The Spitfire Sisters Page 12

  ‘Do they know yet that you’ve passed the driving test?’

  Daisy shook her head. ‘No, it’s a surprise.’

  ‘Are you going to race at Brooklands, then?’

  Daisy shook her head. ‘No, that’s never interested me, but I shall carry on flying whenever I can.’

  ‘I don’t think you’ll be able to, if there’s a war on.’

  Daisy stopped and turned horrified eyes towards her friend. ‘Oh Gill, no. Don’t say that. I couldn’t live without being able to fly now and again.’

  ‘I’m back!’ Daisy flung her arms wide as Wainwright opened the front door.

  ‘Good to see you, Miss Daisy. The family are all waiting for you in the parlour. Jake and I will see to your luggage.’

  ‘Thank you, Mr Wainwright. Sorry there’s rather a lot.’

  ‘We’ll cope, miss.’ He smiled. ‘Good to have you home.’

  Daisy ran through the Great Hall, past the long table already set for dinner to celebrate her return.

  ‘Here I am,’ she said, opening the door into the Brown Parlour. Her parents and grandparents were there to greet her, but as she kissed each one in turn, she glanced around and asked, ‘No Luke – or Harry? I thought you might have asked them to be here.’

  ‘We did, darling,’ Alice put her arm round Daisy, ‘but I’m afraid there’s a big row going on between Luke and my father. And even Harry’s involved too.’

  ‘Oh dear. What about?’

  Alice glanced at Robert, but it was Henrietta who stood up and said, ‘We’ll tell you all we know over dinner, Daisy. Now, do you want to freshen up, because I think Cook is ready for Wainwright to serve?’

  ‘I do, Granny, but you go in. I’ll only be a couple of minutes . . .’

  Moments later, as they all sat down and Wainwright began to serve their meal, Daisy said, ‘Now, please tell me what’s going on between Granddad and Luke.’

  ‘Perhaps you’d better explain, Mother,’ Alice said, turning towards Henrietta. ‘You were the one Luke confided in.’

  ‘I wouldn’t expect you to break his confidence, Granny,’ Daisy said swiftly. ‘You know that.’

  Henrietta inclined her head. ‘No, of course I wouldn’t, but he asked me to tell the rest of the family and specifically asked that I should tell you when you came home.’

  ‘Oh dear. This sounds serious. Go on.’

  ‘He wants – in fact, I think he’s going to, no matter what anyone says – to join the RAF and become a fighter pilot.’

  ‘How perfectly wonderful. The lucky thing!’

  Henrietta eyed her granddaughter archly over the top of her spectacles with an amused smile. ‘Mr Dawson is blaming Philippa and you for introducing him to flying.’

  Daisy wriggled her shoulders. ‘Well, I can’t deny that. When is Pips home again?’

  ‘She’s coming up this weekend,’ Alice said. ‘Mainly to see you, I think, but George won’t be coming.’ She hesitated and glanced at Robert who said, soberly, ‘You do realize that we’re on the brink of another war, don’t you, Daisy?’

  ‘I do now, Daddy, yes. But we were all so engrossed in our studies that we didn’t take a lot of notice of the news, I’m ashamed to say.’

  ‘Don’t be, my dear. It’s just as well you concentrated on what you had to do.’ He smiled. ‘We’re all so very proud of you, Daisy. And I think’ – he glanced at his mother – ‘Granny has a surprise for you.’

  Henrietta smiled. ‘I’ve bought you a desk to stand next to mine in the room at the far side of the house that I use as an office. We’ll work alongside each other.’

  ‘Oh Granny!’ Daisy’s eyes filled with tears to think that her grandmother was so ready – eager almost – to involve her in the running of the estate. She jumped up from the table and rushed to hug her grandmother. ‘We’ll have such fun.’

  ‘I don’t know about “fun”, my dear, because if this war does come, we’re going to have to make a lot of changes.’

  ‘I’ve got lots of ideas about that. We had a debate about it all and Prof told us what he thinks the Government are likely to demand from farmers.’

  Henrietta’s eyes twinkled. ‘I shall look forward to hearing all about it. And we must include Charlie Cooper in some of our discussions. We mustn’t leave the estate’s farm manager out of our plans. I am sure he will have some useful ideas too.’

  As Daisy sat down again, she said, ‘And when Aunty Pips comes at the weekend, we’ll go and see Granddad together about Luke.’

  But Henrietta was shaking her head. ‘I don’t think you should, Daisy. It will be belittling Luke. He is a young man now and should fight his own battles.’

  ‘I expect you’re right, but we ought at least to let Luke know we’re on his side.’

  ‘I think he’ll already know that,’ Henrietta said, though her smile was a little sad to think what the young man was about to face.

  Nineteen

  ‘I don’t think I have ever known such a stubborn, stupid man as Len Dawson,’ Pips said. ‘He just changes his thinking to suit himself. First, he disowns his son for not wanting to enlist, now he’s going to disown Luke for wanting to join up. I don’t understand the man, I really don’t.’

  ‘Granny says we shouldn’t tackle Granddad. It’d be belittling Luke.’

  ‘Mm, maybe she’s right. But we must see Luke and tell him we’re all on his side.’

  ‘He’ll be here tomorrow to go riding as usual.’

  ‘Oh, so Mr Dawson hasn’t stopped that yet, then?’ Pips’s tone was laced with sarcasm.

  Daisy laughed. ‘No, but I think he’d like to. I don’t think he’s ever been happy about the boys coming riding with us.’

  ‘Or your close friendship with them.’

  For a moment, Daisy was very still. She seemed about to say something, but then changed her mind. Instead, she said brightly, ‘Well, he’ll just have to lump it, because that’s not ever going to change. And now, I must do another hour’s work before dinner. I have some notes to write up. Granny and I went out this afternoon for a tour of the estate and I want to get it all down on paper before I forget all the things we discussed.’

  Pips lowered her voice. ‘How are you getting on, working with Granny?’

  ‘Fantastic. We seem to be on the same wavelength, which is something of a miracle, considering the difference in our ages, wouldn’t you say?’

  ‘Your granny has always been forward-thinking. I’m not surprised and I expect your father is pleased it’s all working out so well. He never wanted to take on the running of the estate.’

  ‘Ecstatic, I think the word is.’ Daisy grinned.

  ‘And what about your friend, Gill? Are you keeping in touch with her?’

  ‘We ring each other once a week. She’s lucky too. Her father’s just as go-ahead as Granny and prepared to listen to all Gill’s ideas. She’s hoping to come down at the end of August for a long weekend. Right, I must go. See you at dinner.’

  Pips smiled as Daisy rushed from the room, eager to get back to her work.

  As the family gathered in the parlour, apart from Daisy, who’d said she would join them at the table, Pips said, ‘So, Mother, is it all working out from your point of view too? Daisy seems overjoyed to be working alongside you.’

  ‘I couldn’t be happier, Philippa.’ Henrietta glanced a little reproachfully at Robert. ‘I must admit I was very disappointed – and more than a little worried – that Robert has always been so adamant he didn’t want to take it on. I know he would have done his best – and so would you, Philippa, if it had been necessary – but thank goodness for Daisy, is all I can say.’

  ‘And so say all of us,’ Robert said with heartfelt sincerity and the rest of the family laughed.

  ‘It seems it really is what she wants to do,’ Henrietta said, ‘and she is such a clever girl. She has already come up with some remarkable ideas for us to increase production to help the war effort – if it becomes necessary.’

  Everyon
e glanced towards Pips, not voicing the question that was on all their lips.

  Pips sighed. ‘All I can tell you is that you’re right to be prepared.’

  ‘We thought as much,’ Edwin said quietly. He seemed about to say more, but the door to the parlour burst open and Daisy stood there, beaming. ‘I’ve just had a telephone call. From my tutor. I – I got a First.’

  For a moment there was a stunned silence in the room and then they all began to speak at once. Alice rushed to her to hug her, tears streaming down her face.

  ‘Oh darling, how wonderful!’

  ‘No more than I expected,’ Robert said, teasingly, but they could all see the pride on his face, whilst Henrietta murmured, ‘I told you she was clever, didn’t I?’

  ‘This calls for a real celebration,’ Edwin said and, as the butler appeared in the doorway to announce that dinner was served, he added, ‘Wainwright, fetch a bottle of champagne, would you, please?’ His eyes twinkled as he added, ‘And you can tell the others Miss Daisy’s good news and open another bottle for them.’

  The butler gave a little bow and said, ‘Thank you, sir, and I’m sure all the staff would join me in congratulating Miss Daisy.’

  ‘Thank you, Mr Wainwright,’ Daisy said, pink with delight. All her hard work had paid off.

  ‘Did your tutor say anything about Gill?’ Alice asked.

  ‘Yes. The list has gone up on the notice board, so it’s public knowledge. She got a First too.’

  There were cries of delight from everyone.

  ‘Oh, that’s wonderful.’

  ‘So nice that you’ve both got the same result.’

  ‘What about everyone else?’

  Daisy wriggled her shoulders, slightly embarrassed now. ‘We were the only two to get Firsts in the whole year.’

  ‘That’s even more remarkable, Daisy,’ Edwin said. ‘Well done indeed.’

  It was a happy family gathering which sat down to dinner, all thoughts of impending war pushed from their minds as they celebrated Daisy’s success.

  In August, when Pips held a small dinner party in their London home for Rebecca, Matthew and their dear friends, Milly and Paul, the talk around the table was serious.

  ‘It’s been in the papers,’ Matthew said, ‘so there’s no harm in telling you. There’s a squabble brewing over the Baltic Port of Danzig that could trigger a war. Germany are smuggling arms and military personnel into Danzig, already acting as if they are in command of it. Earlier this month in the House, the Prime Minister said that if Poland felt it had to use force against Germany, then Britain would be her ally.’

  ‘But Danzig is what they call a Free City, isn’t it?’ Paul said.

  Matthew nodded. ‘There is the view that it is a German city, but the Poles are adamant that it must remain a Free City under the League of Nations directive.’

  ‘It’s the only way to the sea for the Poles, isn’t it?’

  ‘That’s right and that’s why Britain is backing the Poles.’

  ‘Daddy’s firm is certainly getting prepared for war,’ Milly said solemnly. ‘As you know, we’re building Wellington bombers at Brooklands and there’s a new factory nearing completion near Castle Bromwich Aerodrome. I understand they’re experiencing a lot of problems there at the moment, but they hope to start producing Spitfires there soon as well as in Southampton.’

  ‘Isn’t all that top secret, Milly darling?’ Pips said, but Milly only laughed and shrugged. ‘Not really. Someone only needs a good pair of binoculars to see the testing going on at Brooklands.’

  Now they all laughed. ‘That’s true.’

  ‘Even though we and Hawker have the use of Brooklands for the production of military aircraft,’ Milly went on, ‘it’s getting a bit crowded there, so, what you might not know is that a new Hawker satellite factory and aerodrome have been built at Langley.’

  ‘At least,’ George said quietly, ‘we are getting prepared. My only worry is, is it going to be enough?’

  Although everyone tried to carry on a normal life, the threat of war hung over the whole country and preparations continued.

  During the last week in August, Gill came to stay for a long weekend at Doddington Hall, and now even Henrietta could not ban the talk of war around the dinner table.

  ‘Have you heard the latest about Hitler and Stalin signing a non-aggression pact this week? Daddy was appalled,’ Gill began, knowing that her hosts took an eager interest in world affairs. ‘He thought they were the best of enemies.’

  Edwin nodded. ‘I agree with your father. I was shocked and I think Hitler will attack Poland in earnest any day now. I think he was just clearing the way.’

  ‘Then we must be ready,’ Gill said and glanced at Daisy. ‘We’ve already ploughed up two meadows that we don’t need for our herd of milkers. What about you?’

  Daisy glanced at her grandmother, who gave a slight nod.

  ‘We’ve all sorts of plans to put into action once it really kicks off. We haven’t actually done anything yet, but we’re well prepared. Granny and I spend hours touring the estate and then poring over maps and plans.’ She smiled wistfully. ‘If it wasn’t so serious, it’d be great fun.’

  ‘What about your farm workers? Daddy is so worried that we’ll lose a lot of our men to the forces.’

  ‘I’d’ve thought you might already have heard about this at college,’ Edwin said. ‘The Women’s Land Army, which first appeared in 1917, was reformed in June and recruitment is now under way.’

  ‘D’you know, I think I did hear a whisper about it, but we were so busy with our exams everything else just went over our heads for a time, didn’t it, Daisy?’

  ‘’Fraid so.’

  ‘Well, your hard work certainly paid off,’ Robert said. ‘We’re all so proud of you both.’

  As they mounted the stairs to bed that evening, Gill whispered to Daisy, ‘Can we go and see Luke tomorrow?’

  ‘He’ll be coming here to go riding as usual. Luke and Harry. We’ll all go.’

  Gill’s eyes shone. ‘Oh goody.’ She paused before asking in a deliberately casual tone, ‘Have you heard from Johnny lately?’

  Daisy shook her head. ‘He was coming last weekend, but telephoned to say that all leave had been cancelled.’

  ‘Oh my! Then things really must be getting serious.’

  It was a glorious afternoon and the four enjoyed their ride, though Luke seemed very quiet. As they left the stables, having each groomed the horse they had ridden, Luke said, ‘There’s something I want to tell all of you.’

  ‘Let’s go and sit in the orchard. It’ll be shady there,’ Daisy suggested.

  Seated beneath the trees, Luke cleared his throat. ‘I think you all know that I’ve been keen to join the RAF.’ The other three nodded, but no one spoke. ‘Well, I applied, had an interview a while back and—’

  ‘Oh, so that’s where you went,’ Harry interrupted. ‘I did wonder. Your granddad was in a right paddy the whole day . . .’

  ‘Shh, Harry,’ Daisy said. ‘Go on, Luke.’

  ‘I’ve been accepted to train as a fighter pilot, which is exactly what I wanted. I leave on Monday.’

  ‘Good for you.’ Harry grinned. ‘And come early next year, I’ll be following you.’

  ‘You’ve kept that quiet,’ Daisy said truculently. ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’

  ‘I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure I’d got in. There are all sorts of medical tests you have to pass – eyesight and all that – and I wanted to be sure. Sorry, Dais.’

  ‘I can understand why you didn’t broadcast it,’ Gill said, ‘but would you have said anything if you hadn’t got in?’

  ‘I expect so – eventually – but I would have been very disappointed.’

  ‘Does your family know?’

  ‘Mam and Dad have known all along, but Granddad and Grandma don’t know yet. I’ll tell them tomorrow morning.’

  Harry threw back his head and laughed. ‘Then we’d better watch out for
fireworks over their cottage tomorrow.’

  As the four of them returned to the house, Gill touched Luke’s arm and they both hung back a little.

  ‘I don’t know if I’m speaking out of turn – I do know how close you and Daisy are, and, of course, I’ll hear news of you from her – but . . .’ Gill bit her lip, feeling suddenly hesitant.

  Luke grinned. ‘Of course I’ll write to you. I was going to ask you the same thing.’

  She looked into his eyes. ‘Were you? Were you really?’

  He nodded. ‘It’ll be good to get letters from friends. I am fully expecting the basic training will be a bit tough and, until I get to know a few of the chaps, a bit lonely. And then, I expect, we’ll all get separated anyway and posted to different places. From what Johnny has told me, you can make friends easily, but it’s best not to get too close to anyone in particular.’

  Gill wrinkled her forehead. ‘Yes, I expect he’s right. I hadn’t looked at it like that.’ She paused and then added, ‘Just keep me up to date with your address and I’ll write every week to you.’

  Luke’s grin widened.

  Twenty

  ‘You young fool!’ Len spat and thumped the table with his fist. ‘Didn’t I tell you what I’d do if you joined up?’

  ‘Yes, Granddad, you did,’ Luke said evenly, though he wasn’t feeling calm inside. He didn’t like upsetting any member of his family and he was particularly worried that Len would take out his anger on Norah. She was standing at the side of the table as she cleared away after breakfast, her anxious glance going from one to the other.

  ‘You’ve changed your tune,’ she said bitterly, for once in her life standing up to her husband.

  Len shook his fist at her, but Norah didn’t even flinch. She was angry and anger made her bold. ‘Don’t you shake your fist at me, Len Dawson. We’ve been married fifty years this year, in case you’ve forgotten – and I expect you have because you’ve never said owt. And in all that time, I’ve been a good wife to you and mother to your children. And I looked after your mam until she died. Not that I minded that, because she treated me a lot better than you’ve ever done.’