Chapter Six

“Settle down! Settle down!” Jane yelled at the top of her voice, waving her hands in the air to quell the rumble of low voices before her.

A little before eight on the morning after Thelma had been killed, everyone on station was gathered before her in front of the operations hut. Having instructed the men at the guardroom to tell everyone to make their way to the hut before anything else, as they came in, Jane was about to make the hardest speech of her life.

Behind her, there came a piercing whistle. Looking around, she saw this had been Doris, who gave her a grim smile as Jane nodded her thanks. Doris was standing with linked arms, between Penny and Mary, Lawrence having had to go back to Portsmouth with a promise to at least telephone later. When she turned back, everyone was staring at her in mute silence, though a few were digging a finger into an ear.

“Right, I know you’ve all got work to do, so I won’t keep you long. However, I have very sad news to impart, and I’d rather everyone knew at once instead of by hearsay.” She took a couple of deep, steadying breaths before planting her hands upon her hips. Then, channeling all the supporting energy from her friends behind her, she told her personnel what had happened the previous night, hoping she’d be able to get through it with a single breath. “Last night, First Officer Thelma Aston took off in a taxi. She was going to RAF Leeming to pick up some of our pilots. As you know, the weather was terrible, but she didn’t hesitate. However, and I don’t have all the details at present, her plane was attacked by two Nazi fighters and…shot down. Thelma did not…survive.”

You could quite clearly hear an audible intake of breath at this statement, and Jane had to hold up her hands again to regain silence.

“As and when I know more, and I deem it fit, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I’m sure Thelma would want you all to keep doing your best to help Britain win this war. To that end, we’ll now bow our heads for a minute’s silence, and then let’s get back to work. Everyone?” All those before her looked up to where Jane stood on the steps of the hut, and those wearing headgear took it off. “Bow…heads!”

A minute or so later, as the crowd dispersed to either the canteen or to make an early start on their jobs, Jane noticed one person standing with her back to the hut, staring in the direction Thelma had taken off. Recognizing her, Jane turned to the woman by her side and said, “Penny. Do me a favor, please. I need you to take over Thelma’s duties today. Make sure everyone knows where they’re going and what they’re flying. I need to go and see someone.” When Penny didn’t immediately go into the hut, Jane took her by the elbow and, with their friends watching, pulled her to one side. “Look, I’m sorry to spring this upon you, but that’s Betty over there.” She pointed at the person she’d just noticed. “She shouldn’t be here. I need someone I can trust to get everyone back to work, and this is something you’ve done before.”

Penny glanced over Jane’s shoulder, assumed a serious expression, and nodded, with a firm, “Leave it with me.” She watched Jane hurry over to Betty before turning to face her friends and all the other pilots who stood watching her. “Right, you heard the boss. Everyone inside and let’s get back to work.”

Though she knew she could trust Penny, Jane didn’t break into more than a fast dawdle until she heard Penny say what she hoped she’d say. Fortunate or not, Betty didn’t move an inch, barely stirring a muscle when Jane came to a halt before her. In fact, she didn’t appear to realize where she was until Jane reached out and touched her on the shoulder.

“Betty?”

The eyes her close friend turned upon her were haunted, empty of life. In her time, Betty had endured and come through many hardships, including losing her twin sister and actually being kidnapped by her parents. Perhaps this was one too many?

“Betty, what are you doing here?” she asked, taking a firm grip upon both her friend’s hands.

“Hmm?”

“You’re supposed to be tucked up at home. What happened to Ruth and Grace?”

“Ruth and Grace?” Betty looked around, then shook her head a little. “Jane, what are you doing here?”

Jane frowned and tightened her hold. “You’re on base, Betty. Do you know where you are?”

Releasing one hand, she gradually turned her friend around, once, then again, until her eyes looked like they were focused once more. “I’m on base! Jane, what am I doing here?” she asked, appearing more than a little bewildered.

Jane allowed a small smile, hoping it wouldn’t alarm her friend. “Do you know what’s happened? Did you hear what I said?”

Betty frowned. “I think you said something about…Thelma.” At speaking that name, something seemed to click in her brain, and she suddenly knew exactly where she was and what had happened. “Oh, hell. For a minute, I thought I was having a bad dream, but it all happened, didn’t it?”

Jane could only nod. “I’m afraid so. Sorry, but I need to know—Ruth and Grace?”

Even in her distraught state, Betty managed to look embarrassed. “Well, Grace had to go to work, and Ruth nodded off.”

Jane put two and two together. “So you snuck out.”

Betty shrugged her shoulders. “Suppose a part of me must have known you’d make some kind of announcement.”

‘”You did hear what I said, then.”

Betty glanced over Jane’s shoulder to where the pilots were hurrying over to the flight line hut to prepare for the day’s flights. “I remember some of it,” she admitted.

“That’ll do me,” Jane allowed. “Now, I want you to get yourself off home. Take the day off and come in tomorrow.”

“What about you?” Betty said. “You’ve been up all night as well. I seem to remember the other girls snatching a few hours’ sleep, but I don’t think you did.”

Realizing Betty had recovered much of her senses, Jane knew there was no point in trying to pull the wool over her eyes. “You’re right. Tell you what, I’ll do you a deal. You do as I ask today, and I’ll take tomorrow off.”

Betty stuck out her hand. “Deal.”

After shaking on it, Jane asked, “Now, off with you. Do I need to arrange another escort?”

Shaking her head, Betty drew Jane in for a quick, urgent hug. “No, I’ll be a good girl.”

****

Arriving back at The Old Lockkeepers Cottage, Betty closed the door behind her and was undoing the buttons on her uniform jacket when she glanced down and noticed a letter on the doormat.

“John’s very early today,” she muttered, bending down to pick it up. Only when she turned it over did she notice it had neither a stamp nor a postmark. “Strange,” Betty said, going into the kitchen, throwing the letter onto the table, and nearly tripping over Bobby, who was coming from the opposite direction. “My apologies,” she said, bowing her head slightly as the cocker spaniel huffed at her in reply. The next thing she heard was him clambering, rather heavy-footed, up the stairs. “There are times I regret letting Ruth talk me into having that dog flap put in,” she muttered. “Still, at least Matt made a good job of it.”

“Did I hear my name?”

Betty nearly dropped the kettle she’d just picked up, “Christ, Ruth! You’ll put me in an early grave if you do that again!”

Ruth stretched before leaning against the back of a chair. “Mind if I just call the newspaper? I need to see if Walter’s in the office,”

“Help yourself. You know where it is,” Betty replied. “Tea?”

Pushing the door half-shut behind her friend as she left the kitchen, Betty got on with the task, and by the time she was stirring the teapot, Ruth had finished her call and was back in the kitchen.

Stifling a yawn, Ruth took a seat and laid her head upon her arms on the table, mumbling, “Walter’s looking after work.” She cracked an eye open as Betty placed a cup of tea before her. “Tell me. Was I dreaming, or did you sneak out when I was supposed to be keeping an eye on you?”

Cupping her hands around her tea, Betty looked decidedly sheepish. “You weren’t dreaming. I got onto base in time to hear Jane make an announcement about Thelma.”

Ruth slipped her arms away and deliberately let her forehead crash onto the kitchen table.

Betty winced. “Don’t be silly,” she admonished her friend.

Sitting back, Ruth gingerly touched her forehead and grimaced. “You’re probably right.” She looked up. “How did it go?”

Shrugging, Betty told her, “About as well as you’d expect. Jane ordered me back home.”

“Good for her,” Ruth said, adding, “I expect she’ll tell me off for not stopping you, later.”

“Probably.”

“It’ll be worth it,” Ruth said. “Personally, I think you needed to hear the words.”

Betty sat back, taking a long pull from her tea before replying, “And you’re probably right, too. Aw, Christ! I still can’t believe she’s gone!”

“Me either,” Ruth told her. “And we won’t, for a long while. How’re you holding up?”

Betty let out a long and loud yawn. “No idea’s the honest answer. Jane told me to take the rest of the day off.”

“What about her?” Ruth asked. “I don’t suppose she got much sleep last night.”

“She promised to stay away tomorrow. I’ll take over then,” Betty said.

Ruth raised an eyebrow. She knew Jane as well as anyone. “Do you think she’ll keep her promise?”

A creak from above their heads was heard, followed by the sound of bedsprings. “I think Bobby’s making himself comfortable.”

“I wonder on whose bed?” Ruth asked.

“So long as it’s not mine,” Betty replied, “I don’t mind. So far as Jane’s concerned? I’ll make damned sure she isn’t in work tomorrow. I don’t care if she says she’s fine. I don’t believe she’s over Frank yet.”

Ruth finished her tea before replying, “That was a right shame. I know she was getting her hopes up.”

“Bloody war,” Betty let out wearily.

Ruth gave a sigh in agreement before a cheeky gleam came to her eyes. “On to a happier subject. How are things between you and your Yank?”

“Jim?” Betty said, suddenly too tired to spot the playful trap she was walking into.

“Jim. Major Jim Fredericks from Polebrook? The same Jim Fredericks you snogged at Christmas?”

“Oh, that Jim,” Betty said, her eyelids beginning to close.

Ruth sat back, glad her friend couldn’t see the pout on her face. “I give in, it’s no fun when the other person’s dropping asleep.”

“Ha, ha!”

“What’s this?” Ruth asked, reaching for the forgotten letter. “No stamp, no address, just your name. Aren’t you going to open it?”

One of Betty’s eyes cracked open, and she snaked a hand forward until Ruth pushed the letter into it. Opening the other eye, she muttered, “I’d forgotten about this.”

“So, no idea who it’s from?”

Betty, a little more awake now, shook her head. “May as well open it,” she said, sliding a finger in and tearing it open. Under Ruth’s watchful gaze, Betty pulled out a single piece of paper—and promptly turned deathly white.