Where Bluebells Chime

Good old Chiefie. He’d teach them the morse code if it was the last bloody thing he did, he said at the start of their training. And taught them he had, Drew grinned. DWRX805 Telegraphist Sutton A. he was now, and seven shillings a week extra at pay parade because of it.

He pulled back his shoulders and set off at a quick pace. They always said that the longest part of any journey was the last mile home and now there was only a hundred yards to go. A hundred strides, and he was there!

He should have known someone would be waiting and watching because all at once the doors were thrown open and his mother was calling, waving, running to meet him. And Grandmother standing at the top of the steps with Nathan and Tilda and Mary.

‘Drew!’ Mother and son held each other tightly.

‘Hullo, dearest …’ It was all he could say because all at once there was nothing to say – nothing that mattered.

He gathered his grandmother gently in his arms, kissing her softly, whispering, ‘Missed you, Gran.’ And the words were hard to say so he clasped Nathan’s hand tightly then kissed Mary and Tilda. And Mary blushed hotly and Tilda closed her eyes and smiled broadly. Then it all came right and all at once everything was happiness and homecoming.

‘Hecky!’ Tilda shrieked, and rushed off in a tizzy.

‘She’s got cherry scones in the oven,’ Mary supplied, which made everyone laugh because special days at Rowangarth had always been cherry-scone days ever since anyone could remember.

‘It’s good to be home,’ Drew laughed because suddenly it seemed as if he had never been away.

‘I’ve just noticed,’ Julia frowned. ‘Where is your hat?’

‘Cap, Mother.’

‘Well, where is it – and your kit?’

‘I left everything at the lodge.’ Hammock, kitbag, respirator, greatcoat. In his eagerness to see Rowangarth he could carry them no further. ‘I hitched a lift from Holdenby station. There was a tractor passing with a trailer behind it. People always give lifts to uniforms. He dropped me off right at the gate lodge. I’ll borrow a wheelbarrow from Catchpole later, and collect my stuff.’

‘But you should have phoned from York. I’d have picked you up.’

‘There was a queue for the phone boxes and you know how long it takes to get through these days. Anyway, what about your petrol coupons?’

‘Blow the petrol!’ Drew was home. Nothing else mattered.

‘Shall we all have tea?’ Helen smiled. ‘And will someone tell me – where did Cook find glacé cherries for the scones?’

Such things – dried fruit for cakes, too – had disappeared completely since war came, she had thought. People were even hoarding the last of their prunes now, to chop finely into pieces and hope they would pass for currants.

‘I think, Mother, she has some squirrelled away in a screw-top jar – for special occasions.’

‘Good old Tilda,’ Drew laughed.

A cherry-scone tea in the conservatory. All at once, his war was a million miles away.

Later, when Drew had collected his kit and returned the wheelbarrow to its proper place, Julia took her son’s cap and regarded it, eyebrows raised.

‘HMS, Drew? HMS what?’

‘Barracks is known as HMS Drake, Mother, but we can’t use a ship’s name now. It would tell the enemy which warships are in port, for one thing.’

‘So you’ll only ever have HMS on your cap?’ Julia felt mildly cheated.

‘Afraid so – for the duration. That’s why all the signposts have been removed. We don’t want to let paratroopers know exactly where they have dropped, now do we?’ He was careful to make light of it, to smile as he said it, because most people thought that the invasion, if it came, would be airborne – after a softening-up of bombing, that was. ‘But don’t worry. The south coast, if you could see it, is thick with ack-ack guns and barrage balloons, and there are a lot of fighter stations all along the coast and around London. You’d be surprised the way we’ve got ourselves organized so quickly after Dunkirk,’ he supplied with the authority of one who had seen almost six months’ service in the armed forces.

‘So do you think there’ll be an invasion, Drew?’ Julia was eager for any small word of comfort.

‘Not until I’ve had my leave,’ he grinned. ‘I specially stipulated not until Drew Sutton had had his ten days …’

‘They say it won’t be yet. More like September-ish, when the tides are right,’ Julia pressed, refusing to make light of it.

‘I heard that, too. The old hands in barracks seem to think so. And by then we’ll be ready for them. They’ve got to cross the Channel, remember.’

‘They could fly men across it, Drew.’

‘They could, but only in isolated pockets. They’d soon be mopped up.’

‘By the Home Guard!’ Julia’s apprehension returned. ‘But the Holdenby lot haven’t been given rifles yet!’

‘Mother! We’ve got an army, too. We got the best part of it out of France, don’t forget.’ It came as a shock to him to realize how worried the civilian population had become. ‘Now tell me – where is that nurse who went to France? The Germans didn’t frighten you and Lady then!’

‘Alice and I didn’t go to France to fight. We went to nurse the wounded. And you’ll have to pop over to Keeper’s – let her know you’ve arrived. Daisy won’t be home from work yet, but Alice will be expecting you.’ Julia reached up to place his cap jauntily on the back of his head. ‘There, now you look very smart. Dinner’s at seven, so don’t be too long.’

Drew shifted his cap to the more orthodox position, low on his forehead, then saluted his mother smartly. Determinedly, Julia pushed her fears from her thoughts. She would not spoil her son’s leave by worrying about what Hitler would do next. She had longed to see Drew since the day he’d left home, and the invasion could wait – until September!

Drew stood at the gate of Keeper’s Cottage, gave a low, slow whistle then called, ‘Hullo, there! The fleet’s in!’

Alice dropped the log basket she was carrying across the yard, spinning round in amazement.

‘Drew! It is you!’ In no time she was in his arms, tears brimming. Then she pushed him away from her, dabbing her eyes with the corner of her pinafore, reaching up to cup his face in gentle hands. ‘You’ve grown, I swear it – and you’re thinner,’ she accused.

‘Tilda will soon feed me up,’ he laughed, kissing her fondly. ‘And don’t cry – please don’t cry.’

‘I’m not crying,’ she sniffed, shaping her lips into a smile, ‘but it seems no time at all since you were a little thing, gazing up at me, saying, “Hullo, lady …”’

‘And I’ve called you Lady ever since, haven’t I?’

‘That you have, love, and you’ve grown up into a – a man to be proud of.’

She never called him son. From the day he’d been born, almost, he had been Julia’s; had belonged to Rowangarth, his inheritance.

‘And you, Lady, are very special to me. You’ll keep sending letters, you and Daisy? They’re very important to sailors.’

‘We’ll keep them coming,’ she smiled, in charge of her emotions again. ‘Daisy won’t be in for an hour yet, and Tom’s out setting up snares. Catches as many rabbits as he can. They’re like gold dust now. Everybody’s after them – rabbits not being on the ration. Are you coming in?’

‘Later. I’ve got to do the rounds first. Orders from Mother. But I’ll call later on, when Daisy is home.’

‘Tomorrow’s her half-day off. You’ll have a lot to talk about, the pair of you. The silly young madam’s gone and – but she’ll tell you herself.’ She reached on tiptoe to kiss him again. ‘You’re so like Giles, you know. You get more like him every day.’

She lifted her hand, a blessing almost, as he turned at the gate to smile a goodbye.

So very like Giles Sutton, her first husband, that it made her believe there really was a God in heaven. There had to be, or Drew would have looked like the man who fathered him – and that would have been nothing short of a tragedy.

She lifted her eyes to the late-afternoon sky. ‘Thanks, at least, for that …’ she whispered.

‘No more uniform, no more war, for nine days.’ Drew pulled a stem of grass, then nibbled on the soft white end. ‘Duty done, Daiz. Mother insisted I visit Reuben, Mrs Shaw and Jinny Dobb – by which time the entire village would have seen me in my uniform. I think she’s rather proud of me, but it’s good to get into civvie clothes again.’

He gazed lazily into the dapple of leaves and sunlight above him. Hands behind her head, Daisy lay beside him in the wild garden.

‘Remember, Drew, when we were kids? We used to lie here, all six of us, in the long grass, just talking – sometimes not even talking.’ Just glad to be together, she supposed.

‘The Clan. And now there’s only you and me.’

‘And Tatty, don’t forget. She’ll be along later. She’s gone to Creesby to get her hair trimmed. She’ll come, though, now she knows you’re home.’

‘The whole Riding knows I’m home,’ Drew sighed contentedly. ‘It’s as if I’ve never been away – well, it seems like it, lying here. Wish Keth and Kitty and Bas could suddenly appear – oh, Daiz! I’m sorry!’

‘Don’t be. And you don’t wish it half as much as I do. But I’m feeling good today. Four letters came this morning – two of them from Washington. Keth’s got a job there, but not one word about what he’s doing. I miss him, Drew. Half of me wants him home; the other half wants him to stay safe in America so they can’t call him up. And that’s an awful thing to say, isn’t it, when you’ve been called up for six months, almost?’

‘Do you think he’ll manage to get back home? It’s a pretty dicey crossing from America these days, and difficult for civilians to get a permit to sail, I believe. Between you and me, Daiz, we’re losing more shipping in the Atlantic than the Government tells us about. And there’s no chance at all of him flying over.’

‘I know. There’s nothing I can do about it, I suppose. If he manages to get back – well fine. If he doesn’t, at least I won’t have to go through what Mam and Aunt Julia went through in their war – and, oh! I shouldn’t have said that, either – not when you’re already fighting, Drew. I’m sorry.’

‘’S all right, Daiz. And I’m not fighting – not just yet. When my leave is over, though, I think I’ll get a ship pretty quickly.’ He closed his eyes, breathing slowly, deeply; smiling contentment. ‘But right now, I’m enjoying being here and I’m not going to think of going back till next Saturday.’

‘Next Saturday is Mary’s wedding. You’ll miss it. She’ll be ever so disappointed.’

‘Yes, she said so. But we’d better not talk about weddings, had we?’

‘Best not. And next year, when I’m twenty-one, don’t even think of mentioning weddings. That’s when we’d have been getting married. Expect I’ll weep all day. On the other hand, though, I might not.’ She sat up, arms clasped round her knees, then turning to face him she whispered, ‘I might not be here, you see. I volunteered, three weeks ago, for the Wrens.’

‘You did – what?’

‘Signed up. I thought – what the heck! Drew’s in the Navy so that’ll do for me. I was fed up …’

‘Fed up? We call that chocker in the Navy.’

‘Okay – so I’m learning. I was chocker with that shop so I went in my dinner hour and did it. And I signed Dada’s name, too. I had to because I’m still a minor. He hit the roof, Drew. In the end, Mam gave us both a telling-off and it has sort of died down now because I haven’t heard another word from them.’

‘Not even about your medical?’

‘Nope. But I heard they were pretty choosy. Maybe I won’t hear any more.’

‘I think you will. There were two Wrens on my training course and they were smashing. And the Wrens who work in barracks are okay, too. You’ll look great in the uniform, Daiz. One of the blokes in our mess saw your photograph and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Where did you find a bit of crackling like that, Sutton?” he asked me, and I told him under a gooseberry bush – that you were my sister. I’ll tell him you’re joining the Wrens,’ he grinned. ‘It’ll make his day!’

‘Then you’d better tell him I’m engaged, too – and, Drew, can we walk? I’ve got something else to tell you.’

‘Which necessitates walking?’

‘Yes – oh, no! But it’s going to take a bit of explaining after so long, you see. And I hope you won’t think I’ve been sneaky and secretive about it, but nobody knows – well, only Mam and Dada and Aunt Julia. And Keth, of course.’

‘I’m curious. Where shall we go?’

‘Into Brattocks the back way, then down to the elms. I want the rooks to hear it, too.’

‘You believe all that nonsense about telling things to the rooks, do you?’

‘Mam does! Anyway, I want to tell them!’

‘Fine by me.’ He held out his hand and she took it, smiling up at him, glad he was her brother – her half-brother.

‘We-e-ll – it started when we lived in Hampshire. Do you remember Hampshire, Drew?’

‘Of course I do! I loved it when Mother and I came to stay with you. I thought it was great, having you and Keth to play with. Do you remember when they told us we were related, you and me? You threw the mother of all tantrums and ran out.’

‘Don’t remind me! But I was jealous, you see, when they told us Mam had once been married to your father. Funny, isn’t it, that Mam was once Lady Alice Sutton?’

‘Don’t see why, considering she married Sir Giles Sutton and they had me.’

‘’S’pose not. Does having a title bother you, Drew? Do the other sailors rag you about it – you being on the lower decks, I mean?’

‘The blokes in the Mess don’t know about it. I took good care not to tell them. I’m Telegraphist Sutton and that’s the way I want it.’

‘But hadn’t you considered a commission? You’d be a good officer.’

‘No better than a lot of others, Daiz, and anyway, I like it where I am. I’ve been with a decent crowd of blokes, training. I’m sorry we’ll all be split up, but that’s war for you – and here we are at the elms, so you’d better tell me what’s bothering you because something is.’

‘Not bothering me, exactly, but it’s something I want you to know and like I said, I wasn’t being deceitful, not telling you. I almost told you ages ago, when I told Keth, but he was so shocked by it, I decided not to …’

‘Daisy! Tell!’

‘All right.’ She settled herself on the grass, her back to the elm tree bole, arms behind her as if she were embracing it, connecting herself and her words to it and to the rooks that nested in it. It was the way she always did it. ‘Remember when Keth’s father and Mr Hillier were drowned?’ She took a deep, calming breath. ‘And that Mr Hillier left Windrush Hall to the miners as a convalescent home – because he’d been a boy down the pit before he got so rich?’

Drew nodded, careful not to interrupt because she was finding it difficult, he knew.

‘Well, he left everyone who worked for him a hundred pounds, the rest of his money to be invested for the upkeep of the home.’

‘I knew that, Daiz …’

‘Yes, but what you don’t know is that the money he left me wasn’t a hundred pounds. Oh, I thought it was. I felt rich; thought I could spend it on bikes and toys, but Mam thought otherwise. But what I didn’t know, Drew, and they didn’t tell me for ages afterwards –’ She turned to face him, one hand on the tree-trunk, still. ‘They waited till I’d got a bit more sense, knew how not to blab about it at school. That hundred pounds I thought I’d been left was more. Much more.’

‘How much more?’ he asked warily.

‘Mr Hillier left me ten thousand pounds!’

The words came out in a rush and it seemed like an age before Drew hissed, ‘Ten thousand pounds?’

‘Yes.’ She swallowed loudly. ‘I couldn’t take it in, not so much money, so Dada said it would be better if I thought about it in terms of things; said that if I imagined a road of newly-built houses; nice houses with bathrooms, mind, – twenty of them – then that’s what my money would buy.’

‘That much money would buy Rowangarth and the stable block and the lodges and all the parkland. You’re richer than me, Daiz.’

‘I’m not richer than you, Drew. Rowangarth and the farms and all Holdenby village are worth more than ten thousand.’

‘Not a lot more, because it’s entailed. I’ve got to pass it on. And houses aren’t what you’d call security in wartime. Hitler is bombing them or setting them on fire with incendiaries and you can’t insure houses and things against enemy action – did you know that? I reckon if you’ve got your money in the bank then you’re laughing.’

‘If Hitler doesn’t come before I get it. Because it won’t be mine till next June. The solicitor in Winchester and Sir Maxwell Something-or-other and Dada are Trustees and they’ll only let me have bits of my money for special, necessary things like education or if I got very ill and there were doctor’s bills that Dada couldn’t pay. They’ve been very mean with it this far.’

‘For your own good, I suppose.’

‘I accept that, but I’d have liked to get some of it to help Keth through university when he didn’t get a scholarship to Leeds, but I’d more sense than to ask.’ She shrugged because she had never thought of all that money as hers, really. It had just been something there, uneasily in the background. Until now, that was. The ten years since they’d told her about it suddenly seemed to have flown by.

‘Well, Keth got through university all right, as it happens. And I’m glad about the money, Daiz – or I will be when it’s sunk in. Suppose Keth’s had time to get used to it, now?’

‘I think he has, though he never mentions it. When I told him he said that he wanted to be the breadwinner – buy things for me and not the other way round. It was a bit awkward I can tell you, so in the end we decided our children should have the bulk of it – good schools and perhaps ponies if they wanted them. The rest, Keth said, should be invested for their future. If we ever have kids, that is.’

Her voice began to tremble and her eyes filled with tears. Such very blue eyes, Drew thought, fishing for his handkerchief.

‘Stop it, Daiz. Of course you’ll have children.’

‘Then how, will you tell me, with the flaming Atlantic between us? Have them by air mail, will we?’

‘Oh you don’t half go on about things. You’re almost as bad as Kitty when it comes to being a drama queen.’

Thoughts of Kitty led to thoughts of Bas and again to Keth who was with them still in Kentucky – or was it Washington now? But she blinked hard on her tears and blew her nose loudly. Then she took a deep, calming breath and tilted her chin ominously.

‘All right then, Drew Sutton – drama queen, am I? Well how about this, then? That money is in the bank, sort of. They invested it for me and on my birthday they always send Dada a statement about it. By the time I’m twenty-one, there’ll be more than fifteen thousand!’

‘Fifteen! Good grief! No wonder you wanted to tell the rooks about it!’

She stared at the grass at their feet, saying nothing, which only went to show, Drew thought, that Daisy too realized what a responsibility so much money was and hoping fervently that it wouldn’t make trouble between herself and Keth.

‘Tell you what,’ he smiled, getting to his feet, holding out a hand to her, ‘let’s go over to Denniston – see if Tatty’s back from Creesby yet.’

After what he’d been told, it was all he could think of to say.

6

‘I suppose, Sir Andrew, you’ve nobbut come to see my land girl,’ Catchpole chuckled.

‘As a matter of fact, it was the tea I came for. Knew you’d have the kettle on just about now. But if it’s served by a pretty popsy, then so much the better.’ Laughing, Drew held out a hand. ‘Good to see you again, Jack.’

‘And you, young Drew. Welcome home. And who told you our Gracie was pretty, then?’

‘Polly Purvis. Daisy and I went to see her last night.’

‘Ar. And how’s that lad of Polly’s? Heard he’d got a job over in America. Planning on stopping there, is he?’

‘Your guess is as good as mine. Polly seems to think Keth is agitating to get home, though she hopes, really, that he stays there. You can’t blame her. The last war didn’t do Keth’s father any favours.’

‘Keth’ll happen be wanting to get back to Daisy, though how he’ll manage it with all those U-boats about, I don’t know. But there’s nowt so queer as folk. If that’s what Keth wants, then good luck to the lad. But here’s tea, and here’s our new lady gardener.’

‘Good morning, Sir Andrew.’ Gracie stood hesitantly, a mug in either hand. ‘I saw you arrive – I’ve poured one for you, too.’

‘Hullo, Gracie.’ Drew rose to his feet. ‘Let me help you.’

‘Careful. These enamelled mugs are very hot.’

‘Don’t I know it. We use them in barracks.’ His gaze took in her thick yellow curls, held captive in a bright green snood, her shirt unbuttoned to show a long, slim neck. She didn’t wear make-up either and had a wide, ready smile. ‘Pull up a box,’ he invited.

‘If you’re sure that’s all right?’ Her eyes asked permission of the head gardener.

‘Course it is, lass. Us don’t stand on ceremony here. So tell us, Drew, how is the Navy treating you?’

‘No complaints so far, but it’s good to be home and –’

‘And you’d rather forget being a sailor, eh?’

‘Until I have to go back,’ Drew nodded. ‘It’s good to get out of uniform and not to have to do everything at the double, though when I get a ship things will be a bit less hectic, they tell me.’

‘So what do you plan doing with yourself, then?’

‘Daisy and I might go into Creesby – see a flick tonight. But no plans at all, really. I got up late this morning. I awoke at six as usual and it was marvellous not having someone yelling, “Wakey-wakey! On yer feet! Lash up and stow!” I felt peculiar in a bed, first night home. I’ve got used to sleeping in a hammock. They’re quite comfortable.’

‘But don’t you ever fall out of them?’ Gracie frowned. ‘And what’s lash up and – and –’

‘Stow. You roll up your hammock into a big sausage, then stow it in the hammock racks, all tidy. There’s two ways of doing things in barracks: Chiefie’s way, or the wrong way. You soon learn which,’ he grinned.

‘Do you like dancing, Sir Andrew?’

‘Yes, I do! Is there a dance on?’

‘At the aerodrome tomorrow night. There’s an invitation from the sergeants’ mess at Holdenby Moor pinned on the noticeboard at the hostel. They send a transport to the crossroads, the girls told me. All HM forces welcome, though it’s ladies they want most – for partners, I suppose. A lot of the girls go in dresses so Daisy could come too, if she said she was a land girl.’

‘And Tatty, my cousin – could she come? She’s mad about the Air Force.’

‘Don’t see why not.’

‘Then I hope you’ll have a few dances with me, Gracie. I need practice.’

‘That’s a promise. But don’t forget to wear your uniform or you’ll not get in. The transport leaves at half-past seven. If you aren’t there, then I’ll know you can’t make it.’

‘We’ll be there!’ Well, he and Daisy, though probably Aunt Anna wouldn’t let Tatty go. And that would be a pity, because Tatty was fun now. He’d forgotten how pretty she was until they’d met yesterday. ‘And before I forget, Jack, Mother is coming to see you – something about keeping a few hens, she said.’

‘Hens! Me? Nay, Drew. Hens in my garden wouldn’t do at all!’ Hens would be bothersome, like cats. Just think of the damage they could do if they got out. They’d be scratching and picking everywhere.

‘She’s very keen to have some. Where do you suggest they should go then?’

‘Don’t know, and that’s for sure.’ Anywhere, but in his garden!

‘I like hens. Before Grandad came to live with us – he came when Gran died – he used to keep hens in his back garden,’ Gracie offered. ‘Well, bantams, actually. Pretty little things. Laid ever such tiny eggs. Mind, he had to keep an eye on them. Bantams are flyers – always trying to get out – but if you were to get some like Mrs Purvis has at the hostel, they wouldn’t be a lot of trouble. Hers are Rhode Island Reds. They’re very placid – not like bantams or Leghorns.’