No Regrets: A Novel of Love and Lies in World War II England (The Thornton Trilogy Book 1) (13 page)

Anne was relieved when she received his response. Everything was moving according to plan. While it looked, on the surface, like she was heartily in favor of Sloan’s happiness with Elise, and was even acting as a go-between to further the romance, that wasn’t at all the case. She didn’t care if Sloan and Elise both hated her when the truth was revealed. Sloan deserved to be hurt, and while she felt less animosity toward Elise, the girl was a liar.

Giselle missed Ted terribly. She told Elise what had happened, and it was apparent that her friend wasn’t wholly in agreement with what Giselle had done. However, it was Giselle’s decision, and Elise didn’t intervene. It had taken tremendous bravery for Giselle to do what she had, and all Elise could do was be supportive. In her heart, she couldn’t imagine that the romance was truly over.

Then, in June, 1943, Major Ted Cabot was transferred to Ridgewell, in northwest Essex, to join the 381
st
Bomb group with its B-17 Flying Fortresses. The outfit, newly arrived from the United States, was particularly noted for its ability to fly formations. His first target mission was an airfield at Antwerp, Belgium. The contingent was composed of twenty-one aircraft. Two Fortresses were lost, and two returned to the base severely damaged with casualties aboard. Ted returned safely.

Giselle was very disturbed when Ted left Ashford. She knew nothing about his whereabouts – simply that he’d been reassigned to a new airbase. She only had that information because Anne’s father had relayed the news. Had she known the size and scope of the missions he was flying, she would have been beyond disturbed. He no longer wrote letters, nor did Giselle. She knew that he was still alive, because of Ted’s communication with Lord Whitfield, but that was all. She knelt each morning, in the village church, praying for his safe return.

On August 21, Ted was in the cockpit of a plane that flew on an important mission, targeting the great ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt. They fought their way to the target, through swarming enemy fighters and thick flak, to hit the objective and then fought their way out again. Of the twenty-two aircraft contingent, there were eleven aeroplanes and ten crews lost. Ted’s craft returned safely to base after a successful ditching in the Channel. The 381
st
accounted for twenty-two of the German fighters shot down that day. They returned to Schweinfurt on October 14. That time, while Eighth Air Force losses were at least as large as they were on August 17, the 381
st
lost only one Fortress. Ted was awarded the Military Cross for his action. Giselle read and heard snippets about the flying Fortress, but had no idea that Ted was connected to them.

So, life went on, as rationing became more stringent, and Englanders grew war weary. Little Chloe de Baier grew sturdy and strong. Both Elise and Giselle doted on her something fierce. She called Giselle “Aunt Gissy”, pronounced ‘Jissy’. Giselle’s fondest hope was for Elise to fall in love with a fine man, someone who’d become a true father to Chloe. That was Elise’s hope too. However, she still maintained her distrust of men and made no effort to meet any of the vast number of soldiers who roamed the streets of Thornton-on-Sea on weekends. She was content with the life she led, loved the sweet cottage that had become home, and only wished the war would end, so life could finally be peaceful and free from worry. She seldom thought about Sloan Thornton’s return to
Highcroft Hall.

Anne had a way, though, of reminding her that Sloan would someday return. She got little reaction from Elise when she did so. Although Anne seemed eager to see Elise fall in love with Sloan, nothing could have been further from the truth. Anne was a wise, sly young lady. However, she hadn’t reckoned on the fact that Elise would be stubborn about a romance with Sloan. Not because Elise was obstinate by nature, but because, in her heart, she had a difficult time believing that Anne, who supposedly loved Sloan with all of her heart, was adamant that he forget his childhood sweetheart forever, and establish a relationship with Elise. Supposedly Anne loved him enough to let him go. She maintained that it was more important for him to be happy. While the notion was very noble, Elise thought it a bit far-fetched. Never, at any time, had Anne said she didn’t still love Sloan. If she’d done so, Elise would have better understood how she could so calmly encourage him to marry someone else.

Elise harboured the hope that a message from her brother would appear, but none did. She even considered placing a personal ad, in the event that it might be seen by Josef, but when she read through the columns, she was disheartened by the multitude of people who were searching for loved ones. Perhaps when peace came, they’d find each other, if Josef were still alive.

At the beginning of 1944, there came a brutal series of Luftwaffe attacks on London and other English cities. Mosquito night flyers, equipped with radar, accounted for 129 of the 329 aircraft shot down during what was called the five month ‘Little Blitz.’ Greater London and southeast England were singled out for attacks, in retaliation of British saturation bombing of major German cities. Londoners accepted the resumption of the air raids stoically, but people were so very war weary. Three years of the sheer slog of wartime life, since the first Blitz, had inevitably taken a toll. During the ‘Little Blitz’ the noise was truly appalling. Most of it was caused by England’s own much more formidable defences. Even a quiet night brought little rest. Many thousands of men and women, after their day’s work, went home to do their bit as Air Raid Wardens and Firewatchers. Westminster was no more immune than other parts of London. On the night of February 20, 1944, Downing Street and Whitehall once again suffered bomb damage. All along the southeastern coastline, which included Thornton-on-Sea, citizens again spent a lot of time in Anderson shelters. The quaint village, where Elise and Giselle had found love and acceptance, escaped damage. But fear was evident on everybody’s faces, and though there was strong belief that the finale was drawing near, the never-ending wail of sirens and roar of aircraft gave pause.

Sloan was still in Burma. After consistently receiving letters from him, in March, 1944, all correspondence had come to a halt. Anne had no idea what to think. What in blazes was going on? She read everything she could get her hands on, but there was no information. She had no way of knowing that a Japanese advance through Burma had isolated the British garrison at a place called Imphal. A three-month siege began, and 150,000 men had to rely entirely on air supply for their survival. More than four hundred tons of stores were flown daily into a heavily guarded valley, with only three squadrons of Spitfires available for air defence and six squadrons of Hurricanes for attack purposes. Major Sloan Thornton was one of those men, and it was a dire time. When the ordeal ended, with undisputed air supremacy enjoyed by the British, it was midsummer, and the largest battle of the war was upon them.

Sloan was finally transferred back to England to lead a squadron that would take part in the infamous invasion later known as D-Day. It was code-named Operation Overlord and was the largest amphibious invasion ever known. Sloan wasn’t the only airman, known to the residents of Thornton-on-Sea, who would be participating in that heroic effort. Ted Cabot was there too.

On June 5, 1944, the day preceding D-Day, Bomber Command simulated an Allied air invasion by dropping dummy paratroops. Lancaster’s and Stirlings also flew at fixed intervals over the Channel, to mimic the approach of an invading fleet. During the night, aircraft dropped the British 6
th
Airborne Division in the Caen area of France. On that same day, Rome was liberated by Allied forces. Although Ted and Sloan had never met one another, both took part in the D-Day operation. The invasion of June 6, went very well. Casualties were heavy and American forces on Omaha Beach suffered many losses. Ted was shot down and seriously wounded at Port-en-Bessin. He was rescued and sent to Number Fifty Mobile Field Hospital near a landing strip. There, he was stabilized and flown to a hospital in England. Sloan was successful in linking up with other Allied Forces and took part in cutting the rail links between Carentan and Cherbourg. With the successful toe-hold established under the air umbrella along the Normandy coast, emphasis was then shifted to ground operations.

Giselle didn’t know Ted had been wounded. None of the civilian population knew about the operation until it was over. Thankfully, Ted had placed Giselle’s name on the list of persons he wished to have notified in case of emergency. Thus, on June 8, 1944, she received a wire telling her that Major Cabot was confined to the Prince of Wales Hospital in London. There was no hint as to how badly injured he might be. She was frantic with worry. Elise helped her friend throw a few items into a travelling case, and catch the first train to London. From there, Giselle made her way to the hospital. When she arrived at Ted’s room, she was horrified. He lay unconscious, swathed in bandages from head to toe. There were only small slits for his eyes and mouth, and from what she could ascertain, he was missing a leg. Giselle was a strong person, and though she felt like falling apart, she didn’t allow herself to do so. Her words of months past were entirely forgotten. She certainly had something to offer Ted now.

Searching out a physician, she enquired about his injuries. ‘Yes’, she was told, Ted had lost a leg. He’d also been badly burned over a large portion of his body. His condition was critical. For nine days and nights, Giselle never left his side, except to grab a bite to eat. She held his hand, wiped his brow, and even assisted nurses when they changed bandages. Very, very slowly, he was removed from the critical list, but his condition was anything but good. When he finally regained consciousness, he said he wanted her to leave. He was extremely despondent and wouldn’t consider letting Giselle stay with him. Nor would he speak of the future. Ted felt he no longer had anything to offer her and didn’t want Giselle to spend the rest of her life caring for an invalid. The tables had turned. Giselle refused to listen. She stated clearly that she loved him and would always love him. His injuries had nothing to do with that love. She said she wouldn’t even consider not spending the rest of her life with him. In the end, he gave up the fight, weeping over the love she showed to him.

He spent six months in hospital healing from burns. It wouldn’t have mattered one way or the other to Giselle, but Ted was relieved that his face had escaped the worst scarring. Giselle took a small bed-sit close to the hospital, so she could be with him every day. Lady Celia and Lord Rowan understood completely, and even continued to pay her wages. Ted’s family in America was notified, but he made it abundantly clear that he didn’t want them to find their way to London. It was the end of the war for Ted. When he was able to write his family a letter, he told them of his plans to marry Giselle. The decision was made to wed in England before travelling to the United States. That couldn’t be considered until a peace treaty was signed. In spite of the resounding victory on D-Day, and the liberation of France, the Germans still refused to admit defeat, and it was another year before all hostilities came to an end. In the meantime, Ted was transferred to a second rehabilitation hospital, where he learned to negotiate an artificial leg.

By the time happy day arrived, May 8, 1945, Ted was back in Thornton-on-Sea, ensconced in a guest suite at
Highcroft Hall
. There was pandemonium throughout England. Huge crowds, many dressed in red, white and blue, gathered outside Buckingham Palace in London, and cheered as the King, Queen, and two Princesses came out onto the balcony. Earlier, tens of thousands of people listened as the King’s speech was relayed by loudspeaker to those who’d gathered in Trafalgar and Parliament Squares. Winston Churchill made a broadcast to the nation. In his wonderful and dramatic way, he told the people of Great Britain and her Dominions that the war was over. In it, he paid tribute to the men and women who had laid down their lives for victory, as well as to all those “who had fought valiantly on land, sea and in the air.” Citizens of Thornton –on-Sea and Whitfield Cove rose up and celebrated with the rest of England. Ted could hear the cheers from his room.

***

As a burst of hail swept the road outside of the train depot in the village of Thornton-on-Sea
,
Sloan found himself in the centre of a crowd seeking shelter. It was unusual to encounter a crowd in the tiny hamlet, but it was teatime, and shop owners on the High street were out and about. The rain reminded him of the day he’d met Elise.
Everything
reminded him of that day. He’d tried and tried to remove her from his thoughts, to no avail. It had been over five years, and her face still lingered in the recesses of his mind. He still treasured her photo, wrinkled and badly worn. He was home, the war was over, and it was imperative that he get on with the rest of his life. He had a clear-cut agenda and was anxious to follow it.

After seeing his parents, his first task was to see Anne. That was only proper. Although she’d been understanding in her letters, he suspected that she still harboured feelings for him. He hoped he was wrong, but it was hard to believe that the girl who’d said ‘yes’ when proposed to, could casually brush off his sudden and shocking rejection. Anne had undoubtedly been crushed by his letter saying she wasn’t the one for him. He was terribly anxious to see Elise again, but knew it would be the height of rudeness to ignore Anne. It was, after all, still important that he keep close ties with his childhood friend.

She’d told him long ago, after he’d written and admitted he didn’t love her as he should, that she didn’t intend to tell her parents about the end of their engagement in case Sloan changed his mind before the war ended. In her opinion, there was no reason to put them through the anguish they’d surely endure, unless it was absolutely necessary. Obviously, at that time, Anne had been holding on to the hope that the comfort of familiar surroundings would bring Sloan back to his senses. ‘Yes’, she’d assured him over and over; she understood what had happened; she wasn’t angry. But, he still had doubts. Now that he’d returned to Thornton-on-Sea
,
he’d have to face her, and make certain she really
did
understand. Sloan was well-aware that the story he’d told sounded odd, and it wasn’t hard to understand why she might be holding on to false hopes. He was also concerned because Anne was, without question, the most beloved girl in their small village. She’d always been good, kind and lovely. Nevertheless, he’d had to be honest with her. It was clear that doing so was going to cause despair to a great many people, including his parents. Anne’s mother and father would be livid.