And there’s Fairchild, she thought wryly, when I no longer need to be rescued. She hadn’t met him on an upcoming assignment, or on any assignment. He was only flirting—and he was so good at it she was almost sorry she’d asked Fairchild to come drag her away.
Though it was probably just as well. Stephen was entirely too charming, and it was entirely too easy to forget that she was a hundred years too old for him, that they were even more star-crossed than the lovers he’d named. If he’d been from 2060 instead of 1944—
“Kent!” Fairchild called again. “Mary!”
“I’d best go see what’s wanted,” she said, and started for the door, but Fairchild had already flung it open.
“Oh, good, there you are. You’re wanted on the telephone. It’s the hospital. You can take it in the—oh, my goodness!” she shouted, and, astonishingly, shot past Mary and launched herself at Stephen. “Stephen!” she cried, flinging her arms about his neck. “What are you doing here?”
“Bits and Pieces! Good God!” he said, hugging her and then holding her at arm’s length to look at her. “What am I doing here? What are you doing here?”
“This is my FANY unit,” Fairchild said. “And I’m not Bits and Pieces. I’m Lieutenant Fairchild.” She saluted smartly. “I drive an ambulance.”
“An ambulance?” he said. “You can’t possibly. You’re not old enough.”
“I’m nineteen.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I am. My birthday was last week, wasn’t it, Kent?” she said, looking over at Mary. “Kent, this is Stephen Lang, the pilot I told you about.”
The person Fairchild had been in love with since she was six, the one she’d said was in love with her as well, only he didn’t know it yet. Oh, God.
“Our families live next to each other in Surrey,” Fairchild said happily. “We’ve known each other since we were infants.”
“Since you were an infant,” Stephen said, smiling fondly at her. “The last time I saw you, you were in pigtails.”
“You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here,” Fairchild said. “I thought you were stationed at Tangmere. Mother said—”
“I was, and then at Hendon,” he said, looking at Mary. “But I’ve just been transferred to Biggin Hill.”
“Biggin Hill? What good news! That means you’ll be only a few miles away.”
And squarely in the heart of Bomb Alley. It was already the most-hit airfield, and when Intelligence’s misinformation made the rockets begin to fall short, it would be even more dangerous. As if tipping V-1s wasn’t dangerous enough.
“How lovely!” Fairchild was saying. “How did you find out I was here? Did Mother write to you?”
“No,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I had no idea you were here. I came to see Lieutenant Kent.”
“Lieutenant Kent? I didn’t know you two knew each other.”
“I drove him to a meeting in London last month after Talbot wrenched her knee. The Major asked me to substitute. But I had no idea you knew him,” Mary said, thinking, Please believe me.
“And I had no idea you knew my little sister,” he said.
“I’m not your sister,” Fairchild said. “And I’m not an infant. I told you, I’m nineteen. I’m all grown up.”
“You’ll always be sweet little Bits and Pieces to me.” He tousled her hair and smiled at Mary. “I hope you girls are taking good care of this youngster.”
Oh, worse and worse. “She doesn’t need taking care of,” Mary said. “She’s the best driver in our unit.”
“Oh, no, she’s not. You are,” he said. “That’s one of the things I came to tell you. Do you remember when I told you to turn down Tottenham Court Road on our way to Whitehall, and you turned the wrong way? Well, it was fortunate you did. A V-1 smashed down in the middle of it not five minutes later.”
He turned to Fairchild. “She saved my life.” He smiled at Mary. “I told you our meeting was destiny.”
“Destiny?” Fairchild said, looking stricken.
“Abso—”
“Absolutely not,” Mary cut in before he could ruin things even more completely, “and I fail to see how making a wrong turn constitutes expert driving. And the reason we met was because I couldn’t tell a flying bomb from a motorcycle.”
She turned to Fairchild. “Did you say there was a trunk call for me? I’d best go take it.” She started for the door. “It was nice seeing you again, Flight Officer Lang.”
“Wait, you can’t go yet,” Stephen said. “You still haven’t said you’ll go out to dinner with me. Bits, convince her I’m not a bounder.”
You are a bounder, Mary thought. You’re also an utter fool. Can’t you see the poor child’s in love with you?
“Tell her what a nice chap I am,” he said to Fairchild. “That I’m entirely trustworthy and upstanding.”
“He is,” Fairchild said, looking as though she’d been cut to the heart. “Any girl would be lucky to get him.”
“There, you see? You have my little sister’s endorsement.”
“Oh, but the two of you must have tons of catching up to do,” Mary said desperately. “Childhood memories and all that. I’d only be in the way. You two go.”
“I can’t,” Fairchild said, managing somehow to keep her voice natural. “I must go fetch a shipment of medical supplies for the Major.” And Stephen at least had the decency to say, “Can’t you get one of the other girls to go in your place?”
“No. We’ll do it next time you come. You go, Kent.”
And if I do, Mary thought, watching her make her escape, she’ll never forgive me. She might not forgive her anyway, but Mary had no intention of making it worse than it already was. “I really must go take that call from HQ,” she said, “and if it’s about what I think it is, I won’t be able to go to dinner either.”
“Then tomorrow.”
“I’m on duty, and I told you, I don’t believe in wartime attachments. There must be scores of other girls dying to go out with you.”
“None I knew in a previous life. The day after tomorrow?”
“I can’t. I really must take that call.” She started for the door.
“No, wait,” he said and grabbed her hands. “I haven’t thanked you yet.”
“I told you, I didn’t save your life. Tottenham Court Road is a very long road, and—”
“No, not for that. This is about the V-1s.”
“The V-1s?”
“Yes. Do you remember how you managed to slip out of my grasp just as I was about to kiss you before Bits and Pieces came in?”
“About to kiss—”
“Yes, of course. That was the entire point of all that Babylon rot, don’t you know?” he said, grinning. “And just as I thought it was working, you eluded my grasp, more’s the pity.”
“I thought you were going to tell me about the V-1s.”
“I was. I am. You did the same thing that day you drove me. Twice. My line of attack was working splendidly, and then suddenly I found myself totally thrown off course, even though I’d never got near enough to lay a hand on you.”
“I still don’t know what this has to do with—”
“Don’t you see?” he said, squeezing her hands. “That was where I got the notion of throwing the V-1s off course. You’re the one who gave me the idea. If it hadn’t been for you, I’d have been blown up by now, trying to shoot them down.”
We are hanging on by our eyelids.
—GENERAL ALAN BROOKE
London—November 1940
AFTER POLLY FOUND OUT THAT THE REIGN OF TERROR had been over four years after the storming of the Bastille, she attempted to convince herself that there couldn’t possibly be that much slippage. The most on record for a non-divergence point had been three months and eight days. Someone had had six months’ slippage, and Mr. Dunworthy had overreacted and canceled everyone’s drops, that was all. And the fact that he hadn’t canceled hers proved it.