Page 58 of The London Girls
‘No,’ she gasped, looking between them as Florence reached for her hand on one side and Ava on the other. ‘No, you’ve made a mistake. It can’t have been him, it—’
‘I was the one to find him,’ Florence said, her voice low as she squeezed Olivia’s hand. ‘If there was anything I could have done, if there was even a chance of saving him ...’
Olivia looked into Florence’s eyes.
‘He was already gone when I found him.’ Flo’s voice was painfully quiet. ‘There was nothing I could do, I’m so sorry.’
‘No,’ Olivia said, standing and pacing across the room, digging her fingers into her palms as she fisted her hands. ‘No, Leo wasn’t there. You must be mistaken, you must have ...’ She stared out of the window and took a deep, shuddering breath. When she turned, she shook her head. ‘No, Leo wasn’t there, he can’t have been!’
Come home to me, Leo! Walk through that door. What happened to growing old together!
‘Liv, I’m so, so sorry.’ Ava was standing beside her now, her arms open, her face falling as she nodded her head as if to convince Olivia that it truly was Leo who’d been found.
Florence was crying now, and Olivia knew. She started to nod too, shaking, her heart racing and her legs wobbling beneath her as she digested the news.
‘We’ve arranged a car to take you home to your family,’ Ava told her as she eased her down on to the sofa, her arm still around her even when Olivia was sitting. ‘If you want one of us to come with you, we can. Anything you need, we’re here for you, all right? There’s nothing Florence and I wouldn’t do for you, and we’ll tell your flatmates so you don’t have to.’
Olivia looked down at her hand, at the simple band on her finger, her engagement ring back to hanging around her neck. An hour ago, she’d been waiting for her husband to walk through the door. A few minutes ago, she’d thought she’d be wrapping her arms around his neck and dragging him to her bed. She lifted her gaze and stared at the door, knowing that he was never going to come walking through it ever again.
‘I love you,’ Leo whispered, his lips in her hair as she lay, tangled in his arms.
‘I love you, too,’ she whispered back in the dark, her body curled against his.
‘Goodnight, wife,’ he murmured. ‘I’ll never tire of saying that.’
‘Goodnight, husband.’
Olivia pulled herself from her memories, not wanting to go back, not wanting to remember, not now.
‘Do you know where his body is?’ she heard herself ask, as if she were listening to someone else.
‘They were all being taken to the morgue,’ Florence whispered. ‘If I could have taken him in my ambulance, I would have.’
Olivia shut her eyes as a wave of emotion crashed through her, as Ava curled even closer to her and Florence curled up at her feet, her cheek against her knees.
Leo wasn’t coming home, but Pete was.
A day ago, she’d have traded anything to get her brother back. Today, she’d have done the same for the life of her husband.
‘I need to tell his parents,’ she murmured through her tears. ‘I’ll have to go there on my way home. They need to know. I have to be the one to tell them.’
‘How about I come with you, then?’ Ava said, gently, as if she were talking to a child. ‘You don’t have to do any of this alone.’
‘And George, I’ll need to tell George. He’ll have to make arrangements if I can’t make it into work tomorrow, if—’
‘Olivia, we’ll take care of everything,’ Ava said. ‘Now, let’s go and pack you a bag so we can get you home, hmm?’
Ava rose with her, holding her hand, guiding her, but Olivia noticed that Florence stayed put, quietly crying as she hugged her body. Ava led her away, keeping hold of her as she took her into her room. She stared at the bed Leo would never lie in with her at night, imagining what the bed in their home would have looked like after the war, the bed they’d have snuggled up in one day with their children tucked beneath the sheets for a cuddle, where they’d spend lazy Sunday mornings drinking tea and reading the newspaper.
She turned and numbly reached for a bag, letting Ava fold her clothes for her as her legs gave way and she dropped to the bed, watching her.
I’m a widow now.
I’m a widow and my Leo is never, ever coming home.
PART TWO
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
