Page 57 of The London Girls
‘I was partway through studying to be a doctor before the war broke out, before the fire, and I couldn’t pass the physical to join the Army, so I decided to work with the volunteer ambulance service. We’d always planned to live in Central London when I graduated, to have more children, to grow old together. Instead, she was gone before our fifth wedding anniversary, and life almost seemed too hard to live any more.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Florence whispered. ‘For all of it.’
Jack didn’t say anything for a long moment, his chin settling on top of her head.
‘We’re not so different, you and I,’ he whispered. ‘Sometimes it feels like it would have been easier to die with the ones we loved, but what’s happened to us, it’s what makes us go out every night to save lives. It’s what makes us more determined when others are too scared. It’s what makes us good at what we do.’
‘Because we have nothing left to lose.’
When she heard the muffled sound of Jack crying, Florence didn’t say a word. Instead, she let him hold her, wondering if somehow they’d been brought into each other’s lives for a reason.
Florence knew she needed to pull herself together, to deal with what she’d seen and go and tell Olivia the news. But she also needed to be held, even for a moment, for someone to comfort her and whisper toherthat everything would be all right. She knew in her heart that it wasn’t true, that nothing was ever going to be right again for any of them, but just for a moment, she wanted to pretend.That this isn’t the last time I’ll be seeing Jack, that I’m not a complete failure.
Her nights of driving an ambulance were over.Once I tell Olivia, I’m done. I have to tell Jack that I’m not going out again.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
OLIVIA
‘I’m coming, I’m coming!’
Olivia tied her dressing gown around her waist as she hurried towards the door, expecting to find Leo on the other side, looking sheepish for forgetting his key.She’d only finished work a few hours earlier; it had been a long night, and with all the bombings she’d had to wait and take cover before riding back to headquarters after delivering a memo, and she was exhausted.
She glanced around the flat, not used to being home alone. Her flatmates had made themselves scarce, promising to stay elsewhere for the one night her Leo was home, and she’d only seen him for a couple of hours before she’d had to leave for work. After that he’d gone to see some old friends, wanting to celebrate the amazing news they’d had by telegram only hours earlier – that her darling brother was alive – and she was guessing he’d gotten a little carried away with the celebrations. She could barely be cross with him though. Leo loved nothing more than to be out with friends; he was the perpetual life of the party, and he’d certainly had something to celebrate.
The knock sounded again, and she unlocked the door and pulled it open, ready to admonish him for losing his key beforewrapping her arms around him and dragging him to bed. Tired or not, she intended to enjoy every single hour she had left with him.
Oh.
‘What are you girls doing here so early?’ Olivia looked between Ava and Florence, beckoning them in. ‘Were you not working the night shift? Gosh, it was a horrible one last night, wasn’t it? The absolute worst!’
‘Olivia—’
‘You won’t believe it, but we’ve had the best of news!’ she said, dropping into the plush chair by the window and waving at them to sit on the sofa. ‘My brother has been found alive! He’s badly injured but somehow he managed to survive. We received the news yesterday but I didn’t get a chance to tell either of you before I had to report for work, but it appears that Leo is still out celebrating the good news. I expected it to be him arriving home when you knocked.’
She sat back, curling her legs up beneath her. It was only then she realised how quiet Ava and Florence were. Florence in particular looked almost green, as if she were about to be sick.
‘Why are you both here, anyway?’ she asked. ‘When I heard the knock, I thought Leo must have lost his key, and I was about to give him a right telling-off.’
‘Olivia,’ Ava said, and as Olivia looked at her friend and then glanced at Florence, she realised just how ashen Flo’s face was.
‘Is everything all right? Flo, would you like a cup of tea, you look awfully pale?’ Olivia went to rise, but it was when she saw tears shining in Ava’s eyes that she knew something was wrong. Very wrong. ‘Has something happened?’
‘Olivia, I’m not sure if you know, but a theatre was bombed last night, amongst other places,’ Ava said. ‘There were a large number of soldier casualties.’
‘It’s terrible, isn’t it? When is this ever going to end!’
‘Florence was working last night,’ Ava continued. ‘She was there.’
‘Oh Flo, is that why you look so terrible! Why aren’t you catching up on some sleep instead of being here? It must be so hard to get all those images out of your head – of what you saw.’
Florence let out a gasp then, and Olivia went to her, putting an arm around her as she tucked in tight to her on the sofa.
‘It’s Leo,’ Florence whispered, her eyes like saucers as she pushed back and lifted her gaze and met Olivia’s stare.
‘Leo?’ Olivia asked, frowning. ‘What about Leo?’
‘Olivia, I’m so sorry, but Leo was at the theatre last night,’ Ava whispered, her voice only just audible. ‘He was ...’ She hesitated and Olivia’s blood ran cold. ‘Olivia, he was amongst the dead.’
