Over and Out

by Fenella J Miller

  ‘Sometime in the next few weeks, that’s for sure. The beginning of the end – at least I hope it is. You remember that Churchill said “this is the end of the beginning”. The number of fighters you’ve been delivering lately has to mean something’s imminent.’

  ‘Do you realise that this is the first time we’ve been away since we moved into our own home?’

  ‘I do, sweetheart, and it’s great knowing we’ve got our place go back to. In September I’ll be out of uniform and I wish you’d consider leaving the ATA at the same time.’

  ‘From what I’ve heard female pilots aren’t going to be allowed to ferry anything to France and I can’t see there’s going to be much more coming from the factories. I am considering it, but obviously won’t leave if I’m still needed.’

  The driver had been listening to their conversation. They were travelling at a crawl behind a long line of army lorries which had made this possible. ‘The home guard isn’t needed anymore. My dad has already left and so have half his platoon.’

  ‘As long as the land army aren’t disbanded. Even if the war ended in a few months it could be another year or two before the soldiers are demobbed and able to work again.’

  ‘After being away for so long it might be hard for them to settle back into working on the farm again,’ the driver said.

  They were dropped off in the centre of St Albans. He’d got directions to George and Fiona’s new home written on the back of an envelope.

  ‘I reckon it’s about half an hour’s walk from here. Good thing it’s not raining – April showers even though it’s almost May.’

  She touched his arm and drew him to one side out of the way of the other pedestrians. ‘I wanted to tell you, my monthly is four days late. I’ve never been late in my life so keep your fingers crossed as I think I might finally be pregnant.’

  He wanted to pick up and swing her around but hesitated, not sure if she was as pleased as he by this possible change in her circumstances. ‘That’s great, honey. How long before we know for sure?’

  ‘If I miss a second one then that will make it definite.’

  ‘I’m thrilled at the thought of becoming a dad – what about you?’

  She flung her arms around his neck making it quite clear how she felt. ‘We won’t tell anyone until we’re certain. If I am, and you know this could be a false alarm, I’ll hand in my notice immediately.’

  They were creating an obstruction on the pavement and reluctantly he released her, expecting to be scowled at by the pedestrians they’d inconvenienced. The reverse was true and all he saw were smiles and nods of approval.

  ‘That’s right, son, you two deserve to be happy. This bloody war should be over soon because of what you’ve done,’ an elderly gentleman said as he walked by.

  ‘Do you think he knew we were ATA?’

  ‘Doesn’t matter, what he said was true. The Germans are almost defeated and finally I can believe that this time next year things will be getting back to normal.’ He slung his bag over his shoulder so he could continue to hold her hand.

  ‘The politicians are promising a brave new world but I don’t see how that can happen when hundreds of thousands of people are homeless, their homes and businesses destroyed, and the cities mostly in ruins.’

  He didn’t want to dwell on this so didn’t answer. ‘We turn down here, go past the Roman ruins and then it’s about half a mile. The children will have the park to play in. Walking around here you wouldn’t know there’s a war on, everyone looks smart and happy.’

  ‘It’s a wealthy area. One thing’s certain, the rich can always buy what they want if they’re prepared to pay enough for it. Rationing and shortages really hurt the less well off.’

  ‘Which reminds me, I’ve not been able to find any builders prepared to do the alterations we want. Everyone I spoke to is busy doing war work and has no time for civilians.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. We’ve got a lovely house as it is and I feel guilty living in such luxury when so many families have nothing at all.’

  ‘Then why don’t we offer to take in a family with nowhere to live? We’ve got five bedrooms and the attics – more than enough room to house a mother and half a dozen children.’

  ‘I’m not sure that the people who need homes would want to live so far away from anywhere. Many of the children who were evacuated during the Blitz have now returned despite the fact that they have nowhere to live.’

  ‘Probably right. I think this is the road. Crikey – these houses are very grand.’

  ‘What’s the house called again? Something Manor isn’t it?’

  ‘Wragby Manor. It’s the next one along. It looks like a Georgian house, similar period to ours, but twice the size.’ He stopped to admire the mansion which stood back from the road and was approached by an immaculate gravel drive. There had obviously once been iron gates which had been handed over to help build Spitfires at beginning of the war.

  ‘I’m surprised Mum didn’t want to live here with them. It’s really rather impressive.’

  ‘We should just get there before dark if we get a move on. Shall we do it at the double and impress anyone who’s watching from the window?’

  Nineteen

  Ellie was delighted to see her family after so long. She spent a lot of time cuddling baby Penelope and she was aware that Jack was watching her. There were no other signs that she was pregnant, she didn’t feel sick or have sore breasts, but then that might well not start until you were further along.

  ‘How has Neil reacted to the new arrival, Fiona?’

  ‘He’s too young to take any notice either way. I didn’t plan to have them so close together but I’m hoping it will be a good thing when they’re a little older and can play together.’

  ‘The thought of all the dirty nappies and so on is enough to put me off.’

  ‘Now we’ve gone up in the world, so to speak, George is really spoiling me. I’ve got a live-in nanny – she’s a bit ancient but really good – as well as a daily to do the heavy work and a housekeeper cum cook to do everything else.’

  ‘Heavens – I suppose you have a gardener as well. George couldn’t possibly find the time to look after so much ground.’

  ‘You’ll never believe it, but there’s a gardener’s cottage and we inherited him and his son. His wife looks after the chickens and so on.’

  ‘Do any of them live in?’

  ‘Yes, nanny does. Are you thinking of replacing Mary – or should I say Lady Mary?’

  ‘We’re considering offering accommodation to a family who lost their home due to the bombing. We don’t need to replace her as we’ve got Eliza who comes in every day and Stan who does the garden and our chickens.’

  ‘Having a family you don’t know share your house is quite different from having someone you employ. If there was another Blitz then I’ll offer to have a evacuees but not otherwise.’

  George overheard the conversation and wandered over to join them. ‘You and Jack have done your bit; you don’t have to feel guilty about living in better circumstances than other people. It’s how things are – natural order and all that.’

  She wasn’t sure she agreed with her brother so just nodded and smiled and said nothing.

  *

  The christening went without a hitch and Ellie and Jack were godparents again but this time Mabel was also included. She was thrilled and Ellie knew she would make a wonderful godmother as well as being an extra grandmother.

  The gown had been made by Mabel and Mum, from Fiona’s wedding dress, the one that she had also worn for her wedding to Jack. This was the gown’s second outing and she hoped that at the end of the year it might be in use again.

  The three days’ leave was over too soon and she was sorry to say goodbye. ‘Next time I get some time off we’ll come to Glebe Farm.’

  ‘I doubt you’ll get any, love, not with the invasion coming up. You take care of yourself and don’t worry about us. Once this blooming war’s over, you’ll
be able to visit whenever you want.’

  She hugged her dad and he returned the embrace. ‘Let’s hope it’s over before Christmas as this will be the sixth one since it started.’

  ‘Imagine, Ellie love, all the families that will be reunited. I don’t reckon the little ones will know their dads after them being away for five years,’ Mabel said.

  Fiona joined in. ‘It’s the children who were evacuated and didn’t go home who are going to find it difficult to adjust. They’ve spent so long in the country that I think they’ll find it strange living in the East End of London or wherever they came from.’

  ‘You’re absolutely right. Especially as huge parts of our cities have been flattened by the German bombers. It won’t look like the home they remembered.’ Mum dabbed her eyes with the corner of a pretty embroidered handkerchief. ‘I wonder if some of them will decide to stay where they are or if they’ll even have that option.’

  ‘I’m sorry, everyone, we really do have to go,’ Ellie said. ‘We’ve got to catch a bus to Hatfield if we can’t get a lift and then hope there’s a couple of spare seats on a taxi Anson.’

  A soft drizzle was falling when they set out down the drive. Jack stared up at the sky gloomily. ‘It doesn’t look too hopeful, does it? The weather’s closing in and we might find ourselves stranded at Hatfield.’

  ‘We’ve slept on the floor more than once, so it won’t hurt us to do it again. Frankie will want us back first thing tomorrow to start work so we’ll definitely get a couple of seats on something in the morning.’

  ‘He could manage without me, but not you. You go on your own if necessary.’

  By the time they’d managed to hitch a ride with a local doctor on the way back from his rounds they were decidedly damp.

  ‘I’ll make a detour and drop you at the gate but I doubt it’ll make any difference. I’ve not heard any aircraft go over for an hour or two,’ the doctor said.

  ‘Thank you, much appreciated.’ Jack shrugged and she nodded.

  ‘We thought that might be the case, but with any luck it will clear later and visibility will improve.’

  ‘Do you fly in the rain, young lady?’

  ‘Sometimes we do. Depends how bad it is.’

  *

  The doctor’s forecast proved correct and nothing was moving at Hatfield. Jack rang Frankie and was told everything was working normally at White Waltham.

  ‘This appears to be local. We should get off later this afternoon.’

  This proved to be the case and they snagged a flip in the taxi that called in to drop off a guy based at this pool. Although Ellie wasn’t due back on duty until the morning there was a priority Halifax waiting for onward delivery somewhere in Lincolnshire.

  He was left to pedal home on his own but cheered up when he spotted Grey racing towards him. How the hell did the dog know he was on his way? ‘Hi, old fellow. Hope you’ve behaved yourself. Ellie won’t be back until tomorrow so you’ll have to make do with me.’

  The animal wagged his tail and appeared to nod as if agreeing with him. Jack was smiling when he dismounted from his bike and wheeled it round to the back.

  Stan was pruning the hedge and paused to wave his clippers at him. ‘Good to see you back, sir, been no trouble at all. My Liza has a tasty supper waiting for you. Mrs Reynolds had to work, has she?’

  ‘She has. Thank you for holding the fort.’

  Eliza was fussing about in the kitchen. ‘I hope you had a nice time. Been ever so good staying here – you go away whenever you like and we’ll be happy to help out again.’

  ‘That’s great, as next time we get more than a day off we want to go and stay with my in-laws.’

  ‘The animals have had their tea and there’s a nice bit of cheese in the pantry. It’ll go lovely with the bread I baked this morning.’

  Cheese was rationed, and even when you had the points it was rarely available. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had any. He decided to keep it until Ellie came home. Bread and jam would be almost as good.

  Mary’s will and the birth certificate of her son were now safely in the box with the letters. The trunk of documents was still in the pantry. It was a shame her son would never know about his mother’s aristocratic ancestry or inherit the trust fund that should really have gone to him.

  Strangely the papers had never published anything apart from the details of her murder – he had been certain someone would have ferreted out that information. The killer had been dispatched and his widow had moved away. The room Mary had once occupied was now just another ordinary spare room and her personal items had been given to charity.

  He listened to the news which was all positive for once, apart from the continuing heavy losses of pilots and aircrew who were bombing German cities every night. He didn’t envy them having to do this as killing thousands of civilians somehow didn’t seem fair.

  He turned off the wireless as he wasn’t interested in a concert. What they needed was a gramophone and some records to listen to in the evenings. He doubted such a thing was available but he’d start making enquiries at the pool tomorrow.

  Going to bed without Ellie at his side was something he’d never get used to. She could have rung when she arrived but would probably see no point, especially as they were told not to use the telephones unnecessarily.

  There was something he could do. Inspector Gardner had suggested that maybe Mary’s baby had been given to his father’s family to raise. If that was the case then the young man might well know who his birth mother had been but possibly didn’t know that she was dead.

  He went through the letters in the box and found one which mentioned a village in Suffolk – the same one that her ancestral home was in so it might well be where the Hatfields lived. Had the police contacted Mary’s family?

  Too late to ring and ask but he would do so when he got to work tomorrow. There was little point in him trying to contact them if they already knew about the murder. It would just cause more hurt. It had only been speculation that the baby had been given to them – he might have been handed over to anyone.

  He was so busy the next morning wading through the pile of manila folders that had accumulated in his absence that he didn’t have a moment to himself. He went to the canteen to grab a spam sandwich and a cuppa and took them back to his office.

  He was connected immediately to the inspector. ‘Good afternoon, it’s Jack Reynolds. I just wanted to know if either Mary’s family or the Hatfields were informed of her death.’

  ‘There was no need to do so as we apprehended the culprit. It’s up to the lawyers, not the police, to sort out the rest of it.’

  ‘I was just wondering what we should do with her papers and so on. They were left to us – given that her will is considered valid – but even though she was estranged from her family these historical documents should really be with them.’

  ‘If I were you, sir, I’d hand them over to the solicitors and forget about it.’

  Jack thought the policemen was probably right. If Mary had wanted her son to inherit, she would have left some indication in her papers. But why would any sane person wish a huge fortune to be left in a bank vault somewhere and never claimed?

  After several false starts he eventually obtained a telephone number for a Jonathan Hatfield in a village mentioned in one of the letters. This wasn’t a call he was going to make at work but when he was at home and after he’d discussed it with Ellie.

  *

  Ellie was exhausted by the time she returned and all but fell out of the taxi at White Waltham. She’d been to-ing and fro-ing all day and must have flown more than a thousand miles collecting and delivering both bombers and fighters.

  Even the thought of the short bike ride home seemed too much. Having had very little sleep last night she just wanted to have something to eat, a bath and fall into bed.

  Jack didn’t need telling, he just hugged her and helped her mount her bicycle. ‘Come on, sweetheart, you can do it. A tasty supper
, a hot bath and a good night’s sleep and you’ll be good as new.’

  ‘Sorry to be a wet blanket, darling, but I’m just too tired to think straight.’ As everything in her overnight bag was now dirty this was dangling from her handlebars making riding even more precarious.

  Grey nudged her with his huge head but she didn’t have the energy to do more than nod in his direction. Normally she could function on a few hours’ sleep but for some reason today was different. Her bike wobbled and she almost collided with Jack. Could it be that she was actually pregnant and this was her body telling her to slow down?

  Her mouth curved at the thought that finally they might be having a very much wanted addition to their family. She was relieved when they arrived home.

  ‘I’m going to have a bath before I eat, Jack, but I won’t be long.’

  Her balance was poor so she sat on the bed to undress. It was a struggle to remove each item and she didn’t think she had the energy to stagger into the bathroom.

  ‘Come on, the bath’s waiting. You can’t get into bed until you’re clean.’

  ‘You sound like my mother. All right – I’m coming.’

  There was certainly more than the regulation five inches and she relaxed into the hot water feeling better by the minute.

  ‘Don’t wash your hair tonight, sweetheart, you don’t want to go to bed with it wet.’

  If he hadn’t remained in there with her she might have fallen asleep and drowned. He hoisted her out and enveloped her in large towel. She needed his strength to escort her back to the bedroom.

  ‘I’ll eat something when I wake up. I just need to sleep.’

  He didn’t argue and with his help she managed to put on her nightgown and tumble into bed. She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow and didn’t stir until the alarm went off the next morning.