Darkest Before Dawn Episode 01
Set in 1939, the story opens just before war is declared, and follows the lives of the Pollard family as they try to carry on in the face of uncertainty…
Isobel knew she should go home after finishing work in the department store, but it was such a beautiful day that she couldn’t resist cycling down to the quay where her older brother, Edward, worked on the railway.
She propped her bike against a hedge and walked down towards the station, her breath catching when she saw a line of children coming from the quay.
One of the older boys held a baby in his arms.
Some carried small bags, while others had nothing but the clothes they stood up in and tags dangling from their jackets.
They were all so quiet, poor little mites.
Some held hands and looked fearful as they gazed around in bewilderment.
How must their parents have felt, sending their children off, never knowing if they’d see them again?
Tears welled in her eyes and her stomach clenched.
“Isobel!”
She jumped and saw Edward walking towards her, pushing his bike with one hand and holding the hand of a young woman with the other.
She looked the other way quickly and brushed away her tears.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I thought I’d meet you,” she said, her eyes drawn to the face of his pretty companion.
“Hello. I’m Tilly Blair,” the young woman said.
She wore bright red lipstick, had large brown eyes and her smile was full of warmth.
“Edward has told me all about you,” Tilly added.
“Has he now?” Isobel cast a look at her brother and he laughed.
“You looked like Mum just then,” he told her.
“I don’t look anything like Mum,” Isobel retorted.
Isobel was taller than their mother and she had dark brown hair, unlike Maud, whose hair was dark but greying even though she wasn’t yet forty.
“It’s sad, isn’t it?” Tilly remarked, glancing back at the children. “I feel so sorry for them.
“I was in an orphanage at a young age, but I didn’t have to go to another country. They must be so frightened.”
“Let’s go,” Edward said briskly. “We don’t want to be late for tea.”
Isobel trotted ahead and retrieved her bike.
“Is it all right if I walk with you?” she asked.
“Of course,” Tilly replied.
“I’m going to walk Tilly to her lodgings on the way,” Edward added. “So if you want to go ahead….”
“No, I’ll walk with you,” Isobel insisted, refusing to take the hint.
She looked back at the children and pushed down a wave of sadness. The world had gone mad.
“Where do you work, Tilly?”
“In the buffet at the station,” the girl replied.
“Edward says you’re doing an apprenticeship in the department store?”
“It feels like an endless apprenticeship,” Isobel said with a groan.
She knew she was lucky to have it, but she was nearly eighteen, and selling buttons and ribbons under the watchful eye of Miss Timperley was hardly the height of excitement.
They chatted as they walked and finally came to a halt outside a house.
“Here I am,” Tilly said. “It was lovely meeting you, Isobel.”
There was something about Tilly; whether it was her lovely smile or the warmth she seemed to exude, Isobel didn’t know. But she gave in to the urge to hug her.
“And you,” she said. “I hope Edward will bring you home soon.”
“I hope so, too.” Tilly smiled.
“You walk on ahead, Isobel,” Edward told her. “I’ll catch up.”
“I can wait,” Isobel said, before realising that they were both looking at her meaningfully.
She felt herself blush.
“Oh,” she said awkwardly. “Bye, then.”
She gripped the handlebars of her bike so tightly that her knuckles turned white. How embarrassing.
She hadn’t gone far when Edward caught up.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“About the weather? The price of beef?”
She was amazed to see Edward colour.
“You know what I mean,” he said. “Do you like Tilly? You seemed to get along.”
“I like her,” Isobel said. “She’s too good for you!”
She jumped on her bike and pedalled down the road as her brother leapt on his bicycle and chased after her.
They were laughing and shouting at each other as they arrived in the lane behind their house.