Read Online Moonlight and Ashes by Rosie Goodwin - Free Book Online

to come home to find that dinner’s nearly ready.’
    ‘Well, of course it is. All I’m saying is, I don’t want you to make yourself bad. You do far more than enough already.’ They were now into May and the warmer weather had made Ellen’s ankles balloon.
    ‘Rubbish. Now get yer coat off an’ come to the table while I get across home to see to yer dad’s tea.’
    Maggie gratefully sank down onto a chair with Lucy still clinging to her.
    ‘I’ll tell you what,’ she said, as her mother tugged her pinny straight and headed for the open kitchen door. ‘When I’ve got the kids all settled I’ll pop down to the corner shop an’ treat you an’ Dad to a bottle o’ stout each an’ ten Woodbine. How would that be?’
    Ellen Sharp grinned. ‘Hark at the last o’ the big spenders, eh? Must be nice to have a bit o’ spare cash floatin’ about.’
    ‘It is nice not to have to count every single penny,’ Maggie admitted. ‘Though half me wages goes across the bar of the Crown or the Lord Aylesford if I’m daft enough to leave me purse lying about. Sam can get very touchy about me being a little more independent.’
    ‘Yes, well, there’s a few men feel like that when their women first go back out to work. They suddenly feel like they ain’t the breadwinner any more an’ it’s a blow to their pride.’ Pausing to plant a kiss on her daughter’s cheek, Ellen hurried away to get her husband’s tea.
    Luckily, Sam decided to stay in that night, so as soon as the twins and Lucy were tucked into bed, Maggie snatched up her bag and headed for the door.
    ‘I’m just nipping out to get a few bits for me mam an’ dad from the corner shop,’ she told him. ‘Is there anything you’d like bringing back?’
    Sam, who was listening to the wireless, glanced up. ‘A couple o’ bottles o’ bitter wouldn’t go amiss. Can’t give yer the money though. I’m skint till payday.’
    Maggie sighed. ‘Just keep your ear out for the kids, would yer? I shan’t be a jiffy.’
    Slipping out into the May evening, she welcomed the cool breeze that met her. She’d just washed up all the dinner pots, done a load of washing and put it through the mangle before hanging it out on the line, then got all the children ready for bed, and the night wasn’t over yet. When she got home she still had the twins’ uniforms to iron ready for the next day and the kitchen to clean.
    It would have been pointless to ask Sam for any help. He still firmly believed that housework was a woman’s duty. Still, she reasoned, she had known how he felt before she took her job so she supposed she shouldn’t complain, and he had stayed in tonight, which made a change, though she rightly guessed that it was more to do with lack of funds than a need for her company.
    She reached the corner shop only to find the shutters down and the Closed sign in the window.
    ‘What’s going on here then?’ she enquired of a neighbour who was hurrying past.
    Greta Lewis, who was known to love a good gossip, paused and shook her head sadly. ‘Ain’t yer heard then? They had a telegram boy arrive on his bike earlier today. Their lad’s been killed in action in France. The poor buggers are heartbroken. Mind you, who wouldn’t be? This bloody war is causin’ some heartache, ain’t it? He was their only son. I just wonder if the missus will ever get over it. She worshipped the ground that lad walked on, so she did.’ Shaking her head, she walked away as tears welled in Maggie’s eyes. She’d known Ben Drew since he was in short trousers and could hardly believe that he was dead. He had been so young, with all his life before him. Her thoughts moved on to David. Would his mother be getting a telegram next saying that something had happened to him ? The thought was too terrible to contemplate and she pulled herself together with an effort.
    Taking a deep breath, she glanced up and down the street. The nearest shop if this one was closed was some streets away in