Shadows In Paris (Seagrove & Raven #2)

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

M ost days Reginald Beaumont worked late at the War Office, but this afternoon the load on his desk had miraculously lightened, and his driver had dropped him at the house just in time for dinner with his family.

Lizzie and her sisters, Juliet and Evie, had all rushed home so they could make the pictures in time.

‘I’m so pleased we’re going to see the film,’ said Evie, buzzing with excitement as she helped herself to a modest portion of mashed potato.

‘Sorry about the lumps,’ said their mother, Rose. ‘It’s difficult to make smooth mash without using much butter and milk.’

Lizzie tasted a forkful of the potato with the flourish of a connoisseur. ‘It’s delicious, Ma.’

Rose said, ‘It’s good of you to say, darling Lizzie, but we can’t hope for it to be at the standard of our Seagrove mash. I used to put huge chunks of butter in it and even a dollop of Jersey cream.’

‘It was gorgeous,’ Juliet chimed in. ‘But Lizzie’s right. This is good too. You make marvellous meals, especially considering the rations.’

‘Where’s Violet?’ Evie, the youngest sister, asked, her copper curls bouncing about like a shimmering halo as she moved her head.

‘She’s got the day off. I had to queue at all the shops this morning. Violet is an absolute godsend; it took ages without her.’

Their new housekeeper had fitted in as though she’d always been with the family, and the girls were relieved to see their mother had help running the Regent’s Park house, and some company when they were all at work for long hours most days.

Juliet, the eldest of the three sisters, who was a salaried employee of the Mechanised Transport Corps, jumped up to clear the plates away as soon as she finished the meal. ‘Come on, let’s get moving or we’ll be late. I want to change.’

‘Me too,’ Lizzie said.

They ran upstairs and Reg settled in his favourite armchair, content at the prospect of a rare evening alone by the fire. He was proud of his girls, but they were noisy, and it would be a treat to read his newspaper in peace.

He worried about Lizzie and prayed the Special Operations Executive wouldn’t send her on another undercover mission. It was dangerous enough in London without risking her life in occupied France.

Reg hadn’t mentioned a word about it to his wife. He had never kept any family related secrets from her before, but he was bound by the Official Secrets Act so when his colleague Drake from the War Office broke the news to him that his daughter had been selected to join a new secret organisation commissioned by Churchill to support the Resistance and set Europe ablaze, he had to keep it to himself and hoped he wouldn’t live to regret it if the truth came out .

Rose poured him a whisky and dropped a tender kiss on his head before putting her coat on.

‘How do I look?’ she asked.

‘As beautiful as the day I first laid eyes on you,’ he said.

Rose beamed at her husband. ‘You old romantic.’

‘Every word is true.’

Their daughters trampling down the stairs like a herd of elephants broke the spell. Reg once again declined their offer to join them for the film and, one by one, they kissed his cheek and headed out the front door into the freezing evening following their mother. The cold didn’t dim their spirits, and they chattered all the way down the street.

‘This reminds me of the old days when we used to go to town in Jersey,’ Juliet said. ‘We would take Nan to see a film and sometimes she nodded off, remember?’

They laughed at the vision of their grandmother grabbing forty winks in the cinema, but the memory was tinged with an unspoken sadness.

‘Come on,’ said Rose, and they walked arm in arm and entered Baker Street station. Just being there reminded Lizzie of Jack, and she wondered if he was still at work. Knowing him, she guessed he probably was.

It wasn’t far to travel and soon they alighted from the Underground in Piccadilly Circus and walked the short distance to Leicester Square and entered the Ritz Cinema, where Gone With The Wind was showing.

Despite the film already showing for a long time, when they arrived, the cinema was packed, and they snagged the few remaining seats. The crowd was mesmerised by moving pictures and when the film started, a hush descended over the auditorium.

‘Isn’t Vivien Leigh beautiful?’ gushed Evie at the intermission when they went to the ladies and then queued for a bag of Dolly Mixture and a drink of fizzy pop to share .

They all agreed she was quite something, and it was strange that in the book she was described as not being all that pretty.

‘Rhett Butler is so dreamy. He could come and visit me any night of the week,’ Evie continued, in between sweets.

‘Evie!’ Rose said, appalled. ‘What promiscuous language you’ve developed since you’ve been volunteering in that sewing circle. Sometimes I wonder what goes on there.’

‘Oh Ma, it’s just a bit of fun. The men in the films are the only young men we get to see, what with them all away fighting. A girl can dream…’

‘Evie’s right,’ Juliet agreed. ‘Except for lucky Lizzie, here. She gets to see her handsome Captain King every day.’

Lizzie shushed her sister and tutted, but her cheeks turned a pale shade of pink. ‘I’ve told you there’s nothing romantic between us. Why do you insist on going on about him so?’

Lizzie turned a fierce stare on Evie to warn her to stay quiet on the matter. Her baby sister was the only one who had seen them together and knew there was something more than a boss-employee relationship between them. She had been sworn to secrecy in the name of the security of the nation, and Lizzie wasn’t beyond threatening her.

Juliet laughed. ‘Because anyone can see you are gaga for each other.’

‘Absolute nonsense,’ Lizzie said. ‘He’s my commanding officer. Those engine fumes must be addling your brain, darling Jules.’

‘Talking of you two,’ Juliet continued, undeterred, ‘Scarlett and Rhett have a big age difference just like you and your captain.’

Now Lizzie flushed bright pink, despite fighting to compose herself. ‘What guff you do talk. Even if it were true, we’re nothing like Scarlett and Rhett. Rhett is almost double Scarlett’s age!’

‘Ah, so you have thought about it,’ Juliet teased.

‘Oh, you!’ Lizzie punched her lightly on the arm and rolled her eyes, but her heart was beating uncomfortably fast, and she was relieved they couldn’t hear it.

‘The film is so romantic,’ Evie said. ‘Who doesn’t love a handsome scoundrel?’

‘It is romantic, although my Oliver isn’t a scoundrel and I’d always choose him,’ Juliet said. ‘I suppose I like a more dependable type.’

‘We’re drawing this conversation to a close right now,’ Rose said. ‘You girls are growing quite wild. I don’t know whether it’s the company you keep in London or the influence of wartime that’s having this effect on you. It’s quite unsettling.’

‘It’s neither, Ma. We’re just growing up, that’s all. And times have changed since you were our age. We can speak more freely,’ Evie said.

‘That you certainly do,’ Rose said, a hint of amusement ringing in her disapproving tone. ‘Come on, it’s time to go back in for the second half. Let’s hope things improve for Scarlett.’

The four of them emerged a few hours later, their faces pink and their eyes red-rimmed.

‘I thought for sure it would be a happy ending,’ sobbed Evie, clutching her handkerchief to her red nose.

‘Whatever gave you that idea?’ Rose asked.

‘Me too,’ sniffed Juliet. ‘I can get sad all on my own missing Oliver. I don’t need to watch a tragic four-hour film to do it. I feel quite distraught.’

‘Oh, come now,’ said Lizzie. ‘Cheer up. It was a sad ending, but like Scarlett said, “Tomorrow is another day.” We must be as hopeful as her if we’re to get through this war with our hearts in one piece.’

Rose looked at Lizzie. ‘My goodness, when did you become so wise, darling? You seem to have matured in the blink of an eye.’

Lizzie smiled, touched by her mother’s praise. ‘Well, I will be twenty-two soon, you know.’

Rose laughed. ‘Trust me, some of the oldest people have little real wisdom to show for their years on earth.’

Lizzie wondered why that might be. She felt as though she’d matured a lot since joining the SOE. Her missions in France had changed her profoundly. There was something about seeing your life flash before your eyes that did that to you, she supposed. She could easily have been killed in Reims, and it had given her a greater appreciation for life. Shaking her head, she pushed the frightening images out of her mind before the familiar fear gripped her.

Falling in love with Jack had changed her, too.

Keeping her work and her love for Jack a secret from her beloved family was hard. Only her father knew she was an agent, but she hadn’t confided in him about her relationship with Jack.

They exited the building and joined the throngs of filmgoers flooding into Leicester Square.

‘Let’s go home for a cup of tea with Pa before bed, shall we?’ Rose said.

They all agreed that was a lovely idea, and they huddled in their coats against the biting cold and hurried into the station.