Inherit the Skies (46 page)

She was woken by the sound of cheery whistling. She opened her eyes. They felt heavy and the sunlight, creeping in at the half-open curtains, hurt them a little. She turned towards the sound of the whistling and saw Eric shaving at the heavy mirror propped up on the wash-stand.

‘Oh – you're awake then.' He turned, razor in hand, to smile at her. ‘You were sleeping the sleep of the just. You didn't hear me come to bed last night and you didn't hear me get up this morning.'

‘What time is it?'

‘Eight o'clock.' The cut-throat glided effortlessly through the lather of shaving soap cutting a wide pale swathe. ‘There's no need for you to get up yet though. I want to have a chat with Gilbert before breakfast.'

‘
Gilbert
?'

‘Yes. I want to finish off a conversation we were having last night.' He put down the razor and came towards the bed, one half of his face still all over lather. ‘ Oh hell, I might as well tell you now, mightn't I, as be mysterious until all the details are worked out. Gilbert has offered me a position with Morse Bailey.'

‘What?'

‘I know. I must say I was surprised too. Hang on a minute while I finish shaving and I'll tell you all about it.'

He drew the blade over his face with a few swift strokes, deftly avoiding his moustache, swilled the cut-throat in the jug of water and towelled his chin dry slightly stunned by the revelation Sarah lay against the pillows watching him.

‘That's better,' he said, tossing the towel aside and rolling down his sleeves. ‘ Now – where was I?'

‘Gilbert offered you a position with the new company.'

‘That's right.' Even now Eric was unable to remain still. He searched for his cuff links and fastened them as he spoke. ‘Gilbert has great plans, you know, for the expansion of the company. He wants to demonstrate the aeroplanes Morse Bailey are building all over the world and he intends to set up flying schools so as to increase the number of potential customers. I know – it all sounds like pie in the sky, but I honestly believe he can do it. When he talks about it it doesn't sound far fetched at all but very, very plausible. He's a wonderful man!'

‘Yes, I know he is,' Sarah said drily. ‘ Gilbert has a talent for firing others with his own enthusiasm. But where do you come in? You don't know anything about aeroplanes.'

‘I know more than you think. This may be powered flight but it's still aero-dynamics. Sam Cody made the change successfully and so did the Short brothers. Why shouldn't I?'

‘Doing what?'

‘Well, flying of course! If he is to expand as he plans Gilbert needs to recruit people in every field and he reckons I'd be a natural to learn to fly. Don't look so surprised, my dear! It's not very flattering.'

Sarah was silent. She could hardly tell him the thoughts that were racing through her mind – that if he were to come to Chewton Leigh to fly she would have to face seeing Adam with Alicia not just for one day but practically every day of her life and she did not know if she could bear it.

Seeing her expression he crossed to the bed and sat on the edge of it.

‘What's wrong, Sarah? I thought you would be pleased. You are always saying how much you love this part of the world.'

‘Yes – yes, I do. But … are you sure, Eric? What will Henry say?'

‘Henry knows life must move on. As a matter of fact there's something I haven't told you for fear of worrying you. Henry has had an offer from the Army Balloon Factory at Farnborough and he's keen to go there. I was thinking of seeing if I could do the same but I like the sound of Gilbert's offer better. And it would mean you were near friends, Sarah. I think that will be very important when the baby is born.'

‘You've accepted then, have you?'

‘Yes.' Eric put his arm around her. ‘I have you to thank for this, Sarah. Gilbert would never have thought of asking me to join him if it hadn't been for you. I think he wants you home again. And I can't say I blame him. Anyone who didn't want you near them would be a fool.'

‘Oh – rubbish! Eric you are getting to sound very banal.'

‘Sarah, I love you and I want you to be happy. I'm delighted with Gilbert's offer but if you're against it, then I'll turn it down. It's up to you.'

‘Oh Eric!' She felt almost angry with him for making the decision her responsibility for she was very afraid of what would happen if she came back. Chewton Leigh had always been a catalyst to her, she thought. When she was here emotions became charged, situations developed, that were quite out of her control. It had always been so and she knew instinctively it always would be. But her destiny was bound up with Chewton Leigh; try as she might there was no escaping it. ‘Of course we'll come back,' she said. And hoped she would not live to regret the decision.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden
misfortune. But do not distress yourself with
imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and
loneliness.
…
everywhere life is full of heroism
.

Desiderata

‘Mama! Mama! Come and see! Come and see!'

The small boy squatted on his haunches to peer into the rock pool, mesmerised by the darting movement of some tiny sea creature marooned in its clear depths. Carefully, with great concentration, he broke the surface of the water with his index finger, surprised by its warmth, but as the ripples spread the little creature darted again, so fast he did not see it go, only the shimmering ribbon of disturbed water in its wake, and he withdrew his finger again so quickly he almost lost his balance and toppled over backwards in the untidy rabble of rocks.

‘Mama!' he called again urgently.

Sarah, kneeling with Annie on a rug spread out on the sand to unpack the picnic hamper, looked around at him and felt her heart fill with love. Stephen was four years old now and a miniature version of Eric. His body and limbs were wiry, his face almost elfin with its high cheekbones and small pointed chin, his eyes dark and bright as boot-buttons. Only his eyebrows were Sarah's, delicate arches, and his lashes were long and thick as a girl's. His was an inquisitive nature, he had a bright and lively intelligence, but there was not a bad-tempered bone in his body and he had never been known to throw a childish tantrum though his curiosity had often led him into one scrape after another. Sarah adored him with a fierce protective love stronger than she could have imagined she was capable of and sometimes it seemed to her that every breath she drew, every dream she dreamed, was for Stephen. He was the focus of her life now in a way that Eric could never be, though she had kept her vow to be a good wife to him, and when her heart ached for Adam, as it still did, she reminded herself that if she had not left Adam there would be no Stephen.

She looked at him now, crouching beside the rock pool, his face bright and eager, and smiled.

‘Be careful that you don't fall in, Stephen,' she warned.

‘But Mama – look!'

‘Not now, darling. Auntie Annie and I are just getting the lunch out. Show John instead.' She glanced at the other small boy, plumper and fairer skinned than Stephen, who was digging happily in the sand. ‘John, why don't you go and see what Stephen has found?'

‘Yes – go and see, John,' Annie echoed, sitting back on her heels to unwrap a packet of sandwiches.

John's eyes strayed longingly towards the food but he picked himself up obediently and trotted over to join Stephen at the rock pool. Annie watched him go, smiling contentedly.

‘Isn't it nice, Sarah, that they are the same age and can amuse one another? I think we were very clever, don't you? Even if we were less clever in our choice of husbands. Honestly, I never heard of such a thing – crying off the holiday after it had been planned for so long and leaving us to come alone – and all because of work. They seem to think of nothing else these days. Though I suppose if we are honest it has always been the same.'

Sarah smiled wryly. It was true that aeroplanes dominated their lives but she did not mind that – in her own way she was as obsessed as the men were and as excited by the progress they had made. Sometimes when she cast her mind back it was hard to believe it was less than five short years ago that the first prototype had hopped and skimmed over the field at Chewton Leigh, for in that time the project which had once seemed little more than a wild dream had grown from its humble beginnings in a makeshift shed to a company of worldwide renown.

Under Gilbert's guidance and with his wealth to back it expansion had been breathtakingly rapid. He had acquired the land adjoining the motor works for an airfield along with an almost derelict mansion which he had renovated to provide central office accommodation for the new company. Skilled fitters and mechanics, draughtsmen and engineers had been brought in to work alongside the cream of the craftsmen from Morse Motors, producing the aeroplanes at the rate of two a week, and fliers who had learned their expertise on French Voisins and Farmans were persuaded into the fold for the purpose of demonstrating the prowess of Morse Bailey monoplanes and biplanes to potential customers all over the world.

Orders had come flooding in and soon the name of Morse Bailey was ranking with the best – Shorts and Vickers, Avro and Sopwith and Morse Bailey's closest rivals, Sir George White's British and Colonial Company with their Bristol Boxkites.

To Gilbert's credit, however, he had ensured that the original team were not elbowed aside. Max had been appointed Chief Designer and his was the final word on any new innovation; Adam, now a highly skilled self-taught pilot, was regarded as the expert in the air. He still loved nothing better than to fly and when Gilbert set up the first of his flying schools on Salisbury Plain Adam became its chief instructor.

There were three flying schools now where both civilians and army officers could learn the skills of piloting an aeroplane, though the army officers had to foot the bill from their own pockets and hope to be reimbursed afterwards – a scandal, Gilbert said, for he believed the military authorities were still failing to see the potential of air power – and with other countries ready to place orders for the Morse Bailey models a chain of schools had been set up across Europe too – in Spain, Italy and Germany.

It was in this ever widening market place that Eric had found his niche. He had taken to flying an aeroplane as readily as he had to piloting a balloon and soon he was travelling the world with the team which staged demonstrations for potential customers. There was scarcely any part of the globe now which had not been visited – India, Australia, New Zealand and even Turkey, and when Eric travelled to Malaya and Singapore for demonstrations to the British garrisons there, Sarah had longed to go with him for the lure of foreign parts was very strong. But with Stephen so young she had known her duty lay at home for she remembered her own motherless years too well to leave him in the care of others while she was away on such a lengthy trip and she had to content herself with her new found role working on the design of the catalogues which extolled the virtues of the Morse Bailey machines.

It was work she enjoyed for she had discovered an unexpected aptitude for words and she was able to write prose which managed to be both informative and lyrical, and, remembering something Adam had once said, she had devised an advertising slogan: ‘Inherit the skies with Morse Bailey – the aeroplanes of the future'. Gilbert had been delighted with her work and before long she had her own little office in the renovated mansion which had now become the hub of the empire. Details of every new innovation were deposited on her desk and she had the last word on the production of every catalogue and press release, much to the chagrin of Leo de Vere, who had joined the company on coming down from University and who had expressed an interest in taking overall control of marketing when he had sufficient experience of the business.

Sarah's involvement had not been limited to desk work, however. Once or twice she had flown as a passenger on demonstration flights – ‘ to add a touch of glamour and prove how much faith we have in the safety of our aeroplane', Gilbert had said when he had suggested it. Sarah had enjoyed every moment of the experience and considered it every bit as exciting as ballooning, if not more so. It was not as peaceful, of course, but it had a thrill all its own and Sarah had climbed down from the rickety passenger seat on the framework of wooden struts and piano wire minus her hat, which had been blown away by the wind, but breathless with excitement.

‘Do you think
I
could learn to fly?' she had asked Max when she rejoined him and Max, smiling at her enthusiasm, had replied that he saw no reason why not. Flying was not so much a matter of strength as skill, concentration and coordination – already a few daredevil women had gained their licences. But when she had pursued the idea she had come up against not one, but two, stumbling blocks.

The first, surprisingly, was Eric. Though he had been quite prepared to allow her to risk life and limb as a parachutist when she was Sweetheart of the Skies he took quite a different view now that she was his wife and the mother of his child. Flying was still far too hazardous, he insisted – far too many things could go wrong, even for seasoned fliers. There had been thirty-three deaths during 1910, including the Honourable Charles Rolls, killed when he crashed in the sea at Bournemouth during the first aviation meeting there, and another sixty-five in 1911. Sarah was too precious for him to allow her to risk her life in this way. Sarah had argued and pleaded and because she was still capable of winding Eric around her little finger she might eventually have got her way had not another obstacle arisen, one which she was reluctant to face in spite of her eagerness to learn to fly, and she learned of it when, in defiance of Eric's stubborn refusal, she raised the subject with Gilbert.