Beauty Chorus, The (28 page)

‘No, come in,’ she said.

‘My hands are awful from all the digging. Do you have any cream?’

Evie tossed over a tube of Dubarry’s Crème Shalimar. ‘Here, keep it.’

‘Are you sure?’

Evie took her hands and turned them over. ‘Meggie, you need it more than I do.’

Megan plonked down on the bed beside her and began to rub the cream in. ‘Talking of digging, we’d better get going. I want to stop off at the market on the way over to the airfield,
if that’s OK.’

‘Fine, there should be time. Are you after some more plants?’

Megan nodded. ‘And I heard from Jean one of her lads has a stall on one of the side streets. If you tell him Jean sent you, he’ll show you what’s under the counter.’

‘Black market?’

‘Bent tins, corned beef, beans, peas, peaches …’

Evie’s mouth watered. ‘Come on then, let’s get a move on. Is Stella back tonight?’

‘Should be if she picks up her taxi flight on time.’

‘Let’s see if we can’t have a feast waiting.’

‘Not that she deserves one,’ Megan grumbled.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Oh, she’s been a right pain in the neck lately.’

‘Meggie, you have to make allowances for her. I had no idea …’ she paused. ‘Until I lost Jack, I had no idea the pain she’s been carrying around with her all this
time.’

‘But you’re not a misery-guts though, are you now? I mean, you’re sad, but you’re still Evie, and you’re still kind to people.’

‘We all cope in different ways.’

As Megan haggled with the old woman on the plant stall, Evie wandered around the market. The stalls were sparse at this time of the year, and they hadn’t managed to find
Jean’s son. Evie checked her watch.
We’d better get a move on
, she thought. She glanced down an alleyway at the sound of cursing, following the gaze of a number of people.

‘You good for nothing piece of meat, I ought to—’ A florid-faced man in a dirty white shirt was beating a cowering dog with a long stick. As he raised the stick above his head,
Evie saw filthy yellow stains beneath his sleeve. The dog whimpered pitifully, tried to claw its way behind a dustbin. ‘Come here, you!’

‘I say, you!’ Evie yelled, and began to race towards him. She fought her way through the crowd. ‘Stop it at once!’

‘Evie?’ Megan called, and ran after her. By the time she caught up, Evie had wrenched the stick from the man and was beating him with it.

‘How do you like that? Eh?’ Evie gave him a good whack on his backside. The crowd began to cheer her on.

‘Miss, I’m sorry, Miss.’ The man cowered on the ground, put his hands up protectively to his face.

‘You’re nothing but a ghastly bully,’ she said, giving him a last thwack before tossing the stick away. It rattled to the floor, splashing his face as it landed in a greasy
puddle. The man scrambled to his feet and ran off down the alley to the jeers of the crowd.

Evie got down on her hands and knees. ‘Come on, fella,’ she said gently to the dog.

‘Evie, be careful!’ Megan warned her. ‘Don’t get any blood on your uniform.’

‘Bugger my uniform,’ she said as she scooped the shivering dog into her arms.

‘What are you going to do with him?’

‘I don’t know, but he …’ She checked the dog quickly. ‘Yes, he isn’t going to stay here and wait for that bully to come back and finish him off.’

Evie tucked the dog up on the back seat of her car in a tartan blanket from the boot. ‘Do you think Stalin will put up with him?’ Megan asked.

‘We couldn’t leave him at home all day,’ Evie said as she started the Aston. ‘We’ll have to think of something else.’

Evie carried the dog into the offices in the blanket, holding him gently. He poked his head out, licked the back of her hand.

‘Oh no you don’t, Miss Chase.’ Teddy stopped her. ‘No animals in here, especially not some filthy fleabag like that.’

‘Since when?’ she challenged him.

‘Hello. What have you got there?’ Beau stopped and lifted back the blanket. ‘Poor old chap.’

‘Officer Parker was just telling me I can’t bring him into the offices.’

‘Poppycock,’ Beau said, staring down Teddy. ‘It’s on your head, Beaufort,’ he said, and marched off to the Ops Room.

‘You should have seen it, sir! Evie was amazing!’ Megan said breathlessly as she caught up with them. ‘This horrible man was beating the dog, and Evie took the stick off him
and whacked him with it until he ran away.’

‘Now that I can believe,’ Beau said. ‘Here, give him to me.’

‘No.’ Evie pulled back protectively. ‘I don’t need your help.’

‘Listen,’ he said quietly. ‘You can go on being angry at me, or Teddy, or whoever you want to blame if it makes you feel better, but it won’t bring Jack back. Maybe you
don’t need people looking out for you, but this little chap does need help.’ The dog closed his eyes as Beau stroked his head. ‘Trust me. I know what I’m doing.’ Evie
handed over the bundle. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Let’s get you cleaned up.’ He carried the dog into the Gents, and Evie went through to the mess with Megan.

‘Hello, Jean,’ she said, chewing her lip. She flicked impatiently at her lighter. Beau’s words had hit a nerve. ‘No sign of your son at the
market.’

‘Oh, I hope he hasn’t been picked up again.’ She shook her head as she poured them both a cup of tea. ‘I do worry about him. The Home Guard picked him and his mates up
the other night, trying to rustle a sheep. They had it all dressed up in a mackintosh and cloth cap, squeezed in on the back seat.’

Evie smiled in spite of herself. ‘Are the chitties out yet?’

‘No, Miss, but there was a chap looking for you. There he is,’ Jean pointed to the corner.

The man rose. ‘Excuse me, Miss, may I have a word?’

Evie looked over to see the engineer from Bristol standing there, a bag at his feet.

‘Hello, Taff,’ she said. ‘Good to see you again. What brings you up here?’

‘I was just picking up some parts from the equipment section. We’re heading straight back on the Anson. Actually, I came to see you as well …’

‘Oh? Do you have time for a cup of tea?’

She led him to a table away from the crowd of pilots near the counter.

‘I heard about Jack,’ he said. ‘I’m very sorry, Miss.’

‘Thank you.’ She fought to compose herself. She was always fine until someone was kind to her. ‘I’m rather cut up, as you can imagine,’ she said briskly.

‘I brought this up for you.’ He pushed the bag towards her. ‘Jack left it behind at Whitchurch by accident. It’s a few of his things. I imagine they’ll be sending
on his effects to his parents, but I thought … I know how crazy he was about you. He’d have wanted you to have something.’

She laid her hand on the soft leather flight bag. ‘That’s terribly kind of you.’

Taff glanced out onto the runway. ‘Looks like they’re ready. I’d better get a move on.’ He held out his hand to her. ‘He was a good man, was Jack. And a good
friend.’ Taff’s eyes filled with tears. He started to walk away and paused. ‘You know that plane of yours, the one that you were bringing up from Bristol that wouldn’t
start?’

‘The Magister?’

‘Jack told us to take out the spark plugs. He said he wasn’t going to let you out of there until you’d agreed to marry him.’

Evie picked up the leather bag and hugged it to her chest as she watched Taff run out to the Anson. For the first time in weeks, she laughed.

Beau walked towards her holding the dog in his arms. ‘I hope I didn’t speak out of line earlier?’

Evie looked into his eyes. ‘No, not at all. You were right. I can’t go on thinking of all the “if onlys”.’ She blinked, smiled sadly. ‘Well, he looks
better,’ she said.

Beau laid the dog gently in Evie’s lap. ‘A few good meals inside him and he’ll be right as rain. You’re skin and bones, aren’t you, old boy? It was nothing serious,
luckily, just a few cuts and bruises.’

‘Well that makes two of you then.’

Beau folded his arms. ‘I’m glad to see your famous sense of humour is returning.’

She looked from him to the dog. ‘Now I need to figure out what to do with you.’ She rubbed its head, and he wagged his tail.

‘He’s a good dog,’ Beau said, ‘in spite of what happened to him.’

‘What is he?’

‘A German Shepherd.’

‘What’s wrong with his ears?’

‘They’re floppy still.’ He squatted down beside Evie and held them gently up. ‘You’re just a puppy aren’t you?’

‘I don’t think he’s all German. You make rather a good pair.’

‘Very funny. Actually, I was going to say – if you don’t have a home in mind for him ...’ Beau laughed as the dog licked his face.

‘What are you going to call him?’

‘Why don’t you christen him? You rescued him.’

‘How about Ace, like the Wonder Dog? He’s a German Shepherd.’

‘Ace, that’s perfect.’

‘Rather that than Target, eh?’ She rubbed the dog’s ears as her gaze fell.

Beau knew she was talking about his comment the night they danced together: you’re either an ace or a target. He guessed from her face she was thinking of Jack. ‘They’re very
smart, and very brave,’ he said kindly.

‘Chits are out!’ someone called.

Evie stood and handed the dog over. She squeezed Beau’s shoulder as she strolled past. ‘Like I said, that makes two of you.’

29

‘What was in the bag?’ Megan asked, swinging her legs where she sat on the kitchen counter.

‘Meggie, don’t be so ruddy nosy!’ Stella said as she polished her boots on a sheet of newspaper at the table.

‘Alright, don’t jump down my throat. What’s up with you? You’re so snappy.’

Stella ignored her, her face pinched and exhausted.

The girls were listening to Vera Lynn’s
Sincerely Yours
on the radio and as Evie stacked tins from her shopping basket on the shelves in the pantry, she hummed along to
‘We’ll Meet Again’. She had traded a pair of silk stockings with Jean for a few tins of meat and fruit to stock up their supplies.

‘There, that looks better, at least we won’t go hungry now,’ she said brightly, trying to defuse the tension. She dusted off her hands and sat down opposite Stella.

‘There was nothing much in Jack’s bag,’ she said to Megan. She thought sadly of the crumpled shirts, a pair of socks with a hole in one toe, his well-worn toothbrush. When she
held the shirts to her face, they smelt of Jack, faintly. She remembered how if felt to bury her head in his neck, the warm, clean scent of him. There was a comb, with a few strands of his dark
wavy hair that she had pulled out slowly, one by one. She had hoped for something – a photograph, a fragment of his handwriting, but there was nothing. Just the abandoned remains of a life
that had run its course. Evie had built a bonfire in the garden and burnt the bag, watching the sparks fly up to the sky. ‘In a funny way it helped me say goodbye, seeing his things. Jack was
real – not just a whirlwind that blew in and out of my life. He lived, made holes in socks.’ She lowered her eyes sadly. ‘He loved me.’

Stella reached across the table and took her hand. ‘Try and keep your chin up, darling.’

Evie forced a smile. ‘This song is making me feel frightfully sad.’

‘I’ll turn it off.’ Stella walked through to the living room.

‘Oh, I’m tired of moping around here on leave days. Come on, instead of getting on one another’s nerves, let’s get out of here.’ Evie pushed her chair away from the
table. ‘Mary told me Daddy and the stepmonster are away today – why don’t we go and have a little fun at the house?’

As they drove through the lanes towards Maidenhead with the roof down, a warm May breeze caressed their hair. ‘What a blissful day,’ Stella said. ‘I thought
Virginia tried to make you give the Aston back?’

‘She did. Frankly, she can take all the diamonds she likes, but she’ll have to fight me for my car keys.’

‘My lord,’ Megan said as the car rolled up the long gravel driveway. ‘Is this your father’s place?’ The beautiful stone house lay before them, its tall windows and
elegant proportions still handsome beneath the camouflage paint. The grounds stretched out as far as the eye could see, allotments now occupying the rolling lawns.

Evie laughed, which felt strange. Laughter had always come so easily to her, but lately she had felt so sad, even her face had grown tighter, older, she thought. ‘Not bad is it?’

‘Why on earth are you slumming it in the cottage when you could be here?’

‘What, with my ghastly stepmonster? I’d rather take my chances with the mice than live another moment with Virginia.’

‘I’ll take my chances with her if you’d put a word in,’ Stella said drily as they parked by the main door.

‘Where’s your father?’ Megan asked.

‘They’re at some party or other, and it’s the staff’s day off.’ Evie jumped out of the car and shrugged off her blue jacket. ‘Come on, who fancies a
swim?’

‘I don’t have a costume,’ Stella said as she did the same.

‘You don’t need one!’ Evie called over her shoulder. ‘There’s no one here, all the cars have gone.’

‘What?’ Megan looked uncertain. ‘You mean ... Won’t it be cold?’

‘Daddy keeps it lovely and warm all year. Live a little!’

The girls ran after her along the terrace, shedding their uniforms as they went. Evie slipped confidently out of her silk camisole and knickers. The water looked inviting.

‘Come on!’ she called as she dived in, breaking the water smoothly. Stella dived in after her, and the girls laughed, splashing water at one another.

‘Come on, Megan, it’s glorious!’ Stella floated on her back, the warm water eddying across her body.

Megan stood uncertainly on the side in her underwear, but it looked too good to miss. ‘Oh, what the heck?’ she said. She pulled her vest over her head, and dived in still wearing her
thick white cotton pants. As she swam a length underwater, silence flooded her ears. She felt weightless, free.

‘Hello?’ A male voice called from the side of the house. Evie’s eyes opened wide in horror and she beckoned to Stella. They pulled themselves out of the water
and ran giggling towards the pool house, hiding behind a bush. Megan surfaced at the edge of the pool nearest the terrace.