The Brooklands Girls

by Margaret Dickinson

‘I’ve seen the vicar and we’re suggesting Saturday, the twenty-fifth of April,’ Henrietta said, as they sat together in the parlour the day after Luke’s birthday. Pips was glad to have been able to come home, but she had found the two celebrations so close together exhausting. Henrietta had noticed and said now, ‘I know it’s quite a while, but we want you to be fully fit.’

  ‘That sounds perfect. George has already said he’ll be able to get the time off whenever I fix the date, but maybe I should check with all the Brooklands set.’ She consulted her diary. ‘I don’t think there is anything important happening on that date, but I’d still like to make sure.’

  ‘Of course. We want them here. They were all so concerned when you were injured. They obviously think a lot of you, Philippa. Now, Alice is getting on splendidly with your dress.’ Henrietta’s mouth twitched with amusement. ‘So she tells me.’

  Pips stared at her. ‘You mean, you haven’t seen it?’

  Henrietta shook her head. ‘It’s a closely guarded secret. She locks the door of the little room she uses as her sewing room and won’t let anyone in, not even the housemaid to clean it. She insists on doing that herself.’

  ‘What about Daisy and her dress?’

  ‘She brings that out for her to have a fitting, but even Daisy isn’t allowed in the sewing room.’

  ‘Oh my! What about me? Do you think I shall be allowed to see it?’

  Henrietta laughed. ‘If you didn’t need to have a fitting, no, I don’t think you would be.’

  A little later, Pips knocked on the door. ‘Alice, it’s me. May I come in?’

  There was a scuffling and then the door opened a crack. ‘I’m not quite ready for you to try it on, Pips. Another day or two, then we’ll have a proper fitting.’

  ‘Can’t I see it?’

  Alice pursed her lips. ‘Not yet.’ And, firmly, she closed the door in Pips’s face.

  ‘Well!’ Pips said, pretending to be in a huff, but silently, she was laughing. ‘Bless her,’ she murmured as she went back downstairs.

  Two days later, Alice said, a little nervously, Pips thought, ‘If you’re free this afternoon, Pips, we’ll have a fitting.’

  ‘May I come too?’ Henrietta asked.

  Alice turned pink and stammered, ‘Er – I’d rather – I mean – I just want Pips to see it – at least for now.’

  Henrietta smiled. ‘It’s all right, my dear. We’ll respect your wishes. I can see it means a great deal to you and you want us all to have a lovely surprise on the day.’

  Alice’s blush deepened. ‘I hope so, but I am anxious that Pips will like it.’

  ‘You’ve certainly spent enough hours on it. Even Robert is beginning to grumble that he never sees you.’

  ‘Oh dear . . .’ Alice began, but Henrietta added swiftly, ‘I’m teasing you, Alice. If he wants you, at least he knows where to find you.’

  That afternoon Pips stood quite still with her eyes closed as requested, whilst Alice unwrapped the gown from its protective tissue paper.

  ‘Keep your eyes shut, but just put your arms up and I’ll ease it over your head.’

  Pips felt the dress being pulled gently over her arms and head and then fall softly down towards her feet.

  ‘Now, I’ve done tiny buttons all the way down the back, so it’ll take me a moment. Don’t open your eyes yet.’

  After what seemed an age and with a little adjusting here and there, Alice guided her to stand in front of the full-length mirror. ‘There. You can open your eyes now.’

  For a moment, Pips didn’t recognize herself. ‘Oh my, Alice, is that really me?’ She swished the full skirt from side to side, watching the fine fabric swirl around her. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she studied her reflection. It truly was the dress of her dreams. ‘It’s beautiful. However have you made it?’

  ‘I had a little bit of guidance from Mrs Fieldsend’s dressmaker at the start over the pattern, but since then it’s all my own work. Do – do you really like it?’

  ‘It’s magnificent, Alice. You’re so clever. Thank you – a million times.’

  Alice looked over her handiwork with a critical eye. ‘It needs taking in a little on the bodice, but I suggest we leave that until nearer the wedding. I think you’ve lost a little weight since the accident, but you might well put a bit back on before April. It’s always easier to take it in than to let it out.’

  ‘Whatever you say,’ Pips murmured, unable to take her eyes off her reflection.

  ‘Now, try the headdress and veil on. This has taken me nearly as long to make as the dress, with all these seed pearls.’

  The headdress and veil was exactly like the one in the picture which Milly had picked out. It fitted perfectly.

  ‘It’s a shame it covers almost all your glorious hair, but it does look lovely, even though I say it myself.’

  ‘It does,’ Pips agreed and then giggled. ‘And the latest fashion too. Fancy me, being at the height of fashion. I can’t wait for Milly to see it.’

  ‘Not a word to anyone, Pips,’ Alice said firmly. ‘Please. I so want it to be a surprise for everyone – a nice surprise, I hope – on the day.’

  ‘It’ll certainly be that. Mother will be ecstatic. It’s the first time, Alice, that I’ve ever looked ladylike. How very clever you are.’

  When they’d gently removed the dress and hung it back on the wall, carefully covered with tissue paper again, Alice said, ‘Now, this is Daisy’s dress. What do you think?’

  ‘It’s lovely. What a pretty shade of rose-pink. I’m running out of superlatives.’

  ‘She’s happy with it and can’t wait for the day. I’ve left it a little on the big side at the moment, because she could well grow a bit in four months. She seems to be shooting up. Perhaps you’d help me with a fitting with her, whilst you’re here.’ Alice laughed. ‘She wriggles a lot.’

  ‘I can’t believe she’s thirteen now.’

  ‘And Luke is fifteen. My father has promised him a motorcycle as a combined birthday and Christmas present next year. A second-hand one, of course, but Sam will ask around for him.’

  ‘Are you and Robert happy about that?’

  Alice sighed. ‘Not a lot we can do.’

  ‘But you know what it means, don’t you? Daisy will soon be riding pillion.’

  Alice nodded. ‘Or riding it herself.’

  ‘Well, she won’t be old enough to for two years yet.’

  Alice smiled wryly. ‘And you really think that will stop her, Pips?’

  Fifty-Seven

  ‘It’s good of you to ask me, but no, I won’t be coming to your wedding,’ Mitch said stiffly. ‘I don’t really need to explain why, do I?’

  The big day, as everyone called it, was galloping towards them. It was February and, back in London to be with George, Pips was checking that all her southern friends would be free to travel to Lincolnshire at the end of April.

  ‘Oh Mitch,’ Pips sighed. ‘Then I’m sorry. I really hoped we could still be friends, but I feel as if you have been avoiding me. You didn’t even come to visit me in hospital. All the others did and they’re travelling up to Lincolnshire to come to the wedding. Will you really not come? You could bring Johnny, if you like?’

  She’d tracked him down to the Brooklands airfield, where, as the doctor had advised her not to fly for a while, she liked to watch the planes take off and land and to meet her friends. And, of course, she went on race days.

  Mitch was surprised that she was unaware of the vigil they had all kept at the hospital when she had been unconscious, himself included. He thought someone would have told her, especially Milly.

  ‘Dear Pips,’ he murmured, ‘please try to understand that I really couldn’t bear to see you marrying someone else, good man though George is. But always remember, that if ever you need me, you only have to say the word and I’ll be there for you.’

  She looked into his eyes and knew that for all his teasing and his joviality, for once in his life, Mitch Hammond was deadly
serious.

  ‘I’ll remember, Mitch. I promise. But I’ll see you around. I do intend to give up the racing, although I’ll still come to meetings and cheer the girls on. And I’ll still be flying whenever I can.’

  Now he was the old Mitch again as he raised a sardonic eyebrow. ‘You really think so? You really think George is going to let you carry on, even flying, after what has happened on the racetrack? It’s still dangerous, you know. And you might not survive an aeroplane crash.’

  ‘If you think anyone – including my husband – is going to be able to stop me doing whatever I want, then you really don’t know me very well, Mitch.’

  He eyed her sceptically and murmured, ‘We shall see.’

  ‘Mitch won’t come to the wedding, Milly. I do wish he would. Can you persuade him?’

  ‘Darling, I wouldn’t even try. It’s not fair on him when he’s in love with you and it’s not really fair on George either, is it, knowing that there’s someone sitting in the congregation who wants to swap places with him?’

  ‘Oh Milly, you exaggerate. I don’t think Mitch is the marrying kind, anyway. I think it’s all a lot of flannel – all part of the playboy image he likes to foster. I mean, he didn’t even come to visit me in hospital, yet everyone else came.’

  Milly stared at her. ‘Pips, Mitch was there day and night when you were unconscious. We worked out a rota system amongst us, taking it in turns to do four hours at a time. Even through the night so that there was always someone there. Of course, we all had to be in the waiting room most of the time. Only George – as your fiancé – and your family were allowed in to see you. Though we did get a peek now and again. We all care about you, darling. Especially Mitch.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ Pips said. ‘I didn’t know that. He never said.’

  ‘He wouldn’t. When you came round he stopped coming to the hospital, but he telephoned me every night for a daily report.’

  ‘I’ll have to apologize to him.’

  ‘Please don’t. He obviously doesn’t want you to know.’

  ‘All right,’ Pips promised reluctantly, but she was touched by what Milly had told her and contrite about her treatment of Mitch.

  ‘Don’t worry, darling,’ Milly said gaily. ‘The rest of us are all coming to your wedding.’

  ‘This really is a beautiful part of the world,’ Muriel said as she, Milly and Pattie walked through the grounds of the hall the day before the wedding. They had been invited to stay at the hall by Henrietta and had come for two nights. ‘I’ve never been to Lincolnshire before.’

  ‘Aren’t the rest of her family as delightful as she is?’ Milly said, linking her arms through theirs as they walked across the croquet lawn and through the orchard.

  ‘The doctor’s a darling, as you would say, Milly, but I bet her mother can be a bit of a tartar.’

  Milly laughed. ‘Oh, I don’t mind her. She’s like my Granny Fortesque, so I know just how to deal with her. And Robert, what do you think of Robert? And of his wife? She was lady’s maid to Mrs Maitland and Pips, but Robert fell in love with her when they were out at the front. Isn’t it romantic?’

  ‘I bet that caused a bit of a stir.’

  ‘It did at the time, but the whole family love her now and Daisy’s so adorable.’

  Muriel laughed. ‘She is, but she’s another Pips. No one will ever get the better of Daisy Maitland.’

  ‘Did you know Pips took her flying at Brooklands?’

  ‘Really? And did she like it?’

  ‘She was thrilled. She was asking how old she has to be before she can learn to fly.’

  ‘Not so interested in the racing, then?’

  ‘I don’t think so, though I don’t think Pips has taken her round the track yet.’

  ‘We’ll have to put that right the next time she comes to stay with Pips,’ Muriel said. ‘Now, are you going to teach us to play this croquet game?’

  ‘Of course, but before I do, I have some news. I haven’t told Pips yet – this is her big day – so you must keep it secret for now. Paul has proposed again and we’ll be getting married in the autumn.’

  ‘Darling Milly,’ Muriel’s eyes were suspiciously moist, ‘I’m absolutely delighted for you. We’ll all be there – that’s if we’re invited.’

  ‘Of course you are. I wouldn’t dream of getting married without all of you there. Whatever happens, we’ll always be the Brooklands Girls.’

  ‘Is Johnny coming with his uncle?’ Daisy asked on the morning of the wedding as she and Alice helped Pips to dress before Daisy put on her pretty rose-pink taffeta bridesmaid’s dress. It was the perfect colour for the young girl’s dark hair and blue eyes.

  ‘Mitch isn’t coming, darling,’ Pips said, ‘so I’m sorry, neither is Johnny.’ She smiled and caught the girl’s glance in the mirror. ‘But you’ll still have two handsome young men dancing attendance on you and vying for your favours.’

  Daisy laughed. ‘Luke and Harry, you mean? But they’re my cousins, Aunty Pips. They don’t count.’

  ‘Luke is, but Harry isn’t. He’s no blood relation to you, is he?’

  Daisy wrinkled her forehead thoughtfully. ‘No,’ she said slowly. ‘I suppose he isn’t, but being Luke’s half-brother, I always think of him as my cousin.’

  ‘You’re far too young to be thinking about boys in those terms, Daisy,’ Alice said a little sharply. ‘Now, let me do your hair and we’re done. I need to go and get ready myself and help your father with his tie. We mustn’t keep the bride waiting.’

  Pips stood alone in her bedroom in front of the mirror. She hardly recognized herself, but pinned just below her left shoulder, as always, was the red poppy brooch. It looked a little incongruous against the white dress, but it held such significance for both Pips and George that she couldn’t not wear it today of all days.

  For the few moments she had to herself on this busy day, she spared a thought for those who would not be here for one reason or another. She was sorry that William and his family could not come. She had invited them, but William had said, tactfully, that it would not be possible. He hadn’t given a reason, but Pips knew he didn’t want to cause any awkwardness for her on her wedding day. Len was still intractable. And then there was Ma. How she would have loved to have seen Ma sitting in the church. And she even spared a thought for Mitch. She realized now that he did love her in his own madcap way. She had to admit that, since her official engagement to George, when Mitch had ‘kept his distance’, she had missed the lively banter between them.

  The door opened and Edwin came into the room. ‘My darling girl, you look absolutely beautiful. Now, it’s time we were leaving. It’s a lovely day, so we can walk down to the church.’ He chuckled. ‘I should warn you that the driveway is lined with villagers and I expect the church is crammed.’

  ‘How sweet of them.’

  ‘They all love you, Pips.’

  ‘Oh phooey. It’s not just me. It’s the whole Maitland family.’

  ‘Well, whatever – or whoever – it is, they’re all here to see the wedding of the year. Now, are you ready? We mustn’t keep your mother waiting.’

  Pips laughed. ‘I thought you were going to say George.’

  ‘He’d wait for ever, but this is a big day for my darling Hetty. This is the day she has dreamed of since the day you were born. Let’s not keep her waiting a moment longer. So, shall we fire the starting pistol or wave a flag – or whatever it is they do at Brooklands?’

  ‘Yes, let’s.’

  Fifty-Eight

  ‘It’s been a long time coming,’ Bess said to Norah as she and the rest of their two families took their places in the church. ‘I was beginning to think we’d never see the day. Wouldn’t Ma have loved to have been here?’

  ‘Aye, she would,’ Norah said, as Len slipped into the seat beside her. They were all there: the Maitlands, the Dawsons and the Nuttalls – all joined now by marriage. And the rest of the village was there too. They’d all turned out for the wedding of Miss
Pips and her handsome major.

  After the service they all crowded into the marquee that had been erected in the grounds of the hall. Even the Grand Hall wasn’t big enough to accommodate their families, friends and the whole village as well.

  Speeches were made and champagne drunk and then Pips and George mingled with their guests. Pips sought out Major Fieldsend and kissed him soundly on both cheeks. ‘Thank you, dearest major.’

  ‘Whatever for, my dear girl?’

  ‘I think you know that without your help, this day might not have happened.’

  For a moment, Basil looked startled. ‘Dear me. Your father shouldn’t have told you that I recommended George to the War Office. I swore him to secrecy.’

  Pips chuckled. ‘He didn’t say a word, major, but you have just let the cat out of the bag.’

  He blinked and then let out a bark of laughter. ‘You little minx! If ever there’s another war, my dear, which God forbid there ever should be, you should offer yourself for some kind of secret war work. Not only are you extremely bright, but you’re devilishly clever too.’ He tapped her nose playfully. ‘No one’s ever got the better of me before.’

  Circulating amongst their guests, Pips found herself in front of Rebecca. For a moment the two young women stood facing each other. Then Rebecca smiled tremulously.

  ‘I’m glad I came. Thank you for inviting me, Pips. After all I’ve done and said . . .’

  Pips took hold of her hand. ‘Hush. Like I said before, that’s all in the past and forgotten. I’m very glad you’re here.’

  Rebecca glanced across to where George was talking to Robert. ‘He looks so happy. I can’t remember when he last looked so happy, not even when Mummy – sorry, that was tactless of me – today of all days.’

  ‘Nonsense. We will always remember your mother and talk about her whenever you want to. You do know, Rebecca, that although I’m legally your stepmother, it’s not a position I want. I would never, ever, try to take your mother’s place in any way. It’s not necessary anyway. You’re a grown woman now, but I do hope we might be friends.’

  ‘I’m sure we can be.’ Rebecca smiled wryly. ‘Now I’ve come to my senses. Perhaps you’ll have children that I can spoil.’