Page 65 of The Spitfire Girls
He stopped a few feet away, his dark brown eyes searching hers out. ‘No tea for meagain?’ he joked, looking at her empty hands.
She shook her head, about to say no, but ran the distance between them instead, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him like it was the last kiss of her life. She held his face to hers, stopping only when his hands skimmed down her back to rest on her hips.
‘I think I’ll forgive you for forgetting the tea,’ he murmured.
She pulled him closer, not wanting to stop. ‘I don’t want to be scared anymore,’ she said, her voice shaking. ‘I want to live. Ineedto live again.’
He frowned, studying her face and stroking her hair. ‘What are you scared of?’
‘I was so scared of losing you, of letting anyone close and losing them, but the worst thing would be not having anyone in the first place, don’t you think? After seeing Ruby lose Tom, feeling her pain, I just want to be happy again.’
He kissed her forehead, holding her close. ‘You’re not going to lose me,’ he said. ‘I promised you that already. I’m not going anywhere if I can help it.’
She held on to him, her face pressed to his chest, listening to the sound of his heart thumping away against her ear. She believed him. Even though they were in the middle of a war, Ben was grounded, Ben was as safe a bet as she could have.
‘Senior Commander!’
She jumped back, smoothing her hair and clearing her throat.
‘Yes!’ she barked, spinning around.
‘Telegram for you, ma’am. It’s on your desk.’
The pilot disappeared, red-cheeked, as May turned back around to Ben.
‘Do you think she saw?’ she asked, horrified.
Ben laughed and rubbed her cheek with his cloth. ‘I think the grease on your face was probably impossible to miss.’
She swatted at him, but missed; he caught her wrist and tugged her in close again, his mouth inches from hers. ‘Don’t go MIA on me again, May,’ he murmured.
She groaned and kissed him, forgetting all about the Spitfires, before turning on her heel and racing to her desk. Sure enough, a telegram was sitting there. She opened it, swallowing away the lump in her throat, nervous about the fate of her girls, hoping it wasn’t about one of them. But then she clamped a hand across her mouth. She read it again, slowly this time, barely able to believe the words. She wasn’t sure why the telegram had been sent to her as commander rather than to Ruby, but regardless, she couldn’t wait to tell her the news.
PLEASE INFORM FIRST OFFICER RUBY SANDERS THAT HER FIANCE, FLIGHT LIEUTENANT THOMAS FRANCES, IS ALIVE. SURVIVED IMPOSSIBLE CONDITIONS AFTER DEPLOYING PARACHUTE. INJURIES INCLUDE BROKEN ARM, CRACKED RIBS, LEG TRAUMA AND BLEEDING FROM HEAD. FULL RECOVERY EXPECTED.
She breathed out a sob of relief. Tom was alive! Ruby was going to be beside herself – it had been a long wait for more information, and May hadn’t been hopeful that there would be any news, good or otherwise. How on earth had he survived being shot down near Cologne, the only pilot not to make it back from the night-time bombing there, and a parachute jump from his plane? And how had he managed to stay alive all this time? She blinked away tears, knowing exactly how incredible this piece of news would feel to her friend.
‘May, he could still be alive. If no one saw his body, if no one ...’
‘Stop it!’ she screamed. ‘Just stop it! John’s dead, Mum, he’s dead!’
Her mother doubled over like she’d punched her, her heart-wrenching, guttural sobs too much to bear.
‘I’m sorry,’ May whispered, ‘but he’s gone. He’s never coming back and we have to accept it. Our Johnny’s gone.’
Her father stepped in then, wrapping his arms around her mother, his eyes filled with unshed tears. And she ran out of the door and kept on going, feeling she couldn’t bear to be in that suffocating house that reminded her every second of every day that she had to live the rest of her life without Johnny.
‘Ma’am, there’s another urgent telegram for you.’
May looked up and met the gaze of one of her administration staff. ‘Thank you,’ she said, and opened the new telegram at once.
COMMANDER MAY JONES. SPITFIRES AND MORE SPITFIRES NEEDED! IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE REQUIRED. ALL AVAILABLE PILOTS ON STANDBY FOR FERRY MISSION TO COLERNE.
What on earth? They neededmorethan the forty-seven planes they’d already delivered?
‘Jones!’ May recognised her captain’s call as he burst into the building, red-faced and short of breath. ‘You received word?’ he asked.
‘About the new aircraft needed? What ...’
