The Dressmakers of London

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three

Izzie tilted her head back, watching from her spot along the south edge of the beach parade as her unit’s balloon reached its peak.

“Balloon flying thirty feet!” Molly shouted.

“Stop winch!” Nancy called back.

“Stop winch,” Molly replied.

The engine shuddered to a stop and the balloon pulled lightly on its cables in the direction of the light wind along the Norfolk coast.

The day was hot, and Izzie could feel the sweat rolling down her back as the sun beat down on her.

“How much trouble do you think we would find ourselves in if we took off all our clothes and jumped into the water?” asked Alexandra as she stopped next to Izzie.

“A fair bit, I would think,” said Izzie with a laugh.

“What if we left all of our clothes on?” asked her friend.

Izzie pretended to consider this and then shook her head. “Probably still a fair amount. Besides, how would we keep the fabric from snagging on the barbed wire?”

“I suppose we’ll just have to stay hot and sticky then. Shame,” said Alexandra, gazing out over what once must have been a beautiful strip of white sand but was now dotted with beach scaffolding, barbed wire, and other invasion defenses. An anti-aircraft tower loomed in the near distance, punctuating the entire scene. It was impossible not to remember that they were at war.

“Can you imagine it before all of this? It must have been filled with families holidaying,” said Izzie.

“I’ve never been on a holiday to the English seaside,” said Alexandra.

“Never?” Izzie asked with incredulity.

“Mummy always liked going to the Continent. We did spend some time in Biarritz. I wonder if the hotel we used to stay at will still be standing by the end of the war,” Alexandra mused.

The longer she knew Alexandra the more comfortable Izzie became with the difference between their backgrounds. Her friend was not, as she once might have feared, a snob. Alexandra was unfailingly kind, curious, and open with everyone she met, and when she thought about it, Izzie found herself more than a little ashamed that she’d ever thought the earl’s daughter might be anything but.

“Once a summer, I would go to the seaside with my sister. It was usually Brighton, although once we went to Margate,” she said, recalling the trips with a smile. The sisters would wait all summer for the perfect combination of hot weather and Mum’s willingness to release them from their duties at the shop with an exasperated yet indulgent “You keep talking about it so much, you might as well go.”

There would be a scramble to pack a picnic lunch, gather up swimming costumes and blankets, and find sunglasses and straw bags. Then, with all of their kit assembled, the Shelton sisters would troop off to Victoria Station and board the train for Brighton that was brimming with fellow holidaymakers.

After alighting at Brighton Station, they would make their way straight for the sea, stopping only for Sylvia to buy them two ice cream cones. The sisters would hurry along, licking up sweetly sticky drips of ice cream until they reached the edge of the shingle beach. Slipping and sliding, they would stake out the best spot and set up for the day, only packing up reluctantly when they were crisp and exhausted from a day in the sun.

All her childhood, it had been Izzie’s idea of bliss.

“How is your sister?” asked Alexandra in a low tone.

Izzie sighed, reality pulling her out of the rose-tinted memories of past summers. She’d told Alexandra about Sylvia’s letter and what she’d written back.

“I don’t know yet. I hope there will be a letter waiting for me when we return to base,” she said.

“You’re worried about her,” said Alexandra.

“Yes. No? I don’t know.” She peered out over the ocean, watching the whitecaps on the waves. “Hugo was her entire life.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Alexandra.

Izzie tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

Her friend shrugged. “Just that it sounds to me like your sister had an entire life that had only bits and pieces to do with her husband. Didn’t you say that she has all of her committee work?”

“That’s true,” said Izzie slowly.

“And it sounds like she has all sorts of friends. Surely they’re helping her through this.”

“I hope so,” she said, but she doubted it very much. She suspected that Sylvia had been able to navigate years in Hugo’s social circle because she wasn’t the sort of woman who let people in. Close friendships could leave one vulnerable in a way Sylvia would never have wanted.

“Well, isn’t this a sight?”

A smile spread across Izzie’s face.

Jack.

She turned and sure enough there he was, watching from a distance with his arms crossed over his chest and his usual grin fixed on his face. Her friends started to giggle, but Jack hardly seemed to notice, his gaze fixed firmly on her.

She touched her hair as she approached, certain she was red-faced and glistening with sweat, but when she stopped in front of him, she found she didn’t really care.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“You told me you’d be here, so I came,” he said.

“I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”

“Can’t a man drop by to see his best girl on a whim?” he asked.

She smiled. “Certainly, but when that man’s life is run by the USAAF, it usually becomes a little bit harder to be spontaneous.”

He shook his head. “I’ll have to file a complaint with Brigadier General Eaker about the lack of romance in the Eighth Air Force.”

She was about to tease him back when a gloom fell over his face. She’d seen him playful, joyous, thoughtful, and even concerned for her, but she’d never seen him sad, and it sent her nerves pickling.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“Jack!” called out Amelia from the balloon vehicle. “Are you going to bring your friends to the next Assembly Hall dance?”

He looked up, startled by the interruption, but then recovered his easy way. “Sure thing! Anything for the WAAF!” Then he lowered his voice. “Can you step away for a moment to talk?”

She really shouldn’t—she was supposed to be on duty and alert at all times while the balloon was flying—but something told her this conversation would be too important to rush.

“Over there,” she said, nodding to a row of brightly painted beach huts along the promenade.

Jack took her by the elbow, and once they ducked behind a hut and out of sight of her unit, he swooped in for a kiss. Izzie grasped at the lapels of his uniform, pouring herself into the kiss in hopes that it would never end, but she couldn’t help feeling that she was trying to drive back an incoming tide.

When they broke apart, he let out a long breath. “I needed that. I’m sorry I can’t stay.”

“I’m happy to see you at all,” she said with a laugh.

“Izzie…” he started, but then he stopped.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

He gave her a little smile. Against the brilliant force of his usually sunny smiles, it felt dim. “Nothing’s the matter. I was driving by Great Yarmouth, and I remembered you telling me that you’d be here. And… and I wanted to ask you something.”

She sensed that he was holding something back, but she didn’t know him well enough to figure it out on her own and she still felt a little too shy to ask.

“You can ask me anything, Jack,” she said.

“I…” He hesitated, threading the brim of his cap through his thumbs and forefingers. “I have twenty-four hours’ leave coming to me.”

“I do too,” she said. “I had been planning to keep my leave back to go up to London and check on the shop, but unfortunately twenty-four hours won’t be enough with the trains being what they are.”

Now his smile returned with its full wattage. “In that case, we could try to arrange our leave together. We could go away somewhere nearby. Just the two of us.”

Go away somewhere? Together?

“Unless you don’t want to,” he said, seeming to take her hesitation as reluctance.

“No,” she hastened to reassure him. “No, it’s just that I don’t really know what to say.”

“What is there to say other than yes?” he asked.

“Well,” she started, “where would we stay?”

“There are plenty of pubs with rooms or little inns dotted around. I could find one that wouldn’t ask too many questions. Or we could say we were man and wife?”

“Newlyweds?” she asked with a laugh, hoping it covered up how racy and intriguing she found the idea.

He caught up her hand in his. “Something like that.”

“Would we share a bed?” she asked, forcing herself to be bolder than usual because she wanted as many answers as possible before she agreed to anything.

His neck went red under his tan. “If you like. Or I could sleep on the floor, if that would make you more comfortable. I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

She thought about it for a moment. She didn’t know what she wanted. A part of her was so drawn to him and the way he made her feel when he kissed her. A part of her knew that well-behaved women weren’t supposed to go away with any man who wasn’t their husband, but she was fairly certain well-behaved women weren’t supposed to spend their days repairing balloons and wearing work boots.

“Think about it,” he said. “You don’t have to tell me now, and besides, we don’t know if we could make it work at all.”

Seeing the possibility of a trip with Jack slip away from her made something lurch in her stomach.

“I’ll see if I can manage the time, and I’ll write to you,” she promised.

He kissed her swiftly. “Just tell me the date—if that’s what you decide. I’ll make the arrangements.”

She couldn’t help herself from returning his giddy grin.

“Can I walk you back?” he asked, offering her his arm.

She took it and, when they emerged from around the beach hut, she could see Lottie yell something to the rest of the unit. A cheer went up, and Izzie started to laugh.

“Do I want to know how badly I’ve ruined your reputation?” he asked.

“Probably not,” she said cheerfully.

“You know, it’s really not fair keeping all of the Americans to yourself,” called Amelia.

“Not all of the Americans, just one!” Jack shouted back, sending the unit into fits of laughter.

When Jack stopped in front of their vehicle, Alexandra said, “I’m going to have to ask what your intentions are toward our friend, Staff Sergeant Perry.”

“Only honorable, I promise,” said Jack, placing a hand on his heart.

“That’s a shame,” called Lottie.

“There’s a certain man who keeps asking after you,” he said to Alexandra.

“Does he? Isn’t that sweet?” asked Alexandra with a smile that Izzie could tell meant that her friend wasn’t entirely convinced.

Jack seemed to take this as his cue, because he tipped the edge of his hat to the balloon unit and said, “Ladies,” before ambling off in the direction of a car parked a few hundred feet down the promenade.

“How do I find one of those?” breathed Molly.

“She walked into him,” said Alexandra with a laugh. “And he looked as though an angel had just fallen from the heavens.”

“Stop it,” said Izzie.

“If that man doesn’t tell you he’s in love with you by the end of the month, I’ll be shocked,” said Alexandra.

“The end of the month is only days away,” said Grace dreamily.

Alexandra shrugged. “Like I said…”

“Really, Alexandra. Don’t be ridiculous,” Izzie said, nudging her friend.

“Fine,” said Alexandra with a laugh.

But when Izzie looked back at her friend, she found Alexandra watching her with a knowing look.