside. The three women ran across the road to the house and were a few doors down from the Hamels’ when the front door of number 2 opened and three soldiers ran out.

Peggy tensed. They were too close for their venture to fail now, surely.

‘Oh no,’ Helen groaned tearfully. ‘There’s Hauptmann Schneider and Leutnant Müller coming out of Aunt Sylvia’s house.’

‘They mustn’t see me either,’ Dulcie hissed, keeping her head bowed. She put her arms around Peggy and Helen’s shoulders, pulling them to her as if they were huddled together comforting each other as the drama unfolded. Peggy realised she must have worked with Helen and Daphne.

Peggy peered sideways, watching as Hauptmann Schneider’s gaze passed over them. He didn’t seem to recognise any of them, she noticed with relief. Just then gunfire echoed through the air again and the three men ran off to their right after the other three soldiers.

‘Thank heavens for that,’ Peggy whispered, barely able to breathe. ‘Thank you, Dulcie. I think you’ve just probably saved us from being caught.’

‘It’s nothing,’ she said but Peggy saw she was trembling. ‘Helen was always kind to me when we worked together.’ She looked over her shoulder as German voices screamed an order. ‘I’d better be going home. It was good to see you, Helen. Maybe we can catch up when this is all over.’

‘I’d like that.’

‘Good luck,’ Dulcie said before hurrying back towards Bellozanne Avenue.

‘That was lucky,’ Peggy said, feeling light-headed from their close brush with danger. ‘Quickly, let’s get inside.’

Her mother or sister must have been watching out for them because as soon as they reached the top step the front door opened. Peggy pushed Helen inside and seconds later leant against the closed front door, shaking. She tried to slow her breathing. Her legs were trembling with exertion and fear. She could barely believe they had made it.

Peggy was vaguely aware of her mother’s voice and her sister’s excitement, when strong arms enveloped her and Tony held her tightly against him.

‘We made it,’ he said, his deep voice quavering slightly.

‘Only just.’ She thought of the man who had run out of the property and diverted the soldiers’ attention from them just when they had needed it. She hoped he had managed to escape.

‘But we got them here.’ He kissed her forehead. ‘You were so brave.’

She looked up at him. ‘I wasn’t the one carrying Bobby, or being questioned.’ She clung to him, her skin clammy from fear. ‘We were all brave though, weren’t we?’

‘We were.’

Chapter Sixty-Nine

HELEN

31 December 1944

Helen woke, disappointed to see the small attic window instead of the larger one she had become used to in her bedroom at Daphne’s home. She had been dreaming that she and Bobby were back at Sans Souci and it was an effort not to give into her grief. Losing Daphne had been an enormous shock and she missed her and their gentle life together. Each time Bobby asked if they would ever see Aunty Daffy again, her heart broke a little more.

Tony told her he had sent a couple of telegrams to Richard letting him know they were back at the Hamels but she was yet to hear from him. She ached with fear. She would be unable to bear it if anything happened to him. She had lost too many people already and needed Bobby to know his father.

She worried about whether she would ever recover from what she had experienced here. It was at times like these when she had too much time on her hands that her thoughts tormented her. She knew she must remain strong, although it was getting harder to keep her resolve as each day passed.

Instead of things getting better they were already so much worse than they had been the previous summer. There was barely any food, and soaps or detergents were things of the past, as was fuel. The house was cold now that they had run out of things to burn. But worst of all was their lack of hope. Helen suspected that if it wasn’t for Bobby she would lie in a dark corner and simply spend her time sleeping. As it was they did sleep more, but only because there was little else for them to do and hunger sapped their energy.

Her feelings were irrelevant, though; she knew she was lucky to have Bobby to keep her despondency at bay. She was luckier than some to have such a precious reason to keep going, because, as difficult as she was finding it, she felt sure this war would end, especially since the Americans had taken back St Malo over three months before. Belgium had been liberated, too, and no doubt other battles would be won by the Allies.

She just hoped the islanders survived long enough to see it happen. She seemed to recall some excitement about a Canadian Red Cross boat bringing in food parcels, but since she and Bobby were in hiding they wouldn’t be able to collect one.

Christmas had passed with little celebration, which she didn’t mind. They had little to celebrate and nothing to celebrate with. All she wanted was for the days to pass and for them to somehow survive.

She heard excited voices. One of them was Babs’s. The girl’s enthusiasm for life was greatly diminished but she still managed to keep more upbeat than the rest of them.

‘Mummy?’