*
Two letters Kate received the following Saturday gave her much to think about. Two letters on the same day was unheard of, for she had never before received any, and Mrs Breen was clearly full of curiosity when she gave them to her at breakfast time.
'I wonder what those are?' she asked, despising subterfuge.
'This one's from my sister in Coventry,' Kate replied. She was amused rather than irritated by her landlady's open inquisitiveness. 'Excuse me, I'll have to take them to work to read. I haven't time now.'
She arrived at work early, and slit open Maggie's letter, quickly skimming it. Her shoulders slumped. She'd written to Maggie straight after she'd returned to Walsall the previous Saturday, asking if George would help her find a job so that she could be with them. Maggie replied that while she'd love to have Kate with her, there was no room where she lived, and Sheila had no spare room because she'd taken in more lodgers. 'Besides,' Maggie went on, 'Sam found out you'd been to Coventry, and he was put out. He said you'd make things difficult for him with his friends, for you'd no doubt be prying and causing trouble. So please don't come yet, Kate love. Just visit us on Saturdays if you can. Much better if you find yourself a job flying those aeroplanes. Though how you have the nerve to trust one of them beats me.'
So that was that. Kate had to believe Maggie, though she did wonder if her sister was doing it deliberately, thinking she was doing Kate a favour if she could persuade her to look for a flying job. But she'd see her occasionally, and they'd sworn never to lose touch again.
She opened the second letter, and let out a gasp of joy. It was a reply to an application she written for a job air taxiing the owner of a large engineering firm in Lincoln. 'I have spoken to Mr Rushton at Walsall, and although he did not himself instruct you to fly, he tells me you are an excellent pilot, accustomed to Tiger Moths. In the circumstances, and since I need someone who can start immediately, I am offering you the job if you can start in a week's time. I will arrange lodgings for you. Please telegraph or telephone your acceptance at once.'
The letter went on to detail the pay she could expect, and say she would be expected to fly several of the firm's senior employees to meetings, and as they were considering purchasing a larger aeroplane shortly, she would be expected to learn to fly this too.
When Frank arrived she went straight to his office.
'Can I leave next week?' she demanded. 'I've been offered a job flying.'
He wanted to know all the details, but Kate was vague. This would be an excellent way of vanishing so that Robert would never find her. Maggie she could swear to secrecy, but Phyllis and Frank might give her away. Robert was becoming more insistent, determined to keep on proposing, and Kate was fearful that her own longing for him would weaken her. She couldn't do that to him. She dared not destroy his opinion of her by confessing to her affair with John, the baby, and the time with Walter. It was too shaming. Yet she could not marry him without. It would be a disaster for him if her past ever became public knowledge.
'I have to send a telegram,' she said hurriedly. 'May I go now? I'll make up the time in the week.'
Frank waved her off. 'Don't worry about that. But we'll be sorry to lose you.'
Robert was coming to take her to Coventry again, and Sunday would be the last chance she would have to fly with him. Kate was silent, and once more he left her and Maggie alone. Kate confided in Maggie as they walked in the nearby park, and made her promise not to tell Robert where she was.
'But Kate, he obviously adores you. If he hasn't already asked you to wed him he will, mark my words.'
'He has,' Kate said, feeling wretched. 'But how can I tell him what's happened? He's from a wealthy family, and from what he's said they're sticklers. They'd be horrified enough to have him marry a girl who used to work in the Bull Ring market, but if they knew about me and the other things, they'd probably never speak to him again.'
'They needn't find out.'
'Maggie, I couldn't marry him without him knowing, and they live in Edgbaston, the families all know one another. If Mrs Wilson told Mrs Carstairs about me, and I'm sure she would have done, she'd soon tell Robert's family.'
'I don't think Robert would mind, he'd understand,' Maggie said slowly.
Kate shook her head. 'I'm not what he thinks I am. And his family would mind dreadfully. I can't do it to him.'
*
When no one answered his knock the following Saturday afternoon, Robert walked along to Frank's house a few doors away. Kate was probably with her friends and had forgotten the time.
Phyllis came to the door and looked surprised. 'Mr Manning? I didn't expect you today.'
'Is Kate here?' he asked, smiling.
Phyllis clapped her hand to her mouth. 'Kate? You want Kate? But didn't she tell you?'
'Tell me what? Is something the matter?'
Phyllis shook her head and then shrugged. 'I don't know! Oh, goodness, perhaps she wrote and the letter was lost. Surely she wouldn't have just gone after you've been so good to her?'
Robert followed her into their small parlour where Frank was relaxing with a newspaper. He was beginning to feel distinctly uneasy. 'Gone? Where? To Coventry?'
'Please sit down, Mr Manning.'
'Where has Kate gone?' he repeated, numbly taking the seat indicated.
'She didn't say where, exactly,' Frank said. 'Just somewhere in Lincolnshire.'
'Lincolnshire?' Robert went cold suddenly. That was where John Wilson lived. Surely she would not have gone to him? He'd tried to deny knowing her, but had at last admitted it. Had his own visit, and the punishment he'd inflicted, spurred John on to some bizarre act of revenge? Had he, perhaps, persuaded Kate that he loved her, enticed her away? Maybe she loved the wretch after all, and could have wanted to believe him.
'And she told you no more?'
'She left by train as soon as she finished work this morning,' Frank said. 'It's not like Kate to treat anyone badly, but she was acting strangely all week. Excited like, but at the same time apprehensive, if you know what I mean. A new job, flying, was all she told me. I did wonder, she didn't have an interview, and for that sort of job you'd have thought a man would want to see how well she could fly, test her a bit. But I'd no cause to disbelieve her.'
'I – yes, I suppose you're right, if it was so sudden. She'll have written to me and the letter's been delayed.'
'Last Saturday, she heard. She was that excited.'
Saturday, and he'd seen her then and Sunday. Perhaps she hadn't been certain then, hadn't wanted to tell him until the job was certain, he thought, and knew he was clutching at straws.
Phyllis looked at him sympathetically. 'At least she hasn't gone back to her husband.'
'Her what?'
'Oh, Lord, didn't you know?' Phyllis looked close to tears, and Frank was shaking his head at her. 'I thought that was why – well – I mean, you seemed so fond of her, and any other couple, I'd have sworn they'd be walking up the aisle soon.'
'She never told me.'
Robert felt humiliated. So this was the reason Kate kept refusing his proposals and yet seemed so unhappy when she did so. She wasn't free to marry him.
'Please tell me,' he said to Phyllis. 'Could she have gone back to him?' Though he admitted that if she had there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't try to drag her away from a lawful husband.
She glanced anxiously at Frank. 'Well, I only met her a couple of times, I never met her husband, but I knew who he was. He worked in the Bull Ring market, a butcher. Big family, they were, a couple of other sons and a vicious old Gran who made Kate work like a slave. I don't think she'd have gone back there willingly.'
'But, she called herself Martins.'
'I suppose she wanted to forget them. She went a bit odd, I think, after she lost the baby.'
Frank groaned. 'I suppose you didn't know about the child, either?'
'Kate never told me, but I did know,' Robert managed. 'I never knew what had happened to it.
I was relying on Kate telling me herself, when she trusted me. But she clearly didn't. Thank you. I'd better go.'
'I'm sure you'll find a letter at home,' Phyllis said as she went to the door with him.
Somehow Robert drove back to his flat without causing an accident. Afterwards he could not recall a single yard of that journey. As he opened the door he saw an envelope on the mat, and with a sudden lifting of his spirits he pounced on it and carried it into his drawing room. She had written after all.
The letter, when he tore it open, was from his mother. It was brief.
'Robert, your father collapsed at work this morning, another heart attack. Please come home as soon as you can. He's fretting, wants to speak to you. The doctor is very worried.'
Robert sat down, his head in his hands, thoughts churning round in his brain. He was very fond of his father, and dreaded the day when his frail health gave way altogether. He'd lost Kate irrevocably, she could never marry him. Rather than tell him the truth she had vanished, in all probability to her former lover.
Well, his parents had been urging him for years to marry Daphne. If he couldn't have Kate, he could at least make his father happy.
***
Chapter 14
By the beginning of 1939 Kate was flying almost every day. Her new boss, Mr Jennison, was producing components for the rapidly expanding aviation industry, and he or one of his managers seemed to have meetings with aeroplane manufacturers or Ministry officials every day. Once he had judged Kate's skill, he bought a Blackburn Seagrave, saying that this four-seater two-engine plane was just the thing for when more than one person needed to go to a meeting.
'We can also use it on occasion for delivery of urgently needed parts,' he said, chuckling. 'You won't object to a seatful of silent passengers, will you Kate?'
She grinned. 'Be a change, sir. Sometimes I can hardly hear the engine. Mr Wood seems to have a great fascination with the speaking tube, and can't leave it alone.'
She'd gained in confidence and had no doubt of her ability to master this larger machine. After a demonstration flight she happily flew it back to the home airfield close by the factory.
Life here in Lincoln was good, apart from missing Robert, but she did her best to thrust all thoughts of him out of her mind. She was doing a job she loved, was paid well enough to have sent to him, via Maggie, the rest of what she owed him for flying lessons, and she saw Maggie frequently.
She often had to fly to Coventry, for many of the car factories had been converted to producing aeroplanes for what everyone except, she thought, Mr Chamberlain, was certain would be war. He might have agreed with Adolf Hitler three months earlier not to go to war over Czechoslovakia, but most people now considered the Germans would not be content with what they already had. 'Peace in our time' contrasted oddly with Government plans for what to do in case of war, and their proposed air raid shelters.
Whenever there was time on these trips to Coventry she was given permission to go and see Maggie, and she often met her during Maggie's dinner break. George told Maggie to enjoy these meetings, not to hurry back.
It was in January that Maggie told her Robert and Daphne were to be married.
'How do you know?' Kate asked, after a few moments when she struggled to stay calm. She had no right to feel betrayed, aggrieved. She'd had her chance and refused him. If he could be happy with Daphne she ought to be unselfish and wish him well.
'I see the Brum papers occasionally, and there was a photo of some big dance. It said Mr Robert Manning and his fiancée, Miss Daphne Carstairs. It was a good photo of him, and Daphne looked so grand. She's grown up. Not so much of a tomboy as she used to be.'
'Did it say when they were getting married?' Kate asked after a moment.
'No. You could have had him, Kate. He'd not have held anything against you, once he'd known the facts.'
'It's too late now. He didn't take long to find consolation, did he?' she said, not quite able to keep the bitterness out of her voice. 'Have you heard anything about Sid? Won't Sam tell you where he is?'
Maggie shook her head. 'All he'll say is the lad's OK. But how can he be, kept away from us all? He promised I could see him, but now he says his pals won't agree.'
Kate had to leave then, to fly her boss back home. They'd used the Tiger as he was the only passenger on this trip, and she kept reliving her flights with Robert. Had Daphne learned to fly? Was she still studying for her medical examinations? Surely she would not wish to continue when she was married to Robert?
None of these questions could be answered. Kate forced herself to think of other things. But that night, on her own in the small flat her employer had provided for her, she had to exercise the utmost control not to sink into self-pity.
*
Daphne had insisted on an Easter wedding, to give herself time to collect a trousseau as magnificent as that Stella had been given. She had also refused to give up her medical studies. Some sense of caution, which she refused to admit to herself, made her want to keep them as a safeguard in case anything went wrong. Not that it would, of course. Robert would never let her down. If Kate had ever meant anything to him he'd abandoned her now. He must have done.
'But you won't be able to go on studying once you are married,' her mother said, exasperated. 'Robert won't permit it.'
'Who knows?' Daphne replied. 'If there's war everyone will be needed. Even if I'm not qualified the more I know the more useful I'll be, even if I only volunteer as a nurse.'
Deep down she was afraid, and she wanted to save something. She'd been furious when Robert had declined her mother's invitation to the garden party last June, especially when his mother had informed her that he had instead gone to an air display at Walsall. Kate was sure to be there, and she'd suffered agonies of jealousy. It had all turned out satisfactorily in the end though. A few weeks later he had reappeared in her life.
It had been romantic enough when Robert had suddenly begun to ask her out again, and after a few weeks proposed. It had all been as she'd imagined it, a soft moonlit night, after dinner on the terrace of a waterside restaurant in Stratford on Avon. He'd taken her for a walk along the bank, gone down on one knee, and asked her to marry him. Then he'd produced a magnificent diamond solitaire ring, and slid it on her finger, saying she had made him the happiest of men.
It hadn't seemed real. She tried to tell herself that was because she had waited for so long, and almost despaired of it ever happening. Robert had not been as romantic as she'd expected, somehow. He'd only kissed her that evening, once, when he'd given her the ring. She told herself he was a gentleman, and they didn't treat decent girls to displays of passion before marriage. To herself she admitted she would have welcomed more affection instead of his punctilious politeness. But it was less than a month to the wedding now. She was beginning to dare to look forward to afterwards, when surely his reserve would be banished.
Robert never mentioned Kate, and Daphne didn't dare ask. He still kept his Tiger Moth at Walsall, and every time she knew he was going there she had visions of him and Kate flying together. Occasionally she tormented herself with thoughts of Robert setting Kate up as his mistress, and marrying her to divert suspicion. But he was honourable. Surely he would not do that.
They were going out that evening, to some civic banquet, and she had a new evening dress. It was a more stately affair than she'd ever had before, suitable for the wife of a prominent businessman. Of white brocade embroidered with gold thread, with matching gold kid sandals and a pair of gold earrings which had been a present from Robert, she felt almost regal. Robert was calling at six, for there was a reception beforehand, and she was waiting in the drawing room a few minutes beforehand when the telephone shrilled.
Daphne ignored it. Most telephone calls were for her father, and sure enough, she heard the maid tap at his study door and his heavy tread across the hall as he went to answer it.
She glanced at her watch. Robert was always punctual, he'd be here any moment.
Mr Carstairs looked solemn as he came in. 'Where's your mother?' he asked, and Daphne let out the breath she'd been holding.
'Upstairs, changing for dinner,' Daphne said. 'Why, was that call for her?'
'No. Yes, in a way. I'll go up and speak to her.'
He left the room hurriedly, and Daphne glanced again at her watch. Five minutes past six. Where was Robert? She was beginning to be afraid. Then, after several more minutes her parents entered the room, and her mother, wearing a dressing gown and with her hair awry, came straight towards her, holding out her hands.
'Daphne, oh my dear, I'm so sorry!'
'Mother, what is it? It's Robert, isn't it? What's happened? Has he crashed his aeroplane? Tell me!'
'No, not Robert, dear, he's quite all right. It's his father. He was taken ill again this afternoon, and I'm afraid he died.'
'Dead? Mr Manning dead?' Daphne could not take it in.
'That was Robert, telephoning from the hospital,' her father said gruffly. 'They took him there, but he died on the way. Another massive heart attack, they think. He asked me to give you his apologies.'
'I do wish you'd married at Christmas,' Mrs Carstairs said with a sigh. 'Now we'll have to cancel everything.'
'Cancel? Cancel my wedding?' Daphne asked, suddenly realising what her mother had said.
'Of course, dear, we have to show respect. Maybe we could have a quiet one next Christmas, though we really ought to wait a year.'
Struggling to restrain her tears of fury and despair Daphne stood up and almost ran from the room, shrugging aside her father's restraining hand as she passed him. She'd known something dreadful would happen! How could Mr Manning have chosen now to die!
*
'Charles Duggan is capable or running the factory as well as I am, Mother,' Robert repeated.
Can Dreams Come True? Page 30