Beauty Chorus, The (33 page)

He sat beside her. ‘It doesn’t have to,’ he said quietly. ‘I don’t have to be back at my base until tomorrow morning.’

Megan’s heart was beating fast. Perhaps that was it. If she let him make love to her, then it would feel right. When she didn’t answer, Peter started the car. ‘I’m sorry,
it was silly of me to suggest …’ he said.

‘No,’ she touched his hand. ‘I want to,’ she said.

‘Oh, Megan …’ He pulled her into his arms.

They drove back to the cottage in silence, Peter wishing the miles would fly away faster, Megan hoping she had made the right decision.

‘Here we are,’ she said brightly as they walked hand in hand up the path. The blacked-out windows of the cottage seemed dark from outside. ‘I do hope the girls are
asleep.’ She opened the door, dim lamplight spilling onto the grass. ‘Perhaps we can sneak in and—’ the words died on her lips as they came face to face with Bill.

‘Megan.’ His eyes lit up as he saw her. Then as Peter stepped into the room, they hardened.

‘Bill?’ Her cheeks coloured. ‘What a wonderful surprise, to see you I mean … How did you—’

‘He’s been here for hours,’ Evie said, her eyes widening in warning. ‘I told him my brother had taken you out dancing.’

‘Brother?’ Peter cut in. ‘I say that’s a bit—’

‘So this isn’t her brother?’ Bill clenched his fist.

‘Bill, no, don’t …’ But it was too late, he flew at Peter.

‘Stop it! Please stop it!’ Megan cried, dragging Bill away from him, stepping between the two men. ‘Leave him alone!’

‘I should have known it.’ He pulled his old tweed jacket from the back of the chair. ‘I should have known you wouldn’t wait for me.’ He pushed past Peter, who was
nursing a split lip. He paused at the door and turned to Evie. ‘Thank you for supper, Miss.’

‘It was a pleasure, Bill. Thank you for doing the rabbit …’ Her words tailed off as he stormed out.

‘I’m so sorry.’ Megan touched Peter’s arm, but he pulled away.

‘You might have told me you have a boyfriend,’ he said.

‘I had no idea he’d come here.’

‘Come on,’ Evie took him by the arm. ‘Let’s get you sorted out.’ She glanced at Megan. ‘Why don’t you go and take care of lover-boy?’

Megan ran out into the dark night. She could see Bill striding up the lane ahead. ‘Bill!’ she raced after him. ‘Please let me explain!’

He stopped and turned to her. ‘What is there to explain? You’d forgotten all about me. Carrying on with some toffee-nosed English—’ Her kiss caught him off guard. She fell against him,
panting, then his hands were in her hair, holding her fast. ‘Megan, my Megan,’ he murmured, his voice hoarse with longing. They stumbled into the woods hand in hand, lay down in a
clearing in the moonlight.

‘I’ve missed you,’ she said again and again as he held her. Her senses swam, the taste of clean crushed leaves on their skin as they kissed.

‘The thought of you with another man …’ He pulled away from her.

‘No. There’s only you. I only want you, Bill.’ Her head fell back against the ground, her hair spread around her, dark curls against the leaves, silver in the moonlight. She
reached up to him as he leant over her, felt the curve of his shoulders, the powerful muscles beneath his cotton shirt. ‘I want you, Bill.’

The blood surged in her veins, his hands on her, slipping on the satin as he pulled up her skirt. ‘I love you,’ she said, showering his face with kisses as he loosened his belt.
‘I will always love you.’ He pushed aside the thin silk of her French knickers; her back arched as she felt him. His skin was pale against the night sky, against the dark canopy of
whispering leaves that hid them from the stars.

‘I love you, Megan.’ He murmured her name as they moved together, crushing the fresh, long grass, cool against her back.

They lay together until dawn, limbs entwined, stiff with cold, but not wanting to leave their secret place, to go back and explain. She heard Peter’s car leave after a
couple of hours, the note of the engine cutting through her fitful sleep.

‘Who is he?’ Bill murmured, kissing her neck. His black hair flopped forward over his eyes.

‘A friend,’ she said as she gazed up at the shifting branches above them. ‘Just a friend.’

‘I’m sorry I hit him.’ Bill plucked a white dog rose, threaded it through her hair.

‘You have nothing to be worried about.’ She wondered if she would have gone through with it with Peter. If she would have felt like this. ‘I’ve just been lonely,
that’s all, and it’s nice to go out dancing … What about you anyway? I bet you’ve had half the girls in the valley chasing after you now I’m out the way.’

Bill shook his head. ‘I don’t see them. All I want is you, Megan. Come home with me.’ He kissed her.

‘I can’t. I belong here, for now. The work I’m doing, it’s important. It’s hard, I’m not as good as Evie and Stella, but I’m trying my best.
They’re going to let us fly fighter planes, Bill.’

‘But what if you forget me?’ He stroked her cheek, his hard, strong fingers gentle now. ‘What if I hadn’t been there? I saw the look in that fellow’s eyes. You were
going to sleep with him weren’t you?’

‘No!’ she protested. ‘I … I don’t know. It gets so lonely, Bill.’

‘I knew it.’ He jumped up, tucked his shirt into his trousers.

‘Wait!’ Megan scrambled after him, a bramble catching at the hem of her dress. ‘I wanted it to be you. I waited. Bill, you’re the first, I promise you.’ She buried
her face against his back as he turned from her. ‘I’m sorry …’ She began to cry. ‘Please don’t go.’

‘Well I’m not going back to that house with those two la-di-da girls. You’re changing, Megan.’

‘I’m not!’ she cried. She forced him to look at her, thumped his chest softly with her fist. ‘I’m not changing.’

‘Yes you are,’ he said, his voice muffled as he pressed his lips to her head. ‘I’ll wait for you. I told you that. You know where I’ll be.’

‘After this is all over, it will be you and me.’ She raised her face to his. ‘Just us. We’ll run the farm, and the airfield.’

‘Maybe your parents would just hand it over to your cousins if they saw how you were living here, out all night with men.’

‘No!’ She shook her head. ‘You can’t tell them. It would break Ma’s heart, and Da …’ A sob caught in her throat, she swallowed hard. ‘Besides,
I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.’

‘Carrying on with some fancy man, dressed like this …’

‘Like what?’ she said.

‘Come home, Megan,’ he begged her. ‘It only took me a couple of days to hitchhike down here. We could be back in Pembrokeshire the day after tomorrow.’

‘No. I’ll be back when our work is done.’

Bill stepped away from her, pulled his jacket on. He felt in the pocket, handed her something wrapped in tissue paper. ‘I made this for you.’ Megan was shivering with cold and
emotion as she tore the paper away. ‘It’s a love spoon,’ he said. ‘I carved it myself.’

Megan turned the wood in her hand, her fingers tracing the smooth barley-sugar twist, the delicate bowl and heart. ‘These are for weddings,’ she said.

‘I was going to ask you to marry me. I waited for your birthday.’

‘What do you mean, was?’

‘I don’t want anyone else, Megan.’ His face was anguished. He pulled her to him, crushed her lips beneath his one last time. ‘I love you. You need to decide whether you
love me enough to come home.’

‘Bill, please …’ she begged, but he walked away, and in silence she watched him leave, dawn light dancing in rays through the leaves above her.

34

‘This was a good idea,’ Evie said as she strolled across Henley Bridge with Joy and a couple of the girls from the base. ‘It’s been rather tense at the
cottage since all that business with Peter and the Welsh chap. Stella spends her days off moping around in her dressing gown, and I don’t know what has got into Meggie. They’re both as
miserable as sin.’ Evie swung the wicker picnic hamper into her other hand.

‘How are you bearing up?’ Joy asked as the other girls walked on ahead towards the riverbank.

Evie shrugged. ‘I’m fine. You know how it is – good days, bad days,’ she said quietly. ‘I just miss Jack still.’

‘We’ll have to find some lovely chap to take your mind off things.’

Evie shook her head. ‘It’s too soon.’
I don’t want to forget him
, she thought. As she watched young couples strolling by, Evie tried to remember how it felt to be
with Jack, how it felt to have his arms around her, the sound of his laugh. His smile, she could recall clearly – disembodied, radiant, like the Cheshire Cat. A soldier walked along the grass
nearby, arm in arm with a pretty young redhead. She caught a snatch of their conversation: ‘… when we get home, I’ll cook a nice pie for your tea.’
Home
, Evie
thought. Where was home? She looked at the happy, carefree faces around her and wondered whether everyone felt this lonely at heart. She wished there was someone waiting for her, somewhere.

Evie slipped on a pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses and looked out across the river as a rowing crew sculled silently past, the wake sparkling across the water like molten silver. ‘This is
glorious.’

‘It’s not the same without the Boat Race or the Royal Regatta, but the Leander Club’s always fun.’

‘Are you sure Beau won’t mind us all pitching up?’ Evie walked on.

‘No! It’s just a friendly thing. All the proper competitions have been suspended while the war’s on – so many of the chaps are away fighting. The boys just like to get
together when they can. In fact, a couple of my brothers are around somewhere ...’ she nudged Evie.

‘I told you, Joy,’ Evie laughed. ‘It’s too soon.’ They walked on in silence. ‘I thought Beau was based in East Anglia now? Olivia must be pleased.’

‘When I bumped into him in Maidenhead he mentioned he was rowing today, and I said a few of us might come along. He didn’t say anything about Olivia. I don’t know if it’s
on or off, frankly.’ Joy waved at a friend. ‘He asked after you,’ she said lightly.

‘Did he?’

‘By the way, have you seen that scrappy little dog you rescued lately?’

‘Ace? No, not for ages. How is he?’

‘He’s huge! I don’t know what Beau is feeding him, but he’s the picture of health. Ah, here we are.’ Joy indicated an attractive red-brick building with
white-painted woodwork. The girls filed into the Club. It was cool and shadowy after the bright sun. Evie slipped her sunglasses back on her head and signed in after Joy.

‘This is lovely,’ she said.

‘I’ve been coming here for years. My family adores rowing, but I’m more of a spectator myself.’ Joy caught the eye of a steward carrying a tray of cocktails. ‘Mm,
bliss,’ she said as she sipped at a cold glass of Pimms.

‘Thank you.’ Evie took a drink from the silver platter.

‘Shall we find a spot on the terrace?’ Joy slipped a pair of opera glasses from her handbag.

‘You came prepared!’

‘Well,’ she confided, ‘I do like to get a good look at all these gorgeous chaps.’ She scanned the river, where a handful of boats were lining up for the races.
‘Look, there’s Beau,’ she said, pointing downriver to a coxless pair near the far bank. She handed Evie the opera glasses.

As Evie focused on the crew, the starting pistol rang out and she saw Beau flex, pull back on the oars, his powerful shoulders and thighs working in smooth motion. As the first boats neared the
Club, they were neck and neck.

‘Come on, boys!’ Joy yelled. The crowd on the terrace cheered as Beau’s team streaked in just ahead.

‘They’ve done it,’ Evie said. She lowered the glasses, feeling self-conscious, as if she were spying on Beau. She sipped her drink, the ice chinking in the glass as she crushed
a mint leaf between her lips, relishing its fragrant, clear taste on her tongue.

‘Let’s go down and see them,’ Joy said. Evie followed her, pushing through the crowd of men in blazers and panamas, and women in light summer dresses. By the time they reached
the riverbank, the Club chairman was shaking Beau’s hand.

‘Beau!’ Joy called and waved. ‘I say, well done.’

He caught Evie’s eye and smiled. ‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t you get a trophy or something?’ Joy looked disappointed.

‘No, it’s just a bit of fun,’ he said. ‘Hello, Miss Chase. I didn’t know you were a fan.’

She caught the hot, fresh scent of him, the sweat glistening on his brow as the crowd pushed them together. ‘Of rowing? I’m not really. Does this make you the King of the River or
something?’

‘In his dreams!’ Joy laughed. ‘Not a little race like this. It’s the Head of the River anyway darling, for the winning team.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Evie said, ‘I don’t know much about …’ She felt

Beau watching her, and she was suddenly uncomfortable. ‘I didn’t know you rowed.’

‘I don’t get much of a chance these days.’ Beau dried his face and hands on a white towel. ‘I did a bit at university.’

‘He’s being modest,’ Joy interrupted. ‘Beau was an Oxford Blue. If it wasn’t for this war I’m quite sure he’d be in the Olympics by now.’

‘I don’t know about that.’ He glanced down.

‘I hear Ace is doing well,’ Evie said, painfully aware of the tension between them. ‘I—’

‘Alex! Alex!’ a woman’s voice interrupted. Evie looked up and saw Olivia bustling towards them, trailing a diaphanous white scarf. ‘I’ve been searching everywhere
for you … Oh.’ She scowled as she spotted Evie. ‘Who invited you?’

‘Evie came with me, Olivia. A few of the girls are here,’ Joy said. ‘Didn’t they do well?’

As Beau fell into conversation with the other team, the girls strolled along the riverbank. Evie tuned out Joy and Olivia’s conversation, and glanced back at Beau.
What does he see in her?
she thought as she turned to the river.
Can you imagine putting up with that non-stop talking and that dreadful fake laugh every single day of your
life—
The next thing she knew, someone had bumped into her, hard.

‘No!’ she cried, arms flailing for something to hold on to, but it was too late. Evie lost her footing and plunged into the chilly river.

‘Evie!’ Joy raced over.

‘Oh dear,’ Olivia said as Evie went under. ‘Shouldn’t someone do something?’ She strolled away from the bank, twirling her scarf.