The Spitfire Girls(87)

‘Well, how about you come and tell me all about this Ben,’ she said with a chuckle. ‘I think I like him already.’

And so do I, very much so. ‘I need a minute, Mama. Can I go upstairs?’

Her mother nodded, and May walked past them both, needing to go up, to stand in the room where she’d said goodbye to Johnny. She climbed the staircase slowly, inhaling the familiar smell of home as she bravely nudged open her bedroom door. May hesitated for a moment in the doorway before crossing to the window and looking down.

‘Goodbye, Johnny,’ she whispered, touching the glass with her fingertips. ‘I love you.’ But as she said the words to Johnny, it was Ben she saw. He hadn’t left; he was still standing by the car in the lightly falling snow. She waved to him and he waved back, and she watched as he finally climbed back into the car, no doubt almost frozen to the bone, and drove away.

Ben had saved her. Ben had brought her home and made her face her demons. Ben had made her remember. And no amount of thank yous could ever tell him how truly grateful she was that he’d somehow stumbled into her life.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

ENGLAND, EARLY 1943

RUBY

‘You were right,’ Ruby said, waving the letter at May as they sat in the mess room. ‘I can’t believe it.’

With their ferry chits allocated and their day mapped out, they were all waiting for the milk run plane to collect them. May had come to sit with them, and it was a nice mixture of women sprawled out, reading books and knitting mostly.

‘What does she have to say for herself?’ May asked.

Ruby was still worried about her friend after they’d lost Polly. They had both struggled, but as Ruby had slowly managed to push away the awful images, May had seemed no better; although her time away with Ben had seemed to help. She hoped this news from Lizzie might at least make her smile. ‘It seems she’s developing a soft spot for a certain captain.’

‘I had a funny feeling about the two of them,’ May said, and Ruby was relieved to see her lips twitch.

She sat back and held the letter up, reading aloud.

‘Dear May & Ruby,

Well, it turns out that Captain Montgomery isn’t the ogre I thought he was. Would you believe he’s taken me out for two romantic picnics now? I still can’t believe it, but the man absolutely took me by surprise and charmed the socks off me! Well, don’t go thinking he charmed anything OFF me so to speak, because I’m certainly not going to be ending my career with a baby on the way!’

Ruby started to laugh, imagining Lizzie telling poor Jackson exactly that, and May chuckled beside her. ‘She’s brutally honest, isn’t she?’ she said. ‘I mean, who else would say those things?’

‘I think Lizzie says whatever’s in Lizzie’s head, whereas most of us have a special filter that tells us when to say things out loud or not.’

They both laughed again, and Ruby wished she could thank Lizzie then and there for putting a smile back on May’s face.

‘I know it’s early to be talking marriage, but I keep making it very clear to him that I’m not the marrying type, because I don’t want him getting any fancy ideas that he can be the one to make me settle down. My darling mother would adore him, but honestly, I can’t imagine anything worse than being tied to a man for the rest of my life. Imagine him trying to tell me what to do! It would be preposterous. Anyhow, things are going mighty well here, aside from Jackson still trying to throw his authority around and making my girls march everywhere like little tin soldiers.

Keep those chins up, girls. We’ll never forget who we lost, but she would want us to be happy, right?’

Ruby lowered the letter. ‘I miss Polly so much,’ she said. ‘I still can’t believe she’s gone.’

‘Me too.’ May said. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get past it, that pain of knowing she’s gone and we’re still here.’

Ruby hesitated, then decided not to hold her tongue any longer. ‘I know,’ she said in a low voice. ‘And after everything, I mean . . .’ She sighed. ‘You’re always here for us, May. But who’s here for you? If you need someone to talk to, about what happened, I want you to know that I’m here.’

May nodded and smiled, but Ruby could see the tears glistening in her eyes. ‘We’ve all been through a lot,’ she said, ‘but I’m fine. Ben was— Well, he’s been there for me. I actually feel better than I have in a long time.’

Ruby let out a breath. ‘I’m happy to hear that. He’s a good man, and he’s good for you, May.’

May squeezed her hand and headed back to her desk. Ruby folded Lizzie’s letter and tucked it into her pocket. She also had a letter from Tom squirrelled away that she’d read at least three times already; it didn’t look like they were leaving anytime soon, so she unfolded it again and stared at his familiar handwriting.

Dear Ruby,

I’m in some sort of hell. Honestly, I know hospital was bad, but I’d do anything to be back there and not under the same roof as my mother. I’ve tried, honestly I’ve tried so hard, but sometimes she’s insufferable. My poor father! Please promise me that we’ll never be like this with our children? I don’t know how I ever listened to her about you. Please accept my apologies a hundred times over!