The Bomb Girls (14 page)

‘Play the part one hundred per cent,' Monique told them. ‘Take meticulous care with clothing and accessories; they
must
be exact replicas of items manufactured in France. Check buttons, seams, collars, ties, even cigarettes and matches, anything that suggests “British” could cost you your life.'

Monique went on to tell them about an experienced agent in Paris who went into a café and ordered a black coffee.

‘Coffee is always black in France, and only a foreigner would use that expression. The agent was immediately arrested, interrogated and shot,' she ended bleakly.

Sombre moments like these, which brought the room to silence, reinforced the point that it was a dangerous
world they were entering, a world where they needed permits and papers, properly stamped and water-marked, to fit their cover story and credentials. Alice and her friends were given crisp French franc notes which they were asked to soften in their bras!

‘Need a hand getting them in there?' one of the men teased.

‘I think we can manage!' Gwynne giggled.

The days were exciting, terrifying, exhausting, but for Alice the evenings, which she longed for throughout the day, were bliss. As their training progressed, Alice and Robin developed their own playful spin on spying, turning what they'd learned during the day into a bit of fun in their time off. One evening she entered the packed bar, where she found Robin with a crowd of colleagues; their eyes met and she winked twice; he swivelled his eyes towards the window overlooking the garden. Without another word or gesture, Alice turned and left the bar, but not before dropping the evening paper on the table next to the door.

Out in the beautiful garden under a huge copper beech tree, Alice rocked with laughter as Robin approached bearing two large gin and tonics.

‘That was the worst bit of clandestine behaviour I've ever seen!' she giggled as she took her proffered drink. ‘I must have looked like I had a tic in my eye!'

‘You always look breathtaking,' Robin said as he slipped an arm around her slender waist and led her along the garden path to the river.

‘What must the others think we're up to?' Alice mused as they sat down on the riverbank.

‘What do you think they think?' he asked softly.

Alice held his intent gaze.

‘I don't care!' she replied.

Sensing she'd said too much, she blushed and turned away.

But Robin gently took hold of her chin in order to turn her face back to him.

‘You little northern madam,' he teased as he pulled her close and kissed her.

The touch of his warm lips roused Alice, who up until now had little experience of men. She folded her arms around his neck and kissed him back with equal passion.

Pulling away from her, Robin chuckled softly.

‘My word! For a girl who looks like an angel you kiss with a punch!'

Alice's eyes sparkled in the moonlight.

‘What were you expecting from a secret agent?' she teased.

As nightingales sang in the warm night air, neither of them wasted time with words. Under the shadow of a copper beech, wrapped in each other's arms, they kissed until dawn.

Alice was flabbergasted when she and the other female spies were issued with sexy black underwear.

‘Just in case,' Brigadier Kingsley said with a cryptic smile.

‘Just in case
what
?' asked Iris as they tried on the new black lingerie in their dorm.

‘Just in case we have to remove our knickers to take the Gestapo's mind off slitting our throats,' Gwynne replied without a hint of humour in her voice.

‘But
I'm a virgin,' Iris protested.

‘That might make it all the more interesting for the enemy!' Gladys joked.

‘Oh, God!' groaned Alice. ‘We've got cyanide pills sewn into our hems for a quick exit and lace knickers to distract the Führer – what next?'

Back on the Lancashire moors wedding preparations were in full swing. The day and time had been fixed around Tommy's leave but everybody was on tenterhooks, most of all Elsie. What if his leave was postponed? It wasn't an uncommon event; nothing stopped for the war, and everybody knew that.

‘I could be left standing at the altar holding a bunch of flowers, like,' Elsie fretted.

‘Come on, Elsie, think positive and trust in the Lancashire Fusiliers,' said Agnes briskly.

Just hearing the name of the regiment made Emily's heart lurch. She had found out just this week, after bumping into Bill's mum, that there had indeed – as Alice had suggested – been a perfectly innocent explanation for the fact that he hadn't managed to see her on his last visit home. He'd been given brief leave only once during his stay at the barracks and had immediately headed to the Phoenix; but he'd been denied entry till the end of her shift.
Why
had she been so pig-headed? If only she'd seen Bill she would never have thrown herself at Freddie Bilodeau.

‘Penny for your thoughts?' Elsie teased when she saw Emily's brooding face.

Emily gave a quick smile.

‘Oh, just working on the wedding menu. You know me, always thinking about food!' she joked.

Thanks to Lillian and Agnes the wedding dress and the bridesmaids' dresses were finished, and Lillian just needed to hem Esther's blue silk flower-girl dress when the little girl arrived in Pendle. The veil was washed and starched and Elsie's wreath was to be embellished with fresh wild flowers on the morning of her wedding.

Malc, who'd become the girls' go-between with Mr Featherstone, wangled compassionate leave so that in between her shifts Agnes could travel to Keswick to pick up Esther, then, after Elsie's wedding, return the little girl to Keswick hospital. It would be a rush but if it meant that Esther would walk down the aisle as Elsie's flower girl it was certainly worth it.

Elsie helped Emily print out the menus, one to be placed on each table in St Columba's church hall, where the wedding breakfast was to be served after the nuptial mass.

‘First course,' Emily proudly read, ‘Pendle boiled ham cooked in sage and thyme, fresh new potatoes, selection of salads, pickled beetroot and red cabbage.'

‘Good we have the locals helping us out,' Elsie said gratefully. ‘It would have been a veggie affair without Mrs Carter's neighbour donating half a side of bacon.'

‘Good we have a thriving black market in Pendle,' Emily added. ‘Where else would we have got a barrel of beer and sherry too? Second course,' she continued, ‘rhubarb and ginger tart with ice cream.'

‘I'll never know how you managed to find enough cream for the ice cream,' Elsie said incredulously.

‘I didn't – some of it's not actually cream!' Emily confessed.

Elsie's eyes grew huge.

‘Ooh, Em, you've not done anything dangerous like add chemicals?' she gasped.

‘As if I'd ruin your wedding day by giving your guests the trots!' Emily laughed. ‘I mixed dried milk and water in with the cream. How else could I spin it out among forty people?'

‘Will it be all right in the canteen cold store?' Elsie asked.

‘It's packed around with ice cubes and is solid as a rock,' Emily assured her anxious friend.

Elsie hugged Emily excitedly.

‘You've all been so kind to me,' she said as tears sprang to her eyes. ‘You're like the sisters I never had.'

‘No time for tears,' Emily said as she hugged Elsie back. ‘I've got to finish icing the wedding cake. Thank God every girl on the cordite line contributed their sugar rations otherwise it'd be a cardboard mock-up.'

Grabbing Elsie's hand, she pulled her towards the door.

‘Come on, we've got to get it done before Alice arrives tomorrow,' she said happily.

Alice arrived at the Phoenix having spent a day and a night travelling from one end of England to the other. Glowing with happiness, she rushed into the digs, where she dropped her case and immediately threw her arms around her best friend.

Emily looked into Alice's radiant face and said knowingly, ‘You've met someone.'

Alice nodded.

‘I'm sooo in love, Em!' she cried. ‘He's called Robin
Fairfax and he's brave and clever and very good-looking. I can't wait for you all to meet him.'

Rushing forwards, she embraced Elsie and Lillian too.

‘Is he loaded?' Lillian teased.

Alice's eyes sparkled. ‘Yes, he's that too!'

Lillian, Elsie and Emily had finished their shift for the day so they were free to spend all night chatting and laughing with Alice, who they'd missed dearly.

‘So why did they move you to Cornwall?' Lillian asked.

Before she left Helford, Alice and Robin had carefully prepared answers to difficult questions.

‘It's important you don't put your friends in an awkward position; make it simple,' he'd said on their last evening sitting by the river. ‘Say you were sent here to attend a crash course in advanced French.'

‘That's a good idea,' Alice had said, running kisses down his neck and under his shirt. ‘Shall I tell them that my favourite place for lovemaking is right here on the banks of the river?'

Robin had buried his face in her fine, silky, blonde hair.

‘I'll miss you, darling.'

‘I'll miss you too, my love.'

‘So why waste time talking about it?' Robin had laughed softly as he pulled Alice down beside him.

‘At least I won't have to talk French all the time in Pendle,' Alice had joked.

‘I'm there for an advanced crash course in French,' Alice said, repeating Robin word for word.

‘And then what? Where next?' Emily asked.

Alice shrugged.

‘I have no idea,' she answered in all honesty.

Long after midnight, tucked up and cuddling hot-water bottles in the bedroom that they used to share together, Alice dared to broach the subject she knew Emily was avoiding. In the darkness, with a soft rain spattering against their window, she said, ‘Have you heard from him?'

Emily didn't need to ask who.

‘Not a word since he sent me the letter,' she replied. ‘Mum says he's been home on leave but he's not been up here to see me.'

‘It'll take time, Em,' Alice said gently. ‘He's a proud lad, always has been.'

‘And I'm an idiot, always have been,' Emily groaned.

‘You lost your head; I know what that feels like since I met Robin. I'm crazy about him.'

‘Like I was crazy about Bill till I met sweet-talking Freddie, who couldn't wait to get my knickers off.'

Alice let a few minutes pass before she said, ‘Have you seen Freddie?'

‘I tried to see him when I delivered your letter to Henri,' she admitted. ‘He wasn't on the airbase but I did see him when I was walking over the moors.'

‘Did you talk?'

Emily gave a bitter, hard laugh.

‘It was hardly the right moment, Al. He was with another woman; they were leaving the old stable where he took me.'

‘Oh …' Alice's voice trailed away.

Wretched Emily burst into tears.

‘Lillian got it right. He was never interested in me! He's a player and he'll go where he can get it.'

Alice jumped out of bed and gathered Emily into her
arms, then sitting beside her she rocked her friend slowly back and forth until her sobs had subsided.

‘You and Bill are meant for each other,' she soothed.

‘And we would be with each other if it wasn't for stupid me!' Emily wailed.

Alice remained silent; it wasn't the best moment to agree with Emily when she said that Freddie had been the biggest mistake of her life.

When Agnes arrived with her daughter she was beaming with pride. Their reunion in the Keswick hospital had been a joy, their train journey south full of laughter and excitement, and now here she was, standing holding her daughter's hand, about to share her for the first time with the four women in the world she loved the best.

‘I'd like you to meet Esther,' she said with a choke in her voice.

Emily, Lillian and Elsie had rushed back to the digs after they'd finished their shift, keen to meet the little girl they'd heard so much about, but Esther, overwhelmed by shyness at the sight of them, hid behind her mother's skirts.

‘It's all right, cherub,' said Agnes as she guided Esther to stand next to her. ‘Emily, Lillian and Elsie are my best friends.'

Esther peeped out and solemnly eyed the girls, who were enchanted by her long, dark curly hair, huge brown eyes and skin as pale as alabaster.

Typically it was Elsie who knew instinctively how to approach the shy, serious little girl.

‘Would you like a sweetie, pet?' she said as she offered Esther a toffee.

The little girl's eyes grew even bigger at the sight of the treat, and limping on her calliper she slowly approached Elsie, who hunkered down to be on the same level as Esther.

‘Thank you for coming all this way to be mi bridesmaid,' Elsie said as she gently kissed the little girl on the cheek.

‘Are you the beautiful bride?' Esther asked shyly.

‘Well, I'm hoping to be tomorrow, pet!' Elsie joked.

Lillian swept Esther up into her arms.

‘Come on; let's try on your bridesmaid's dress!'

After visiting her mum in town Alice joined the girls later and they had a happy, giggly, girlie night drinking nips of sherry, although Elsie and Esther stuck to lemonade, whilst they all tried on their dresses.

‘I'm a princess!' cried Esther as she limped round and round in a circle, swirling the skirt of her blue dress around her.

‘You're the most beautiful princess I've ever seen!' Lillian said with tears in her eyes.

The tears soon flowed unchecked as Esther threw herself into Lillian's arms and hugged her tightly.

‘Thank you, William,' she said, sweetly mispronouncing her name. ‘Thank you for making me beautiful!'

‘The pleasure's all mine, darling … and you can call me William anytime you want!' Lillian added as she burst out laughing.

Agnes, Emily, Elsie and Lillian hadn't been allowed time off work just because Esther was in town. They'd had difficulty enough getting a day off work for the wedding, though Elsie had been granted a weekend's leave for her
brief honeymoon. So for a few days Esther had been obliged to fall into the factory's routine. She'd been dispatched to the Phoenix nursery, which she tolerated because as soon as their shift was over the girls collected her and took her back to the digs, where she slept in the same single bed as her mum. During Esther's brief visit the digs rang with the delightful sound of her excited laughter.

When Emily took Esther out on to the moors to pick thyme and sage for the wedding-breakfast ham she was astounded by the child's determination to walk unaided. Half skipping and half limping, Esther made her way to the top of a small tufty mound where she picked sprigs of thyme.

‘Mmmm, it smells nice and sweet,' she said. ‘Can I eat it?'

‘Yes, but not too much; we don't want you dashing to the toilet during the wedding,' Emily teased.

Esther burst into a fit of giggles.

‘I might spoil my bridesmaid's dress,' she said as she hiccupped with laughter.

Emily gazed at Esther and smiled; she was the most adorable child she'd ever met. Behind her solemn curiosity was a mischievous, happy spirit with a bravery the likes of which Emily had never before seen in a child. As Emily stroked the little girl's long dark curls, she saw a lanky man in army uniform striding up the hill to the digs.

‘TOMMY!' she gasped.

Grabbing Esther with one hand and holding the basket of herbs in the other, she ran as quickly as she could towards Tommy, who grinned shyly, showing the gap between his two front teeth.

‘Hiya, cock!' he said.

Forgetting formalities, Emily laid a hand on his shoulders.

‘Where are you going?' she panted, breathless after her sprint down the hill.

With his eyes alive with anticipation, Tommy replied with a bit of a swagger, ‘To see mi fiancée!'

‘You can't!' Emily cried as she gave him a gentle backwards nudge.

‘Why not?' he asked as he resisted her nudge. ‘I've just come home from Africa and I've not seen Elsie for months!'

‘It's bad luck!' Emily retorted.

‘Bad luck to be back home and alive and wanting to see the woman I love!'

Emily took a deep breath as she steered him away from the digs.

‘What I mean is it's bad luck to go in there – you might see Elsie's dress and spoil the surprise,' she explained.

Hearing the word ‘dress', wide-eyed Esther tumbled to what was going on.

‘You're the handsome prince!' she cried.

Liking the romantic description, Tommy ran a hand through his short, mousy-brown hair and threw back his skinny shoulders.