The Hidden Women: An inspirational novel of sisterhood and strength

‘Do you like him?’

‘Will?’

‘No, Father Christmas. Of course, Will,’ Annie said.

I leaned against the wall. ‘He’s lovely,’ I said. ‘He’s so funny, and charming. And he loves to dance.’

‘Uh-oh,’ said Flora. ‘I think someone has a crush.’

I felt myself blush. ‘That’s just the thing,’ I said with a sigh. I waited for the two girls who’d been doing their hair to leave so it was just the three of us. ‘I don’t.’

Annie looked at me. ‘Really?’

I shook my head, sadly. ‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘I wish I felt something – a spark or something – but I don’t.’

Flora draped an arm round my shoulder. ‘Darling Lil,’ she said. ‘I know you play your cards close to your chest.’

‘And a lovely chest it is,’ Annie drawled. She sat up on the sink next to me and lit a cigarette as Flora nudged her to be quiet.

‘When I joined up, I never thought I’d be lucky enough to meet two girls like you,’ Flora went on. ‘I was so bloody scared and you made it better.’

I smiled at her. I felt the same.

‘And I know you don’t want to talk about what happened to you,’ she said. I dropped my eyes from hers. It was too hard to think about and I was grateful the girls knew something was wrong inside of me, but never pushed me to elaborate. Flora squeezed me a bit tighter. ‘But I also know that we are all a bit damaged. Some more than others. That’s just life. And if you don’t want to be with Will, then don’t force it. Maybe it’ll happen later, maybe it won’t. It’s fine either way.’

I felt tears heavy behind my eyelids and blinked them away. ‘Thanks,’ I whispered.

Annie jumped down from the sink. ‘Thank God none of us are flying tomorrow,’ she said, stubbing out her cigarette. ‘I’m more than a bit tiddly.’

‘It’s a shame, though,’ Flora said. ‘Because if one of us had been on that trip to Newcastle, we could have …’

‘Shh,’ said Annie covering Flora’s mouth with her hand. She nodded towards the cubicles. The one at the end was shut. Flora’s eyes widened in shock.

‘Bloody hell,’ I breathed. None of us had noticed that someone else was in the lav with us.

We all stared at each other for a second, grateful Annie had noticed when she did and stopped Flora before she said anything incriminating.

‘Let’s go home,’ I said.

As we turned to leave the tiny toilet, we heard whoever it was in the cubicle pull the chain.

‘Let’s go,’ I said again, suddenly desperate to be out of there. ‘It’s past my bedtime.’

Chapter 11 (#ulink_51f264fe-fffc-54d8-afe4-b94e3f4109c2)

Helena

May 2018

I was too surprised to do anything but stare at the screen. Above the red stamp declaring that Lil had been dishonourably discharged, it also said Lil had been court-martialled and found guilty of contravening standing orders. It was completely bewildering and I wasn’t sure what to do. Luckily, Jack took over.

‘This is a shock,’ he said. ‘Do you need to get back for Dora?’

I shook my head, touched he’d remembered her name.

‘She’s with my mum.’

‘Well, how about we print this out, take all the info we’ve got to the pub, and chat about it all over a drink?’

I felt shaky. What had Lil done that deserved a court martial? Had she broken the law? Had she gone AWOL? I shook my head again, more vigorously this time.

‘None of this makes sense,’ I said. ‘This doesn’t sound like Lil.’

Jack was bustling around me, stuffing pieces of paper into the folder. I found I didn’t even care that he was putting them in upside down and back to front. Instead I just stared at the screen.

‘It must be a mistake. Lil has always been a bit of a free spirit, but she’s not a bad person.’

Jack paused in his gathering. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s get out of here and you can tell me all about her. She sounds interesting.’

‘Oh, she’s interesting, all right,’ I said. I looked at him standing there, clutching the folder, with bits of paper hanging out of it, and smiled. ‘Thanks. You’re being very nice.’

‘I feel like it’s all my fault,’ he admitted. ‘You’d have been none the wiser if I’d not turned up and started poking around your research.’

He wasn’t wrong, but somehow I was pleased. Finding out more about Lil’s war felt like the right thing to do – even if she’d kept it a secret all this time.

Jack grinned at me and I squinted at him.

‘Can you go to the pub?’ I said. ‘Like a normal person?’

He frowned.

‘I am a normal person.’

‘I mean, you’re famous. Won’t you get mobbed?’

‘Nah,’ Jack said. ‘No one ever thinks it’s me. I think it’s because I’m so scruffy. People usually just tell me I look like Jack Jones.’

I laughed and gestured to his immaculate T-shirt. ‘But you’re all dressed up,’ I said.

With a grin, Jack pulled a tatty hoodie out of his bag and shoved it over his head. Then he jammed a faded baseball cap on top of his curls, balled up the beautiful leather jacket and squished it into his rucksack – much to my distress – and looked at me in triumph.

‘Better?’ he said. ‘I’m in disguise.’

I laughed again because he looked so pleased with himself.

‘Better,’ I agreed.

‘So let’s go,’ Jack said. ‘I’m dying to know more about Lil.’