The Dressmakers of London

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

All of the balloon girls except for Alexandra stood, hands on their hips, as they stared up at their balloon. Despite a forecast that Monday morning that had called for calm weather all day, the wind had picked up around three o’clock, and now the balloon’s wires were beginning to creak ominously.

“I think we should take her in,” said Grace.

Molly worried her lip. “I don’t know…”

“We’ll see what Alexandra finds out,” said Nancy, but the way her brow furrowed told Izzie everything she needed to know. If they didn’t take the balloon down soon, there might not be any balloon left.

“Oh!” cried Izzie as she spotted Alexandra’s tall frame racing up from where her friend had been using the field telephone. “There she is.”

“Take her in!” shouted Alexandra. “Quick!”

Immediately, the girls scattered to their positions to haul in the massive balloon.

“Start winch!” Molly shouted. “Haul in winch!”

A moment later she triggered the mechanism on the back of their vehicle to pull the balloon in.

“Come on, come on,” Izzie muttered as the balloon slowly began to descend, tugging on its wires.

“Apparently a unit over in Great Yarmouth lost a balloon about half an hour ago. It ripped clean off of its mountings, and one of the wires almost took a girl out,” said Alexandra.

“Oh goodness,” said Amelia.

“That is not happening to us,” said Nancy with determination as they caught the winch cable. Grace scrambled to anchor it to the tether on the back of the balloon truck. As soon as the balloon was secured, audible sighs of relief ricocheted around the group.

“Let’s get out of this wind,” said Alexandra.

They secured the tail rope to the lorry and climbed on. Driving slowly, Molly steered them back to base, fighting against the increasing wind as she went.

“At least we’re home sooner,” said Nancy as the guards opened up the gates and let them in.

“Is there any particular reason you’re happy to be home sooner?” asked Amelia with a sly smile.

“Like the fact that the post should be here by now?” said Lottie with a grin.

“Stop it.” Nancy blushed.

“I think she’s hoping to hear from Flying Officer Charles Gardner,” Amelia teased.

“Oh, you two,” said Nancy, but rather than scowl she was laughing. “I’m not supposed to know anything, but I think he flew yesterday. The conditions were right for it.”

It was true that it had been clear the night before, the perfect conditions for flying. As she lay in bed listening to the sound of planes taking off, Izzie had been incredibly grateful that Jack’s assignment kept him firmly on solid ground.

“Well, I think that means that Nancy’s going to do the post run today,” said Amelia cheerfully.

“Fine,” said Nancy.

“I’ll go with you,” Izzie volunteered.

“Hoping for a letter from the wonderful Jack?” asked Amelia.

“I am actually,” she said, catching Alexandra’s smile.

As soon as Molly pulled into the hangar, the girls jumped off the lorry and set about putting their balloon to bed. Given the conditions they’d just come in from, they took extra time to check over all the ropes and wires, much to their NCO’s approval.

Finally, Izzie and Nancy set off for the base’s post office.

“Are you seeing Charles soon?” Izzie asked.

“He’s supposed to write to me with news of his leave. We’re hoping to coordinate so we can be together,” said Nancy.

“So soon? It’s only been—what?—a month?” she asked.

“About three weeks,” said Nancy. “I know it sounds mad, and I would never have believed it if you’d told me that I would fall in love with a man in three weeks, but that’s exactly what happened.”

“Goodness,” Izzie breathed.

“Don’t you feel that way about Jack?” Nancy demanded, as though wanting to cling to someone else in the whirlwind she was in.

“I don’t suppose I’ve really thought about love. I like him. I really do,” she said.

Nancy tossed her hair behind her shoulders. “With Charles I just knew. He wants to meet my family, and I know he’s written to his mother about me. This is real, Izzie. I know it is.”

“I’m very happy for you,” she said sincerely. Nancy certainly seemed happy. She’d been less snippy, less concerned about being right all the time. If anything, Flying Officer Charles Gardner had made all of the balloon girls’ lives that little bit easier.

The wind tried to tear their hats from their heads as they leaned heavily on the post office door to push it open. They stumbled in, laughing.

“Close that door!” shouted one of the WAAFs behind the counter who had her arms spread as she tried to hold down stacks of paper. “It creates a vacuum every time it opens.”

“Sorry!” Izzie called as she struggled with the door.

When she managed to wrestle it closed, she joined Nancy at the counter, where she had already given the harried post office WAAFs their unit’s names.

“I wonder what will happen to the unit that lost their balloon?” Nancy asked.

“It wasn’t their fault,” Izzie said. “We all got the same meteorology report this morning.”

“I suppose so,” said Nancy, although she didn’t sound con-vinced.

“Here you are,” said the WAAF who’d yelled about the door, handing a bundle of letters across the counter.

“Thank you,” said Izzie.

“Wait! This just came in,” said the WAAF’s counterpart, holding up a slip of paper in a telegraph envelope.

Nancy froze, her eyes fixed on the envelope. “Who is that for?”

“It says—” The WAAF squinted at the small text. “—Aircraft Woman Second Class Nancy Dixon.”

All the color drained from Nancy’s face. “Charles.”

“You don’t think it’s a—” Izzie stared at the telegram in horror. “But surely if something happened they would send a casualty telegram to his mother. That’s a civilian telegram.”

Nancy buckled over, gasping for air as panic clearly began to take over. “I know—he asked his friends—if anything happened—”

The WAAF holding the telegram dropped the message on the counter and backed a step away.

Izzie gripped her friend’s shoulders. “Nancy. Nancy, listen to me. We haven’t read it yet. We don’t know.”

“I know,” Nancy gasped out. “I know.”

“Give me that,” Izzie ordered. The WAAF behind the counter quickly scooped the telegram up and handed it to her, and she ripped it open.

CHARLES KILLED IN ACTION YESTERDAY DEEPEST REGRETS

“What does it say?” Nancy asked, trembling.

Instead of speaking, Izzie gathered Nancy up in her arms and hugged her tight as her friend let out the long, low cry of a dying animal.