London Dawn (26 page)

“A sacrifice, my dear daughter. I gave them up to help Tavy and Mrs. Longstaff and Norah and the others prepare. It will be quite the lawn party, you know.”

Jane gave her mother a full smile. “I look forward to it with relish.”

“I think you look forward to Peter and James with relish.”

“Well, I haven’t seen them all summer what with all that Auxiliary flying they do. I’m starved for a sight of their faces and an afternoon of their wild antics.”

“Yes, well, I’m sure they’re just as starved for beautiful you. I expect we’ll not need to spend a penny on fireworks.” Libby looked across the table at Owen. “What about you, Owen? Have any of the girls at school struck your fancy yet?”

Owen dropped his eyes to his empty glass of port and its red and purple residue. “No girl at school, no, Aunt Libby.”

“To my mind you’d need one a few years older. You’re much too mature
for a girl of seventeen.” She smiled over the rim of her cup. “Jane’s older than her two beaus.”

“By half a year at least,” Jane piped up.

“What do you think, my handsome nephew? Does the idea of an older woman frighten you away?”

“Honestly, Mum,” said Jane, “when you put it like that, anyone would be frightened. I’m sure Owen isn’t interested in meeting someone as old as Grandmother.”

Owen continued to stare down at his glass. “A woman a few years older wouldn’t scare me off, Aunt Libby.” He glanced up and grinned, light moving quickly through his sea-blue eyes. “Not if I liked the cut of her jib.”

Terry and Edward roared.

“I haven’t heard that expression for thirty years,” laughed his father. “How’d you come by it?”

“I read it in a book.”

Jane smiled at Owen and leaned in to her mother, whispering in her ear. “If I wasn’t so caught up in the Evil Twins, I’d snatch Owen away in an instant and run off with him. He’s so cute.”

“Don’t be so sure someone wouldn’t fight you for him,” Libby whispered back.

“He just said he didn’t have anyone.”

“If you have a moment to spare tomorrow evening, keep an eye out and watch the set of his sails.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Mum.” Jane burst out laughing, a long-fingered hand clapped to her mouth. “You and all your navy language. You sound so silly.”

Twenty-four hours later

Kensington Gate, London

Charles stood apart under a tall oak tree that had no lights on its branches. The rest of the backyard was hung with Chinese paper lanterns that gleamed brighter and brighter as the afternoon turned into dusk. Cousins and uncles and aunts milled around a table laden with food and drink or formed small clusters of talk and laughter. He sipped at his punch and watched.

“It’s most extraordinary,” Charles heard Lord Preston tell his mother,
Caroline. “Who could have imagined we’d have all the family together this July? Both ships in port for refit, Robbie still at his desk in London, and now Albrecht and Catherine home from Switzerland. I know Albrecht isn’t happy about what the Swiss did to him, but Elizabeth and I thank the Lord we have them with us again after so many years. Look around you, my dear. There’s not a soul missing.”

Eva appeared at Charles’s side. “Why aren’t you out there chatting with the boys?”

“Oh, why should I be?” responded Charles. “What does a good Nazi have in common with this lot? Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, British Army, Eton, Oxford, House of Commons, all that rubbish, a Chinese woman—”

“Oh, hush, before someone hears you. There’s nothing wrong with Jane.”

“I thought you were a good Nazi too.”

“I don’t know. Perhaps I’m a bad Nazi now. But I’m a very good German.”

“You’ve let the English bewitch you.”

“No, I don’t think that’s it. I just feel freer here, that’s all.”

“Well, of course—your father had you locked up tight as a drum. If you returned to Germany now you’d be just as free as you are here.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Of course I do. Keep your head about you, Eva.”

“I said I wouldn’t go back until there were no more SS. I think there are still plenty of SS, so I’m staying put.” She put her arm through his. “Will you escort me while I mingle?”

“No, I think not. You’ll have to do without your good little Nazi tonight.”

“Come with me, Charles, please. I know you’d enjoy yourself.”

“You don’t know that at all. Be careful of the Englishmen while you mingle. Aryan beauty seems to dazzle them.”

“You sound like one of Goebbels’s broadcasts.”

“Or my father’s?”

Eva walked across the lawn underneath a string of paper lanterns that glowed over her hair and shoulders. Owen was getting a glass of punch and saw her before she saw him. She was smiling at a noisy circle of young men, many of them Owen’s own age—Matthew, Kipp and Caroline’s other son and Charles’s brother; Ramsay, Ben and Victoria’s oldest boy;
and Sean, Catherine and Albrecht’s son. Nearby, Jane was at the center of attention, ringed by Peter and James, who would both be twenty-two in December, and their brother Billy, who was nineteen. Jane suddenly burst into a laugh and spilled her drink.

“Oh, Peter!” she shrieked. “You’re getting worse as you get older!”

A group of children raced past her, shouting and screeching, and Owen thought they were going to knock Eva flat. They were led by Timothy, fourteen, Ramsay’s brother. Behind him came Cecilia, nine, Charles and Matthew’s sister. Hot on her heels was Colm, ten, Owen’s little brother, and Patricia, who would be eleven in September, Robbie’s only child. Running to catch up was Angelika, Sean’s sister, who had just turned nine. A red balloon sailed over her shoulder, its string held tightly in her fist.

“Good evening.” Eva finally spotted Owen and turned toward the punch bowl. “I haven’t seen you for weeks. How are you?”

A paper lantern over their heads swayed in a warm breeze. Owen watched the shifting patterns of light and dark move rapidly over her face and didn’t reply.

“Hello?” she teased. “Do I look that dreadful?”

He half smiled. “Sorry. I was monitoring the effect of the paper lantern.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“In plain English, your hair has grown out rather handsomely, your eyes are the most stunning blue, your skin looks like ivory, and everything else about you comes together rather well. You really have recovered from your ordeal.”

“On the outside, perhaps.”

“I apologize if—”

“Oh, hush, Owen, you’re being altogether too polite. Who are you spending your time with here?”

Owen gestured with his glass of punch. “The lads there—Matt and Ramsay and Sean.”

“If you can tear yourself away from them I wouldn’t mind spending a few minutes with you.”

He bowed. “An honor. So long as I don’t keep saying the wrong thing.”

“You haven’t said anything wrong. Thank you for your compliments. I just wish I felt as whole on the inside as I apparently look to you on the outside.”

She drifted away to one of the far corners of the yard by the high stone fence, where it was completely dark. He followed her after pouring a second glass of punch. He offered it to her once she turned to face him.

“Oh.
Danke
.”

“If I can say your dress looks very nice as well—”

“
Ja
,
ja.
Go right ahead. It’s Bavarian.”

“I like it.”

“So I’m glad. Somehow it ended up in the baggage Harrison brought with us from Germany.” She extended her arm. “Traditionally, it should be short-sleeved.”

“It’s a warm evening, isn’t it? What’s chilled you that makes you wear long sleeves?”

“I’m not chilled. When I joined the Nazi Youth, I had tattoos put on my arms. Here on my left shoulder is an eagle with a swastika. On my right is a death’s head like the SS use. I’m ashamed of them both, but I can’t take them off without ripping the skin off, can I? I’m stuck with them. So I had the long sleeves sewn onto my dress.”

“I don’t care.”

“You should care. Two years ago I was proud of them. Doesn’t that make you change your mind about me?”

“I have Jewish blood. So does my brother, Colm. So does my mother. Does that make you change your mind about me?”

Eva’s mouth opened halfway. “I….didn’t know.”

“It’s true. My mother told us last year.” Eva let her arms hang down by her side. “So we both have our secrets.”

“Not all secrets are the same.”

“No. But I will have to think about this.”

Owen nodded. “Of course.” He drained his glass of punch. “Sorry to have spoiled your evening.”

He walked away. Eva remained in the dark, crossing her arms over her chest.

Jane had wandered to another dark spot in the yard with Peter.

“Can anyone see us?” she whispered.

“Not unless they have the eyes of a cat.”

“I just want a few minutes of privacy.”

“No one’s watching. No one cares where we are.”

“Except James.”

Peter shrugged. “Except James. But he’ll get his five minutes later.”

“Five minutes? I’m going to give each of you more than five minutes.”

“You’ll have to choose between us one day, you know. You can’t have both of us at the altar.”

“I know that.”

“No one’s getting any younger.”

“Oh, heavens, Peter. I’m just twenty-two.”

“Yes, you are.” Their eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he tugged a small box from his pocket. “Happy birthday.”

“Really?” She took the white leather box. “This looks expensive. Please, Peter, don’t spoil things by giving me a diamond ring. It’s much too soon for anything of that sort.”

“It’s not a diamond ring.”

“Cross your heart?”

“Cross my heart.”

“All right then, I’ll open it.” It was a ring with a dark stone. “Oh, my heavens, what is it?”

“Hold it up to the light.”

“There is no light, Peter.”

“Hold on.”

He brought a lighter from his pocket and flicked it. “My handy Zippo.”

“Oh!” The stone turned to a fiery green. “Is it emerald?”

“Yes.”

“Where on earth do you get the money for these things? Why emerald?”

“It goes with your eyes.”

“My eyes aren’t green.”

“They don’t have to be green for emerald to go with them, do they?”

She slipped it on the ring finger of her right hand. “It’s elegant. It’s beautiful. I love it.”

“Beauty for beauty.”

She put her arms around his neck. “I’m in love with you.”

“I feel the same way.”

“Oh, you have to do better than that if you’re going to give a girl an emerald ring.”

“I love you, Jane. I’ve loved you a long time.”

“I knew that.” She kissed him slowly on the lips. “But there’s James too.”

“Yes, but you can bring James up when James is the one in your arms. It’s my go at the bat this cricket match. Let’s just talk about you and me, shall we? No one else interferes. That’s the rules, right?”

She smiled. “Right.”

And then Peter put his arms around her, and they kissed again.

Libby held Terry’s hand as the backyard emptied and led him underneath the long strings of paper lanterns.

“I’ve loved these since I was a girl,” she said.

“It’s new for me, but I quite like the effect. I’d like to hang a thousand of these on the
Hood.
It would look majestic.”

“Did you see Jane? She must be the happiest girl in England.”

“Why? What’s happened now? Did one of the boys pop the question?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that. But they both gave her birthday rings tonight. Take a look at her right hand later on. One of the rings has an emerald stone and the other is jade.”

“How will this all end? Someone’s bound to get hurt.”

“Well, I hope it will sort itself out over the next year or two. I don’t envy Jane that task. There should be two of her. Then everything would turn out right.”

Libby glanced about. The yard was empty, the table with its food and drink removed, the guests indoors. She wrapped her arms around Terry’s back.

“I’ve never been kissed under paper lanterns,” she said, smiling up at him.

His hand smoothed back her ginger hair. “You’re letting it grow out.”

“Glad you noticed.”

“If you keep on looking more and more beautiful I really will start kissing you in the most unusual locations—backyards, seashores, on the deck of the
Hood
…”

“On the deck of the
Hood
? Really? Why don’t we start with the backyard?”

“You want to kiss right now? Out in the open?”

“No one’s here.”

“They could take a look out a window.”