by Annie Groves
Mallory. It was Kieran’s plane that was limping home, a wounded wreck, kept in the sky only by the skill and the determination of its pilot. Her relief didn’t last very long, though. Inside her head Lou could see the plane that had come down when she had been in the WAAF – with only her to witness the pilot’s danger. She had acted instinctively then, running towards the crashed plane to help the pilot, her actions earning her the honour of a George Medal, which she still did not believe she had really deserved. She had after all only done what anyone else would have done.
From one of the hangars the fire and ‘blood’ trucks came racing out onto the runway, sirens screaming as the Lancaster, tilting steeply to one side, one of its wings badly damaged, its doors open, lurched unsteadily earthwards. Lou could only imagine the cool nerve it would take to keep on flying a plane that was in that state. She could see smoke curling warningly from the plane as Kieran brought it in, skimming the trees in the field beyond the runway, and then dipping lower, almost at hedge height, so low that Lou felt sure that he was going to belly-flop and crash-land. From the open doors of the Lancaster men jumped, three, four, five of them.
‘Christ, what’s he doing? Why doesn’t he get out whilst he can?’ one of the mechanics swore, as suddenly the plane swerved fiercely to the left.
‘He’s trying to turn the plane so that it doesn’t plough into the runway.’
‘He’ll never get out of it alive now,’ the first mechanic stated grimly. ‘Ruddy fool. He’s one of the best pilots we’ve got. This war needs men like him. He’s worth more than a ruddy runway.’
The mechanic’s angrily spoken words were, Lou felt sure, shared by the rest of the small crowd, not watching and waiting, but praying, as she found she was doing herself, for Kieran’s survival.
The plane hit the ground with a thump that Lou could actually feel inside her own body, gouging up the field before exploding with a dull whump of sound.
The mechanics were running towards the field, and somehow Lou was running with them, her parachute abandoned, her heart pounding. The fire truck was already on the scene, battling with the flames, whilst the ambulance crew were helping the men who had jumped out of the plane.
Kieran. She had loved him with a young girl’s foolish love and then she had hated him with an equal passion, but she had never wished him dead. Emotion clogged Lou’s throat. She turned away from the burning Lancaster, unable to bear looking at it, unable to endure imagining…
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a dark-haired figure who, despite the fact that he was limping, still managed that familiar male swagger that irritated her so much as he made his way towards where Lou was standing, by the gate in the hedge, a streak of blood on his forehead.
‘You’re alive,’ was all she could find to say as they stood separated by the gate.
‘Don’t sound so disappointed.’ Kieran rubbed his arm across his forehead, adding a streak of dirt to the blood.
‘What…what happened?’
‘Bomb bay door got stuck and that delayed us, so we were behind the others coming back. Jerry got us just before we crossed the Channel. Killed the rear gunner, and shot away our undercarriage. Thought I’d have to ditch in the drink, but luckily I managed to keep her going.’
Beneath the dirt and the blood, Lou could see the bleak look in his eyes belying the almost casual description he had given her of what had happened.
A couple of first-aiders were running towards them, carrying a stretcher.
‘I’m glad that…that you’re safe.’
What on earth had made her say that? He would think she was still the same silly idiot who had made such a fool of herself over him. The ambulance crew had reached them, obliging Lou to step back from the gate.
She wasn’t needed or wanted here. She was an outsider to the base who would want to mourn their dead in private. Lou made her way back to where the Spitfire was still waiting patiently for her. Kieran was safe and alive, and she wasn’t even going to think about asking herself why that mattered.
‘You’ve got a visitor, Katie. Good-looking, and wearing a Senior Service uniform. Name of Eddie, apparently. Strictly speaking men are not allowed in female billets, but Gerry was so taken with him we had to let him in.’
Eddie. A rueful smile curled Katie’s mouth as she thanked Peggy for her information.
‘He’s in the drawing room,’ Peggy continued, ‘with Gerry, and I should warn you that you’ll find it difficult to evict her. She’s even made him a cup of tea, or at least it was supposed to be a cup of tea. First time I’ve ever seen her so much as fill a kettle,’ Peggy grumbled tartly and truthfully.
Gerry might have promised to mend her ways, but whilst it was true that she was no longer worrying them all to death by staying out late and then returning to the billet worse for wear, she still seemed to be dating an awful lot of different young men.
Katie felt extremely sorry for her. The death of her brothers had obviously hit her hard and Katie felt she deserved their sympathy and a bit of leeway, even if Peggy Groves took a sturdier attitude and said that it was high time she pulled herself together.
Still smiling, Katie went upstairs, opening the door to the formal drawing room, which looked out into the square. Eddie was standing in front of the unlit fire, looking very handsome in his naval uniform, his mouth curling into a smile when he saw her.
‘Oh, Katie. There you are. I suppose you want me to leave,’ Gerry teased her with a smile.
‘Oh, I don’t mind kissing Katie in front of you,’ Eddie assured her, with a wicked grin that made Katie shake her head reprovingly, and Gerry laugh.
‘I’ve come to persuade you to take pity on me and have dinner with me,’ Eddie told Katie as soon as Gerry had gone. ‘Here I am, a chap on leave from serving his country, up in London with a table booked at the Savoy and—’
‘Eddie, I’m sure your little black book is absolutely full of the names of girls who would be delighted to have dinner with you,’ Katie told him.
‘Yes,’ he agreed simply and without embarrassment, ‘but your name comes first.’
Katie didn’t know quite what to say. Eddie was a charmer, she knew that, a flirt and a tease and good company. His comment about her coming first was just a ploy, of course. She knew that too. But on the other hand there was really no reason why she should not have dinner with him, especially dinner at the Savoy, Katie admitted to herself. She certainly wasn’t in danger of allowing herself to fall in love with him. It crossed her mind that Gerry and Eddie would be far better suited to one another than she and Eddie ever could be.
‘Very well,’ Katie gave in, ‘but I must warn you, Eddie, I know how much of a flirt you are, and it won’t wash with me.’
‘A flirt? Me?’ Eddie gave her a hurt look. ‘How can you say that after I resisted the lures of your resident man-eater?’
Katie laughed. ‘That isn’t a very kind thing to say about Gerry. In actual fact she’s very nice, and if you want the truth I was just thinking how much better the two of you would be suited to one another than you and I ever could be,’ she told him honestly.
‘Ah, but it’s a well-known fact that flirts don’t pair up with one another,’ Eddie countered her comment, adding softly, ‘You underestimate yourself, Katie. You are truly the darlingest girl, you know.’
Feeling that the conversation was getting out of hand, and well aware of the amorous look Eddie was giving her, Katie deliberately changed the subject to something less dangerous and rather more mundane.
‘What time is the table booked for, only I shall need to get changed?’
‘Eight o’clock, plenty of time, especially if I come and help you.’
He really was irrepressible.
‘You will do no such thing,’ Katie told him sternly. ‘You shouldn’t even be in here, never mind anywhere else. This is an all-female billet, and the rules are no men allowed.
‘It’s a pity Gina’s taken a couple of days off to go down and see
her family – she could have come with us.’
‘Oh, yes, a dreadful shame that she can’t. Now I shall have to put up with having you all to myself,’ Eddie teased, before glancing at his watch and warning her, ‘You’ve got just over half an hour. Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you and help?’
‘Perfectly sure,’ Katie told him, whisking herself through the door before he could offer her any more arguments – or inducements.
Dinner at the Savoy would be a real treat. Eddie and Leonard had taken her and Gina to the Savoy for dinner the first time the four of them had gone out together, and Katie smiled as she remembered how that had been the beginning of Gina and Leonard falling in love with one another.
Now that they were into October there was a definite chill in the air and for that reason Katie decided to wear an old dress in black taffeta her mother had passed on to her, which Katie had had remodelled.
Black wasn’t really one of Katie’s favourite colours, but there was no doubt that the dressmaker had done an excellent job of restyling the original dress to give it a neat waist and a prettily panelled full skirt, using the spare fabric to add a new shawl collar, which showed off Katie’s shoulders.
Slipping on her court shoes and grabbing her stole and her black taffeta evening bag, with its bugle bead embroidery in the shape of a flower – another loan from her mother’s pre-war wardrobe, just like the long gloves she was wearing – Katie gave her appearance a final quick check in the mirror before heading for the stairs.
Eddie’s impressed look and teasing wolf whistle when she walked back into the drawing room turned her face slightly pink but she still shook her head at him in reproof.
‘I’ll have every man in the place envying me tonight and wanting to change places with me,’ Eddie told her.
‘Now you are over-egging the bread,’ Katie smiled, but nevertheless she was pleased by his admiration. There was nothing like having a handsome escort who was prepared to pay you compliments for boosting a girl’s ego, Katie admitted as Eddie opened the drawing-room door for her.
‘Do you have much contact with Leonard?’ Katie asked once they were in the taxi, which Eddie had somehow miraculously managed to conjure up.
‘Not since he was posted to his new destroyer.’
‘Gina’s hoping that he’ll get leave over Christmas. She says it would be the best Christmas present she could have.’
‘Would you like to know what I want for Christmas?’
Katie eyed Eddie’s deadpan expression with suspicion. ‘Somehow I think that is a question I shouldn’t answer.’
‘Ah, cautious Katie, I wonder what it would take to make you abandon that caution. Don’t you sometimes yearn to find out what it’s like to walk on the wild side of life?’
‘No,’ Katie told him promptly and truthfully. ‘Being cautious is part of me and the way I am. Besides, no woman with any sense would be anything but cautious with you, Eddie. You have “Danger – charmer at large” written all over you.’
They had reached their destination and the taxi was already pulling up, depriving Eddie of the opportunity to retaliate.
Feeling femininely smug and light-hearted, Katie didn’t stiffen or pull back as she would normally have done when Eddie put his arm around her as he guided her into the hotel. In fact, having the arm of such a handsome and charming naval officer holding her close to him was rather nice, Katie admitted.
‘You should smile like that more often,’ Eddie told her,
‘Like what?’ Katie pretended not to understand.
‘Like you were once a very mischievous little girl who liked to have fun, and to tease the poor little boys who adored her,’ Eddie told her with a smile of his own. ‘Come on, I’m dying for a drink, let’s head for the bar before we go in for dinner.’
Katie agreed.
The American Bar at the Savoy was perhaps not unnaturally the chosen favourite haunt of American newspapermen and women, and many of the American top brass working in London, as well as being one of the places that British Society and those with enough money in their pockets to afford it headed to when in the city.
In the Grill, table number 4 was always reserved for Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, and Katie was not surprised to see that the bar was packed with men in uniform, reporters in trademark shabby raincoats, and, of course, cohorts of beautiful women dressed up to the nines, their glamorous appearance in direct contrast to the few women who were in uniform, and mostly attached to groups of very important-looking men. Katie guessed that many of them would be official drivers, stenographers, PAs and the like.
Miraculously Eddie managed to get them a table close enough to the bar for them to sit and discreetly watch the show of activity there.
The bar was very busy indeed, the majority of the voices engaged in conversation American, several smartly and expensively dressed middle-aged American wives, in clothes their British counterparts could only dream of having access to, looking askance at the pretty, young, and often a little ‘too glamorously’ dressed young women hanging on the arms of much older and mainly American men, who, Katie thought, it would be extremely naïve to assume were actually their husbands.
‘Spoils of war,’ Eddie told her in a quiet murmur, studying them with her.
Katie pulled a face. ‘I hate to hear women being described in that way, even when it is obvious what’s going on,’ she chided him.
Eddie shook his head and informed her bluntly, ‘It’s the men I meant, not the girls. Would you like another cocktail?’
‘No, thank you.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Eddie teased her. ‘I shan’t be embarrassed if you get a little tipsy and try to seduce me.’
Katie had to laugh. ‘There is no danger of that happening,’ she assured him sweetly.
‘Pity,’ Eddie murmured in her ear as a waiter approached to inform them that their table was ready. ‘I’ll just have to try and seduce you instead then.’
There was no reason for her heart to give that unfamiliar little flurry of thuds that wasn’t far short of a surge of anticipatory curiosity, Katie warned herself. She had no intention of allowing Eddie to seduce her, or of encouraging him to think she wanted him to. Nevertheless, it was pleasant to be escorted by someone so charmingly attentive, who seemed without any effort to ensure that things went smoothly and that, despite the crush, they were attended to as though they were regular and cherished diners.
Katie felt a little for the pretty girls in their finery with their much older men friends, an envious look in their eyes as they watched her walk past with Eddie. Perhaps their ‘spoils of war’ tasted a little bitter and unpalatable at times.
The Grill Room was every bit as busy as the bar, most of the tables occupied by at least one man in uniform, if not more.
Eddie and Katie were shown to an excellent table with a good view of the room, their waiter even unbending enough to say to Eddie, ‘I trust her ladyship is in good health?’
‘Thank you, Joseph, and yes, my grandmother is well. I shall tell her you were asking after her.’
Rather ruefully Katie acknowledged that the waiter’s comment was a sharp reminder, had she needed one, of the social gulf that existed between her and Eddie, and the very different lives they led.
It was different for Gina. For a start, Gina herself was definitely upper class and Leonard’s father, whilst well-to-do, was not titled.
Menus were produced, and Katie decided on the leek and potato soup and then the fish, sole, although she doubted that it would have been caught anywhere near Dover with all the war activity taking place off the South Coast.
‘This is such a treat,’ she told Eddie warmly.
‘Yes, it is,’ he agreed, his voice for once free from its familiar teasing note and the look he was giving her so very warm and meaningful that Katie was glad that the arrival of their soup meant that they were interrupted.
With wine so hideously expensive, Katie would quite happily have done with
out any, but Eddie had insisted. This was luxury indeed, Katie reflected, but by far the best part of the evening was being with Eddie, who was such good company and so much fun.
She couldn’t remember when she had last enjoyed an evening so much. The conversation between them flowed naturally and easily, like her own laughter, so that by the time they had finished their meal and were ready to go down to the ballroom, Katie felt so utterly relaxed and at ease with Eddie, that she actually snuggled closer to him of her own accord when he put his arm protectively around her to guide her from the Grill Room.
The Orpheans were, of course, playing, and Katie automatically looked for familiar faces amongst their number, as she and Eddie sat down at a table close to the edge of the dance floor, her foot tapping happily in time to the music.
She mustn’t have been listening properly when Eddie had asked her if she wanted another drink, she decided, because she would quite definitely have refused. Now, though, with the champagne cocktail in front of her, it seemed churlish to say she didn’t want it.
‘See, I told you I was going to get you tipsy and seduce you,’ Eddie teased her wickedly.
‘That’s what you might think,’ Katie joked back, ‘but I know otherwise.’
Of course they danced; impossible not to with such a good band and when Katie loved dancing so much. It was surprisingly easy to slip into Eddie’s arms and let him guide her round the dance floor, enjoying the sensation of moving in time with the music.
‘You are a very good dancer,’ Eddie murmured against Katie’s ear during one of the slower numbers, the movement of his lips and the warmth of his breath sending exhilarating frissons of pleasure sliding over her skin.
‘You aren’t bad yourself,’ Katie joked back.
‘And you know what they say about people who dance well, don’t you?’ Eddie demanded, continuing without giving her the chance to reply. ‘They say that people who dance well, make love well.’
‘They say or you say?’ Katie laughed, but there was no denying that there was something very pleasurable about the confident but relaxed way in which Eddie held her, both through the fast and the slow dance numbers. And yet despite all his teasing Katie felt safe with Eddie, and as though she had known him for years, as though they had been friends and had grown up together, and knew one another so well that there was no need for any pretence between them. Being with Eddie was relaxing, Katie acknowledged, and that was because she wasn’t in love with him.