The Fleethaven Trilogy (76 page)

Kate sat down suddenly as her legs gave way. ‘A rear-gunner – and on bombers!’ Kate whispered, then her voice rose shrilly. ‘He – he’ll be flying over enemy territory. He’ll – he’ll . . .’

The sight of Beth’s white face stilled Kate’s outburst and she swallowed hard. She stood up suddenly and went to the older woman, putting her arms about her. Beth laid her head against Kate’s shoulder. ‘Oh, Kate, I couldn’t bear it if – if . . .’

The two women clung together in their mutual fear for Danny’s safety.

A little later when she left the Elands’ cottage, Kate felt too restless to return home. She set off across the marsh towards the Spit, walking the full length of the promontory of land. She stood at its tip, letting her gaze travel around the expanse of water. The wind whipped across the sea, making the waves choppy, the surface like a huge sheet of corrugated iron. It was grey and cold and so lonely, especially without Danny.

She turned away and retraced her steps towards the beach, wanting to find their hollow in the dunes. But her path was barred by coils of barbed wire, bouncing and rocking in the breeze, stretching along the edge of the dunes. And a huge notice in red lettering proclaimed ‘DANGER – MINES’. Kate gasped. They’d blocked off the beach and mined the sand-dunes too.

Thinking back longingly to the days when she and Danny had run barefoot across the smooth, unspoilt sands, for the first time she felt a spurt of hatred for this war.

Close by the concrete pillbox which the army had built for their observers stationed at the Point, she was about to turn away when she heard the unexpected sound of girlish giggles.

Kate’s mouth set in a grim line as she marched towards the entrance and peered into the gloomy interior. On a groundsheet, wrapped together in a passionate embrace, were a young man in khaki army uniform and a girl with blonde hair and shapely legs.

‘Rosie!’ Kate’s startled gasp escaped her lips before she could prevent it.

The couple shot apart, the girl pulling down her dress and scrambling to her feet.

Kate turned and stumbled away through the tufts of thick grass.

‘Kate! Kate! Wait – please!’ There was such desperation in Rosie’s voice that Kate stopped. She did not turn around but stood still until Rosie reached her.

Grasping Kate’s arm, Rosie begged, ‘Please don’t tell me dad, Katie. He’d kill me. But it’s not what you think. Honest. It’s – it’s only a bit of fun.’

‘It looked like it!’ Kate snorted. ‘Danny was right about you . . .’

Rosie’s eyes widened and in them now was a look of sheer terror. ‘Danny? Oh, no – please don’t tell Danny.
Please
, Kate. I couldn’t bear it if he – if he . . .’

‘If he – what?’ Kate asked quietly.

Rosie’s gaze fell away and her grasp on Kate’s arm loosened. ‘Nothing. I just don’t want you to tell – anyone.’

Kate regarded her thoughtfully. That was understandable she thought reasonably. Yet the thought of Danny knowing of her romping in the sand-dunes had positively terrified Rosie. Kate sighed. ‘All right, I won’t tell anyone, but as long as you promise me you’ll be careful. These lads are lonely and a long way from home, Rosie. They – they might want too much from a pretty girl like you.’

‘It’s only a kiss and a cuddle, Katie, honest,’ Rosie promised.

‘Well – just mind it is.’

As she turned away and left Rosie to go back to her young man, Kate couldn’t help thinking to herself, ‘I sound just like my mother!’

‘Please, Kate,’ Rosie’s plea followed her. ‘Please don’t tell Danny.’

Kate tried to put on a brave front over Christmas for the sake of her family. They were all so pleased to see her – even Lilian hugged her enthusiastically when she opened the page-to-a-day diary Kate had given her as a Christmas gift.

‘It’s lovely, Kate. I always keep a diary and never have enough room to write everything in those little ones . . .’

Kate smiled kindly at her sister; the round, childish glasses gave the young girl an owlish look. Her straight hair was cut short to just below her ears. Lilian would have been the perfect pupil for Miss Denham. Kate couldn’t imagine what Lilian could possibly have to write about that would fill half a page, let alone a whole one. Overcome with a feeling of pity for the lonely young girl, Kate gave her a swift hug.

‘We’ve invited the two Land Army girls for Christmas dinner,’ Esther told Kate. ‘Poor things! They’re sisters – from Coventry.

‘Oh heck!’ Kate said at once, staring at her mother, the unspoken question in her eyes.

Her mother nodded. ‘Yes, their home was bombed in that awful raid in November. Their parents were safe, thank God, but the lasses have no home to go back to.’

‘How awful!’ Kate said. ‘Where are they billeted?’

‘At the Grange. The Squire’s turned it over for the duration. He’s taken a small house in the town.’ She shook her head, murmuring. ‘Poor old Squire – he’s not well.’

‘Do the girls help here?’

Her mother’s impish smile was back. ‘Oh, yes. They’re surprisingly good too – for townies.’

Kate hid her smile at her mother’s innocent tone of condescension.

‘But I have to watch ’em with ya dad,’ Esther added and touched her husband’s cheek tenderly.

Kate exchanged an amused glance with her stepfather. As if the idea would even cross his mind, she thought.

So Christmas passed pleasantly enough, but it was not the same without Danny.

Her pen was poised above the white page of the writing pad. Should she tell Danny about Rosie? Kate bit her lip with indecision and then decided to keep her promise to the girl. She sighed. She just hoped young Rosie did know what she was doing else it could all end in tears, as Grannie Harris was fond of saying.

She was sitting in front of the window in the sitting room, her legs curled up in a chair, the writing pad resting on her knee. From time to time she paused, looking up to stare out of the window across the smooth fields towards the Grange, the straight brown furrows white-tipped with the morning frost. In an hour’s time, her stepfather would take her to Suddaby in the pony and trap.

‘Who needs petrol?’ her mother had snorted in contempt, when the rationing had hit so many folks’ mode of transport. Jonathan, whose love for motors and engines seemed never to be catered for, at least on Brumbys’ Farm, had winked at Kate who had smiled back sympathetically.

A shadow fell across the page of her half-written letter and she looked up to see her grandfather.

‘Writing to Danny, lass?’ he asked without preamble, and eased his stiff limbs down to sit in the chair beside her. ‘You leaving this morning?’

She nodded.

‘Ah’ve got you a little something extra to what I gave ya on Christmas Day, lass,’ he said and dropped a package into her lap. ‘I expect ya’ll be making a lot of new friends and maybe seeing new places and I thought this might come in handy.’

Carefully, Kate unwrapped the square-shaped parcel. It was a Box Brownie camera. ‘Oh, Grandad, that’s a lovely present. And yes, it will be very nice to have. You make friends with people and then get posted to different places and maybe never see them again.’

Will Benson sniffed. ‘That’s what Ah thought. Ah got ’em at the shop to put a film in it, lass, so if ya wanted to take a few pictures ’afore ya leave . . . And Ah’d like to take one of you in yar smart uniform. Ya’d send it back to me when ya get it developed, would ya?’

‘Of course. Thank you, Grandad.’ She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his stubbly face.

He sniffed and grunted with embarrassment. Changing the subject, he asked again. ‘A’ ya writing to Danny?’

‘Yes – just to let him know my new address. I haven’t heard from him in ages. I expect it’s all this moving about. Maybe his letters have got lost. Maybe one day I’ll get a bundle arrive all together.’

‘Kate . . .’ the old man began, paused, and then continued haltingly. ‘Katie, it’s time to – to let go, lass.’

She avoided looking at him. ‘What – what do you mean, Grandad?’ The question was unnecessary. In her heart she knew what he meant only too well.

‘Don’t live ya life hankering after summat – or rather someone – ya can never have.’

‘I’m not,’ she snapped, and then, feeling guilty for her sharpness, put her hand on his arm. ‘Truly I’m not. We’re – we’re . . .’ She took a deep shuddering breath and said the words she had always found so difficult to voice: ‘Brother and sister. We know we are. It’s just that . . .’

Now she could not put their feelings into words. How could she explain to her grandfather the love which still lay between her and Danny, a love which she believed would never go away or even be replaced?

Maybe the old man understood, at least in part, for he covered her hand with his wrinkled one. ‘I know, lass, I know. But mebbe ya’ve the chance now to meet other fellers. It’s time you were married and settled down and having bairns.’

‘Yes, Grandad,’ she said dutifully, and forced a smile on to her mouth. She knew her grandfather meant well, but she could not imagine meeting anyone who could take Danny’s place in her heart. Not ever.

‘ACW Hilton. Ah yes, you’re the new driver for the CO, aren’t you?’

Kate gasped in surprise. The officer looked up. ‘Well? Doesn’t that suit?’ There was sarcasm in the woman’s tone that told Kate immediately that whatever she felt, it would have to suit.

‘Oh yes, Ma’am. It – it was just a surprise, that’s all. I hadn’t been told. I mean—’ She floundered, feeling herself going red. ‘I mean, I knew I’d be in Motor Transport but I didn’t know exactly what I’d be doing.’

‘You’ll still be in the MT Section and will have to carry out other duties when the CO doesn’t need you. The officer in charge of the MT Section is Flying Officer Cooper, but you’ll take your day-to-day orders from Flight Sergeant Martin. It seems, however,’ the officer added drily, ‘that our new Commanding Officer has asked especially for your services.’

‘Oh!’ This was an even bigger surprise. She could not imagine why.

The officer was looking at her keenly. ‘It’s a very good posting, particularly for a new recruit. Just mind you are up to it.’

Kate saluted smartly, some of her confidence returning. ‘I’ll do my best, Ma’am.’

She was dismissed.

As she left the orderly room, Kate stood for a moment to get her bearings. The airfield was in fact divided by the main road; on one side were all the quarters for the officers and airmen – and the WAAFs – and the administration offices were also sited there. On the opposite side, spread out before her, flat and windswept, was the operational site; the runways, the hangars and control tower and all sorts of buildings whose use Kate had yet to learn.

She drew in a deep breath and held it, revelling in the feel of the wind upon her face and the panorama before her. A small smile curved her mouth as she looked about her. She was so happy to be back in her home county. Before her, beyond the perimeter of the airfield, lay the gently rolling fields of the Wolds. Nearer, she watched a tractor, driven by a WAAF, hauling a bomb-train from the ammunitions dump towards the waiting aircraft. That was a job she might have done. But it seemed as if her new Station Commander had other plans. Now, her main duty would be to familiarize herself with the MT yard and the CO’s staff car in particular. Crossing her fingers that it would be a Humber Super Snipe, the same type on which she had done her training, she went in search of the MT Section office.

Flight Sergeant Martin was a kindly, fatherly figure, affectionately known by all in the section as ‘Chiefy’. He was bald, apart from tufts of grey, bushy hair which sprouted on either side of his head just above his ears. His eyes twinkled at her from behind round, steel-rimmed spectacles. ‘CO wants to see you the minute you arrive. Leave your gear here . . .’ He took her outside and pointed in the direction of the building which housed the CO’s office. ‘Now, you be careful. He’s a handsome devil, if ever I saw one,’ Chiefy chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound from his round belly.

Waiting in the outer office for her interview with the CO, Kate’s confidence ebbed away again and her stomach was churning with nervousness. She was uncomfortably aware of the eyes of the Adjutant upon her.

Then for some reason she suddenly thought about her mother. A picture of Esther Godfrey was in her mind’s eye, standing with hands on hips, feet planted firmly a little apart, her strong jawline jutting out resolutely. A small smile twitched at Kate’s mouth. No one, as far as she could remember, had ever intimidated her mother; not the Squire, not a headmistress, not authority of any kind. And were she in Kate’s place at this very moment, the man beyond that door would hold no fears for Esther Godfrey either. Some of the fluttering under Kate’s ribs settled a little.

Something buzzed on the man’s desk and he lifted a telephone receiver and listened. ‘Sir,’ was all he said into the instrument. Replacing the receiver, he looked up at Kate. ‘You may go in now.’

Kate stood and marched through the door. As it closed behind her she came to attention in front of the CO’s desk and rattled out her rank, name and number.

Then her hand fell away from her forehead in an untidy end to her salute and her lips parted in a gasp.

She was staring straight into the blue eyes of Philip Trent.

Having returned her salute, he at once seemed to relax and become completely ‘unofficial’. He came round the desk and held out both his hands to her.

‘Kate – it’s so good to see you again. You look wonderful.’

Hesitating only a moment, but then taking the lead from him, she smiled warmly. ‘And you. How are you? How’s your arm?’

‘Fine. It wasn’t broken, thank goodness, only dislocated and a small flesh wound just here.’ He indicated a point just below his collarbone. ‘It’s healed well now.’

They stared at each other, smiling, genuinely pleased to be meeting again.

‘Well, this is a coincidence,’ she said.

Philip’s smile broadened and he shook his head. ‘No coincidence, Kate.’

A slight frown furrowed her forehead. ‘Why? What do you mean?’

‘Do sit down.’ He indicated a wooden chair in front of his desk. ‘I’ll get us some tea.’ He leaned forward conspiratorially. ‘If anyone asks, we’re discussing details of your job as my driver.’