At one time she’d thought she might never get over it, but then she hadn’t reckoned on her dear friends, on Effie and Tam. Tam O’Cleary, the Irishman who’d walked into her farm one day looking for Kath, the girl he’d met quite by chance in Southport and who for no reason had gone missing. Curious and concerned he’d followed the only lead he knew, back to her old friend Meg. Why he stayed Meg couldn’t rightly say, or explain why it was so important to her that he did. Then there was the unstoppable Rust, her beloved dog who, despite a vicious injury caused by her stupid brother Dan, absolutely refused to give up and retire. With their help Meg had painstakingly put her life back together again.
But deep inside, largely unacknowledged, there still burned a resentment, and a fear. She still held herself back a little from Lissa, rarely touching her, scarcely speaking to the child at times, afraid to show the love she secretly felt in case one day Kath should return, and she lost her. Where would she be then with no one to love at all?
Tam came in, interrupting her thoughts for which she was thankful.
Meg busied herself scribbling on a sheet of paper at the table.
‘Not writing him another letter?’ There was a mocking tone to his voice that made her hackles rise.
‘If you mean Jack, yes, I am as a matter of fact.’ She tilted her chin at him in defiance, eyes flashing the message that it was none of his business what she did.
Tam snorted and went to pour himself tea. ‘Must be months since he replied to any. Why do you bother?’
It had seemed too cruel to continue to hate Jack for some youthful misdemeanour carried out one hot, lazy summer when they had all been silly and young. Meg had done her best not to condemn, and certainly couldn’t bring herself to call off their engagement, not when he might lose his life any day in the war. She’d waited for Christmas by which time the war would be over, before she told him. But the festive season had come and gone, Jack had been sent overseas without ever coming home, so she’d said nothing. Meg continued to write to him every week, telling about the farm, Effie learning to read, Dan getting to be quite full of himself as a contented married man and working for the Government War Committee. Always happy things. ‘A man deserves cheerful letters when he’s fighting a war. This is not the time for recriminations, or sending him a Dear John letter.’
‘Why you still feel this loyalty towards that eejit, I can’t work out.’
‘Well, there it is, I do.’ What other option did she have? The three of them had vowed a friendship for life and, foolish or not, Meg wasn’t going to be the one to break it. Whether Jack knew it or not, he was still Lissa’s father. Their lives were still inextricably linked.
Tam quietly sipped his tea while he gazed at her with steady eyes, reading her thoughts with uncanny precision. From above came the sounds of a child’s voice, objecting to being put to bed. ‘Did you ever tell him about Lissa?’
‘Nope.’
‘You don’t think he has a right? What if he were to be killed, or captured. He’d never know then, would he?’
Meg swallowed the hard lump of guilt that came to her throat. ‘It’s Kath’s job to tell him, not mine.’
‘But Kath isn’t here. We’ve no notion where she is. And the child needs a parent. Isn’t it a bit hard on her, not to be knowing who they are?’
‘She has us. She’s too young to understand.’ Kath could take Lissa back when the war was over. She would have the right to do that, if she so wished. Kath was the child’s mother after all. Meg’s stomach clenched, as it always did, at this thought. How would she cope with losing Lissa? How did you prepare yourself for fresh pain? However much she tried to avoid it she knew it would be there. Work was her release, her protection, and she must keep her mind firmly upon her plans for Broombank.
She wanted to go to her now, soothe the tears away. Better not. Leave Lissa to Effie.
She set the letter behind the clock on the dresser. She would finish it later. ‘I have to get back to the sheep.’
‘Can’t you hear her crying?’
It was always Tam, if Effie was busy or failing to cope, as now, who comforted Lissa and put her to bed. He’d seemed happy enough about that as he missed his own large family back in America. Now he was frowning, almost glaring at her, sounding fierce and uncharacteristically tough. ‘She wants you.’
Meg took no notice. ‘Be quick with that tea,’ she said. ‘You know we can’t work after dark with the black-out.’
The child’s piercing cries caused her to flinch but she set her mouth firm as she pulled open the door and went back to the sheep, her heart beating twenty to the dozen. Lissa was not her child.
Kath decided quite early on that Parade was a horror she could live without. In those first few weeks at Bledlow, she soon discovered that you were excused Parade if on duty. After that she usually managed to avoid it by being hard at work polishing her vehicle so early that she was often picked out to drive the top brass somewhere or other.
Kath found that she loved her job and was almost grateful to Waaf Officer Mullin for denying her the opportunity to become a telephonist. Driving about the countryside was much more fun.
She and Bella became great friends, often cycling into Bledlow itself for a drink at the pub, or visiting the Flicks, as they called the local cinema. Then there were regular dances at the station with no shortage of partners.
There were days when no one could manage to be cheerful, when yet another crew of smiling faces had vanished, or a plane had crashed on landing. Or, as once happened, a whole ground crew were blown to smithereens while trying to unload unused bombs.
But one way or another, despite the awfulness of the war, the weeks and months slipped by.
Mule continued to watch Kath, as stubbornly determined as her name to find fault.
‘What have I done to offend that woman?’ Kath asked Bella. ‘She never misses an opportunity to put me down.’
‘That’s what should have happened to her, when she was a pup,’ grinned Bella. ‘Aw, take no notice. It’s all jealousy because you’re eye-catching and come from a comfortable home. She certainly can’t lay claim to the former and possibly not the latter either.’
‘Not everything is as it appears,’ Kath said, a touch of asperity in her voice.
Bella’s eyebrows lifted slightly but she said nothing. Aware that her new friend never spoke about her personal affairs, she had asked no questions, seen no reason to pry. ‘Chin up. Don’t let her get to you.’
Kath’s diligence became a habit and after a while she got promoted to Aircraftwoman 1st Class. She bought the drinks that night. ‘Even Mule can’t stop me now. Maybe I’ll be giving her orders one day.’ Kath had a determination never to be in a vulnerable state again. It was a new experience for her not to be in charge of her own destiny. But ever since she had left Larkrigg, that’s the way her life had been. She meant one day to change it.
‘Don’t tempt fate,’ Bella warned, being overly superstitious.
Then one morning Kath’s efforts came to be noticed by a newcomer to the station - one keen-eyed Canadian, Ewan Wadeson, Wade to his friends, of whom there were many for he was known for his ready wit and generosity. He had groaned when first learning there were Waafs on this, his latest posting, but having seen the line up of drivers, was beginning to change his mind.
It was Kath’s swinging walk that first attracted him. A certain swivel to the hip which he found most interesting. And when she hitched up her skirt to get into the driving seat, his blood pressure almost peaked.
‘Boy, oh boy, what legs.’
Fraternising, or fratting as it was called, with other ranks was of course quite out of order. A hanging offence, almost. But Wade had always been one to take chances. The secret was not to get caught. He meant to get to know this new little sweetheart or his name wasn’t Ewan Maximillian Wadeson III.
He made a point of being at the depot by eight o’clock prompt the following morning.
‘Driver? Are
you taken?’
Kath glanced up to find herself appraised by the most outrageously sensual blue eyes she had ever encountered. Several pips decorating the impressively broad shoulders brought her to attention. And her salute proved the value of hours of practice.
‘I need a driver today. Got several meetings to attend.’ It wasn’t strictly true, but in the Airforce, he’d discovered, you could walk around all day with a clipboard in your hand and no one would bother you.
He climbed into the back seat of the car.
‘Where to, sir?’ Kath enquired when they had been checked out of the station and were bowling down the road.
Wing Commander Ewan Wadeson was engrossed with trying to decide the colour of her eyes through the driving mirror. Green? Brown? Or somewhere in between.
He cleared his throat. His day was largely free since he was not on duty till the evening. But if anyone ever discovered that he had pinched a staff car, complete with Waaf driver for his pleasure for the day he’d really be up for the high jump. Best to make it look genuine to stop any loose talk.
‘Take me to Remlington-on-Sea. I have to speak to my opposite number there.’
Kath did so, and to the next airfield after that. She drove, in fact, from airfield to airfield all morning and well into the afternoon, getting in and out of the car so many times she was quite dizzy with it all, and light-headed from want of food. While Ewan Maximillian Wadeson had a smashing view of those lovely legs each and every time.
‘I’ll be about a half hour,’ he told her on one occasion. Taking a chance, as soon as he had disappeared from view she locked up the car and went in search of food.
She was nibbling her way through a limp sandwich when she decided to step on to a weighing machine. It stood at the door of an amusement arcade and was the kind that told your fortune as well as your weight. Might as well know what she was in for. But before she had time to open her purse a hand had slipped a coin into the slot and a voice spoke in her ear.
‘Ain’t nothing wrong with your figure, ACW Ellis.’ Kath jumped, dropping the unfinished sandwich.
‘Aw, gee, now see what I’ve made you do. Were you hungry? I didn’t realise. Look, why don’t I go and get us some real food? Er, you’d best wait in the car.’
‘No, no, I’m fine. Are you done now? Do you want me to take you back, sir?’ Kath knew only too well what trouble they’d both be in if anyone saw them talking like this.
‘You go to the car, Ellis. I’ll be along shortly.’
‘Yes, sir.’ She didn’t need telling again.
Kath had parked the car, as instructed, on a headland looking out to sea. Wing Commander Ewan Wadeson was sitting beside her in the front seat and the pair of them were eating fish and chips out of newspaper. Sinful, but nothing had ever tasted so good in all her life.
‘Do you mind if I ask you a question, sir?’ He seemed the approachable sort. Not like some of the stuffed shirts around here. Probably because he was a Canadian, Kath decided.
‘Sure, fire away.’
‘If one wanted to find out what had happened to someone, a friend say, how would one go about it?’
‘One would write to the Red Cross,’ he teased, mimicking her accent. ‘Sweetheart, is it? Missing in action?’ The tone had turned sympathetic and Kath warmed to him. He was also, she hadn’t failed to notice, a very attractive man.
‘N-no, not exactly. So far as I’m aware he isn’t even missing. He’s in the navy but I don’t know where he’s stationed.’
Wade moved closer. She had offered him just the loophole he needed to get to know her better. Never miss an opportunity, that was old Wade’s motto.
‘Not got a boy friend then?’
Kath hid a smile. ‘Not at the moment, no. And you?’ she ventured, with a flash of her old recklessness.
Straight-faced he replied. ‘Nope, I haven’t got a boy friend either.’ Kath rolled her eyes. ‘You know what I mean.’
He chuckled. ‘The answer’s still no. Tell me his name, this guy you’re interested in. I’ll find out for you.’
‘You’re very kind.’ Kath rewarded him with the full warmth of her hazel eyes. The gaze held overlong as chemistry crackled between them, and after a stunned moment, Wade smiled an acknowledgement of it.
‘You’re some woman. You know that?’
She knew the dangers. She knew he was an officer. Out of bounds. Against King’s Regulations. As were most things, Kath decided, that were anything like fun. But to Katherine Ellis he was just a man, a rather fine-looking man: light brown hair, blue eyes, good teeth and a smile to melt your heart. But she was finished with men, wasn’t she?
‘Some might disagree with you,’ she said, very gravely.
‘Then they must be blind. This guy, I hate him already, what is he to you?’ Wade slipped one arm along the back of the car seat. Drat this war and the rules it created.
‘I told you, he’s just a friend. Well, engaged to my best friend, in point of fact. Or was.’
‘You sound doubtful. Is she about to chuck him?’ He longed suddenly to stretch out his fingers and caress the bare neck just inches away. This Waaf’s hairstyle might be as short as any man’s, but she was all female, no doubt about that.
Kath was staring out to sea, wishing she’d never started this dangerous conversation. ‘I’m not sure. It’s all a bit confusing. He’s called Jack Lawson, from Broombank in Westmorland. I’d be grateful for any information about him.’ She turned her beautiful eyes back upon Wade. ‘For the sake of my friend.’
‘Sure,’ he said, heart starting to thump with an excitement he hadn’t felt in a long time. ‘I’ll look into it.’
A small silence fell between them while each seemed to study the other, assessing, considering, liking what they saw. ‘I suppose we’d best be getting back,’ Kath managed at last.
‘I suppose.’
‘I’ll deal with these. Wouldn’t do for your image to be seen with chip papers.’
‘It would do my image wonders to be seen with you.’
Kath’s breath caught in her throat. ‘You don’t mess about, do you?’
‘Not as a rule, no.’
‘It would get me lynched.’
‘I know. Me too. That’s the pity of it. Damn war.’
Kath stared out to sea again. ‘Best not to think of it then.’
‘Reckon you’re right.’ His voice sounded far from convinced. ‘Wouldn’t do for folks to start thinking things.’
‘No, sir. ’Kath could feel the warmth and weight of his arm across her shoulder. It was pleasant. She’d forgotten how good a man could make you feel.
‘You know it’s as if I’ve known you for an age, not just one day. Tell me your first name, ACW Ellis.’
‘Katherine. My friends call me Kath.’
‘Aw, I like Katherine best. That’s a beautiful name. May I call you Katherine?’
‘My mother calls me that.’
‘Would it bother you?’ He saw the shadow cross her face, fleeting but not imagined, he was sure of it. ‘Okay, Kath it is.’
‘Thanks. Are you ready to go back to camp now, sir?’
‘Don’t be so formal, okay?’ Wade climbed reluctantly out of the car and got into the back seat. He adjusted his hat. ‘Back to camp, Airwoman.’
When Kath dropped him at the Officers’ Mess he nodded briskly to her, the smile gone from his eyes, completely professional. ‘I’ll be in touch about that matter, Airwoman.’ And he walked briskly away.
Kath stood holding the car door, at her very best salute. ‘Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.’
‘You drove who?’ Bella’s eyes were popping. ‘Wow. He’s a real dreamboat. Aren’t you the lucky one. And here’s me with my ears glued to signals all day. I’m ferociously jealous.’
Kath laughed. ‘Don’t be. He’s an officer. A very grand officer, therefore untouchable. What are we doing tonight?’
Bella wrinkled her nose.’ Cedric has suggested a foursome.’
; ‘You mean Jimmy is all mine?’
Bella grinned. ‘Thought you’d be pleased.’
‘I suppose it’s better than staying in.’
‘Won’t argue with that.’
They huddled over the tiny mirror to get ready, fluffing out hair, sharing out what bits of make-up they possessed. Certain items were becoming hard to find, lipstick for one.
‘I’m sick of this uniform,’ Kath said. ‘Somehow it seems worse in summer.’ Her eyes met Bella’s enquiring gaze.
‘So?’
Flagrantly breaking rules, they slipped summer frocks on under their skirts and jackets, and with non-issue shoes tucked in to their greatcoat pockets Kath and Bella set off for an evening out.
They walked to the local hostelry since none of the four possessed the transport to try out distant, more exciting places, despite the obvious risks involved. But Kath soon decided that dressing up had been a bad mistake for she spent the entire evening fending off Jimmy in a corner.
It grew hot in the pub and she suggested they all go outside. Which proved to be a yet worse mistake, she soon realised.
‘Good evening, Katherine.’
Kath froze, turning slowly to find Wing Commander Ewan Wadeson gazing at her with open speculation. ‘It sure is a hot night,’ he said, eyes running over her figure in its silky dress, right down her bare tanned legs to her pretty summer shoes. ‘Wouldn’t you say?’
She was aware of the others standing fearfully behind her. If this man chose to, he could march them straight to the Guard House, forthwith, on a charge. ‘Yes,’ she said, smiling warmly, deliberately avoiding the use of the word ‘sir’.
His smile tilted the wide mouth to a sensuous curl and Kath responded similarly. He wasn’t going to report them, she could see it in his eyes. But he might want paying for the favour, later.
Storm Clouds Over Broombank Page 3