The Spitfire Girls(68)
Her mother doubled over like she’d punched her, her heart-wrenching, guttural sobs too much to bear.
‘I’m sorry,’ May whispered, ‘but he’s gone. He’s never coming back and we have to accept it. Our Johnny’s gone.’
Her father stepped in then, wrapping his arms around her mother, his eyes filled with unshed tears. And she ran out of the door and kept on going, feeling she couldn’t bear to be in that suffocating house that reminded her every second of every day that she had to live the rest of her life without Johnny.
‘Ma’am, there’s another urgent telegram for you.’
May looked up and met the gaze of one of her administration staff. ‘Thank you,’ she said, and opened the new telegram at once.
COMMANDER MAY JONES. SPITFIRES AND MORE SPITFIRES NEEDED! IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE REQUIRED. ALL AVAILABLE PILOTS ON STANDBY FOR FERRY MISSION TO COLERNE.
What on earth? They needed more than the forty-seven planes they’d already delivered?
‘Jones!’ May recognised her captain’s call as he burst into the building, red-faced and short of breath. ‘You received word?’ he asked.
‘About the new aircraft needed? What . . .’
‘Bloody German bombers hit the Spitfires! They survived the sailing from Port Glasgow and they were launched at Gibraltar with three cruisers and eight destroyers as an escort, but the damn pilots decided to take a lunch break when they landed in Malta, and they were bombed when they were lined up on the ground! Only six Spitfires survived.’
Six? May could barely comprehend that almost every single Spitfire they’d so diligently delivered had been bombed. They’d risked life and limb to get there!
‘So what can we do? Are there even enough new aircraft to deliver?’ she asked.
‘Roosevelt has given permission for the USS Wasp to make a second trip. We need all your available pilots ready to fly as soon as we have enough planes. If we don’t do this?’ He shook his head. ‘We could lose this war, Jones. It could be curtains for the Allies.’
‘One would hope they won’t stop for lunch and leave the planes lined up as sitting ducks this time,’ May said dryly. She doubted female pilots would have been so foolish.
‘Not a mistake I expect will happen again.’
The unmistakable roar of an engine alerted May that she had an aircraft safely back home, and she stood to excuse herself. Ruby was due back in a Lancaster, and she was looking forward to debriefing her and sharing the good news.
‘Keep me posted,’ she told Captain MacMillan. ‘You know my girls will be ready to fly when you need us.’
She strode out towards the plane, standing back as she waited for the engine to stop, hand held high to shield her eyes from the glare above. For once it was sunny and there was no cloud cover to send her into a panic about her pilots. Today was an ideal day for flying, and there was something hopeful about the sun shining on her shoulders, not to mention the miracle she’d just been told of.
Ruby finally appeared, with Ben helping her down from the cockpit, but May could see something was wrong at once: Ruby was walking rigidly, as if every step was causing her pain. Over the past week she’d seen Ruby doubled over from grief and shaking from fatigue, but this was different. She was bent forward slightly, one hand to her stomach as Ben held her arm, and May’s first thought was that she must be sick.
‘Ruby!’ she called out, hurrying towards her. ‘What’s wrong?’
Ruby always looked tiny, but when you spoke to her or watched her take command of a plane, there was no mistaking her for anything other than a highly competent pilot – but now she looked so weak and frail.
‘What happened?’ May asked, taking her other arm.
Tears pooled in Ruby’s eyes. ‘I . . . I . . .’ she started.
‘Ruby, I have wonderful news! I just . . .’
May looked down as Ruby flopped against her, and saw the stain on her flying suit, the unmistakable darkness of blood. Ben backed away, his gaze telling her that he’d let her deal with this.
‘Oh, you poor thing, getting your monthly on a long flight like that,’ she whispered. May held her tight, wondering if Ruby was just embarrassed or if something else was upsetting her. ‘Ruby, I . . .’
Ruby let out a heart-wrenching sob and May held her tighter, hurrying her back to the mess room, where Ruby fainted just outside and sagged to the floor. May struggled with her, dragging her a little and then flopping down beside her.
‘Ruby? Ruby, wake up!’ she hissed. Ruby’s eyes fluttered open and May breathed a sigh of relief.
Ruby gasped and reached for her hand. ‘I think I’m losing my baby.’
May froze. Her mind reeled. Ruby was pregnant? She quickly took control and got them both up on their feet. ‘Come on, there’s hardly anybody else here. Everything’s going to be fine. It might just be some, ah, unrelated bleeding.’
She walked her through the mess room, quickly passing a couple of other pilots, June and Evangeline; they were laughing and chatting, and barely looked up. May avoided eye contact with them as she took Ruby into the bathroom.
‘How long have you known you were pregnant?’ May whispered, shutting the door. She reached for a towel, not sure what to do. ‘Poor Ruby, alone with this – I would have kept your secret.’ But even as she said it, she knew she would have had to put an end to her friend’s flying, which was probably the one reason she had kept it to herself.