Winter on the Mersey(95)
‘Hello, miss,’ said the first man. ‘You’re safe now. We’ll get you out in no time at all.’
CHAPTER THIRTY
The first face Kitty saw as they lifted her out of the rubble was Frank’s. He had been brought out just minutes before her – she’d heard the rescue party reach him and free him from the weight of the rubble. He had refused to go for treatment until he saw Kitty with his own eyes.
She was helped from the shattered remains of the building by an ARP warden, both of them covered in dust, but she was able to walk. Frank stepped towards her, took one look and then enveloped her in the hug he had promised her when they’d lain trapped under the weight of the collapsed block. ‘Kitty,’ he murmured, breathing in her hair, not caring about the dust. ‘You’re safe, you’re safe. See, I said you would be.’
She rested her face against his chest, ignoring the smears of earth and blood and dust. ‘You did. You were right. Oh, Frank, I thought we might die in there.’
He pulled back a little. ‘But we didn’t. And even if we had, yours would have been the last voice I’d have heard. The most beautiful sound in the world. My darling Kitty.’ He hugged her again, very carefully angling himself away from her left arm.
‘Now then, sir, this young lady has to go for treatment at once.’ The ARP warden spoke with sympathy but he wasn’t about to brook any objection. ‘And you need a transfusion, you’ve lost blood. Time enough for all of that when she’s been given the all-clear by the doctor. You’re still bleeding from your temple; you’re to go and get that sorted out.’
Frank reluctantly let Kitty go, but before the ARP warden could direct them to the first-aiders, there was a minor commotion and somebody in a Wren uniform pushed through the crowd. ‘There you are. Hoped I’d be in time. You’re to come with me, admiral’s orders.’
‘Laura!’ Kitty exclaimed. ‘How did you know where we were?’
‘Miss, these people are to go to the first-aid post,’ the warden said sternly, but Laura was having none of it.
‘Which will no doubt be completely overwhelmed with the number of injured from this site, so I’m here to take these two to somewhere less crowded,’ she said blithely. ‘Don’t worry, they’ll get the best possible medical treatment. The admiral’s car is over there, waiting specially.’ The warden stood back, too busy to argue the point, and Laura swiftly ushered them across the remains of the road to where a smart black limousine was parked. ‘Get in and I’ll explain,’ she said.
Frank helped Kitty get into the back seat and then followed her, resting his arm around her uninjured shoulder to make sure she sat upright and didn’t jar her damaged arm. ‘So you’re Laura,’ he said.
‘And you must be Frank,’ she said, pulling away from the kerb, meeting his eyes in the rear-view mirror. ‘I’ve heard so much about you.’ She smiled wickedly.
Kitty couldn’t keep up the pretence of light-heartedness any longer. ‘But how did you know we were there?’
‘Oh, well.’ Laura swerved neatly around a pothole. ‘What’s the point of being Peter’s girlfriend if I don’t make use of the connections? To hell with lying low. When you didn’t turn up this evening, I thought something must be up, so I rang the admiral and he rang some other people and found you’d been at that extra meeting earlier, and that a V2 had hit there just after it finished. I put two and two together, he lent me the car, and Bob’s your uncle.’
‘I see,’ said Frank, slightly overwhelmed by his first encounter with Laura.
‘Anyway, I’m taking you to his doctor and then back to his flat. You’ll need to rest up.’
‘We’re back on duty tomorrow,’ Kitty said, her voice faint; the movement of the car was jolting her arm, even though Frank was shielding her. ‘We’re going back to Liverpool.’
‘No you’re not,’ said Laura. ‘Not till you’re better. That goes for both of you. Don’t worry, the admiral’s cleared it. You’re to have an extra night or two at the flat, which I should say you’ll find very acceptable, it’s a jolly nice place.’ She grew serious again. ‘Honestly, it’s all right. You did the service a favour by attending the other meeting, and then you got caught up in all this – so this is the least they can do. Peter’s uncle was adamant, and you don’t say no to him when he’s in that kind of mood.’
‘Won’t the doctor mind? It’s the middle of the night,’ Kitty protested.
‘Don’t you worry,’ Laura predicted. ‘He works shifts like all of us. Didn’t you say Frank’s sisters were nurses? Then you’ll know all about it,’ she went on. But silence greeted her remark and, looking in the mirror again, Laura realised her passengers had fallen asleep in each other’s arms, worn out by the strain of the evening, but able to let go now they were finally, against the odds, safe.
Nancy felt numb. She couldn’t even cry. She sat on the early morning bus as the dawn rose, the devastated city centre stark in the pale light. It looked as cold as the chip of ice now buried in her heart.
The evening had started so well. Gary had bought her the best food there was to be found, almost as if there wasn’t a war on: delicious beef, followed by a fruit pudding with an unbelievable amount of sugar whipped into fancy swirls all around it. Then they’d ordered drinks in their room, before sinking into the soft bed with its gorgeous linen sheets, and she’d showed him how much she loved him and how a real hero was to be treated. Her body had hummed with delight, and when they’d finished she felt as if she was floating on air. What he’d said next, however, had brought her down with a bump.