by Vicki Beeby
Her watch ended not long afterwards. She was in a fever of worry as she left the Filter Room with Evie and May.
‘Did either of you learn any more about Big Ben and where it hit?’ When Evie and May shook their heads, Jess paced across the garden. ‘I have to go to Poplar. Check on Vera and Hannah.’
Evie caught her arm. ‘Wait. Be sensible. You can’t go dashing off to Poplar every time anything comes near London. London’s a huge place. The odds are, Vera and Hannah are perfectly safe and unaware of anything wrong. If you go tearing over there now, you’ll only worry them.’
Jess drew a shaky breath. ‘I know. You’re right. I’ve just got a bad feeling about Vera and Hannah coming back to London. It’s so hard to relax when I know exactly how many flying bombs are headed that way every day.’
‘Look. Come back to the mess with us and have breakfast. I’ll ask the other filterers and see what they know.’
‘But—’
‘Then after breakfast, May and I will come with you to Poplar.’
‘Good idea,’ May said. ‘I’ve been looking forward to meeting your family.’
Some of Jess’s anxiety eased. ‘You’re both gems, do you know that?’
‘Remember that when it’s time to buy Christmas presents,’ Evie said.
They still hadn’t been able to learn anything new by the end of breakfast so, true to their word, Evie and May accompanied Jess to Stanmore underground station to make the journey to Poplar. The worst of the rush was over by this time, so when the empty train rattled into the station there were only a small number of people waiting to get on. The three friends found themselves alone in a carriage, giving Evie the opportunity to grab Jess’s arm as they sat down. ‘Remember, Jess, you can’t breathe a word to your aunt about—’ she glanced around the carriage even though they were obviously the only occupants ‘—Big Ben,’ she finished in hushed tones.
Jess nodded. Now she had had time to calm down and think clearly, she knew Evie was right. She’d been all fired up to use this latest threat as a way of persuading Vera to take herself and Hannah back to the safety of Wales. Now she realised she could do no such thing. Everything she learnt in the Filter Room was top secret. However worried she was for her family’s safety, she couldn’t discuss it with anyone outside the Filter Room. ‘Fat chance of getting Vera to change her mind about staying in London,’ she said bitterly. ‘Sometimes I really hate knowing what I know.’
Evie and May both nodded grimly.
‘We do help people, though,’ May said. ‘Remember Milan. He would have drowned if not for you.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ Jess said, doing her best to ignore the stab of guilt when she thought of Milan.
‘Of course she’s right,’ Evie put in. ‘Milan and countless people are alive today because of us. And there are plenty of others like us, all working together to keep Britain safe. We can trust them to look after our loved ones if we can’t be there for them.’
The train drew to a halt in the next station; more people got on, forcing Jess, Evie and May to change the subject.
‘Oh, you’ll never guess,’ Jess said, bouncing on her seat as she remembered the events of the previous night, ‘I forgot all about it after… well, you know. But something so exciting has happened.’ She went on to explain about her taking a role in the film. ‘I’m going to be in an actual film. Can you believe it?’
‘It’s nothing more than you deserve,’ May said. ‘You’re going to be amazing.’
‘I’m really happy for you,’ Evie said. ‘It’ll help you get acting jobs after the war, too.’
‘I know. It feels too good to be true.’ She’d felt so left out the other day, with Evie and May looking forward not only to futures with Alex and Peter but with careers in mind as well. Now Jess could see a way back to the glamorous lifestyle she had aspired to when she’d been an actress.
She spared a fleeting thought for Milan. Would there be room for him in that life? In the end she decided not to think about it too closely. Milan had plans to return to Czechoslovakia and find his family, after all. Although she understood, she had no idea if he intended to return, and she couldn’t ask. Not yet. Not when her feelings were so confused.
* * *
They changed from the Bakerloo line to the District line at Charing Cross and headed to the East End. When they emerged at Bromley station, Jess felt a twinge of nerves at the thought of Evie and May meeting Vera. Despite knowing Vera wouldn’t dream of giving away her secret, she felt a vague dread that Evie and May would work it out somehow. How would they react if they found out what she had done?
It was a huge relief to turn into Farthing Lane and find no smoking crater where the houses should be.
‘See,’ Evie said, patting Jess’s arm, ‘I told you everything would be all right.’
Jess gave her a shaky smile. It could have been so different. They’d passed enough boarded up areas where houses had once stood for her to know everything could change in an instant. The street was empty of playing children this time. It took Jess a moment to work out why. ‘Bother,’ she said. ‘Hannah will be at school. I quite forgot the schools will have gone back by now.’ Of course, Hannah’s schooling would be another argument against moving her again.
‘How old is Hannah?’ May asked.
‘Five. She started school last year in Welshpool. I ’ope the little mite gets on with the kids here.’
They found Vera scrubbing her front step. She rose from her knees, wiping her soapy hands on her apron when Jess called her name and greeted Evie and May with a broad smile. ‘I’ve ’eard so much about the two of you. It’s lovely to meet you at last. Come in, come in. I’ll make us a brew.’
Jess offered to help but Vera waved her away. ‘Go on with you. It’s just a pot of tea. I’m not so old I can’t manage that.’
Jess went to sit in the front room with Evie and May, frustrated at the failure of her attempt to speak with Vera alone.
‘This is a pretty room,’ Evie said when Jess joined them. She was looking round at Uncle Jack’s framed cigarette cards and the pale green wallpaper sprigged with daisies. She went to the fireplace and examined a framed photograph of Jess and Vera, taken when Jess had been celebrating her first small part in a play. Looking at the photograph now, Jess felt a wave of sadness at how badly she had let down the confident, optimistic girl she had been then. ‘Have you always lived here?’ Evie asked. ‘You never speak much of your home.’
‘Most of my life,’ Jess replied. ‘My mum died when I was six, and I never knew my dad. Auntie Vera and Uncle Jack were like parents to me. I was quite a handful. Bet they were relieved they couldn’t have kids of their own.’
The moment the words were out of her mouth, an icy cold chill ran down her spine. Five painful seconds ticked out from the clock on the mantelpiece while she tried to think of a way to undo her terrible blunder. Think! ‘I… ah, that is, they thought they couldn’t, till Hannah arrived. Miracle baby.’
Thank heavens Auntie Vera chose that moment to walk into the room, china cups rattling on the tray. ‘Let me take that, Auntie,’ Jess said, springing forwards to relieve Vera of the heavy tray. She placed it on the low table beside Vera’s armchair. ‘I was just telling Evie about Hannah,’ she said.
‘Oh, yes. Our little miracle baby.’ Vera, bless her, must have heard Jess’s slip up. ‘Well, not so much of a baby now,’ Vera said, settling in her chair. ‘I can hardly believe she’s in her second year at the infants’ school.’
‘How’s she getting on?’ Jess asked, seizing the chance to steer the conversation away from Hannah’s birth.
‘She’s loving it. So don’t you go giving me any more grief about moving her back to the countryside, Jessica Josephine Jane Halloway.’
There was a stifled giggle from the depths of Evie’s armchair. Jess shot her a glare before turning back to Vera. ‘But—’
‘No buts. You’ve ’ad your say, my girl, and I understand your worry. We w
ent away during the Blitz, and listening to the stories, we missed a terrible time, even though this ’ouse wasn’t ’it. Things are safer now, though. Everyone says the war’s all over bar the shouting, and I’m not dragging the poor child back into the middle of nowhere just on your say-so.’
Jess subsided. She knew her aunt all too well. There would be no budging her now she had her heels dug in. Even if she was free to tell them about the new danger, it would make no difference.
Vera patted Jess’s hand. ‘I know you mean well, Jess, but we can’t put our lives on hold for ever because we’re afraid of what might happen. Hannah’s doing well at school and making friends. She was being teased something terrible by the kids in Welshpool. Anyway, not even Wales is completely safe. Cardiff and Swansea both had attacks.’
‘Welshpool’s miles from there. Anyway, there have been no flying bomb strikes in Wales.’ If Jess was free to reveal what she knew, she would have said that while she didn’t know enough about the new weapon, it, like the flying bombs, had been aimed at London.
‘Look,’ Vera went on, ‘the point I’m making is that if it’s your time then it’s your time, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If there’s a bomb out there with my name on it, I’d rather meet my end in my own ’ome. Anyway, I ’eard on the radio last night that the Battle of London is over. Our brave lads ’ave finally found a way of stopping those blasted Doodlebugs.’
In a move that signalled the subject was at an end, Vera picked up the teapot. ‘Now let’s ’ave a cuppa before the tea gets cold, and you can tell me your news.’
‘Well, I suppose I ’ave got some really exciting news. I’m going to be in a film.’
‘With Leonard Steele, can you imagine?’ May put in, her eyes shining.
‘Leonard Steele?’ Vera gave Jess a sharp look. Jess tensed. She had never told Vera who Hannah’s father was. Vera, however, had probably drawn her own conclusions at the time. Jess had to admit, she had been so giddy with infatuation for Leo at first, she might have mentioned him to her aunt and uncle rather a lot, just for the pleasure of speaking his name.
Vera pursed her lips and splashed milk into the cup, slopping more into the saucer than landed in the cup. ‘Well, I suppose you know what you’re doing. I thought you’d put all that acting business behind you.’
‘I had. I mean, I have. This is nothing more than a fortnight’s work. I’ll be back on duty before you know it.’
‘I hope so. You seemed so settled in the WAAF. Still—’ Vera gave an approving smile at Evie and May ‘—your friends seem to have sensible heads on their shoulders. I dare say they’ll keep you on the straight and narrow.’
‘Don’t worry, Mrs…’ Evie trailed off, looking embarrassed. Jess realised she had never told Evie or May what Vera’s surname was, having always spoken of her as Auntie Vera.
‘It’s Mrs Knight,’ Vera supplied. ‘But don’t call me that. Mrs Knight is my mother-in-law.’ Vera gave a theatrical shudder, even though Jess knew she got along well with Uncle Jack’s mother. ‘You can call me Auntie Vera like Jess here. I’ve always got room for a couple more nieces.’
‘Auntie Vera,’ May said, as though trying out the name. ‘I like that. I never had an aunt.’
And the conversation moved on, away from the dangerous subject of Leonard Steele.
* * *
‘I like your Auntie Vera,’ May said when they emerged from Charing Cross station that evening. Vera had insisted upon feeding them lunch, and then they had wanted to stay to meet Hannah when she came home from school. The girls had managed to stave off their tiredness while with Vera and Hannah, but Evie had nearly nodded off on the ride from Bromley, so Jess had promised to buy them all a cup of coffee at the Lyons Corner House on the Strand to fortify them for the return journey to Stanmore.
‘She’s a brick, isn’t she?’ Jess said, striding out. ‘I—’
A distant rumble made her stop mid-sentence. She could swear the ground had shaken. All around them, people had stopped in attitudes of alarm.
‘What was that?’ May said, clutching Evie’s arm.
‘It sounded like a bomb,’ Evie said, looking worried. ‘But why was there no air raid warning?’
Jess saw the understanding dawn in her friends’ eyes as the same moment it struck her. She remembered the high speed of the ‘Big Ben’ that morning. There would have been no time to sound a warning for anything travelling at that speed.
All tiredness forgotten, they turned as one for the underground.
‘There’s bound to be someone in the mess who knows what’s going on,’ Jess said.
When they got back to Stanmore they made straight for No. 2 Mess and cornered a Filter Officer from B Watch, who had taken over from them that morning.
‘The Big Ben?’ Patricia North nodded. With a wave of the hand, she invited them to sit with her in a quiet corner of the anteroom. ‘Yes, the Filter Room was in uproar for most of the morning.’
‘Does anyone know what it is?’ Jess said. ‘Where did it hit?’
‘Epping Forest. By all accounts, it’s something like the flying bombs only much bigger. I’ve heard talk that there’s been a second strike not long ago, but no one knows where.’
‘I know. We felt it,’ Jess said.
‘I hope no one was hurt,’ May said.
Evie looked grim. ‘A blast that size, if it hit a populated area, there’d have been no escape.’
Chapter Ten
The news on the radio that evening was frustratingly quiet about the mysterious new weapons. Jess, Evie and May didn’t learn more until they went back on watch the next morning. The Controller briefed them on the events of the previous day.
‘The track we picked up yesterday was a new weapon called a V2. The first one hit Epping Forest and caused no fatalities. Sadly a second one struck Chiswick yesterday afternoon, killing three people and injuring many more.’
In the brief pause that followed, Jess exchanged glances with Evie and May. So that was what they had heard. Jess shuddered to think that distant roar had marked the deaths of three people. Three people who would have had no warning of their approaching end.
‘As you will have gathered yesterday, these V2s travel at huge speeds. We estimate it takes only five minutes for them to travel from their launch points in France to London. As such, it is impossible to give any warning to the general population.’ The Controller’s face turned grave. ‘It has therefore been decided not to make knowledge of V2s public. The prime minister is of the opinion that it would cause needless panic. We are confident that once the Allied Advance has cleared the Germans from Northern France, Britain will be out of range of these weapons. The threat, therefore, will be short-lived. I need not remind you that everything I have told you remains strictly secret.’
And so ended her last hope of persuading Vera to take herself and Hannah to safety, Jess reflected as she took her position. She had to finally concede that she would never be able to convince Vera to return to Wales. All she could do was pray a V2 never came their way.
* * *
What with her worries over the V2s and the excitement of her role in the film, Jess had completely forgotten about her next date with Milan, which they had arranged for that evening. Tired out as she was from lack of sleep the previous day, she would have sent Milan her excuses had she not wanted to give him the violin. The thought of his face when he saw it perked her up and gave her the energy to set out again with Evie that evening for the Abercorn Arms. May had pleaded tiredness, and Evie was only coming to the Abercorn to meet Alex; they had arranged to go to the cinema together. That left Jess alone with Milan. She wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
Milan was already at a table when she arrived. His eyes sparkled when he saw her, and he sprang to his feet before she could sit down. ‘Remember the custom,’ he said and kissed her on both cheeks.
The cheery greeting Jess had prepared flew from her mind. She didn’t understand why a chaste kiss on t
he cheek should make her so flustered. ‘How could I forget?’ she said, gripping the handle of the violin case.
He put both hands on her shoulders, and his gaze softened. ‘You grow more lovely every day.’
Flirting she could handle, but Milan’s expression held only sincerity. Feeling suddenly uncertain, she swatted his hands away and sat down. ‘Go on! Is that your way of sweet talking me into buying the drinks?’
‘No. I got you a port and lemon,’ he said, pointing to a glass she hadn’t seen before, ‘but if you—’ His gaze fell on the violin case in Jess’s hand and he swallowed, his eyes widening. He sank into his chair as though his knees had given way. ‘Is that…?’
She nodded and passed it across the table to Milan. ‘It’s yours.’
Watching Milan’s expression as he took the violin case in trembling hands was like watching a child reach for a much longed for Christmas present. Jess took a sip of her drink to ease the tightness in her throat then explained how she had come by the gift.
Milan touched one of the clasps then let his hand drop. ‘It is truly for me?’
‘Yes. Go on. Open it. I don’t know if it’s any good.’
Milan moved their drinks to another table then placed the case in front of him.
* * *
Jess looked uncharacteristically anxious. She must have mistaken his hesitation for reluctance. ‘It will be perfect,’ he assured her. He would have gladly accepted a child’s violin at this stage.
He levered open the clasps and opened the lid, drawing a sharp breath of longing when he saw the instrument inside. This was no beginner’s violin. He could almost hear the rich, mellow tones it would make. The strings were slack; it would take some tuning. He couldn’t resist lifting it from its case. His left hand curled around the neck. It was as though the violin had been moulded to his hands. He lifted it to his chin then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The scent of resin and polished wood took him back to the practice room in Charles University. The violin felt totally natural in his hands, and he found his fingers moving over the strings in silent arpeggios. It might be five years since he had held a violin, but his muscles still remembered how to play, and that gave him a spark of hope. When all the fighting was over, maybe he would be able to pursue his dream.