Page 12 of Whispers At Dawn
That night, when Lizzie lay her weary head on her pillow in her cosy bedroom in the Regent’s Park house, her mind buzzed with ideas, and she couldn’t sleep. When she did finally drift off, she dreamt she was gazing out over lavender fields and sipping wine in a château on the outskirts of Toulouse with her beloved husband.
CHAPTER 6
‘It really is grossly unfair. You get to have all the fun,’ Lizzie’s youngest sister, Evie, complained at breakfast, a scowl distorting her freckled face.
‘If only you knew how dull it all is,’ Lizzie countered as she spread a thin layer of marmalade on her toast.
‘I don’t care, Liz, really I don’t. I just want to do my bit for the war, like you.’
Evie had blossomed into a beautiful young woman during the past year and Lizzie couldn’t treat her like a child any longer, even though she sometimes still behaved like one.
Rose, the girls’ mother, hovered near the table. ‘You’re doing your bit in the sewing circle, darling. I thought you liked that.’
Evie shook her head. ‘I do like it Ma, but it’s not enough. It’s time for me to find a proper job, like Liz and Juliet.’
‘Jules could get you something at the MTC, couldn’t you, Jules?’ Lizzie asked her sister who was reading the paper and sipping tea in a world of her own.
She looked up briefly. ‘Pardon?’
Lizzie repeated the question.
‘Hmm, yes, I suppose there might be something available. I could ask.’
Evie released a dramatic, long-suffering sigh. ‘I don’t know the first thing about cars and, frankly, I’m not interested in learning. I want to do something more exciting like Lizzie does with the FANYs.’
‘What on earth gave you the idea that what I do is exciting?’ Lizzie asked, her stomach jangling nervously. Had she given something away and Evie knew more than she had let on?
‘I listened to a programme on the radio about the FANYs and all the different things they get involved in. It sounds like an adventure,’ Evie replied.
Lizzie released a measured sigh, and her shoulders relaxed. It was never far from her mind that she’d slip up and, inadvertently, her family would discover the truth about her clandestine life.
Members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, known as the FANYs, performed a variety of duties and the organisation was used as a smokescreen for female members of the SOE. Lizzie had been assigned and issued a uniform the previous year, and Val explained it would serve as the perfect cover. Jack was promoted to the rank of captain, so he would blend into the war effort and not stand out.
Lizzie thought it was a hopeless cause because Jack always stood out, and never more so than when he wore his captain’s uniform.
Pa cast a knowing look at Lizzie. It conveyed,Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.
Not for the first time, she thanked God that her father knew the truth and she could trust him to keep her secret.
‘Let me see if I can find something administrative for you at the War Office, Evie,’ he said.
‘That’s good of you, Pa, but I want to do something more active. I know Lizzie’s role isn’t all that exciting, but I was hoping she might speak to her captain and see if there’s something forme, too. I think I’d like to be posted to another city. By the sounds of it on the radio, there are some exciting jobs.’
Rose interjected, ‘We have quite enough to worry about, thank you very much. Lizzie’s been posted to Oxford. Lord knows where Archie is. We haven’t heard from him in over a month, and then there’s dear Oliver. When was it you last heard from him, darling?’
Juliet replied she had received a letter from her fiancé two weeks ago.
They all did their best in their own way to quash Evie’s enthusiasm for flying the nest. She was the baby of the family and Lizzie thought there was something horribly unsettling about the thought of her little sister not being at home when she returned.
Evie had always been strong-willed, and Lizzie doubted they had succeeded in talking her out of her decision to find an exciting job.
Evie’s copper curls bobbed about as she reached across the table to claim a piece of toast. ‘Anyway, I must go in a minute, but I’m serious. Lizzie, please will you ask lover boy if there is a position for me in the FANYs? He has contacts, doesn’t he?’
Now it was Lizzie’s turn to scowl, and her cheeks flushed pale pink. ‘Why do you insist on saying things like that? Captain Jack King is my commanding officer, and that’s all.’
Evie was the only member of the family who suspected Lizzie was in love with Jack. She’d seen them share a stolen kiss and she never let Lizzie forget it. Lizzie had sworn her to secrecy and threatened all kinds of wrath would rain down on her baby sister’s head if she didn’t stay silent about what she’d seen. But Evie wasn’t easily contained.
Lizzie shot her a warning look, and Evie smiled back mischievously and stood up.
