He grinned. ‘Not if I see you first,’ he said, then walked away with a spring in his step.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Holly got home from the hospital later in May to find Ivy poring over the newspaper. She was so engrossed and indignant about what she was reading that she didn’t even give Holly a welcome.

‘Would you just look at this!’ She stabbed her finger angrily at the page. ‘It says that fifty-seven suffragettes were arrested yesterday as they tried to reach Buckingham Palace to present a “Votes for Women” petition to the King! Emmeline Pankhurst, who has not been well, was amongst ’em!’

Holly leaned over her shoulder and commented, ‘Yes but it also says that some of them were brandishing Indian clubs and that they were trying to break through a thousand-strong police cordon around the palace.’

‘Well, what else are they supposed to do?’ Ivy snapped as angry colour rose in her cheeks. ‘Their right to vote was turned down again earlier this month but I’ll tell you now they won’t stop until they get it. Why should they?’

‘All right, calm down, you’ll frighten Alice,’ Holly warned and Ivy was instantly repentant for her outburst.

‘Sorry, it just makes me so bloody mad! I’ll tell you now if I didn’t have Alice I’d still be there, backin’ ’em all the way.’

‘Yes, but you do have Alice,’ Holly pointed out as she removed the white cuffs from the sleeves of her dress. ‘So now you have to concentrate on her and not on what the suffragettes are doing.’

‘I s’ppose yer right,’ Ivy grumbled as she lifted her daughter on to her lap. Then in a slightly happier mood she confided, ‘Marcus is takin’ me out this evenin’. We’re goin’ to the Picturedrome again then he’s takin’ me fer a fish-an’-chip supper.’

‘How lovely.’ Ivy and Marcus’s relationship really seemed to be blossoming now, and Holly hoped that it would work out for them. Ivy certainly deserved to have a decent man in her life after the way Jeremy had treated her. Strangely enough, Ivy hadn’t mentioned Jeremy for weeks now and Holly hoped that this was a sign she was getting over him.

‘An’ when are you seein’ Harry again?’

Holly blushed. ‘On Saturday; we’ve both got an afternoon off, but I don’t know what we’re doing yet.’

When Ivy nodded her approval she hurried away upstairs to get changed out of her uniform ready for dinner.

On Saturday Holly and Harry went to listen to the Stockingford Brass Band playing in the old bandstand in a recreation ground off Pool Bank Street in the town and soon their feet were tapping in time to the music.

‘They’re good, aren’t they?’ Harry shouted above the noise and Holly nodded in agreement.

‘Excellent.’ She had always wished that she’d been musically inclined but had never managed to master a musical instrument.

‘So what would you like to do now?’ Harry asked when the band began to pack up.