Page 6 of Tides of Resistance
‘Ma doesn’t have to know, does she? When the cat’s away and all that …’
Lizzie had been dancing there with Jack a couple of times, but of course she couldn’t tell them that, so had to pretend it was all new to her.
‘Jules, what say you? Do you have the energy for late-night dancing?’
Jules replied, uncharacteristically to Lizzie’s mind, ‘Why not? I’m bored stiff lately. All I do is go to work and come home.’
‘That’s it then,’ Evie declared, positively fizzing with excitement. ‘I might even meet a handsome GI and live happily ever after.’
Lizzie rolled her eyes at her baby sister’s silliness but indulged her all the same. She might be in enemy territory in a matter of weeks, and who knew when she’d be able to relax again? She didn’t dare entertain the scariest of thoughts about whether she would have the privilege of going out with her sisters again, but the sinister cloud hovered in the recesses of her mind.
‘It’s a bit of a way. We’d better get going,’ Lizzie said, and they returned to the Underground and hopped back onto the Piccadilly Line.
Hammersmith Palais was smoky and noisy and packed to the brim. If it weren’t for all the uniforms, you might think there was no war on at all. The band struck up a familiar jazz tune, and a tall and handsome British pilot asked Lizzie if she wanted to dance. She declined politely and sipped her drink as she looked around the lively establishment. Half-naked women danced on the tables to one side, and the dance floor was heaving. It wasn’t long before Evie joined the revellers, and Lizzie caught sight of her being spun around by a dashing GI, just as she’d predicted.
Lizzie checked her watch, and Juliet, who had also declined several invitations to dance, finished her drink. ‘What do you think our chances are of getting Evie out of here anytime soon?’ she said, yawning.
‘Not good, I imagine. Look at her dancing.’
They both stood and watched Evie, who was clearly having the time of her life. Lizzie’s chest warmed at the sight of her little sister having a wonderful time. She deserved it. The nurse training was intense, and she’d thrown her heart and soul into it.
‘It’s good to see her let her hair down a bit, but we’ll have to go soon, or Pa will be out looking for us. You know how he worries when we’re out late.’
Eventually, after several false starts they managed to convince Evie it was time to leave and after she parted from her handsome GI, clutching a note with his name and contact details, she practically levitated down the street towards the station.
‘I had a feeling I was going to meet someone special tonight,’ she said.
Lizzie and Juliet exchanged a knowing look. Evie was tempestuous by nature since she was a little girl and was always the first to come up with hair-brained schemes of dangerous exploits to entertain them in their school holidays.
School holidays reminded Lizzie of their cousins in St. Malo, and she wondered what it would be like to see them again.
She and Sophie were the closest in age and had always naturally paired up. Lizzie yearned to see her cousins but half-hoped they had been called away on duty. Her presence would endanger them all and the thought of it made her throat dry and she swallowed hard. She hadn’t mentioned anything about the mission to her father.Yet.She couldn’t decide whether she should. It was his brother she was putting in danger, after all, and she suspected he would have useful information for her. Lizzie wished Jack would come home soon so she could talk it over with him.
That night when she almost fell into bed after the long day and busy night, her last thought was predictably of Jack.
She prayed he would be home soon, and she would get to see him before she left for France.
CHAPTER 4
The following morning, Lizzie found her father sitting at the breakfast table alone, engrossed in the newspaper.
He looked up when she entered. ‘Good morning, darling. I wasn’t sure when you girls would make an appearance. It was a late one last night, wasn’t it?’
Lizzie poured a cup of tea from the pot on the table and added a splash of milk. She needed a pick-me-up this morning after their late-night gallivanting.
‘Yes, Pa, it was rather.’
‘How was the new Hitchcock? I didn’t realise they ran so late.’
Lizzie smiled and looked rueful. ‘The film was so tense we felt the need for a drink afterwards to unwind.’
‘Oh, I see,’ Pa said, chuckling as he paused, teacup midway to his mouth. ‘Happens to the best of us. I hear the nightlife in London is quite spectacular, despite the war—or perhaps because of it?’
‘We went dancing at the Hammersmith Palais,’ said Lizzie. ‘Well, Evie did, anyway. Me and Juliet mostly stood watching like wallflowers.’
Pa raised an eyebrow. ‘That’ll be the day when any of my beautiful girls are wallflowers.’ He paused. ‘Anything I should know about Evie?’
Lizzie shook her head. ‘Nothing you don’t know already. We’re all well aware of what a firecracker she is.’
