Winter on the Mersey(105)
Slowly he bowed his head forward and kissed her gently, as much as her awkward position would allow. ‘That’s just for starters,’ he said tenderly. ‘We’ll go wherever you like, Kitty. You’ll make me the proudest man in England with you on my arm.’
She gazed up at him, still having to pinch herself that this was really happening. Yet it felt totally real and absolutely right. She was meant to be in Frank’s arms – of that she had no doubt. She had the sensation that at last she had come home.
She had lost count of how long they had sat like that, wrapped in the half-embrace, taking in each other’s eyes, when they heard a key turning in the lock of the front door. Reluctantly they pulled apart, and Kitty took a sip of the tea, which had gone cold.
Laura stepped into the room, smart in her uniform. ‘Don’t separate on my behalf,’ she said at once. ‘You don’t know what a tonic it is to see you two together. Well, actually alive at all, after yesterday. That you’ve finally seen sense and worked out you’re right for each other is the icing on the cake.’ She turned blithely and hooked her jacket over a nearby chair. ‘How are you after your sleep, Kitty? You don’t look as pale as earlier, I must say, although that could be the therapeutic presence of Lieutenant Feeny here.’
‘Much better, thanks,’ said Kitty at once. ‘I’ll be on the mend in no time.’
‘Good,’ said Laura, ‘because I have some news.’ She retrieved the note from her pocket.
Kitty tried to sit up to see what her friend was doing, but with a gasp she sank back on the sofa. Maybe she wasn’t as improved as she’d hoped.
‘Steady on,’ said Frank, immediately concerned.
‘I’m all right,’ Kitty said. ‘What is it, Laura?’ She had a strong inkling that Laura would have left them alone to enjoy their new-found love unless it was something very important. She tried to guess what this might be but could not.
Laura cleared her throat and for a moment couldn’t quite say the words. Then she looked up at them with a broad smile. ‘It’s Marjorie,’ she said. ‘She’s managed to get in touch with Freddy. Don’t ask me how or where she’s been, we simply don’t know, but she’s alive and she’s coming home. Isn’t that marvellous?’
‘Oh, Laura.’ Kitty shook her head and then was filled with almost incredulous joy. ‘Is it really true? She’s alive, after all this time? Does he really not say anything more?’
Laura pulled a face. ‘He can be a man of few words, my brother, but this time I think he genuinely doesn’t know. He would have said, or at least told me where I could phone him from here. I’m going to try to see him later on. But anyway, it’s just such a relief to hear she has not been killed off in a Resistance cell somewhere. That’s what I feared, I can tell you that now.’
Kitty nodded. ‘I never wanted to say either, but that’s what I was scared might have happened too. We know she must have gone in undercover – it doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened to her. She was so brave before she went, though. So determined.’
‘Yes, underneath that quiet exterior, she always was as stubborn as a mule,’ said Laura cheerfully. ‘No doubt that’s stood her in good stead. Frank, I’m sorry, you don’t know this person, but she’s been like a sister to Kitty and me ever since we did our initial training, and she’s been missing for ages. So you see, it’s rather good news.’
Kitty sighed. ‘It’s almost too much to take in. Frank, you’d like her, she’s terribly clever. She’d love you too – I mean she’d admire you, and would probably want to know exactly what you do at work. It would get her brain cells ticking and she likes nothing better.’
Frank nodded. ‘I’m glad she’s all right, then. It’s not much fun waiting to hear if someone you love has made it or not, is it?’
There was moment of silence as Laura recalled the years she’d agonised over Freddy’s fate, and then over Marjorie’s. Kitty recalled the awful time near the beginning of the war when they’d thought Jack was lost at sea, and then the terrible blow of Eddy’s death. That Marjorie had somehow survived her secret mission was nothing short of a miracle.
‘Right, time to celebrate,’ said Laura, heading with habitual accuracy to the cocktail cabinet. ‘Frank, have you seen the admiral’s treasure chest here? What will you have? Kitty, don’t tell me, you still don’t care for them.’
‘I’ll have whatever you’re having,’ said Frank bravely.
Kitty gave a wry grin. ‘You two go right ahead. Laura, you know me too well. What I’d really, really like above anything is a cup of proper tea.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
‘I don’t know, I turn my back for five minutes and look what happens.’ Danny pretended to be outraged, but really he was heartily relieved to be back home where he belonged. He’d been longing to return ever since he got the letters, from Tommy, Kitty and Sarah, giving what he immediately realised were heavily censored versions of the events he’d missed. His first reaction was to tell his superiors he could no longer continue with the project as his family needed him, and yet he knew he should not do that. He’d been chosen for this piece of work; it was vital for what they hoped and now expected would be the final phase of the war. Besides, as the letters had emphasised, they were all right, despite everything. Yet his primal urge was to get home and see that everyone was safe, and if he could have got his hands on that scum of the earth Alfie …