The Code Girls

by Daisy Styles

  Maudie pressed her lips firmly together; she had to stop talking like this; railing all the time about a man everybody but her thought was wonderful. ‘I’ll go and see if the dough’s risen for the rye bread,’ she said, and strode out of the kitchen.

  As the short, dark winter days gave way to longer, lighter days, Tom and Ava were able to ride out almost weekly. Their time together was always limited because of Ava’s work load, and Tom’s, too; he never had a day off and often worked through the night, delivering lambs and calves up and down the Norfolk coast.

  ‘Promise you’ll make the wedding?’ Ava pleaded, as they sat in their favourite sand dune, with the horses, Lucas and Drummer tethered to a nearby pine tree, rubbing each other’s muzzle.

  ‘I’ll try, darling,’ he assured her.

  ‘I’ll hit you on the head with mi rolling pin if you don’t!’ she joked.

  Tom buried his face in her long. dark hair. ‘Feisty Lancashire lass!’

  ‘I think I’m losing my northern accent.’ Ava laughed. ‘The other day, I heard myself saying “graaaas” instead of “grass”! I don’t stand a chance, do I? Surrounded by all you posh southerners!’

  ‘I don’t care if you say “arse” or “ass”,’ he chuckled. ‘You’re perfect.’

  There wasn’t time for a leisurely picnic but they shared a flask of hot coffee and a spiced apple pasty, which Ava had made that morning. As they sat contentedly side by side, gazing out at the churning, metal-grey North Sea, which, on a dull spring morning, reflected the darkness of the sky and the scudding clouds.

  ‘Did you hear the planes flying out from the airbase last night?’ Ava asked.

  Tom nodded as he topped up their coffees. ‘I was driving home late from a farm visit and I saw them taking off. One after another ‒ whoosh! whoosh! whoosh! as they left the runway. It’s always an exciting sight but, after the first thrill, I wonder how many of those poor sods will come back alive?’

  ‘Thank God you’re not a fighter pilot,’ Ava murmured, and snuggled up even closer. ‘At least the Huns can’t touch you!’

  Tom threw back his head and laughed out loud. ‘I’m hardly going to get shot down for neutering a cat!’

  As they trotted slowly back, they were the only people on the beach. The sharp call of dunlins and oystercatchers and the screech of swooping seagulls merged with the softly breaking waves that swept sideways over the vast expanse of clean, white sand.

  ‘I never thought I’d love a place so much,’ Ava said, as she bent to lay her head on Lucas’s warm, golden mane. ‘I loved the moors and the valleys which were so much part of my childhood, but this is different.’ She raised her head to take in the majestic sweep of pine trees on one side of her and the sea meeting the sky on the other.

  ‘It steals your heart away,’ Tom replied. ‘I can’t wait to bring Oliver back here. Maybe in the summer, if all goes well.’

  Ava smiled hopefully. ‘I’m sure his mum will want him to stay with you,’ she said. ‘It’ll give her a holiday, too.’

  Tom gazed out to the far horizon. ‘I want Oliver to grow up with a knowledge of the countryside.’ He turned towards Ava and added, ‘I want my boy to meet you.’

  ‘And I can’t wait to meet him,’ Ava replied. ‘We can play football and rounders, and fish for crabs on the quay at Wells.’ Her blues eyes sparkled with anticipation. ‘We can teach him to ride, right here on Holkham beach!’

  Tom grinned at her glowing, excited face. ‘You’re just a kid at heart yourself,’ he said fondly.

  ‘I like children, they’re good fun.’

  For a second, they stared at each other, both thinking the same thing but not daring to say it. Would they one day have children who would grow up in a country that was at peace?

  Bella’s friends should have known that Bella would, eventually, get what she wanted. It was Tom who found what she’d been searching for.

  ‘It’s an old girl who died of natural causes. Probably worn out by pushing out lambs every year. But she’s more mutton than lamb, I’m afraid,’ he warned.

  ‘I can do mutton!’ a happy Bella answered.

  ‘I’ll drop the carcass off with the butcher in Wells; he’ll prepare it for the table,’ Tom replied.

  ‘Thank you, Tom. I’ll make sure I give the farmer a good price,’ she promised.

  Back at the hall, Bella flounced into the kitchen, flushed with success.

  ‘Drop Plan A! It’s roast mutton stuffed with garlic and rosemary.’

  Ruby flung her arms around Bella. ‘A feast and a treat for everybody! Just wait till I tell Raf.’

  ‘So how are we going to handle a hot roast dinner if we’re needed at church?’ Maudie asked with a sardonic smile.

  Utterly undaunted, Bella replied, ‘We’ll serve it up when we get back.’

  ‘In our bridesmaids’ dresses?’ gasped Ava.

  Bella nodded. ‘It’s not a problem ‒ we can cover them with our enormous kitchen pinafores.’

  Ava burst out laughing. ‘Bloody hell, lass, I’m going to use a bedspread to cover my precious bridesmaid’s frock!’

  The first day of spring, 21st March, Ruby’s wedding day, dawned bright and beautiful, with songbirds singing their hearts out in every treetop surrounding the hall.

  ‘I’m so nervous and excited I’m shaking all over,’ Ruby confessed.

  ‘Thank God the Brig’s given the trainees cash to go into town and buy their own meals today,’ Ava said, taking the rollers out of her long hair, which fell in charming ringlets around her shoulders.

  ‘The bride gets the first bath,’ said Maudie, steering Ruby towards the bathroom. ‘I left the immersion heater on overnight, so it’ll be piping hot, and there’s some bubble bath by the sink. Off you go ‒ enjoy!’ she giggled, as she closed the door on Ruby. ‘Let’s spin a coin for who gets the second bath.’

  Bella got the raw deal ‒ the fourth to bathe, and in tepid water, too ‒ so she nipped upstairs to her old bedroom, where she soaked in luxury for a good half-hour. The girls sat in their bras and knickers around the kitchen table, on which was placed a large looking-glass that was circulated as they took it in turns to do their make-up. Ruby, who was a dab hand with rouge, eye liner, lipstick and foundation, helped her friends with their make-up, and with their hair. Mumia had made the sweetest little head-dresses from the left-over bits of the pink silk curtains, and the bridesmaids clipped them into their hair, along with several pink rosebuds.

  ‘What would we do without Peter’s greenhouse blooms?’ Bella said, as she stared at her glowing, excited reflection.

  As if he’d heard his name, Peter popped his head round the kitchen door. His eyes just about popped out when he saw four half-naked ladies sitting at the table.

  ‘Oooh!’ they screamed in unison.

  ‘Wish I had my camera,’ he chuckled, then quickly said to the bride-to-be, ‘I took the flowers for the altar over to the shrine earlier.’

  ‘Thank you, Peter. See you in church,’ Ruby answered, and gestured to him to shut the door and leave them to get dressed.

  Ruby helped her friends slip into their lovely dresses, then they helped her into the glistening white bridal gown. After securing the seemingly endless silk buttons on the sleeves and down the back, Maudie carefully lowered the veil over Ruby’s glossy, dark hair, which she’d looped into an elegant chignon, to which the glittering tiara was tightly secured. Standing back, the smiling bridesmaids admired the beautiful bride, who was blinking back tears behind her drifting white veil.

  ‘God! You look gorrrrgeous!’ Ava cried, as she brushed tears from her own eyes.

  ‘Take a look in the mirror,’ Bella said, and led Ruby into the sewing room, where the two full-length mirrors stood. ‘I can show you a back view,’ she added, turning one of the mirrors so Ruby could see the back of her gown and the white train edged with velvet and tiny, glittering stones.

  ‘Don’t even ask,’ Bella joked. ‘Your bottom definitely doesn’t look big in t
hat dress!’

  Ruby started to shake with laughter.

  ‘Oh, heck!’ she gurgled. ‘It’s going to take Raf all night to undo all those tiny buttons and get the damn thing off!’

  Just before they left, Maudie handed Bella the beautiful bridal bouquet Kit had bought for her. Gazing at the shower of fragrant red roses intertwined with fern and myrtle, Ruby gasped with pleasure. ‘It’s soooo beautiful!’

  Afraid she’d become over-emotional, her three friends fluttered lace handkerchiefs in the air.

  ‘Don’t cry!’ they said.

  Ruby nodded as she wiped away a tear with the nearest lace hankie. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t – it’ll ruin my make-up!’

  Bella had persuaded Dodds to drive the bridal party to the church in her father’s Bentley. With her parents safely out of the way in London, Bella assured Dodds that it would only be a question of driving them into Walsingham then home again after the service. What she didn’t know was the nuptial Mass would be an hour long and Dodds would be stuck outside in the Bentley for the duration.

  Quite a crowd had gathered in the tiny Roman Catholic slipper chapel, which flickered with the light from a hundred candles and smelt of fragrant narcissi and hyacinths. The beautiful bridesmaids preceded Ruby down the aisle to the strains of ‘Here Comes the Bride’. Trembling on her father’s arm, small, slender Ruby looked exquisite, and when she reached the groom’s side, Raf, his handsome face suffused with love, took his bride’s hand and gently kissed it.

  ‘My Rubee, my beauty.’

  The Latin Mass was long indeed. Full of blessings and clouds of perfumed incense, it had an ancient rhythm that thrilled Maudie, in particular. A staunch agnostic, she had never thought she would be so intrigued by a service that she didn’t understand a single word of! The dark chapel, glowing with candlelight, and the stained-glass windows, rich with jewel-dark colours, reminded her of the Polish icons her mother treasured at home.

  When the final hymn was sung and Mr and Mrs Boskow walked down the aisle arm in arm, the entire congregation applauded, then followed them into the chapel garden, where they showered the newly-weds in drifts of confetti. Maudie flushed when she noticed Kit Halliday, handsome and arresting in his RAF uniform, walking out of the church with a group of Raf’s pals from the airbase. One of Raf’s friends who owned a Brownie box camera took some group photographs, then Ava, Bella and Maudie jumped into the Bentley, which Dodds drove home at break-neck speed. Back in the kitchen, they donned their striped pinafores and started to unload the piping-hot food from the Aga oven.

  ‘Wait till all the guests are sitting down, then we’ll get the dishes on to the hotplate and serve immediately,’ Ava said, steam from the vegetables clouding her beautifully made-up face.

  When the wedding party returned to the hall, the girls were called outside for more photographs. In a flutter, they joined the guests, and the first photograph taken was one of all the bridesmaids wearing blue-striped kitchen pinafores!

  ‘I’ll frame that one!’ Ruby giggled, as her friends hastily ditched their pinnies to pose in their pink silk bridesmaids’ dresses.

  ‘All together now!’ Raf’s pal called out. ‘Let’s get you into a tight group.’

  As everybody jovially shoved and shuffled closer, Maudie found herself pressed against Kit, who, in order to make room for others, had to put an arm around her waist. Maudie suppressed a gasp at his touch. It was if an electric current had travelled from his body to hers, leaving her limp and breathless.

  ‘You look lovely,’ he murmured.

  Blushing to the roots of her loose, red-golden curls, Maudie was utterly tongue-tied. Taller by four inches than Maudie, Kit bent to speak to her and, in doing so, he inhaled the sweet perfume of her hair. ‘I was hoping to catch up with you,’ he added.

  ‘I’ve been busy,’ Maudie answered weakly.

  ‘Maybe we can chat later?’ he asked tentatively.

  ‘I’ve got work to do,’ she replied, and the group photograph was taken with her frowning crossly.

  ‘Why do you keep avoiding me?’ he asked sadly.

  ‘I think that’s a question you already know the answer to,’ she retorted. She picked up her discarded pinafore and hurried back indoors.

  The Brig had done a great job on the dining room. He’d covered the Formica-topped tables with white crêpe paper and put jars of daffodils on each one. Bella, Maudie and Ava served the lunch, helped by the Brig and Tom, who’d also donned aprons, like the bridesmaids. The peppery, thick pea soup warmed everybody up and the roast mutton, served with a rich gravy, mint sauce, roast potatoes, estate-grown carrots and cabbage, just about fed the sixty hungry guests. The trifle, heavily doused with Walsingham sherry, went down a treat, and everybody loved Maudie’s wedding cake, topped with a gingerbread Polish bride and groom.

  Rafal had managed to get a bottle of black-market vodka, which he instructed his guests to knock back in one gulp in a toast to the happy couple.

  ‘Dobre zdrowie i szczęście na wieki!’ Raf cried as he downed his vodka shot.’ Good health and happiness for ever!’

  ‘Whoooh!’ giggled Ruby, as she downed hers, too, and swayed giddily. ‘I could get used to this. Makes a nice change from Dad’s home-brewed stout.’

  By five in the afternoon, the newly married couple had left for their three-day honeymoon in Hunstanton, and Maudie had managed to ignore Kit throughout the entire meal. Seeing him driving out of the estate gates in his old MG, she slumped with relief; she needed to avoid Flight Captain Halliday if just his touch set her tingling with desire. Best to let him devote his energies to Lady Diana; they made the perfect match.

  18. Bomb Raid

  Edward came home briefly one weekend before Easter.

  ‘God!’ Bella cried, as she returned to the warmth of the kitchen after a brief visit above stairs to have tea with her family.

  ‘The fuss they’re making up there ‒ you’d think the son and heir had won the Military Cross!’

  ‘I suppose they’re glad he’s doing his bit for the war effort at last,’ Ruby said.

  Bella gazed fondly at her newly married friend. It was a couple of weeks since she’d come back from her honeymoon, and she still had the glow of love.

  ‘You always have something nice to say about everybody,’ she said. ‘Honest to God, I truly believe that if Goebbels walked in with a machine gun, you’d put the kettle on!’

  ‘Don’t be daft!’ Ruby giggled, as she drained water from the vast pan of potatoes she was about to mash for the shepherd’s pie, which contained more root vegetables and Oxo than minced meat.

  ‘I bet you can’t wait to leave us and go and live with your husband, Mrs Beskow?’ Ava joked.

  ‘Will you please shut up?’ Ruby cried, throwing her hands up in the air. ‘I’ll miss you all – when and if we get an estate cottage of our own.’

  ‘Until then, you’ll have to put up with us spinsters!’ Maudie laughed.

  ‘With Raf working all the hours God sends now that the Lancasters have arrived at the airbase, I’d be lonely if I was miles away in an estate cottage’ Ruby confessed.

  ‘You could always make friends with a badger!’ Ava teased.

  Before she could stop herself, Maudie asked. ‘Have you seen the Lancasters?’

  Ruby nodded her head and rolled her eyes. ‘They’re huge! You should see the size of the fuselage; Raf said they can get twenty times more bombs in a Lancaster than you could in a Spitfire or a Halifax. ’Course, Raf adores them. Him and his ground crew have been allocated Captain Kit’s Lancaster, which they wash and polish every day.’

  Maudie couldn’t stop herself from asking yet another question. ‘When is the captain taking one up?’

  ‘He’s been up four times already on practice runs,’ Ruby laughed. ‘He’s like a kid with a new toy!’

  ‘Have they been on any bombing raids?’ Maudie persisted.

  Ruby gave her a smiling, quizzical look. ‘You’re asking a lot of questions about
somebody you claim not to like,’ she teased.

  Maudie answered with an airy wave of her hand, ‘Oh, you know, those blasted bombing raids keep the entire county awake all night.’ Grabbing a basket of parsnips, she hurried out of the room, saying, ‘I’d better get these into the cold store.’

  Ruby shook her head as she turned to Ava and Bella, who were putting trays of shepherd’s pie in the Aga in readiness for lunchtime.

  ‘She can lie all she wants, but our Maudie’s got a real thing for Captain Kit.’

  ‘She insists he’s going out with my sister.’ Bella laughed in disbelief. ‘Diana should be so lucky! Captain Kit would be a real improvement on her usual goofy, chinless wonders.’

  With her back pressed against the warm stove, Ava lit up a Woodbine.

  ‘So are you saying that Kit’s not going out with Diana?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course he’s not!’ Bella exclaimed. ‘Believe me, Diana would be announcing it from the rooftops, if they were.’

  ‘Then why is Maudie so convinced he is?’ Ava asked.

  ‘I think she’s trying to protect herself,’ Bella replied thoughtfully.

  Rummaging around in the cutlery drawer, Ruby said, over the metallic, clattering noise, ‘Protect herself from what? A kiss and a cuddle?’

  ‘You know how proud and independent Maudie is,’ Bella retorted. ‘She’s not going to drop her guard lightly, even if the man in question is as handsome as a movie star.’

  ‘You’d better not let the Brig hear that,’ Ruby giggled. ‘He might get jealous.’

  ‘Change the conversation,’ Ava whispered, as she heard footsteps in the kitchen corridor. ‘Maudie’s on her way back.’

  That night, Maudie’s words about bombing raids keeping the county awake all night came tragically true. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the Lancasters flying out on a night mission to bomb Berlin, it was German Messerschmitts flying in to bomb the Holkham airbase.

  The deafening thunder of planes flying over the hall woke the entire household. In their bedrooms, the girls felt the ground and the walls shake as bombs were dropped less than five miles away.