The Forgotten Daughter

by Mary Wood

  The officer’s next command was given in German, but once more it was easy to understand and saw Flora stepping back, as the men charged straight at her, pushing them all roughly out of the way to get into the office and begin searching the building.

  ‘How many patients do you have here?’

  This, in French again, gave Flora a little hope. So far the officer hadn’t guessed that they were not what they seemed. ‘Two French soldiers, who are to be shipped out today.’

  ‘No Germans?’

  ‘Non.’

  ‘I will see for myself.’

  Flora’s legs felt as though they would give way, as the threat of them being arrested now seemed less likely. She was certain the soldiers would find nothing.

  Following the officer, Flora watched as he checked the papers of the two soldiers, who sat in the lounge. Both still had splints on their legs, but it had been the normal practice of the Germans to ship all the soldiers out before they were fully recovered, to prevent or hamper their chances of escaping en route.

  Two of the German soldiers carried out a thorough search, kicking in the doors of all the wards and breaking open cupboards that were big enough to hold a man. With the search completed, the officer stood in front of Flora and scrutinized her, without speaking. Eventually he turned on his heels, barked an order, which had his men falling in behind him, and left.

  Flora couldn’t believe he hadn’t asked to see their papers, but then something in the way he had looked at her gave her the feeling that he had suspected they weren’t all they seemed. What held him back from interrogating them, she couldn’t imagine, but she was very grateful he hadn’t.

  Instinctively she knew they should leave, and as soon as possible. But how, and where to?

  Turning, she found Mags in tears and Ella comforting her. ‘Come on, girls, we need to plan our escape.’ This had the effect of helping Mags, as she wiped her eyes. ‘But first we need to make sure the men are all right. Pierre is terrified of what the future holds, and Jacques may need some comforting, after that experience.’

  ‘We’ve a little beer left, from the last lot donated to us. I’ll get them both a drink.’

  ‘Yes, that’s a good idea, Mags. Ella, do you feel up to going on your begging trip now, love? We have no food to give the men before they go – what’s left of that loaf you brought back last time is black and inedible. They may not be offered anything to eat for days!’

  ‘Yes, I won’t be long. I have some houses where I know the ladies who live there will give me something, as they always do. I’ll go to them first.’

  Hendrix came through the door at that moment. ‘Is everything all right, Mademoiselle Flora?’

  ‘No, far from it, Hendrix. Come on through and sit down.’ Once Hendrix sat down, he removed his beret, twisting and turning it in his hands. ‘We need help, Monsieur Hendrix. We have to escape, and soon. I take it you saw the Germans?’ At his nod, Flora continued. ‘Well, I think they suspect that we are not Belgian. They may consider taking us prisoners. We must leave the moment we have the two men fed and ready. Will you sit with them till their transport comes? And can you help us in any other way?’

  ‘I have been preparing for this moment, Mademoiselle Flora. The rumours are getting frightening. Oh, I know that rumours are flying around everywhere – they are bound to, with no proper communication – and that some are just scaremongering, whilst others are planted by the Germans as they drink beer in our bars, so that they can keep up the level of fear that suits them, but we do have to take some seriously. I am afraid for all of you and glad that you are getting out, as it is being said that the Germans are ready to take reprisals, by shooting any nationals from enemy countries who haven’t their permission to be here.’

  Flora drew in a deep breath.

  ‘What is it, Flors? You look terrified. We are safe, aren’t we?’ Mags asked as she walked into the office.

  Flora interpreted what Hendrix had told her about them being right to move on, but didn’t mention the rumours. ‘He is about to tell me how he can help us, so don’t worry. He has been planning this, for when we were ready.’

  Keeping as calm as she could, Flora turned back to Hendrix. ‘How can you help us, Hendrix?’

  ‘There is a fund of money for helping those in need. I have asked for a sum to fund your passage, and it has been readily granted. Our townsfolk are in awe of the courage you have all shown in staying and nursing the Allied forces. Most knew you were English, but not a word has been spoken about it. Messieurs Aubert and Tompard, the owners of the coal mine, have put one of their ambulances and a driver at your disposal. He can take you to Fleurus, and from there you must go by train and tram to Liège and make your way to the market. The market women carry on a trade, taking refugees over the border into the Netherlands.’

  ‘But what about papers?’

  ‘One of my brother’s grandchildren works as a secretary in the German headquarters, and she has managed to wangle three laissez-passer, which the Germans issue for essential travel. You are listed as sisters visiting a sick relative. But it is only valid as far as Liège, after which . . .’

  ‘We will manage. Oh, Hendrix, I cannot thank you enough for all you have done for us. I’m overwhelmed. When should we leave?’

  ‘You are to come to my house tonight. My wife is cooking dinner for you. Do not tell the hospital cook anything. I do not trust her. I can tell you now, but was afraid to before, that she was taking food out of here and selling it on the black market. She is disgruntled, now that there isn’t any, and I know that she has petitioned the concierge of the hospital, saying that you three have overindulged the patients, and yourselves.’

  ‘No! I – I had no idea. Oh, Hendrix. How can we be sure she won’t find out?’

  ‘We can’t, but just be careful. You haven’t left here for a while, so even going out will raise her suspicions. I will invite her to have a drink with me. She is partial to more than a tipple. Once we have gone, you must hurry to my house. Immediately after dinner you will leave. By the time morning comes, you will be well on your way, and Cook will receive a warning of the dire consequences of her telling anyone that you have left.’

  Flora crossed over to Hendrix and put her arms around him. ‘Thank you. Thank you so much. For everything.’

  ‘Keep safe, and make it back home. That will be all the thanks I need.’

  After he left, Ella returned with a bundle of bread and cheese. Before long, they and the soldiers were tucking into it. Flora hadn’t tasted anything so delicious in a long time.

  While they ate, she told Mags and Ella of the plans that Hendrix had made for them. ‘We have to be strong and stick together – we can get through this. Now, let’s check on our boys, they should have finished their sandwiches.’

  As soon as they walked into the lounge, one of the soldiers yelled, ‘Nurse, will you play again? I’d love to hear you once more, before . . .’ Pierre’s head dropped to his chest. Flora knew he was consumed by fear about their imminent departure to the prison camp.

  Playing the piano was something she least felt like doing, but Mags and Ella goaded Flora to play. ‘Let’s remember this last hour together with a smile.’

  ‘Yes, play something light-hearted, Flors.’

  Sitting at the piano, she played one of her own tunes. It reminded her of her mother. She hadn’t thought about her much, since leaving England. Well, soon she would be back there – with a little luck and a fair wind – but did she want to visit her home? No, she wanted so much to go to Aunt Pru, to be held by her and to see Freddy. They were her family now. As were Mags and Ella. Yes, the four of them were all the family she needed.

  Chapter Eleven

  The cold air managed to seep through Flora’s jumper. Even the coat she had on, one of three brought to Hendrix’s home by a kindly Belgian woman, didn’t stop her body shivering. Part of it, she knew, was fear.

  It had taken a lot of gentle persuading to get Mags to abandon he
r uniform, but at last she’d seen the sense of it, on the proviso that they took their Red Cross armbands with them. Not wanting these to be found by anyone interested enough to carry out a search, they’d sewn them into the hems of their skirts. From now on, the three of them were to become innocent Belgian girls.

  The ambulance trundled along, shaking them as if to rattle their bones. It was twenty past midnight and, with no other vehicles on the road, Flora leaned back in relief. Some sense of being safe entered her. She squeezed both hands that were holding hers, as they all sat huddled together on the floor next to the stretcher-bed, which ran the length of one side of the ambulance. One other woman sat in the front, next to the driver. She’d been introduced as the nurse who worked in the coal mine. No other information was given to them, and they didn’t ask.

  ‘Keep down.’

  Just before she bobbed down, Flora saw that they were approaching a German checkpoint. She hurriedly translated the driver’s urgent instruction to Mags and Ella. Ella’s head came down on her shoulder. Flora could feel her fear. Mags’s grip tightened on the hand she held, as the ambulance came to a halt.

  Shivering and feeling sick, Flora tried to decipher what was going on. The driver and the nurse told the guards that they were a miners’ ambulance, going to pick up a patient. They were immediately asked to produce their papers.

  A torch shone in through the window. Flora held her breath. Relief flooded through her as she felt the revs of the engine and the ambulance move off once more.

  Dawn broke as they arrived in Fleurus. The driver gave directions to them and wished them luck.

  Snowflakes danced in the gentle but icy breeze, as they made their way to the tram. They walked in silence through a broken town – eerie in the half-light of the receding moon. Jagged beams pointing to the sky, and gaping holes in the walls of houses, told the story of the fight that had taken place here; of the lives lost, and of those torn apart. Rubble littered the pavement, making their progress slow as they made their way to the tram station.

  ‘Are you all right, Flors? You’ve been very quiet since we left the ambulance.’

  ‘Not really, Ella. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever be “all right” again. All this destruction, and you can almost smell the misery of the people – wherever they are.’

  ‘I know. You feel as though you’d like to make everything right for them.’

  ‘We have to make everything right for ourselves first, Ella. We’ve a long way to go before we get home to safety.’

  In the beginning it would be Mags jollying them along, every step of the way. Now, though the strain of it weighed heavily, Flora had taken on the challenge. ‘We do have a long way to go, but we’ll make it. We’re together, that’s the main thing. Right, there’s the tram station. We’ll soon be in Liège.’

  ‘What will you do when you get home, Flors?’

  ‘Spend time with my family, and write letters to the families of Phyllis, Teddy, Jane and Martha. I still feel their loss, although I haven’t spoken much about it. I hope that, even though they may have had one service for them, they will agree to me holding another one.’

  ‘Oh, that’s a lovely, if very sad and thoughtful, thing to do. Please let me know if it happens.’

  ‘I will, Ella.’

  ‘Me, too. I don’t know about you two, but I have put it all out of my mind; it was the only way I could cope. But a service, even if it is just us three, would help to settle it all – a proper goodbye to those four brave young women.’

  ‘You’re right.’

  ‘That’s settled then.’

  ‘But before that, I am going to contact the Red Cross and ask to be sent somewhere else, to nurse the wounded.’

  Ella nodded, but Mags was shocked. ‘You’d do it all again! Oh, Flors, we’ve done our bit. And we’re not safe yet. I feel I owe the Red Cross nothing. They abandoned us.’

  ‘Not abandoned, Mags. We were cut off. Matron couldn’t have known that she wouldn’t be able to contact us, once she left. Communications being cut came as a shock to us all. She did the best she could at the time; she moved on to where trained staff were needed most, and left us to nurse the last of the French soldiers. We all knew the fighting was getting further away and that no more casualties would be brought to us. I just worry where she and the others are, and if they are all right.’

  ‘I suppose so. Anyway, I’m for leaving the service and staying at home. I’ve had enough.’

  Flora took Mags’s hand. ‘You will forget, in time; at least not forget, but find it easier to live with the memory, and get back to your old self.’

  ‘I can’t ever see that happening. That soldier destroyed my soul with what he did to me.’

  ‘You need time away from it all. I’m glad you’re going home. After a while you may feel you can cope and re-join. We may even get back together again.’

  ‘Oh, Flors, it’s unbearable to be parted from you both. I’ve always been such an independent madam, even as a child. I have friends of course, but never have I leaned on anyone before. And it feels as though my world is ending, now we are to part.’

  Flora squeezed Mags’s hand tighter, unable to speak. Through the swirling snow, she spotted the lights of the tram approaching and felt glad of it. The act of boarding and getting their tickets would be a distraction from the ache in her heart. Saying goodbye would be like parting from beloved sisters.

  At the first stop, German soldiers boarded the tram. Flora felt the other two move closer to her. ‘Act normally.’ Her urgent whisper got them moving away a little.

  Her heart clanged fear around her body, as the soldiers made their way through the passengers, checking their papers. She prayed that their passes would be accepted. She held her breath. It seemed they were in a cocoon of silence, except for the heavy tread of the soldiers’ boots as they made their way down the carriage. Her silent prayers begged for help when one of the soldiers reached them. She held out her pass, hardly daring to breathe as he scrutinized it. He spoke to her in German. She replied in French, saying she didn’t understand.

  To her relief, he didn’t speak French, so he wouldn’t be able to read what the pass said. After a moment he handed it back to her, and then only glanced at Mags’s and Ella’s, before moving on.

  Once in Liège, Flora asked a passer-by for directions to the market. She had been told to ask for Madame Velluset, and the first stall-holder they came to, a man selling pots and pans, told them to go to the fourth stall around the corner. No questions were asked of her.

  Madame Velluset’s wrinkled face gave nothing away, as Flora informed her they had been sent to her by Hendrix.

  ‘Be here by three a.m. tomorrow morning. Don’t be late. I have to fetch vegetables from Maastricht.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘The Hotel Villier is along this street and to the left. They are expecting you. Go there now and stay there till morning. Here, give me three francs for these.’

  Flora took the bunch of carrots and handed over the money. She knew she was paying the charge for the journey, but why the carrots? When she turned away with them, she understood the reason, as she saw a group of soldiers standing on the corner, watching them. Did they suspect the market women?

  Acting as normally as her nerves would allow, she thanked Madame Velluset again and moved off. Mags and Ella followed her. ‘I have our instructions. When I stop talking, giggle out loud. I want us to appear as though we haven’t a care in the world.’

  Both did this without questioning her. Flora pushed Mags on the shoulder in a playful gesture, as she joined in the laughter.

  They made it to the hotel, where Flora felt she could finally breathe. She looked back: no one had followed them. A sigh released itself from deep within her, but the relief was only temporary. They had the worst part to come – crossing the frontier.

  Their coats were no protection against the bitter wind. Flora shivered as they left the hotel the next morning. Tiredness ached through her
bones, but somehow she managed to jolly the others along. An open cart stood next to the market stall, the horse waiting to start its journey, snorting its impatience. Already three others were seated in the cart. Until she boarded, Flora couldn’t tell if they were men or women, but now she saw they were all female.

  She greeted them in French, but they answered in English. After saying good morning, one of them whispered, ‘We understand you are volunteers. I’m May Tyler, a nurse with the Red Cross. This is Jean and Betty, both nurses. We have been working in the hospital here. We just missed getting out, before all communication and travel were restricted. We’ve been like hermits, not daring to leave the hospital. But we’re no longer needed, and so some of the Belgium nurses arranged this escape for us.’

  Flora told the nurses their story. May expressed her regret that they had been left without a helm, as she called it. They chatted on, the six of them, exchanging stories – some funny, some sad, but all just a cover for what they really wanted to talk about: the danger that lay ahead.

  The cart halted, stopping their chatter. ‘I can only take three through. I daren’t risk any more.’ The old woman’s comment rendered them all silent for a moment.

  Mags leaned over towards Flors. ‘What is it, Flors, what did she say?’

  May answered, ‘Three of us have to get off and make our own way across the frontier.’

  Flora could feel the tension. No one volunteered. The old woman telling them to hurry prompted Flora to say that she would walk through.

  Ella and Mags immediately said they would, too.

  The old woman instructed them that they should walk a little way, then cross over the field on the left and crawl under the barbed wire. The thought of this struck terror into Flora, but the thought of the others’ fear gave her the strength to do it, for them. Taking hold of each of their hands, she urged Mags and Ella along, trying to keep cheerful as she chatted normally. ‘I’ve never done anything like this before, and I thought us three had seen it all. Come on, let’s go – I’m freezing.’