A Rose In Flanders Fields (31 page)

‘Damnable cheek,’ Uncle Jack said, though amiably enough. ‘Do give him my regards when you next see him.’

‘I will.’

‘And don’t go overdoing things while you’re here, all right?’

‘I won’t.’

‘And remember to change your bandages as often as you need to.’

‘I will.’

‘And don’t forget to write to your mother and Lawrence.’

‘I won’t.’

‘And –’

‘Jack!’ Lizzy broke in, and he grinned and ducked away from her well-aimed dishcloth, taking refuge behind the closing door. He opened it again just far enough to blow her a kiss, and she blew one back, and then he was gone.

After I had eaten my porridge I helped Lizzy clear away the plates. She locked the door behind her and the two of us set off up the road towards Dark River Farm. She had not for a moment entertained my suggestion that we should take the ambulance, and it was a relief to stretch my legs, wrapped up warm against the stiff breeze, where the only gun we heard was the occasional crack of a farmer keeping down vermin. I turned my thoughts from Will, where they kept trying to settle every time I thought about the way life was at the fighting front, and instead asked about the farm.

‘It’s a lovely place,’ I said. ‘Where did the name come from?’

‘There are woods that back onto it, at the southern edge of the boundary, and in front of that there’s a fairly small tributary of the River Dart. The trees cast a shadow over most of its length, and since they’re evergreen the river remains in darkness for a good deal of each day.’ She shot me a brief grin. ‘I know, you were hoping for something a little more exciting, weren’t you?’

‘Believe me, I’ve had more than enough excitement for one lifetime,’ I assured her. ‘And what of Mr Adams? Is he still…I mean, did he…’

‘He died, yes. In the first year of the war.’

‘Poor Mrs Adams.’

‘She’s bearing up. She has a lot of help – the girlsare a good substitute family for her, and I’ve seen the man who collects the milk give her the glad eye when he comes over.’

‘And does she return it?’

Lizzy grinned. ‘She pretends he drives her crackers, but I do think she welcomes it, yes.’ She touched my arm, and her voice was gentle. ‘Evie, I know things look bleak now, but they must be well again someday, mustn’t they? We just have to push through this, and hope for the best.’ We were silent for a while as we walked, and I looked across the moors, the woodlands dotted here and there, the valleys spread out below and the occasional farmhouse nestled against the steep slopes. Rain-wet huddles of granite glistened against the green, and the harsh landscape soothed my thoughts, and I began to dare to hope things might just be all right after all.

Chapter Twenty

The chilly wind cut through our clothes as we came within sight of Dark River Farm, and it was wonderful to step into the warm, fragrant kitchen. There was no one there, but we found Kitty upstairs in the main bedroom, stripping the beds. She looked up with a ready smile that died when she saw me; it was clear that, in this case, absence had not made the heart grow fonder, nor had it softened the anger she felt towards me, and it was only going to get harder once I told her what I had come to say.

I looked around at Lizzy, who stood in the doorway, uncertain, then back to Kitty. ‘I have to talk to you, is it all right if we sit here?’

‘Of course. I hope you’re keeping well.’

Her well-bred formality took me aback somewhat, but it was better than the outright hostility to which she had every right. I realised she didn’t know about our little cottage yet, nor about Gertie, and groaned inwardly; if only I had some good news to tell her, but it was all absolutely awful.

Lizzy came into the room and closed the door behind her. ‘You look a bit peaky, love. Are you feeling all right?’

‘It’s just a cold,’ Kitty said. ‘And I’m a bit tired, I was out early this morning with Jane and Sally.’

‘Where’s Mrs Adams?’

‘Gone to the village. She’ll be back soon.’ Kitty glanced at me. ‘She told me she saw you early yesterday.’

I wondered if I had imagined betrayal in that the little look, that I’d been here and not come in to see her, and nearly blurted out defensively that I’d thought she was at the cottage. But instead I just said, ‘She invited us to come up for a chat.’

‘She asks after you often, she’ll be glad to see you again.’

‘I wish you were.’

She shrugged. ‘I’m glad you’re safe,’ she said, and that was the best I could hope for. ‘What did you want to talk about?’

I sat on the bare mattress, wondering where to start. I had considered telling her about Gertie first, then the ambulance base, and only then building up to the terrible situation with Oliver, but in the end I just went straight to the very worst.

‘Oliver has deserted.’

‘He…what?
What?
’

‘He was on his way back here, to try and talk to you about what happened, but he disappeared from the station.’ The girl flinched and swallowed hard, as if she had been on the verge of being sick, but waited for me to go on. ‘You have to be the one to name the man who attacked you, or else I’ll be accused of putting words into your mouth. But I know who it was. He knew the car was booked to me that night, so of course you’d be alone.’

The way she paled told me all I needed to know, had I still been in any doubt, and I told her about Archie’s plan. She looked more hopeful at that, but I had to be sure she understood the consequences. ‘Kitty, Oliver might have got away now, but he will be found in the end.’ I made her look at me. ‘He’ll be court-martialled. You know what might mean for him, and for Archie.’

Kitty’s eyes were wide and bloodshot in her white face. ‘What can I do?’

‘You must think hard about where he might be. How we might find him and persuade him to go back. And then you must come to France with us and give your story.’

‘What happened to your neck?’ she said suddenly.

‘There was…it doesn’t matter.’

‘I’m not a child! What’s happened?’

‘We were shelled,’ I said. ‘Number Twelve is gone. I’m so sorry, darling, Anne was killed.’

She fell silent and her hand twisted in mine but it didn’t feel as if she was trying to pull away, so I kept hold of her. Eventually she drew a ragged breath. ‘What do I have to say, and who to?’

I sagged in relief, and put my arm around her. ‘Come back to Lizzy’s house with us. Uncle Jack will be there, he’ll tell you what to do. Thank you.’

She pulled away, and her face was suddenly cold. ‘I’m not doing this for you. This is your fault as much as
this
is.’ She gestured at her belly. ‘You seem so nice, Evie, but you just destroy everything. My family will never speak to me again, and now Oli and Archie may both die. You shouldn’t have told them, I begged you not to, but
you
knew better! You don’t care whose lives you trample on, or who gets hurt. No wonder your husband couldn’t wait to get back to the trenches.’

I sat in complete shock, my insides twisting in anguish, but Lizzy was not going to stand idly by. ‘Kitty Maitland, how dare you! Evie has done everything she can to help you; that
one
night she left you, she was trying to save her marriage. Besides, you said yourself, you’re not a child! Evie has worked alone on that road before, many times. All the other drivers do, she told me so, and you wanted to be just the same. If something had happened to her, and it might just as easily have done, would
you
have stood up and accepted the blame the way she’s doing?’

Kitty stared, her mouth open, but Lizzy hadn’t finished, and her voice was pure fury. ‘She has taken you under her wing, taught you everything you need to know to save countless lives, brought you here to be safe, and now she’s risking her health to make sure you get back to France and put right what
your
brother has done!’

‘Her health?’ Kitty managed.

‘Oliver tricked Archie and Evie into helping him desert! Evie wanted him to come here and talk to you, persuade you to tell the army what happened. Not just for your sake, you selfish little madam, but for the sake of every single girl out there. And now, when she should be resting, she’s putting herself through all sorts on your account.’

‘Lizzy,’ I protested, as she stopped for breath, ‘Kitty’s not selfish, she’s right.’

‘She is not! She had a right to feel a little let down at first, but you have more than made up for your small part in what happened, you know you have.’

I didn’t know what to say, and neither did Kitty, we just sat next to one another on the unmade bed, looking at Lizzy who, despite her diminutive stature, seemed to fill the room. Her hands were braced on her slender hips, and her bright blue eyes blazed at the two of us, waiting for one of us to speak.

I was the first to find my voice. ‘Well, it’s no wonder Uncle Jack is scared of you.’

Lizzy looked back at me, amazed, and then gave a yelp of laughter. Kitty’s hand crept into mine, and when I looked at her she was blinking back tears.

‘She’s right, I’m sorry,’ she said in a quiet, hiccupping voice.

‘Don’t be,’ I said. ‘Just try and think about where Oli might have gone. And promise me you’re going to tell the truth about what happened.’

‘I will.’

‘It will be hard, and people will accuse you of awful things.’

‘My family have already disowned me, I’m ruined. It can’t hurt now.’ Her words were brave but her voice shook, and I smoothed her hair, the abundant red curls springing back under my hand. I remembered Oliver’s hair, so similar, and at the reminder of his youth my anger towards him faded a little. Still, he had abandoned his sister just as surely as her parents had, and the anger did not retreat far.

It struck me then that the three of us in this room had all had our own youth torn away far too soon; by different things, but just as surely as one another. Lizzy to Holloway, myself to the war, and Kitty to the terrible experience that had turned her, at the age of nineteen, into a middle-aged woman with too much knowledge in her sad green eyes.

‘We’ll look after you, sweetheart,’ I said, my voice cracking, ‘both of you.’

‘But you’ll be going back to Flanders, and I’ll just be here getting in the way once the baby’s born.’

‘You won’t be in the way, love,’ Lizzy said, calmer now. She sat down on Kitty’s other side. ‘You’ll be amongst real friends, just remember that.’

Kitty looked from Lizzy to me and back again, and took a deep breath. ‘Do you promise?’

‘I swear on Mrs Adams’s bread pudding,’ Lizzy said solemnly, and was rewarded with a weak smile. ‘Right, now let’s give you a hand with these beds since we’ve kept you talking. Not you,’ she said to me, as I rose, prepared to help. ‘You don’t want to put any strain on that shoulder.’

‘All right. I’ll go and make some tea instead, shall I?’

‘Good idea,’ Lizzy said, ‘and then we’ll talk to Jack about where to start looking for Kitty’s brother.’ She picked up the clean sheet from the basket. ‘Right, Miss Kitty, blow your nose, get your thinking cap on, and in the meantime let’s get this job done before Mrs Adams gets home.’

Later that afternoon Lizzy looked at me with amused exasperation. ‘I don’t understand you, Evie. You’re out there –’

‘Don’t,’ I warned, but she ignored me.

‘Out there facing bombs, bullets, gas, goodness knows what else –’

‘Lizzy…’

‘You’ve been shelled, frozen, half-starved, wounded –’

‘All right!’

‘Are you going in, then?’

‘Yes!’

‘Good girl.’ She held the door open for me and, taking a deep breath, I went in.

The doctor spent a long time looking, making tutting noises, and prodding around my gum. Now and again he would touch a bit of sharp tooth and I would squawk, causing him to draw back and raise one eyebrow; no doubt his thoughts echoed Lizzy’s. It was all very well, but when one is in the thick of things there’s no time to anticipate pain, which is the hardest bit. Sitting in this chair, however, all I could think about was how it would feel when he picked up the forceps and applied them to the shattered mess at the back of my mouth.

Lizzy picked up my hand, sensing the time for good-natured teasing was past. ‘Soon be over,’ she said. ‘Doctor, it’s very good of you to see Evie at such short notice.’

‘Glad to be of help. Can’t have her going back to fight the Hun if she can’t even eat,’ he murmured. ‘Are you sure you don’t want any Procaine?’ he asked, before he carried on. ‘I know I said it’s in short supply, but we do have some.’

‘If it’s in short supply, then you need it,’ I said, trying to sound firm. I’d seen boys put up with infinitely worse treatment without crying out; I must be as strong as I willed them to be, and this must be over soon, in any case.

I could sense Doctor Nichols being careful not to jog my shoulder, but in all honesty a good jolt of pain there might have provided a welcome distraction; I have always loathed, beyond measure, the necessity for dental work, which is why I looked after my teeth to an almost obsessive degree and was glad Will was the same. I turned my thoughts in his direction, picturing his strong, white teeth showing in his dimpled smile. It helped a little.

Lizzy stayed at my side while the doctor bent and picked broken shards of tooth out of my swollen, sore gum. I had my eyes closed but I could hear the breath hissing between her teeth in sympathy whenever he tugged a bit and made me whimper. There were pieces that had driven into my gum, which had begun to heal over the top, and when these came free my whimpers turned to little yelps and Lizzy’s hand tightened on mine.

The doctor paused now and again to let me swill my mouth out with tepid water, before pressing me gently back down and setting to work once more. When he had pulled all the shattered fragments out, he put a wad of cotton into my mouth and gradually the coppery taste of blood subsided. It seemed to have taken hours, but a glance at the clock told me it had been less than twenty minutes. Jack would be outside with his car, waiting to take us back to Dark River Farm, and a night’s rest before setting off with Kitty in the morning in search of Oliver. I looked forward to just sitting, talking to him and Lizzy, putting the frightening situation to the back of my mind for one blissful night, maybe sipping a warming drop of whisky…