A Rose In Flanders Fields (30 page)

‘Where are Emily and the twins?’ I asked.

‘Gone with Ma, to visit my gran,’ she said, and it occurred to me this was a whole side of Lizzy’s life I had never even asked about. I felt bad about it and resolved to spend some time talking to her this time. Although, with Jack here, she might be less inclined to natter her time away, and I couldn’t blame her for that. It had been clear for a long time that these two were hopelessly addicted to one another, and I couldn’t bear to be in the way. My pleasure at being here, while certainly not lessened by Jack’s presence, was altered slightly; I couldn’t help feeling a bit odd when I saw them touch one another in passing, or exchange a look like this one, that scorched the air between them. It had long been the same with Will and me, but our time together had always been cut short, and so rarely did it happen, that I couldn’t help feeling a flicker of jealousy. It soon passed though, when I saw how deeply contented Lizzy and Jack were in each other’s company – having found each other, no one else would do, for either of them. But could I say the same about Will and me?

Lizzy seemed to notice the shadow pass across my face as the question popped, unbidden, into my mind,but I wasn’t here to talk about Will, as much as my heart contracted whenever I thought of him. It was Archie who needed our attention now, and, though my anger with Oliver still boiled, him too.

‘Is Kitty all right?’ I said, ‘And where is she, anyway?’

‘She’s fine. She offered to take over from me for a couple of days when Jack came back, since I’m still only on light duties. She’s been helping out with the lambing too, she loves that.’ She frowned at me then, noticing how I favoured my right arm. I pulled a face and removed my coat, uncovering the padded dressing on the side of my neck.

She and Jack both spoke at once but I shook my head. ‘I’m all right,’ I said, ‘it was just a piece of glass. But it cut the muscle that goes down into my shoulder, so I’ve been sent back to let it heal.’

Jack’s face was grim. ‘How did it happen?’

We sat down and I gave them as brief a description of the shelling as I could manage, watching their faces go from concern to horror, and then to determination, and they both began trying to persuade me that going back would be a very poor choice.

‘I’m going as soon as I’m able to,’ I told them firmly.

‘What were you thinking of, driving here alone?’ Jack scolded. ‘Very very silly, and not at all likely to help your healing.’

I exchanged a glance with Lizzy, who had clearly had the same thought as me.

‘Extremely silly,’ she agreed, somewhat archly. ‘You must never drive when you’re injured. Must you, Jack?’

She brushed a gentle finger across his right side and, after a momentary struggle with his sense of parental responsibility, he subsided. ‘Point taken. Don’t listen to me. But you’re a sensible girl, so listen to this,’ and he reached out and tapped my head.

‘I will, I promise. But I have to tell you something else. Something more important.’ I told him everything that had happened after I got back to Number Twelve after seeing Will, and he looked grim at the news of Kitty’s situation. The look melted into sympathy, until I told him Archie was planning to cover for Oliver, and then his face darkened again but I pushed on; I was just three words away from fully unburdening myself and couldn’t stop now.

‘Oliver has disappeared.’

There was a silence in that little cottage kitchen that seemed completely out of place. Not a sound came through from outside, not even the distant noise of animals or birds. Eventually Jack spoke and I could hear the effort of control in his voice.

‘I’ll kill him.’

‘Jack!’ Lizzy said, but her voice too was worried and taut. She laid a hand on Jack’s arm, and he subsided slightly, but his jaw was still rigid, and his eyes flashed blue fire.

‘This is my nephew we’re talking about. He’s risking his
life
for this bloody Maitland boy!’

‘As you did for Will!’ I shot back. ‘And as Lizzy did for you.’

‘That’s not the –’

‘Please, Uncle Jack,’ I said in little more than a whisper, ‘you have to help find him, persuade him to go back before Archie sends that telegram.’ And he had Archie’s papers, too, I belatedly realised. My neck and shoulder hurt horribly and my eyes were grainy and tired. Lizzy had prepared a bed for me in case I turned up late at night, and she stood ready now to help me to my feet, but I couldn’t rest until I knew Jack was going to help. His anger was palpable, but he was a good man and I knew he would do the best he could, if only he could put his fury aside.

He exchanged a long, wordless look with Lizzy, and then shifted his gaze to me and his voice softened, although only a little. ‘Of course I will.’

It was enough. I felt Lizzy’s arm come around me as I slumped in relief, with my head pillowed on my arms. ‘I’m so glad you’re here, Uncle Jack,’ I mumbled into the crook of my elbow. Lizzy drew me gently to my feet, and led me upstairs to Emily’s room.

‘Do you think he can help?’ I asked her as she helped me undress. It was strange, an old ritual, familiar to us both for so long, yet we were different people now. She helped me only because my arm was becoming less functional the longer I remained awake, and when she turned back the eiderdown to let me slip between the clean, fresh sheets, I felt like crying for all we had lost.

But we had gained, too, and Lizzy’s trust in Jack gave us both strength. ‘I’m sure he’ll do everything he can,’ she said. ‘We’ll talk to Kitty later, and see if we can work out where Oliver might have gone.’

‘Thank you,’ I mumbled, hoping my gratitude was more obvious to her than it sounded to me.

‘Sleep now.’ She left me alone then, and I closed my eyes as the relief of being among loved ones once more stole through me, and carried me into a peaceful and, for once, dreamless sleep.

When I came awake it was late at night, and the opportunity to talk to Kitty that day was past. For a second I fretted at the passing of time, but there was nothing I could do about it now, and worrying about the wasted chance would achieve nothing, so I lay quietly, relishing the comfort of Emily’s bed. The wind had picked up, making a strange, animal-like whine as it cut across the corner of the end-terraced house. I lay for a while, enjoying the sound, comparing it to the hideous shriek of the shells which usually punctuated my nights, making sleep a fitful luxury. As I shifted position to stretch my legs my right shoulder woke up and howled. I bit back a cry and reminded myself to move more slowly, but even settling back down did not lessen this new ache. It set up a sympathetic throbbing in my gum, and I knew I was finally going to have to get something done about that too.

Taking a deep breath, I sat up and eased my legs out from under the covers, the cold momentarily replacing the stinging tug from the stitches in the side of my neck. I let my eyes adjust to the darkness for a while, until I could locate the Aspirin powder I had brought with me, and then poured a glass of water in readiness. Before I could drink it, however, I heard the murmur of voices from the room next door and realised that was what had woken me.

I didn’t want to listen; it would have been like eavesdropping on my parents, but I heard my name, and paused with the glass halfway to my lips.

‘It’s not just up to her,’ Uncle Jack said in reply to whatever Lizzy had been protesting. I could tell they were trying to keep their voices down, but the disagreement had clearly upset Lizzy and her voice had risen.

‘You can’t go back, not for
that
!’

The echo of my own words, in her scared voice, shook me. Go back where? I carefully replaced the glass and crept closer to the wall between the two rooms. ‘It’s her legacy, darling,’ Jack was saying. ‘And he didn’t see me, I’m sure of it.’

‘And you’re absolutely certain it was him?’

Jack’s voice was grim. ‘Hard to mistake Wingfield, you know that better than most.’

There was a quiet moment and, from the way Lizzy’s voice was muffled when she spoke again, I guessed he had pulled her back to lie against him. ‘Jack, please, go back for your country if you must, but don’t do it for a rock she never wanted in the first place.’

The Kalteng Star? I frowned, my heart speeding up as I strained to catch every word.

‘It’s not just up to Evie,’ Jack said, his voice quieter now too. ‘It’s a Creswell heirloom, and…I owe it to Henry.’ There was a silence, and I closed my eyes, urging her to convince him not to go, but he spoke again. ‘Listen, I’m not risking anything, he doesn’t know I’ve even been over to Germany, let alone seen him. I should be able to find out what he’s done with it, and if he
hasn’t
got it any more I’ll come home. I promise.’

‘When will you go?’ Lizzy sounded resigned now, and I felt her pain. Just as I had had to accept Will’s decision to return to fighting, so she had, equally reluctantly, accepted this.

‘I’ll leave directly from France, as soon as this mess with young Archie is sorted out. We’ll need Kitty’s help though, I hope she’s up to coming back with me.’

‘Jack?’

‘Hmm?’

‘I love you, you know that, don’t you?’

A low chuckle. ‘I think you’ve proved that.’ He sighed, and the sound drifted through the wall as I imagined him tightening his hold on her. ‘And you know I love you. I’d do anything for you.’

‘Except stay,’ she said sadly, and then there was no more talking.

In the morning it was as if the exchange hadn’t happened. There was no mention of his leaving, and it was only the darker circles beneath Lizzy’s eyes that betrayed a sleepless night.

‘We’ll go and talk to Kitty today,’ she told me as she put a bowl of porridge in front of me. It was thick, laced with Dark River Farm honey, and the smell was warm and rich. It made me smile, despite my nervousness.

‘Just the two of us,’ I clarified, looking apologetically at Uncle Jack. He waved it away, already stuck well into his porridge.

‘She’s never met me, the last thing she’d need would be some old man rolling up while you three are discussing…’ he cleared his throat ‘…delicate matters.’

I looked at him with some amusement; at a little under forty years old he still looked thirty, square-shouldered and handsome, only the creases beside his eyes and the deepening of the lines around his mouth showing the toll these past few difficult years had taken on him. Judging from the way Lizzy raised an eyebrow I imagined her thoughts were the echoes of mine.

I grinned. ‘And what will the “old man” be doing while we’re up at the farm?’

‘Gardening,’ he said with satisfaction, and dropped the spoon into his empty bowl. He leaned back and patted his stomach. ‘Any more where that came from?’

Lizzy gave him a look. ‘No. There’s a war on, you know. Besides, you’ll get fat.’

Jack pulled a face and stood up. He leaned down to kiss Lizzy’s forehead, and she leaned against him for a moment. I looked away, not quite embarrassed, but feeling like an intruder on their quiet moment together. They both seemed to sense this and broke apart, and once more I felt a pang of envy for their closeness, and the way their minds were completely in tune.

Jack took his jacket down from the peg by the door, and I reflected how well the casual life suited him. He’d never been one to conform to social standards, but here, in this little kitchen with his garden outside and Lizzy within reach, he was more relaxed, and happier than I’d ever known him.

‘I’m sorry,’ I blurted.

They both looked surprised. ‘Sorry for what, love?’ Jack said.

‘For pulling you away from all this,’ I waved my spoon, ‘and sending you off to France.’

Jack came over to me and took my hand. He removed the spoon from my grip and drew me gently to my feet. The smell held deep in the fibres of his jacket was a comforting mixture of earth and bonfire smoke, and as I wrapped my arms around him I breathed it in, mingled with the smell of the warm, honeyed porridge. How had we ever lived in such isolated, sterile surroundings before?

‘You’re not pulling me anywhere, nor sending me,’ he said, his voice low and soothing. ‘Archie is my family, as are you, and all you’ve done is let me know he needs my help.’

‘Do you think we could send a wire to Archie, warn him not to send the message back to HQ?’

‘No, it’s too dangerous. We don’t know where he’s staying in Calais, although I could probably find out without too much problem. But even if we did, as far as everyone’s concerned he’s in England, and a message wouldonly throw a searchlight onto the whole thing. Better not to draw attention, and trust we get to him first.’ I nodded, and he released me with a gentle squeeze. ‘How’s your shoulder?’

‘It’s better than it was last night,’ I said. The ache had subsided with the aspirin and the water, and I had slept well for the remainder of the night. ‘I should be quite fit to travel in a day or two.’

‘You will not!’ Lizzy protested. ‘You’ll stay here until you’re properly mended.’

I exchanged a glance with Jack and we both smiled. ‘Yes, Lizzy,’ I said meekly. ‘Oh, Uncle Jack, I meant to say; I met someone who remembers you from Africa.’

‘Really? Who’s that?’

‘Lieutenant-Colonel Drewe.’

His expression brightened. ‘Ah, yes, I remember him. Good officer. Madly courageous.’

‘He said the same of you,’ I said, pleased.

Uncle Jack looked surprised, but gratified. ‘I remember he was sort of grandfatherly-looking, even back then,’ he went on. ‘Should think he looks every bit the grandfather now.’

‘He does. And he’s terribly kind. Not at all the type of brass hat you’d expect.’

‘Well, it’s good to know he’s back in active service. After he was injured at Rooiwal he changed quite a lot, became dependent on morphine for a while. We didn’t think he’d rejoin the military so I’m glad to hear things have turned around for him. He runs a tight ship, be a shame for that to have gone to waste.’

‘He spoke highly of both you and Father,’ I said.

‘Did he now? Well, he knew Henry rather better than he knew me.’

I smiled. ‘I have the feeling he knew you a bit better than you realise – said you had no sense of propriety.’