The Last Train Home

Chapter Twenty-Nine

He smiled at me, that same lopsided smile that used to greet me when I went down to the docks after school. Somehow, he looked different, older if that were possible, but he carried himself better than he had back home. Back home Dad would spend his time stooped over and carrying heavy objects from one ship to the dock and back again. He might have been strong, but he had terrible posture that often made him look like a banana but standing in front of me, his back was straight and he looked like he mattered.

I squealed, and ran across the square, throwing away any shred of dignity I might have had left. Dad dropped his bag onto the floor and pulled me into a hug, swinging me off the ground and spinning around in a circle. It had only been six months since I last saw Dad, but it felt like a lifetime ago, an eternity.

"What are you doing here?" I exclaimed when he put my feet back on the ground. I pulled myself out of the hug but he held onto my upper arms. "You didn't say anything about getting leave.

"I got a weekend pass. I'll be going up to London this evening to see your mum, but I wanted to see you first."

"I missed you so much!"

"Me too." He squeezed my arms. "Look at you, you've gotten taller! And look at your hair!" Dad grabbed a small stand and lightly tickled my nose with it, something he did when I was younger. "If it weren't for the colour I would hardly recognise you."

"I haven't changed that much."

"Yes, you have, little songbird. You're all grown up." Dad smiled.

"Don't start crying, you'll ruin the image of a man in uniform."

"Sir, yes Sir!"

Dad saluted and then pulled me into another hug, squeezing me as hard as he could until it felt like I was going to explode. I didn't like to think I had changed all that much in the six months I had been staying with the Goodwin's, but I knew that it would be inevitable. For the first time in as long as I could remember I had decided to grow my hair out and I knew that all the work on the farm had to make some difference in how I looked, even if I never saw it for myself. Six months was a long time.

Even with Dad standing in front of me, I couldn't help but wonder when I would next see Mum. She had been adamant that I couldn't return to the city until the war was over, but we didn't know how long the war would go on for. It could be months, years even until I next saw her and who knows how much would have changed in that time. I didn't want to become someone she wouldn't recognise in that time.

If the war lasted as long as the Great War did, I would be eighteen by the time the fighting ended. I would be a woman capable of going off on my own and supporting myself in the wider world if I wanted to. In that time, I could grow used to being in the country and being with the Goodwin's till the point that I didn't want to leave. War changed everyone, even those who were nowhere near the battlefield.

"I think you have some introductions to make, Syb." Dad gestured behind me and I turned around to Jonathan, Barbara and Alec who were all watching. I had forgotten they were there.

"Right, I definitely didn't forget."

Dad chuckled and patted me on the head. He grabbed his small bag from the floor and flung it onto his shoulder. I led him over to where the others stood, trying to fight the smile that had embedded itself onto my lips. It might have only been for a few hours, but Dad was there.

"Jonathan, Barbara, this is my Dad," I said.

"Andrew Vaughn, pleasure to meet you. If I'm right, you're the couple that took my Syb in," Dad said. He extended a hand to Jonathan.