The Spitfire Sisters Read online

  Moments later, a young man with curly fair hair and blue eyes, and the cheekiest grin Gill had ever seen, sauntered towards them. He was nothing like Luke, but then, Gill remembered, they were half-brothers, sharing a mother, but not a father.

  ‘Hello, Dais, and you must be Gill,’ he said, his eyes twinkling mischievously. ‘We’ve been hearing a lot about you from Luke. I reckon you’re getting your nose pushed out of joint with our Luke, Dais, but then, it’s me you’re goin’ to marry, in’t it?’ He held out a grimy hand towards the newcomer.

  Luke looked acutely embarrassed, but Gill only threw back her head and laughed as she took Harry’s hand without a moment’s hesitation whilst Daisy smiled and said, ‘Not until the sun shines both sides of the hedge at once, Harry Nuttall.’

  It was a Lincolnshire saying that meant ‘never’, but Harry didn’t take her reply seriously. In fact, it seemed he never took anything very seriously.

  As they walked home together, they met Kitty Page walking home after her day’s work at the hall. Though some of the other staff lived in at the hall, Kitty still lived at home with her parents.

  ‘Hello, Kitty.’ Daisy smiled. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Very well, Miss Daisy, thank you.’ The girl nodded a greeting to Gill.

  ‘Are you enjoying working at the hall?’

  ‘Oh yes, miss. Everyone’s so kind.’ She glanced further down the lane. ‘Have you seen Harry?’

  ‘Yes, he’s still at work.’

  ‘Oh good. I didn’t want to miss him. Mrs Bentley’s teaching me to cook when she’s time and I’ve made Harry a cake. Your granny knows about it, miss,’ she added hurriedly.

  ‘May we see?’

  Kitty lifted the tea towel that covered the chocolate cake nestling in the bottom of her basket.

  ‘That looks delicious. Lucky Harry.’

  ‘Mrs Bentley made one for your afternoon tea, miss.’

  ‘Then we’d better get home before we miss it. ’Bye for now, Kitty.’

  As they walked on, Gill said, ‘Are you going to marry one of them, Daisy? Because I think you’ve got a rival for Harry’s affections there.’ Gill glanced back over her shoulder to see Kitty heading towards the blacksmith’s workshop.

  ‘Heavens, no, but it’s been a long-standing joke between us. We’re the very best of friends, of course. Always have been since we were kids, but Luke is my cousin. If anything, I look upon them both as my brothers.’

  ‘They don’t look very alike, do they?’

  ‘Luke is like the Dawson family, but Harry has got the same curly fair hair as his mother, Peggy.’

  ‘I think you’ll find that beneath all that larking about, Harry is very serious.’

  ‘Oh heck! I hope not. I wouldn’t want him to break poor Kitty’s heart. She’s been following him around ever since she was a little kid. D’you really think he’s serious about me?’

  ‘I do, but what I don’t know at this precise moment is just how serious Luke is about you.’

  ‘Oh Lor’. I think the sooner we get back to college the better.’

  Gill chuckled. ‘But before you know it, you’ll be back here permanently. Don’t forget that and then there might be fireworks.’

  Soon after the two girls returned to Studley for the summer term, Jake took Henrietta and Edwin to see them. The Maitland family had taken to Gill and Henrietta invited her to join them for ‘luncheon’, as she called it. Jake was a little overwhelmed eating in a restaurant, but Henrietta would not hear of him not joining them. ‘You’re part of our family, Jake.’ Then she turned to Daisy. ‘I’m very impressed with Studley. You made a wise choice, Daisy. Now what are we all going to eat . . .?’

  Both girls worked hard and came out with the highest marks in their group at the end of their first year at the college. During the summer holidays of 1937, the two girls spent a lot of time together, first at Gill’s home, where Daisy met her parents. Bill Portus was a huge man, jovial and welcoming, with a round, florid face. His wife Mabel was small and thin, but Daisy couldn’t remember ever having met anyone with quite so much energy. She was never still and hardly ever sat down to relax, yet she never seemed to get tired.

  Every day, Gill and Daisy helped on the farm and in the evening sat talking to Gill’s father about farming and their own hopes for the future. And then it was time to head to Lincolnshire and do much the same there. They ended their long holiday with a trip to London, where Pips took them both to Brooklands and Gill flew for the first time.

  ‘There’s no race meeting,’ Pips told them as they took the train to Weybridge. ‘But Mitch has arranged for you both to have flights with Jeff.’

  He was waiting for them when they arrived and he took Daisy up first to give her an impromptu flying lesson. And then it was Gill’s turn.

  Daisy and Pips stood side by side as the aircraft took off and climbed higher and higher.

  ‘She didn’t seem nervous, did she?’

  Daisy shook her head. ‘Not much fazes Gill, Aunty Pips. Oh my!’ Daisy giggled. ‘He’s looping the loop with her.’

  ‘Oh dear. I do hope she’ll be all right.’

  ‘She’ll love it. I promise you.’

  And she did. When the aeroplane landed, Gill climbed out and came running towards them. ‘Now I know why you are always going on about it, Daisy. It’s fantastic. Oh, I do wish Lord Bunny back home would let me fly his plane.’

  ‘Maybe he will one day.’

  Gill snorted. ‘Highly unlikely. I’ve been asking him to take me up since I was about twelve.’

  Pips, walking between them, linked arms with them and said, ‘You can come down here whenever you can, Gill. Mitch will always arrange a flight for you.’

  Gill nodded. She didn’t like to say that she couldn’t afford frequent trips and she was too proud to accept their charity. This one had been Pips’s treat.

  ‘Now, let’s go and find Mitch in the clubhouse,’ Pips said. ‘I think Milly’s here today somewhere.’

  ‘Oh good. You’ll like Aunty Milly, Gill,’ Daisy said. ‘She’s a scream.’

  Fourteen

  They were all there; the Brooklands girls and their friends.

  ‘Darling!’ Milly threw her arms around Daisy. ‘And who’s this?’ She smiled at Gill, who was at once captivated by the sweet-faced woman with curly blond hair and a merry laugh.

  ‘This is my friend, Gill, from college, Aunty Milly.’

  Milly kissed a startled Gill on both cheeks. ‘Do you drive, Gill?’

  ‘Er – only our tractor, Mrs, er . . .’

  ‘Call me “Aunty Milly”, like Daisy does, darling. Now, come along, let me introduce you to the gang . . .’

  ‘So,’ Mitch asked as they ended up sitting at a table with him. ‘Did you enjoy your flight, Gill?’

  Her green eyes shone. ‘It was wonderful.’

  ‘There’s a chap who lives not far from Gill in Yorkshire, who has a plane,’ Daisy put in.

  ‘An aeroplane, Daisy. Always an aeroplane. Haven’t we taught you better than that?’

  Daisy grinned. ‘Sorry, Uncle Mitch.’

  ‘So, who’s this chap, then?’

  ‘Gill calls him “Lord Bunny”, but he refuses to take her for a flight.’

  ‘He’s a sort of unofficial lord of the manor,’ Gill put in. ‘He owns a lot of land round where I live.’

  ‘What’s he got?’

  ‘A Tiger Moth,’ Gill said.

  ‘Ah, a two-seater biplane,’ Mitch said and then winked. ‘That’s handy. We’ve got one here, so I can show you over it and give you the low down, if you like, Gill. Maybe – if you can talk knowledgeably about his aeroplane and give him plenty of flannel – he’ll take you up.’

  Gill laughed. ‘I doubt it. But anything’s worth a try.’

  ‘I don’t suppose you got the chance to see the Vickers Spitfire on show at Eastleigh Aerodrome in March last year, did you?’ Mitch said, when the girls paused for breath and he could get a word in.
/>   Both girls turned towards him. ‘Spitfire?’ Gill repeated, whilst Daisy said, ‘Aunty Milly’s father’s firm?’

  Gill glanced at her. ‘Aunty Milly’s father builds aeroplanes?’

  ‘His firm does.’ Daisy nodded towards the building with the ‘Vickers’ name emblazoned on it.

  ‘Does he own Vickers?’

  Daisy glanced at Mitch. ‘I – I’m not sure. Does he, Uncle Mitch?’

  Mitch laughed and shook his head. ‘Not exactly, but he’s one of the founders and he’s certainly one of the bigwigs in the company.’

  ‘Spitfire,’ Daisy murmured. ‘That’s a great name for an aeroplane, but it sounds rather – aggressive.’

  ‘It’s meant to be. It’s a fighter aeroplane and at this moment in time, the RAF’s most powerful weapon.’

  The girls glanced at each other and then stared at him. ‘Uncle Mitch,’ Daisy said quietly, ‘is there something we’re missing here?’

  Suddenly, Mitch realized that perhaps their families didn’t talk about the rumblings in Europe in front of the younger members. Swiftly, he grinned. ‘I shouldn’t think so for a minute. Not you two,’ he said, trying to make his tone light. ‘But our country – like any other – must keep its defences up to scratch. Now, let me go and get some drinks. I’m parched.’

  The girls returned to college in September to start their second year at Studley, blithely unaware that their relatives were watching the newspapers and listening avidly to the news on the wireless.

  ‘Have you read the papers, Pips?’ Robert asked her on the first Saturday evening in October during their weekly telephone call to each other.

  ‘Hitler and Mussolini getting so cosy at some sort of demonstration in Berlin this week, you mean?’

  ‘Yes, that and at the recent Nazi party’s annual rally in Nuremberg, Hitler was bleating on about needing more living space for Germany.’

  ‘I don’t like what Mussolini said about their plans not being aimed at other countries. Of course they are. How can you extend your borders unless you occupy other countries? And I don’t think Hitler is going to stop at what he called reoccupying the Rhineland last year, do you?’

  ‘Sadly, Pips,’ Robert said solemnly, ‘I don’t. I think Mussolini’s conquest of Abyssinia has given the little corporal ideas; ideas that the rest of Europe – including us – won’t like.’ He paused and then added, ‘What do George and Matthew say?’

  ‘Not much, and I don’t ask because I don’t want to put either of them in an awkward position.’

  ‘How very diplomatic of you, Pips. That’s not a bit like you.’

  Pips chuckled. ‘No, it isn’t, is it? But I do respect the fact that they mustn’t talk about what they hear in the course of their work.’

  ‘Point taken.’

  ‘How’s Daisy?’

  ‘Fine. Working hard – they both are.’

  ‘I do like her friend, Gill.’

  ‘So do we. It’ll be nice for them to keep in touch even after they finish college. Gill’s not that far away in the Yorkshire Dales, is she?’

  ‘Right, I’d better go. By the way, what’s your time for today’s crossword?’

  ‘Fifteen minutes.’

  ‘Oh phooey. It took me seventeen. Give my love to everyone. I’ll ring again as usual next weekend and, in the meantime, I’ll do my best to beat fifteen minutes.’

  Life continued in much the same way in Doddington and on the Maitlands’ estate, largely untroubled by the political manoeuvrings, but in March 1938, no one could ignore the news that Hitler had marched into Austria – the land of his birth.

  ‘I can’t understand why he met with no resistance. The crowds were welcoming him,’ Pips said as she and the Maitlands sat around the dinner table on Easter Sunday in April.

  ‘Huh – he brought in supporters to cheer him, greeting him with the Fascist salute with cries of “Heil Hitler!”. I’m very much afraid that that is something we’re going to hear a lot of from now on.’

  ‘Is that why George isn’t with you this time?’ Henrietta asked.

  ‘I think so. He works long hours now.’

  ‘Does he tell you much?’ Edwin asked and then added quickly, ‘Not that we expect you to tell us anything.’

  Pips shook her head. ‘He says very little, Father, and Matthew even less, but they’re both looking anxious. Rebecca says Matthew is working long hours at the Foreign Office too.’

  ‘I have to admit,’ Robert said slowly, ‘I don’t like it. Where is Hitler going to try next?’

  ‘Pips, darling.’

  ‘Hello, Milly,’ Pips said as she answered the telephone to hear Milly’s slightly breathless voice. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘I’m fine, but I have some exciting news and you must tell Daisy and get her and her friend to come down to Brooklands a week on Saturday – the eighteenth of June.’

  ‘But they’re at college and they’re probably in the middle of exams. There are always exams in June – so I understand.’ There was an edge of sarcasm to her tone. Pips had not been allowed to go to university to study medicine as had her brother, Robert. And to this day a tiny bit of resentment still lingered.

  ‘But they must come. Johnny and a few of his mates have got special leave to come down.’

  ‘But why, Milly? You haven’t said why.’

  Milly’s infectious giggle sounded down the wire. ‘Oh, I haven’t, have I? You know how Brooklands have an “At Home” meeting every so often?’

  ‘Yes. They’re very popular. We’ve been to one or two. Go on.’

  ‘Well, sometimes, one of Daddy’s test pilots, or one from Hawker, gives a display with one of their new aircraft still under production.’

  ‘Ye-es,’ Pips said slowly, wondering what was coming.

  Triumphantly, Milly said, ‘On the eighteenth, they’re bringing a Spitfire from Eastleigh to give a display. You know that Supermarine, who make them, is a subsidiary of Vickers, don’t you? Mitch and Paul are so terribly excited about it – Jeff too – and they’re sure Daisy would be thrilled to see it.’

  ‘I’m sure she would, but—’

  ‘Oh, don’t be a spoilsport, Pips. That’s not like you. They won’t be doing exams on a Saturday, surely. And you could fetch them on the Friday night. They could stay with you, couldn’t they? If not, then—’

  ‘Of course they could,’ Pips interrupted. ‘It’s just that I don’t want to take them away from their studies at an important time.’ She paused, thinking quickly. ‘I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll speak to Robert first. If he thinks it would be all right, then I’ll get in touch with Daisy. We’ve plenty of time to organize it.’

  Milly giggled again. ‘That’s not like you, Pips. Asking permission to do something.’

  Pips laughed with her. ‘But not even I dare to jeopardize Daisy’s studies.’ Thank goodness, she was thinking, that Robert and Alice had been more forward-thinking than her own parents. Yet, even they seemed to have mellowed over the years and had encouraged Daisy’s ambitions. Maybe, Pips thought shrewdly, it was because Daisy’s course would help her to manage the estate better.

  ‘I can understand that,’ Milly was saying. ‘But I think she ought at least to be told about it. If she found out later that we hadn’t told her . . .’

  ‘There is that, Milly.’

  A little later, Pips rang her brother to ask for his thoughts. ‘So, Robert, what do you think?’

  ‘It’s an excellent idea. A break from exams would do them both good.’

  ‘But what about their revision?’

  Robert chuckled. ‘If they haven’t done it by then, last-minute cramming isn’t going to help and a break might be more beneficial.’

  ‘Well, as long as I have your approval, I’ll tell her and suggest that she and Gill come here for the weekend. A little longer, if they can.’

  It wasn’t easy to communicate with Daisy. Pips had to ring the office at Studley Castle and then wait whilst Daisy was found and bro
ught to the telephone.

  ‘Aunty Pips, is something wrong?’

  ‘Far from it, Daisy.’ Swiftly Pips explained why she was telephoning, adding that Johnny and some of his RAF mates were going to be there.

  ‘That sounds wonderful. Of course we’ll come. I’m sure Gill would love to come too. We could both do with a break from exams and we haven’t got any on the Friday or the Monday, so that would be perfect.’ She paused and then asked, a little diffidently, which was unusual for Daisy, ‘Aunty Pips, can I be cheeky?’

  Pips laughed. ‘Of course. When are you not?’

  ‘Could I ask Luke and Harry to come? They’d both love it.’

  ‘Of course. I should have thought of that myself.’ Pips laughed. ‘As long as Granddad Dawson will allow it.’

  ‘I think they’ll come anyway.’

  Fifteen

  ‘Dad,’ Luke began as the family sat down to their supper. ‘I hope this won’t rebound on you, but I’m going down to London on Friday evening to stay with Aunty Pips and she’s invited Harry to go too.’

  Harry, sitting opposite, stared at him, his mouth open. ‘Has she? Why?’

  Luke grinned at him across the table. ‘Because she’s going to take us both to Brooklands to see a Spitfire flying.’

  Harry’s eyes sparkled. ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes, really?’

  ‘What about Daisy?’

  ‘She’ll be there too. So will Gill. We’ll all be staying at Aunty Pips’s.’

  ‘What about him?’

  ‘Johnny? He’ll be at Brooklands with some of his RAF mates, but not at Aunty Pips’s.’

  Harry pulled a face. ‘Well, I suppose we can’t stop him going there, can we?’

  ‘No, it’s a free country.’

  Luke turned back to Sam. ‘So, do you mind, Dad? I wouldn’t want Granddad to take it out on you if we both go.’ When Sam and Peggy had first got married, Luke had always called Sam by his Christian name, but over the years it had come naturally to the boy to call him ‘Dad’.

  Sam grinned. ‘Don’t even think about it, Luke. You go. Both of you. I half wish I could go with you.’