War Orphans (39 page)

Sally was less convinced. ‘Are you really sure it's the only way?'

Seb assured her it was. ‘A fox will keep coming back until he's had the lot – even if he isn't hungry. He'll bury them in the ground for when the hunting is scarce. Call it part of the war effort – conservation of food and all that.'

‘You'll catch your death of cold.'

Seb took no notice. Three days later he was in bed with a cold.

‘Stay there and drink your cocoa,' Sally ordered him, though he grumbled and swore the fox would know if he wasn't around. Her father did not make a good patient.

Joanna sat on the end of his bed, Harry as usual at her side.

‘Are you sure he'll be back,' Joanna asked him, her arm looped around Harry's neck.

‘Bound to be. And who's going to deal with him if I'm not around? Tell me that, will you!'

Sally folded her arms and sighed. Her father could be so stubborn. The orphanage had become his world and the animals were a very great part of it.

Even Joanna couldn't imagine living anywhere else now, though being adopted and living apart from the other children was difficult to get used to.

Stanleybridge was changed beyond recognition and the new regime showed in the happy faces of their changes.

Reassured of her situation. Joanna joined in with the others at play and attended the lessons provided by Sally and Miss Baker. Setting up a proper school was a provision her ladyship and the new children's welfare officer had insisted on.

Seb continued to grumble about the fox.

Sally and Joanna, the latter having made the cocoa herself, looked at each other.

Sally's mind was made up. ‘I won't sleep out there, but we have the gun if needs be. Will that suit you?'

Joanna took all this in. She loved Harry most of all, but she also loved Sally and Seb. The Hadleys had taken her in and she owed them a lot. Perhaps this was the time to repay some of that kindness. Seb wasn't well and needed to stay in bed.

Her eyes danced when the idea popped into her mind. She would sleep out in the barn and Harry would sleep there with her. Together they would outsmart that wily old fox!

She considered telling Sally her plan but decided against it. Sally would not allow it, but if it meant Seb – her new dad – staying in bed, then surely it had to be a good idea.

That night Joanna went upstairs to her own bedroom in the quarters set aside for the Hadleys, which took up one half of the west wing of the house.

Joanna's room was cosy with a pale pink rug and a window looking out over the orchard at the back of the house. There was a bathroom between her room and the one where Sally slept. Seb's room was on the same side but a bit further along. A corridor ran between the bedrooms, a rank of windows looking out over the front of the house.

Although Harry had his own basket, he slept on the end of Joanna's bed. Tonight was no different.

She didn't know what time it was when she woke up until she heard the church clock striking three in the morning.

Sometimes when she woke up it was because she was afraid that Elspeth was in the room and that she hadn't really been killed when the bomb was dropped on the house. Despite Sally's reassurances, her stepmother's presence was only slowly fading away. Tonight she felt no such presence.

‘Shhh,' she said, holding her finger against her lips. ‘We're off to nab that fox, but you'll have to be quiet.'

Once she was sure everyone was asleep, she dressed quickly, grabbed a blanket and crept out. Holding her shoes in one hand
so she wouldn't make a noise, she negotiated the stairs and the door to the outside. Harry followed, sounding breathless with excitement.

Thanks to the blackout, the house was in total darkness.

A sudden creaking put Joanna on her guard. The sound seemed to come from overhead. Another followed that seemed to come from another quarter of the sprawling old house.

In the dim light she saw Harry look up at her then wag his tail. She took a deep breath. If Harry wasn't frightened then neither was she.

Having had the presence of mind to put on her coat, she didn't feel the cold. Once she'd put on her shoes she turned the handle on the door that led outside and made her way to the barn.

The barn had big double doors at both end but a smaller one set into the stonework. This was the door Joanna would go through.

The night air made her cheeks tingle and a slight breeze ruffled her hair and chilled her ears. She took out the torch in her pocket, turned it on and shone it towards the ground.

Harry's breath escaped in clouds of steam and his tongue flopped over his jaw.

He wasn't looking at her but with great interest at the door she was pulling open.

Joanna had come to know her dog very well. She eyed him intently and whispered, ‘What's up, boy?'

Harry had gone rigid. He was looking straight ahead, the roots of his floppy ears seeming to tighten against his head. All the signs were there that Harry perceived something or someone was inside the barn that shouldn't be there.

‘Is it the fox?'

It surprised Joanna when she saw his stumpy tail wag once or twice, as though he were in two minds whether the intruder should be welcomed or sent packing.

The darkness inside the barn was total, the smell of hay sweet and warm.

The old horse nickered in a comfortable manner, as though to say he was happy and content and did they really have to disturb him at this time of night?

‘It's all right, Benny. It's only us.' Joanna called to him in a low voice as she closed the door behind her.

She had earmarked a spot close to the roosting chickens where she could sleep in safety and warmth until the fox put in an appearance.

She hadn't brought a gun but she had brought Harry. Harry was a hero. He would know exactly what to do and the fox would run away.

She flashed her torch over the chicken run, apprehensive in case the despicable creature already been and taken another bird. To her great relief nothing had been disturbed. The chicken wire was still taut where Seb had carried out the repair.

A grunting snort, something like the sound Seb made when he woke up from dozing, came from the stack of straw bales piled next to Benny's stall.

In response the horse whinnied and stamped his feet.

Up until now Joanna had felt excited at the prospect of sleeping out. Now she wondered if it had been such a great idea after all.

‘Harry,' she whispered. ‘Where are you?'

Straw rustled and suddenly there was a rustling sound, as though bales of straw were tumbling down.

Harry began to bark, a long outpouring of barks, sharp, high and excited.

The fox
, thought Joanna.
He is here! He is really here!
What would she do if it came her way?

Harry. Harry will deal with it.

‘Be brave,' she said to herself, focusing the torch to where the piles of hay and straw were stored. Among the bales she perceived a dark shadow, close to the ground at first, then suddenly rising up from the tumbled bales.

Elspeth! Elspeth has found her!

Joanna screamed and dropped the torch. Harry barked frantically, his legs darting in and out of the beam of light.

Up at the house, Sally heard the frantic barking and got out of bed, reaching for her dressing gown and searching out her slippers with her feet.

A distinctive bark. Harry!

The dogs in the kennels joined in, at first one or two, then a cacophony of sound.

Sally rushed out onto the landing knowing before she even got there that her father had also heard the noise. So had some of the other members of staff and children, flowing in a human tide down the stairs.

Seb was out on the landing in his pyjamas, a hat on his head and his feet bare. He was carrying the shotgun. Sally grabbed it off him.

‘Oh no you don't! Get back to bed this minute.'

‘That fox!'

‘I'll get him.'

‘You'll miss.'

Sally won the battle for the gun. The fox had to be dealt with, but as she headed into the dim light at the top of the stairs a more important thought hit her. It was Harry she'd heard first. Wherever Harry was there also was Joanna!

‘Where's Joanna?'

Seb understood her meaning and immediately flung open Joanna's bedroom door and switched on the light. Her bed was empty.

‘I'll get my coat.'

Gun broken down so it wouldn't go off accidently, Sally tucked it under her arm and headed downstairs. Just before she reached the barn she snapped the two halves firmly together, clenched her jaw and prepared to shoot the intruder.

As she reached the barn door, the noise from the kennels fell away and she could no longer hear Harry barking his head off.

She slipped inside the barn, her heart dancing the samba.

She couldn't see a thing. Damn it! She'd forgotten to bring a torch.

‘Who's there? Come out or I'll shoot.'

Not realising her mouth was dry, the words came out rasped when she'd meant it to be shouted. Her hands shook as she aimed the gun, her finger wavering on the trigger.

‘Get down, Joanna. I'm going to fire!'

‘Don't do that!'

Somebody crashed into her, knocking her off balance.

The gun went off, the muzzle springing upright. Feathers floated down and a barn owl squawked before it bid a hasty retreat. Harry yelped and Joanna cried out.

A pair of strong hands wrenched the gun from Sally's grasp. ‘I think I had better take this.'

Sally had the immediate urge to pinch herself. Was she in a dream? She hadn't heard that voice for so long. ‘Pierre!'

He brought up the torch Joanna had brought with her, which he'd retrieved from the floor. The light endowed their faces with deep shadows and gold light. His kiss was instant, failing to give her the chance to even check her breath let alone to ask questions.

Voices, some excited, some questioning, sounded from outside.

‘Harry! Where's Harry?'

‘Where's Joanna?'

Lines of tiredness were etched into Pierre's face made more severe in the light of the torch. His mouth was still voluptuous, his eyes somehow darker. Later he would tell her he'd seen things he never wished to see again. But for now he nodded at the scene outside the barn door.

‘I think we need to see what's going on out there.'

The children and staff who'd gathered outside lifted paraffin lanterns and torches. Joanna appeared, but she looked frantic. ‘I don't know where Harry is!'

Everyone wanted to know if Sally had shot the fox and the identity of the tramp standing at her side.

‘No fox,' said Pierre. ‘Only me.'

‘Are you hurt?' It was a small girl who asked, her eyes as round as marbles.

‘Trust me. I am not hurt. Not at all.'

Seb entered the barn still wearing his pyjamas and hat, plus his trusty work boots.

Joanna was calling for Harry who was nowhere to be seen. The other kids began doing the same, a chorus of ‘Harry's rising into the night.

‘Well,' said Seb before noticing Pierre. ‘I'm going to write to that farmer who's been after buying Harry as a gun dog.'

A multitude of sucked in breaths followed. Surely he wasn't going to let the farmer have Harry.

Pierre shone the torch onto Seb's animated face.

Seb grinned. ‘Harry can't be a gun dog. Looks like he's run off. Obviously he's none too keen on the sound of guns.'

Sally gripped Pierre's hands, noting how rough they felt and how tired he looked. ‘What are you doing out here? Why didn't you come up to the house?'

‘It's been a long journey. I've been out of touch so I went to Ambrose House first but found it requisitioned by the War Office. I found out my aunt was here and so were you. I can't believe it. I can't believe I'm here.'

He hugged her so tightly she could barely breathe, her face tight against his shoulder. Sally closed her eyes and said his name over and over again.

His explanation poured into her ear. ‘I was determined to get here but didn't arrive until about an hour ago. I did not wish to wake anyone up at this time of night. I intended sleeping in the barn until the morning.'

Sally tilted her head back and looked into his face. ‘I can't believe we thought you were the fox.'

A smile brightened his face. ‘Monsieur Reynard?'

Tears in her eyes, her face lit with smiles, Sally nodded. ‘So much has happened.'

‘I can believe that.'

‘I have a new sister,' she whispered close to his ear. ‘She came out here to guard the chickens from the fox and found you.'

‘Lucky for you that you have such a sister. What's her name?'

‘Joanna. Her name's Joanna. She's gone to find her dog. His name's Harry.'

‘Party's over! Everyone back to bed,' shouted Seb. He could tell by the looks passing between his daughter and Pierre that they wanted to be alone.

Children and staff began to fall away. Joanna had found Harry and was speaking to him softly, telling him everything would be all right.

‘How about me and Harry sleep in the barn and chase the fox off when he comes?'

Seb threw her a direct look. ‘How about you get to bed so you're up for school in the morning?'

Excitement over, everyone made their way back to the house and their beds, and the old building went back to its creaking, groaning silence. The night air and the interrupted sleep had made everyone tired – with the exception of Sally and Pierre. She led him to the kitchen and made him sit at the table while she put the kettle on to boil.

Despite the kiss in the barn, an awkward silence hung between them.

Sally scrutinised the scarecrow of a man who sat dirty and dishevelled at the kitchen table. His face was haggard, his hair dirty and in need of a cut. A week's growth of beard bristled on his cheeks.

He was wearing a seaman's duffel coat, the dark cloth sparkling with dried salt. He smelled of fatigue, dry sweat and the sea.