Katie King - The Evacuee Summer - Heart-warming historical fiction, perfect for summer reading

Now the tears arrived, and in torrents.

Her sister shuffled a little further up the bed and put both her arms around Peggy, who leant her head down and sobbed so violently against her that Barbara felt the bounce of her sister’s head against her breastbone. ‘It’s not fair, Peggy, you’re quite right. It’s not fair. But you will be able to give Holly enough love for two parents, I know you will, and with you by her side she couldn’t ask for better,’ Barbara said as reassuringly as she could. ‘And Ted and I, and Connie and Jessie, will never be far away, you know.’

After a while the sisters drew apart to stare dolefully at one another, and then in perfect unison they turned to look over at the old crib holding the peacefully sleeping baby girl who looked as if the only care in the world that she had right at that minute was whether to nap with her white knitted bootees on or off.

Chapter Eight

Milburn had a distinctly put-upon expression on her long face by the time Roger had been fully tutored by Ted in the proper way of putting her harness on and then how to connect the trap to the harness.

The children tried to help Roger by exuberantly calling out instructions (many right, but some unintentionally wrong), but this only further confused him, especially when Mabel tried to say what she thought he should do too, with the result that he kept getting in a pickle, and inevitably would do the various leather straps up either too loosely, too tightly, or in the wrong way. And once Roger had finally got the harness on, only a bit askew, he then had difficulty in backing Milburn into the trap’s traces as he kept walking her backwards as if around a corner rather than keeping her moving in a straight line.

But Ted was very patient, as was Milburn, and suddenly the penny dropped, much to everyone’s delight, and Milburn wrinkled her velvety nostrils with what looked like relief.

Understandably, the children had started to become bored while Roger fiddled about and so they had started to do things like trying to push each other in the back of the knees, so that – if the timing were right – the unlucky recipient would be plunged forward and, if the timing was perfect, right down to the ground. As the boys were wearing short trousers and Connie a cotton summer dress Gracie had adapted for her from one of her own, it was likely that there’d be an array of bruises on the back of their legs that the children would be able to compare next morning.

‘Oi! Watch it!’ Ted had to be firm that that sort of behaviour was never to go on around Milburn, as it was the sort of thing that could lead to the pony getting unintentionally spooked and then somebody ending up hurt, he explained.

‘We didn’t mean anything,’ said Jessie.

‘I know, son, I know,’ Ted replied, ‘but none of you are used to big animals an’ yet yer ’ave to do their thinking for ‘em.’

Connie and Jessie looked at their friends with frowns, each twin seeming to forget that they had been happy to try to sneak up behind their pals to do likewise only a mere matter of moments ago. But their unhappy expressions reminded the others that their father hadn’t been in Harrogate long, and already he was having to lay down the law, which risked spoiling a nice day, and so for a little while all the children felt suitably chastened.

‘I’m sorry, Daddy.’ Connie sounded so contrite and in fact her saying she regretted anything was so out of the ordinary that Aiden immediately apologised too and then went and stood by Connie to show solidarity with her.

On the final run-through Roger managed to do it all very adequately with – best of all – no reminders from any of those watching him. And so it was then that with a smile, he stepped well away from Milburn to take a theatrically low bow, with one hand behind his back and the other swooping extravagantly towards the ground as he made a flurry of quickly delivered feathered waving gestures as if he were a nobleman bowing to his queen, and he was rewarded by an enthusiastic round of applause from his audience. Even Milburn tossed her head up and down, and whiffled her whiskers, as if she were agreeing with everyone that Roger had achieved a success of heroic proportions.

Ted asked Jessie to take hold of Milburn’s bridle just above the bit to keep her steady while he and Roger climbed up into the trap and took their seats on the driving bench. The ever-sensible Aiden passed up the whip to Ted, taking care to wrap the rope bit of it around the whippy bit and to move slowly in order not to startle the pony, as he’d been instructed.

‘I’ll drive Milburn round the block to see ’ow she goes, an’ then you take over, Roger,’ said Ted, and then he looked towards the children. ‘An’ you lot, you can walk wi’ us if yer likes, but keep jus’ behind us, out of ’arm’s way, an’ no messin’ about or shoutin’, mind. We don’t know whether she’ll spook easy an’ so let’s not ask fer trouble.’

Milburn lifted a front leg and stamped it down as she champed on her bit and tugged at the reins, clearly eager to be on her way.

With that, Ted neatly manoeuvred the pony through the yard and out onto the road, with Aiden and Jessie paying especially close attention to exactly how he managed to do this. They wanted to be doing it themselves before too long, and if they could grasp the technicalities before the other children, then so much the better. Larry and Connie followed, but Tommy stayed behind with Angela, offering to change the pony’s water and clean out her stall ready for when she came back.

Roger said a distracted ‘thank you’ to his son for thinking ahead and sorting Milburn’s stable, then immediately found himself gazing benevolently around as he sat beside Ted, before he turned back to smile at the children and give them a quick salute, looking as if he was enjoying the sun on his back on this lovely balmy day. Then, much to the twins’ amusement, Roger obviously remembered that he should be watching Ted more closely and so he tried to concentrate on what Ted was saying with a suitably attentive face.

After a while, Ted said ‘giddy up’ and gently touched Milburn with the whip on the flat of her broad back, and she broke into a smart trot. Ten minutes later the children were red-faced with the effort of racing along just behind the trap.

Next, Milburn was slowed down to an amble, before being made to walk out briskly, then to trot again, and turn left and right, and pull up from a trot to a dead halt, all of which she did as if she were an old hand. Finally Ted took her to a busier road, where there was some traffic moving along, to see what she was like near cars (not that there were very many as petrol rationing was biting), and buses and larger vehicles.

The game little chestnut did everything she was asked to do with the minimum amount of fuss, and she didn’t flinch or even flick an ear in the direction of the traffic. Ted said ‘good girl’ several times in appreciation, getting a twist of her ears in reply to him.

Back at Tall Trees, Ted halted her with a ‘whoa!’ and the application of a gentle pressure on her mouth, and then he handed the leather reins across to Roger, who took the gathered loops up cautiously and held them in the way Ted instructed, although he said he hadn’t enough hands just at the moment to cope with the whip as well, and so Ted said he’d hang on to that and that he really didn’t think Milburn needed it as she seemed to be very willing.

‘You need to make her think you know what you’re doin’, and then she’ll do what you want. She’s got a bit of spirit but she’s a nice pony, an’ you’ll ’ave the ’ang of ’er in no time,’ Ted promised.

Roger hoped that would indeed be the case, and then he clicked his tongue against his teeth in the way he had seen Ted do, and rather to his surprise Milburn began to walk forward on this command as if he were an old hand too in the pony-driving stakes.