Vera's Valour by Anne Holman Page B

D-Day?”
    “Crikey!” exclaimed Sally, “I don’t know how you were in the middle of all that!”
    Gladys nodded and said, “Well, I think that was very valiant of you.”
    Margaret snapped, “Madness, I call it, to have been caught up in all that - it’s a wonder you got back in one piece, Vera.”
    Vera took in a deep breath and gave a long sigh, “I sometimes wonder how I made it, myself. Yes, indeed, it seems like a dream now.” And not all of it pleasant she thought looking at her friends faces all anxious to know all about what she’d done.
    “Do tell us about your adventure – we want to know everything mind.”
    Vera said firmly. “Not now, later, after the meal’s over.”
    Although it didn’t take long for Sally to guess, “Vera, you’re expecting!”
    Vera went a little pink in the face. She was hoping to break the news later.
    Sally skipped around Vera joyously because she loved babies. Until Margaret barked at her, “Sally get those biscuits made and put them in the oven. At once!”
    With hundreds of hungry customers who would soon be forming a queue outside the hall door, ready to be fed, everyone went back to the jobs they were doing. Vera quickly washed her hands saying, “What’s on the menu, Margaret. Can I give you a hand?”
    The activity in the kitchen was abuzz as all the women set too to make up for lost time.
    But Vera wasn’t surprised that the dinner ladies – all of whom were completely ignorant of cooking for the masses until she had trained them, soon got to work and produced a tasty sausagemeat loaf and vegetables with a parsley sauce, followed by a semolina pudding with some biscuits, a somewhat stoggy meal - but designed to fill empty stomachs. As Margaret remarked to Vera, “The food rationing gets worse and worse. Thinking of how to feed everyone becomes more of a headache for every cook these days.”
    Although the battles in Europe were going to bring success for the Allies, Vera knew the people at home were being asked to pull in their belts even more. Food shortages were a headache. She sympathized with Margaret.
    “You’ll be all right, being pregnant. You’ll get a green ration book for extra rations,” said Margaret, who’d been through her own pregnancy.
    “That’ll come in handy,” Vera said, thinking she would have to consult Margaret about a lot of things concerning motherhood.
    * * *
    Later seated around the big kitchen table, after the meal was over and everything cleared away, Vera was just as keen to know their news as they were to hear hers.
    Over cups of tea, Mabel was properly introduced and Vera was pleased to find that despite her first impression of the woman was not favourable, Mabel was in fact a valuable addition to the kitchen staff.
    Careful not to tell the girls about the most harrowing experiences she’d had, Vera kept them all long after they would normally go home, but at last they had to part and only Margaret remained.
    “So, how is little Deanna?” asked Vera when the other had gone.
    “She’s a right little rascal, running about, into everything,” replied Margaret fondly. “But her Dad helps me to look after her.”
    Vera asked cautiously, “Her Dad?”
    Margaret shook her head. Vera knew Margaret’s family had cast her out when she’d become pregnant and was not married. The old stigma of unmarried women being sinful was still strong with many people.
    Geoff Parkington, who had been to university with Margaret had helped her find a place to live and had got her a job at the British Restaurant.
    “So, he came back?”
    Margaret smiled, “Yes. He said he didn’t know I’d become pregnant. And now he’s keen to marry me.”
    “That’s wonderful news!”
    Margaret pursed her lips. “Well I told him I’m thinking about it. You see I suffered so much when he left me, and I thought he shouldn’t have walked out of my life. I keep asking myself now, does Tom really want me - or Deanna? He loves his little