Applause (The Dudley Sisters Saga Book 2) by Madalyn Morgan (best authors to read txt) 📕

‘Three and six, please.’

Margot gave the cabbie five shillings and thanked him, before taking her gas mask and carpet bag from the seat next to her. Stepping carefully from the taxi, she bent down and looked under the plant pot at the side of the door. The spare key was still there. If Bill was at home she’d surprise him. If he wasn’t he’d be more surprised to see a meal on the table when he came in. That’s if there was any food in the larder, she mused.

Unlocking the door, Margot mounted the stairs. Careful not to put weight on her right foot so she didn’t stress her ankle, she took the stairs one a time, bringing her right foot up to meet her left. Music from the wireless and the smell of cooking met her as she opened the door at the top of the stairs. Bill was in. Just the thought of seeing her kind and caring husband brought tears to her eyes. Relieved to be home, Margot dropped her bag and gas mask on the floor of the small hall.

‘Hello?’ Bill called from the sitting room. ‘Who’s there? What on earth?’ he said, opening the door and seeing Margot leaning against the wall. ‘Margot, why didn’t you let me know you were coming home?’

‘It was a last minute thing. My ankle’s been playing up. It started to swell, and then it became too painful to dance.’

‘My poor darling. Let’s get you inside.’ With Bill’s help she limped into the sitting room and slumped onto the settee. Kneeling in front of her, Bill began to take off her shoes. ‘My God Margot, how long has your ankle been like this?’ She didn’t tell him; she daren’t tell him. Holding her right calf with one hand, he eased her foot out of her shoe with the other. ‘There!’ he said, giving it one last gentle tug. ‘It’s off. I’m sorry if I hurt you.’

Margot smiled at his concern. ‘You didn’t.’ Resting her head against the back of the settee, she closed her eyes. ‘Something smells good,’ she mumbled, before drifting off to sleep. Aware that her leg was being lifted up and placed onto something soft, Margot smiled. She was home. And with Bill looking after her, her ankle would be better in no time.

The sound of a woman whispering penetrated Margot’s conscious and nudged her awake. An uncomfortable feeling swept over her and she opened her eyes. Jenny – her friend and Bill’s colleague – was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, wearing Margot’s towelling bathrobe and smiling up at Bill.

‘Bill?’ Margot stood up without thinking, put her foot to the floor, screamed with pain and fell.

‘Margot!’ Bill ran across the room. ‘What on earth are you doing?’ He helped her back onto the settee.

‘You need to keep your foot up, Margot,’ Jenny said, following Bill and bending down as if she was going to lift Margot’s leg.

Margot’s eyes glistened with anger. ‘Get away from me!’

Startled, Jenny jumped back. ‘I – I was only trying to help.’

Help yourself to my husband, Margot thought. ‘I don’t need your help. What are you doing here? Why were you in my bedroom with my husband, wearing my bathrobe?’

Jenny didn’t answer. Instead she looked at Bill. ‘I’m sorry, Bill,’ she whimpered. ‘I didn’t mean to…’

‘Jenny’s lodgings were bombed last night, so she stayed here.’

‘In our bedroom?’

‘Well, yes. It was late and the spare bed wasn’t made up, so I gave Jenny our bed and I slept in here on the settee. I’d just changed the sheets and was about to make up Jenny’s bed when you arrived.’

Jenny appeared tearful and her voice was shaky. ‘After my shift I went home and the house where I had rooms was gone. It had taken a direct hit. An ARP Warden said it was too dangerous for me to look for my belongings and he moved me on. The only clothes I had were what I was wearing. I didn’t know what to do,’ she said, and she broke down in tears.

‘So she came back to the station and I said she could stay here until she finds somewhere else to live.’

‘I don’t know what I’d have done if Bill hadn’t been there,’ she said, with a catch in her throat. She smiled up at him.

‘I see.’ Margot didn’t see at all. Jenny had a sister who lived a damn sight nearer to St. Thomas’s than she and Bill. ‘Was your sister’s house bombed too?’

‘What? I – I don’t know. I was in shock. I just ran to the bus stop and caught the late bus to Westminster Bridge. I thought I’d go and see her before my shift tonight. Perhaps I should go now,’ she said to Bill in a little-girl-lost voice. ‘Give you and Margot time to discuss things.’

Margot hauled herself to her feet. ‘I’m going to my bedroom.’ Bill tried to take her arm. ‘I can manage.’

‘Don’t you want something to eat, love? Jenny’s made a stew.’

Margot flashed an angry look at her husband, and another at Jenny. ‘Would you bring me a glass of water please, Bill?’

‘I’m sure there’ll be enough for you as well,’ Jenny said sweetly, taking Margot’s arm.

‘No thank you, I’ve lost my appetite.’ Snatching her arm away, Margot limped into the bedroom, collecting her bag on the way, and closed the door behind her.

She lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She needed to relax, to calm down. If she hadn’t left the sitting room when she did she might have hit the lying little-- She hadn’t been in the bedroom long when the door opened.

‘I’ve got your water,’ Bill whispered.

‘Put it on the bedside table, will you,’ Margot said, sitting up. ‘Would you pass my bag, please?’ Rummaging