Chapter 34 Lilias #2
All the trainees made it to the top that day, even Babs, although it took her three attempts to do so. In Lilias’s book, that made her young friend’s achievement even greater. She only hoped the commanding officer took the same view.
It seemed he did, for by the following evening, Babs was still a member of the group, and a dance had been arranged as a reward for their efforts.
“A dance, Lilias! We’re to have a dance!” Babs had said, all but dancing around the dormitory.
Lilias was much less excited about the prospect, but she was expected to attend; everyone was.
So, despite the temptation to slip upstairs after dinner, Lilias planted a smile on her face and followed the others to the room where the dance was being held.
A local band had been employed, and there were half a dozen people in civilian dress, presumably also from the local area.
Within minutes, a bearded man with a strong Scots accent and a twinkle in his eye had asked Lilias to dance.
Her partner seemed to enjoy the sound of his own voice, talking to Lilias as they danced about his croft, and how difficult it was to get through the winter, and what he expected the weather to be like for the next few weeks.
Although Lilias responded politely, her mind was busy with memories of the last time she’d been to a dance: the night she had danced with Harry.
The night she’d gone back to Lavender Cottage with Harry. Made love to him.
As her partner’s voice droned on, it would have been all too easy not to be alert. But just then Babs glided by in the arms of her own partner, and Lilias overheard him ask her friend how her training was going. And a penny dropped in Lilias’s mind.
This wasn’t a proper dance at all; it was all a part of their training. They were still being tested.
“If you don’t mind me mentioning it,” asked her partner, right on cue, “you have terrible calluses on your fingers. Whatever have you been doing with yourself?”
The calluses were the result of three long weeks of obstacle courses, and, most recently, the ascent of three cliff-bound ladders, but Lilias met her partner’s gaze as she said, “I’m a seamstress, specialising in sewing fabrics that are tough to sew, like leather.
At first, it hurt to pull the needle through the fabric, but not any longer.
My calluses have seen to that. They’re a friend to the hands in my profession. ”
She only hoped that Babs had realised it, too; that it wasn’t already too late. But as Lilias glanced towards her friend through the dancing throng, something about Babs’s expression caused Lilias to doubt it. Babs may have survived the cliff face, but this could be her undoing.
Suddenly, a uniformed guard was at Lilias’s side.
“Durand, you’re to report to the commanding officer.”
Her partner released her with a little bow, and Lilias followed the guard from the room, her mouth suddenly dry. Was she the one who was being let go?
Out in the corridor, another guard was waiting for her.
As the first guard held her, the second tied a blindfold around her eyes.
And as she was led away along a corridor, Lilias knew what was about to happen.
An interrogation. They had been warned they would have to face one at some point during their training. It was her turn.
A door opened. Hands led her into a room. The door closed. Her blindfold was removed.
Blinking in the sudden light, Lilias found herself face to face with an officer dressed in a Nazi uniform.
“What is your name?”
Lilias answered without hesitation. “Jacquelyn Durand.”
“Date of birth?”
“Second of May, 1901.”
“Address?”
“Seven Rue des Frênes, Paris.”
It was a drill, but that didn’t make it feel any less real. The “Nazi’s” eyes were boring into hers, seeking to intimidate, and, as she gave the required information, Lilias forced her fingers to uncurl and her shoulders to lower.
She knew her facts. There was nothing to worry about.
But then the line of questioning changed. “Yesterday evening, you were seen out after curfew and followed back to your address. It is against the law to be out after curfew. What were you doing?”
This was something new. She was being tested to see if she could think on her feet, with the adrenaline pumping round her body. As a dressmaker, she could hardly claim a work emergency.
“I apologise, monsieur,” she ad-libbed. “My landlord is an alcoholic. He has much pain in his legs due to arthritis, and alcohol helps him to deal with it. I went out to get him some wine. Actually, I’m looking for somewhere new to live because of this; I’ve had enough of him singing half the night when he’s drunk.
It keeps me awake, and I’m tired. It’s difficult to function properly at work when I haven’t slept well . . .”
“Silence!” the “Nazi” broke into her ramblings. “Guard, take her away.”
Once more Lilias was blindfolded. Once more she was led from the room, her heart juddering in her chest, her hands shaking.
Had she done enough? Had she been convincing?
As the guard led her along the corridor, Lilias tried to imagine how very much more terrifying the ordeal she had just endured would be in France, with a real Nazi officer. She wasn’t sure she was brave enough to face it.
The blindfold was removed, and the guard marched away. Unable to face returning to the dance, Lilias made her way up the stairs to the dormitory.
Even though she knew her friend would still be at the dance, Lilias couldn’t help calling out to her.
“Babs?”
But, as she’d expected, the dormitory was empty. Then she noticed the bed next to hers—Babs’s bed—had been stripped of its sheets. Not only that, but all of Babs’s belongings were gone. Babs had been removed. She had failed the test and would not be working for the Special Operations Executive.
Sitting down glumly on the edge of her bed, Lilias knew she wasn’t likely to see her young friend ever again. For security reasons, Babs would be confined to a safe house for the duration of the war. Once again, Lilias had lost somebody she’d come to care for.
It was too much.
Covering her face with her hands, Lilias wept, all alone in the dormitory, a host of repressed memories and thoughts crowding back into her mind. Harry’s face as he had looked down at her in the firelight. “I’ve got lots to survive for this time around. David. You. The world as I know it.”
As they’d kissed, neither of them had known they were about to create another human being with the expression of their love. A baby. Their baby. A baby Lilias had seen for mere seconds.
And suddenly Lilias knew she couldn’t go and serve in France. No matter how well she had done on this training course. No matter how much her French family and all the others like them needed her to.
Not until she had tried one more time to find her baby.