Violet sighs, checking the boxes. “Twinings, Taylor’s, I ndáiríre, cá bhfuil sé ... ah!” She grabs Bewley's tea, setting the kettle going and sighing, making sure to grab some milk to put it into the cup first. The kettle screamed at her, and she adds milk, then tea, then water to her cup.
Peggy enters and Violet nods at her. “Cup of tea?”
“Oh, no thank you,” she smiles slightly, and Violet sets another cup down. “I just had a cup…” Peggy trails on.
“Are you sure?”
“Very sure,” she nods.
“Peggy, I may have lived in the US for most of my life, but I know very well that you’re dying for another one,” she says. “So, cup of tea?”
She sighs and nods. “Alright…” she says quietly.
Violet nods and grabs the Taylor’s from the cabinet, and waits for the kettle to finish boiling before she pours some milk in her cup, just enough to cover the bottom, before adding the tea bag.
“Here you go, Taylor’s black tea with a bit of milk. Shall we go to the porch?”
“But it’s 70 degrees…”
“Oh please, it’s perfect tea weather.”
She nods. “Why don’t we sit in the conservatory then?”
She nods and they walk idly to the conservatory and she smiles slightly at her. “Nothing like in England I suppose?”
“No.. not at all..” she smiles slightly, looking out at the sun. “Nothing like Ireland?”
“Nope, nothing like Youghal.”
She nods. “You lived there?”
“Until I was seven, then me and my family moved to San Francisco.”
“Why San Francisco?”
“To put it simply, my dad found out something he wasn’t supposed to and we had to flee Ireland.”
She nods softly. “Do you miss it?”
“Sometimes, Éire is my first home, and I’ll always miss it, but I don’t really remember it, if that makes sense…”
She nods and Jarvis comes out. “Cup of tea Jarvis?” Violet says, nodding at him.
Jarvis nods. “Mind if I come and join you?”
Violet shakes her head. “We’re just talking about home.”
Jarvis smiles foundly and nods, going to the kitchen.
“Right, well… I sometimes miss England…” Peggy says, looking at her. "I lived in Hampstead, just outside of London. Was a little town... somewhat I suppose. But we'd always make the trip to London since my Grandparents still lived there. We'd go to see my grandparents, and then go and see a West End show."
She nods. “Originally, I’m from Co. Chorcaí or County Cork. I lived in a town called Youghal. It’s spelled Y-o-u-g-h-a-l, but it was on the seaside, down south.”
She nods. “You spoke Irish from a young age then?”
“Gaelige is my first language, I learned English with my brothers once we moved here. From my best friend's letters, Youghal is still a very much Irish town.”
Jarvis ends up sitting down after getting his tea. “Co. Cork?”
“The best county in Éire.” She grins and sips her tea.
“I would say that Buckinghamshire is the best in England, but Yorkshire does have my heart. Me and my family would go up for the summer to visit my aunt and uncle, so we would end up going to Betty’s, walking along the Stray... “
She smiles. “You like Betty’s?”
“More like love I’m afraid, they have the best pikelets out of anywhere I’ve been, and well I would always want some to take home but well… they don’t hold up to the train. But I grew up there and by the time I was 18 I knew I didn’t want to stay in Buckinghamshire my whole life.”
“So then butler school?” Peggy says, sipping her tea.
“No actually, I wanted to travel, so I worked under a General in Budapest. It was 1943 then, when I met Ana.”
“And then everything else?”
“And then everything else,” he nods at Peggy.
Violet nods, sipping her tea. “And then you two came to America and started to work for Mr. Stark?” She still felt uncomfortable with calling him by his first name, and he nods.
“Correct Miss Clarke, and how did you come to Los Angeles?”
“Well, I went to nursing school in San Francisco, my family moved there when I was 7. It was 1941 when I graduated, so I signed up immediately for the Army Nurse Corps and got stationed in Manila during the war. After it ended, I got out, before heading to Los Angeles to work in the VA. After a year of working there, I met Daniel and well… you all know what happened.”
They nod and Violet sips her tea and looks out the window.
“I have a feeling Miss Violet, that you don’t like talking about what happened?” Jarvis says softly.
She shakes her head. “I was a POW in the Philippines. The only reason I wasn’t treated horribly was because they recognized that we were nurses. Not just regular women.”
They nod softly, and Peggy stops. “You said Manila?”
She nods. “Yeah…”
“Angel of…”
“Yes, I was the youngest member of the Angels of Bataan, although I prefer Battling Belles better.” She winks, sipping her tea.
Jarvis nods. “76 young army and navy nurses trapped on Bataan who came out of a POW camp all alive?”
She nods. “Pretty much.”
He nods softly and looks at the time. “I should get going. I need to make a quick stop at the butcher’s for dinner.”
Violet and Peggy nod as Jarvis leaves and Peggy smiles at her. “Well… I’ve had enough tea for today… I think I’m going to wash up for dinner.”
“Alright Peggy,” she smiles slightly and nods, drinking the rest of her tea. Maybe she was more comfortable making her status known as an Angel of Bataan. And maybe she found a bit of home here in LA.