Home Fires and Spitfires

by Daisy Styles

  Eyeing the basket, Jamie enquired, ‘What have we got here?’

  ‘Sister Mary Paul’s convinced that we’ll die of starvation up on the fells, so she packed us a picnic – there’s enough to feed an army.’

  Jamie and Ada talked easily as they drove along the twisting, turning, narrow lanes to Kendal, passing fields criss-crossed with ancient grey drystone walls. When they got on to the busier northern main road, Jamie apologized for the slowness of his car.

  ‘It’s my dad’s old banger, as you can see: it struggles on hills.’ He smiled as the car spluttered and wheezed its way along the Windermere Road. ‘I should have asked Gracie to give it the once-over before I set off,’ he joked. ‘She’s an amazing mechanic.’

  ‘I have to say I nearly had a heart attack when I saw her wriggling her big tummy underneath that rickety old Bedford van,’ Ada admitted.

  ‘Believe me, she knows exactly what she’s doing,’ Jamie replied. ‘She actually admitted to me that she wanted to be the first woman in Barrow shipyard to drive a crane.’

  ‘Knowing Gracie, she probably will be,’ Ada laughed.

  They briefly stopped chattering when the car laboriously breasted a steep hill that dropped down into Windermere, giving a breathtaking view of the vast lake dotted with sailboats.

  ‘It’s so lovely! Look at the little boats skimming across the water,’ Ada exclaimed, as she eagerly leant forward to take it all in.

  Happy as she was, Ada couldn’t help feeling a twinge of nagging guilt. Was it right to feel so carefree when her country was at war? Seeing an anxious expression replace her eager, bright smile, Jamie guessed what Ada might be thinking. ‘We have to take happiness where we can find it,’ he said quietly.

  ‘I know,’ she agreed.

  ‘How guilty do you think I feel?’ Jamie declared. ‘Here I am, an apparently hale and hearty young man who’s not fighting for his country.’

  Feeling awkward, Ada blushed as he continued, ‘I see contempt and disgust in people’s eyes when they look at me – I know they see me as a coward.’

  Desperate to reclaim their happy mood, Ada said in a tight, quiet voice, ‘Everybody who knows you, Jamie, has nothing but respect for you.’

  Touched by her sincerity, Jamie’s mood changed. ‘That’s the nicest thing anybody has said to me in months.’ Straightening his broad shoulders, he dropped a gear and slowly drove down the hill that led into the little town of Windermere.

  As Windermere gave way to Ambleside, then Grasmere, they drove through the wild, dramatic countryside. Suddenly on a steep road Jamie pointed to a high fell, etched dark and bold against the clear blue sky,

  ‘Look!’ he cried. ‘The Lion and the Lamb – can you make out the rockface?’

  Ada stared up at the humped mountains towering over them. Squinting hard, she said, ‘There’s a craggy rock formation at the top. Oh, yes!’ she exclaimed. ‘It really does look like a lion lying down guarding a lamb.’

  Passing a tiny cluster of slate cottages just off the main road, Jamie pointed out another interesting feature. ‘You’ll never guess who lived in that cottage down that dark, narrow lane.’

  Ada gazed at a tiny dwelling nestled under the mountain. ‘I have no idea.’

  ‘I’ll give you a clue,’ Jamie teased. ‘“I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills …”’ he quoted.

  Ada immediately picked up the poem: ‘“When all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils” – Wordsworth!’ she laughed.

  Turning to look over her shoulder, she was amazed by how poky the cottage looked.

  ‘Heavens, I imagined he would have lived in a grand hall – that place looks more like a workman’s hovel.’

  ‘Wordsworth did eventually live in a much bigger house, Rydal Mount, down the road from here,’ Jamie told her. ‘But he and his wife and sister started off in Dove Cottage. I read that Samuel Coleridge from Devon often visited them: he used to jump over the wall and run down the fell to the nearest pub for a bit of local slap and tickle,’ Jamie chuckled. ‘Good for the muse, though: Wordsworth wrote some of his best works here in the Lakes.’

  They followed the road signs that directed them to the showground and Jamie parked the car; then he eagerly checked the time for the start of the fell-race.

  ‘Put your boots on, Ada,’ he urged. ‘We’ve got enough time to walk up to Butter Crag – it’ll be a great vantage point from which to watch the fell-runners.’

  Grabbing Sister Mary Paul’s picnic basket and Ada’s mac, Jamie set off through the bustling crowd with Ada by his side. After the drive it was good to stretch their legs, though Ada briefly dawdled by the prize cattle and sheep waiting in wicker pens to be judged. Jamie, as impatient as a child, hurried through an open farm gate, and then they both walked briskly along a stony path dotted with cairns marking the way up to Butter Crag. As they climbed higher, the showground below grew smaller and smaller, until it looked the size of a child’s toy farm. Cautious not to stride out and overtake Jamie, Ada thoughtfully let him set the pace, but she was soon astonished at the speed he went. Impressed by his stamina, Ada walked breathless in his wake.

  ‘Clearly Dr Reid isn’t the kind of man who lets the likes of polio get in the way of things he wants to do.’

  After half an hour of brisk walking they reached a sunny crag, where Jamie set down the picnic basket.

  ‘All we’ve got to do now is wait for the runners to appear,’ he announced.

  Leaning back against a big, warm, granite boulder, Ada gratefully accepted the tea that Jamie poured from the Thermos flask and a cheese-and-tomato sandwich too. After finishing his tea and hungrily polishing off several sandwiches, Jamie gave a deep sigh of contentment; then, carefree and relaxed, he folded his hands behind his head and stretched out luxuriously on the warm springy heather with his eyes closed. Ada’s eyes swept curiously over Jamie’s long, lean body, and through his open-neck shirt she caught sight of tanned skin and golden chest hair. She admired his thick tawny hair that fell in a boyish sweep over his eyes and the way his full lips parted over even white teeth. She was taken aback when her pulse suddenly started to quicken; she had always liked the new doctor and admired his skill in the workplace, but she had never before felt this sudden bolt of attraction blaze through her. Caught peeping, Ada jumped guiltily when Jamie lazily opened his hazel eyes.

  ‘Penny for your thoughts?’

  Ada smiled to herself – how would Jamie respond if she told him the truth? ‘Oh, actually, Jamie, I was just going hot all over at the sight of you stretched out there.’

  Fortunately, the first fell-runners appeared on the track down below, causing them both to rise to their feet.

  ‘Here they come,’ Jamie said, as he sheltered his eyes against the strong sunlight slanting down on to their vantage point.

  The lead runners were already well out of the showground, and, surging forwards, they ran up the narrow path that wound its precipitous way around boulders and gurgling becks. Putting their hands on their knees to gain extra leverage, the experienced runners gained the trail first and sidestepped the rocks that lined the route, quickly putting a gap between themselves and the less experienced runners.

  ‘Gosh! They’re fast,’ Ada cried.

  Standing on the edge of the crag, Jamie clapped and cheered as the runners flashed by. ‘Go! Go, lads! Well done!’

  As the lead runners made the turn at the top of the course, marshals bearing clipboards shouted out names and numbers.

  ‘They’re checking to make sure nobody’s cheating,’ Jamie explained to curious Ada.

  The tag end of the competitors soon followed; spluttering, they plodded along full of good humour. When they reached Butter Crag, they waved as they lumbered past Jamie and Ada.

  ‘Good luck! I’m a doctor,’ Jamie joked. ‘Give me a shout if you need help.’

  ‘How about another set of lungs, Doc?’ one runner called out as he wheezed on his way.

 
Picking up the basket, Jamie and Ada set off quickly for the top of the pass, where they continued to watch the runners make their way down the steep track to finish the race. Marvelling at their strength and skill, Ada gasped. ‘The way they skip and jump along – they look like they’re almost dancing down the mountainside.’

  When the race was finally over, Jamie hid the picnic basket behind a big gorse bush, then turned to smile at Ada. ‘Shall we carry on up the fell?’

  Nodding eagerly, she replied, ‘Of course.’

  After crossing a bubbling beck, they zigzagged over ground thick with purple heather. Breathless and sweating, they gained height until they reached a stretch of grassy upland where the walking got easier. Here they gratefully cooled their hot, flushed faces in a cool, sparkling beck that trickled over boulders worn smooth by the endless flow of water. Sighing, they both lay back, simply content to stare up at the clouds rolling across the blue sky and listen to the larks trilling as they rose higher and higher above the majestic mountains.

  ‘On a day as perfect as this I sometimes think even I could pen a poem,’ Jamie said dreamily. ‘Instead I became a doctor and thereby saved the nation from a load of ill-rhymed iambic pentameter.’

  Ada smiled. ‘When did you decide to become a doctor?’

  ‘It was never a question,’ Jamie replied. ‘Dad was a doctor, and I always knew that was what I wanted to do; runs in the blood, I suppose.’

  ‘Not in my case!’ she giggled. ‘My mum ran a chip shop; I can tell you that dream certainly didn’t run in my blood.’

  Impressed, he sat up and leant on one elbow. ‘Really?’

  Ada nodded. ‘It was a little gold mine, situated between two mills and a pub,’ she proudly told him. ‘Mum opened every dinner-time and the mill workers swarmed in. It was a family affair – my granny and auntie both worked there – and in the school holidays my sister and I helped too, refilling the salt and vinegar bottles, cutting up newspaper to wrap the chips in, washing and chopping spuds – we loved it.’

  ‘So what drew you into nursing?’ he enquired.

  ‘I always wanted to be a nurse,’ Ada replied. ‘Though my father wanted me to work in the mill – it was good money compared to training to be a nurse – but I refused point bank. Luckily Mother backed me, what she said went in our house, so I got what I wanted.’

  Jamie plucked a blade of glass that he thoughtfully chewed on. ‘How come you finished up practising midwifery at Mary Vale?’

  Sitting up too, Ada laced her hands around her knees. ‘I liked my work in Leeds, but I wanted to do something more, something that would make a difference. When I saw Mary Vale’s advert for a senior midwife in the newspaper, I was curious and applied, but it was only when I got up here and met the residents that I knew for sure I wanted the job.’

  ‘It’s such an isolated place,’ Jamie remarked.

  ‘That was part of the attraction,’ Ada replied. ‘I’ve always loved the Lakes and wanted to spend more time up here; plus the girls in the Home were so trusting and needy, pretty ignorant sometimes too – can you believe some of them don’t even know where their babies came from? Nobody had ever told them the facts of life until it was too late, poor kids. I really felt I could do something good and positive at Mary Vale.’

  ‘Do you believe you have?’ he asked.

  ‘I certainly hope so,’ Ada answered passionately. ‘I always try to put the girls first, to prepare them not just for the birth of their baby but for what comes next when they leave Mary Vale.’ She gave a sad sigh. ‘Some of them are so young and ignorant, seduced by smooth-talking lads who only wanted what they could get, heartbroken young girls usually, shamed and rejected by their friends and families, cast out by society. What gives me the greatest pleasure is seeing a girl leave Mary Vale with a plan in her head and hope for a new future.’

  Riveted by her passion, Jamie gazed at Ada’s wonderful long hair blowing in the soft breeze; her dark-blue eyes were wide and sparkling all the time she talked; and her full, red, smiling lips revealed small white teeth. He was barely able to resist an overwhelming urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her.

  ‘You really are a remarkable woman.’

  Blushing, Ada shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t go that far, Jamie. I just love my job, and my patients and Mary Vale too.’

  ‘The Home’s lucky to have you,’ Jamie said, as he rose and held out his hand to take hers. ‘Shall we make our way down?’ Smiling, he added, ‘I’m dying for a pint.’

  They ran down the fell, located the picnic basket that Jamie had hidden, then headed towards the showground, where they caught the end of the pole-vaulting competition and the wrestling, which Ada found fascinating to watch. After thirstily downing their beer in a crowded marquee, Jamie suggested they head back to Ambleside to get something to eat. Sitting in one of the local pubs, with a garden that extended down to the edge of Lake Windermere, they silently watched the slow-setting sun gild the high fells a deep burnished gold.

  ‘Thank you for bringing me here,’ Ada said gratefully, her eyes shining. ‘I’ve had a marvellous day out.’

  Jamie, who wanted the day never to end, could only murmur a response. ‘Me too, the first of many days out on the fells together, I hope.’

  And then, before he could stop himself, Jamie did what he had been longing to do all day long: leaning across the table, he gently lifted Ada’s chin and kissed her long and deeply on the lips. As Jamie felt his world tip on its axis, he drew away in order to gauge Ada’s reaction. He was delighted when Ada reached out and drew him back towards her.

  ‘Jamie …’ she murmured. ‘Don’t stop.’

  14. Watendlath

  Though Jamie and Ada tried their best to conceal their feelings for each other, it soon became evident to the staff that their relationship had moved on from professional to personal. Dora, typically, hit the nail on the head.

  ‘I think you did a lot more at the Grasmere Show than watch beefy fell-runners!’ she teased, when Ada breezed on to the ante-natal ward with her big blue eyes sparkling with happiness.

  Studiously avoiding eye contact, Ada concentrated on tucking in the corners of the bed she and Dora were making.

  ‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,’ she prevaricated.

  ‘If you say so,’ Dora chuckled. ‘You know what they say, it’ll all come out in the wash!’

  And inevitably it did: working in such close proximity Ada and Jamie could barely tear their eyes off each other.

  ‘I can’t believe this has happened,’ laughing Ada exclaimed as they sneaked a cuddle at the end of Jamie’s morning surgery.

  Laughing too, Jamie swept Ada’s starched nurse’s cap off her head so he could run his hands through her long, lustrous auburn hair.

  ‘I can’t think straight,’ he declared. ‘I open my eyes in the morning thinking of you and I go to bed in the evening only to dream of you.’ Pulling Ada close, he kissed her deeply. ‘You have completely bewitched me, Sister Dale!’

  ‘Oh, Jamie,’ she whispered dreamily, as she pressed her face against his white doctor’s coat. ‘I wish we were alone on the fells again.’

  Excited as a boy, Jamie held Ada at arm’s length. ‘The whole of the Lake District is waiting for us!’ he declared. ‘Have you ever climbed Catbells or Scafell?’

  Ada shook her head, reminding him she didn’t have a car. ‘I usually stay close to home for my fell-walking.’

  ‘Then I’ll take you further afield,’ he announced.

  A knock on the door made them both jump sky-high; blushing, Ada sprang apart from Jamie while he straightened his hair.

  ‘Come in.’

  Dora bustled in bearing a handful of patients’ notes, but, sensing the charged atmosphere in the room, she quickly left the notes on the desk; then, before turning to leave, she gave a knowing wink.

  ‘I’ll leave you to get on with important business.’

  When the door closed behind Dora, Ada covered her hot face with her
hands. ‘Oh, God!’ she gasped.

  Taking hold of Ada’s slim waist, Jamie lifted her into the air and spun her around. ‘Stop fussing, sweetheart,’ he cried. ‘Soon everybody in Mary Vale will know that Dr Reid is courting lovely Sister Dale – and he’s the luckiest man in the world!’

  As she went about her business, Ada gave up pretending when she next saw Dora. ‘All right, you guessed,’ she giggled, as they stood together swilling out dirty nappies in the sluice-room.

  ‘Doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to solve that mystery,’ Dora chuckled. ‘Joking apart,’ she added earnestly, ‘I’m happy for you, lass, he’s a good man and you’re not so bad yourself. Be warned, though, no man other than St Joseph himself is ever going to be good enough to court you as far as Sister Mary Paul is concerned.’

  Ada smiled fondly. ‘She is such a sweet mother-hen.’

  ‘And you’re her precious little chick,’ Dora reminded Ada.

  Matron was thrilled when Ada confessed that she was going on a second date with handsome Dr Reid.

  ‘We’re all very happy for you,’ she announced.

  Ada gazed at her dear friend. ‘All?’ she enquired. ‘Do all the staff know?’

  Sister Ann burst out laughing. ‘Yes – and everybody in the convent too!’

  Before her date with Jamie something happened that brought Ada back to earth with a sharp bump. Just as she was about to go off-duty one evening, Diana asked if she could have a word in private.

  ‘Of course, dear,’ Ada immediately replied. ‘Shall we sit in the garden? I’ve been cooped up on the ward all day long, and I’m in desperate need of fresh air.’

  It was a lovely, late-summer evening, and, though the heat of summer still lingered, the sharpness of autumn was already in the air. Sitting side by side on a garden bench, both women watched the full moon throw a silvery bright light over the Irish Sea, now at full tide.

  ‘I had a letter from Harry’s friend at RAF Duxford this morning,’ Diana started.

  Ada tensed as she prayed the news would be good.