The Hidden Women. Kerry Barrett

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      The first time we’d helped a woman, it was just by chance. Back in 1942 when we’d been doing our training in Luton there had been a girl in our pool called Polly. One evening we’d all been out – it was fun there, and there were a lot of army regiments stationed nearby, lads doing basic training just like us. Their presence always made for a good night. But that one evening, Polly didn’t come home. She eventually arrived, much later, with her dress torn. She hadn’t told us what had happened – she didn’t have to. Quietly, me and Annie gave her a bath and cleaned her up, and tried not to wince at the bruises on her thighs.

      A few weeks later, Annie caught Polly being sick in the toilet and realised she was pregnant.

      ‘What am I going to do?’ Polly had hissed at us in the bathroom that day, her face pale and her forehead beaded with sweat. ‘I can’t have a bloody baby.’

      She’d gagged, just with the effort of speaking.

      ‘I didn’t even know his name.’

      ‘We need to help her,’ I told Annie.

      ‘But what can we do?’

      I’d shaken my head. ‘I don’t know,’ I’d said. ‘But we need to do something.’

      I’d not known Annie long at that time, but I already knew she was someone I’d trust with my life.

      ‘Someone helped me once,’ I’d admitted. ‘Not like this, not …’

      Annie’s eyes had searched my face. I’d squeezed my lips together in case I cried.

      ‘And now you think we should help Polly?’ she’d said.

      I’d nodded.

      ‘We’ll find a way.’

      And that’s where Flora came in. She knew someone in Manchester. Someone who’d helped a friend of her sister. A doctor. At least, that’s what he said he was and we never checked. Flora made the arrangements, Annie and I worked out the logistics and the transport, and Polly went off to Manchester just a fortnight later. She came back even paler, but after a couple of days’ rest – we told our officers that she was having some women’s troubles and they didn’t push it – she was fine again.

      We had thought that was it. But it wasn’t. Polly told someone what we’d done for her, and quietly, word got round. Turned out there were women all over the place who needed help of one sort or another and it seemed we were the ones to help them. Gradually we built up a network of people, all over the country. Truth was, the network had existed long before we came along. We were just lucky that we could put people in touch with each other. Doctors who could do what we needed them to do, women desperate to adopt a baby, others willing to shelter a pregnant woman for a few weeks – or nurse someone who’d picked up an infection after their, you know, procedure.

      We criss-crossed the country delivering planes, and sharing information or arrangements with women while we did it. In two years, we’d helped eleven women – April was number twelve. We’d seen five babies born and adopted and the rest, well, they’d been sorted. And we’d had one death, a young woman called Bet who lost too much blood after her op, and who’d been too scared to go to hospital in case she got into trouble. We didn’t use that doctor again and we’d made sure we checked out new places now, but we were all haunted by Bet’s death. Never thought about stopping though. Not once. And if losing one of our women wouldn’t stop us helping others, nor would Will Bates and his clumsy flirting.

      I sat up in bed and looked across at Annie, who was lying on her own bed next to mine.

      ‘April’s going to let us know when the baby comes,’ I said. ‘Don’t reckon it’ll be long.’

      Annie nodded. ‘Glad we got there in time.’

      Flora was opening letters. We had a box at the local post office where people could contact us.

      ‘Too late for this one, though,’ she said, scanning the paper. ‘She wrote this last month and she says she was already eight months gone then. She’ll have had the baby by now.’

      Annie shrugged. ‘Can’t help ’em all.’

      But I wished we could.

       Chapter 6

      Helena

      May 2018

      It seemed Miranda and I weren’t the only ones to be thinking about Lil. On Monday morning, just before lunch, the office receptionist phoned me to say I had a visitor.

      ‘This is a nice surprise,’ I said as the lift doors opened and I saw it was my dad. ‘Are you working nearby?’

      We were based in Soho, and Dad often worked close by when a film he’d composed the music on was in post-production. It wasn’t unusual for him to pop by and say hello when he was in the area, but he normally phoned first.

      Now he gave a vague nod over his shoulder. ‘Nearby,’ he said.

      ‘I’m a bit busy at the moment but we could go for lunch in about half an hour if you like?’

      But Dad shook his head. ‘I wanted to ask you something,’ he said. ‘Could we nip into another room, perhaps?’

      Behind his back, I saw Elly studiously bashing away at her keyboard, pretending not to be listening.

      ‘Of course,’ I said, a flicker of unease in my stomach. ‘Follow me.’

      I led him into the meeting room where I’d met Jack Jones the week before, and shut the door.

      ‘Are you okay? What’s the matter? Is Mum okay?’

      Dad smiled. ‘Nothing’s the matter,’ he said. ‘We’re both fine. Fit as fiddles.’

      He gave a little skip as though to prove how fit he was even though he was approaching eighty. Mum wasn’t far off seventy.

      I raised my eyebrow at him and he pulled out a chair and sat down. I did the same.

      ‘So what’s up?’

      ‘I wanted to ask you a favour,’ he said.

      ‘Go on.’

      ‘I know you said you weren’t supposed to do your own research, but any chance you could have a quick look into this Lil stuff for me?’

      ‘Dad, no,’ I said. ‘I can’t.’

      ‘It’s important.’

      I stared at him. ‘Why?’ I said. ‘Why is it important?’

      Dad looked at his hands. ‘No actual reason that I can put into words,’ he said. ‘I’d just like to know more about my family. Before it’s too late.’

      He took a breath.

      ‘I СКАЧАТЬ