Two burly shadows loomed up in the darkness. ‘Hello, Miss Pips – Alice.’
‘Oh, Sam, it’s you – and me dad. You startled us. Whatever are you doing sneaking about at this time of night?’
‘Same as you, I expect. Helping Mr Dawson play Father Christmas, though we’ve left the reindeer at the end of the lane.’
As the clouds drifted away from the moon for a moment, they could see that both Len and Sam were each carrying a very bulky parcel.
‘Whatever have you got there, Dad?’
‘It’s a go-cart. I’ve made one for Luke and one for Daisy too. You didn’t tell Alice then, Miss Pips.’
‘Heavens, no. The secrecy’s all part of the fun, isn’t it?’
‘We’ve brought Luke’s tricycle. Do you think he’ll be asleep yet?’
‘I shouldn’t think so,’ Sam said. ‘But we’ve instructions from Peggy to leave the go-cart in the shed at the back. We can leave the tricycle there too. Does Peggy know about it?’
‘No.’
‘Then I’ll tell her tomorrow, though I think she might guess where it’s come from.’
Like thieves in the night, but ones who were leaving gifts, not stealing them, the four left the presents in the Coopers’ back garden shed and crept away. Further up the lane, Sam said, ‘I’ll bring Daisy’s go-cart to the hall, Alice. I was going to anyway, and was going to go round the back to find Jake.’
‘That’s probably the best idea, because that little madam will still be awake,’ Alice said with feeling.
‘If she’s anything like me,’ Pips said airily. ‘Then she certainly will be.’
Without the terrible memories of their elders, the two children were wild with excitement on Christmas morning and thrilled to find that they had the same main presents as each other.
The weather was fine, but frosty, so Pips was able to spend a happy Christmas morning teaching both children how to ride their tricycles and go-carts.
‘Come on, Robert, you’re coming outside with me. Mother and Alice are supervising the Christmas luncheon preparations in the Great Hall. They don’t need either of us.’
Soon the grounds around the hall were filled with shrieks of laugher with Pips chasing after the two youngsters, whilst Robert watched, laughing at their antics.
‘How did Father Christmas know to bring us both the same presents?’ Luke asked.
‘Because he’s very clever. He’ll know you and Daisy are friends and play together. He would want to treat you both the same.’
‘Oh.’ The four-year-old boy was serious for a moment. ‘Me granddad ses Daisy prob’ly won’t always be my friend.’
‘Why’s that, Luke?’ Pips asked gently.
‘He says she’s – above us. We’re only a working-class family and one day Daisy might be the owner of the hall.’
Pips hesitated, unsure for once what to say to the little boy. She didn’t want to say anything against his grandfather, yet she was silently furious with Len Dawson and his bigoted beliefs.
Feigning deliberate casualness, she said, ‘Well, our families are connected, aren’t they? You’re Daisy’s cousin, aren’t you?’
‘Am I?’
For one awful moment, Pips wondered if she had put her foot right in it. Maybe no one had ever explained the exact relationship to him. Then, to her relief, Luke himself said, ‘Oh yes, me mam told me that Harold Dawson was me dad, but he got killed.’
‘Yes, that’s right and Alice – Daisy’s mam – was your dad’s sister, so you see, we’re family.’
‘So, you don’t think that one day, when she grows up, Daisy won’t want to be friends with me any more?’
Mentally crossing her fingers, Pips said brightly, ‘Heavens, no!’
She could only hope that her declaration would prove to be true.
‘It’s all about the children now, isn’t it?’ Robert said over dinner on New Year’s Eve. Christmas had been a happy time for the Maitlands and even the Dawson and Cooper families, concentrating their energies on Luke, had managed to celebrate rather than be overwhelmed with grief as they had been the previous year. Time would never heal the raw wound of their loss, but they were all learning to cope.
Even Robert’s moods seemed to have lifted. ‘And you’re all right,’ he went on, ‘I should get up off my backside and do something useful. I don’t want Daisy growing up thinking she had an indolent father.’
‘Such language, Robert,’ Henrietta admonished softly.
‘I apologize, Mother. That’s what the trenches do for you. Niceties and drawing-room language didn’t seem to matter out there. So, Father,’ he turned to Edwin, ‘a new year – a new start. Perhaps I should begin to help you in the practice, if only a little. What do you suggest we do?’
‘We’ll open up the room we had fitted out as your surgery before the war and then—’
‘It’s all ready,’ Alice said quietly. ‘Sarah and I have been cleaning and dusting it regularly.’
Robert laughed. ‘Looks like I’ve no escape, then.’
Edwin smiled at his daughter-in-law over the top of his glasses. What a blessing she was to the family. ‘Well, then, I suggest you ease yourself in gradually. Take on a few patients and see how it goes. I will, of course, continue to carry out any necessary physical examinations that are difficult for you.’
‘All right. I’ll start on Monday. What about home visits?’
‘Jake has learned to drive my car. He could take you.’
And so it was all arranged and Robert at last had something to look forward to each day. There were still times when the memories crowded in and a black mood descended but as time had gone on, these occasions became more infrequent.
And the locals, playing their part, flocked to his surgeries.
Seven
An unusually mild, but wet, winter turned into spring and with it, in the middle of April, came a surprise visitor.
‘Dahlings!’
Shown into the Great Hall where the family were sitting down to dinner, the visitor flung her arms wide as if to embrace them all. Edwin and Robert politely rose to their feet, though they had no idea who she was.
‘Good Heavens!’ Pips smiled as she, too, rose and hurried down the long room. ‘Milly!’
The two young women embraced each other affectionately.
‘I got your letter saying you would come in the New Year, but when I heard no more I thought, Well, “if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad . . .”’ Golden curls framed her pretty face and her bright blue eyes twinkled with merriment and mischief.
Pips turned and, with her arm still around Milly’s waist, drew her forward. ‘Now, I must introduce you to everyone. I’m forgetting that you don’t know anyone else here.’ But before introductions could be made, Henrietta, ever the thoughtful hostess, rose.
‘You are very welcome, Miss – er . . .’
‘Fortesque – but please call me Milly.’ She went towards the older woman with her hands outstretched. ‘I must apologize for arriving unannounced and so late too. Mummy would scold me for being so impolite, but I just couldn’t wait a moment longer to see Pips.’ She turned and beamed at Pips. ‘I have missed you.’
A small smile twitched at the corner of Henrietta’s mouth. Normally, she would have been appalled at such thoughtless behaviour but Pips had not exaggerated when she had told them that Milly was ‘absolutely adorable’. To her surprise, Henrietta found herself saying, ‘I will see Cook. Please join us. We have only just started.’
‘Oh I couldn’t impose, really . . .’
‘I insist. You haven’t eaten, I presume?’
‘Well, no, but . . .’ Now Milly was flustered and her cheeks turned pink.
‘It’s all right, Milly dear,’ Pips said, giving the girl’s waist a little squeeze. ‘Mother wouldn’t offer if she didn’t mean it.’
‘And you must stay with us,’ Henrietta went on. ‘Or have you already booked into a hotel in Lincoln?’
‘No, no, I ju
st thought I could find somewhere later . . .’ Her voice trailed away and now she looked acutely embarrassed. ‘I don’t want to be a nuisance.’
Edwin now moved from his place and held out his hand. ‘I am Edwin Maitland. Pips, take Milly upstairs. Perhaps she would like to freshen up first and then you must come and sit near me. You are most welcome, my dear.’
Milly was fast recovering her composure. She clasped Edwin’s outstretched hand in both of her own. ‘You must be Pips’s father. She said what a darling man you are.’
Edwin chuckled whilst behind him Henrietta said drily, ‘Well, I won’t ask you what she said about me.’
The whole family laughed as Henrietta left the room to seek out Cook to provide another meal for their unexpected guest.
As Pips ushered her upstairs to a guest bedroom, Milly said, ‘Your mother’s very kind, but I don’t want to impose and put her to any trouble.’
‘We always keep a guest room ready, Milly. Please don’t give it another thought. Now—’
‘Oh, I forgot – the taxi. He’s still waiting outside. I must go down . . .’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll see to that. You freshen up and then come down.’
‘You’re all so sweet,’ Milly murmured.
Pips ran back down the wide staircase. ‘Father, have you any money handy? The taxi Milly arrived in is still—’
‘Wainwright,’ Edwin addressed the butler, who, as usual, was still hovering, ‘perhaps you could . . .?’
‘It’s all right, Wainwright,’ Robert said, getting up again. ‘I’ll take care of it.’
When he’d paid the taxi and Henrietta had come back to say that a meal for Milly would be served shortly, the girl herself arrived back in the room and took her place near Edwin, who sat at one end of the long table.
‘Now, my dear, I must make the introductions.’ He gestured towards Henrietta sitting at the opposite end of the table. ‘You’ve probably guessed that this is my wife. The handsome young man to her left is our son, Robert, and on his left is his wife, Alice. The only person missing is tucked up in bed and, I hope, fast asleep. That’s Robert and Alice’s daughter, Daisy, on whom, I may say, the whole family dotes.’
‘I know,’ Milly said candidly. ‘Pips’s letters are full of news about her.’
Pips pulled a face. ‘Oh dear. Do I bore you? I do go on about her a bit, I suppose.’
‘Not at all. She sounds adorable. I can’t wait to meet her and it’s most awfully kind of you to ask me to stay, Mrs Maitland.’
Henrietta smiled and inclined her head in acknowledgement.
‘How are things in London, Milly?’ Pips asked. ‘You got your flat, then?’
‘Oh yes, Daddy was as good as his word. It’s in Hampstead and I can have all my friends round and throw wild parties whenever I want.’
‘And do you?’ Robert smiled across the table at her as he picked up his fork in his left hand and began to eat. Milly’s clear blue eyes rested on him for a moment but then she glanced away as if she was afraid he might read her sympathy in them. The wounded, who had returned from the war, didn’t want pity, she knew that.
‘Do I – what?’
‘Throw wild parties.’
‘Oh yes,’ she replied swiftly – a little too quickly, Pips thought. ‘All the time. And then there’s the theatre and opera and the ballet. Oh, there’s so much to do there. That’s why I’ve come to see you.’
Robert chuckled. ‘To get away from it all for a while.’
Milly’s eyes were wide with surprise. ‘Heavens, no! I want Pips to come and stay with me and have lots of fun too.’
There was silence around the table. Milly gazed at them in turn. ‘Oh dear, have I put my foot in it? I didn’t mean to imply . . .’
Edwin and Robert spoke at once.
‘Of course you haven’t, my dear.’
‘You’re right. Pips is always saying how bored she is now.’
‘Life is very different back home, isn’t it?’ Milly said, her face suddenly serious. ‘After all we went through. And you three . . .’ she nodded towards Alice to include her – ‘were there so much longer than I was. I don’t know how you coped.’
‘You were wonderful, Milly,’ Pips said. ‘Even though you hadn’t much nursing experience, you were like a ray of sunshine and a tonic for all of us when you arrived. We’d all got rather jaded by then. You were rather thrown in at the deep end, but the soldiers loved you.’
‘It’d do her the world of good to stay with you for a while, Milly,’ Robert said quietly. ‘What d’you say, Pips?’
Pips laughed. ‘I’ll start packing. I’d love to come, Milly. But first, stay a day or two with us and I’ll introduce you to the countryside.’
‘That’d be lovely. Even though I’m a city girl at heart, I do love the countryside. But I must be getting back home soon and I do so want to take you to Brooklands.’
Robert glanced up. ‘The racing circuit? But I thought it had been closed during the war.’
‘As soon as war broke out the owner handed it over to the Government and the RFC moved in and the flying schools were taken over for military training. Racing virtually stopped, though there was at least one meeting where all the competitors took part wearing their uniforms.’ She giggled. ‘It was called the All-Khaki Meeting, but they did allow the public in to see that.’ She paused and then, seeming a little hesitant, went on, ‘Daddy’s – um – with Vickers and, amongst others, they had a flying school there before the war.’
‘Vickers? I thought they were armaments and aircraft manufacturers?’ Robert asked.
‘They are. Before the war they manufactured at a factory in Kent, but they tested their aircraft at Brooklands. In 1915, they started actually making aircraft at Brooklands too in what used to be the Itala factory there. And now, it’s opening up again as a racetrack and a meeting is being planned for the last week in May. You’ll love it, Pips.’
Robert chuckled. ‘I’d be careful, if I were you. She’ll be wanting to take part.’
‘Perhaps she can,’ Milly said airily. ‘The Brooklands Automobile Racing Club don’t allow women drivers, but some of the smaller private clubs, who use the circuit, do.’ She smiled coyly. ‘My friend Paul runs a club there – The Whittaker Racing Club – and he allows women to race.’
At the far end of the table, Henrietta cast her glance to the ceiling.
‘It’s so quiet,’ Milly said as Pips showed her the croquet lawn, the orchards and all the well-kept gardens. ‘But it’s lovely,’ she added hastily. ‘I’m surprised you haven’t got soldiers recuperating here.’
‘We did have for a while towards the end of the war and for a short time afterwards. But, of course, once they were well enough they went home to their families.’
They walked in silence across the croquet lawn and beneath the trees in the orchard.
‘Your brother – Robert – is he coping?’
Pips linked her arm through Milly’s. ‘That’s one of the reasons I wanted to bring you out here, so that we can talk without being overheard.’
Milly laughed. ‘And there I was thinking I was being given a privileged guided tour.’
‘Of course you are. That as well.’
There was a pause before Milly prompted, ‘Go on.’
‘Robert’s the reason I’ve held off coming to see you in London. Daisy, too, if I’m honest. I wouldn’t want you to think I don’t want to come, because I’d love to. It’s just that it’s been very difficult.’
‘Tell me.’
‘Over Christmas and New Year we all encouraged him to join Father again in the practice. We believed he could still treat patients even if he couldn’t do some of the physical examinations.’
‘But your father would do that.’
‘Exactly.’
‘So?’
‘He did make a start in early January and we all thought he was doing so well for a couple of weeks. But he still gets black moods sometimes and during the third wee
k he took a day off. Then in the next week it was two days and so on, until he decided that he couldn’t face it any longer. So now, he’s back sitting in the drawing room upstairs most of the day, just staring out of the window at God knows what.’
‘Seeing dreadful pictures from the past, I expect,’ Milly murmured. ‘It’s what we’re all trying to blot out, Pips, but we each have a different way of dealing with it.’
‘But he’s not dealing with it, is he, if he just sits there wallowing in it?’
‘Is there no one who can help him?’
‘I don’t want to sound conceited, but I can usually drag him out of his moods and so can Alice, though she has a different way of handling him. She’s so calm and gentle and loves him devotedly. He couldn’t have chosen a better wife – even though our mother didn’t approve at first.’
‘Really? Why not?’
Pips laughed wryly and explained what had happened before Milly had arrived at the front.
‘But I remember William. He was still there, wasn’t he? He was so brave working as a stretcher bearer. He was lovely. Is he back home? Can I see him again?’
Pips shook her head. ‘He stayed in Belgium. He’s married Brigitta.’
‘Oh, the nurse.’ Milly clapped her hands. ‘I’m thrilled to hear that. But how did Robert and Alice come to marry, especially if your parents didn’t approve?’
‘It was only Mother. She has rather grandiose ideas sometimes – about what is proper, I mean.’
‘She’s like my Granny Fortesque. She can’t accept how the world is changing either. It’s hard for them, but I think your mother is a dear. My granny would have thrown up her hands in horror if a flighty young piece had arrived unheralded and without a proper invitation on her doorstep as the family were sitting down to dinner. But your mother never turned a hair and made me feel welcome. But you still haven’t answered my question about Robert and Alice.’
‘Alice had loved him for years, but Robert only realized his feelings for her out in Belgium. When he was wounded, she brought him back home and – he just refused to let her leave his side ever again.’
The Brooklands Girls Page 5