Chapter Eighteen

“Are you sure Jane said I should be here too?” Shirley wanted to know.

“Sit down and stop being silly,” Thelma told her. “Jane said to get all the gang around to Betty’s, and last time I checked, you’re part of the gang.”

“Well said,” Lawrence added. He sat on the sofa, cozying up to Mary, who looked quite happy, though not quite so much when Lawrence’s cast accidently crashed down onto her toe. “Oops. Sorry!” He had to repeat the words, as he then knocked her on the side of the head with the one on his wrist.

“Does anyone have any idea why Jane asked us all here?” Betty wanted to know. “I don’t mind, of course, but it would be nice to know if we should be getting anything together for tea.”

“Don’t worry, Betty,” said Doris, raising a mug. “She shouldn’t be long. I popped my head into her office on my way out, and she said she was just finishing off a bit of paperwork. In the meantime, thank you so much for the coffee.”

“Yes,” agreed Walter. “I think I can speak for everyone when I say raise your cups of tea to Betty for knowing when the right time is to allow Doris here a cup of coffee.”

“Here, here!” Doris was first to speak out. “Though I expect I’m asking too much to ask for a refill?”

Betty and Penny, with Mary belatedly joining in to avoid more pain, nodded. “You shouldn’t have made us promise to ration you to one cup of coffee a week. It’s your own fault,” Penny told her.

“Explain again to me,” Walter asked. “Why only one cup a week?”

Before replying, Doris took a sip of her ambrosia. “Because this is the best coffee I’ve found since I came to this country, and though it may cost me my sanity, I’m determined to make it last.”

“Well, don’t even think about asking for another,” Betty advised. “Savor each sip.”

“What if I want to change my mind?” Doris asked, a pout forming on her face.

Fortunately, the brewing argument was forestalled by the sound of the front door opening, closely followed by Jane’s voice calling out, “Only me!”

“In here!” Betty answered.

Whatever anyone had been expecting when Jane came into the lounge, no one was expecting to see her so downcast. She came and sat down on the arm of Penny’s seat, looking down into the curious eyes of the pilot. “I’m sorry.”

Penny could only glance up at Jane, face full of curiosity. “Not following you, Jane.”

By way of replying, Jane turned her attention to the rest of the room. “I’m sorry, everyone. I’d asked you all here tonight as I’d hoped to be able to give a group boost to you all, especially Penny and Doris.”

“Not following you,” Doris declared, cradling her mug with one hand, her other entwined with Walter’s.

The compassionate expression Jane gave her raised more than one eyebrow of curiosity from her assembled friends.

“Still waiting, not following,” Thelma added.

“Sorry. I’m not making myself clear,” Jane answered. “I went into Southampton today on a mission to find a couple of items I was hoping would cheer the two of them up and, as you’re such close friends, would give you a mutual boost. It’s been a tough couple of weeks, I’m sure you’d all agree.” She stopped and sighed, before recovering herself. “Unfortunately, my plan didn’t work out. Penny, I’d hoped to find you another lucky bra.” For once, even Penny blushed. “No luck, though. Not a single store had any.”

In spite of the subject of her underwear having become an open conversation, Penny did her best to keep her chin up. “I appreciate the thought, Jane, but I wouldn’t have wanted to put you to any trouble.”

“You sure you don’t want to have my rubber band after all?” Doris offered, twanging said band on her wrist.

“Very kind of you to offer, but it wouldn’t do the job,” Penny replied, unaware of the double meaning of her words. “You really shouldn’t have tried, Jane. I could have told you you’d never find any in England.” She added, “At least now, I’ll just have to learn to relax without it. Perhaps I’ll start knocking on wood before each flight?” Only those non-flyers amongst them believed her. “What about Doris?” Penny wanted to know, in an obvious effort to divert attention away from herself.

“Yes,” Doris said. “Do I get a present?”

Jane’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Afraid not. I couldn’t find any coffee either.”

In contrast to Penny’s embarrassment, however well she’d hidden it, Doris’s face was full of disappointment, though she also appreciated the thought behind the gesture. “Well, never mind. I’ll just have to be better at rationing myself with what I’ve got. It’s not like I haven’t looked myself.”

“But I really wanted to do something, especially for you, Doris,” Jane told her. “You’ve had such a rotten time lately, what with what happened at Polebrook the other day.”

If she hadn’t before, Jane now had everyone’s full attention, especially Walter’s. Undoing the top button of his tunic, her boyfriend took one of Doris’s hands in his. “Did something happen, love?”

Thelma arched an eyebrow. “You haven’t told him?”

Walter’s head whipped between the two women. “Told me what?”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” Doris stated.

“Well, now I am worried. Girls,” Walter asked the room, “are the MPs from RAF Polebrook coming to lock her up?”

“Not yet,” Jane answered, accepting the cuppa Betty had gone out to make for her. “Though I did have to field another call from an adjutant there about an unannounced visit from our Doris.”

“Doris?” Penny fixed her friend with a curious stare. “What aren’t you telling us?”

****

“Let me get this straight,” Walter said from between gritted teeth.

After recounting her tale to those who weren’t aware, which was everyone except for Jane and Thelma, who’d made their excuses and left as soon as she’d finished, the atmosphere in the lounge was more akin to fruit cake—dense. Firstly, her girlfriends rounded on her for not telling them. Doris had tried to defend herself by saying it had only been the other day and she’d been trying to put the incident from her mind. This hadn’t gone down well with anyone, least of all Walter, who sensed there was a lot more she hadn’t told them about the incident. The next thing she knew, Walter had a grip on her hand and was firmly yet determinedly dragging her out into the back garden.

The evening was beginning to wane, yet it left more than enough light for her to see the emotions dancing in Walter’s eyes. Doris mistook it for anger at first, and she felt a trickle of sweat run down her back. However, he immediately turned her around so she was silhouetted for him against the chink of light escaping from the kitchen, and she could see she’d been wrong, very wrong. It wasn’t anger, but concern. She could actually feel his love! Her first instinct, to say they should fix the blackout, melted away. Walter wasn’t very uptight, or at least, not as uptight as she’d believed all Englishmen to be. However, that didn’t mean he was prone to displays of emotion, in particular, expressing his feelings. She knew she’d told him she loved him, and though she was pretty sure he’d said the words back, it had always been in response to her. What he said now, and how he said it, showed exactly what his feelings were.

By the time he’d finished, her breath had been taken away.

Gritted teeth or not, as he began to speak Walter took her hands in his and stepped as close as he could to her. They were virtually on each other’s toes when he spoke, and his voice had all the substance of a will-o’-the-wisp. Out by the river, once the day’s flying had finished, little ambient background noise was left to spoil the magical atmosphere. For this, Doris was very grateful.

“I can barely believe what I’ve just heard, Doris. I can’t believe how close I came to losing you. Do you realize how lucky you were not to be hurt, let alone killed?” He ran his hand through his hair, setting it pointing in all directions. “I don’t want to think about the possibility.”

“I’m not going to stop flying!” Doris stated, very much on the defensive.

Walter raised her hands to his lips and traced butterfly kisses across her knuckles, all the time maintaining eye contact with her. “I would never try to stop you. Flying is part of who you are. I wouldn’t,” he punctuated each of his next words with another kiss on her fingers, “change any part of you.”

“Aww,” they heard from somewhere behind them.

Without bothering to turn around, Doris yelled, “Whoever you are, I suggest you make yourself scarce if you don’t want me to whip your ass!”

What sounded like a muffled argument was hastily cut off by Betty’s voice saying, “I told you she’d know you were there!”

“She only knew because Lawrence couldn’t keep his voice down!” came what sounded like Penny’s voice.

“Oh, come on!” Lawrence’s voice countered. “How romantic does someone have to get?”

“I just wish Tom could be here,” Penny replied.

There followed what sounded like someone being swatted around the head, closely shadowed by, “Trust you to be insensitive,” Mary put in, presumably aimed at Lawrence.

Walter coughed. “You do know we can hear every word you’re saying?”

More mumbled arguments could be heard from the direction of the kitchen before Betty called out, “They all say they’re sorry—yes, you do—and they’ll leave you alone now.”

Both Doris and Walter waited a few moments until they were sure they were indeed alone.

Walter gently pulled Doris into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head. “Talk about ruining the moment.”

“Perhaps,” Doris mumbled into his shoulder. From the safety of his body, so she wouldn’t have to look at his face, she asked, “What were you going to say?”

“I was going to say something?” Walter asked, trying to affect an innocent voice.

This earned him a none-too-gentle punch in the stomach. “Don’t toy with me, Walter. What were you going to say?”

Knowing when he should do as he was told, Walter did so. “Well, I can’t remember exactly what I was going to say,” he began, though upon feeling Doris draw back her arm once more, hastened to add, “but here goes. I still have no idea what a beautiful, smart lady like you can see in, well, me, and I know we’re in the middle of a war and it’s not the best time to…”

“Just hurry up,” Doris urged him, fair dancing on her toes.

“Doris Winter, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”