When Thea had climbed into bed, she had supposed she wouldn’t manage to get any sleep, and it did take her a while. On top of the usual worry concerning the aircrews, she also couldn’t forget Blanche’s accusations. She sincerely hoped Blanche would manage to complete the crossword, or at least the clues making up Sam’s message, before it was time to greet the returning crews. It would be one less worry if Blanche could be civil to her for a change.
Thoughts of Blanche and Sam inevitably led to herself and Fitz. She had judged Blanche unfairly for not immediately recalling what Sam had said about the crossword, but that was because she could remember all her conversations with Fitz. Not only the words but also each expression as it played across his expressive face, and the way her gaze lingered on his lips, and how she longed to kiss them.
There was no avoiding the truth any longer. Whether or not Fitz simply thought of her as a fun diversion, she had fallen head over heels in love with him. How had she allowed it to happen? She had been so careful after Billy.
But what if Fitz did love her? Was she going to break the heart of a man who was risking his life in service for his country? That would be a cruel way to treat him. Despite these thoughts churning through her brain, sleep eventually caught up with her and she drifted off, only to jerk awake when she heard another WAAF climb out of bed in the darkness. There followed the rustle of clothes, and Thea knew it must be time to get up.
It was a relief not to see Blanche at the bike stand when she went to meet Pearl and Jenny.
‘We haven’t seen her,’ Pearl said, when Thea enquired after her whereabouts. ‘I think she went to the rec to do the crossword.’
‘I hope she stays out of my way. It’s bad enough waiting for the crews to come back without worrying about getting a knife in the back.’ Thea climbed on her bike and set off.
There wasn’t much talking as they cycled along the road separating the domestic side of RAF Fenthorpe from the operational side. In the blackout, they had to concentrate on the pale circles of light cast by their shielded headlamps, which never gave much warning of potholes or obstacles. At the same time, they had to listen out to make sure they weren’t getting too close to another cyclist. For the most part, therefore, the WAAFs rode without speaking, and there was nothing to hear apart from the whir of bicycle chains and the screech of brakes, punctuated by the occasional distant yelp of a fox from across the fields.
Only when they had left their bikes behind the operations block and gathered outside did they resume unfinished conversations as though they hadn’t been interrupted by a bike ride of over a mile.
‘Anyone know where they went tonight?’ Thea looked around the group of WAAFs who had arrived before them. There was no sign of Blanche.
A WAAF Thea vaguely recognised replied. Thea thought she worked in Flying Control. She said just one word. ‘Berlin.’
Thea, who had started to pace, stopped short and stared at the WAAF. ‘You’re joking.’
‘Wish I was. When 505 Squadron’s CO came into Flying Control earlier this afternoon, he was looking positively green around the gills. He didn’t say anything, of course, but I got the impression that he thinks the top brass must be suffering from temporary lunacy. Of course, he had to appear to support them, so he spouted something about “Taking the war to the Germans.”’
‘Funny,’ Pearl muttered, sounding not at all amused. ‘I thought that’s what they’d been doing every time they’ve gone off to bomb the Ruhr Valley.’
The Flying Control WAAF shrugged. ‘I know, but there must be a good reason.’
Pearl appeared to have recovered from the initial shock. ‘I hope you’re right. Anyway, the main thing now is to make sure we’re ready with hot tea when the crews get back.’
It was a long wait, but finally the longed-for sound of aero engines could be heard in the distance. The drivers who were waiting to collect the returning crews and ferry them back to the operations block hastily stubbed out cigarettes and returned to their buses, and the runway lighting was switched on. Thea, who had waited like this many times, knew this was the worst time. There would be no knowing which crews were safe until they climbed out of the buses.
The din of aero engines increased. ‘How many in this group, do you think?’ Jenny asked, her head cocked to the sky.
Thea was used to estimating numbers from the noise. ‘Three, I think. Here’s the first one now.’ As she spoke, the navigation lights of the first Lancaster to arrive blinked into view, and pretty soon two more sets of navigation lights could be seen, circling at different heights. Thea knew the WAAFs in Flying Control would be directing each returning Lancaster to join the circuit at set heights, and bringing them in to land, prioritising those with low fuel or injured men. Bombers had been known to limp back seriously damaged and even on fire, and Thea sincerely hoped there would be no such drama this time.
She held her breath as the first Lancaster touched down, but there had been no need for anxiety. It made a perfect landing and quickly taxied off the runway to its dispersal point, allowing the next aircraft in the queue to make its approach. All the while, the waiting WAAFs were listening out for more.
‘I think there’s another one in the distance,’ Pearl said only a minute or so after the first three Lancasters had landed. ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if C-Charlie was in the first group?’
‘It would certainly save a long, anxious wait,’ Thea replied. ‘Promise you won’t break off your engagement if she’s the last one back, though?’
This earned more of a laugh than the feeble joke deserved. Last year, Pearl had broken up with Greg after a particularly long wait. Although Pearl had insisted there had been more to the break-up than the frayed temper resulting from the agonising suspense, Thea persisted in teasing her sister at every given opportunity. And at times like this, it reminded them both of how their fears had come to nothing.
When the buses brought the first crews back, Thea felt as sick as Pearl must have been when C-Charlie’s crew weren’t there. ‘Although it was unreasonable to expect them,’ she said, trying to persuade herself as much as Pearl. ‘They didn’t take off as early as any of these crews.’
Then they were kept too busy handing out mugs of hot, strong tea to the exhausted men to think for a while. This was why Thea liked to volunteer when she wasn’t on duty, and she knew Pearl and Jenny felt the same way. If they hadn’t come to hand out the teas they would, in all likelihood, be lying awake in their huts, counting each Lancaster as it flew over.
She was delighted to see that the fourth crew to return was D-Donald. Although having Fitz on the crew meant C-Charlie was the Lancaster Thea always looked out for first, D-Donald was also ‘her’ Lancaster, and she would be devastated if anything happened to her. She watched the men as they climbed out of the bus. While all looked tired – not surprising after the long flight to Berlin and back – she was relieved to see that none had been hurt.
The pilot winced when he saw her. ‘Afraid the compass stopped working. Think it must have been hit by a bullet or some flak.’
Thea gave her best impression of an irate schoolmistress. ‘I swear you boys are determined to make more work for me.’
But what the pilot might have said in return was cut off when Sam Drinkwater jumped down and a squeal came from the back of the group of WAAFs. There was the sound of running footsteps, then Blanche launched herself into Sam’s arms. Thea supposed she must have been staying out of her sight. Sam, looking both startled and delighted, recovered from his initial awkwardness and hugged her in return.
‘Did you do the crossword?’ he asked her, gazing into her eyes as though he couldn’t believe he was actually holding her in his arms.
‘Of course,’ Blanche replied. ‘You don’t think I routinely throw myself at airmen, do you?’
Thea was forced to bite her lip to suppress the sarcastic retort that was just crying out to be spoken. She didn’t want to trigger a new feud.
Neither Sam nor Blanche were paying her any attention, though, so probably wouldn’t have heard her even had she spoken. They had eyes only for each other. Sam, clutching his tea in one hand, had his free arm wrapped firmly round Blanche’s waist. ‘Do you have an answer for me?’ he asked.
‘Yes. I’d love to go dancing with you, tonight or any other night.’
At that, Sam apparently lost all his shyness, bent his head and kissed her. Thea half-expected Blanche to feign outrage and slap him as though she were a heroine in a melodrama. To her credit, she didn’t seem bothered what anyone else might think and kissed him back with enthusiasm, not stopping even when Sam’s crewmates cheered them both.
They finally emerged for air, looking slightly flushed and rumpled. Despite her usual jaded nature, Thea had to admit they looked sweet together, and was happy to have helped them get together.
Blanche caught her eye. She hesitated a moment then, to Thea’s surprise, released Sam’s hand and walked right up to her. ‘Thank you, Thea.’ She bit her lip. ‘I owe you an apology.’
‘Yes, you do.’ Thea wasn’t going to let her off easily. ‘This isn’t a good time, though.’ She couldn’t pay Blanche any attention when her every sense was reaching out, looking for any sign of C-Charlie’s return.
‘How about I buy you lunch later in the NAAFI?’
‘If you can bear to be seen with me.’
Blanche bit her lip. ‘I suppose I deserved that.’
‘You suppose correctly.’ Maybe if Thea hadn’t been so concerned with C-Charlie’s whereabouts she would have enjoyed seeing Blanche squirm, but as it was she couldn’t keep this up. ‘Oh, very well. See you in the NAAFI at 1300. I’ll want sausage and chips, mind.’
‘It’s a deal.’
Once Blanche had departed, Thea’s thoughts inevitably turned to the whereabouts of C-Charlie. Thankfully there wasn’t long to wait before she caught a glimpse of Fitz’s face through the window of the next bus to draw up.
Pearl clutched her arm. ‘Oh, thank God. There’s Greg.’ The whole crew had returned in one piece. Like the others, they looked exhausted, as though they had walked the whole way to Berlin and back, but even Jack was smiling, even if his smile did look somewhat strained.
Despite Thea’s somewhat cynical response to seeing Blanche and Sam kiss, she forgot all about that now and, before Fitz had finished stepping down from the bus, she had pulled his face down to hers and planted a kiss full on his lips. ‘Welcome back,’ she said. ‘Did you really go all the way to Berlin?’
‘Yup,’ was the terse reply. ‘I can’t tell you how good it feels to have my feet back on the ground. I don’t want to repeat that run in a hurry.’
She let him go reluctantly, after arranging to meet him that evening.
‘Thanks for coming.’ Blanche gave a nervous smile as she took a seat opposite Thea. Thea was aware of a murmur of interest around the crowded NAAFI, and heads turned as word spread that the mortal enemies were together at the same table.
‘They’re probably waiting to see which one of us gets carried out on a stretcher.’ Thea paused on the point of tucking into her sausage and chips, bought by Blanche. ‘You didn’t put arsenic in the salt, did you?’
Blanche tossed her head. ‘I wouldn’t do anything so obvious.’
Thea was surprised by the light of mischief in Blanche’s eyes. Sam was right – she did have a sense of humour. ‘I think Sam’s going to be good for you. I’m glad you two are together.’
‘I— thank you.’ A furrow appeared between Blanche’s brows as she peered at Thea’s face, studying her. ‘I was expecting you to be angry with me,’ she said in the end. ‘You’d have every right.’
‘I’m not sure how to react. You said you wanted to make your apology. I’m waiting.’
Blanche nodded and gazed down at her plate, pushing the peas around with her fork. After a drawn-out pause, she spoke in a rush. ‘You were right, what you said at the hotel the other evening.’
‘Which bit?’ After the way Thea had been treated, she was in no mood to make this easy for Blanche. ‘I seem to remember saying quite a lot.’
‘All of it. You can’t imagine how awful I felt, being forced to listen to you telling me exactly what I’d done wrong. But most of all, I feel like such an idiot for not realising what Sheldrick was up to. I should have seen it. I should have—’ A look of horror crossed her face. ‘You don’t think I helped him, do you?’
‘No, I know you wouldn’t do anything like that.’
Thea’s reassurance seemed to make Blanche feel worse. She bit her lip and addressed her next words to her right thumbnail. ‘Deep down, I always knew you wouldn’t steal anything either. You were right when you said I was jealous of Pearl, too. I was jealous that she’d barely been at Fenthorpe for two minutes and already she’d uncovered the truth behind such despicable thefts. I really should have noticed what was going on.’
To her credit, she didn’t attempt to excuse her oversight by explaining that she’d recently lost her fiancé, and that made Thea more willing to meet her halfway. ‘You shouldn’t blame yourself for that. What about all the other members of the Committee of Adjustments, or Sheldrick’s CO, come to that? Anyway’ – Thea grinned at Blanche – ‘personally, I think Pearl only got involved because she was trying to impress Greg, the shameless hussy!’
That had the effect Thea had aimed for – it made Blanche giggle. ‘I can’t believe you’re being so understanding. I don’t think I would be, were our positions reversed.’
‘Life’s too short to hold grudges.’
Blanche’s mouth tightened. ‘You can say that again.’ Thea knew she must be thinking of her dead fiancé. ‘For what it’s worth, I’ll be sure to tell all my friends I made a mistake and that I’ve apologised to you.’
‘Thank you.’ Thea nodded at the others in the NAAFI, many of whom were making a show of being engrossed in conversation even though it was clear they were all curious to know what Blanche could be saying to Thea. ‘I think they probably already know.’