34. Coming Home

Harry’s prayers were miraculously answered as one freezing cold January morning, after weeks of arduous and hazardous travel, an airplane lifted him and twenty other prisoners of war off the Rock of Gibraltar. As they took off over the Atlantic, Harry’s eyes followed the coastline until it receded into a vast blue shadow; then he turned his eyes westwards. Harry was going home.

Massively underweight, Harry arrived back on home soil a shadow of the man who had left it. Walking through the capital to his debriefing, he barely recognized London, with barrage balloons floating over the Thames and St Paul’s and sandbags piled high outside shops and hotels. After his rigorous debriefing Harry’s commanding officer took him to one side.

‘Well done, old man, you got out and you’ve been able to pass on vital information that will assist further reconnoitres.’ After giving Harry a hefty slap on the back he continued. ‘Time you touched base with the family and got some rest. I’ll be in touch in a week or two to discuss your future.’

Having no idea where his fiancée and baby might be, Harry decided his best move was to start where he left off, so he wasted no time in getting the train back to Cambridge, from where he hitched a lift to Shelford. His heart lifted at the sight of Diana’s charming, picturesque cottage with its pale-blue front door, though he was saddened when he peered through the grimy windows to see the rooms empty and dusty: clearly nobody had occupied the place since Diana had left. Not finding the farmer (who rented out the cottage) at home, Harry hitched another lift, this time to Duxford, where he sought out his chum, Derek Robson, in the Ops Block. The man was visibly stunned at the sight of Harry.

‘Oh, my God!’ he exclaimed, as he sprinted down the flight of stairs that led up to the viewing gallery. ‘Sweet Jesus!’ he gasped in total shock. ‘You’re alive!’

Taking hold of Harry’s arm, he added in an urgent whisper, ‘Listen, old man, we urgently need to talk.’

In the Officers’ Mess, over two stiff whiskies, Robson wretchedly told Harry about his most recent communication with Diana.

‘She thinks you’re dead,’ he gulped.

Harry slumped in despair. ‘Poor Diana,’ he groaned. ‘God knows what I’ve put the poor girl through.’

Stricken with guilt, Robson apologized. ‘Believe me, Harry, I would never have written to her with such bad news if I hadn’t been informed at the highest level.’

Harry stared miserably into the bottom of his empty glass before reassuring his friend that he quite understood.

‘Knowing how desperately fond you two were of each other, I thought notifying your fiancée of the situation was the right thing to do, especially given her circumstances. I’m sorry, old man,’ Robson muttered. ‘I seem to have got it all bloody badly wrong.’

‘Stop beating yourself up, man,’ Harry exclaimed. ‘I’d have done exactly the same thing. But I need to put things right. I need to go to her right away.’

Robson quickly wrote Diana’s address on a piece of paper that he handed to Harry, who was already on his feet.

‘You can’t leave now,’ he protested. ‘Diana’s on the other side of England – you’ll be travelling all night.’

‘I need to go to her right away,’ Harry repeated frantically. ‘That’s if she’ll ever talk to me again.’

Harry did indeed travel all through the night, sleeping standing up in packed, smoky corridors where airmen, soldiers and sailors jostled for a space in which to lie down. When the train finally disgorged most of its passengers at Lancaster, Harry flopped on to a carriage seat that a number of noisy soldiers had just vacated. Falling into a deep, exhausted sleep, he was jolted awake as the train shunted into Kents Bank Station, where Harry disembarked. Blinking, Harry stood on the empty platform, trying to get his bearings. As the train chugged away and the smoke lifted, Harry got his first view of Morecambe Bay, and the wide, dramatic sweep of the Irish Sea over which the weak winter sun cast a pewter sheen. Following the porter’s instructions, Harry left the station and, after walking through a small wood, he emerged in the gardens of Mary Vale with his heart starting to race. Would Diana still be here? If so, would she still want him after all he had put her through? Was his baby in the building he stood before, or would Diana, thinking Harry was dead, have had their child adopted?

Feeling sick with fear and apprehension, Harry took a deep breath before he rang the front doorbell and waited, hardly daring to breathe. A few minutes passed before a rather beautiful nurse with deep, dark-blue eyes opened the door.

‘Good morning, may I help?’ she said pleasantly.

Tongue-tied, Harry was momentarily lost for words. ‘I’m Harry Langham,’ he finally blurted out. ‘Diana Bishop is my fiancée. Is she here?’

Ada visibly paled. Gripping the door handle for support, she gasped in shock. ‘Oh, heavens!’ she cried, and repeated exactly the same words that Harry’s Duxford pal had said on first sight of him: ‘You’re alive!’

Now almost frantic, Harry repeated his question. ‘Yes, yes, I’m very much alive,’ he spluttered. ‘I beg you, please tell me, is Diana still here?’ he implored.

Ada gave a quick nod and smiled delightedly as she beckoned him inside. ‘Yes, yes, Diana’s here. She’s in the nursery.’

With butterflies whirling in her stomach, Ada led the visitor along the corridor. Before they reached the nursery, she paused to lay a warning hand on Harry’s shoulder. ‘This is going to come as a terrible shock to Diana,’ she said anxiously. ‘A good shock, of course, the best thing that could possibly happen, but nevertheless … you’ll need to be very careful with her,’ Ada said in her firmest professional voice.

Harry gave her a curt nod, his eyes anxious and questioning.

‘The baby came early; she’s really only just getting her health back after …’ Ada explained, unable to summon up in a sentence quite what her patient had gone through over the past few months. ‘Well, after everything that happened,’ she finished limply.

‘I promise I’ll be careful, only please,’ he begged once more, ‘just let me see her.’

Totally unaware of what was taking place only around the corner, Diana was stooping over the canvas cot, where Teddy lay squealing in delight at her smiling face.

‘Come here, you little rascal,’ Diana laughed, as she lifted her son into her arms and covered his smiling face with kisses. ‘Mummy’s darling boy,’ she murmured into his ear just as Ada walked into the nursery, followed by Harry in his blue uniform. As his eyes locked on to hers, Diana went absolutely still, hardly daring to believe her eyes, before letting out an animal noise that brought a sob into Ada’s throat. Harry walked slowly towards his fiancée, who clutched her son tightly to her chest. The uncomfortable squeal of her little boy seemed to bring Diana to her senses, and, standing wide-eyed, she felt Harry’s arms wrap around her body, and then she smelt him; tweed, soap and tobacco. Still unable to speak, she leant her head against his warm chest, where she listened to the steady beat of his heart. Teddy’s second indignant squeal made them both start in surprise.

Anxious Ada stepped forward. ‘Shall I take him, dear?’ she asked softly.

Diana shook her head. ‘No thanks, Ada,’ she murmured. ‘It’s time Teddy met his father.’

Laying the baby in Harry’s arms, Diana watched and waited.

‘Teddy,’ Harry whispered, as he gently rolled his hand over his son’s soft, downy hair, then stared into eyes exactly the same colour as his own. ‘My little boy.’

As tears rolled unchecked down Harry’s face, Ada guided the little family into the empty dining room.

‘You can have a bit of privacy for the time being in here,’ she told them. ‘I’ll just go and make you both a cup of tea.’

Closing the door softly behind her, Ada all but ran to the kitchen, where Sister Mary Paul and Sister Theresa were rolling pastry for an onion-and-mincemeat pie for lunch.

‘Oh, my God!’ she exclaimed, as she rushed into the room. ‘You’re never going to believe this.’

In the dining room Harry and Diana clung to each other as much as was possible, given that wriggling Teddy was in between them.

‘I thought you were dead,’ she cried.

‘I know, I know, forgive me,’ he begged, and kissed her over and over again.

‘I thought I’d never see you again,’ she murmured, as she traced the line of Harry’s nose and mouth with her free hand.

‘Darling, I’m sorry, I’m so very sorry. What you must have been through …’

‘And you too, Harry, I have so many questions. Where have you been all this time – why did Robson write and tell me you were dead?’

‘It’s not his fault, darling. He went off the information he was given; he acted with the very best motives,’ Harry told her.

‘I wanted to die too!’ Diana exclaimed. ‘There was nothing for me to live for without you.’

Squealing Teddy, who was both hungry and restless, interrupted her passionate outburst.

‘I’ve got to feed him,’ Diana told Harry, as she settled herself in an armchair close to the fireplace.

Standing with his back to the fire, Harry watched with tears in his eyes as the love of his life unbuttoned the top of her blouse and put Teddy to her breast.

The noisy contented sound of his son made Harry laugh with joy. ‘You look like an image of the Madonna and Child,’ he exclaimed in wonder.

‘It doesn’t feel like that with this little one tugging hard at me,’ Diana said, grinning. ‘But I love it,’ she murmured, bending to kiss her baby’s head. ‘He’s a hungry chap,’ she added with a proud smile.

Watching Harry gazing at his son, Diana beckoned for him to come closer. As he settled on the arm of the chair next to her, she lovingly leant her head against his chest. ‘There are so many, many questions I want to ask you.’

Harry laid a finger softly on her lips. ‘Later, my darling, I’ll tell you everything,’ he murmured. ‘For now, just being here, with you and my son, is everything I want. It was all that I’ve hoped and prayed for, and sometimes wondered if I would ever experience,’ he finished with a catch in his voice.

She nodded tearfully and they sat in sweet, peaceful silence: a little family reunited after months of sorrow, and, just for now, there was nothing in the world either wanted more than this perfect moment.

When Ada returned with a loaded tray of tea and bread and butter, she found Harry with his arms encircled around his fiancee and his son. Leaving the tray on the table, Ada swiftly left the room. Closing the door behind her, Ada stood and smiled – Diana and Harry had a lot to catch up on.

While Teddy slept in the nursery, Diana’s many questions were gradually answered.

‘Poor Diana,’ he groaned. ‘The agonies I must have put you through.’

‘I can’t deny it wasn’t hard, especially when you didn’t come back and I was faced with a solid wall of silence in the Ops Block. I felt very, very alone,’ she confessed.

‘But you found this wonderful place!’ exclaimed Harry, who had had a brief tour.

‘Sheer luck,’ Diana told him. ‘But you’re right, it is a wonderful place. I’ve felt happy and safe here, and I’ve made wonderful friends – Zelda, Ada and Gracie, people I would never have mixed with in ordinary life – but they’re women who have changed my life. I know that we’ll be friends forever,’ she admitted with tears shining in her cornflower-blue eyes.

‘I was helped by so many wonderful people too: we’ve both been fortunate, so blessed by strangers.’ Harry shook his head as he recalled the bravery of the very many men who had helped him navigate his perilous journey home.

Gazing into Harry’s smiling face, poor Diana, still shell-shocked, simply couldn’t hold back her tears. ‘Oh, my darling,’ she said, as she started to cry all over again. ‘I was so frightened without you.’

‘Shhh, my love,’ he soothed as he gently rocked her in his arms and stroked her hair.

‘I didn’t know where to go, or what to do, or what I would tell Teddy about you when he was older. I was such an utter mess,’ she sobbed.

Harry waited quietly until she was calmer. ‘We’ll be fine now, my darling, I’ve been granted leave and I promise I’m going nowhere without you and my son.’

Diana looked up fearfully. ‘How much leave?’ she asked tremulously.

‘Enough time to marry you and get to know my boy too,’ Harry replied with a lump in his throat.

‘Marry me?’ Diana said the words tentatively. ‘Remember what happened last time we made plans to marry?’

‘This time will be different,’ Harry promised cheerfully.

‘I won’t let you out of my sight for a second,’ she told him with a determined smile.

‘I don’t want to be out of your sight,’ he answered passionately. ‘I want to be able to touch you, feel you, kiss you, turn around and see you – I’ll never be able to get enough of you, sweet Diana Bishop.’

Kissing her long, slender fingers, Harry asked nervously, ‘Are you sure you still want to marry the wretched man who put you through so much misery?’

Diana gazed into his eyes that were full of uncertainty. ‘There’s nothing more in the world that I want, Harry. A lifetime with you and Teddy was something that I thought I had lost forever.’