Hope Comes to Emmerdale

Book 0: Emmerdale

by Kerry Bell

Genres: Sagas

Synopsis

The perfect Mother's Day gift full of nostalgia and warmth, for fans of ITV's Emmerdale and readers who love heartwrenching stories set during wartime.

World War II wages on. Rationing, blackouts, evacuees and military training camps have become the norm in the village of Beckindale, but happiness has been found during these hard times. Lily Dingle is getting married, Annie Pearson has returned after volunteering with the Wrens, and there are new neighbours to get to know... including a female vet of all things.

The new inhabitants are about to learn things are never dull for the families of Emmerdale.

Exploring the lives of Emmerdale's much-loved families during World War II, including favourites such as the Sugdens and the Dingles, Hope Comes to Emmerdale is a hopeful and nostalgic novel about community, friendship and love.

Release date: April 20, 2021

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group

Print pages: 320

Sample

It was, Annie Pearson thought as she got off the bus, weather more fitting for a funeral than a wedding. It was raining in the sort of insistent way that suggested there was no chance of it stopping soon, and even though it was the middle of the morning the sky was still a sullen grey. But even the drips running from her smart uniform cap couldn’t dampen her mood. She was happy to be home and she couldn’t wait to see her friend Lily Dingle in her wedding dress.

There was no one about. Everyone was indoors, sheltering from the awful weather. The River Emm, which ran around the edge of Beckindale, was high and it was so quiet in the village that as she walked she could hear the water tumbling and rushing its way towards the pond.

It was strange to be back home after weeks away doing her Wrens training. She was grateful that she had managed to get a day off to come to see Lily tie the knot with her sweetheart, Jack Proudfoot. If the wedding had been just a few days later Annie would have been working already. She was going to be doing clerical work, based down on the south coast. She was nervous about getting started but eager to be doing her bit. And she was very glad she could make it to the wedding. Annie smiled as she remembered Lily’s lovestruck letter, where she’d written about how her feelings for Jack, the local policeman, were growing almost as fast as her swelling belly. That was another reason for Jack being such a find – Lily was expecting a baby and Jack wasn’t the father. But Lily had poured her heart out to Annie in her letter, telling her that Jack had promised to love her child as his own and be a good father to the little one. Annie had been dubious at first, but it seemed Jack was serious and he clearly adored Lily. The wedding was very close to when Lily’s baby was due, but Lily had explained they’d had to delay their ceremony a little because the vicar had been called away to work in another parish for a few weeks. It had worked out well in the end because Lily’s father, Mick, had recently got married to an artist called Nina Lazenby, who lived in the village, so there weren’t two Dingle weddings too close together.

Annie turned the corner towards the church and was pleased to see a hubbub of activity outside. Someone – Annie suspected Lily’s new stepmother, Nina – had artfully draped swathes of greenery around the entrance and it looked pretty despite the gloomy day. Jack was waiting by the door, looking white with nerves and wearing his dress uniform. His face lit up as he saw Annie approach.

‘You made it,’ he said.

‘Wouldn’t have missed it.’

‘Lily will be chuffed to bits to know you’re here.’

‘I can’t wait to see her.’

Jack made a face. ‘She’s really late. I hope she’s coming.’

Annie chuckled. ‘Oh get away. She’s smitten with you. She’s just keeping you waiting, is all.’ She squeezed Jack’s arm. ‘I’d best get inside. Good luck.’

Inside the church was dark and it took a second for Annie’s eyes to adjust to the dim light. But after squinting a bit she saw her mother, Grace, sitting in a pew near the back. She waved and Annie slid into the seat next to her.

‘Made it then.’

‘Just got the bus in time,’ Annie said. She and her mother didn’t have the smoothest relationship, but she found she was glad to see her. ‘Dad working?’

Her mum gave a small nod, lips pursed, and Annie snaked her hand through the crook of her arm, letting her know she understood things weren’t always easy at home. She was pleased when her mother smiled at her.

Jack was at the front of the church now, still biting his lip. He had a friend by his side – also in police uniform – and Annie was glad he wasn’t alone because he looked so worried. Was he really frightened that Lily wouldn’t turn up? Or was he just concerned about his pregnant wife-to-be?

As Annie watched Jack, his face broke into a huge smile and everyone in the church turned to see Lily and her father, Mick, appear at the door of the church. Mrs Briars, the church organist, played a loud, slightly off-key, chord and the congregation rose to its feet as she began a rousing version of ‘Here Comes the Bride’.

Lily was glowing. She was smiling so broadly that Annie wondered if her cheeks would hurt later, and she was wearing a simple white gown that suited her unfussy beauty. Annie knew lots of women in the village had donated clothes coupons to Lily to buy the fabric for her dress and she felt a rush of affection for this friendly place where everyone looked out for everyone else. Almost everyone, she thought as her eyes met those of Elizabeth Barlow, who was still stepping out with Oliver Skilbeck. Elizabeth nodded at Annie without smiling. Annie didn’t respond. If Elizabeth chose not to believe what Oliver had done to Annie, then that was her business.

Lily was gliding down the aisle, her eyes fixed on Jack’s as though they were the only two people in the room, but as she reached Annie, she turned her head and grinned at her friend.

Annie grinned back, trying not to look surprised at the size of Lily’s belly. Her baby was due to arrive any day and they were lucky that Reverend Thirlby had agreed to marry her and Jack before she gave birth.

‘These are strange times,’ he’d told Lily, and she’d told Annie. ‘We should take our happiness wherever we find it.’

And it certainly seemed like Lily and Jack were doing just that. The ceremony was beautiful and Annie wasn’t ashamed to say she sobbed buckets throughout the vows. Not just because she was happy for her friends – though she was. But also because she was thinking of her Edward and how they’d never say those words to one another, or start their lives together. Because Edward was dead and Annie’s heart was broken. It had been more than half a year since that awful day when they’d found out Edward’s ship had been sunk. But while Annie knew she’d never stop loving Edward, the pain didn’t seem as raw as it once had. Except on days like today of course. Sometimes it was hard to come face-to-face with the happiness of others.

After the ceremony everyone piled into the Woolpack, where Lily’s cousins Jed and Larry Dingle were the temporary landlords, minding the pub for Jonah and Dot Dingle who’d travelled to South Africa before the war and got stuck there. Annie avoided the beer that was on offer; partly because she was never sure where Jed got his stock and partly because she knew she had to catch the bus back to base quite soon.

‘I’m so pleased you’re here,’ Lily said, coming up behind her and grabbing her for a hug. ‘It wouldn’t have been the same without you. Have you seen Meg? She’s over in the corner, talking to Nina. She’ll be happy to see you. She’s been right miserable since they moved the POW camp.’

Annie squeezed her friend tightly, trying not to squash her belly.

‘I’ll catch up with her in a minute. Let me look at you, first. You look wonderful.’

‘Fat.’

‘Blooming.’

The women laughed.

‘Are you well?’ Annie asked. Lily was clearly blissfully happy but Annie couldn’t help notice how pale she was, and the occasional grimace that crossed her face.

Lily winced. ‘I’ve been fine, up until now,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I’m just having a few cramps. I think I’ve been on my feet too long.’

‘Then let’s find you a chair,’ said Annie. She bustled round finding somewhere for Lily to sit.

‘How are you?’ Lily said, looking straight into Annie’s eyes as Annie cleared a pile of coats from a bench.

Annie pinched her lips together. ‘I’m fine.’

‘Really?’

She gave a small nod. ‘I’m getting there.’

Lily took her hand and they smiled at one another.

‘Sit,’ Annie said.

Gratefully, Lily sank down on to the bench and then shot back up straight away, looking alarmed. ‘Oh heavens, Annie, I think I’ve wet myself!’

Annie looked down at the pub floor where a large puddle was gathering. ‘Lily, love, your waters have gone. The baby’s coming. That must have been what your cramps were.’

Lily’s face was even paler than before. ‘It’s too soon.’

Worried her friend was on the verge of panic, Annie took both her hands. ‘Look at me, Lily,’ she said. ‘Take a deep breath. You’re only a couple of weeks early, the baby will be fine.’ She hoped she was right. She knew more about calves and lambs than she did about babies. ‘We need to get you away from all these people.’

Lily looked like she was going to cry.

‘Find Jack,’ she begged Annie. ‘And Nina. Get Nina.’

Annie scanned the room. She saw Meg disappearing out of the door – perhaps she had to get back to her adopted children – and then she spotted Nina by the door, chatting to a group of people. Nina was easy to see because she was tall and elegant and wearing a bright mustard-yellow blouse with a pretty pussycat bow.

‘I see her,’ she told Lily. She ducked through the busy pub and gently touched Nina’s arm.

‘Sorry to interrupt,’ she said. ‘Could I have a word?’

Nina let Annie draw her to one side and raised an eyebrow quizzically. ‘Everything all right?’

‘I think Lily’s gone into labour.’

Nina gasped. ‘Oh bugger.’

Annie managed a smile at that. ‘She’s over by the window. Can you get her home?’

Larry Dingle, Lily’s cousin who ran the pub, was collecting empty glasses and eavesdropping brazenly.

‘Is Lil having the baby?’ he asked, his Irish accent more pronounced than ever. ‘Take her upstairs.’

Annie nodded gratefully. ‘You get Lily and I’ll find Jack,’ she said to Nina.

‘And the doctor,’ Nina said over her shoulder as she headed towards Lily, followed by Larry. Annie hoped he wouldn’t invite himself upstairs too – she didn’t think he’d be much use.

She found Jack and told him what had happened and he dashed off upstairs without so much as a second thought, while Annie ran through the village to Dr Black’s little cottage, where he was just sitting down to a plate of what looked like rabbit pie.

‘Go,’ said his wife. ‘I’ll keep this warm.’

With the doctor upstairs with Lily, and Jack nowhere to be seen – presumably upstairs too, pacing the floor – Annie allowed herself to breathe again. She hoped Lily would be all right, and the baby too. Again she felt a wave of despair at the thought of Lily getting married and becoming a mother, while she – Annie – was left to grieve for Edward and the life they’d planned to live together.

Suddenly she needed air. She weaved through the remaining wedding guests, who didn’t seem to have noticed the disappearance of the bride and groom thanks to Jed’s beer, and went outside. It was still raining, though not as persistently, and the village was quiet. Annie settled herself on a low bench by the pub window, sheltered under the roof, and took a few deep breaths. What a day. And she would have to leave soon if she was going to make it back to base in time. She wondered if the baby would arrive before she had to go.

‘Annie?’ The voice made her jump. It was Jacob, her Edward’s brother, and the reason Edward had gone to war. Annie glared at him.

‘Hello, Jacob.’

‘Annie, I’m glad to catch you.’

‘Got something else on your conscience that you need to confess?’ Annie was surprised how angry she still was with Jacob. He and Edward had drawn straws to decide who would enlist and who would stay to work the farm and Jacob had later confessed he’d tinkered with the straws to make sure Edward went. Deep down Annie knew Edward had been keen to enlist. Being desperate to see the world beyond Beckindale, Edward would not have been happy if Jacob had gone, but Annie still resented Jacob. Without his tampering, perhaps Edward would still be here.

‘No more confessions,’ Jacob said softly. ‘I actually wanted your advice about the farm – you know us better than anyone else.’

Annie wasn’t expecting that. She stared at Jacob for a second, then relented. ‘Sit down,’ she said.

Jacob sat at the other end of the bench, leaving a gap between them. ‘We’re having a hard time,’ he began.

‘We?’

‘Ma and me. We’re not coping. We had the chap from the War Ag round the other day.’

Annie made a face. The War Agricultural Committees oversaw all the farms now, making sure they were growing the crops that were most useful, treating their animals well, and generally making the most of the land. They could be helpful – advising farmers which fields to plough or suggesting other crops to try – but they held a lot of power and could even take over farms if they thought they weren’t being run properly.

‘What did he say?’

Jacob chewed his lip.

‘The animals are all fine, especially since we’ve got rid of the sheep and we’ve just got the dairy cattle and chickens. But he wants us to put flax in two of the fields at the top, and more potatoes down the bottom.’ He shook his head. ‘We’re all right for now, but I just don’t see how we’ll manage come the spring.’

‘I thought you had help?’

‘We did, we had the POWs, but they moved the camp to make way for another training camp, and now it’s just us.’

Annie made a face. Emmerdale Farm was large and it was a lot of work for Jacob and his mother, Maggie. But even so …

‘I can’t stay,’ she said.

‘No,’ Jacob answered quickly. ‘That’s not what I’m asking.’

‘Then what?’

‘Ma’s being bullish, insisting she coped with the farm during the Great War and she’ll cope now. She doesn’t want me to get more help.’

‘She had help last time,’ Annie pointed out, thinking of Hugo, the conscientious objector who’d been sent to work on the farm. ‘And she was a lot younger.’

Jacob rolled his eyes. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘I don’t want Ma to wear herself out. She’s been getting so tired recently. I think she’s doing too much.’

‘She’s not ill?’ Annie didn’t like to think of Maggie being under the weather.

‘Not sure,’ Jacob shrugged. ‘Don’t think so. Some days she’s better than others.’

‘So what are you thinking?’

‘A Land Girl.’

Annie drew a breath.

‘That’s a great idea, but …’

‘But?’

‘Will Maggie feel like you’re replacing her. A POW, a man, is one thing, but another woman?’

‘That’s what I’m worried about,’ said Jacob. He chewed his lip again, suddenly looking like he had when he was a little boy. Annie felt herself softening towards him, very slightly.

‘It’s grand you’re looking out for someone else for once,’ she said. ‘Getting help for the farm is a very good idea and you need to do whatever you think is right for your family.’

Jacob nodded. ‘Thank you,’ he said.

Annie stood up. ‘I have to go and get the bus.’

‘I’m glad we caught up,’ said Jacob.

They looked at each other for a moment, and Annie nodded. ‘Please give my love to Maggie.’

As she turned to go, the door of the pub opened behind her and Jack appeared. He’d lost his uniform jacket; his dress shirt was crumpled and his hair was standing on end but he looked happy.

‘Annie,’ he called. ‘Annie, the baby’s here.’

Annie beamed. ‘Is everything all right?’

‘It’s wonderful,’ Jack babbled. ‘It’s a girl. She’s a girl. We’ve got a girl.’

Annie threw her arms round Jack and hugged him tight. ‘Congratulations. What are you going to call her?’

Jack smiled. ‘Hope,’ he said. ‘She’s Hope Dingle Proudfoot.’

‘Hope,’ Annie repeated. ‘Hope is exactly what we all need.’ She smiled at the proud new father. ‘That’s perfect.’

Audrey Atkins was having the best day of her life. Admittedly, up until now, her life had been fairly dull so there wasn’t much competition, but she hoped now she was officially a Land Girl that this was just a sign of things to come.

She was travelling in the back of a rickety old farm truck, perched on a bag of grain, being thrown from side to side as the lorry navigated the winding country lanes, and she’d honestly never been happier.

‘All right in the back?’ the driver shouted. He was called Smithers and he owned the land next to the farm that Audrey had been matched with.

‘Going to Sugden’s?’ he’d said, as they’d all waited nervously in the small town of Hotten. Audrey had nodded, wondering if this large, red-faced man was her new boss. But when she’d asked if he was Sugden, he’d shaken his head and grinned at her.

‘I’m Smithers. Jacob’s got his hands full today and he asked if I’d drop you off. Climb in and get yourself comfortable. I’ve just got to go and pick up some paperwork, then we’ll be off.’

She’d clambered up into the truck with the two girls going to Smithers’ farm and smiled shyly at them.

‘I’m Audrey,’ she said, tucking her left arm in her pocket.

‘I’m Tilly, and she’s Ginny,’ said one of the girls, who had her hair tied up in a scarf and looked like she’d been born to wear the bib-front overalls they’d all been given. Audrey still felt slightly self-conscious wearing trousers and kept imagining her mother tutting at the sight of her daughter wearing what she’d no doubt deem to be men’s clothes. But her mother wasn’t there. Audrey grinned at Tilly. ‘I like your scarf.’

‘My hair goes wild in the wind if I let it blow about,’ she said. She prodded the other girl, who was rummaging around in her kit bag, looking for something. ‘Ginny, find that other scarf. The blue one.’

Ginny rummaged some more and pulled out a square headscarf which she waved in the air like a flag.

‘This one?’

Tilly took it and held it out to Audrey. ‘Here.’

‘I can’t take that, it’s yours.’

Tilly shrugged. ‘The girl I shared a room with at training left it behind. Thought it might come in handy. Shall I do it for you?’

She’d bounced over to Audrey and deftly tied the scarf round her head. Audrey paid close attention to what she was doing, working out a way for her to do it herself later.

‘Thanks.’

‘Found it,’ Ginny muttered, peering into her cavernous bag. ‘Finally.’

She produced a tube of lipstick. Audrey’s eyes nearly burst out of her head.

‘Beauty is your duty, ladies,’ Ginny said, mocking the propaganda posters Audrey had seen around. She slicked on the bright red lipstick without even checking her face in a mirror and pouted at Audrey and Tilly. ‘It’s called Victory Red. Bobby bought me it.’

Tilly rolled her eyes. ‘Bobby’s a GI,’ she said to Audrey. ‘He’s always buying things for Ginny.’

‘I pay him back in other ways,’ Ginny said, waggling her eyebrows and cackling. Tilly joined in and, shocked as she was, Audrey found herself laughing too. These girls were so energetic, so full of life, that she couldn’t help herself.

When Smithers reappeared and they set off towards their new jobs, the laughter continued. Tilly and Ginny had trained together across the Pennines in Lancashire, while Audrey had done her four weeks – which seemed so quick now she thought about it – near to Leeds, which was about as far away as she could go from her Sussex home. They regaled her with tales of the other girls’ antics, and all the mistakes they’d made with the horrible rubber udders they’d had to use to learn how to milk, and Audrey laughed until her stomach ached.

‘Nearly there,’ Smithers shouted from the front.

‘What’s your story, then?’ Ginny said, nodding to Audrey. ‘What made you join up?’

Audrey made a face. ‘Promise you won’t think I’m odd?’

‘No odder than anyone else,’ Tilly reassured her.

‘You know the poster? For a healthy, happy job?’

The other two nodded.

‘Course.’

The posters were all over the place, promoting the Women’s Land Army. They showed a young woman in a smart green jersey and brown britches, holding a pitchfork in one hand and her jacket in the other, gazing out over some neatly tended fields.

‘I kept seeing it and I kept thinking that the woman in the picture looked like me,’ Audrey said.

Ginny frowned. ‘No she doesn’t.’

Audrey took a breath. It wasn’t easy to explain. ‘In the picture, she’s holding her coat, you see? And you can only see a bit of her hand?’

‘Yes?’ Tilly and Ginny were both looking bewildered.

‘First time I saw the picture, I thought her hand looked like mine. Obviously, I realised straightaway that she was holding something, but it stuck in my head. Because look …’

Audrey eased her left arm out of her pocket and showed her new friends. She was missing the lower part of her arm and her hand.

‘Blooming heck,’ said Ginny. ‘Were you in an accident?’

Audrey shook her head. ‘Born like that. My arm just didn’t grow properly.’ She looked at the other girls’ worried faces. ‘It’s fine, honestly. I can do lots of things, if I’m given a chance to prove myself. That’s how I got through the medical, by showing the doctor what I could do.’

‘And you didn’t fancy doing something easier, like reading to injured soldiers, or knitting socks?’ Tilly looked impressed.

Audrey shook her head. ‘Where’s the fun in that?’ she said. ‘And actually, knitting’s one thing I really can’t do.’

Tilly looked horrified. ‘Oh God, I’m so sorry.’

But Audrey chuckled. ‘I’m good with a crochet hook,’ she said, and Tilly laughed in relief. Audrey felt relieved too, as though she’d successfully navigated one hurdle on her journey to becoming a Land Girl.

They were travelling through a village now. Audrey caught a glimpse of the sign that said they were in Beckindale, and felt a lurch of nerves. ‘This is me,’ she said. ‘This is where my farm is.’

‘Nervous?’ Ginny asked.

‘Really nervous.’

‘Me too.’

‘Me three,’ added Tilly and they all laughed again.

‘Sugden’s farm is just up here,’ Smithers called as he turned off the main road and on to an unmade track.

Audrey grimaced at the other girls and Tilly looked concerned. ‘Do they know?’ she asked. ‘About your hand?’

Audrey shook her head. ‘I thought it was best to meet them first, and show them that I’m capable. I’ve learned that people underestimate me.’ Especially her parents, she thought, though she didn’t say it.

Tilly grinned at her. ‘I bet they only underestimate you once,’ she said.

Pleased with the support from her new friends, Audrey felt more confident than she was expecting to as Smithers pulled up outside a large stone farmhouse. She hoisted her kitbag on to her shoulder, said goodbye and good luck to Tilly and Ginny, and jumped down from the back of the truck.

‘They’re expecting you,’ Smithers said as Audrey went round to the driver’s window to thank him for the lift. ‘Reckon they’ll be pleased to see you. They need the help.’

Audrey hoped she’d be what the Sugdens were looking for. She waved to Smithers and the girls, and drawing in a deep breath, she lifted her chin and knocked on the wooden door. Immediately a dog started barking and she smiled. She loved dogs, and she was looking forward to learning more about farm animals. Animals didn’t judge her the way humans did, or have preconceptions about what she could or couldn’t do. She smiled in delight as a black and white sheepdog came flying round the corner of the house, barking loudly.

Audrey bent down and the dog came to her, sniffing her curiously, and growling. She rubbed it behind its ears and was thrilled when it stopped barking. You’ll do, she imagined it thinking. You’re fine.

‘Oh Ben, you’re the worst guard dog there could ever be,’ said a voice. Audrey stood up to see a middle-aged woman standing by the door to the farmhouse. She was dressed similarly to Audrey, with bib-front trousers, though she looked tired and gaunt.

‘I’m Maggie Sugden,’ she said, without smiling. ‘You must be our Land Girl.’

Audrey gave Ben another rub. ‘I’m Audrey Atkins,’ she said. She stood up and offered Maggie her right hand to shake.

Maggie gave Audrey an appraising look from the tips of her toes up to the top of her head and back down.

‘You know farms?’

‘I’ve done all my Land Army training.’

‘But do you know farms? Are you from a farming family?’

‘No,’ Audrey admitted. ‘But I grew up in a village in Sussex and my best friend’s family were farmers. I spent a lot of time running around there, helping with the harvest and whatnot.’

Maggie nodded. ‘Why did you join the Land Army? I’ve heard that girls think it’s an easy option.’

Audrey snorted. ‘They’d soon change their minds when they started training.’

. . .