Page 23 of The Island Girls

‘I think I’ve got as much sorted as I need to from this end now. I shouldn’t need to come back here to the pottery to do any more on this job. Back up to London tomorrow, for me,’ he said, then turned away from the desk and picked up his bag, addressing Rebekah as he straightened. ‘So we have the rest of this evening for you to show me everything you think I should see.’ He smiled.

‘That’s not very long to show you the best of the most beautiful county in England, but I do like a challenge. I would love to show you the other side of the harbour, and it’s a perfect evening for a drive. We won’t get inside the castle as we’re too late, but we can drive around the Wareham way, have a walk around Corfe in the evening sun, and then have a pub dinner. We’ll come home the Studland way to make it a circular drive and back over the chain ferry, then you can leave me in the safe hands of the captain of theEnterprise,’ she explained as they walked out to the car.

‘Captain Kirk? I’ve always wanted to meet him,’ he said with a grin.

‘Do you know, I’ve never even thought of that connection before! Now I’ll never be able to think of Bob in any other way.’ Rebekah laughed.

As Rebekah directed Paul along the quay, across the Hamworthy lifting bridge from one quay to the other, and towards Wareham, she relaxed into the delightful knowledge that she’d be with him for at least another four or maybe five hours. And, she thought to herself as she took a shy glance at him driving now, she was going to make every minute count.

13

POOLE HARBOUR – FEBRUARY 1941

As Peggy Symonds ate her crumpets and drank her tea with her family that Friday evening, the first dreary thoughts of doubt started to fill her mind. It had been almost a full week since she had seen Darrell Taylor at the dance hall last Saturday, and though she had been nursing high hopes of seeing him tonight, she began to wonder. Perhaps his non-appearance all week was not so much to do with the call of duty that had kept him busy. Perhaps he had been in Poole all along but had found another pub, with another girl to charm. She sighed deeply and looked into the fireplace flames, watching them flicker over the coals.

‘What’s eating at you, Peggy love?’ asked Molly, who seemed to have turned a corner in the last few days and was beginning to glow, having got her appetite back.

Peggy, startled from her thoughts, took a moment to gather the worries tumbling through her mind.

‘I had a lovely time with Darrell last Saturday, Molly. And I fully expected to see him again this week. I got my hopes up, and he’s been nowhere. He’s not “mine” as so many of the girls are saying. I have no rights to him. But I feel…’ She turned her face back to the flames again. ‘I feel as if I’ve lost something special.As if we really could have made a go of it, and now he might have gone off to find someone else. And I suppose…’ she heaved a big sigh again ‘…I suppose I feel foolish for all that.’

‘But Peggy, he’s in the RAAF – he’s busy and serving. You’re just lucky he’s based right here in Poole, and you’re not waiting for him to come home on leave. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Tell you what,’ Molly added, brightening, ‘let’s go down to the Antelope together tonight and if he’s there, he’s there. If he’s not, we’ll have a nice cosy time together. I’m sure I could do with another pint of stout to keep my energy up for this one,’ she said, rubbing her growing little baby bump.

The sisters put on their coats, and a little lipstick, and linked arms as much to stop each other from falling in the pitch-dark of the blackout as they did to keep each other warm and close. And soon they were outside the pub that they thought of as their local and pushing open the doors to reveal the humming mass of happy Friday-night chatter and laughter inside.

‘You get the corner table, Molly; I’ll go and fetch us a drink,’ said Peggy, knowing full well that Molly would understand she needed to scan the room properly and look for Darrell. The pub was full of Friday-night locals, the fishermen, the wives, the BOAC pilots, some soldiers and sailors in uniform on home leave, and then, right at the last, she spotted a group in the back corner wearing the slightly different blue uniform of the RAAF.

‘What’ll it be, love?’ asked the publican, waiting for her expectantly.

‘Sorry, Jim, I was miles away. A pint of stout and a port and lemon, please,’ Peggy said, reaching into her handbag for the coins to pay for her drinks.

‘That’ll be one and six please, Peggy love.’

Just as Peggy was about to lay down the coins on the bar, a large, tanned, and hairy hand dropped one and six into the barman’s hand.

‘My shout,’ said Darrell with a broad grin as Peggy looked up in surprise.

‘Thank you! I…’ For a moment, Peggy was lost for words, looking to the back of the room where Darrell must have appeared from and across to Molly who was beaming up at her. ‘I thought I might have seen you again this week,’ she added, looking up into the deep amber of his eyes that seemed to be drinking in the sight of her.

‘I know. I’m sorry, Peggy. I was worried you’d think I’d left you all alone. I’ve not had a minute to get off. For some reason or other – that even we are not allowed to know – we’ve been on high alert all week, scouring the coast with double runs. I’ve barely slept, let alone had a night off to get out to see you. But I’m here now.’ He smiled warmly.

‘Indeed, you are. Would you like to join me and Molly?’ she asked.

Darrell went to collect his own drink and then joined the sisters at their table.

Peggy caught him up on the activities in the harbour for the week, and the arrival of the welcome pair of hands in Charlie. And Molly listened in wonder as Darrell told them of an air-sea rescue they’d been involved in.

‘We came across a ship that looked to be in trouble,’ he explained.

‘A Royal Navy ship?’ asked Molly, desperate to hear any news of their brother, Samuel.

‘No, this was a merchant ship – just as important with many sailors aboard, and not to mention the precious cargo she was bringing from America. We did a few circuits and once they realised who we were – which side we were on – they were waving for help. We landed and managed to make contact, fearful that they may have been hit, though they didn’t seem to be going down. Turned out they had a man on board who wasvery sick. We got him aboard and brought him back here to Poole to the hospital, days earlier than they would have made it from where they were.’

‘So, you saved his life?’ asked Molly in awe.

‘I think that was all down to the surgeon at the hospital, Molly. We were just the taxi service, in the right place at the right time,’ Darrell said with the laid-back shrug of his shoulders that Peggy was becoming quite familiar with.

‘So, if a ship was going down – hit by a torpedo, say – would you be able to rescue the men? How many could you take aboard a Sunderland? Surely, they’re only built for two dozen or so passengers?’ said Peggy, thinking of the hundreds who would be on some bigger naval vessels.

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