Windflower Wedding

‘Like using a hand grenade and a basic knowledge of booby traps and explosives.’

‘Self-defence? Sounds more like commando stuff to me. But yes, I did go on one or two courses, though what use they were was always a bit of a mystery.’

‘You’ll find out – in time. Meanwhile, I’ve fixed you an appointment with the medical officer. Be there at ten. It’s likely he’ll prescribe a spot of PT and a few cross-country runs. Oh, and see the dental officer, will you? Best that you should.’ He folded the file with a finality that indicated that the interview was over, then rose to his feet. ‘And don’t look so perplexed. It’ll all be crystal clear by the end of the week.’

Indeed, thought the adjutant, it would have to be.

‘End of the week? Okay – I’ll accept that but –’ Keth raised his eyes to those of the adjutant and held his gaze steadily, ‘but just tell me one thing. Is this another of those peculiar billets – like Pendenys Place in Yorkshire, I mean?’

‘And what do you know about Pendenys?’ He lowered himself into his chair, his gaze as steady as Keth’s.

‘Not a lot and most of it rumour, I suppose. The locals think something is going on there – and it’s securely guarded, like here, and like this place it’s secluded.’

‘You’ve been to Pendenys, then?’ The adjutant reached for the file again.

‘Many a time – but before the powers that be took it off Edward Sutton. I live near there. I’m engaged to the daughter of the head keeper on the next estate.’

‘To Daisy – er – Dwerryhouse, who’s in the WRNS?’

‘Yes.’ Keth looked down meaningfully at the open file. ‘Tell me something I don’t know.’

‘Very well – if I must! When you came back to England from Washington – the first time, I mean – you met her down south. You were stationed briefly at Bramble Hill, not far away. And you stayed the night with her at a Winchester hotel. You’ll not want me to tell you that you signed in as Mr and Mrs Purvis. You were under surveillance even then!’

‘That’s enough!’ Keth was on his feet again, his face an ugly red. ‘I know all about the Official Secrets Act and the Defence of the Realm Act too, but leave Daisy out of it – okay? What she and I do is damn all to do with you, or anybody else for that matter! Did it give you a kick, reading through my file? Because you’ll know we stayed the night at a Liverpool hotel too, not long before they sent me back to Washington without the chance to say goodbye to her – like it was some stupid cloak-and-dagger thing!’

All at once that hotel room with its cornflower and poppy bedspread and curtains and the electric fire that guzzled shillings seemed to have been dirtied.

‘No, we don’t seem to have any record of that one,’ said the adjutant mildly, ‘but by then you’d have been pretty well cleared security-wise. Your fiancée is in the clear too.’

‘I should damn well think so! And all this because of Enigma! Have you got my mother’s blood group in your records too?’

‘Steady on, Purvis. Nobody sees these records but the high-ups – and me. And you got it right. This place – and Pendenys, if you must know – are very secure establishments, so your details are safe here.’

‘I couldn’t give a damn one way or the other!’ Keth was calmer now, though his heart still thudded much too loudly. ‘But leave Daisy out of it – right?’

‘And you calm down, Purvis or –’

‘Or you’ll put it on my file: given to sudden rages!’

‘Not on this occasion. But if I were you, I’d take a turn in the garden – do a spot of deep breathing, sort of – or your blood pressure isn’t going to look too good when the MO takes it. And Purvis –’ he hastened as Keth opened the door, ‘don’t take this to heart. It’s nothing personal. We like to know everything about our operatives – we have to – so you’d better get used to the idea that what you do during the next few days here will probably be closely watched and recorded.’

‘Remind me to let you know, then, every time I flush the toilet!’ Keth hissed. Then closing the door again, leaning on it in what he hoped was a perfectly controlled and relaxed pose, he said softly, ‘Just what goes on here?’

And the adjutant, equally controlled, replied that he would be told very soon.

‘Thank you – sir!’

Keth opened the door again, then closed it behind him very quietly. Then he shut his eyes tightly, took a deep breath and said, ‘Arrogant bastard!’ He even permitted himself the smallest smile, thinking that his words might have been heard – and noted on his file!

And why was he worrying? he thought, as he walked through the immaculately kept grounds. He was back – for the second time. He had asked for a draft home, had accepted there would be conditions attached to it, so why get het up over the adjutant? They had to be careful till they had cleared him – a second time. He must accept it. It was the price to be paid for getting back home. To Daisy. He was to carry on his work with Enigma. He was a mathematician – a boffin, a back-room boy – doing his bit for the war under the disguise of a captain in the Royal Corps of Signals. And as soon as his security check was okayed, he would know exactly what went on, what was required of him and how soon he would be allowed that phone call to Daisy.

Calm again, he looked at his watch. Best cut along sharpish. Best not keep the MO waiting.

3 (#ulink_94707cea-c25c-5081-bc38-0149962d28cd)

‘Pity we missed Drew and Kitty,’ Tatty sighed.

‘No, it isn’t,’ said Daisy firmly. ‘Well, from your point of view, I mean.’

Daisy, home from the Wrens on seven days’ leave; Tatiana Sutton, home for two nights from her translator’s job in London.

‘Why isn’t it?’

‘Because you’re hurting still over Tim, and seeing them together would have been awful for you. I miss Keth till it hurts, but at least I’ll see him one day. You don’t even have that to hold on to.’

‘No. Just memories. I often wonder what would have happened if I’d got pregnant. Sometimes, I wish I had; it would have been some part of Tim. I know there’d have been the usual upset – Tatiana Sutton getting herself into trouble, and all that cant – but I wouldn’t have cared. Grandfather left me comfortably off – I could have kept the little thing.’

‘Well, you didn’t have Tim’s baby, love, but if you had I’d not have pointed a finger. It could’ve happened to me and people who live in glass houses don’t throw stones.’

‘You’re a good friend. It’s nice to be able to talk to someone about Tim and I appreciate you going up the pike whenever you can to let him know he isn’t forgotten. I got up early this morning and went there. I felt very near him.’

‘Good.’ Daisy reached for Tatiana’s hand and they walked on, glad to be together for just a little while. ‘How’s London, by the way – and Sparrow?’

‘London’s okay; better, now that we don’t get so many air raids. The Blitz was awful. I feel like a Londoner now. There’s so much kindness about – everyone being nice to each other; smiling, and all that. It’s because we’ve been through all that bombing together, I suppose.’

‘I know what you mean. I felt very close to the Liverpool people, knowing I’d seen their blitz out with them. You and me have really grown up, haven’t we, Tatty?’

‘Me especially. I defied Mother and Grandmother over Tim and then I walked out and went to London. I only wish Tim and I could have been married – even though it would have been only for a little while.

‘And another thing – Uncle Igor is quite nice to me these days. I go and see him every week now. At first I did it because I felt sorry for him – all alone in that house in Cheyne Walk – and I suppose I went because I wanted to find out about my father.’

‘What about him?’ Daisy said sharply. Not that it was any business of hers, but she was as sure as anyone could be there was something not quite right about Tatiana’s father, even though he’d been dead for ages. For one thing, both Mam and Dada changed the subject if, innocently, she had mentioned him and for another, Aunt Julia’s mouth went positively vinegary when anyone said Elliot Sutton’s name. ‘Did you find out, whatever it was you wanted to know?’

‘Oh, yes, I did. Uncle Igor couldn’t stand him. He said he warned my mother not to marry him, but she was determined to have him – and all the while Grandmother Petrovska and Grandmother Clementina encouraging it. It seems that Grandmother Clementina was so rich she could buy anything she wanted and she wanted a title in the family.’

‘Hm. By things I’ve heard – in passing, sort of – I believe she had money but no – er – well, she was a little bit bossy.’

‘Grandmother Clementina had, as they say around these parts, plenty of brass, but no breeding. I’d believe it, too. What little I remember of her was that she was a bit – well – loud. Anyway, my mother had a title. In Russia in the Czar’s days, the daughter of a count was entitled to call herself a countess and Grandmother Clementina seized on it like it was the answer to all her dreams. A real countess at Pendenys Place! Uncle Igor thought it was pathetic.’

‘And what else did he tell you?’ Daisy was intrigued.

‘I’ll tell you – one day. Right now, I’m enjoying being home – when I can keep out of the Petrovska’s way, that is. I wish she’d take herself back to London and look after Uncle Igor at Cheyne Walk, but I think she’s still scared of the bombing. I notice Uncle Igor isn’t falling over himself to persuade her back. I think he’s quite contented on his own. He lives in the basement kitchen now. The rest of the house is closed up except for what was once the servants’ sitting room, next to the kitchen. That’s where he sleeps.’

‘I wonder why Mrs Clementina ever bought a house in London,’ Daisy frowned. ‘She hardly ever used it.’

‘A whim. That’s all it was. Did you know,’ Tatiana giggled, ‘that when the Petrovska and Mother and Uncle Igor first went to live there – when they had to get out of Russia because the Communists took over – Grandmother Clementina complained bitterly that Eastern European refugees had taken over the property next door, and the value of her own house would go down.’

‘I bet she soon changed her mind about her next-door neighbours when she found they had titles! Is Cheyne Walk as nice as Aunt Julia’s little house in Montpelier Mews?’