They scoured the side of the mountain until Johnny suddenly shouted excitedly. ‘There, look. Isn’t that a parachute draped over the top of the trees?’
They flew down lower and circled the spot where white silk, entangled with the branches of a tree, was flapping in the breeze.
‘Johnny, stay here circling it. I’ll go back and tell the searchers on the ground.’
‘Tell them to hurry. If she’s been down there all night, she could be suffering from hypothermia if nothing else.’
Luke flew back to the field, landed quickly and told the men in the field what they had found. He pointed up the mountain. ‘The parachute is about half a mile up on this side.’
‘We’ll organize the search party to go up there,’ Dan said. ‘Could you see anyone?’
Luke shook his head.
‘I’m guessing she might be injured, otherwise she would have walked down.’ At once Dan took charge and began issuing orders.
One of the other men now spoke to Luke. ‘I’m Terry. Dan heads up the local rescue team. He’ll soon have us organized now we know where to look.’ He turned to a woman standing beside him. ‘Meg, love, will you notify the police and then the ambulance service so they’re on standby? I reckon we’re going to have a casualty.’
The rescue party, now properly organized and carrying all the equipment they might need, were soon climbing the mountainside to where the parachute still hung in the trees. Luke had radioed Johnny and told him he was staying on the ground and going with the rescue team.
‘Keep circling for as long as you can. It’s a really good guide.’
Every so often the team stopped to shout her name, then kept silent whilst they listened for a response. Then they set off again.
The fourth time they did this, Luke was sure he heard a faint call. ‘Listen,’ he said urgently. Everyone stood still, straining their ears.
‘There! Did you hear it?’
But no one else could hear what Luke was sure he’d heard.
‘Come on,’ he said, with added urgency. ‘Johnny’s still circling a bit higher up. Let’s go.’
Now it was Luke urging the rescuers on rather than Dan, but no one complained. Again, they stopped to call out and to listen. This time Luke heard it clearly and now Dan nodded. ‘Yes, I heard that. I think we need to be over to the left a little.’
Practised in rescues in this part of the country, Dan was better at gauging which direction the sound was coming from. Now, each time they stopped to shout and then to listen, her voice was nearer until at last they could all hear it plainly, ‘I’m here.’
‘I can see the parachute,’ Terry said. ‘She must be underneath it.’ Luke almost ran up the last few yards to where Daisy was lying propped against the tree from which the parachute still dangled. He dropped to his knees beside her. ‘Daisy, oh Daisy.’
Swiftly, the team went into their practised routine; wrapping her in blankets and checking what injuries she had whilst Daisy leaned against Luke. ‘I’m so cold,’ she murmured. ‘And I think I’ve broken my ankle. That’s why I couldn’t walk down.’
‘You’re safe now. We’ll get you down and an ambulance will take you to the nearest hospital straightaway.’
‘Where’s the Spit? It didn’t land on houses, did it?’
‘No, it’s in a field just below here.’
‘Oh Luke, I’ve lost a Spitfire. I’ll never forgive myself.’
Luke held her close. ‘It doesn’t matter, Dais. Not now. It was unserviceable anyway and besides, the war’s over. It ended this morning.’
‘Really?’ Her voice was growing weaker. She leaned against him and closed her eyes. ‘I’m so tired, Luke. So very – tired . . .’
‘Alice! Alice!’ Robert’s urgent tone echoed through the house so that not only Alice came hurrying to him, but also Henrietta and Edwin.
‘She’s safe. She’s in hospital with a broken ankle and suffering from hypothermia, but she’s safe and will be fine.’
‘Oh thank God.’ Tears of relief ran down Alice’s face as she buried her face against Robert’s chest.
Even Henrietta, who hardly ever cried, surreptitiously wiped tears from her eyes. ‘How did they find her?’
Robert, now relieved of the heart-wrenching anxiety, chuckled. ‘Luke and Johnny each took a Spitfire and followed the route she was supposed to take. I believe Gill went out in the Anson too, but she went on ahead and must have missed seeing her. I expect she’ll eventually catch up with the news that Daisy’s been found.’
Robert repeated the story of how they’d actually found her that Luke had told him over the telephone.
‘Enterprising young men,’ Edwin murmured. ‘Thank goodness it worked. I hope they won’t be in trouble.’
‘I think they both had permission from their superior officers. Mind you, if the war hadn’t just ended, it might have been trickier, but knowing those two, they’d have gone anyway.’
‘They both love her dearly – in different ways, of course, but – well, you know what I mean.’
‘We do, Father. Now, I’m in need of a drink – and I don’t mean coffee, Mother.’
Luke and Johnny flew their aircraft to the nearest airfield and then hitched a lift to the hospital where Daisy was being cared for. They’d telephoned their bases and asked for the news to be relayed to Gill as soon as possible. When they walked into the ward, it was to find Daisy sitting up in bed drinking tea and looking none the worse for her night on the mountainside. The only legacy of her adventure was the mound of a cage beneath the bedclothes where her ankle had been put in plaster.
Johnny rushed to her bedside and kissed her. Luke grinned at her and then said, ‘I’d better leave you two lovebirds alone.’
‘No – don’t go, Luke. I want to thank you both for coming to look for me. I don’t think I could have lasted another night out there. I couldn’t even wrap myself in the parachute. I couldn’t disentangle it.’
‘Perhaps it was a good job you didn’t because that’s how we found you,’ Johnny said. ‘And now, tell me, just how long are you going to be laid up?’
Daisy grimaced. ‘I can go home in a few days, but the plaster won’t come off for six weeks.’
‘Perfect.’ Johnny grinned. ‘I’ll take you home and you and your mother will have plenty of time to organize a wedding. How does September sound?’
Daisy gaped at him and Luke laughed.
‘Well, if that isn’t the most unromantic proposal I ever heard.’ She laughed and the happy sound echoed around the long room. ‘But yes, September sounds perfect.’
Johnny turned to Luke. ‘And will you be my Best Man?’
Luke grinned. ‘I’d be honoured, old chap. I’d ask you to be mine, but I really must ask my brother. Hope you understand.’
‘Good Lord, yes. I wouldn’t expect anything else.’
As Johnny bent his head to kiss Daisy again, Luke added, ‘And now I really will go . . .’