Page 22 of Neighbors at War

The men stopped talking and without thinking Helen looked over her shoulder at them to see the one she didn’t recognise glare pointedly at Hauptmann Schneider. Helen immediately turned away, tensing.

‘You, there. What are you doing?’

She clenched her teeth, furious with herself for making such a careless mistake. ‘I’m sorry, I caught my fingernail on the edge of the tray,’ she lied. ‘I didn’t mean to interrupt you. She saw a look of confusion on the Hauptmann’s face and hoped he believed her. ‘Would you rather I finish clearing up later?’ she asked in the most innocent voice she could muster.

Hauptmann Schneider shook his head after a moment’s hesitation. ‘Nein. We leave now.’

She waited for them to go. Listening to their footsteps as they went down the corridor Helen turned back to the messy dresser laden with plates of half-eaten food, her mouth watering at the sight of a piece of bacon that remained on one of the serving dishes. She picked it up and ate it, savouring every salty mouthful as she hurriedly tidied up. She didn’t want to be caught eating their food but was aware that although they still had food coming into the island from France, not much of it reached the locals and hardly anything had much taste anymore.

As she chewed Helen mulled over what she had heard of their furtive conversation. Excited, she realised she finally had something to share with Peggy.

Chapter Twelve

RICHARD

Richard took a deep breath to try and control his anxiety as he stood across the road from Helen’s family home. He had walked her to the Grove Street terrace of Victorian houses many times when they were seeing each other. He wondered how she would react, seeing him on her doorstep after all this time?

He recalled the last time he had seen her in the summer of 1940 and was embarrassed by his immaturity back then. They had spent a blissful day walking on Black Heath before going to Greenwich Park and enjoying a picnic, lazily snoozing in the sunshine for a couple of hours before making their way back to her home.

How was he to know they would bump into his fiancée Felicity as they walked to the Underground station? Not that he should have been surprised when Felicity – who he knew had a malicious streak – had taken off her cotton glove and shown off her engagement ring to Helen before leaning forward and kissing Richard on his cheek. He had been too dumbfounded to speak and simply watched as Felicity linked arms with her friend and strolled away, giving him and Helen a wave over her shoulder.

‘You’re engaged?’ Helen exclaimed, her beautiful grey eyes filling with unshed tears. ‘Richard, how could you? I thought you loved me,’ she said, talking over him as he tried to explain. ‘I assumed we would be getting married.’ She pointed in the direction of the park. ‘I stupidly expected you were leading up to proposing today.’

She had marched off, insisting he didn’t follow her. Not that he had listened, initially. His heart ached as he recalled catching up with her and taking her arm, only for her to snatch it away. ‘Please, let me explain.’

The look of disappointment and deep hurt in her eyes was something he had never been able to dispel. ‘What is there to explain?’ she had asked with a bitter laugh. ‘You are engaged to be married, and not to me. You have lied to me, Richard. And to her.’ She had frowned. ‘Not that she seemed very upset.’ A thought had occurred to her. ‘Or surprised, for that matter.’ She pulled away from him. ‘Why is that, I wonder?’

‘Helen, please,’ he said, desperate to make her understand how much he loved her. ‘It’s not as it seems.’ His hand went to his chest where she had pushed him away from her. ‘Give me time to resolve this. Please. I promise you I will.’

‘No.’ She had turned her back on him.

‘But Helen, I love you.’

She had turned to him, then, tears running down her pretty face, causing his heart to break for the hurt he had caused her. ‘But she is the one wearing your ring, and I’m the one…’

‘I know,’ he had said when she hesitated. He was grateful for the chance to speak again. ‘You’re the one who’s been let down and I never meant that to happen.’

She glared at him, then, with a look of pure fury before bursting into tears. ‘Oh, just leave me alone, will you. You’ve done enough damage.’

He had been so stunned by having to face the truth of his stupidity that when she ran off, he lost her in a crowd. By the time he had gathered his senses and followed her she was gone.

If only he hadn’t decided to give her time to calm down before going to her home and trying to reason with her. If only he had gone straight after Helen and explained that he and Felicity had been childhood sweethearts but he already knew their relationship was over, from that first day he met Helen waiting for her friend outside the cinema. He should have explained right then that he had told Felicity months before that he couldn’t marry her.

Everything would have been fine if he had refused to give Felicity time to come to terms with the end of their engagement, but he had felt too guilty about feeling more deeply for Helen in that first meeting than he had ever done for his fiancée.

He had come to Helen’s house several times after that, only to have the door slammed in his face by her brother or one of her parents and told never to come back. He had written to her time and again since that horrible day but hadn’t received any replies. And then he had joined up.

At least now his leave had finally been granted, and this time he was determined to speak to her, to explain about his engagement with Felicity and that it had finally been ended that day. He exhaled sharply, straightened his cap and crossed the road with as much confidence as he could muster.

His shoulders back, he took a steadying breath and rang the doorbell. He had met her parents and brother a few times and had always got along well with them before he and Helen had fallen out. He couldn’t blame them for being angry on her behalf at the misunderstanding.

The door opened and Helen’s mother stared at him in disbelief. Richard opened his mouth to speak but her expression darkened and she shouted over her shoulder to her husband, ‘Eric, come here, will you.’

‘Mrs Bowman, I’m⁠—’

She raised a hand to stop him. ‘Eric, now.’

This wasn’t going the way he had hoped. They were still angry even after all this time. Disturbed by her reaction, Richard tried to think what to do. ‘Mrs Bowman, I⁠—’