The Fleethaven Trilogy (77 page)

He went towards the door, opened it, issued orders for two teas, closed the door and returned to his desk. Sitting behind it, he smiled across at her again. ‘I’d better look all official when the corporal comes in with the tea. Actually, joking apart, we will have to discuss your – er – position as my driver. But first, I want to catch up on what’s been happening to you since we last met.’

They looked at each other, remembering Dunkirk, and their faces sobered. ‘I’m so glad you’re safe,’ he said softly. His gaze held hers and for a long moment they just sat staring at each other. Then Philip Trent cleared his throat and seemed to shake himself. His glance fell away and he shuffled some papers on his desk in front of him. ‘How’s Danny?’ he asked softly.

‘Fine. He’s joined the RAF.’

Philip nodded. ‘I know.’

‘You do?’ This was getting more mysterious by the minute.

‘I can’t believe this is happening.’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘What did you mean when you said it wasn’t a coincidence?’

He was smiling again, though looking a little sheepish.

‘When we get to this exalted position,’ he cleared his throat as if poking gentle fun at himself. On looking more carefully, she could see by the four half-inch stripes on his sleeve that he was now a Group Captain. ‘It does have its perks,’ he was saying. ‘We have colleagues in all sorts of posts. And if necessary, we can pull rank to get information.’

Kate still looked puzzled.

‘I was pretty sure you – and Danny – would join up after Dunkirk. Not only did I find out that you had, but also where you went for your training and that you’d ended up as an MT driver
and
with a special recommendation for promotion from your instructor,’ he added, teasing gently. ‘So – I made the right contacts and got you posted here as my personal driver.’

Kate gasped aloud. ‘Goodness. Just like that.’

He pulled a face. ‘Not really. I had to do a lot of string-pulling. But it worked.’ His face clouded momentarily and he leaned towards her. ‘You don’t – mind?’ he asked, suddenly boyish in his anxiety.

Before she could answer, there was a knock at the door and a corporal entered carrying a tray with two cups of tea on it, a small milk jug and sugar bowl. He set it down on the desk and retreated.

The very new station commander was still looking anxiously at his even newer driver. ‘Do you mind?’ he repeated the moment the door had closed behind the corporal.

‘Of course not,’ Kate reassured him swiftly. ‘I’m really very grateful.’ She smiled mischievously as she added, ‘I’ve already been told by a WAAF officer that it is a very important posting and she hopes I’m up to it!’

Now he laughed aloud as he handed her a cup of tea. ‘Oh, you’ll be up to it all right, Kate Hilton. There’s no doubt about that, and I’m recommending you be made up to Leading Aircraftswoman with immediate effect.’ His smile broadened. ‘Promotion can come amazingly quickly sometimes!’

‘Thank you,’ she whispered, touched by his faith in her.

Then his face sobered. ‘There is just something we must get straight, though . . .’

Kate nodded and, trying to lessen any embarrassment he might feel considering the debt of gratitude he owed her, she said, ‘I know – this is the last time we can talk like this. In future we must be – well – official.’

A look of surprise flitted across his face. ‘Oh, I hope not, Kate. No, what I was going to say was that on duty and in front of others, yes, we must be “official” as you put it.’ The smile lit his face again, ‘But I hope that in private we can still continue to be friends.’

‘Well, if you’re sure it won’t compromise your position in any way.’

‘It won’t trouble me. After all,’ he puffed out his chest with mock pride, ‘I am the new Station Commander. My word is law!’

Kate laughed, but he said quietly and more seriously now, ‘No, Kate, all joking apart, it’s you who could be compromised, and I wouldn’t want that.’

He stood up and Kate followed suit, placing her empty cup back on the tray. He was moving towards the door and opening it for her. ‘And this is the last time I’ll be able do this for you. I’m afraid you’ll have to open it for me in future.’

She smiled and then, deliberately adopting a bland expression before leaving his office, she saluted smartly and said, ‘Sir!’

Kate threw her kit-bag on to the end bed nearest the big grey stove – Mavis already having laid claim to the bed opposite – and surveyed the rest of the hut. ‘Did you have a good Christmas, Mave? There doesn’t seem to be many here yet.’

There appeared to be only three other beds occupied besides the one she was now claiming.

‘Yes, thanks. There’s more arriving later today.’ Mavis bounced down on the unoccupied bed next to Kate and lay back with her hands behind her head. ‘Two more R/T operators and a meteorologist. You and me are lucky to know each other. I guess for a while we shan’t know anyone else. They’ll be coming from all over.’

‘Mmm,’ Kate agreed absently, and sighed. All she hoped was that her recent letter to Danny got delivered to him all right and that he knew where she was. Wouldn’t he be surprised that she’d met up again with Philip Trent and that from now on she’d be seeing him every day? She must write at once and tell him . . .

Almost as if reading her thoughts, Mavis said, ‘I hear you’re the envy of the camp. Landing a job as driver to the dishy CO. Lucky old you!’

Kate just smiled.

‘Mind you,’ Mavis went on, ‘there’s a rather nice Flight Sergeant in the Ops Room . . .’

‘Oh, Mavis, you’re impossible!’

Kate sat down on her bed and pulled out her writing pad.

‘Oh, you’re not writing to him
again
, are you?’ Mavis cast her eyes to the rafters in mock exasperation. ‘And you try to tell me he’s not your boyfriend!’

Kate said nothing, but bent her head over the page and began to write, ‘Dear Danny . . .’

The door of the long hut opened and two newcomers entered. Mavis twisted her head to look towards the door but made no effort to move from the bed.

‘Hello there,’ she called cheerily. ‘Welcome to your new home.’ Now she levered herself up on her elbow, swung her legs off the bed and sat up. ‘I’m Mavis and this is Kate.’

The two arrivals walked down the length of the hut, a tall, slender girl with sleek blonde hair leading the way with confidence in every stride, while behind her came a smaller, thin girl.

Ignoring Mavis’s greeting, the tall girl was complaining loudly in affected tones, ‘If I have to endure another Free From Infection inspection just once more . . . it’s so humiliating!’

Kate looked up, glancing over the newcomers. Her gaze rested briefly on the thin girl and then was drawn to the other girl. There was something vaguely familiar about her. Kate frowned. The girl nodded stiffly towards Mavis, her only acknowledgement of the friendly greeting.

There was something about the sulky mouth, the tilt of her head as if she were looking down her nose at everything and everyone . . .

Even before the newcomer opened her mouth to speak again, Kate recognized her.

‘How do you do?’ Her tones were affected and cold. ‘This is Edith Brownlow and my name’s Isobel Cartwright.’

K
ate knew she was staring at Isobel Cartwright, but she could not stop herself.

Her stomach was churning. Of all the people she had hoped never to meet again in her life, this girl was top of the list, apart, perhaps, from Miss Denham. Any moment, she expected the girl’s petulant mouth to twist into a sneer and hear herself called that dreadful name. ‘Why, if it isn’t Sicky!’

But Isobel’s cool glance flickered over Kate without recognition and she turned her attention to the bed next to Mavis. ‘I’ll take this one. I see you two have already bagged the ones nearest the stove.’

‘First come, first served,’ Mavis said airily. She waved her hand towards Kate, making the introductions.

Kate held her breath. Would Isobel remember the name, if not the young girl who had grown up?

Isobel nodded briefly and glanced around, more concerned with her surroundings. ‘Well, I don’t like being under a window. They’re
always
draughty.’ She prodded the three-sectioned mattress with her fingers. ‘Ugh! I shall have to get Mummy to bring my own bed over from Lincoln. This is disgusting!’

Kate heard Mavis’s splutter of laughter which she tried to turn into a cough, but failed.

By contrast, Edith Brownlow was standing uncertainly in the centre of the floor. Kate noticed now, with a stab of pity, that the girl’s hair was plastered with an evil-smelling concoction, proclaiming to all that in the medical inspection, Edith must have been found to have head lice.

Kate watched as Isobel glanced coolly towards Edith. ‘You’d better take a bed on that side of the hut, Brownlow.
I
don’t want to catch nits!’

Obediently and without a word of complaint, Edith took the bed on the opposite side under the window next to Kate and began to unpack her belongings. Kate had a shrewd idea that the girl’s bent head was hiding tears. She remembered how she had felt under Isobel Cartwright’s scathing jibes.

She went over to Edith. ‘Here, let me give you a hand,’ Kate said, smiling at the younger girl who was obviously feeling very embarrassed. ‘Our corporal’s not a bad old stick, actually,’ Kate continued, trying to open up a conversation. ‘We’re lucky – the girls in the next hut have got a battle-axe!’

She kept up a bright chatter while helping the girl to sort out her kit. ‘Where are you from?’

‘Nottingham.’ Edith’s voice was no more than a whisper.

‘Oh, that’s not too far away. You should be able to get home on leave quite easily.’

The girl bent her head again and did not reply. Kate had the feeling that perhaps she had said the wrong thing.

Isobel’s complaining voice rose again. ‘Where’s the bathroom?’

Now Mavis did laugh outright. ‘Where on earth did you do your basic training – the Ritz?’

Isobel shot her a vitriolic glance, sat down on her bed and crossed her shapely legs. She was wearing silk stockings, Kate noticed. She doubted if even their easy-going corporal would let Isobel get away with that! From her pocket, Isobel pulled out what looked like a silver cigarette case, opened it, extracted a cigarette and lit it, inhaling deeply.

‘Actually,’ she drawled, ‘we were in an hotel – in Harrogate. At least it was civilized. When we went to the place for our R/T training it was very basic – to say the least! But I thought this would be different. I mean, it’s a newly built station.’

Kate couldn’t stop herself trotting out the well-worn phrase that was used as an excuse for every short-coming. ‘There is a war on, you know . . .’ She paused and then added with delicious delight, ‘Cartwright!’

Isobel glared at her and instantly Kate regretted drawing her old enemy’s attention to her. But Mavis took up the cudgels. ‘New it may be, but I suppose they had to get the place banged up and operational as quickly as possible. The new squadron arrives tomorrow complete with Manchesters.’

Kate’s interest sharpened. ‘Really?’ According to something her stepfather had said at Christmas, Danny could be on Manchesters. ‘Where are they coming from? What squadron is it?’

‘How should I know?’ Mavis laughed and added teasingly. ‘
You
should be able to get all the info – after all, you’re closest to the CO.’

‘That’s true,’ she murmured, her mind racing.

‘Close to the CO? How come?’ Isobel was watching her with renewed interest.

‘She’s the CO’s personal driver,’ Mavis told them with a tinge of reflected importance. ‘Hand-picked, she was.’

‘Really?’

Kate glanced up to see Isobel watching her. On the girl’s face there was a rather calculating expression and something else too. Could there possibly be a tinge of respect, Kate thought in surprise. But then, she reminded herself, Isobel Cartwright hasn’t realized just who I am – yet!

*

More WAAFs arrived over the next two days and soon their hut was fully occupied, with the corporal in charge of them sleeping in the small single room just off the entrance into the hut. After a couple of days they were gradually getting used to being with girls from different parts of the country – from all walks of life.

‘God, that woman’s useless!’ Mavis moaned to Kate as they cut across the grass to the ablutions at six-thirty one morning.

‘Who – Edith?’

‘Edith? Oh no, not Edith. She’s very clever, actually, with the met reports. Seems it’s a special interest of hers. No, no, me Lady Isobel Cartwright! I would get lumbered with her on my shift, wouldn’t I? Thick as cloud at forty thousand feet, she is!’

Kate felt a moment of sneaking glee to hear Isobel criticized. She bent her head forward so that Mavis should not see the smile on her lips.

‘Still,’ Mavis added, mellowing a little as her normal generous nature surfaced again, ‘she does try, I’ll give her that.’

Kate’s head shot up. ‘Really?’ she said, without thinking. ‘You do surprise me. I’d have thought she’d think it all beneath her.’

‘How on earth she passed out as an R/T operator I don’t know. Dave’s getting fed up with her already. She comes in for some flak from him, I can tell you.’

‘And does she take it?’

‘Oh, yes. Hasn’t much choice, really, now has she?’

‘Suppose not.’ Kate paused a moment then asked, ‘Who’s this Dave?’ As they pushed their way into the wash-room, Kate glanced at her friend and saw Mavis’s cheeks were a faint shade of pink that had nothing to do with the walk through the frosty morning air. Teasing, she added, ‘Do I detect a romance blossoming?’

‘Don’t be daft, Kate,’ Mavis countered, but the pink tinge deepened. ‘I’ve only just met him.’

‘Mmm. I can see I shall have to keep my eye on you. Anyway, tell me more about Isobel.’

Mavis launched into a list of mistakes and inefficiencies of which Isobel Cartwright had managed to be guilty in just two shifts. The catalogue was secretly gratifying to Kate, but she hugged the knowledge to herself. She didn’t want anyone – not even dear old Mavis – to have the slightest inkling that she knew Isobel.